Zhou Shuren hasn't checked auspicious dates for a long time as he has been too busy recently.
Lord Yu was very clear about it. He and his wife wrote down the nearest auspicious days. "The nearest auspicious day is seven days from now. There are no more auspicious days this month."
Zhou Shuren understood Lord Yu's thoughts. He didn't mention any other auspicious dates, but only the nearest one. He wanted to get engaged as soon as possible. "Lord Yu has also seen that due to the patriarchal ideology, the other lords have been quite dissatisfied with my wife's running of a private orphanage, and have been attacking me one after another. There are too many people waiting to see me laugh so as to add insult to injury. Are you sure you want to get engaged?"
Lord Yu could see it clearly, but he trusted Marquis Zhou and challenged him repeatedly, but he always won. "I am sure."
Zhou Shuren stopped and looked directly into Lord Yu's eyes. "I hate people who stab me in the back the most. If someone betrays me, I will make him die miserably. Do you understand?"
Lord Yu was stunned. It was the first time he heard Lord Zhou speak so seriously. Lord Zhou had always been smiling. His heart trembled. He had seen how much grudges Lord Zhou could bear. He calmed himself down and said, "I understand. I think very clearly."
A smile slowly crept onto Zhou Shuren's serious face, "Then seven days later, I think seven days later is a good time."
Lord Yu exhaled and stood up straight, "As soon as I leave the palace, I will send someone back to tell my wife that everything will be prepared."
Zhou Shuren nodded, turned around and continued walking, saying casually: "Your business department is very short of people."
Lord Yu sighed and said, "We are indeed short of people."
Zhou Shuren narrowed his eyes, "The Ministry of Revenue is also short of people!"
The Ministry of Commerce was originally separated from the Ministry of Revenue, and now many of the backbones of the Ministry of Commerce are former officials of the Ministry of Revenue.
Lord Yu didn't understand, "What does the Marquis mean?"
Zhou Shuren lowered his head and said, "In fact, we can train some people and select them from among the candidates. What do you think?"
Lord Yu now understood that the Marquis wanted the Ministry of Commerce to speak up. The Ministry of Commerce was indeed the most in need of people, and the various state offices were not fully staffed. "I'll make a note of that."
Zhou Shuren didn't say anything else. After talking for a while, he felt a lot of wind in his stomach and felt a little cold.
Zhou Shuren wanted to find some things for the Wen family to do while selecting some talents. Some people did not pass the imperial examination not because of their inability. The number of juren was larger than that of jinshi, so there were many talents.
Now each ministry has divided its duties into smaller parts. In fact, each ministry is short of people, but the Ministry of Revenue is more short of people.
Moreover, now that the grassland has been divided into states, a large number of officials are needed, so his move achieves multiple goals at one stroke.
At the Zhou family, Zhulan wanted to go out of the city to visit the manor in person, and she would definitely take Li with her. To her surprise, Yuwen also wanted to go.
The whole family looked at Yuwen in surprise, and Yuwen blushed.
Zhulan said: "It's rare to see you so diligent."
Yuwen felt that she had found her goal. She was born at the destination that her grandmother talked about. She had a family background and money, so she was not interested in anything else. Her grandmother's job made her desireless heart come alive. "Grandma, your granddaughter wants to help you."
Zhulan was very happy that Yuwen was interested in the orphanage, "Okay, let's go and take a look."
Yudie and Yuyi also spoke. Zhulan was not planning to take all her granddaughters with her. One would be enough. Her granddaughters would only help her behind the scenes. She would not let her granddaughters help her openly until she had established a complete system and gained recognition.
Taking care of a granddaughter now can be understood as being worried about her taking care of her, but if she takes care of her for too long, it will inevitably make people think too much.
The several manors given by the Queen were carefully considered. The manors were not far from the capital, and could be reached in an hour and a half after leaving the city. The person in charge of the construction of the manors was the butler Wang.
Zhulan got off the carriage and saw the busy people, "Hire a lot of people?"
Steward Wang replied, "All the strong laborers from the two nearby villages have come, all for food."
Nowadays, short-term workers are rarely paid with grain. Zhulan gave grain as settlement, so it all came.
Zhulan pointed at the person squatting in the distance and asked, "What's going on?"
Steward Wang said, "The village settles accounts with grain. Now every household is short of grain. Those who have not done any work are waiting for their chance!"
Li said, "Didn't they say that the people near the capital have some food supplies?"
Steward Wang explained, "We did have some money, but we couldn't resist the grain merchants raising the price again and again, so we sold some grain more or less."
Li exhaled and could still see the white mist, "This weather is really cold."
Steward Wang could not understand the suffering of the common people. He was the steward awarded to the Marquis' Mansion by the Emperor. Originally, the Zhou family had a low official position and he felt like he was dreaming all these years. Now that it is the Marquis' Mansion, his life has become better. Although he is not the head steward, he still has a lot of face in the capital.
If the old lady hadn't asked him to be in charge before the prince returned, he wouldn't have to suffer any punishment.
They started taking in orphans yesterday and already have fifteen orphans. Zhulan first checked the progress before going to see the children.
Steward Wang said along the way: "Some children came here on their own after hearing the news. The older ones wanted to help build the house, but the younger ones refused. These children are so skinny that they are just skin and bones."
These children have thin arms and legs, and he is afraid that they might get into accidents.
Zhulan saw a few children helping the peasant woman wash sweet potatoes and prepare lunch. The one in charge was about to speak, but Zhulan stopped him and said, "I'll just take a look."
When the children saw her, they hurriedly stood up. Zhulan was already wearing very low-key clothes when she went out, but no matter how low-key her clothes were, the material of the clothes was still there. This was a difference in social status, and the children were scared.
The dozen or so children were indeed very thin, not tall, and seriously malnourished. The oldest looked to be about ten years old, and the youngest was about seven years old. There were not many girls, but more boys.
Zhulan was in a very heavy mood. In ancient times, children were prone to dying, and young orphans had no way out. Girls were even more vulnerable. But those who survived were all strong-willed, which made her feel better.
When Zhulan donated supplies, she donated a lot of fish. She has a fish farm at home and the fish are stored in an ice cellar. Now that the weather is not cold, she donated more. "Let's add an extra fish soup to lunch today."
The children need nourishment, and fish soup is the only meat available. There is a shortage of meat on the market, and there is no meat in the donated supplies.
Because an extra dish of fish soup was added today, everyone was happy.
Zhulan looked at the manor carefully and was satisfied with the manager Wang's ability to do things, so she went back after not staying for long.
When I got home, Steward Ding was waiting at the door. He said with a happy face, "Second Master Liu just sent a deer and a sheep over."
Zhulan was happy, "Wow, this is a rare good thing."
Steward Ding said, "Second Young Master Liu went hunting today and hunted two deer. He sent one here specially. The sheep are raised on the Liu family farm. He said that Third Young Miss likes to eat mutton, so he specially selected the fattest one to send here."
Zhulan paused and said, "That's thoughtful."
Butler Ding was in high spirits. Every time Young Master Liu came to the mansion, he would mention how the Prince of Qin respected the Marquis. Young Master Liu took it very seriously. Although he looked pained when he left, he was stingy and was really good to the Third Miss.