After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 132 Stepmother and stepmother are different
Zhou Ma's stepson wants to build a workshop, and it seems that he has some relationship with the Hai family.

Hai Xiya presided over the construction of a glass workshop in Suzhou, and the few glass craftsmen he used were sent to Chang'an at the beginning of this year.The glass workshop in Chang'an was only established for less than half a year, and it has already made back its money. It is said to be extremely profitable. Other border troops in the north heard the news and came to inquire about it.

Even if people from other places are like this, how can they not be moved by the wealthy families in Chang'an City who are close to the water?There are rumors that the cost of glassware is not high, but the selling price is not low. The current market is far from saturated. No matter how many products are produced, they can be sold quickly, and the supply exceeds demand.If it weren't for the limited number of craftsmen, the slow pace of teaching new apprentices, and the lack of manpower that limited production, many new glass workshops would have been built in Chang'an City.

Zhou Ma's husband's family was the third eldest brother of the Zhou family, so he was once a direct branch of the family. When his father-in-law was young, he was the leader of the Zhou family and almost got the seal of command.It's just that he fought on the battlefield when he was young, which left many hidden dangers. After remarrying Mrs. Matthew, who filled the house, he stayed at home to recuperate under his wife's persuasion. He rarely led troops to fight anymore, mainly doing some military work. Logistics and military training work.But the older generation of frontier generals still respected him.Even though Marshal Zhou later rose up to take charge of the frontier army and became a new generation leader of the northwest frontier army, Zhou Ma's father-in-law still had a high prestige.

The old man has passed away now, but his descendants can still be protected by his shadow and have a transcendent status in the northwest.

Zhou Ma's husband, Zhou Shigong, was the eldest son of the old man and his first wife. His biological mother died young, but she left him a very generous dowry.He has been raised by his stepmother, Mrs. Ma, since he was a child. The dowry has been kept by his stepmother, and the accounts are clear, but it cannot reach his hands.

The eldest son Zhou Shigong and his first wife, Zhou Jinpu, received the same treatment.The dowry left by his deceased mother was controlled by his step-grandmother, Mrs. Ma. He himself was also raised by his step-grandmother, because everyone could not trust his stepmother Zhou Ma. They had completely forgotten that Zhou Shigong would remarry Zhou Ma just to find someone else. Individuals take care of the children.

Mrs. Ma held the two dowries in her hands, unlike her daughter-in-law Zhou Ma, who tried every means to deduct them.She never let anyone find anything wrong with her accounts, and she never reached out to her late husband when he was in charge of the logistics of the border army.Therefore, the entire Zhou family and the generals in the army felt that she was rich and innocent in matters of money, so how could she plan for a dowry for her daughter-in-law?I just wanted my daughter-in-law, who has a rich private life, to take more care of the younger generation in the family and the down-and-out people in the clan. It was a good intention.It was Zhou Ma who was stingy and misunderstood her mother-in-law.

Zhou Shigong was frail since he was a child, and was led by his stepmother to study and study literature. Together with his eldest son Zhou Jinpu, he also studied since he was a child and planned to take the imperial examination.Zhou Shigong still has some talent for reading, but he was too energetic when he was young, and his writing skills were obviously not good enough. However, when he went to Beijing to visit his sister Zhou Shuyi who was married far away, he suddenly ran to take the joint examination, and in the end he only passed the test. Same as Jinshi.Although he had a smooth career in the officialdom due to his family background, he was still discriminated against by the Jinshi.He simply resigned and went home, relying on his connections to get a sinecure in the army.

Zhou Jinpu is worse than his father.Although my father failed to inherit his father's position in the military, he also achieved success in the imperial examinations and was able to serve as an official.Zhou Jinpu never liked reading since he was a child.Mrs. Ma also dotes on her grandson, allowing him to neglect his studies. Now that he is almost 40 years old and his son is preparing to join the army, he can only dawdle in the government school.Others remembered that he had lost his mother when he was young, so they couldn't bear to blame him more, but instead made him become more and more naughty.

Zhou Shigong has always been troubled by the ineffectiveness of his son. Seeing that his step-sibling Zhou Jinlin, the son of the Zhou Ma family, honestly followed the family tradition and joined the border army and was promoted to the sixth rank due to military merit. However, his eldest son Zhou Jinpu, the eldest son of his original wife, continued to work in the border army. Even with little hope of becoming an official, his mind began to wander, thinking that he should be more considerate of his eldest son, who lost his mother when he was young.

At that time, the reputation of glass workshops in Chang'an City was very high. Zhou Jinpu heard something from his classmates when he was studying in Fuzhou. When he came back, he told his family that he wanted to open a glass workshop to make some private money.Even if he fails to achieve results in his studies in the government, he is expected to donate to a regular prison in the future and study in the Imperial College. After a few years, he can be appointed as an official.With the support of the Zhou family, is he still afraid that he will not be promoted to the sixth rank and will be outclassed by his half-brother?

He also said in front of his step-grandmother, Mrs. Ma, and his father, Zhou Shigong, that he did not need to spend any money from his family to help him donate to prison. He could earn the money himself and support his wife and children. He was by no means a waste as others said.

Mrs. Ma kept praising him for his ambition, but at the same time she said in a weird way that he was not a waste, but that someone had ill intentions and deliberately slandered him. When she said this, she deliberately looked at her daughter-in-law Zhou Ma.

Zhou Shigong couldn't say no, so he agreed to allocate money from his official position to help him build a workshop. He also privately advised his wife, Zhou Ma, to be more tolerant to their children.Zhou Ma, who had said nothing, felt aggrieved.Mrs. Ma also found someone to contact the craftsmen of Chang'an Glass Workshop privately, and persuaded one of the outstanding apprentices to agree to switch jobs and take charge of the glass workshop affairs for Zhou Jinpu.

Until here, Zhou Ma has been sitting on the wall and watching.She doesn't care about the family, she can live on the monthly salary, and how much money the father-in-law spends on his stepson's workshop has nothing to do with her.She just felt that doing so was suspected of trying to corner the border army, but she also knew that with her father-in-law's prestige during his lifetime, even if the matter was exposed and there were complaints from the army, it would not hurt the third family of the Zhou family.She didn't do anything, and she was going to be blamed for slandering her stepson. If she really said something, wouldn't it mean that she would be slandered more and more?So she sat back and watched.

Unexpectedly, her step-mother-in-law, Mrs. Ma, had no intention of letting her go.

We have money to build a workshop and we have manpower.

Among the huge inheritance that Mrs. Ma inherited from her adoptive mother, there are a large number of business talents.Although Mrs. Ma had devoted herself to raising her husband and children in the past few decades and had not put much thought into the property, those capable stewards still maintained the basic position until Mrs. Ma's daughter Zhou Shuyi married into the Yingchuan Marquis Mansion in the capital. , until a large number of elite stewards were taken away as dowries.Nowadays, there are not many shopkeepers and managers left in Chang'an, but the population is large.They may not be able to build another business empire, but they can still help run a workshop.Whether it's craftsman apprentices or material sources, they can take care of it all, so there's no need to look for anyone else.

The workshop now only needs a piece of land.

Zhou Jinpu originally wanted to find a solution from his mother's family. Among the dowry left by his mother was a farm located on the outskirts of Chang'an City.Zhou Shigong prefers to allocate a few shops in his family's property and build workshops directly in the city to reduce transportation losses.

But Madam Ma disagreed.

She believes that this workshop cannot be built in the city, otherwise it will be discovered too early and the border army will be asked to find a way to collect it before the money is made.Moreover, the workshop cannot be built too small. Being too small will only constrain its own development and make it difficult to manufacture large quantities of glassware in the future.The workshop had to be isolated as much as possible from the outside world, lest anyone learn the secrets of glassmaking.

In order to meet these conditions, she specially counted all the properties in her family, and finally selected the villa where her daughter-in-law Zhou Ma's dowry was.It's far away from the city, it occupies a large area, and there are basically no outsiders around. Even if the veterans in Zhoujiazhuang find out, they will keep quiet for the sake of the old man.

Mrs. Ma also said that if Mrs. Zhou Ma really cared about her stepson, she should take the initiative to take out the other village and go to the government to transfer the ownership, and she should not mention money.She has not taken care of her stepson for many years, which is a dereliction of duty. Now she is just asked to contribute to his stepson's property. Isn't even Zhuangzi willing to make up for the child?

Zhou Ma was extremely reluctant and almost dying of anxiety.

(End of this chapter)