Just as Zhulan guessed, the new version of the newspaper allows submission of storybooks, but there will be no payment for the submission. For those who submit storybooks, they want to be famous more and don't care about the payment.
Zhou Shuren proposed serializing for the newly established newspaper. Because of the new newspaper, there were several more positions. The manager was a seventh-rank official, and there were several others who were not of the same rank. There were still many rare ones, and they all used these positions as stepping stones, hoping to be in charge of a regular newspaper in the future.
In recent years, the newspaper has been flourishing, and many people are keeping an eye on it. Unfortunately, the emperor does not allow any fighting. He has a tight grip on the Propaganda Department, and the entire department is composed of his people.
On this day, Xuemei finally returned to Beijing. Zhulan said, "I thought you would wait until autumn to return to Beijing."
Xuemei felt guilty, "Ah, my grandson is so clingy, I can't bear to let him go."
So the date was postponed again and again, and her grandson must be angry when she returned to Beijing.
Zhulan understands the relationship between generations. Xuemei and her husband used to be so carefree and could leave whenever they wanted, but now they can't bear to leave their grandson. "Every time Jiang Lei comes, he complains about how you don't want to go back to Beijing."
Xuemei felt even more guilty, "I won't leave Beijing in the next few years."
"Um?"
Xuemei said, "My parents-in-law look much older when they came back this time. My husband wants to stay home and spend more time with them."
Zhulan hasn't seen her in-laws for a long time. "I really should spend more time with them."
Xuemei continued, "My father-in-law asked my husband to send someone back to his hometown to choose a place."
Zhulan heard it and said, "Please take good care of her."
Xuemei nodded, "Yes, my husband wants to bring my eldest brother's grandson to Beijing."
"Your thoughts?"
"I agreed. When I came back this time and saw how old my father-in-law looked, I felt a lot. Of course, I can accept a child, but I can forget about my eldest uncle's son."
She agreed to bring a child to Beijing to accompany her parents-in-law in order to avoid the regrets of the old couple. She would not cause trouble for herself.
Xuemei stayed for dinner and said she would come back in the evening. After dinner, she went home as she had many things to deal with at home.
Zhulan distributed the gifts that Xuemei brought back to each room, including some high-quality wood and embroidery.
In the afternoon, Li came to the main courtyard and asked, "Mother, is it a big celebration for father-in-law's birthday this year?"
Zhulan: "No."
Li also talked about some of the large expenditures in the mansion recently. Zhulan sighed, "If you want to live a decent life, you can't save money on various expenses."
There are many servants in the family, and each servant has a monthly salary. There are twelve months in a year, and there are double the happy events in the family. The various food, clothing and other expenses require a huge sum of money from the servants alone.
Li’s housekeeper has more experience, “We don’t host too many banquets, so we save a lot of money.”
Zhulan smiled and said, "It is indeed a saving."
Li said, "It's sad for an official without a family background."
She now goes out for social events on behalf of her mother and sees more people, so she admires her mother-in-law the most. The Zhou family's initial fortune was accumulated by her mother-in-law.
Zhulan suddenly asked, "Minghui hasn't gone out recently?"
Li was very concerned about Minghui, a concern she had developed over the years. "You also find it strange? Your daughter-in-law is wondering!"
Zhulan, "It's unlike him to be so quiet."
Li nodded in agreement, "My husband tried it, but he didn't find anything. I observed him in the study all day for two days."
Zhulan didn't ask any more questions. Her grandson had grown up and had his own ideas. She just asked out of curiosity.
However, Li became more concerned and talked with her mother-in-law for a while before leaving. She walked out of the yard and turned to Minghui's yard. As she walked through the garden, Li couldn't help but sigh that the Rong family's land was really large. The emperor divided it into two and gave it to her father-in-law, and the Zhouhou Mansion also occupied a large area.
Every child in the family had his or her own courtyard, and since there were no concubines in each room, there were many empty courtyards in the mansion.
When Li arrived at Minghui's courtyard, the servant came forward and said, "Madam, you are here."
Li, "Why are you spreading the news so loudly?"
The servant lowered his head and said, "I dare not."
Li snorted. She didn't believe it. Minghui came out and said, "Mother, how come you have time to visit your son when you are so busy?"
Li took a few quick steps, squeezed past her son and entered the study. She looked around but found nothing. There was writing on the desk. She asked suspiciously, "What did you hide?"
Minghui said, "Mom, you don't feel at ease when your son is at home, so I will leave the house tomorrow."
Li glared, "Let me know what bad things you did, and I'll let your father beat you."
Minghui, "I really didn't do anything bad!"
Li reluctantly believed it. She was busy and had no time to compete with her son in wits. Although she couldn't win, she snorted and left with her men.
The next day, Tao came to visit with her daughter-in-law Lin. Zhulan asked Lin with a smile, "I haven't seen you for several years. How are you doing out there?"
Lin replied, "I'm sorry to have kept you in mind. Everything is fine outside."
She has always had a good impression of Aunt Yang, but unfortunately she never met a good mother-in-law like Aunt Yang. She is also grateful that her aunt has influenced her mother-in-law. Since her mother-in-law and Aunt Yang have become good friends, her life has become better.
Tao said, "She brought you a gift, see if you like it."
Zhulan had noticed it a long time ago, "I feel bad that you still miss me after coming back."
Lin took the box and said, "You like to paint. Here are the dyes I found. I hope you like them."
Zhulan likes it. "Thank you, I like it very much."
Tao, "As long as you like it."
The subsequent topic revolved around some gossip in the capital, or Zhulan asking about interesting things in the south.
Mrs. Tao suddenly said, "By the way, the place where the daughter of the Luo family married far away is exactly the state where my eldest son works."
Zhu Lan heard, "The third girl from the Luo family?"
Tao nodded, "Yeah."
"That's a coincidence."
Tao looked at her daughter-in-law, and Lin said, "Miss Luo San died a long time ago. There have been a lot of troubles in the Ji family since last year."
Zhulan was surprised, "He died?"
Lin, "She passed away five years ago. The Ji family has remarried. I don't know what happened last year. The new wife of the Ji family fell ill. This year, Miss Ji returned to Beijing, and the Luo family sent someone to pick her up."
Tao added: "The third daughter of the Luo family gave birth to a daughter."
Zhulan could already imagine the fight at home, "He is not easy to bully."
She didn't mention the name, but everyone in the room knew who she was talking about. So I, Miss Ji, have some means.
As soon as Mrs. Tao and Mrs. Lin left, Yuwen came with a note, "Grandma, the eldest princess invites her granddaughter to go horse racing."
Zhulan, "Pay more attention to safety."
Several granddaughters can ride horses. They all learned it at Zhuangzi. Yudie is the best at horse riding. Yuwen doesn't like to move and she has never seen her ride many times. She is really worried.
Yuwen didn't want to go, but she had to go because she was the Princess of Anhe County. She had to go because of the invitation of the eldest princess. "Linxi was the happiest."
Zhulan laughed out loud, "She is indeed the happiest. She has been under house arrest recently!"
Ever since Rongchuan was no longer busy, he has doted on Linxi. The father and daughter teamed up to compete with Xuehan in wits, but this time they angered Xuehan and both of them were confined to their homes.
Grandson Ze'er came to reveal that Rongchuan was sent to sleep in the study!