The fool who was originally standing behind Ning Wu trembled with fear when he heard Jiang Yuwei's roar. Taking advantage of the fact that Jiang Yuwei hadn't caught him, he quickly ran from the backyard to the frontyard and hid behind Ning Huaizhi.
Ning Huaizhi frowned, looking at the filthy, foolish man with a look of disgust, and said:
"Stay away from me, you're dirty."
Upon hearing this, the fool grinned and immediately went forward to hug Ning Huaizhi. Jiang Yuwei, who had chased him from the backyard to the front yard, was so angry at the sight that the veins on her forehead bulged.
"Idiot, get up and take a shower, you're not getting any dinner tonight!"
Ning Huaizhi, his head peeking out from under the idiot's tight embrace, said helplessly:
"Wife, I need to take a bath now. Let Ning Zhao boil some water so the three of us can take a bath together. By the way, it seems that the idiot only has this one set of clothes. Why don't you find him another set of mine to change into?"
Jiang Yuwei pinched her brow and nodded helplessly, saying:
"That's right, the idiot doesn't have any clean clothes yet. I bought some fabric in town last time and finished making your clothes, but I still have some left. I'll go inside and sew him some clothes in a bit. You two go and get ready to take a bath. Next time I go to town, I'll buy some more fabric and make you some cool clothes for summer."
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she went inside to find fabric. After searching through the cabinets, she finally found a piece of red floral fabric that Ning Wan had left behind and a piece of gray fabric that Ning Huaizhi had left behind. Jiang Yuwei compared the two pieces of fabric and found that they looked rather strange together. She could only make one piece into a top and the other into trousers.
Jiang Yuwei thought that since there wasn't much floral fabric, she could just make him a pair of capri pants. Anyway, it's hot in the summer, and although it would look a bit out of place, it would be cool. After all, he's just a fool and doesn't know what's beautiful or ugly, so she could just make do with whatever she could find.
As Jiang Yuwei thought this, her hands kept moving. Fortunately, Da Ya helped with cooking in the courtyard, so she could focus on doing something without distraction. Just as Ning Huaizhi came out with Ning Zhao and the fool after taking a bath, Jiang Yuwei finished making the clothes.
"Ning Zhao, come in and take the clothes to the side room for the idiot to wear."
Jiang Yuwei called out towards the outside of the courtyard.
Ning Zhao heard Jiang Yuwei call him and ran into the house. He took the clothes and then ran towards the side room.
"Here, wear it. My mother sewed it for you by hand!"
Ning Zhao handed the clothes to the fool.
The fool took it casually, unfolded it, and frowned slightly:
"It's too ugly, I won't wear it."
Ning Zhao looked at the clothes in the fool's hands and was somewhat surprised. This combination was a bit too... too strange... However, Ning Zhao always followed Jiang Yuwei's lead, and anything his mother made was good, so he said:
“If you don’t wear clothes, you’ll be naked, and you can’t eat in the yard naked.”
The fool looked at Ning Zhao, then at the clothes in his hand, and gritted his teeth as if he had made up his mind to put on the clothes.
Ning Zhao looked at the tall, mentally challenged man in front of him, dressed in a rather fitted outfit—a gray top and floral pants. Hmm, he was quite recognizable. He wanted to laugh but gritted his teeth and held it in, simply turning his head away from the man and saying:
"Come out and eat quickly."
After saying that, he ran to the center of the yard, clutched his stomach, and burst into laughter.
Ning Huaizhi was puzzled as to what Ning Zhao was laughing at, but when he looked up, he saw the fool following Ning Zhao out of the room. His eyes widened and he couldn't help but laugh as well.
The simpleton tilted his head and looked at the father and son, asking in confusion:
"What are you laughing at?"
Jiang Yuwei also came out of the house at this moment. Seeing the fool's outfit, she immediately felt a little sorry for him, so she suppressed a laugh and replied:
"I made their favorite dishes tonight, and they're smiling happily like this."
Ning Zhao clutched her stomach and laughed:
"Mmm, let's eat! I'm starving!"
After everyone was seated, Jiang Yuwei served Ning Huaizhi a bowl of rice and said:
“Huaizhi, the shop I went to see today is priced at 280 taels. It’s the perfect size, and it has a backyard that can be used as a storeroom. If you want to keep someone in the shop, there’s also room for someone to sleep. The main thing is that the shop is on North Street, close to the academy. We can take it over and use it to sell paper.”
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she picked up a piece of meat and put it into Ning Daya's bowl, gesturing for her to eat more meat, and continued:
“Our paper mill has accumulated some old customers. Many customers say that sometimes when they urgently need paper, they can’t find us and can only buy it from Ge’s Paper Shop to tide them over. If we have a shop in Ping’an Town in the future, we can better maintain these old customers and develop more new customers.”
Ning Huaizhi listened to Jiang Yuwei while eating, and nodded in agreement:
“You’re right. Sooner or later we’ll need to have a shop in Ping’an Town, otherwise it’s really inconvenient.”
Ning Zhao put down his chopsticks and said after hearing this:
"Mother, are you talking about Old Cao's shop?"
Jiang Yuwei nodded.
Ning Zhao pondered for a moment and said:
"Old Cao is a good man. When we go to his shop to buy things, he doesn't overcharge. If we buy a lot, he often gives us a discount."
Jiang Yuwei looked at Ning Zhao and asked:
"Mother didn't pay attention to this shop before. What does Old Cao sell?"
Ning Zhao smiled and said:
"We'll just sell stationery and other miscellaneous goods. Anyway, we're planning to take over the business and sell paper. Maybe Old Cao's customers will become our customers too."
Jiang Yuwei said approvingly:
“Zhao’er is right. I’ll bring the money and talk to Old Cao again tomorrow.”
Ning Huaizhi said with concern:
"Yuwei, do we have enough money?"
Jiang Yuwei shook her head:
“It’s not enough right now, but I’ll take you to Doctor Lin’s tomorrow to treat your leg. I still have some medicinal herbs that I collected last time I went into the mountains. We can take them to the pharmacy and sell them to get some money. We can also negotiate the price with Old Cao when we get there. We can buy the shop, but we’ll have to live frugally for a while.”
Ning Huaizhi placed a piece of meat in Jiang Yuwei's bowl and smiled:
“It’s okay to be a little strapped for cash. We’ve all been through tough times. You’ve managed this family very well. I support whatever decision you make.”
Ning Zhao laughed as she looked at her father's demeanor:
"Yes, Mother, Wan'er and I support you too. When you take over that shop, I'll go help out whenever I have time!"
Jiang Yuwei smiled and patted Ning Zhao on the shoulder:
"You don't need to worry about the family business; you should focus on your studies."
Ning Zhao nodded, then frowned and said:
"My studies have been quite intense lately. We'll be on field break in a month, and there's an exam before that. I need to prepare well for it. This exam will select a group of students to take the preliminary examination next February. If I can't even pass the preliminary examination, there's no point in wasting money on my studies anymore."
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