Chapter 335 I heard that I am the best (22)
Liu Yan felt uncomfortable for a few days. She wondered how Zhou Shichu could live a better life after leaving Li Wei. Shouldn't a divorced woman be ashamed to face people and only complain at home? Why didn't Zhou Shichu seem to be in pain at all, but instead became more energetic?
Liu Yan even wanted to introduce a suitable woman to Li Wei immediately to completely cut off the possibility of Zhou Shichu getting back together with Li Wei. Her suitable candidate was Qingyue, her trusted subordinate.
Qingyue became Li Wei's wife, and Li Wei naturally became a member of her side. The child she gave birth to in the future, with the support of Li Wei, a founding hero, would surely ascend to the throne and inherit her husband's empire.
But before Liu Yan could take any action, the incident of the disaster victims occurred, so she wanted to solve this urgent issue first, and then consider Li Wei's marriage.
Zhou Shichu's food shop is doing a booming business, and Liu Yan can't forget about her. This time when she's raising funds for the disaster victims, she will naturally include her in the list so that she can bleed heavily with justification.
Who knew that Zhou Shichu would not accept the challenge at all?
On the day of the flower viewing party, Liu Yan skillfully communicated with many people and persuaded them to donate money and food to help the refugees. All the guests at the banquet were very understanding and donated a lot of money and food on the spot.
However, Liu Yan didn't know that although the guests were happy when they donated money and seemed to be very supportive, after the banquet, when they returned home, they all looked unhappy.
Liu Yan's favorability among the dignitaries in the city suddenly dropped a lot.
Well, if you force others to donate money, it would be strange if they would be really happy.
Not to mention that these guests were willing, Liu Yan, the wife of the city lord, personally came out to persuade them, how dare they not "volunteer"? After all, they still have to stay in Cuicheng. If they "don't volunteer", what if they lose their lives one day without knowing it?
These were troubled times, and they dared not leave easily. They still had to rely on Mu Yunchao's protection, so they had no choice but to donate the money, as protection fees.
Liu Yan had no idea what other people were really thinking. She was just feeling happy about the successful completion of the fundraising!
"Qingyue, how much food did you get today?" Liu Yan asked with a smile on her face after taking off her makeup and changing her clothes.
"Madam, today's guests were so generous. They raised 8,725 dan of rice alone! It's enough to feed hundreds of people for half a month... and they also asked for money. They raised more than 10,000 taels of silver. There are so many wealthy families in our Cuicheng." Qingyue said excitedly as she talked about the results.
When Liu Yan heard these figures, she couldn't help but widen her beautiful eyes and said, "I can see today's guests are so rich. I underestimated them. By the way, show me the accounts."
Qingyue handed her the account book, which recorded today's donations of money and grain. It recorded who donated what and how much, and also had personal signatures to prevent them from making promises but not acknowledging them.
Liu Yan scanned the account book and didn't see the person she was interested in. Her face changed immediately, as if she couldn't believe it. She checked again, but still didn't see the name.
She frowned and asked Qingyue, "Qingyue, did Zhou Shichu not come to the banquet today?"
"Zhou Shichu?" Qingyue thought for a while before she remembered who Zhou Shichu was. She immediately shook her head and said, "She didn't come. I didn't see her. How come she even dared to refuse your banquet, Madam?" She asked in disbelief.
After all, in her opinion, Zhou Shichu, who was divorced from Li Wei, was just an ordinary citizen, and her status was far different from that of her own wife. It was incredible that her wife felt sorry for her and invited her to the flower viewing party, but she didn't appreciate it.
"It seems that they don't care about our kindness." Liu Yan sneered, "It's just that I held this flower viewing party to help the victims in the city. Madam Zhou opened the most popular food store in the city and must have made a lot of money. How can I not do something for the refugees?"
"That's right! Could it be that she knew Madam's real intention and didn't want to pay, so she didn't come? How could she be like this? Isn't this being rich and unkind?!" Qingyue said unhappily.
"Alas, Qingyue, you have to know that Mrs. Zhou used to be a careless person. She would spend money lavishly after receiving it, only caring about her own happiness and not caring about anything else..." Liu Yan mentioned Zhou Shichu's nature in the past as if inadvertently. Although Zhou Shichu seems to have changed a lot now, if she is asked to donate money now, won't her nature be exposed? Liu Yan thought sarcastically.
"No, if she doesn't come, I will go find her myself!" Liu Yan made up her mind and said firmly, "Since she has the ability, she must help those refugees. Doing good deeds is a good thing. I can't leave her behind!" She spoke with great righteousness, as if she was really so selfless.
Qingyue was deeply moved by her master's words: "Madam is so kind. She is the one who should be pampered, but she still has to work hard for these trivial matters. What virtue does Madam Zhou have?"
So one day when Zhou Shichu was busy in his shop, he welcomed Liu Yan who came for another "secret visit".
"Madam Zhou, our Madam wants to talk to you about something. Would you mind finding a quiet place to meet her?" Qingyue walked up to Zhou Shichu who was doing the accounts and asked. She saw Zhou Shichu taking a pen and glancing at the current accounts, then quickly writing down a series of numbers as if he didn't need to think at all. She widened her eyes in shock.
As Liu Yan's right-hand man, she naturally knew how difficult it was to settle accounts. It required patience, carefulness, meticulous logical ability and accurate calculation ability. Therefore, the speed of settling and calculating an account accurately was often very slow and needed to be checked several times.
But Zhou Shichu calculated the accounts as fast as scribbling, so fast that it was dazzling. How could Qingyue not be surprised? But I have never heard of Zhou Shichu's ability? Shouldn't she be a woman who is knowledgeable but vulgar and ignorant?
But Qingyue thought again, maybe she was just scribbling? Where in the world can someone calculate so quickly? Even her master's mother, the most capable and calculating mistress of the Liu family, was not so fast at calculating. How could Zhou Shichu be better than the Liu family's parents?
Thinking of this, Qingyue immediately stopped taking Zhou Shichu's matter to heart.
When Zhou Shichu heard her words, he looked behind her and saw Liu Yan standing outside the store, who looked out of place among the people around her. He immediately smiled meaningfully, put down his brush, and said, "Okay, let's go to Fu Man Lou next door. There are quiet private rooms there."
She did not attend any flower-viewing party organized by Liu Yan, but Liu Yan came to see her in person. This matter was unusual no matter how you looked at it. Since she had come to her, Zhou Shichu was not afraid to see her.
Zhou Shichu said a few words to the people in the store and then went to Fumanlou with Liu Yan.
(End of this chapter)
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