Seeing that Zhou Yunshu's arrangements were almost complete, Shopkeeper Liang said, "Mr. Zhou, let's go back and pack our things first."
"Okay, I've made a reservation at the restaurant and we'll come over for dinner tonight."
Shopkeeper Liang smiled and said, "Don't worry, we won't be late."
After Shopkeeper Liang and Liang Laosan left with their families, Zhou Yunshu and the others also started to pack their luggage.
backyard.
Li Jialan pushed Zhou Yunshu out of the dormitory, who wanted to take action, but refused to let her do it.
She usually has too many things to worry about, and Li Jialan doesn't want Zhou Yunshu to take care of even such small things at home.
The bedroom on the right side of the main house in the backyard is occupied by Zhou Yunshu and Xixi, and the bedroom on the left belongs to Li Jialan.
There are three east and west wing rooms in the backyard. Among them, the two west wing rooms close to the main room are for Wu Yue and Wu Gui to live with Yuan Ruo and An Sheng. The remaining one is for Zhou Yunjia; the two east wing rooms close to the main room are arranged for Fang Huiwen. He took Yuan Li and Yuan Yi to live there, leaving one room for Feng Xujie.
Suddenly, the whole house was filled with the sound of people packing up and washing and washing things. Zhou Yunshu had nothing to do, so she decided to take the children around the house to familiarize themselves with the environment, so as not to cause trouble to the adults who were packing things.
Although the house they bought was only two steps in, it had a large front and back yard.
The front yard and back yard were being tidied up, so Zhou Yunshu led Xixi and the others through the corridor, through the Haitang Gate and towards the garden on the east side of the yard.
Winter has arrived, and the garden at home is bare.
It's not because of the seasonal baldness, it's because the garden itself has not been well cared for. It is more like a miscellaneous open space. There are not many flowering trees at all. Only the Poinciana tree with sparse leaves and thick trunks is located against the wall. Conspicuous, and even more conspicuous is the swing hanging on its branches.
"Mom, swing!"
Zhou Yunshu, the newly appointed child king, took Xixi and the little ones to the swing. She tugged on the rough wooden rope of the swing with her hands. After making sure it was strong, she handed the handkerchief to Xixi and asked her to step forward and remove the dust from the swing. Wipe it clean.
After wiping, Zhou Yunshu looked at Xixi's eager face, then carefully picked her up on the swing, looked at her excited face, and slowly swung the rope of the swing.
Xixi was not a stingy person. After playing for less than a quarter of an hour, she got off the swing and exchanged Yuanli Yuanyi for a few more.
Zhou Yunshu withdrew her hand after seeing that they could climb up and swing the swing by themselves.
She wanted to walk around in the garden and let them take care of their own safety when leaving, so she walked slowly along the stone path that could be seen to the end at a glance.
The garden was large and empty. Even if Zhou Yunshu walked to the end, she could still see children playing under the poinciana tree.
There was a wooden door on the east wall at the end of the garden. Zhou Yunshu pulled down the bolt and opened the door, facing the river that Shopkeeper Liang had mentioned before.
The river is about five meters wide and can only accommodate two small boats at most. There is a stone bridge on the street going north. There is a tofu seller beside the bridge. Zhou Yunshu can smell the smell of tofu from four or five meters away.
"Mother!"
"aunt!"
The children who were playing under the poinciana tree quickly ran to Zhou Yunshu and saw Zhou Yunshu standing outside the threshold, with their little heads poking out from the wooden door.
"Wow, it's a boat!" Xixi ran out the door wearing a pink skirt and stood by the river pointing to the boat channel on the river in the distance.
"Nancy Zhou."
Zhou Yunshu frowned, Zhou Nanxi turned around cheerfully, but in a blink of an eye, she was pulled back to the door by Zhou Yunshu.
Xixi looked up at her mother's serious face and realized that she seemed angry.
Is it because of yourself?
"Mother?"
Zhou Yunshu rarely gets angry with Xixi, so at this moment, Yuan Li and Yuan Yi all looked at the serious Zhou Yunshu.
Zhou Yunshu looked at Xixi and pointed to the river and said: "You are children, you can't get too close to the river, and you can't play and play by the river. If you fall in, you will never see your mother again. You can’t see your family and friends anymore, you know?”
Yuan Li, Yuanyi, Xi Xi and Yuan Ruo nodded in unison, while An Sheng stood behind them and nodded his head.
Perhaps because he now has playmates of similar age around him, An Sheng is not as clingy to Wu Yue and Wu Gui as he was on Wolong Mountain.
"Just stand here and take a look. After that we should..."
As soon as Zhou Yunshu pulled the children outside the door inside, she watched Uncle He walking across the stone bridge.
Zhou Yunshu looked at Uncle He leaving, and Yuan Li tugged at the corner of his clothes, "Auntie, is that Grandpa He?"
Zhou Yunshu looked at He Wenyuan's back and nodded. After his back disappeared into the street, she said to the children around her: "It's getting late, let's go back."
Although it was unclear where He Wenyuan was at this time, since she decided to treat him as one of her own, Zhou Yunshu gave him a certain amount of trust.
When the golden crow fell, the banquet that Zhou Yunshu had booked in the restaurant was delivered to the house.
A total of four round tables were placed in the front yard, and Zhou Yunshu didn't say anything.
Anyway, we are all on our own, and it is most comfortable to eat, drink, and chat during the break. If there are any important things, it is not too late to talk about them after dinner.
After the meal, there are hot tea, cakes and sweet soup, which is perfect for chatting about future plans.
"Sir, it's almost the twelfth lunar month, what should we do next?" Shopkeeper Liang asked.
"We had been traveling for so long, and now that we have finally settled down, we will celebrate the New Year in the middle of the river, and we will discuss going to Dongchuan after the New Year."
After Zhou Yunshu finished speaking, Uncle He said: "I went to meet some of my old friends this afternoon and inquired about the current situation in Haizhou."
Uncle He's words successfully attracted everyone's attention.
"It's still the same as before. The government is powerful in the northern part of Haizhou. The He family, the Wu family, and the Jiang family are all the same. In the southern part of Haizhou, there was a local snake named Cen who was the most powerful. But a month ago, the Cen family's fleet was at sea. It’s gone when there’s a storm.”
"The Cen family has been divided up by other local snakes, and now is the time for chaos." Uncle He looked at Zhou Yunshu and said: "The news I heard is that He Niazhang intends to include Beichuan within his own sphere of influence after the year."
Zhou Yunshu held the red dates and white fungus soup in her hand and said, "Although it's after the New Year, it probably won't be much earlier."
"The He family's passenger ship was robbed before. It was obviously a big deal like the would-be stepmother and the water bandits Li Yingwai conspired to kill their legitimate son. However, the He family suppressed the matter and even pretended that nothing had happened and allowed the marriage to continue."
Zhou Yunshu looked at the crowd and said, "I suspect that something big happened that we don't know about, so He Niazhang was so tolerant to the Jiang family."
"Marrying a wife, worshiping ancestors, and even this big thing that we don't know about will cost the He family's time and energy. Beichuan can't get it so quickly."
Uncle He nodded and continued: "Before the new year, I will meet with the big shopkeepers of the He family in various places to settle the general accounts; after the new year, I will have to visit relatives and friends to make offerings. When everything is completed, it will probably be around March."
"Of course, this premise is if the He family no longer has internal strife and there are no other delays."
Zhou Yunshu nodded, "So, on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Uncle Yan and Uncle He will go to Dongchuan to find a place to stay, and the rest of us will set off on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year."
Yan Shilei and Uncle He nodded.
"Uncle He, you took Wu Gui together to collect information about various forces in Haizhou during this period of time before this year. By the way, ask if anything big happened." Uncle He glanced at Wu Gui, and the two of them nodded.
"Uncle Liang, I will give you a sum of money, and you can help me find some shops and houses in the river."
"good."
"Xiaojie, take Du Mazi and Hound Dog to inquire about the Feng family's rudder point in the river in the past few days. Find out about the Feng family's affairs and the current attitude of the rudder point in the river towards the Feng family."
It's the end of the year, and there will definitely be people coming from the Feng family.
They had to figure out the intentions of Feng Xujie's father's confidants before deciding whether to contact him head-on.
Du Mazi listened to the word "Feng family" and looked at Feng Xujie silently, "I know Mr. Zhou, let's go check it out tomorrow."
"Dong dong dong."
Zhou Yunshu and his group looked outside the door. Liang Laosan retracted his hand and said, "Mr. Zhou, a boy came to the door just now and said he was from the He family."
He placed an invitation on the table in front of Zhou Yunshu and said, "It is said that Mrs. He invited Mr. He to the house to attend the banquet in order to thank us for helping us on the passenger ship."
