Miao couldn't sit still any longer. "Oh, I just remembered that I had to go get my jewelry today. I've been sitting here for a while. It's getting late. Sister-in-law, I'm leaving first."
Hua Shi hurriedly stood up and said, "I also remembered something. I'll take my leave now."
Zhulan stood up and said, "I'll take you there."
Hua and Miao waved their hands, "No, no, please stay."
With that, the two of them left quickly with the old woman.
Mrs. Li was stunned. "Mother, they haven't been sitting for half an hour in total. How come they have been sitting for a while? And they don't look like anything is wrong!"
Zhulan smiled and said, "Because they feel sick of it."
Li blinked and recalled her mother's words. Well, everyone in her family was used to it, so they no longer felt bored. Thinking back to the past, she also felt bored.
Zhulan's move was somewhat deliberate. She received a stack of invitations yesterday, and she didn't want people to come to her house every day and treat her like a monkey. She probably didn't want anyone to come this time.
It was indeed as Zhulan said. What Zhulan said spread everywhere that same night. Sometimes officials' families spread information the fastest.
The next morning, Zhulan received many replies saying that they could not come because of family matters.
Seeing her mother-in-law's happy expression, Li soon realized that her mother-in-law was indeed showing off a little, but more of it was just disgusting and annoying. A mother-in-law is just a mother-in-law!
In the government office, Zhou Shuren learned about Zhulan’s magical operation. He found that he was particularly unpopular today, especially by Lord He!
It's almost the end of the year, and the government office has some money in its account, so Zhou Shuren doesn't have to worry about next year. It's really boring to be in the government office during the day.
Zhou Shuren held up the teacup and said, "Master He, has Zhou ever offended you in any way?"
Lord He thought to himself that he had been offended in many ways, and he was not as well-off as Lord Chen. Lord Chen could resist, but could he? Lord He wanted to vomit blood when he thought that his wife's casual clothes were all the same style. His wife was good-looking and talented, but the only bad thing was that she liked bright colors. He saw bright silk when he went home yesterday.
Mr. He is self-aware. He looks okay, but he is dark. He has been running around everywhere this year and has become even darker.
Lord Chen and Lord Zhou also turned darker, but they both recovered. He didn't and became even darker.
Lord He could have imagined that he would be the laughing stock of Lizhou City this year!
Lord He chuckled, "Lord Zhou, I really beg you, Lord Zhou, can you secretly carve jewelry for my sister-in-law in the future?"
Especially don’t get yourself a matching jade pendant and hairpin!
Zhou Shuren was almost laughing in his heart, he knew what Lord He had said but didn't say it. Look at Lord He's dark face, there was really no difference between Lord He's dark face and not having a dark face!
Lord He pursed his lips. Don’t think he couldn’t see the smile in Lord Zhou’s eyes. The old fox was the most annoying. He didn’t even need to explain it clearly, the old fox had guessed his thoughts!
As the year draws to a close, because of Zhulan's actions, all the wives are competitive. No one is willing to admit that her husband does not value her. The jewelry shops and fabric shops in Lizhou City have become popular.
Especially in jewelry shops, there are a lot of carved jade pendants. There is no other way. Men are the breadwinners, and not all housewives are confident enough. They dare not make clothes, so they can only start with jade pendants and hairpins.
Then, Zhulan's family received more New Year gifts from fabric shops and jewelry shops. Although they were free gifts, Zhulan returned the gifts in order to avoid giving others excuses.
The Zhou family really received a lot of New Year gifts. It should not be said that way, because they received too many New Year gifts. The Zhulan family probably won’t have to steam buns for a long time.
These steamed buns made with zodiac signs and other auspicious meanings were given by the common people.
The Zhou family's horse almost broke its legs from running. As the year was coming to an end, Zhulan bought a lot of meat and asked housekeeper Ding to deliver it to the people who delivered steamed buns. As the year was coming to an end, the people were reluctant to eat a bite of meat all year round. If a family delivered two pounds of meat and two pounds of flour, they could have meat-filled dumplings on New Year's Eve.
The New Year gift from Mr. Chen’s family included five kinds of fruits and tea, a total of six return gifts.
This time, not only Zhulan was amazed at the fact that Master Chen had money, but Li even exclaimed, "Mother, what are these three fruits?"
Zhulan introduced, "These two bunches are bananas, these two are pineapples, and these six are coconuts."
I recognize the remaining two items, orange and apple.
Li had never heard of it, and Dong, a young lady from an official family, was also confused. Dong then realized how little she, a young lady from an official family, had seen. Dong sighed that there were too few fruits in the north. Dong asked, "Mom, how do we eat these fruits?"
Zhulan really didn't see any pineapples when she went out, she only ate bananas. She felt that Hua deliberately gave her pineapples and coconuts not only to show off, but also to vent her anger.
Zhulan remembered her own character setting. Her original self had never been out of the Northeast. "Banana, Changli and Changyi have eaten it before. I don't know about pineapple and coconut. Wait for me to ask."
Zhulan counted the number of bananas in the two bunches. There were eleven in one bunch and eight in the other. The places where the knife had cut were probably because they were frozen and rotten and had to be cut away.
Zhulan also wanted to buy bananas in Jiangnan, but they were expensive and easily spoiled. The bananas on the market in Jinzhou were all ripe, and there were no green ones. She also thought about buying from merchants on the ship, but unfortunately they were all goods ordered from the north, and she only sold the ripe ones to reduce losses.
Zhulan planned to take out one of the two bunches of bananas for her parents, and forget about the pineapples, as her parents are old and their stomachs are not as good as before. She would just take two coconuts, which are always fresh.
The New Year gift sent by Lord He's family was obviously prepared by Miao. There was a lot of silk, but the other items were nothing special. Zhulan really couldn't praise the color of the silk.
The various New Year gifts Zhulan's family received were enough to last until the beginning of spring!
The end of the year is approaching, and this year's Lizhou city is no longer like last year when the streets were sparsely populated and looked like a deserted city. This year, the market opened in Lizhou city is bustling with people selling Spring Festival couplets, candied haws, and red lanterns. The whole market is red, as if foreshadowing a prosperous next year.
On New Year's Eve, every household hung up red lanterns and posted couplets, and the Zhou family started busy early in the morning.
There are many yards in the house and many red lanterns were bought. It took a while just to hang the lanterns. Mingteng and Mingrui are young boys, so they started clamoring to set off firecrackers before the time came.
Zhulan waved her hand and agreed, but she needed Boss Zhou to watch over it. Even modern technology can cause people to explode, let alone in ancient times.
This year is a family reunion year, and it is a rare opportunity for Zhou Shuren to take a rest. Zhou Shuren doesn't want to move, he just wants to sit and chat with Zhulan.
Unfortunately, we didn't talk for long before Boss Zhou came running in and said, "Dad, the police are here."
Zhou Shuren dropped the melon seeds in his hand, wondering what the emperor had done.
Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the front yard together. They were not officials, but courier from the imperial court who were delivering an express message over a long distance, carrying a memorial and a bamboo tube.
It was New Year's Day, and Zhulan gave a considerable reward of silver. After the people left, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren returned to the house. Zhou Shuren had already read the memorials, and Zhulan opened a bamboo tube, from which two written characters of "Fu" fell out. These were words bestowed by the emperor!