"Didn't the eldest lady of the Cao family be sold to a brothel a while ago?"
"I heard that this young lady was forced by her stepmother to marry an old man. She ran away from home because she didn't want to marry, but was sold to a brothel."
"Oh, don't talk nonsense. I heard that I didn't go to a brothel. I think I went to hide in a relative's house in the countryside."
"Anyway, Mrs. Cao is not a good person. She took advantage of Boss Cao's absence to find an old man for her stepdaughter. Miss Cao is really pitiful."
"..."
These words reached Cao Defu's ears, and he slapped the table angrily, causing the teacup on the table to fall to the ground.
He turned around and grabbed Meng's collar: "Tell me, did you intercept the letter?"
Meng shook her head desperately: "I have put all the letters sent by the madam on the master's desk. There are not many letters missing. It is the madam who concealed the matter of the eldest lady herself, and it has nothing to do with me..."
Manager Sun came over and said, "I just checked the correspondence records. Madam sent a total of seven letters during this period, and they were indeed placed on the master's desk."
Meng Shi breathed a sigh of relief.
Manager Sun continued, "There is another letter from Hekou County, signed by Cao Yingying, but this letter has disappeared."
"No, it's not me!" Meng's face turned pale again, "Master, I was really wronged. I didn't see this letter..."
Cao Defu sat down on the chair: "My wife sent you to my room in the first place. It seems that you are still working for my wife. In this case, I can't keep you..."
"Master, spare your life!" Meng kneeled on the ground, "I can't help it. It's my wife who threatened me to do this, otherwise, my brother will be stabbed. I was also forced..."
Cao Defu kicked him over: "So, you really blocked Yingying's letter?"
Meng's tears flowed down her cheeks: "I ate you..."
"Since you like eating paper so much, I'll let you eat as much as you can!" Cao Defu said angrily, "Old Sun, feed her paper until she vomits!"
Meng cried and was dragged down by Manager Sun.
"Sorry, I made you laugh." Cao Defu pinched his eyebrows, "I really didn't expect Mrs. Qi to do such a thing. She has always been gentle and generous. I thought she...forget it, forget it, in the backyard It’s better not to taint your ears by speaking out about these messy things.”
The Qi family is Mrs. Cao. After the death of his original wife, he married a second wife. Over the years, he gave birth to two sons and one daughter, and also gave him seven or eight concubines. The concubines gave birth to three children, all of whom were named Qi. The Qi family raised these children very well, and they were well-educated and sensible. He thought that the Cao family was very harmonious.
Until this moment, he didn't know that he had been living in the false harmony created by the Qi family.
Cheng Wanwan took the two boys back to the room and said casually: "With more women, there will be more disputes. If you are successful in the future, it is best to avoid such disputes."
Zhao Ergou immediately said: "Even if I am rich in the future, I will not be able to marry so many women. It is too complicated."
Zhao Dawang nodded: "The most important thing is that marrying so many wives and having a large family will require you to eat a lot of food a day to fill your stomach. It is such a waste of money..."
Cheng Wanwan burst out laughing.
Men become bad when they have money. This is an eternal truth from ancient times to the present. I just hope that in the future, when these two boys are really rich, they can still maintain such innocent thoughts.
After having something to eat, the three of them went back to their rooms to rest. The merchant ship swayed on the river, and the night passed quickly.
At dawn the next day, before the sun had fully risen, the boat stopped at the dock in Hekou County.
"I'm finally back!" Zhao Dawang shouted excitedly, "I'm still comfortable at home, and I look good wherever I look!"
Zhao Ergou said angrily: "This is Hekou County, not Ping'an County. We haven't arrived home yet."
"Anyway, it's almost the same." Zhao Dawang smiled and pushed the trolley, "Let's go and sell porcelain!"
The two boys slept on the boat all night and were full of energy. They pushed the cart very quickly, with Cheng Wanwan following behind.
The three of them opened a small stall on the main street and started selling porcelain. This batch of porcelain was mainly bowls, plates, teapots, teacups, and a small number of vases. Because they traveled long distances for a day and a night and bumped into each other, it was inevitable that there would be some wear and tear along the way. This is also the reason why ordinary people will not do this business easily.
The price of these things is quite high in Ping'an County. An ordinary small plate costs upwards of ten cents. Decorative vases are even more expensive, usually seventy or eighty cents each. Those with slightly patterned textures cost four to five cents. Hundreds of dollars.
Bowls, plates, teacups, etc. are selling out very quickly, but some are still not enough.
After selling the vases for a while, only three were sold, but fortunately there were not many purchases, so ten were purchased. Cheng Wanwan planned to take the remaining seven back and keep them for himself.
A cartload of porcelain, after excluding the cost, earned a total of six taels of silver.
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said: "From purchasing to transportation to final sales, it was all done by the two of you together. I didn't contribute much and can only be regarded as an investor. Therefore, the three of us will share the money equally." , two taels of silver per person.”
Zhao Dawang's eyes widened.
He followed him to Nanyang, and his aunt gave him five hundred coins, which he used to buy embroidery thread for Xia Hua.
Unexpectedly, I was given another two taels of silver.
Grandma may not even have so much money on her hands!
He was a little afraid to accept it: "Auntie, I still don't want it... If my mother finds out, she will beat me to death."
"If your mother beats you, you come to me." Cheng Wanwan said warmly, "You should take this money. Take it and let your mother save it to marry you a wife."
Zhao Dawang blushed and instantly forgot the words of refusal he had planned.
Zhao Ergou laughed loudly: "Dawang, do you have a girl you like? Tell me quickly and I will help you find out about the girl's character."
"No!" Zhao Dawang stared and said, "Grandma said that the most important thing in the family right now is to find a wife for Brother Ergou!"
Zhao Ergou: "..."
He turned and walked away, not wanting to discuss the topic.
Cheng Wanwan was preparing to go home with her two children. As soon as she reached the city gate, she saw two government officials posting notices, and many people gathered around to watch.
She glanced at it from a distance, a little surprised.
It turned out to be a notice for a style contest. During the slack season in autumn and winter, in order to enrich the spare time life of rural people and stimulate the development of business in the city, the magistrates of eight nearby counties and towns jointly organized the style contest. Anyone can sign up to participate.
"There are embroidery competitions, cooking and arithmetic competitions, and even strength and wrestling competitions."
"There is also a grain identification contest specially set up for rural people. This style contest is very interesting."
"The person who wins the first prize will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, my God, one hundred taels!"
"The second place reward is fifty taels of silver, which is a lot of money!"
"..."
Cheng Wanwan feels that this competition is quite interesting. It can be seen that the government has put a lot of effort into preparing it. The prizes are so attractive, so there must be many people participating.
Zhao Dawang said excitedly: "I want to sign up. Do you think I can do it?"
Cheng Wanwan nodded: "The notice says that each village is looking for registration. Each village will select up to three people for each event to participate in the competition. Are you confident that you can become one of these three people?"
Zhao Dawang nodded: "Of course!"
Zhao Ergou clenched his fists: "I want to sign up too, I want to win the first place in the abacus competition!"
The three of them talked as they went home.
Here, Cao Defu also returned to the Cao family.
When he got off the carriage, he immediately saw Mrs. Cao Qi standing at the gate of Cao Mansion to greet her.
He walked away quickly, raised his hand, and slapped her hard. Mrs. Cao was unprepared and fell to the ground from the slap.
