In Tingyunshanju Villa, all rooms are equipped with floor heating, which makes them warm and comfortable.

In the master bedroom on the second floor, Master Zhao had a dream.

He dreamed that his oversized carved bed turned into the African savannah... the yellow one, not the green one.

And I turned into a lazy male lion, surrounded by a group of female lions, and the family happily hunted and played on the prairie, hunted and played...

Then, spring came, the season of **. With the arrival of the wet season, heavy rain fell on the dry earth, and all things began to stir...

A young and beautiful lioness appeared in front of him. He happily climbed up, shook his majestic mane, and prepared to add one to his harem.

The lioness was also impressed by his masculine charm and they were quite in love with each other. The two... oh no, the two lions were making love till the end of the world.

Suddenly, there was a roar, and the harem rebelled. A group of female lions came to catch the adulterer, they chased away the shameless lion spirit, and then roared at him.

Zhao the Lion roared in grievance, “How dare you! I have been hunting all my life, can’t I just enjoy myself?”

The lionesses answered him with a merciless bite, which made his beautiful mane fly like dry grass and destroyed his eggs...

"Ah!" Young Master Zhao woke up from his nightmare and gasped for a long time before gradually coming to his senses. He touched his mouth and was shocked. Where is my beard...

Oh yeah, I don’t have a beard.

I touched my ** again and fortunately the eggs were still there.

Mr. Zhao finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off his face while leaning against the bed.

"I wonder if this dream is a good omen or a bad omen..." Mr. Zhao, the scientific man, muttered to himself. He felt dry in the mouth again and shouted outside, "Water!"

However, he did not hear any movement from Qiaoqiao and Ma Xianglan. After a while, Gao Wu came in with a teapot and poured him a cup of Zhengshan Xiaozhong black tea.

"Are they playing mahjong again?" Young Master Zhao took the teacup and took a sip, then asked depressedly.

Gao Wu shook his head and pointed at Jin Shinan's bedside table.

Zhao Hao saw an envelope on top, so he took it while drinking tea, looked at the words "Presented to Mr. Zhao by Lianli Company" on the cover, and asked casually, "Where did this company come from?"

Now, three or four years have passed since he founded Xishan Company. There are imitators in both the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, who have renamed their businesses "such and such Company".

"..." Gao Wu shook his head again. The wind was very noisy today and he found it particularly difficult to find words.

After a long while, he said in a muffled voice, "Miss Ma didn't play mahjong. She came in and put down this letter. She said she went out to play with Miss Jiang and the others, and told you not to worry."

"Worried?" Zhao Hao's eyebrows jumped in surprise. This is Nanjing City, with dozens of guards and a dozen maids following him. What is there to worry about?

Ma Xianglan didn't say it was okay, but this emphasis made him worried. He quickly took out the letter and read it in the dim light.

The first page inside was a short letter, "Zhao Lang, I see your letter. Today, my sister Mingyue and the other five have established the 'Lianli Partnership Company'. From now on, all decisions of the five of us will be made by you. I bow my head."

Then there are the signatures of the five golden flowers and the date.

"Uh, what the hell is this?" Zhao Hao looked at it over and over again, and his numb head gradually came to his senses. Then he understood the girls' intentions layer by layer.

"No way? Are you kidding me?!" Young Master Zhao's heart-wrenching screams were heard in the center of Liuyun Mountain.

"A few days ago, I was still planning for my nephew. The Nobunaga encirclement should be formed this year. I didn't expect that the Zhao Hao encirclement would come first..."

"What a sin! Whose idea was this? The little girl has no moral principles and is trying to sneak attack..."

"Everything is one-on-five. Who can stand this?"

"No wonder they asked me to take back the little bamboo. It turns out they had set an ambush for me. Isn't this just giving me a slap in the face and then giving me a sweet date?"

"Wow, isn't it said that girls of this era should follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues?"

Looking at Master Zhao rolling around in the bed, Gao Wu scratched his head. He wondered what was written in the letter that could make him suffer so much that he couldn't breathe and was talking nonsense.

Brother Gao thought about it and decided not to ask.

~~

Laomenxi is located west of Jubaomen in Nanjing, adjacent to Confucius Temple on Qinhuai River. It has been a place where dignitaries have lived since ancient times.

Jinyuan is the largest garden in Laomenxi. It was originally a villa of Duke Wei's Mansion. Later, it was bought by Mrs. Xiao, a Beijing noblewoman who wished to remain anonymous. It became part of her huge property plan to "hide a dragon in a golden house."

At this moment, Mrs. Xiao’s daughter Li Mingyue and her four partners came here from Xiaocangshan to hold the first team-building event of Lianli Company to celebrate the official establishment of the company!

"Come on, let's wish our friendship will last forever!" Li Mingyue raised her glass and the four girls toasted with her.

"We'll always be as close as a family!" Xiao Zhuzi was also very excited, not sure if it was because of the alcohol or for some other reason.

"Wrong, we are already a family." Jiang Xueying said lightly.

"Yes, we are a family now." Sister Ma smiled happily.

Xiao Zhuzi thought to himself: "They haven't even started yet..."

But how can we spoil the fun at this time? The only thing we can do is "cheers"!

After three rounds of drinks, it was getting dark outside, so Qiaoqiao started to worry: "Are we not going back?"

"Didn't we agree to stay here overnight?" Li Mingyue said as she clenched her fists, "We need to let Brother Zhao fully feel our determination!"

"Yeah." Jiang Xueying sighed and said, "Brother should have seen the letter. He must be going crazy."

"It's so scary to go back now..." Secretary Ma poured himself a glass of green plum wine, his brows relaxed and he said, "Let's wait until he calms down."

"Hey, Mr. Zhao won't get angry, right?" Xiao Zhuzi said worriedly.

"What are you afraid of? Can't the five of us coax him?" Li Mingyue smiled nonchalantly, "Let's just relax and have fun today. We'll show off our skills tomorrow and turn even the steel into something soft and flexible!"

The girls were so confused, wondering what their godmother had taught them.

"It's settled." Jiang Xueying made the final decision and no further discussion was allowed.

~~

Having said that, the five girls were all very nervous that night and no one slept well.

They admitted that they were gambling. But if you gamble, there is a possibility of losing. If you lose, the consequences will be disastrous. What if you lose everything?

I dressed neatly early in the morning and took a bus back to Xiaocangshan.

In Liuyunshan Residence, there was no sign of Zhao Hao.

"Hey, where is my brother Zhao?" Li Mingyue asked the housekeeper.

"My lady, the young master went down the mountain early in the morning and didn't say where he was going." The old woman replied hurriedly.

"Oh no..." The five of them looked at each other, thinking that this was bad, it was too much. Brother Zhao was really angry...

"We've gone too far..." Qiaoqiao was so scared that her eyes turned red.

~~

"Come here, little baby, let brother kiss you." Zhao Hao pouted and kissed the pink and tender cheek.

"Wow..." The baby in the cradle was frightened and started crying.

Hai Rui quickly snatched the child from his arms, glared at him and said, "Don't scare the child!"

"How could that be? I'm loved by everyone..." Young Master Zhao said with an unhappy look on his face.

I waited all night in the villa halfway up the mountain last night, but the Fifth Lady didn't come back. How could Master Zhao just sit there and wait for death? So he came to Hai Rui's house early to see the wedding, and also brought Li Shizhen, who was visiting the Duke of Wei's mansion, with him.

Although he became the governor, Hai Rui and his family still lived in a small courtyard on Qingshi Street. Except for a few more guards outside, there was no change in the family.

But life did get much better after all. There were more than a dozen chickens in the yard. During her confinement period, Wang could eat three bowls of brown sugar eggs a day, accompanied by millet porridge and crucian carp soup. Her breast milk was very good, otherwise the child would not be so white and plump.

Even the maidservant benefited from it, and her face became rounder. However, she was probably the only daughter of the governor in the country who didn't have a maidservant to serve her.

Li Shizhen was taking Wang's pulse. She was also an elderly mother and had suffered a serious illness before. Giving birth to a child would be very detrimental to her health.

"How is it, Doctor Li?" Hai Mu sat on the edge of the bed and asked with concern.

"Very good, you have recovered well. Don't get too tired in the next few months, just continue to take care of yourself. Also, don't have any more children in the future. It's too dangerous for you to have children when you are old." Li Shizhen withdrew his hand, looked at his concubine Han who was pregnant at the side and said, "There are twins here, who cares if they have children?"

"Yes, yes, I told her not to give birth, but she refused." Hai Mu suppressed her smile and lectured her daughter-in-law, "Did you hear me? Just fulfill your wish. You have to exercise restraint in the future."

Wang nodded with a red face, wishing she could cover herself with the quilt, thinking, can I blame myself for this? Who knew that the master would have such a second spring?

A man would not want a woman to know that he had to take medicine to do things, and Hai Rui was no exception. He would ask Hai An to boil the medicine in the government office, and he would drink it before going home. When he got home, he would pretend that he was a dead tree that had come back to life...

In short, Haimu was extremely happy. Her family had finally turned bad luck around and was thriving again. She felt that she had no regrets at all.

~~

In the front yard corridor, Haian served tea and then hurried back to the kitchen to work. Now Han couldn't cook anymore, and the old woman she hired had gone home for the New Year. Haian was the only one who could fry, stir-fry, boil and stew, and he was also responsible for serving tea in front of the kitchen, so he was very busy.

After bringing the child back to Wang, Hai Rui sat in the corridor and drank tea and talked with Zhao Hao.

"Zhongcheng has achieved a lot in the past year." Zhao Hao smiled as he drank the tea he brought with him, "Equal distribution of grain between officials and civilians, the Single Whip Law, and the cleanup of illegal land occupation, these three big things are difficult for others to accomplish, but you have accomplished them all in one year."

"Hehe..." Hai Rui smiled faintly and said, "Are you going to take this opportunity to show off again?"

"I definitely don't mean that. I'm just trying to flatter you." Zhao Hao said with a wry smile.

"Alas, there's nothing to be happy about. It's just that one has to bow his head under someone's eaves." Hai Rui waved his hands and sneered, "Do you think I don't know what those wealthy families and even the people in the government think? Just be patient and endure it. Anyway, we'll eventually get rid of the King of Hell."

He laughed at himself and said, "There are so many impeachment petitions against me in Beijing. To be honest, I didn't think I could last a full year!"

ps. I have to go to see Xi tomorrow, really. My wife's younger sister gave birth to her second child. I have to get up early and drive there tomorrow. I don't know when I will be back, so I'll take a day off.