Su Qiuya didn't give Qing Yi Niang face. Instead of buying a maid, she bought a nanny. No matter how unhappy Qing Yi Niang was, she couldn't say Su Qiuya was unfilial.
In the shop, Aunt Qing looked at Su Qiuya, feeling upset, and simply left, not wanting to stay in the shop any longer. If she stayed in the shop any longer, she would probably start arguing with Su Qiuya soon.
A child without a biological mother, a woman who lives under the care of a stepmother, is not a simple woman.
Aunt Qing now regretted letting Su Qiuya marry into the family. Su Qiuya was the one who instigated Liu Yanbo into doing all sorts of things. When they separated from the eldest wife's family, Su Qiuya was also behind it.
Su Qiuya didn't know what Qing Yi Niang was thinking. If she knew, she would be speechless. She had encouraged Liu Yanbo to separate from the eldest wife in the first place because Qing Yi Niang and Liu Yanbo thought the eldest wife was not a good wife. Su Qiuya had received misinformation from these two people, and of course she didn't want to support someone who wasn't related to her by blood.
If Su Qiuya knew a little more, she would have been more patient. As long as she had been more patient and didn't talk about splitting up the family, then they could still be staying in the Marquis' Mansion.
But this incident has passed, and Su Qiuya can't always think about it. They can't always think about what they should do, it's useless.
Su Qiuya did not ask Aunt Qing to buy a maid, she put down what she was doing and went to buy a maid herself.
After buying a maid, Su Qiuya told her what to do in the future.
"You have to take care of my mother-in-law more." Su Qiuya brought the mother-in-law back to the shop, "You also have to help with some things in the shop, such as serving tea and water to customers. As long as you do a good job, you will definitely get your monthly salary."
"Yes." This old woman is a capable and skillful person. She doesn't want to be sold again, so she will naturally work harder.
In Shiyuan Village, Liu Yanqing cooked a few bird eggs for Lin Xiaowan.
"Did he go to the river?" Lin Xiaowan asked, "Or to the mountain?"
"We went to the river." Liu Yanqing said.
"Stay away from the river." Lin Xiaowan knew that someone had fallen into the river and drowned a while ago. She didn't want Liu Yanqing to run over there aimlessly. He should pay attention to safety and not run to the river stupidly.
Some rivers appear shallow, but no one can guarantee that there are no deep water areas in the river.
"It's right by the river." Liu Yanqing didn't dare to go down to the river casually. "I'm afraid of death. I have to enjoy the good life and I can't let anything go wrong."
Liu Yanqing basically never went into the river. He just stayed by the river. If there happened to be a nest of bird eggs by the river, he would take the eggs home.
"Eat more to replenish your body." Liu Yanqing looked at Lin Xiaowan's belly and waited for the baby to be born. Then he could eat more of these things instead of leaving them for his wife.
He really sacrificed too much for this child.
Liu Yanqing only hopes that the child born by Lin Xiaowan can look a bit like him, so that he can teach the child more in the future, and the child will definitely be as smart as him.
"You eat it." Lin Xiaowan ate two bird eggs and stopped eating. "I'll take some money to buy a fish later. I'm craving spicy and sour fish."
Lin Xiaowan was willing to spend money on herself, mainly for the baby in her belly. She had to eat more so that she could take good care of the baby in her belly.
"Okay, no problem." Liu Yanqing said. Anyway, his wife couldn't eat so much by herself, so he and Aunt Zhao could eat it too.
"By the way, you should also go to the fields and take a look." Lin Xiaowan said, "Don't let me get pregnant and you stop caring about the farm work."
Lin Xiaowan didn't want the fields to be abandoned. Even if they hired people to work on them, they should keep an eye on them.
"Everyone's watching," Liu Yanqing said quickly. This was a matter of money. If those people didn't do their job well and the family's harvest was small, then they would lose a lot of money.
Liu Yanqing thought it was too hard for them to make money now. If they made less money, his pocket money would also be less. In order to protect his pocket money, he had to let those people work harder and do things better.
If those people can't do things well, what should he do in the future?
Liu Yanqing thought that after Lin Xiaowan gave birth to the child, she would still have to give the child pocket money, so the pocket money Lin Xiaowan gave him might be even better. He couldn't argue with the child, so at most he could trick the child into leaving the money with him so that she wouldn't lose it.
As for the child asking him for money in the future, Liu Yanqing thought that this was not a problem at all. How could a child know how to count? His child definitely didn't know the amount, so he could change it at will.
In fact, it is not impossible to have more children. Liu Yanqing thought that each child would give him one penny, and if he had two or three more children, he would have a few more pennies. At five pennies per pound of meat, he would be able to buy a lot of meat over time.
Lin Xiaowan had no idea what Liu Yanqing was thinking. She just thought he was okay. If she knew what Liu Yanqing was thinking, she would definitely be furious.
"That's good." Lin Xiaowan said, "We need to pay those people when it's time to do so. We can't delay it."
"The money is all with you, what can I delay?" Liu Yanqing muttered.
Liu Yanqing also wanted to manage the money, but Lin Xiaowan had no intention of letting him manage the money. Even though Lin Xiaowan was pregnant, she could still do a lot of things.
This gave Liu Yanqing a headache. Couldn't Lin Xiaowan be a little gentler? Could Lin Xiaowan try to rely on him a little more? Then he could hide more private money.
“…” Lin Xiaowan thought she was wrong. She shouldn’t have said this in front of Liu Yanqing.
Liu Yulian's wool mill in the northwest was quite good. The manager of the wool mill had people go out to collect wool, and the prices varied according to the quality of the wool. In addition to Liu Yulian's wool mill, there were other wool mills that collected wool, and even merchants went to those tribes to collect wool.
However, when the caravan went to the tribe to collect wool, if they collected too much wool, it would be easy to get into danger.
There are many tribes on the grassland, and there are also many internal disputes.
Fortunately, there was a place in the northwest where the two sides could exchange goods, and some tribes brought wool here. The people in the tribe were not stupid, and some of them raised the price, but when they raised it to a certain level, no one asked any more questions.
After a few rounds of exchanges, both sides knew the approximate price of wool and where the bottom line was.
The people in the tribe were also very happy. It turned out that some wool could be sold at a very high price. The wool that originally cost one or two cents could now be sold for seven or eight cents, and some could even be sold for more than ten cents.
This money is pretty easy to make.
In fact, money is not that easy to make, it’s just easier than before, so these people have such an idea.
"Do you want more? I'll have it delivered in a few days."
"Yes, yes, if you bring it to me, I'll pay you."
"You have to get better wool, no matter how high the price is."
…
The merchants had already seen high prices for wool, and some of them had already made a fortune. Many things were divided into different grades, some for ordinary people and some for the wealthy.
As for wool, they can sell it to different people depending on the amount of wool contained in the yarn.
Merchants thought wool was a good commodity, but they hadn't known its benefits before. Once they knew its benefits, they bought more wool to make money. Didn't they see that the imperial court also bought wool?
Some soldiers on the frontiers are now wearing woolen clothes. They used to wear cotton clothes, but now they wear woolen clothes. The soldiers on the frontiers can also dress better, not as lightly as before.
The court was willing to spend money on these soldiers. The emperor believed that if the soldiers were not well fed and clothed, how could they possibly work hard for the court? The emperor treated the soldiers better, which would make them more loyal to the court.
The Xu family and General Xu saw the changes taking place in the northwest. In just over a year, a lot had changed. The main reason was that the people had discovered that what had once been waste had become treasure. Grain production had increased, and cotton and other products were also available. Now that they were better fed and clothed, they had fewer demands.
The people’s idea is very simple, that is to have enough food and warm clothing.
Those people have all lived through hard times and know how hard it is to have the good life we have today.
"People outside have started collecting wool again." General Xu didn't care about these things. The woolen clothes worn by the soldiers in the barracks were not made by General Xu, but were arranged by a special department of the court.
When the soldiers were not training, they also cultivated fields, mainly growing grain crops and cotton.
General Xu had his soldiers reclaim a lot of wasteland, which allowed them to produce more food. Combined with the food allocated by the court, the soldiers were able to eat more. As a military commander, General Xu naturally wanted his soldiers to eat a fuller meal in the afternoon.
Only when the soldiers under your command are well fed and warmly clothed can they be stronger.
"Yes," said Madam Xu, "Besides wool, there are many other things. They make feather dusters out of chicken feathers. Those people are very clever."
Mrs. Xu saw some things being sold on the street. Those people thought that wool could be made into wool yarn, so what about other things? Those people began to study how to make things with other things, but not everything is suitable for making clothes. Some things can be made into other things.
The feather duster itself has been owned for many years.
Madam Xu casually said, "Rongning and the others have returned to the capital... but there should still be some new things here. It will take some time for them to be delivered."
Princess Rongning stayed in the capital, so the things she researched must be sold in the capital first. Those of them who were far away from the capital could only wait.
"It's not an important thing, it's okay to wait a while." General Xu knew that Princess Rongning could not stay in the northwest forever.
There was no way the emperor would allow Princess Rongning to stay in the northwest forever. The emperor naturally wanted to be the first to see the good things Princess Rongning had developed. Others were not emperors, and their status was not as high, so how could they enjoy those things faster than the emperor?
General Xu understood this point. Good things should be in the capital. It's not that there are no good things in other places, it's just that they are encountered later.
"That's right." Mrs. Xu thought so too.
"Is it time for my son to get engaged?" General Xu asked. "Lord Cen asked me a few questions."
"It's coming soon," Madam Xu said. "Forget about the Cen family's daughter. You should know the rumors about them. Those rumors about Princess Rongning were spread by the Cen family. If we marry a girl like that to our son, our family will be doomed."
Mrs. Xu looked down on the girl from the Cen family, and she didn't want her husband to go and agree to the Cen family's proposal that the two families would get engaged.
Impossible!
Madam Xu would never let her son marry a girl from the Cen family. "Back in the capital... the virtuous concubine was demoted long ago, and the third prince's concubine was even sent to live in a manor. The Cen family won't be around for long, and their daughters all have issues."
Despite the Cen family's daughter's good reputation in the capital, Madam Xu believed that she had stepped on others to get ahead, and she didn't dare to marry such a Cen family girl. She still wanted a simple daughter-in-law who knew how to manage the household. Only in that way could the family live more comfortably.
"I didn't agree," General Xu said. "The girls in their family really aren't that good. Our son might not be able to stand a girl from the Cen family."
General Xu did not agree to it casually. Just because he was a good military general did not mean he did not know how to think. It was impossible for him to get his son engaged so casually.
The Cen family in the northwest, Lord Cen was helpless. He had spoken very frankly to General Xu, but General Xu still did not intend to let his son get engaged to the Cen family's daughter. Lord Cen knew that General Xu really did not have this intention and did not want the Cen family's daughter to marry into the Cen family.
Lord Cen had no intention of letting his daughter return to Beijing. Even if she did, she might not marry into a good family. However, back in the northwest, it would be difficult for them to find a suitable marriage for their daughter, as those people knew about the Cen family's daughter's actions in the northwest.
"General Xu refused." Lord Cen originally thought that Mrs. Xu was unwilling, but that was fine, as men had the final say in family matters. However, since General Xu did not agree, Lord Cen did not want to say anything more.
"Why did they refuse?" Mrs. Cen was dissatisfied. "Our daughter is so good, why did they..."
"What's good about that? You know how bad my daughter's reputation is outside." Lord Cen frowned. "All the things you did before have been exposed. They all want nothing to do with you anymore. If you were fine, I wouldn't have done this."
Lord Cen thought this was quite shameful. In the past, many people would want to marry the Cen family girl. But now, these people are avoiding the Cen family girl.
Even though this is the northwest, where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, those people still didn't like the girl from the Cen family who came from the capital.
Some people think that girls from the capital are difficult to serve, some people think that Miss Cen has a bad character... Anyway, most people don’t want to let the girl from the Cen family marry into the family.
The reason why Lord Cen was thinking about the Xu family was that if his daughter married General Xu's son, then his daughter would have a chance to return to Beijing. If his daughter married the children of some other officials in the northwest, then his daughter might not have the opportunity to return to Beijing in the future.
Not everyone can move up, and not everyone can return to Beijing.
"..." Madam Cen didn't want to talk. It wasn't her fault. She had never imagined things would turn out like this. If she had known things would turn out like this, she would never have done those things, or rather, she would have done them more secretly.
Who knew that people in the northwest are so different from those in the capital, and the people here are so tough.
In the capital, Mr. Cen received a letter from his youngest son, saying that his situation in the northwest was not so good. He had no plans to return to the capital, at least not in the short term. This was also good, as his return would be of no use.
Madam Cen said, "Marquis Jingning's Mansion hasn't even hosted a banquet yet, and there are already people eager to congratulate them."
"Normal." Old Master Cen said, those people are opportunists. The Jingning Marquis' Mansion is so good, and Princess Rongning is a first-rank official. Those people are just clinging to Princess Rongning.
Old Master Cen felt that his own family wasn't that good, but he didn't blame the people in Jingning Marquis' Mansion. A thousand-mile dike is destroyed by a single ant. The Cen family itself had its own problems. The Jingning Marquis' Mansion and the Cen family didn't originally have a very good relationship, and there wasn't a huge conflict between the two sides.
Once upon a time, those people praised the Cen family and relied on the Cen family.
Now, those people are eyeing the Jingning Marquis Mansion.
However, the Jingning Marquisate would never allow those people to cling to it. Those people had not helped the Jingning Marquisate much in the past, and the Jingning Marquisate would not help them much now. At most, they would just give them face, that's all. If they helped, it would also be a matter of interest.
Old Master Cen understood this, but he also knew that it was impossible for the people from the Jingning Marquisate to help the Cen family or have any business dealings with the Cen family.
The people in the Jingning Marquis' Mansion didn't care about the Cen family. After Madam Qin had finished her meal, she continued to sit in the Jingning Marquis' Mansion for a while.
Liu's mother had a lot to say to Madam Qin, and Liu Yulian just sat aside and ran out in the middle. Liu Yulian hadn't married yet, so some of the conversation was not suitable for her to hear, so she didn't stay in the room.
"My little sister is still quite lively." said Mrs. Qin.
"Yes." Liu's mother said, "She is still working hard to do those things, which is very good."
After thinking about her children, Liu Yulian was the most powerful one. If it weren't for this daughter, she wouldn't be able to have the life she has now.
"She's just not good at handling these interpersonal relationships." Liu's mother was a little worried. She sometimes felt that her little daughter was too indifferent.
The younger daughter doesn't care what others think of her, nor does she get hysterical and argue with others.
Just like the matter of Mrs. Mei, the younger daughter's expression was rather indifferent. Was she too lazy to argue with Mrs. Mei, or was she afraid of embarrassing herself as a mother?
Liu's mother thought it was because she had acted too virtuous and generous in the past, and her daughter had seen what she did and how she endured. So her younger daughter would also be more tolerant, because she didn't want to embarrass her.
"It's not easy for women." Liu's mother said. She was taught the Three Obediences and Four Virtues since she was a child. Men could have three wives and four concubines. As the wife, she had to manage the harem well and be tolerant and generous enough.
Mother Liu hadn't felt anything was wrong before, but today, when she saw her little daughter's attitude towards Mrs. Mei, she felt that her little daughter was too tolerant of Mrs. Mei.
In reality, Liu Yulian didn't want to tolerate Madam Mei, she just didn't want to argue with her. Arguing with someone like Madam Mei would only make her cling to her. If Liu Yulian wanted to argue, she would simply not give Madam Mei an official position or any convenience.
What’s the use of just looking at the backyard? We still have to look at other methods.
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