Afterwards, Yingbao went to Chen Zhao's house with a few apples in her pocket.
Chen Zhao had just closed his stall and was very happy to see Ying Bao: "You're here! Come in and sit down."
Yingbao placed a few apples and mandarin oranges on the table and asked, "Why don't you see your elder sister?"
"She went back to cook for her grandparents." Although Chen Zhao and Chen Wan, the two siblings, lived in the market, they still had to go back to cook and do laundry for their grandparents every day.
Xu Bao came over, picked up a tangerine and peeled it.
Yingbao hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "I heard that Chen Wan is going to the county town?"
Chen Zhao paused, then nodded: "Yingbao, have lunch at my place. I have something to tell you."
"good."
Yingbao sat at the table, watching Chen Zhao busying himself with the pot.
Xu Bao peeled the tangerine, gave one slice to Ying Bao, one slice to Chen Zhao, and stuffed the rest into his mouth.
Chen Zhao cooked some rice, a carrot soup, boiled two eggs, and fried a small salted fish with carrot.
During the meal, Chen Zhao gave one egg to Yingbao and one to his younger brother Xubao, and then said, "My father found a family for my eldest sister. The husband is a county lieutenant."
"County lieutenant?" Yingbao immediately thought of the middle-aged man named Cao Shen.
Chen Changping actually wanted to give his eldest daughter to Cao Shen as a concubine
Or should we let Cao Shen take the lead and send Chen Wan to another place
Yingbao: "Did Chen Wan agree?"
"She? She's just a slug." Slimy, boneless, and only knows how to obey.
Chen Zhao sneered: "I told her not to agree, but she said it was difficult to disobey her father's orders."
Sakura: …
She didn't even know that Chen Wan was such a person.
Forget it, even Chen Zhao can’t wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep, so why should I make myself embarrassed
After dinner, Yingbao went to take a look at the textile workshop.
These weavers will be given a holiday in two days, so they are a little relaxed now.
The weavers were laughing and discussing their wages, and even predicting how much they would get.
When they saw Yingbao, everyone called her Miss Jiang.
Wang Wu Niang bowed slightly to her and said, "Young lady, please follow me."
Yingbao returned the greeting and followed Wang Wuniang into the weaving room.
The workshop is divided into several operation rooms, including spinning and weaving.
These cotton yarns and cloths are all white and will then be shipped elsewhere for printing and dyeing before being sold.
Yingbao only makes money from white cloth, and the money from printing and dyeing has nothing to do with her.
But even so, she could still get more than a thousand taels of silver a year.
Wang Wu Niang took out two pieces of fluffy white cloth from a box and handed them to Ying Bao to look at. "These are made of white rabbit hair and cotton thread. Madam said she would give them to you to make clothes for you."
Yingbao took it and touched it, feeling it was very soft and smooth. She couldn't help but be surprised: "Can rabbit hair be sandwiched between cotton threads to weave cloth?"
Wang Wu Niang nodded: "Let's spin the rabbit hair and cotton thread together first, and then weave the cloth. The hair won't fall off, but the material will be a bit thick."
"It's thick, so it keeps you warm in winter." Ying Bao couldn't let go of the fabric and thanked Wang Wu Niang: "Thank you, Sister Wu Niang."
Wang Wu Niang smiled, "If Miss Yingbao likes it, we can also get some gray rabbit hair and spin some cloth."
Yingbao shook her head: "Forget it." Two pieces would be enough for her two younger brothers. After all, the workshop was not hers alone, so she should not trouble Wang Wuniang too much.
When she came out of the textile workshop carrying two pieces of cloth, she suddenly met Chen Changping and a strange man on the road.
Chen Changping glanced at her with an indifferent expression.
The man was about the same age as him, with three long wisps of beard and a somewhat lewd look in his eyes.
Yingbao avoided the two of them and went straight home.
The man followed Yingbao as she walked away, then turned to look at Chen Changping and said with a click of the tongue: "That young lady just now was also your daughter?"
Chen Changping shook his head: "No, her last name is Jiang."
"Then why do I look so much like you?" The man teased, "Could it be that I am your illegitimate daughter, Brother Chen? Hahaha!"
Chen Changping's face darkened: "How can she be similar? She is just a wild girl. Brother Yan, you are joking."
Yan Jinshan put his hands behind his back and followed Chen Changping towards Chen Zhao's hut. As he walked, he said, "I'm serious. That child really looks like you, and also has some resemblance to your eldest daughter. If we can take her away, the nobles over there will definitely be happy."
Chen Changping's expression changed, and he asked, "Do you really think she looks a lot like my eldest daughter?"
"Of course. If we let them stand together and compare, it should be clearer." Yan Jinshan was confident.
Chen Changping narrowed his eyes, but finally said nothing. He brought Yan Jinshan to his second daughter.
Chen Zhao was kneading dough at home, preparing wonton wrappers for the afternoon, when he was surprised to see his father coming towards him.
Her father never went to the food store, and even when he came to the market to stroll around, he avoided this place, as if he would be contaminated by something dirty.
It’s strange today that he brought a friend with him.
"Dad." Chen Zhao quickly brought a long bench for Chen Changping and his friends to sit on.
Chen Changping didn't sit down. He glanced at the thatched hut and frowned.
He actually didn't pay much attention to his daughter's business. Today was his first time here and he just felt that he had lost face.
But Yan Jinshan insisted on coming and taking a look, so he had to bring people along.
Yan Jinshan looked at Chen Zhao, curled his lips, and said to Chen Changping: "Brother Chen, this one is not good. It's not even half as good as the previous one."
Chen Zhao didn't understand why, but he felt disgusted from the bottom of his heart.
She was not stupid and could tell that this person was criticizing her.
But her father said nothing.
Chen Changping turned around and walked out of the hut without looking back.
Yan Jinshan followed closely behind and said, "Brother Chen, let me tell you, the nobleman actually prefers children like the ones before. Older ones who are not good-looking are not suitable."
Chen Changping turned around abruptly and said coldly, "From what Brother Yan meant, do you want me to steal a child for you to take away?"
Yan Jinshan blinked his eyes and said, "That's fine. As long as you can steal her, I will tell you that she is your biological daughter."
Chen Changping frowned and said, "This is not possible." He was still worried that the girl would ruin his plans.
Yan Jinshan shrugged and said regretfully: "Brother Chen, you are too straightforward. Why don't you reconsider it?"
···
Let’s talk about Sakura.
After returning home, he gave the rabbit fur cloth to his mother and asked her to make shirts for his younger brothers to wear under their robes to keep them warm.
It was the first time Chunniang had seen this kind of cloth. She touched it curiously and said, "It's so smooth and white. Is it really made of rabbit fur?"
"It's domesticated rabbit hair." The hair on the belly of a wild rabbit is softer, and the rest is as rough as dog hair.
Chunniang: "This kind of cloth is very expensive, right?"
"Yeah." Yingbao nodded: "So I'll take two."
Chunniang smiled and said, "I suddenly remembered that your father used to cut off the tails of rabbits when he caught them. He had a lot of tails, so I twisted the fur from the tails into twine and made a pair of footwear for your father."
Yingbao was curious: "How to do it?"
"That's it." Chunniang found a piece of cotton thread and two thin bamboo sticks, and used her fingers to wrap the cotton thread around the sticks. "It's just like making a thread. Your father's belts were all made by me in the same way. They are very strong."