"I have kept you two ladies waiting for a long time. My father happened to be dealing with official business, so I was delayed for a while." He said sorry with his hands in hand, his humble and polite attitude really made people angry.
Chu Yao smiled gently and said: "It's not bad, you don't have to be so polite in the Yamen." Speaking of him, he is the son of Tongpan of Suizhou, but he doesn't have the arrogance of those officials' sons at all. He is indeed a gentle and gentle gentleman, and it is very comfortable to associate with him.
Jiang Qingci got on his horse and sent them to the teahouse where they had met before. Before leaving, he asked Chu Yao where he lived. After Chu Yao told the truth, they separated from him.
She was not in a hurry to go home and went to Washi with Zhiye for a walk. In recent years, the court has been unstable, with frequent turmoil, and business has been very difficult. This year the King of Jinyang came back with his troops. Now that the troops have arrived in Suizhou, many shops have closed their doors and put up signs for leasing or selling.
Chu Yao asked several companies, and they found that their asking price was not high, and they even took the initiative to lower the price, saying that as long as she was willing to buy it immediately, the price was still negotiable.
Although Chu Yao was moved, after all, she had no previous business experience and had no idea about the location of the shop or the business she would run in the future. Therefore, she did not make an immediate decision. She only said that she would go back and discuss it with her family. , and then make a decision.
She was thinking that the 500 taels that Pei Zhan gave her would be put aside for the time being to keep it safe. The 500 taels she got from selling the paintings today was really an unexpected windfall. In the future, the antique calligraphy and paintings on her hands could probably be sold at a good price. , instead of using the money to rent or buy a shop, and do some low-cost business, if you make a profit, you can make a living from it. Even if you lose, you still have a lot of money in your hand, so you won't have to worry about living. Forced.
She and Zhiye made plans together, planning to discuss business with her mother after returning home, and then go to the city to rent a shop the next day.
When he got to the door of his house and got off the carriage, he heard noisy chatter coming from the house.
The sounds and colors were those of my aunt and two aunts.
Chu Yao's mother, Zhou, was the eldest daughter of her parents' family when she was not married. She had two younger sisters and a younger brother. As the eldest sister of the Zhou family, my mother always takes on some unnecessary responsibilities for herself. Even if her family is not well off, she must first provide support to her younger siblings.
Chu Yao didn't like her mother's temperament very much. Her father died unexpectedly while working as a long-term laborer for a wealthy family. He was kind and compensated a lot of money. Unexpectedly, her mother secretly used it to help her two aunts and uncle. Later, the government forced conscription, and both the aunt and uncle's families were able to spare some money to save one or two of their sons. However, Chu Yao's two brothers were all conscripted because their families could not even spare a few taels of silver.
At that time, Chu Yao went to three houses to ask for money, and the two aunts reluctantly gave her a coin each. However, the aunt said that she could not give out a single copper, and even refused to let Chu Yao enter the main room.
The two sons of her aunt's family were hiding behind the door of the hall, peeping at her as she knelt on the ground begging her aunt to pay back the money.
From then on, Chu Yao no longer wanted to treat them as relatives, and they never mentioned repaying the money. From then on, the two families had no contact. It was not until Chu Yao married into the Lu family that they pretended to be her natal family. , ran to the Lu family to try to establish a relationship with her, but Chu Yao was nowhere to be seen.
Unexpectedly, they had the nerve to wait for the Chu family's door.
Chu Yao's face darkened and she walked into the home without joy.
When her aunt and two aunts, who were sitting in the courtyard enjoying the cool air, saw her coming back, they waved their fans and turned to look at her. The second aunt laughed loudly and said, "Yao'er is back. Why did you come to the city in this hot day?" ?Did you go to see Lu Erlang?"
Chu Yao didn't squint her eyes, just pretending that she couldn't see them, and went into the house to see Brother Ming.
The second aunt's embarrassing laughter came from behind: "Look at this kid, he still holds a grudge?"
The third aunt and uncle echoed: "This child is really naughty. It wasn't that we didn't pay back the money, it was because we really couldn't get it out. As long as there are still a few taels of silver in the house, we can make up any money, Chu Yan and Chu Chen Of the two children, it’s good to leave one behind..."
Chu Yan and Chu Chen are Chu Yao's two brothers.
When they were taken away, the eldest brother was in his late teens and about to get married. The second brother was seventeen, working and studying at the same time, and was extremely knowledgeable.
My father passed away a long time ago, and once my two brothers left, the family's sky collapsed.
Now the girl who was engaged to the eldest brother has already married and had a child. The classmate who studied with the second brother has become a teacher in the village and is respected by everyone. However, there is still no news about them. How can Chu Yao not hate these people? So-called "relatives"?
She walked straight into the house and went to the bedroom to see Brother Ming.
Brother Ming was taking a nap at dusk, and his nanny was fanning him beside him, while guarding the things she had brought back from the Lu family.
The nanny whispered to her in a low voice: "Madam, the three people outside came in to see Brother Ming, but their eyes kept glancing at the pile of luggage. Maybe they saw that the lady brought back a lot of good things. Before you came back, they were in the yard. I’m crying because I’m poor, maybe I need to borrow money?”
Chu Yao's eyes turned cold: "Don't even think about it!"
He had only been divorced for a few days when they smelled the smell and came over. They were just a bunch of snobs who were jealous of their wealth.
Sure enough, after a while, her mother Yi Shang walked in hesitantly and said, "Daughter, your third aunt's cousin is getting married soon. She said the betrothal gift is not enough. She wants to borrow it from us for emergency purposes. She said it is You can pay it back at the end of the year..."
Chu Yao stared at her mother with deep eyes and said nothing.
Mrs. Zhou didn't dare to look into her eyes, and felt guilty herself: "Your second aunt's house is in disrepair, and she wants to borrow some money to repair the house. And your aunt said that your uncle is sick. …”
Chu Yao patiently listened to her mother's words and roughly calculated that the three of them would come to borrow more than two hundred taels of silver.
What a big appetite.
I just told my mother a few days ago that the Lu family had given me three hundred taels, and they were about to come and borrow more than two hundred taels. Their coveting was really obvious.
Fortunately, she said less than two hundred taels, otherwise the money they wanted to borrow would have been doubled.
"Mother..." Chu Yao was already quite hesitant, but she knew now was not the time to get angry, "Tell them that I will go to the city to withdraw money from the bank tomorrow..."
"You agreed?" Mrs. Zhou looked over happily, surprised that she agreed so readily.
"If necessary, I will take out all three hundred taels tomorrow." Chu Yao said vaguely.
"It's not necessary to take them all out, we have to keep some for our own use, right?" Mrs. Zhou was very pleased to see her being so obedient, "Mom knows that you are filial, so don't get angry with your aunt and others in the future..."
Mrs. Zhou went out with a satisfied wave of cattail leaf fan. When she went to the courtyard to talk to them, there was a burst of joyful laughter.
Zhiye asked in a low voice: "Sister, do you really want to borrow money?"
"Of course I won't borrow it," Chu Yao made up her mind at this moment, "Let's withdraw the money and buy a shop tomorrow!"
They can find such an excuse to borrow money today. If they don't borrow money, they will definitely find other excuses in the future. If there is a time when they can't stand it...
So it would be better to spend it all happily to avoid any trouble happening again one day.
On the next day, Chu Yao took Zhiye out after being carefully warned by Zhou to pay attention to safety, hired a carriage to go to the city to find a toothpaste shop, and hired a toothpaste person to help with the transaction and purchase of the shop.
In recent years, the brick-and-mortar business has been declining. There are many shops for resale or lease, but there are very few buyers.
Chu Yao wanted to spend three hundred taels to buy a shop, which was a big deal for Yabao. Therefore, Yabao worked very hard and took Chu Yao and Zhiye to look at the shop. From the tile shop side, they could see Go to the other side of the Washi.
When passing a shop, she suddenly heard a noise inside. Chu Yao stopped and looked over curiously.
Ya Bao took a quick look and knew what was going on. He and Chu Yao said, "This shop sells Sichuan snacks. It can't pay the rent this year. Now the shop is going to be taken back by the owner. He probably doesn't want to make room for it." , why are you making trouble here?"
"Oh." Chu Yao didn't have free time to watch other people quarreling. She just felt that the yelling woman inside had a loud and aggressive voice, and she seemed to be smashing the dishes and driving them away, so she didn't dare to stay.
When he looked away, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face.
It was Jiang Qingci.
He was protected by the people on his left and right, sitting on a stool, his Qing Jun face showed hesitation, and he frowned at the scolding woman.
The other party seemed to notice her gaze, and turned around to look over. When he saw it was her, he was stunned for a moment, then got up and walked towards her.
Chu Yao, who originally wanted to leave, had no choice but to stand there and wait for him to come.
"Ms. Chu," Jiang Qingci was a little embarrassed. As the young proprietor of this shop, although he had to take care of himself when it came to vacating the shop, the shopkeeper's wife was crying and making trouble, as if he was some heinous villain. , but Chu Yao, who had only known each other for a few days, saw it, which made him feel a little guilty inexplicably. He smiled and said, "The dispute in the shop must have disturbed my wife's elegance..."
Chu Yao smiled: "Not really, I'm not here to hang out today."
"You're not just hanging out, maybe you want to rent a shop to do business?"
"Yeah, so let's see if there's anything suitable."
Hearing that she really wanted to rent a shop, Jiang Qingci persuaded her without thinking: "Ms. Chu, you have seen the scene inside. Business has not been easy to do in the past few years. If you don't have enough experience, you still have to do it." It’s better to be cautious.”
Chu Yao politely thanked you: "Thank you for reminding me. I have never done business before, but I still want to try it. If I lose money, I will admit it."
"Ms. Chu has made up her mind, so I won't say anything more." The most taboo thing about interacting with people is shallow conversations. He has only met her twice, and they are not very familiar with each other, so it is not easy to talk to her. Too many, so I just casually mentioned, "Mrs. Chu, if you don't want to see how my shop is doing, I'm planning to find a new shopkeeper."
Yabao on the side also echoed: "This shop in Jiangyanei is in a good location. If the disputes inside are properly handled, it will really be a good choice."
When he said this, Chu Yao was a little tempted, so she looked inside a few more times.
The woman inside seemed to have heard what they said, and her sharp voice became much louder: "We haven't moved out yet, let's see who dares to buy this shop!"
After saying that, he turned around and went to the kitchen. Not long after, he came out with a wooden basin, knocked away the people blocking his way, and poured it directly outside.
Chu Yao saw the sky covered with red curtains, and immediately her vision went dark and she fainted cleanly.
