Zhulan took the letter and asked, "Only one letter?"
Steward Ding, "The messenger said it was Master Wu's personal servant, and he is waiting outside to see the mistress."
Zhulan was not in a hurry to read the letter. Wu Ming always sent New Year gifts by hand, and he had never sent anyone to escort them. Today, he sent a trusted personal servant, so it seemed that he had something to say. "Please come in."
Li Xushi stood up and said, "I'm going to go out for a walk and come back later."
Zhulan stood up to see him off, "Okay."
Li Xu left, and Steward Ding came in with a servant. Zhulan recognized the servant, Wu Ming's first servant, who had lived with Zhulan and others for a period of time. "Wu Ming sent you here, but what happened?"
The servant replied respectfully, "The old lady and the old man passed away a few days ago."
Zhulan took a moment to come back to her senses. Wu Li had passed away? "How could a healthy person suddenly pass away?"
She clearly remembered that Wu Li was in good health.
The servant lowered his head and thought it was a family disgrace, but since his master was the Zhou family's godson, he thought it was okay to tell him. "Your master's uncle used my master's reputation to get things done, causing a lot of trouble for you. The old man was already ill and he got so angry when he found out that he couldn't get over it. The old lady was too sad and passed away soon after."
Zhulan felt very upset. She had given Wu Ning a New Year gift and Wu Li had asked him to write a letter to her. But she passed away in just a few months. Zhulan's eyes turned red with sadness. "Is your master okay?"
The servant thought that the master was a very bad person. After the old man and the old lady were buried, the master changed. In the past, no matter who ridiculed the master as the most hopeless top scholar, the master would not get angry at all and would laugh. But now the master doesn't even smile.
Seeing that the servant did not reply, Zhulan sighed. She really asked unnecessary questions. She opened the letter written by Wu Ming. Wu Ming wrote: "My godmother and godfather are all well. Something happened in my family recently. I should have returned to my hometown to mourn for my grandparents for a year, but the petition was rejected and I cannot return to my hometown to mourn. So I plan to mourn for my grandparents for three years. Because there is no marriage for three years and there is no mistress in the family, my younger sister has reached the age to get married. For some reasons of mine, I am afraid that my younger sister's marriage will be affected, so I can only ask for help from my godmother."
Zhulan thought that according to the dynasty's mourning system, when parents die, children need to mourn for three years, and grandchildren only need to mourn for one year. Wu Ming couldn't return to his hometown, so he planned to observe mourning for three years.
Wu Ming is not favored by the Emperor, so naturally his superiors will not favor him much either. Now all the petitions for mourning have been rejected. This time Wu Ming does not have to endure many years to train his mind. This year is enough for him to do so.
Zhulan said to the servant, "Go down and rest first, I will arrange for someone to go back with you."
The servant said respectfully, "Yes."
Zhulan waited for the servant to go down, and she decided to let the eldest son pick up Wu Ning. The eldest son was the eldest son and could represent Zhou Shuren, and it would also be a good opportunity to send the Li family back.
Half an hour later, Li Xu and Li Cong came together. This was because Li Xu saw the contract and understood that Li Cong had to come to sign it, so she came together.
Zhulan took out the deed and said, "This is what I mean by cooperation. In the fall, I want to buy two farms. I am not confident leaving the farms to others to manage, so I want to entrust them to my in-laws. They will take care of the two farms, and I will give them 15% of the grain every year."
Zhulan did some calculations and realized that after deducting the taxes and giving to the Li family, she could still make a lot of money in a year. By handing over the land to the Li family in the future, she would not only feel at ease but also have peace of mind. It would be well worth spending 15% of the grain.
Li Xu didn't know how big a manor was. She only knew that according to her in-laws' character, they would definitely not treat the Li family unfairly. But, "Why didn't your in-laws give it to your eldest son-in-law?"
Zhu Lan explained, "Jiang Sheng is a teacher at the clan school, he doesn't have that much energy."
Moreover, Jiang Sheng will still have to continue taking exams in the future. She thinks that it is most suitable for Jiang Sheng to be a teacher for now. Not only can he concentrate on his studies, but he can also have time to take care of Xuemei and the children.
Li Cong rubbed his hands and said, "Mother-in-law, we are in-laws, it is our duty to help take care of the child, forget about the remuneration."
Zhulan smiled and said, "If it's just a few dozen acres, I won't talk about the remuneration. My dear, I plan to buy a big farm, at least one farm of 300 acres. When the time comes, I will hire people and do other things. My dear, I won't have to do anything else. The remuneration must be paid."
Li Cong was a little dizzy. Li Xu smiled and said, "Although brothers should settle accounts, 15% is still a bit too much. 10%, what do you think, mother-in-law?"
Zhulan really likes the Li family. This is the first time she has negotiated cooperation with someone and the other party keeps lowering the price. She pressed Li Xu's hand and said, "This has been a year or two. Mother-in-law, just do as I say."
Mrs. Li Xu thought of her sons and grandchildren, and swallowed back the words on her lips, "Then I will shamelessly thank my mother-in-law."
Afterwards, the Li family signed their names and the triplicate deeds were kept with Zhulan first, to be given to the Li family after the farm was bought.
Li Xu did not stay long and went back to pack her luggage. Li Xu gained a lot in Lizhou City. Zhulan bought a lot of cloth and food that Li and the eldest brother gave her as a gift, and the Yang family also gave some. Li Xu came with two carriages, and she had two more when she left.
Two days later, Li Xu left. This time she no longer rented a carriage, but traveled with the motorcade.
Just two days after Zhou Laoda left, Zhou Laoer came back and brought back a lot of mountain products from the Northeast. Zhou Laoer explained: "My parents like the mountain products from my hometown. I thought it was a rare trip back home, so I stayed a few more days to collect some mountain products."
Zhulan looked at the list. She didn't know how much money Zhou Laoer took with him, but the two fifty-year-old ginsengs on the list were worth a lot of money. This list was wrong. "Did you buy the ginseng too?"
Zhou Laoer said, "Mom, the list you are looking at is the one given by the Qian family, and the mountain products I collected are the ones below."
Zhulan didn't look carefully just now, and there were indeed two lists. She thought Zhou Laoer accepted the gifts and put them on his list. The gift list given by the Qian family was to express gratitude. Zhulan asked, "You went to the Qian family. Is everything okay there?"
Zhou Laoer was so embarrassed. He really didn't expect his mother-in-law to be so ruthless that she sold almost all the valuable antiques of the Qian family. He thought the silver in his mother-in-law's hand was the Qian family's cash. He was also impressed that the Qian family had silver. But when he arrived at the Qian family, he found out the truth. He returned the silver, and the Qian family's face looked better. "It's good. When I left, Mr. Qian told me to say thank you for them."
Zhulan looked at Zhou Laoer, hoping that he would remember this lesson for the rest of his life, but she still wanted to warn him, "You only have one chance."
Zhou Laoer has always remembered what his father said about adoption. Now it is a knife hanging over his head. He has really learned his lesson and will not dare to do it again. "Mom, I will not dare to do it again."
Zhulan hummed, "Pack up and go to Chuanzhou tomorrow."
Zhou Laoer was afraid to see his father. Ever since he saw his father's other side, he had nightmares every night. He was either kicked out by his father or lived a miserable life after being adopted. He was always awakened by fear, "Mom, I'll go back and pack up now."