Boss Zhou was relieved to see that his mother was fine. He also saw that his mother was looking at the port as if she was looking for someone, "Mom, are you looking for my second brother?"
Zhulan blinked and said, "I think I saw Wang Ru just now."
Boss Zhou had a deep impression of Wang Ru. Even if he wanted to forget her, he couldn't. Many of the things he used and ate now were related to Wang Ru. "Mom, wasn't she kidnapped?"
He always thought that Wang Ru was dead. He was not stupid. Wang Ru had too many secrets. People with too many secrets usually die quickly.
Zhulan naturally remembered, "I saw her just now, and she seemed to be disfigured."
There was a long scar on her face. If Zhulan hadn't paid so much attention to Wang Ru, she would have almost not recognized her. She didn't know how the scar came about.
Boss Zhou looked at the distance between the deck and the port market and said, "Mom, did you see it wrong?"
Isn't it said that as you age, your eyesight becomes blurry? Mom must have seen it wrong.
Zhulan withdrew her gaze from looking for Zao, "Maybe."
Boss Zhou thought that his mother had seen it wrong. He didn't believe that they met by such a coincidence. Besides, his mother hadn't seen Wang Ru for a long time. How could she recognize Wang Ru
Zhulan's intuition told her that it was Wang Ru. She didn't know what Wang Ru had experienced, nor did she know how Wang Ru ran away, but from what she saw, she knew Wang Ru was really smart. Wang Ru was followed by a boy who was about four or five years older than Wang Ru. The two of them were carrying bamboo baskets and picking out homespun cloth, talking and laughing. She could see that the boy's bamboo basket was filled with heavy items, while Wang Ru's was filled with cloth.
Wang Ru's smile was something she had never seen before. The smile on her face came from the heart and was not concealed at all.
Zhulan thought, if she really didn't recognize the wrong person, this would be fine. As long as Wang Ru was content with an ordinary life and could live smartly in the future, the Zhou family and Wang Ru would no longer be involved.
The ship's docking time was over, and Zhou Laoer bought a lot of fruits and came up, "Mom, I think bananas are sweet, I bought some for you to try."
Zhulan looked at the ripe bananas. These ripe bananas were processed by the fruit merchants on the ship. Zhulan broke off one and said, "You guys eat one too."
Two days later, Zhulan got off the boat. She had been on the boat for seven days and finally stepped on the ground.
Zhulan bought a lot of things, so she took four carriages when she came and hired two more carriages for the return trip.
The further north they went, the colder the weather became. Zhulan put on a cotton-padded jacket and cloak. Many of the pears and other fruits she brought back were frozen. Some of Zhulan's college classmates were from the north, and there are frozen pears in the north, so even if the pears are frozen, they are still edible.
A lot of vegetables were damaged by the cold, so we had to hurry back to the city.
Zhulan continued on her way. Inside the imperial palace in the capital, the emperor drank his medicine while listening to the crown prince reading out news reports from various places. He had to read these reports at the end of every year, and they contained information about officials of all ranks in every state.
This was the first time the prince had contact with this person, and he suppressed the heat in his heart. This was a secret known only to the emperor. The summarized information contained all the news about officials breaking the law and disorder in various places. He didn't dare to guess or think why his father had allowed him to have contact with this person.
But he can't control his own heart. Isn't my father afraid that he will know the weaknesses of officials from all over the country and win over the ministers behind my back
The emperor drank the medicine slowly and seemingly nonchalantly, but he was always paying attention to the prince. The emperor hid the deep meaning in his eyes, and when he read the name of Zhou Shuren from Lizhou City, the emperor almost swallowed the water he used to rinse his mouth.
The prince looked at it again carefully and found that he had read it correctly.
The emperor held out his hand and said, "Let me see it."
The prince handed it to his father and thought to himself that he was truly impressed by Lord Zhou.
The emperor read through the whole thing at a glance, "Why do I feel that our Lord Zhou is really a waste of his talent in Lizhou? He cheated 20,000 taels of silver with just a few words. What a talent!"
The prince also felt that he was a talented person, but as a prince he was short of money. Although he was well-dressed, they were all prepared by the palace. The furnishings in his home were indeed antiques, but unfortunately they were all rewards and could not be sold. He could not use the crown princess's dowry, as he could not afford to lose face. He finally had some income, which was barely enough to spend!
All the money and silver he has now was obtained from Yao Zheyu. His father was ruthless towards Yao Zheyu, so he didn't need to be polite. The Yao family was like a gold mountain, and he would be itching to get some if he didn't cut some off. But compared with Yao Zheyu and Lord Zhou, Yao Zheyu was not good enough. He felt that Lord Zhou was even better at cheating people out of money!
When the emperor saw that the jade he had rewarded was carved into jewelry by Zhou Shuren, he muttered to himself that he was a spendthrift, but then he felt that such a person was pretty good. From the information he had investigated, he knew that Zhou Shuren did love his wife, and he would feel more at ease using people who had weaknesses.
In Zhoujia Village, the New Year gifts that Zhulan sent to her hometown also arrived. Ma Eryue did not go back to the Li family’s house to see his parents first, but went directly to the old house to see the eldest lady.
Xuemei read the instructions in her mother's letter and asked hurriedly, "Are you okay, Dad and Mom?"
Er Yue said respectfully, "Both the Master and the Mistress are fine."
Xuemei believed that Ma Eryue would not lie to her. She did not even look at the clothes and jewelry her mother had given her. Seeing that it was getting late, she asked, "Do you want to stay and rest, or go back to the house in Lijia Village?"
Ma Eryue said, "I will go back to the house in Lijia Village to see my parents and come here early tomorrow morning."
Xuemei said, "Then I won't keep you."
"yes."
Xuemei waited for Ma Eryue to leave and asked her daughter to look after her two younger brothers. She packed the New Year gifts prepared by her mother separately for each family, and moved Ma Eryue from her family into the house.
Xuemei touched the silver in the box. She had originally planned to look at a piece of land and build a house after the New Year, and her mother sent her the silver. She also thought that if it was not enough, she could sell one or two pieces of jewelry.
Xuemei missed her mother even more. Although her mother was not in her hometown, she was always thinking about them. The money she gave them was said to be New Year's money, but in fact it was just subsidy money.
Xuemei took out the apples, some of which were frostbitten. Xuemei planned to eat them in the evening after they had recovered. The frostbitten ones were still edible. She took out the good apples and put them in the house to warm them up. She would give them to the children when they were no longer cold.
After Xuemei packed her things, Jiang Sheng came back with his son.
Jiang Sheng saw the carriage in the yard and asked, "Is this a New Year gift from my mother?"
Xuemei smiled and nodded, "Yes, they were escorted back in February. I have already packed up our family's family. The rest are the clan leader's family, the eldest and second sister-in-law's family, the third brother's wife's family, and your family."
Jiang Sheng was stunned, but soon came back to his senses and held his wife's hand. His mother-in-law always considered his wife, and this year's New Year gift from the Jiang family was also for his wife's sake.
After my father-in-law became an official, the meaning of the New Year gifts became different. The Jiang family received the New Year gifts, which not only acknowledged the Jiang family's in-laws, but also gave the Jiang family a certain protection. The surrounding villages would not bully the Jiang family for the sake of my father-in-law's face.
As for whether the Jiang family would use his father-in-law's reputation to do bad things, after Jiang Sheng heard his wife talk about the New Year gift to the Jiang family, he knew he didn't have to worry because his mother-in-law had taken everything into consideration.
Jiang Sheng felt that his parents loved him the most by marrying Xuemei for him, "Thank you."
Xuemei smiled, "My parents are also your parents, no need to thank me."
Time passed quickly, Zhulan had passed Chuanzhou and entered Lizhou. Zhulan sent someone back to the mansion to notify.