happy event

Chapter 87 Siblings Gather
"I want to eat it too, and braised pork!" Xizi was afraid that his master would forget his favorite dish, so he curled his neck and hid in a low voice to remind him.Dong Rong looked funny, reached out and touched his little head, and replied, "This is not a rare dish, there is a piece of pork belly at home, let's make it tonight."

Xizi was so happy that she immediately clapped her hands and laughed, sat on the small stool by the door and drank a bowl of porridge before putting down the bowl and chopsticks, obviously saving her stomach for the evening meal.

Soon after everyone finished their meal, Dong Ping and Xi Zi were sent to take a nap.The master and servant were also over excited at the moment, exhaustion surged up like a tide, and they each lay down and fell asleep in the dark.When he opened his eyes again, it was already dark, Dong Ping called Xizi to get up together, washed his hands and face and changed into clean clothes.

Dong Rong was teasing Guoguo with a piece of snack. This little guy has eaten delicious food this month, and his body has grown round again, making him even more cute.But Shazhu sat at the table by the window and taught Zhang Guanshi how to learn Arabic numerals. Zhang Guanshi bent over and listened carefully. The two stopped talking when they saw Dong Ping coming in.Manager Zhang hurriedly saluted, Dong Ping helped him up with a smile and asked, "Didn't Uncle Zhang go back to the city? Why are you here again?"

He spoke like this, but looked at his sister and blinked vigorously.Dong Rong guessed her younger brother's thoughts and laughed, "Brother Ping, don't worry, Uncle Zhang has just signed the employment contract, and he will be the chief manager of our orchard from now on. Although my method of settlement is simple, it is rare for ordinary people. It is just for your brother-in-law to teach you For Uncle Zhang, this method will be used for all business accounts in the future, which is secretive and safe."

Dong Ping remembered that when he went to Beijing to sell fruit this time, Guanshi Zhang had a lot of money in his arms but did not change his mind at all, he was really loyal.Just now he suspected that someone tricked his brother-in-law into teaching thaumaturgy, which was really wrong, so his face slowly turned red.

Naturally, Dong Rong didn't want her younger brother to be embarrassed, so she hurriedly said, "Just as the meal was ready, you just woke up, let's have dinner, and after dinner, think carefully about the relief of refugees."

"Okay, I'll help." Dong Ping quickly agreed, and took Xizi to help set the table and take the dishes.Soon a small pottery pot was filled with braised pork, a plate of fried cabbage with bacon, a plate of shredded sweet potatoes, and a plate of fried peanuts, and a large pot of steamed japonica rice filled the square table.

Steward Zhang wanted to pick up some food and sit by the door to eat like Xizi, but Dong Rong would not let him do this, so she insisted on asking him to sit at the guest seat.

If people who travel far away talk about what they miss most at home, it must be familiar and delicious meals.Dong Ping woke up after a nap, already hungry, and now he didn't care about his scholarly demeanor, so he threw away his chopsticks and ate quickly.Manager Zhang seldom spoke, and his mouth was completely used to compete with the food.

Xizi by the door was also shaking her head after eating, shouting from time to time, "It's delicious, it tastes like this, I'm drooling in my dreams!"

Dong Rong felt sorry for them eating out and sleeping in the open, eating and sleeping well, so she added a spoonful of broth to one and a bowl of rice to the other, and the meal was lively and busy.

Finally, everyone got off the table with their swollen stomachs, and picked up the dishes and chopsticks.Xizi sneaked into the stove to clean up with great winking, and everyone drank tea to decompose the greasy and listened to Guanshi Zhang talking about the refugees.

Guanshi Zhang is indeed capable and shrewd. He inquired about many trivial matters in just one noon.He reported carefully, "I roughly counted the number of refugees outside the city, and it is estimated to be no less than [-]. Among them, about [-]% are able-bodied adults, [-]% are old and weak women, and [-]% are children. Today It’s going to snow soon, and they’re all wearing single clothes, and they don’t have much bedding. If you want to settle everyone down, you’ll need a lot of silver for just cotton clothes and quilts.”

Dong Rong nodded, frowned, thought for a while and said, "Aren't there old clothes in the pawnshops in the city? Go there and buy some. If it's not enough, we can only make new cloth and cotton."

"It's still the owner who thinks carefully." Zhang Guanshi patted his ass lightly, and then added, "I also went to various pawnshops and walked around. There are only more than 200 pieces of old clothes from each shop. But cotton and cotton cloth The price of the house has not increased much, if all of them are counted, I am afraid that the family will spend nearly 200 taels of silver."

Dong Ping thought of a good idea, hesitantly said, "I don't know if those people in the city and outside the city have old cotton-padded jackets and quilts, maybe they can take some back."

Zhang Guanshi's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he praised, "Second Young Master, this is a good idea, why didn't I think of it?"

Dong Rong also smiled and said, "Sister-in-law Liu and the others have been in the city for a few months and are very familiar with them. Tomorrow, I will entrust them to handle the old clothes and quilts."

Women are naturally more frugal than men, and what they are best at is buying the best things with the least amount of money. It is really appropriate to entrust this matter to them.

Manager Zhang didn't want to take on these trivial jobs, so he hurriedly talked about food, "Although our county has the fewest refugees here, the four southern continents have no production, and the price of food has more than doubled. If the owner wants to If I want to buy more, I will discuss the price with the grain store, but it will not be reduced much."

Dong Rong had seen her own cellar before, and she had a good idea in her heart.She smiled and picked up a stack of papers on the desk and said, "Fortunately, I didn't spare money at the beginning. I saved a lot of food and planted a few acres of sweet potatoes at home. Together, it should be enough to last for two months. For the remaining shortcomings, Zhang The manager will go to buy it tomorrow, the price of food is not too outrageous now, and it may rise in the next year. There are also oil and salt, clay pots and bowls, iron pots and other things to buy together."

Dong Ping listened to his elder sister's arrangements, and was very excited. He said eagerly, "Tomorrow, I will go shopping with Uncle Zhang. Don't worry, elder sister."

Dong Rong patted his head, and said angrily, "If you don't go, you have to go, did you forget to bring local products to Dong Jin's family?"

"My sister didn't tell me, I really forgot."

"There's not much delay in the academy. You can go to class in the future. These things at home are small things, but your future is the big thing. The way to study, you must concentrate on it."

"Yes, I will go back to the academy in the future." Dong Ping stood up and saluted with his hands tied, thanking his sister for her kind advice.

Dong Rong recalled the fact that the academy got the plaque, and instructed, "Back to the academy, if someone brings up the auspicious fruit, you should not say too much. You are now a new recruit, and you have traveled thousands of miles for gold and silver. Spreading the word will hinder your reputation. Even if your husband and classmates ask about it face to face, you still have to say that someone from your family is going to the capital to do business, and you will travel south to increase your knowledge. Do you understand?"

Dong Ping was still young, but this time because his own fruit brought such glory to the academy, he couldn't help but want to declare his contribution and accept the praise of his teacher and classmates.After all, everyone likes to be held high, and doesn't like to be ridiculed and belittled.

But his sister urged him like this, and he couldn't help retorting in a low voice, "Sister, there are people in the capital who know about this, and if you can hide it for a while, you can't hide it for a lifetime. Besides, it's not a bad thing to have auspicious fruits in the orchard at home. ?”

Dong Rong put down the account book in her hand, looked at her younger brother carefully for a while, feeling a little regretful in her heart.Shouldn't they have sent food to the academy many times back then?Dong Ping has been hugged and surrounded by everyone in the past two months. Although there is no change on the surface, compared with the previous calm and forbearance, he seems to act a little more impetuously.

The so-called extremes must be reversed. Her original intention was to help her younger brother win over her teacher and classmates to isolate Young Master Xue, so that her younger brother would not be bullied and no one would help him.Unexpectedly, it actually got this result.

Thinking of this, her face turned cold, and she said loudly, "Dong Ping, you have to remember! If a man wants to be praised by the world, praised and admired by friends and teachers, he can only rely on his own true ability, not those who flatter and flatter him." If I knew in advance that planting a few auspicious fruits would make you lose your heart and arrogance as a literati, then it would be worth not planting these fruits.”

Dong Ping didn't expect his elder sister to be angry, so he froze for a long time before knelt down, "Elder sister calm down, brother Ping did something wrong, just beat and scold me. Don't get mad at yourself...I..."

Seeing that there was a gap between the masters, Zhang Guanshi quickly got up and was about to retreat.Dong Rong waved his hand to stop him, and then said to Dong Ping, "You don't need to take care of the refugee affairs. You can go back to the academy for me tomorrow morning after finishing your work in the city and concentrate on studying. Copy "The Analects of Confucius" every night." , Think carefully about where you went wrong. When will you figure it out, and when will you come back.”

Dong Ping wanted to beg for mercy again, but seeing his sister's face was as cold as frost, he had to shut up and went back to his room unhappy.

Dong Rong took a sip of tea, reorganized her thoughts, and then discussed with Steward Zhang again about resettling the refugees.Just now, most of the things have been arranged clearly, so without saying a few words to Guan Shi, he left and went down the mountain.

Dong Rong sat silently at the table for a long time, suddenly felt warmth behind her back, it turned out that Sha Zhu had embraced her in his arms at some point.Dong Rong smiled wryly, squeezed into his arms, and asked in a low voice, "Zhuzi, do you also think I'm making a fuss out of a molehill?"

Sha Zhu kissed her hair on the temples, and replied, "No, you are doing it for Brother Ping's sake."

Dong Rong seemed to have finally found a confidant, she turned around and put her arms around Sha Zhu's neck, and said aggrievedly, "When I married you, I didn't even have a good dress on me. It was so hard for a while, so I tried every means to earn money." Yinzi, I want to live a good life without worrying about food and drink. Although I have made a lot of money now, is the method too tricky? Brother Ping is watching from the sidelines, and his mind will inevitably be affected. If he becomes only knowing What about the flatterer who takes advantage of the Shangguan..."

"No, brother Ping is a good boy." Silly Zhu felt a little funny, this is really a bit unfounded, worrying too much.But he knows the temper of his little daughter-in-law, so how dare he stroke the tiger's beard at this time, so he just picks up nice words.

"He's my younger brother. Of course I know he's a good boy. But I'm not afraid that he will turn into a bad boy..."

The young couple were talking, but Dong Ping suddenly opened the door and walked in.He had heard that Guanshi Zhang had left, and wanted to come here to beg for mercy, but he didn't expect to hear these words.He couldn't bear it any longer and knelt down again, and said with tears, "Elder Sister, it's all because of Brother Ping, who has failed you. Brother Ping must study hard in the future and be an upright gentleman."

(End of this chapter)