In the county town, Su Qiuya knew that some people outside were saying bad things about Liu Yanbo's biological mother. Some people knew that Liu Yanbo's biological mother was the wife of Marquis Jingning, and some people didn't know.
Su Qiuya didn't say much. She didn't want to make things worse. She just wanted to let those people know that Liu Yanbo was not a heartless and ungrateful person at all.
Liu Yanbo studied hard for the sake of his family, and people like them could not hold him back.
The people from the third house helped with work in the county town for a few days. Su Qiuya did not let them work for free, but gave them money.
Liu Yanyuan and his wife didn't plan to take it. They were learning cooking from the second wife, so how could they ask for more?
"You guys are having a hard time too, so don't be polite to us." Su Qiuya said, "We're doing better here. Take it and have a good New Year."
"Thank you very much." Feng Guanjing took the money.
"After you go back, if you have any problems, come to us." Su Qiuya said, "We are all family."
Su Qiuya thought that her family should get closer to the third wife. If someone really said something about the second wife, the second wife would have relatives, because the third wife had a good relationship with the second wife.
"When your second brother passes the imperial examination, we will go to the provincial capital." Su Qiuya said with a smile, "Look, if you work hard, you can follow us in the future. After we arrive in the provincial capital, we will return to the capital."
"We can't make that much." Feng Guanjing knew this clearly.
"That's not a big deal." Su Qiuya said, "If we really make some money, we can let you use the shop for free for a few years if we have a vacant space."
Su Qiuya was hanging a carrot in front of the third room. "It's nothing now."
"We'll have them in the future." Feng Guanjing heard Su Qiuya say this, and of course she hoped that the third room would be fine.
Aunt Chai also held Aunt Qing's hand and said a lot of good things about her. Aunt Chai felt that Aunt Qing was much better than Liu's mother, and they were people from the same camp.
After the third family returned to town, they didn't open their business immediately. It happened to be Chinese New Year, and they were busy, so they preferred to cook a table of delicious food at home rather than go to a small shop.
After Aunt Chai came back, she often said bad things about the first wife.
"From now on, you should get closer to the second wife." Aunt Chai said something bad about the first wife, but she didn't dare to continue, fearing that something might go wrong and that others would hear it. "Your second sister-in-law is also very strong."
Aunt Chai thought that only a few women would dare to go to the academy and say those words, and only Su Qiuya would dare to do that.
She had underestimated Su Qiuya in the past, so they should just follow Su Qiuya and do more things as long as they could make money.
Aunt Chai thought that if the first wife didn't take them, the second wife would, and they didn't really need the first wife's people to take them out to play. The second wife was enough, she knew how to make money, the first wife's second wife farmed, and there was a cosmetics shop that needed to be stocked.
Some of the things Liu Yulian sells are also made in places like the wool workshop under Liu Yulian.
If they went to purchase goods, it would definitely cost a lot of money, which would be equivalent to making money for Liu Yulian. They were not happy with that, and even if other people went to the big house to purchase goods, they would not go.
"The eldest wife is unreliable." said Aunt Chai.
Two days before the Lunar New Year, He Xiyuan and Liu Yanjing returned. Last year, they had just joined the army and were unfamiliar with the terrain, so they didn't stay in the barracks during the Lunar New Year holiday. They weren't in a rush to establish themselves, and this year, the border was quiet, so they returned for the Lunar New Year.
General Xu did not let many people go back to celebrate the New Year. Just like in previous years, he had to keep more people to prevent the enemy from attacking at this time.
This year, when He Xiyuan and his friends came back, Liu Yulian and the others didn't have to kill chickens and ducks themselves, as the servants did it.
When Liu Yulian saw He Xiyuan coming, she didn't rush to approach him. Instead, He Xiyuan walked over quickly.
"I'm back." He Xiyuan said with a smile. He woke up early this morning and was afraid that he had left something behind.
Now that he had seen Sister Lian, He Xiyuan was very happy, with a smile between his eyebrows.
"Okay." Liu Yulian nodded. "Is it cold? The wind is so strong outside. Let's go inside and have some rest and some hot tea."
Liu Yulian had already asked people to prepare cakes and tea and was waiting for them to come back.
The family knew early on that He Xiyuan and Liu Yanjing would be back in the next two days, so they prepared a lot of things at home.
Liu Yulian looked at He Xiyuan and thought that the once fair and tender little puppy had now become a tough guy.
"I'll go change into my outer clothes." He Xiyuan said, "It's cold out there."
He Xiyuan was afraid that the cold air would hurt Liu Yulian, so he didn't dare to get too close to her.
"That's fine." Liu Yulian said, "There's hot water, and the clothes are ready."
"wait……"
"Hurry up." Before He Xiyuan could finish his words, Liu Yanjing said, "Don't always stand here. If you keep talking, it will be enough time to change clothes."
Seeing them being so affectionate, Liu Yanjing couldn't bear it any longer. They should go do something else instead of standing outside. Don't these people feel it's cold outside?
"I'll go right away." He Xiyuan felt a little disappointed. Before he could finish his words, his future uncle interrupted him.
"Go ahead." Liu Yanjing said. He was not holding his little daughter either, and he also had to change his clothes first.
Seeing this, Liu Yulian chuckled and simply went into the house first.
"They've just come back from outside, let them rest for a while." Liu's mother said, "The house is warm and the charcoal is burning."
"Go change clothes." Liu Yulian said.
"That's fine," said Liu's mother. "Go see if the lamb stew in the kitchen is ready."
Mother Liu asked the maidservant beside her to go to the kitchen and take a look. When the weather is cold, eat some stewed mutton to warm the body.
"The cornmeal was ground very finely, and we made corn steamed buns, white flour steamed buns, and rice." Liu Yulian had already checked the kitchen. "There are also vegetables, enough to eat."
Chicken soup and other dishes were stewed in the kitchen. The chefs naturally cooked the dishes carefully after receiving instructions from the host.
A few days ago, Liu's mother gave the buyers some extra money so that they could buy more vegetables during this period.
"I see you really like corn steamed buns." This was not the first time that Liu's mother had seen corn steamed buns on the dining table. Fortunately, the corn steamed buns at home tasted pretty good, unlike the bad ones they had eaten on the road of exile.
"It's better to eat some whole grains." Liu Yulian prefers to eat some whole grains, which can promote digestion. "See what they like to eat."
"As long as it's edible, there's nothing to be picky about." said Liu's mother.
They couldn't be picky on the road of exile, and they were happy to have something to eat. Since they were well off at home, they didn't think they had to eat very fine food.
"Don't you want big brother to eat better?" Liu Yulian asked jokingly.
"There are so many things in the kitchen, isn't that good enough?" Liu's mother thought it was pretty good, where could there be so many things.
Other families don’t have so much food. Liu’s mother thought that she had a business at home, otherwise, even if they were from a marquis’s family, they would not be able to eat those things.
When Princess Zhaoyang learned that Liu Yanjing had returned, she did not rush over.
When talents come back, they must rest.
The Liu family also asked her to come over to celebrate the New Year and have dinner together.
Princess Zhaoyang naturally had no need to rush to see Liu Yanjing.
After the emperor granted their marriage, Princess Zhaoyang and Liu Yanjing had not met yet.
After Liu Yanjing washed up, he went to the study to see his father.
Liu's father inquired about Liu Yanjing's situation in the military camp and was relieved to learn that there wasn't much trouble on the border. He wanted his son to achieve great things, but he also didn't want constant wars on the border, as wars always bring casualties.
"In a year or so, I should be able to return to Beijing," Father Liu said, "and then you can go back with me."
By then, no matter how Liu Yanjing fared in the military camp, he would always be able to get an official position in the capital. Before the Liu family was confiscated and exiled, Liu Yanjing originally worked in the patrol camp.
Father Liu knew that the tribesmen were so quiet because they had discovered their grasslands were valuable. They could earn a lot of money from selling wool, which could buy them plenty of food, so they certainly had no intention of attacking Daliang.
In this way, even if Liu Yanjing did not establish any merits on the battlefield, the emperor would definitely think that the Liu family was good.
Liu Yulian opened a wool workshop and made her wool yarn production methods public, allowing more merchants to purchase wool. If multiple merchants were involved, the price wouldn't be determined by just one family, and merchants wouldn't be able to arbitrarily lower the price. Even if several merchants banded together to negotiate a price, the court wouldn't offer a low price.
The emperor has ordered people to set up wool workshops. After the court set up wool workshops, it can at least guarantee the minimum purchase price of wool, so as not to push the price down too much or over-speculate the price of wool.
If other merchants wanted to buy wool at a high price, the court would not stop them. The main purpose of the court's wool workshops was not to sell wool yarn, but to stabilize those tribes by purchasing wool and reduce unnecessary wars.
With fewer wars, it would be difficult for Liu Yanjing to quickly climb the ladder by building military industry. Besides, his father had his title restored, and Liu Yanjing was the heir to the Jingning Marquisate. Liu Yanjing had other options and didn't have to fight to the death on the border.
"Yes." Liu Yanjing replied. "We'll go back together when the time comes."
"After the Chinese New Year, you and Princess Zhaoyang should get married early, in February," Father Liu said. "Princess Zhaoyang has been coming here quite often these days."
Father Liu didn't say anything about Princess Zhaoyang. He was a man, so how could he say that? He just wanted his son and Princess Zhaoyang to live a good life and have another child in the future.
"Son, I understand." Liu Yanjing didn't miss Da Huo. Da Huo divorced him when the Liu family was in crisis, and he would always remember this.
"Don't think about the past anymore." Father Liu patted Liu Yanjing's shoulder gently.
Father Liu doesn't want his son to be thinking about the Da Huo family, because the Da Huo family is not that good.
"It's in the past." Liu Yanjing said.
In the capital, Lord Ouyang did not take Mrs. Huo back, and since she was a daughter who married out, Lord Huo did not let her stay in the mansion all the time.
Mrs. Huo went back by herself, and Old Madam Ouyang did not go to pick her up.
Lord Ouyang did not go to pick up Mrs. Huo, nor did he want Old Lady Ouyang to go. Old Lady Ouyang originally wanted to go, but on second thought she did not go.
Old Madam Ouyang didn't like being pressured by her daughter-in-law. Mrs. Huo clearly didn't take her mother-in-law seriously. If she bowed her head again, she would be even more miserable in this family in the future.
So Old Madam Ouyang did not go to pick up Mrs. Huo, but just waited.
Mrs. Huo was furious and frustrated. Her family urged her to return home quickly, but her father didn't talk about her husband, only about her. She didn't think she had done anything wrong; her stepson and stepdaughter weren't her biological children.
In her previous life, her biological children were not so kind to her, but they were very good to Liu Yulian.
Every time Mrs. Huo thought of this, she felt very bad.
"Where are you spending the New Year?" Mrs. Huo asked Lord Ouyang.
They talked behind closed doors, as Mrs. Huo didn't want to be laughed at by others.
"You are pregnant, so it's not advisable for you to rest too late." Lord Ouyang replied, "I will go over after I have dinner with you."
Lord Ouyang thought that this was already very good to the Da Huo family. If it weren't for the Da Huo family, he wouldn't have to run around.
When Mrs. Huo heard this, her face darkened.
"How early do you want me to eat?" asked Mrs. Huo.
"If you want, we can eat later," Lord Ouyang said. "I'll go over when we finish eating here. You're pregnant, so don't I have to take care of you first?"
Lord Ouyang scoffed, saying that he had done something wrong and that he had listened to his mother and married Da Huo, so he would have to bear all this. Lord Ouyang couldn't just abandon Da Huo, so he still had to take care of his pregnant wife.
"You..." Mrs. Huo was very angry. "Oh my."
Mrs. Huo had a stomachache, so Lord Ouyang quickly asked her to lie down and then sent someone to call a doctor.
After the doctor took Madam Huo's pulse, he said she was experiencing a miscarriage and advised her to rest in bed and avoid traveling for a while. Madam Huo was also in a bad mood, so the doctor instructed Master Ouyang to take care of the pregnant woman.
The doctor knew something about the Ouyang family. Mrs. Huo was too troublesome. It was a pity that Lord Ouyang had to marry such a wife. To say that Lord Ouyang was pitiful was not true. At least Lord Ouyang became the son-in-law of the Bo Mansion.
It was almost the New Year, but Mrs. Huo had a miscarriage and was lying in bed.
Mrs. Huo felt sorry for her daughter. When she came to see her daughter, she spoke harshly to Lord Ouyang.
"She is a double, can't you be more considerate of her?" Mrs. Huo said.
"So my son-in-law will spend the New Year with her, and then go spend time with our two children later." Lord Ouyang said, "If I tell her, she will be unhappy. If I hide it from her, she will also be angry."
"..." Mrs. Huo was helpless. Her daughter's temper was getting worse and worse, and she was becoming more and more stingy.
Mrs. Huo thought that if she changed her son-in-law, it might be better. She shouldn't have let her daughter marry Lord Ouyang in the first place. Her daughter wanted to marry the illegitimate son of the Bo family as her legal wife...
Alas, there are also bad things about that.
Mrs. Huo thought that her daughter's temper was the best part. Fortunately, her daughter was from an uncle's family. Old Madam Ouyang didn't dare to say anything, and Lord Ouyang had to be patient. Although Lord Ouyang often visited his two children, it was because they forced him to do so.
"Can't you wait until she gives birth before going over?" Mrs. Huo asked.
"I'm afraid it won't work." Lord Ouyang said directly, "Madam Bo should know that without your care, the slave will bully the master. Who would know?"
It was impossible for Lord Ouyang not to visit his two children. If he agreed, these people would say that he would wait until the eldest Huo's child was older. After a long time, would they think that he would pay more attention to the eldest Huo's child and ignore the first two children?
"..." Mrs. Huo finally understood that this person was simply unwilling to compromise.
Mrs. Huo originally let the eldest Huo marry Lord Ouyang, thinking that the Ouyang family would be easier to control and her daughter would not be wronged if she married into the family. She did not expect her daughter to dislike her stepchildren so much. Mrs. Huo knew that her daughter's life was so miserable because of her daughter's fault.
"Then you should stop saying those things in front of her," said Mrs. Huo.
"You should know your daughter, Madam Bo." Lord Ouyang did not call Madam Huo mother-in-law. This mother-in-law did not even think about their good life.
Every time Lord Ouyang saw his mother-in-law, she would always criticize the Ouyang family and never ask Mrs. Huo to be kinder. Lord Ouyang found it ridiculous. Mrs. Huo was so cruel, how could he be kind to her?
This time, Madam Huo discovered the problem with Lord Ouyang's address, "What is Madam Bo?"
"Hasn't that what you've always believed?" Lord Ouyang said, "I'm just a small Imperial College official."
“…” Mrs. Huo watched Lord Ouyang leave, and she knew that her son-in-law was angry.
Mrs. Huo had no choice but to see her daughter first.
"Mother." Mrs. Huo was lying on the bed. She regretted marrying Lord Ouyang, but she could not divorce him.
"Take good care of him," said Mrs. Huo, "and live a good life. I have already told my son-in-law."
"I heard everything." Mrs. Huo said, tears dripping from the corners of her eyes. She didn't know how she had lived like this.
At first, she also wanted to live a good life, but who could have known that the Liu family would rise again. What's wrong with her not liking her stepson and stepdaughter? She is the daughter of a wealthy family, and her husband is of a lower status. Why can't she think about her own children? Why should she be so good to her stepson and stepdaughter?
Mrs. Huo thought about how good Liu Yanjing had been to her. She had never been bullied since she married into the Marquis's mansion. Sometimes, when she was angry and went back to her parents' home, Liu Yanjing would take her back and give her face.
As for Lord Ouyang, he is obviously just a chief academic officer of the Imperial College.
Da Huo was just like that when she was getting along with Lord Ouyang. She forgot that Lord Ouyang had once asked her if she wanted to divorce. When the Liu family was getting along again, and Da Huo and Lord Ouyang were married for a few days, Da Huo did not choose to divorce.
"I am not in his heart at all." Da Huo said. Her rebirth seemed very ridiculous.
"Don't be angry, everything will be fine after the baby is born." Mrs. Huo could only say this, "When the time comes, let him see the baby more often. How can he not feel sorry for his own child?"
Mrs. Huo was afraid that Lord Ouyang would still care about the other two children and not care about the eldest Huo's child at all. She could only hope that her daughter would have a son instead of a daughter.
When word spread that Da Huo was confined to her bed due to a miscarriage, none of her sisters wanted to visit her. Her sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law all thought she was too much of a troublemaker.
When Mrs. Huo returned home, Uncle Huo asked a few questions.
"We shouldn't have divorced in the first place." Uncle Huo sighed. If the eldest daughter hadn't divorced, she wouldn't have lived such a miserable life. Not every man can tolerate a woman's mischief.
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