Zhulan chuckled, "She bought it for fun, but she spent a lot of money. It hurts to spend so much money!"
Zhou Shuren, “… ... ... Deserve it!”
Zhulan, “… … ..”
This person has a very narrow mind. He is very petty.
Ming Teng rushed in, "Grandma, grandma, what did you buy?"
Zhulan was used to hearing her grandmother's words, so she pointed at the table and said, "There are little lanterns and sugar figures on it, so you and Yulu can share them!"
Ming Teng said "oh" and ran happily to the table to look at everything. Ming Teng's smile was exactly the same as Li's, and he almost laughed his eyes out.
Ming Teng held the sugar man and thought to himself that it would be best for him to follow his grandparents. They would play all the way to the capital, where there were so many fun things. He must show off to Yu Shuang when he got back!
Xue Han came in holding Yu Lu, and Ming Teng waved to his sister, "Come here quickly."
Xue Han carried Yu Lu to the table, and Ming Teng distributed each to her sister.
Zhulan looked at him with a smile on her face. It was good that the boy didn’t eat alone. He got the last one and obviously liked it very much but still gave it to his sister.
Mrs. Li would never think of buying toys for her son and daughter. Everything she bought was for her own use. What a generous mother!
Zhulan sent the two children out to play and asked Xuehan to keep an account of today's expenses.
Xue Han did some mental calculations while keeping the accounts, and took a breath, "Mom, I've spent fifteen taels today."
Zhulan smiled and said, "You can't calculate it like that. We bought a lot of food today. It's enough for several months. It can't be counted as one day's spending."
Xue Han was still scared and still felt that the cost of living in the capital was too expensive.
Zhulan took out some small change and put it in a small wooden box and handed it to Xuehan, "You will be in charge of the household expenses in the future. Oh, and you will also be in charge of the monthly wages for Xinghua and the others."
After buying maids and servants, they also need to be paid monthly wages. Ma Qiang and Ma Wei can't help much, but they can't be treated unfairly. They are paid 300 copper coins a month. Ma Eryue and Xinghua get 100 copper coins more, Lichun and Yushui get 350 copper coins, Jingzhe and Xuehan get 200 copper coins, and Chunfen is too young to help, so she doesn't need to be paid monthly wages.
The Zhou family's monthly wages also increased. The four sons of Zhou Lao Da received one tael of silver per month, and the daughters-in-law also received one tael. The grandsons and granddaughters received half a tael of silver. Xue Han's daughter also received one tael of silver, and Rong Chuan received the same as Zhou Lao Da's children.
Speaking of monthly allowance, Zhulan thought of Mrs. Dong's monthly allowance, which was not at all like the monthly allowance of a lady from an official family. Later, she couldn't help but ask Mrs. Dong and found out that the monthly allowance was set by Old Master Dong. Granddaughters received 50 cents and grandsons received 100 cents. In order to let his descendants know that earning money is not easy, the old man hoped that they would be thrifty in the future.
Although the rules are good, there are countermeasures for every rule. Dong said that the children in their family have never relied on monthly allowances since they were young, and the New Year's money they receive is a lot, which is basically enough for a year.
The rules of the Dong family do have a certain effect. The children of the Dong family all know that their monthly allowance is small, and they remind themselves every time the allowance is distributed that money is not easy to come by.
Xue Han was a little excited. She was going to help her mother with the household. This was the first time she could help her mother since she was a child. "Mom, I will take care of it."
"Mother believes you."
Half an hour later, the eldest brother and his wife came back. Lunch was their first meal since arriving in the capital, and because the end of the war in the northwest was worth celebrating, Li bought a lot of meat and vegetables and prepared to make a sumptuous meal.
It was not yet winter, and there were plenty of green vegetables in the capital, including spinach, chrysanthemum, rapeseed, etc. Li bought some of them.
The capital city has the most varieties of meat. In specialized meat shops, as long as you have money, you can buy the meat you want. Deer meat is also available, but the price is very touching.
Li bought ten pounds of fat meat for frying, five pounds of pork belly, two pounds of lean meat, ten pounds of ribs, and ten pounds of mutton.
Li also wanted to buy lotus roots, but they were a bit expensive, so she didn't buy any.
I cooked eight dishes for lunch, with rice being the staple food.
Zhulan's family and the Ma family eat separately. Zhulan gives the Ma family one month's worth of food every month and vegetables every day, and the Ma family cooks their own meals.
Servants don’t eat like this now, but when there are more slaves in the future, there will be a special place for servants to eat.
After lunch, there was still a lot of work to do. Fortunately, we brought Zhou Lao Da and his wife, plus Xinghua and a few others, so Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn't have to do anything. They just had to talk.
In the afternoon, all the lanterns that were bought were hung up, the grass in the yard had to be cleared, and the firewood in the woodshed had to be chopped.
Zhulan's family was busy for two days before they finally managed to tidy up their house in the capital.
The house had just been cleaned up when the Zhou family received an invitation from Zhao Bo, who was coming to visit and introduce himself to the family.
On the second day, Zhao Bo did not come alone, he came with Deng Xiucai.
Deng Xiucai came with gifts and said, "After a few months of separation, Zhou Xiucai has become a juren. This small gift is not enough to show respect."
Zhou Shuren said politely: "It is a great kindness for Deng Xiucai to come here. Please take a seat."
Mr. Deng's eyes were shining, he really didn't expect that he didn't cheat Mr. Zhou for Zhao Bo's sake. Fortunately he didn't cheat him, this man became a juren in a few months, he is a real figure!
Zhao Bo smiled and said, "Brother Zhou's house is nice, much more exquisite than my courtyard."
Zhou Shuren, "It seems like I am quite lucky to have caught the eye of Brother Zhao."
Zhao Bo sighed, "It's more than good, Brother Zhou, don't be so modest."
Zhou Shuren said modestly: "This is all thanks to Mr. Deng's help!"
Zhao Bo laughed, "Then you must thank him very much. The price of the house will double in a few days!"
Zhou Shuren narrowed his eyes. Zhao Bo was well-informed. "Is the Northwest going to end?"
Zhao Bo lowered his voice and said, "Yes, it's over. The army is going back to the capital, and this time we captured a leader of a foreign tribe. It's a great victory."
He heard it all from his clan lord who was an official in the court, and he was also told that next spring's imperial examination might be related to the post-war period!
Zhou Shuren thought of the Yang brothers, and wondered what had happened to the three brothers.
At noon, Zhao Bo and Deng Xiucai had a meal and wine at Zhou's house. Zhulan did not ask Li to prepare any dishes, but directly prepared a hot pot of mutton and mushrooms.
Zhulan also ate hotpot in the backyard. Zhou Shuren saw it in the store and bought two. He used them today.
It was around three o'clock in the afternoon when Zhao Bo and Deng Xiucai left.
Zhou Shuren also drank a lot. It was obvious that he was trying to get information out of him, otherwise he wouldn't have drunk so much. Zhulan twisted the handkerchief to wipe Zhou Shuren's face, "What did you get out of him?"
Zhou Shuren shook his head. "Mr. Deng did get a lot out of me. Zhao Bo is tight-lipped. He will say what he wants to say, but he won't say what he doesn't want to say when he's drunk."
But what he wanted to get out of Zhao Bo's mouth. It seemed that Zhao Bo had also received training and his mouth was much tighter than before.
Zhu Lan said, "Zhao Bo and Mr. Deng must have come here for something!"
Zhou Shuren nodded, "Yes, Zhao Bo wants to buy a yard from our house, the price is based on the current market price."
Zhu Lan paused while washing her handkerchief. "Doesn't Zhao Bo have a place to live?"