The little girl of the landlord's house

Chapter 50

It's November in a flash, and it's cold early this year, and there have been several snowfalls at this time.

After Aunt Liu's matter was settled last time, Xu Yuxing moved to live in the city.As soon as he didn't have to go out now, Xie Yujiao handed over many shops in the city to him.Secondly, I heard that the north has been hit hard recently, Xie Yujiao also thought to take advantage of this time to build more real estate and shops, so that when people from the north flooded over in the future, they could also sit on the ground and earn more money.

Aunt Shen's belly is getting bigger and bigger, and she is about to give birth. Xu made a lot of small padded jackets, small trousers, and diapers cut from whole strips of high-quality cotton cloth, all of which were prepared properly. right.My aunt is much more active now than when she first came back to Xie's house. While taking care of the two girls, she helped Mrs. Xu with housework, sometimes she did some needlework, embroidered handkerchiefs and purses, both of which were Xie Yujiao and Xu Huiru.

Xie Yujiao looked at this exquisitely crafted handkerchief, and was really reluctant to use it, but Xu Huiru liked it so much, she secretly asked her aunt, could she tell her how the patterns on it were embroidered?

It turned out that Xu Huiru also learned embroidery for a year or two when she was a child with her mother. Later, she lived in Xie's house. Even Xie Yujiao was reluctant to let her learn this, so naturally she didn't pay attention to it. Later, when she went to the capital, Xu Huiru discovered that In the girls' families in the capital, no matter whether they are daughters of a thousand pieces of gold or daughters of princes and princes, there is no one who does not learn needlework.At that time, she was living in her grandfather's house, and it was not easy to ask for anything, so she envied them a little bit in her heart, and now seeing her aunt and grandma's embroidery skills, she moved her thoughts again.

The great aunt saw that Xu Huiru was beautiful and sensible, and thought that she must be pitiful without a mother since she was a child, so she took extra care of her, taught her how to do needlework, and took her two daughters to learn together, see It's really like a happy family.

It's just that Xie Yujiao doesn't have time to do these things, she has too many miscellaneous things, and she has to take care of everything.She has to pay the rice after harvesting, calculate the field rent for this year with the accountant Mr. Kong, and calculate the seeds needed for the next wheat planting. These items are all enough for her.Fortunately, the wheat has also gone to the ground now, and for the next month or two, the livelihood in the fields can be ignored.As long as there are no natural or man-made disasters, she can breathe a sigh of relief.

Now that Liu Fugen works with Xie Yujiao, he feels more and more that she is capable and seasoned, and even leading him to do things is more reliable than before. Now Kang Guangshou also knows that Liu Fugen is Xie Yujiao's right-hand man. Whatever happens in the county, Xie Yujiao is not a good girl. For anyone who came forward, he would invite Liu Fugen to go and listen together, so Liu Fugen came back happily from the county government office.

The snow at the door of the study was swept away, but there were still many snowflakes on the felt hat Liu Fugen wore on his head.Xie Yujiao asked the magpie to make hot tea for him, letting him take a sip to warm up his body first.Now Liu Fugen has also learned to sit and answer questions, but when it comes to critical moments, he still can't help but nod and bow.

"Master Kang wants to do a hundred days for his son. Now our family still observes filial piety. It's not good in the past, but the ceremony is still indispensable. The servant has already written the list of gifts. Miss, can you see if it can be done?" Liu Fugen put it on He took out the gift list in his sleeve and handed it to the maid beside him.

Xie Yujiao took it and looked at it, and saw that there were some screens, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and she didn't know much about them, so she nodded and said: "You can arrange these, I don't understand, just don't miss them."

Liu Fugen nodded vigorously, and said again: "I heard the meaning of the county magistrate today, that he doesn't want to accept these gifts. Now that the north is fighting hard, he has an errand to write the military supplies. This year's grain harvest was supposed to be bumper. There are enough people to go up, but I can't stand the high cost of fighting, the county magistrate said that now everywhere is collecting food and salaries, let us also think of a way."

After hearing this, Xie Yujiao was quite helpless. If the imperial court increased taxes publicly, it would be the wool of the sheep, and the common people would suffer.The foreign enemies have not been driven out by then, and if the common people here revolt again, they will not be able to capsize in the gutter.Now we can only mobilize them, the landlords and squires who have some spare money, and if they can make some connections, they will make some connections.

"What else did Mr. Kang say?"

"I didn't say anything else, I just praised our Xie family, saying that the [-] padded jackets made at the beginning of the year have already arrived at the front line, and now all the soldiers are wearing them, and I also said that others should learn from our family. Once learned, those who are rich will contribute money, and those who are powerful will contribute, otherwise, if Dayong is gone, the big guys will fall together and the monkeys will be scattered, it will be meaningless."

Xie Yujiao was very happy when she heard this, Kang Guangshou is indeed the champion!These words have pushed Xie's family to the forefront, I'm afraid there will still be people who curse behind their backs!It is said that the Xie family likes to pretend to be a good person and hurt a group of fellow Taoists.

Although Xie Yujiao thought so in her heart, she said: "Master Kang is right. We are all citizens of Dayong, and we should do our best. This winter is so cold. If the soldiers don't wear cotton jackets and get sick from the cold, what will happen? If you don’t have the energy to fight, you won’t be able to defend your home and country.”

For a while, Liu Fugen didn't understand what Xie Yujiao meant, so he listened quietly, only to hear her continue: "But spring will begin soon, and it's too late to make padded jackets now, but Master Kang has praised our Xie family, It doesn’t seem to be justified if you don’t pay some money, how about this, you take all the valuable things on the list just now, and exchange them for a thousand bolts of white cotton cloth, and send them to Mr. Kang.”

Last year's cotton harvest was bumper, and the price of cotton cloth came down a lot. Xie Yujiao sent cotton cloth now, and Kang Guangshou would be embarrassed to ask for a cotton jacket next time.In this way, not only money but also manpower and material resources are left over. The business of making padded jackets is really not done by humans.Xie Yujiao thought of the matter of carrying cotton in her padded jacket in the summer, and felt her head was sweating!
"Miss, can Master Kang ask for cotton cloth?" Liu Fugen was a little confused at the moment. I heard that there are people donating food and clothes, but I have never seen one donating cotton cloth. If the things are delivered and returned, this cotton cloth It's not easy to sell, but it's going to lose money.

Xie Yujiao then smiled and said: "Second housekeeper, don't worry, this battle has been going on for two or three years, and I don't know how many casualties there are on the front line. The cotton cloth is good. When the time comes, wash it in hot water, and the sun will Let it dry in the sun, it is a good thing for bandaging wounds, last time I heard from my uncle that these things were purchased by the household department from the private sector, and the money was earned by those imperial merchants. It is clear that there are only a few taels of silver per piece of cotton cloth , in the hands of that group of people, it will become dozens of taels of silver, so I will send some over to see if they dare to say that it is worthless?"

How could Liu Fugen have such insight, and Xie's family did not do business with the imperial court, so when he saw Xie Yujiao's words, he nodded in agreement.

But it was the coldest time of the year in the north thousands of miles away. After snow fell in the mountains, it became even colder and colder, and the tents of the army were sparsely lined up.Zhou Tianhao and a few soldiers were gesturing around the topographic map of this area, to see if they could find a trail that could go around the back of the Tartars and give the Tartars a surprise attack.

But it was very cold in the north, although there was a stove burning in the tent, it couldn't stop the cold wind outside. Zhou Tianhao sneezed a few times, and the lieutenant behind hurriedly sent a hand stove to it. Zhou Tianhao looked at the crowd with snot The officers and soldiers in the cross asked, "Are all the padded jackets distributed?"

Hearing this, the deputy general nodded and said: "It has already been divided. When the soldiers are finished, the excess will be left to the prince and the generals."

It turned out that although Zhou Tianhao was young, he was unwilling to be left behind. When he thought that the soldiers were all working for Dayong, he had to carry them no matter how cold it was. This batch of cotton coats was only [-] pieces, and there were more than one soldier under him. This counted, so he gritted his teeth and waited until every soldier had cotton-padded clothes to wear before he would put on cotton-padded clothes.

When the generals saw that the little prince was standing up like this, they were even more embarrassed to call it cold, so in this weather of tens of degrees below zero, everyone still wore long clothes and long trousers as before, but the nose was really disobedient. A few small earthworms slipped out.

Zhou Tianhao raised his head, glanced at the crowd, and was wondering if he didn't need to show off his ability, when the soldiers outside came in with a few cotton jackets in their arms, and let out a cloud of white gas: "All the officers and men are wearing cotton jackets already. , These are reserved for the generals and the young prince."

Zhou Tianhao never knew that, as the prince of Dayong, he would actually swallow his drool over such a poorly made padded jacket.When he first went to the battlefield, he was dressed in brocade clothes and his face was so white that he didn't even have a stubble. It's only been a few months now, and he is no different from a dog egg that rolled out of the mud.

"My lord, come here, put on quickly, if I don't get this padded coat, I'll be frozen like a dog." Zhou Tianhao glanced at General Hu who claimed to be frozen into a dog, and a humble smile flashed across his face: " General Hu please go first."

Seeing that the young prince didn't choose, of course they were too embarrassed to choose, but after repeated refusals, everyone couldn't bear their temper anymore, so let him go!It's true to wear warm clothes first, but everyone acted in unison, and left the one with the most cotton for Zhou Tianhao.

After all the officers and men finished discussing the military affairs, they vaguely left the battalion commander. Deputy General Liu stepped forward, took off Zhou Tianhao's armor, and put on a padded jacket.

These padded jackets are all made according to the size of a large body, so it is not impossible to wear them, but the cotton stuffed inside this padded jacket is too scary. After Zhou Tianhao put it on, he suddenly found that his chest muscles had never been so strong.

Vice-General Liu at the side saw him, and couldn't help laughing, and said casually: "Your Highness, the embroiderer who made this padded jacket didn't cut corners!"

Zhou Tianhao gave him a sideways glance. He was still a little depressed at first, but when he thought of this, he seemed to be more morale, so he puffed up his chest and said, "Although it is a bit heavier, it keeps warm! Our girls in Dayong are all good-looking , all have a patriotic heart!"

Hearing this, Deputy General Liu suppressed a smile and said, "Your Highness, how do you know that this dress is made by a girl? Maybe it's a sister-in-law?"

Zhou Tianhao saw that Vice General Liu was relentless, so he said casually: "With the skill of carrying cotton, she must be a girl who can't get married!"

Seeing Zhou Tianhao's happiness, Deputy General Liu said with a shy face, "That's just right! Your Highness hasn't gotten married yet, so don't you want to give me the gift of clothes?"

Without saying a word, Zhou Tianhao turned around and kicked Vice General Liu's ass.

(End of this chapter)