But what can Yuan do if he is unwilling
Cheng Jing's words had made it very clear that her mother-in-law was unwilling to give her more money, not because her mother-in-law was partial, but because she had no ability and no way to please her mother-in-law.
She was so angry that her chest heaved.
Although she was a little jealous, she didn't think there was anything wrong with her mother-in-law's behavior. She cared about her mother-in-law's behavior. Among the three daughters-in-law, she was the eldest daughter-in-law and the wife of the clan. She didn't discuss the division of the family with her, but discussed it with the second daughter-in-law Qiu first. Even Zhou Shaojin, who was not even fully grown, was called in for questioning. When her mother-in-law formally proposed the division of the family, Qiu and Zhou Shaojin got what they wanted, and they certainly wouldn't say a word. It was two against one. How to divide the family at that time would still be based on her mother-in-law's wishes.
Fortunately, my husband always says that my mother-in-law has a strong temper and is not the kind of person who likes to plot against others behind their backs. Isn't this plotting
If we have to blame someone, we can only blame the mother-in-law for being too good at pretending. Her so-called upright image is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and even her son believes it!
Yuan didn't say anything for a long time.
Cheng Jing didn't continue this topic - if they continued this topic, they would only quarrel.
He sighed softly in his heart and said, "Today, Silang and his family came back home. Did you go to see them off?"
Yuan completely forgot about this matter.
In her heart, Zhou Shaojin was just a poor little girl living in the Cheng family. When she had nothing to do, she would just be sad about the passing of time to attract those young people who were not familiar with the world and have some daydreams. Even if she married Cheng Chi by chance, she was still a person who could not be on the stage. How could she take Zhou Shaojin seriously, and how could she take her affairs to heart
Cheng Jing knew at a glance that she had completely forgotten about this matter.
His face suddenly turned a little bad, and he said, "It's hard to make a forest out of trees. No matter how you made a fuss in the past, it was for the eldest branch and Jiashan. I am very grateful, but now we have separated from the second branch, and the Cheng family in Beijing is one family. You have to think clearly about some things. Without the Cheng family, I'm afraid that the Yuan family or the Fang family will not be so polite to us. You should have a scale in your heart to know who is close and who is distant."
Yuan's face changed drastically and she asked in a sharp voice, "What do you mean?"
Cheng Jing frowned and said, "You are so smart, you must know what I am talking about."
When he was very young, his father told him that eggs are safer if they are placed in different baskets.
Cheng Jing didn't like Cheng Chi and Song Jingran getting too close, but if Cheng Chi could really gain Song Jingran's respect, he would have more confidence to face the Yuan family, which might not be a bad thing for him.
Sometimes Yuan just can't control her temper!
He sighed deeply, stood up and said, "You should go to Chaoyang Gate tomorrow and explain to mother, lest she thinks you have neglected your third brother's wife. In two days, the eldest son of Wang Jian, the Minister of Personnel, will get married. We have decided to go over to congratulate him and not come back for dinner tonight."
Yuan pursed her lips and saw Cheng Jing out.
When she came back, Yuan's nurse advised her: "It has not been easy for the master these years. He doesn't even have anyone to serve him. Madam, you should be gentle when you need to be gentle. When your daughter-in-law comes home, the master will respect you, and you will be respectful. Think about how much the old master respected the old lady in the past!"
Therefore, none of the sons and daughters-in-law dared to neglect Mrs. Guo.
Yuan sighed and said with a wry smile, "I know this, but I just can't bear the anger in my heart." As she spoke, she paused thoughtfully and said, "Let's go visit my second brother's wife."
Yuan's wet nurse wanted to persuade Yuan, but Yuan had already walked towards the backyard, so she had to swallow her words of comfort.
The maid on duty in Qiu's room said, "The Second Madam went to Chaoyang Gate and said that the Fourth Master and the Fourth Madam would be back home today."
Yuan asked, "Hasn't he come back yet?"
The little maid shook her head.
In the evening, Yuan sent someone to ask again, and the person who came back said, "Second Madam sent someone to bring back a letter saying that Fourth Master and Fourth Madam were not at home. She was afraid that the old lady would have no one to serve her, so Second Madam asked Second Master to stay there for a few days. She will come home when Fourth Master and Fourth Madam return."
A hint of sarcasm appeared in Yuan's eyes.
I don’t know what the old lady promised her, she is so eager!
She disdainfully ordered the maids to light the lamps and left some midnight snack in the kitchen for Cheng Jing to come back.
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Zhou Shaojin used to be afraid of going out, as the jolting of the carriage would make his skeleton feel like it was falling apart.
This time the carriage was very stable.
She couldn't help but exclaimed "Eh!" and quietly lifted the curtain to look.
Cheng Chi was closing his eyes to conserve his energy, but it was as if he had an eye on his forehead. He knew when she moved, and he opened his eyes slightly and held her in his arms, saying with a smile, "No need to look, the one driving the carriage is Huaishan. He is from the northern border and learned to ride a horse before he learned to walk."
Zhou Shaojin felt like he was rolling in cotton wool, soft and warm, with Cheng Chi's clean scent.
She shrank into his arms somewhat greedily and smiled, "Even so, he must be one of the most powerful people."
Cheng Chi laughed and said, "You're right."
Huaishan, who was driving the carriage, smiled.
Cheng Chi took out the chess pieces that could be stuck to the chessboard and asked her, "Do you want to play a few games of Go with me?"
"No!" Zhou Shaojin shook his head and refused, "I feel a little dizzy."
Some people get seasick, some get carriage sick, and some even get sedan sick.
Cheng Chi smiled and closed her eyes, saying, "Close your eyes and rest. I'll call you when we get to the post station."
They stayed at post stations along the way, which was more convenient.
Zhou Shaojin closed his eyes obediently after hearing that, and eventually fell asleep swaying.
Cheng Chi laughed and kissed her forehead.
That day she insisted that he take her, her face turned pale and sweaty but she didn't say a word, so he naturally knew what she meant, so he kept teasing her like this, hoping that she wouldn't think too much about the bad memories of her past life, and let the mark he left on her be engraved in her mind. But he also saw how hard and tired she was these days, so he took the opportunity to let her have a good rest on the way, hoping that after returning to the capital, she would forget all the pain of her past life.
Thinking of this, Cheng Chi couldn't help but kiss Zhou Shaojin's forehead again.
Zhou Shaojin felt that she had slept very well. When she opened her eyes and saw the white bed curtains of the inn, which were simple but clean and tidy, it took her a long time to come back to her senses.
"Where did the Fourth Master go?" she asked Chunwan, who was standing by her bed and tying her ties.
Only then did Chunwan realize that Zhou Shaojin had woken up.
She quickly put down the silk cloth in her hand, smiled and brought her a cup of hot tea, and handed it to her, saying, "The fourth master met an elder he knew in Huai'an before, and they were talking in the yard." She said softly, "Madam, are you hungry? The fourth master asked someone to stew an old hen for you, and Madam Fan is watching the fire in the kitchen. I'll bring it to you right away."
Zhou Shaojin hummed, too lazy to get up, and leaned against the head of the bed with his clothes on.
Chunwan went to the kitchen.
Hearing the noise, Cheng Chi sent the other person away with a few words and walked in.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "Why didn't you wake me up when we got to the post station? Have you had dinner? The weather is so cold, why don't you have some chicken soup to warm your stomach?"
Cheng Chi smiled and said, "I've already had dinner. Let me accompany you to drink a bowl of soup!"
Zhou Shaojin happily replied "yes", but found that Cheng Chi seemed a little absent-minded.
She asked him gently, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"It's not a big deal!" Cheng Chi took off his shoes, leaned against Zhou Shaojin, and said in deep thought, "The man I just met was originally the Tongzhi of Huai'an Prefecture, and now he is transferred to the prefect of Wuchang Prefecture. He returned to Beijing to make an assignment. According to him, Cheng Shi asked his brother-in-law to be the chief steward of Jiuru Lane to help him manage the general affairs. A few days ago, Cheng Shi's brother-in-law went to Huai'an and spent a lot of money, hoping to get involved in the business of Jiubian..."
The Nine Frontiers consisted of nine important cities that were fought over by military strategists, including Datong, Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Taiyuan. In order to solve the problem of food for the soldiers, the imperial court encouraged merchants from the south of the Yangtze River to transport grain over, exchange it for salt permits, and then withdraw salt from salt fields in various places to sell. It was a very profitable business.
Zhou Shaojin was stunned: "Didn't we give them 1.2 million taels of silver? And Yutai Bank... Why did they still want to get involved in the salt permits?"
Cheng Chi smiled faintly, with a hint of coldness on his lips: "Is the business of ticket offices so easy to do? When I made Jiuru Lane famous, I had to rely on the Shexian Li family's 'Wei Zi Hao' ticket office to build Yutai Ticket Office. Without Yutai Ticket Office and me, those people who exchanged tickets would be enough for the second branch to drink a pot. Does he think I am so easy to calculate?"
Zhou Shaojin's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "Does it mean that because you are no longer the big boss of Yutai Bank, and the Li family of She County has also withdrawn their shares, those who do business with Yutai Bank no longer trust the second branch that took over Yutai Bank, and no longer take care of Yutai Bank's business!"
"That's right!" Cheng Chi said lazily, "At the beginning, there were still 200,000 taels of silver in the warehouse of Yutai Piaohao Bank, but in fact, there were 500,000 taels of silver on the books, and 30 taels of silver were deposited in other banks to pay for the silver bills of Yutai Piaohao. The reason why the eldest house was able to negotiate with the second house to get the subsidy silver to 1.2 million taels was related to the fact that Yutai Piaohao gave them 400,000 taels of silver. But now, those who have deposited silver in Yutai Piaohao have taken the deposit certificates to cash them, but the silver that can be used to pay the silver bills of Yutai Piaohao to the various banks cannot be taken back - those banks cannot use their own silver to cash the silver bills issued by Yutai, but Yutai cannot open branches everywhere. Once the silver bills issued by Yutai cannot be exchanged, Yutai's business will not be able to continue."
"So, if you want to keep Yutai Bank going," Zhou Shaojin said with sparkling eyes, "the second branch has to take out 300,000 taels of silver to cash in the money of these people first. The second branch saw that they had just received 1.2 million taels of silver and it was not even warm yet, but they ended up taking 300,000 taels out to settle the accounts. They panicked all of a sudden, thinking that if they continued to eat up all the money, 1.2 million taels of silver would not be much..." Then Qixingtang started out as a private salt dealer, so they had the idea of taking salt permits. As she spoke, she shook Cheng Chi excitedly and said, "Are those who went to ask for the silver your people?"
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Dear friends, please give an extra chapter to Zixiao 1!
PS: There was a power outage and water outage today. I wrote this article using the battery of my laptop, and then used the WIFI data of my mobile phone to access the Internet. I don’t know when the power will be restored... ~~~~(>_