"Why would I do such a thing?" Cheng Chi laughed, "Every family has a big family to support. You can't just do business to make a fuss and not make money, right? They don't trust the second wife and are unwilling to put the money in Yutai Bank. That's their plan after thinking about it. What does it have to do with me?"
Zhou Shaojin squinted his eyes and smiled.
This person did something bad and refused to admit it!
She said, "Yes, yes, it has nothing to do with you! But the Yutai Bank was started by you, and they don't trust anyone except you. Poor Second House thought that Yutai Bank was a treasure pot, and they thought of ways to take it from you, but they didn't know that it was a death curse that would only make them sink deeper and deeper." At this point, she couldn't help but sigh, and said, "Tracing back to the source, it's just the word 'greed' that's causing trouble!"
If they were not greedy and had disbanded the Seven Stars Hall years ago, how could the first and second branches have become what they are today!
She couldn't help but hug Cheng Chi tightly and buried her head in her arms.
Cheng Chi smiled slightly and hugged Zhou Shaojin tighter.
He kissed her forehead and thought about Jiuru Lane.
Because the people who had deposited money in Yutai Bank had cashed out, and the second house couldn't find anyone to deposit money, if they wanted Yutai Bank to operate normally, they had to take out money to circulate. Unfortunately, the second house didn't have anyone who knew how to do business, and the money at home wouldn't make money on its own. The feeling of living off the mountain made the people in the second house feel that they were in crisis. They were blinded by greed and changed the rule of dividends set in the previous quarter to the same year-end dividends as other merchants. When the news got out, it would only make people think that there was something wrong with the operation of Yutai Bank, and they were unwilling to deposit money in Yutai Bank, and even more unwilling to use money to exchange for Yutai Bank's silver bills. Over time, Yutai lost not only customers, but also reputation. And a merchant without reputation is not far from closing down. And those money houses that cooperated with Yutai were not vegetarians, and they would definitely find a way to reasonably and legally swallow the money used to pay for silver bills.
By then, the second house's loss would not just be the 300,000 taels of silver.
Thinking of this, he sneered in his heart.
Cheng Xu really misjudged him.
He thought that since he left home at a young age, he would miss home and cherish the so-called "family affection", so he used Yutai Bank to threaten him and prevent him from agreeing to divide the family.
But how can a mere Yutai Bank be as important as his life
Without Yutai Bank, he could create another one, and let him watch his little girl marry someone else, speak sweetly to someone else, and have children with someone else... His heart was broken just thinking about it.
Cheng Chi couldn't help but kiss Zhou Shaojin's forehead again, and said in a hoarse voice: "After the New Year, can we have a baby?"
Can this kind of thing still be controlled
Zhou Shaojin blushed.
She also wants a child.
Besides, she has always believed in Cheng Chi and followed his lead. Since he said so, she nodded and murmured "OK".
Cheng Chi hugged her tighter.
After the new year, the little girl is one year older, so she should be more complete, right
His eyes involuntarily fell on her undulating mountains.
If you just look at her figure, who would have thought that she had just reached the age of 15
I don’t know how gorgeous it will be in a few years!
But she had a beautiful face, and her eyes were as clear and pure as spring water, like mountain spring water that had never been tainted by the world of mortals. It made people want to see her fall into the world of mortals...
Cheng Chi sighed.
Fortunately, the little girl was quiet and didn't want to go out for social events, which saved her a lot of trouble. Otherwise, if the reputation got out, the threshold of their house would definitely be lowered by those trouble-making women.
By then the little girl will definitely not be too distressed.
Thinking about that scene, he couldn't help laughing and said, "Do you want to play cards with Chunwan and the others tomorrow?"
Kill the boredom of the journey.
Zhou Shaojin shook his head.
If she played mahjong with Chunwan and the others, Cheng Chi would have to sit in another carriage, and she would have to separate from Cheng Chi... She wanted to be with Cheng Chi, even without saying a word. As long as she could see him, feel his breath, and know that he was by her side, she would be satisfied.
But Cheng Chi couldn't let her sleep all day like this, otherwise she would become listless and lack energy in a few days.
He and Zhou Shaojin drank chicken soup and went to bed early. The next day, he wrapped her in a small quilt and held her in his arms, then lifted the curtains to look at the scenery outside with her.
Baoding Prefecture is a must-pass place when heading south from the capital. Although it is icy and snowy and the New Year is approaching, there are still many pedestrians on the road, and most of them are rushing back home to celebrate the New Year.
Cheng Chi said to Zhou Shaojin, "This year's Spring Festival is the first Spring Festival we celebrate after we got married. I'm afraid we will have to go to Xinglin Hutong to have a family reunion dinner."
Since I married Cheng Chi and became the daughter-in-law of the Cheng family, it was impossible for me to completely avoid Xinglin Hutong.
Cheng Chi has done so much for her, and she also wants to do something to make Cheng Chi happy.
Zhou Shaojin pinched Cheng Chi's little finger, took a deep breath, and said, "It's okay, we'll go to Xinglin Hutong to have the New Year's Eve dinner."
It seemed that this would allow him to draw some courage from Cheng Chi. The lingering gentleness made Cheng Chi palpitate.
He held Zhou Shaojin's hand and smiled softly, "Trust me, I won't let anything happen to you!"
Of course Zhou Shaojin believed it, otherwise he would not have dared to go to Xinglin Hutong.
After all, she is still a little timid.
Zhou Shaojin responded with a smile and said "OK", looking incredibly well-behaved.
Cheng Chi likes it very much.
It seemed that he had not seen her so cheerful for some time.
The two chatted casually, and in just two or three days, they arrived in Baoding Prefecture.
Zhou Zhen had received the news long ago and had asked people to wait at the city gate early in the morning. When Li Changgui sent someone to tell him that Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Chi had entered the city, he could no longer sit still and left the case full of documents and went to the inner court.
Li had just been pregnant for a short time, so her figure was not noticeable, but she did not dare to move. She sat on the armchair covered with a thick mattress, listening to the woman in the kitchen announcing the menu for today. When she saw Zhou Zhen come in, she quickly stood up.
"Hurry up and sit down!" Zhou Zhen was also worried that something might happen to Li, so he hurriedly said, "If you have anything to say, just tell Li Ma. Shao Jin is always considerate and won't take it to heart even if there is any impoliteness." Then he said, "Is the heating on the floor heated? Have you changed the mattresses in the living quarters? How is the lunch preparation going?"
They were all worried about Cheng Chi.
When he was in Jiuru Lane, Cheng Chi was not an easy person to serve.
As the saying goes, it is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature.
Neither Zhou Zhen nor Li wanted there to be any conflict between Cheng Chi and Zhou Shaojin because of them.
Li responded, "The floor heater was lit last night, and some orange peel and Buddha's hand were placed on the offering plate. I just went in to check, and the room was filled with a refreshing fragrance. I even took out the quilts and other things a few days ago to warm them up, so they will be comfortable for sleeping." After she finished speaking, she asked the maid to hand the menu to Zhou Zhen, saying, "I am a woman from the inner house, and I have never seen the world. Master, please help me see if there is anything I can add or subtract."
Zhou Zhen took a quick look and said, "Replace the Yipinxian mutton hotpot with a milder soup. They have been traveling a long way and are new here, so how can they have an appetite for such a greasy soup? Let Zichuan and I have this soup tonight."
Li immediately ordered the maid to change the dishes, but she couldn't help but sigh in her heart, "When has the master ever taken care of these things?" This really proved that the crying child gets the milk.
The eldest aunt and her husband were a young couple of the same age, and the eldest aunt was a person who knew what was going on. When the eldest aunt and her husband came over, the master calmly acted like a father-in-law and sat there to teach the eldest husband a lesson. The second aunt married a man who was a decade older than her and had a childish mentality. The master was afraid that the second aunt would suffer a loss from the second husband, so he put in all his energy to deal with her.
I hope that Second Aunt and Second Uncle can live their lives in harmony, otherwise I don’t know how sad the master will feel!
In just a stick of incense, Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Chi's carriage stopped at the second gate of the inner court.
Cheng Chi helped Zhou Shaojin get off the carriage.
Not far away, Mrs. Huang was watching through the flower wall.
She had heard that the second young lady of the Cheng family was coming back today, and she was very curious about the person who married Zhou Shaojin.
The tall and slender figure, graceful bearing, handsome face, and especially the confident and calm look made the curious Mrs. Huang admit that the second son-in-law of the Zhou family was much superior to that of Mr. Chang in terms of family background, appearance, knowledge and demeanor. No wonder the son-in-law was several years older than the second young lady, and the Zhou family immediately agreed.
The second young lady of the Zhou family looked as beautiful as a flower, much more beautiful than when she left.
She turned around and told the personal maid standing behind her, "Go tell Mr. Chang to give up on this idea! The second uncle of the Zhou family is a handsome man, and is a perfect match for the second young lady. Tell him to give up on it as soon as possible and arrange a marriage for them!"
The nanny smiled and left.
Zhou Shaojin had already entered the second door with the help of Cheng Chi.
Zhou Zhen and Li both came out to greet them.
Zhou Shaojin's tears fell inexplicably, and she lifted her skirt and was about to kowtow to Zhou Zhen.
Zhou Zhen took two steps at a time and went forward to help her up, saying with a smile: "How can you be so naive, kid? Even if you want to kowtow, you should go into the hall and kowtow on the ground where the fire dragon is burning! Won't your knees hurt when you kneel down like this?"
Zhou Shaojin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The sadness he had felt when he saw his father and Li disappeared immediately, and he started laughing while twisting his handkerchief. However, Cheng Chi stepped forward and respectfully called him "father-in-law" and "mother-in-law".
Zhou Zhen looked at Cheng Chi's calm and composed face, coughed uncomfortably, and said, "Glad that you're here, come in and have some tea!"
The family entered the hall.
Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Chi knelt down and bowed deeply to Zhou Zhen.
Zhou Zhen hurriedly had them helped up and said something about how couples should be considerate, tolerant, and take care of each other until old age, then he let them go to change their clothes.
Zhou Shaojin was surprised and whispered to Cheng Chi, "Why did father let us go so quickly? My sister said that when she and her brother-in-law came back, father talked to them for half an hour. If the government hadn't had something urgent to do, I'm afraid he would have continued talking."
※
Hey guys, here's yesterday's update.
O(∩_∩)O~
PS: I always dream of writing three chapters someday…
※(To be continued)