Chapter 392: The Word "Fu"

Miao couldn't sit still any longer. "Oh, I just remembered that I had to go get some jewelry today. I've been sitting here for a while. It's getting late. Sister-in-law, I'm leaving now."

Hua stood up hurriedly and said, "I also remembered something. I'll take my leave now."

Zhulan stood up and said, "I'll take you there."

Hua and Miao waved their hands, "No, no, please stay."

Having said that, the two of them left quickly with the old woman.

Mrs. Li was stunned. "Mom, they didn't sit there for half an hour, how come they sat there for a while? And they didn't look like they were in trouble!"

Zhulan smiled and said, "Because they feel bored."

Li blinked and recalled her mother's words. Well, their family was used to it, so they didn't feel bored anymore. Thinking back to the past, she also felt bored.

Zhulan's move was somewhat deliberate. She received a bunch of invitations yesterday, and she didn't want people to come to her house every day and treat her like a monkey. She probably didn't expect anyone to come this time.

It was indeed as Zhulan said. What Zhulan said spread everywhere that night. Sometimes officials' families spread the news the fastest.

The next morning, Zhulan received a lot of replies saying that they couldn't come because of something at home.

Li looked at her mother-in-law's happy expression and soon realized that her mother-in-law was indeed showing off a little, but more of her was complaining. A mother-in-law is just a mother-in-law!

In the government office, Zhou Shuren learned about Zhulan's magical operation. He found that he was particularly unpopular today, especially by Lord He!

It's almost the end of the year and there's money in the government office's account. Zhou Shuren doesn't have to worry about next year. It's really boring to be in the government office during the day.

Zhou Shuren held up the teacup and asked, "Master He, has Zhou ever offended you in any way?"

Lord He thought to himself that he had been offended in many ways, and he was not as well-off as Lord Chen. Lord Chen could resist, but could he? Lord He wanted to vomit blood when he thought that his wife was wearing the same casual clothes as him. His wife was good-looking and talented, but the only bad thing was that she liked bright colors. He saw bright silk when he went home yesterday.

Mr. He is self-aware. He looks OK, but the key point is that he is dark. This year he ran everywhere and got even darker due to being exposed to the sun.

Lord Chen and Lord Zhou also turned darker, but they were both raised back to health, but he didn't and became even darker.

Lord He could have imagined that he would be the laughing stock of Lizhou City this year!

Lord He chuckled, "Lord Zhou, I really beg you, Lord Zhou, can you secretly carve jewelry for my sister-in-law in the future?"

Especially, don’t get yourself matching jade pendants and hairpins!

Zhou Shuren was almost laughing in his heart, he knew what Lord He had said but didn't. Look at Lord He's dark face, there was really no difference between Lord He's dark face and not having a dark face!

Lord He pursed his lips. Don't think he can't see that Lord Zhou's eyes are full of smiles. The old fox is the most annoying. He doesn't even need to explain it clearly, the old fox has guessed his thoughts!

As the year draws to a close, because of Zhulan's actions, all wives are competitive. No one is willing to admit that her husband does not love her. The jewelry shops and fabric shops in Lizhou City have become popular.

Especially in jewelry shops, there are a lot of carved jade pendants. There is no other way. Men are the breadwinners, and not all housewives are confident enough to make clothes. They can only start with jade pendants and hairpins.

Later, Zhulan's family received more New Year gifts including those from a fabric shop and a jewelry shop. Although they were free gifts, Zhulan returned them all in order to avoid any excuse.

The Zhou family really received a lot of New Year gifts. It’s not right to say that, they received too many New Year gifts. The Zhulan family probably won’t have to steam buns for a long time.

These steamed buns made into shapes of zodiac animals or other symbols with good meanings are given by common people.

The Zhou family's horse almost ran its legs off. As the year was coming to an end, Zhulan bought a lot of meat and asked housekeeper Ding to deliver it to the people who were delivering steamed buns. As the year was coming to an end, the people were reluctant to eat a bite of meat all year round. If a family delivered two pounds of meat and two pounds of flour, they could have a meal of meat-filled dumplings on New Year's Eve.

The New Year gift from Mr. Chen’s family included five kinds of fruits and tea, and a total of six return gifts.

This time, not only Zhulan was impressed that Master Chen had money, but Li was also surprised, "Mother, what are these three fruits?"

Zhulan introduced, "These two bunches are bananas, these two are pineapples, and these six are coconuts."

I recognize the remaining two kinds of fruits, oranges and apples.

Li had never heard of it before. Even though she was a daughter of an official family, Dong was also confused. Dong then realized how little knowledge she, a daughter of an official family, had. Dong sighed that there were too few fruits in the north. Dong asked, "Mother, how do you eat these fruits?"

Zhulan really didn't see any pineapples when she went out. She only ate bananas. She felt that Hua deliberately gave her pineapples and coconuts not only to show off, but also to vent her anger.

Zhulan remembered her own character. Her original self had never been out of the Northeast. "I've eaten bananas with Changli and Changyi. I don't know about pineapples and coconuts. Let me ask."

Zhulan counted the number of bananas in the two bunches. There were eleven in one bunch and eight in the other. The places where the knife had cut were probably frozen or rotten and had to be cut away.

Zhulan also wanted to buy bananas in Jiangnan, but they were expensive and easy to spoil. The bananas on the market in Jinzhou were all ripe, and the green ones she wanted to buy were not available. She also thought about buying those from merchants on the ship, but unfortunately they were all ordered from the north, so she sold the ripe ones just to reduce the loss.

Zhulan planned to give one of the two bunches of bananas to her parents, and forget about the pineapples, as her parents are old and their stomachs are not as good as before. She would just give two coconuts to keep them fresh.

The New Year gift sent by Lord He's family was obviously prepared by Miao. It had a lot of silk, but the other items were nothing special. Zhulan really couldn't praise the color of the silk.

The various New Year gifts Zhulan's family received are enough to last until the beginning of spring!

The end of the year is approaching, and this year's Lizhou city is no longer like last year when the streets were deserted with few people. This year, the market in Lizhou city is bustling with people, selling Spring Festival couplets, candied haws, and red lanterns. The whole market is red, as if foreshadowing a prosperous next year.

On New Year's Eve, every household hung up red lanterns and put up spring couplets, and the Zhou family started getting busy early in the morning.

There are many yards at home, so we bought a lot of red lanterns. It took a while just to hang the lanterns. Mingteng and Mingrui are young boys, so they started clamoring to set off firecrackers before the time came.

Zhulan waved her hand and agreed, but she wanted Boss Zhou to watch over her. Even modern technology can cause people to explode, let alone ancient times.

This year is a family reunion year, and Zhou Shuren has a rare chance to rest. He doesn't want to move and just wants to sit and chat with Zhulan.

Unfortunately, we didn't talk for long before Boss Zhou came running in and said, "Dad, the police are here."

Zhou Shuren dropped the melon seeds in his hand, wondering what the emperor had done again.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the front yard together. They were not runners, but an express messenger from the imperial court, carrying a letter and a bamboo tube.

It was New Year's Day, and Zhulan gave a considerable reward. After the others left, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren returned to the house. Zhou Shuren had already looked at the folding paper, while Zhulan opened the bamboo tube, from which fell out two written characters for "Fu". These were characters bestowed by the emperor!

Happy New Year, two chapters today~~

(End of this chapter)