C266
C266
"Right." Mu Ke nodded his head, "My mother is going too far, she actually asked me to marry a man, what future prospects does she have if she can marry into another's family? She's trying to ruin my life, right? "
Mu Ke was furious, he treated the melon seeds on the table as his enemies and started clattering.
After coming from the Great Yan Dynasty, he had a complete understanding of the history, circumstances, and customs of the dynasty. This generation of people looked down upon the matter of marrying into their family, especially the family with a son, and would definitely not allow the two of them to marry into their family. The male side would also not be willing to marry into their family, thinking that it would cause their male pride and dignity to be lost, and there were even some people who felt that accepting a husband as a wife would affect the luck of the family.
So when Mu Ke said that the County Owner wanted him to take in new members, Shen Jingli would be surprised. However, after thinking about Mu Yu's situation, he seemed to understand what the County Owner was thinking.
"If you don't want to hire a woman, you can marry her." Shen Jingli sincerely suggested, "Or could it be, you already have someone you like?"
"Cough, cough, cough …" Mu Ke seemed to be scared stiff by his words. He coughed until tears were flowing out of his eyes.
Are you trying to kill me?
Receiving the information from Mu Ke's eyes, Shen Jingli smiled, looking at his situation, it seemed like he had some clues.
"Did I hit the mark?" Look at that blushing face, it's about to burn up.
"Nope." He denied it too quickly.
Mu Ke turned his head unnaturally and looked out the window with his eyes. He said hesitatingly: "Xun Er and Huaixin are playing outside, I will go and see them."
He hurried out, like a small fire chasing after him.
"Puchi …" Shen Jingli could not help but laugh.
He didn't expect that the overbearing brat Mu Ke was actually so innocent. It was really too interesting.
"Madam, what are you laughing at?" Jin Yu asked curiously when she saw Shen Jingli laughing alone when he walked in from outside.
"Is there?" Shen Jingli reached out his hand to touch his face, it was really so obvious, the corners of his mouth were splitting off to the side of his ears.
No?
Jin Yu curiously looked at him a few more times. With such an obvious smile, how could she make a mistake?
"Madam must have earned quite a bit of silver from laughing so happily." Jin Yu intentionally ridiculed, she had never seen such a master who loved money.
"I've earned quite a bit." Shen Jingli nodded his head. Zhou Hao's business was so good that it seemed like he was about to die, his eyes were extremely accurate, he had ensnared a lot of capable managers, and as the development of his business grew, even his own family became jealous. He repeatedly pressured them to hand over their business to him, they had already separated, and now they still had the nerve to give him their business, what shame did they have?
Shen Jingli raised his head, "I earned some money, are you unhappy?"
"I'm happy, of course I'm happy." Jin Yu hurriedly replied. How could she not be happy? Madam Ling had made them invest in a business they were interested in. Although the investment wasn't much, the annual dividends were tens of times more than the monthly savings they had. With this money, she wouldn't be so shabby when she got married.
Shen Jingli saw her fake flattering smile, and thought in his heart, this guy changed his face really quickly.
When he thought of his own full purse, Jin Yu's mood improved even more. As he cleaned up Mu Ke's melon seeds, he hummed a melody.
Shen Jingli looked at her dancing steps, and suddenly remembered something. Jin Yu was almost twenty, why was she not married yet?
"Jin Yu, did you send someone over?" He did not seem to be a qualified matriarch, and did not realize at all that the marriages of the servants seemed to need to be agreed upon and arranged.
"It's a promise, but he went to Xiangzhou with Lord Third. When Lord Third returns to the capital next year, we'll be married." Jin Yu answered, "Oh yes, it's Shi Yi, the nephew of the butler from Western Mu Mansion. The master said that he was a good seedling, and let him take over Xiangzhou with Third Master."
He really didn't know about this at all. Shen Jingli thought back to everything that had happened in the past few years, could it be that he had delayed the marriage of many people?
He extended a hand to support his forehead, revealing an ugly smile that did not reach his eyes. Hearing two weird laughs, Jin Yu turned around to look at him, but was shocked by his smile and asked, "Madam, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine." Shen Jingli smirked: "Oh right, are you young yet?"
"Not yet." Jin Yu shook her head, "Their family only has him as their only child, so Father and Mother want him to marry a wife or a husband. All these years they have been looking at each other, waiting for him to see them better, and then I will tell you, but they have never taken a good look at anything good."
"I know." Shen Jingli nodded.
"Madam, Master has returned with a letter." Big Ji came running in from outside, a letter in his hand.
Shen Jingli immediately put down the account book in his hands, and ran over to snatch the letter. His anxious look made Jin Yu and Da Ji unable to hold back from laughing.
Shen Jingli didn't even notice their movements, he impatiently opened the envelope and took out the letter, sitting on the chair in front of the desk and reading it.
The letter this time was thicker than the previous one, a full seven pages. Aside from expressing his yearning for them, he also mentioned how the few cars he had given them had helped them, as well as his recent battle situation. If it wasn't good enough, he had chosen not to reveal any bad news.
There were seven pages of letters. Shen Jingli looked at them three times, then smoothed them over one by one and placed them into the box on the dresser. Inside the box, there were letters that Mu Chen had sent back every time he went out.
"Mama, Mama, is father back?" Xun Er rushed in from the outside and threw himself onto Shen Jingli's body, knocking over the box on the dresser, and then threw out the letters that had just been placed there, scattering everywhere.
Shen Jingli frowned, upon seeing this, Xun Er also knew that he had gotten into trouble. With his hands behind his back, he carefully took a step back and timidly called out, "Mama."
Shen Jingli reached out to press his head down, "Father still hasn't come back, now, help Mama pick up these letters, don't dirty them, and don't break them."
Xun Er nodded obediently, he squatted down and helped Shen Jingli pick up the letters one by one.
"Mama, when will father return? Da Hui and Er Hui have grown up a little more. They will be able to carry me flying in a few days. After picking up all the letters, Xun Er stood behind Shen Jingli and asked carefully.
The child did not understand the meaning of war, he only knew that his father had been away for months and had not returned. He had been looking forward to it every day, hoping that his father would come back to play with him, but he could not bring himself to do so.
Without hearing Shen Jingli's reply, he continued, "Father hasn't been back for a few days, and it's been even longer than last time. I miss him so much, and if he doesn't come back soon, I'll grow taller than him."
"How much have you grown?" Shen Jingli turned and smiled at him.
"A lot taller." Xun Er stood up on his tiptoes and gestured with his hands twice, "I will grow taller than you very quickly."
"Yes, yes, yes. When you grow taller than me, Father will come back."
Xun Er pouted unhappily and hung his head low, the Mama treated him like a child again.
Seeing him like that, Shen Jingli reached out and caressed his face, "Bear with it a little more, father will be back very soon. Father loves you the most, I won't let you wait for too long."
Yes, he definitely wouldn't let them wait too long.
0
The warm jade that Mu Chen gave him was like the sun. That man promised her the most, he said that he would be back soon, and would definitely be back soon. As long as they were at home, they would be fine.
Xun Er looked up. He didn't know why Mama was laughing. The smile seemed to hide the sun, but it was a smile that had been hidden in his heart for many years. Even if he couldn't remember what had happened today, whenever he was troubled, the smile would flash in his mind and encourage him to overcome many difficulties.
"..."
In the evening, Zhao Wenrui came to visit them.
"What happened?" Shen Jingli brought him a plate of dim sum and sat opposite to him.
"The matter of collecting the military salaries didn't go well. I was worried about my father." Zhao Wenrui's father was General Zhao, who was sent to suppress the General Zheng. The Zhao Family was a military general for generations, and General Zhao and his eldest son went to war together. Zhao Wenrui and his mother and sister-in-law were very worried.
"Didn't you say that the Emperor sent reinforcements? Did you not send the food? " Was the treasury that empty? The huge imperial government was actually so poor.
Seemingly having seen through Shen Jingli's thoughts, Zhao Wenrui explained: "Our country fought quite a few big battles with Great Qi in these past few years, and then encountered natural disasters in various places. The Emperor was compassionate with the people, and his national treasury was always abundant;
"In that case, why don't you ask for donations from the wealthy merchants?" The richest people in the country were merchants. If the country wanted money, it could just cooperate with merchants.
"Raise funds?" Zhao Wenrui shook his head, and laughed at Shen Jingli's naivety, "It's easy to say, but it's not so simple to execute. After all, merchants do not take out their hard-earned money for no reason."
Of course, it is impossible to get them to pay for free, but they can gather merchants and collect donations together. The imperial government can give them honors, and the emperor can give them tablets for writing personally, and allow them to take the Imperial Examinations, and other similar examinations, like those for industry and commerce, to the very end. In order to change their position, the merchants have been trying their best, and as long as there are some practical benefits, they should be willing to pay. Shen Jingli recalled the current situation of the dynasty and spoke without thinking.
Actually, he wasn't sure if this would work or not. After all, he didn't really understand how to read people's hearts.
When Zhao Wenrui heard this, he felt that it made sense. He reached out and patted Shen Jingli's shoulder, "Your suggestion is not bad, I'll go back and tell Second Brother. If it's really useful, I'll definitely thank you in the future."