In the afternoon, Zhou Wang came and thanked Zhulan as soon as she entered the door. "Luckily, my nephew came to our house to talk today, otherwise we wouldn't have realized the trouble. I know you like to eat honey, so this is what your eldest sister-in-law got from her parents' home. I brought you a pound of honey."
Zhulan saw how generous Zhou Wangshi was, and knew that Zhou Wangshi must have gotten some benefits from Wang Laosi's family again, so she took the opportunity to take over, "Shuren was just chatting, but it was Auntie who thought of it. It has nothing to do with us. We are not responsible for thanking you, but I won't be polite to Auntie for the honey. I am in need of honey to recuperate!"
Mrs. Zhou Wang handed over the basket and said, "Your sister-in-law's family probably still has some. If you want to buy some, I'll ask your sister-in-law to go back and ask."
Zhulan has been out of honey for a month, so she really needs to buy more. Unfortunately, honey is rare in the county, so she naturally wants to buy it when she comes across it. "That's great, I will definitely give you a fair price."
Mrs. Zhou Wang smiled and said, "Okay, I'll tell your sister-in-law when I get back."
Zhulan was delighted and asked Zhao to take the basket out to make tea and snacks for Zhou Wangshi. After Zhou Wangshi sat down, she asked, "Has the matter of Wang Laosi's family been resolved?"
Mrs. Zhou Wang was very fond of the baby and teased it. "It's solved. I specially reminded them. Wang Laosi and Mrs. Sun were very generous. Not only did they give me half a piece of cloth, but they also gave me five taels of silver. I don't want them to force it on me."
Zhou Wangshi didn't think there was anything to hide, so she said frankly that Zhou Shuren's family was wealthy and didn't care about these things.
She felt justified in taking it. Her reminder not only saved the two girls, but also saved the reputation of Wang Laosi's family. Wang Laosi already had a son, and if anything happened to the two girls, Wang Laosi's son would not be able to hold his head up.
She saw clearly that Wang Laosi's family had only been making sausages for less than a month, and now that Wang Ru was adopted, Wang Laosi pushed all the blame onto Wang Ru. In fact, it was indeed Wang Ru who had been doing business all along, and now it had been divided up. Wang Laosi still had land but was a farmer. Wang Laosi hoped that his son would be literate, and his ambitions were quite high!
Zhulan waited for Zhao to bring tea, and poured a cup for Zhou Wang herself, "Auntie, have some tea."
She calculated in her mind that in order to be adopted, Wang Ru first gave 40 taels of silver to the Qian family, and 15 taels of silver to the clan leader's family, plus the 200 taels of silver to Wang Laosi. Based on her analysis of Shi Qing, Shi Qing would not give Wang Ru too much silver, so Wang Ru probably didn't have much silver in her hands!
Zhulan guessed correctly. The room of Wang Ru in the Qian family was the money Wang Ru had. She spent a lot of money to begin with, and this time she spent a lot of money on her own single life. She had five taels of gold, more than twenty taels of silver, and more than five taels of broken silver left. Fortunately, her jewelry was worth a lot of money. She could build the house first and wait for Shi Qing's money to come.
Wang Ru put away the silver and suddenly laughed. She did not ask Shi Qing to help her set up a female household, because she knew that Shi Qing did not want anyone to restrain her. She deliberately took advantage of the fact that Shi Qing's people were not here to do it, waiting to see Shi Qing's face when he found out.
This time the girl is alone, Shi Qing should not try to control her. He regrets that he was too stupid not to think of adopting her before. It is not too late now. It is a pity that she is too young to go out, and she is thinking about the male protagonist, so she can only stay in Zhoujia Village!
At Zhou's house, Zhulan chatted with Zhou Wang for a while, and then Zhou Wang said goodbye and went home. Zhulan saw her out the door personally, and just in time she saw two maids from the Wang family walking towards them with two bundles.
Zhou Wang squinted her eyes and asked, "Where are you two going?"
Wang Erya and Wang Rong looked at Zhou Wangshi gratefully, "We are going to look for our sister and plan to stay at Qian's house for a few days."
Mrs. Zhou thought that Wang Laosi would hire someone to look after the yard after hearing her advice, but she didn't expect him to be smart. "It's getting late, you should leave quickly!"
Wang Daya Wang Xin, "We're leaving first."
Zhulan sent Zhou Wang away and stood still watching the two maids. It must have been the second maid's idea. This girl was really smart. Not only did she avoid the exploitation of Wang Laosi and his wife and seek shelter, she also wanted to get money from Wang Ru. This girl knew that her reputation was bad, and she wanted to use Wang Ru as a springboard to find a way out for herself!
Zhulan is in a particularly good mood. Wang Ru is cruel, so don't blame others for plotting against her. There must be consequences for what has happened.
The next morning, after breakfast, Zhulan and her daughter dressed themselves up. They were going to visit the county magistrate today. This was because Zhou Shuren was so capable. He was a student on government academy scholarship, and he was also capable. If it were someone else, the county magistrate would not wait for him at home for a visit.
This time she only brought her daughter, because the county magistrate had an unmarried daughter at home. As for the granddaughter, as she grew up better and better, Zhulan did not allow Yushuang to go out to play. Every day she either learned needlework at home or learned to read with Xuehan. In the future, Zhulan would not bring Yushuang with her when going out, because she was too beautiful and unlucky.
Fortunately, although Yu Shuang is young, she knows a lot. Zhao has instilled danger in her mind. Before she came, the child always shrank her body and lowered her head. It was all because of Zhao's scare. She also had to be sure that Zhao was a wise woman who knew how to protect herself.
The carriage hired by Zhou Shuren came to pick people up at home. When they arrived at the gate of the county government office, it was the first time that Zhulan saw an ancient county government office. It was not as magnificent as the ones seen in TV dramas. There was a housekeeper waiting at the gate.
This is to pick up Zhulan and Xuehan to go to the backyard. Zhou Shuren went to meet the county magistrate in person.
The backyard of the county government office is where the county magistrate's family lives. The two-story house is not as small as Zhulan's house. The yard is particularly large, with rockery and a small pond. Although it is a two-story yard, it is very exquisite.
Zhulan kept looking around with her peripheral vision. There were not many maids there. It was indeed as Zhou Shuren said, the county magistrate was a low-key person.
When they arrived at the main hall of the back house, the wife of Mr. Dong, Mrs. Dong Lin, was already waiting. Next to Mrs. Lin stood a girl who was pretty and looked old. She was Mr. Dong's daughter, Dong Chuchu.
Zhulan stepped forward and bowed, "Mrs. Yang greets Mrs. Lin."
According to the imperial edict of this dynasty, officials from the first to fifth ranks were granted imperial edicts, and officials from the sixth to ninth ranks were granted imperial edicts. The rank of the wife was based on the rank of her husband. The wife of the first rank in this dynasty was called the first rank lady, the second rank was called the lady, the third rank was called the sū ren, the fourth rank was called the gong ren, the fifth rank was called the yi ren, the sixth rank was called an ren, the seventh rank was called ru ren, and the county official was of the seventh rank, so Lin was called ru ren.
Lin took a look at the man as soon as he came in. She was very curious about Zhou Shuren, whom the master had high hopes for, and even more curious about his wife. After meeting him today, she understood. No wonder the master valued Zhou Shuren. His wife was not simple either. Look at her appearance and demeanor. She didn't look like an old lady from the countryside. She looked to be around 30 years old. If she didn't know that she had given birth to six children and her grandchildren were all grown up, she wouldn't believe that Yang was almost 40 years old.
Lin's smile became more genuine. "You look really young. If I hadn't seen you in person, I wouldn't have dared to recognize you!"
As she spoke, Lin stood up and pulled Zhulan to sit down.
Zhulan thought to herself, clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse. It is important to be decent at all times, as it directly affects the first impression.