The day is empty.
In the backyard of the small shop at the east end of Erjingou, few rays of sunlight fell because of the cover of the big banyan tree.
A table of banquets ordered from Shiheju was placed in the pavilion in the backyard.
Ning Chuchu, Zhongli Ruoshui, Kaiyang and Zhiyuan were sitting at the stone table.
Zhongli Ruoshui looked at the delicacies on this table without much appetite.
A piece of sunlight fell from among the banyan leaves and fell playfully on her face.
There was no hint of displeasure on her face, instead she was filled with a strong smile——
"He really wants to make wine!"
They visited the front and back yards of the shop and asked some of the craftsmen before they found out that it was true that he wanted to open a tavern.
Ning Chuchu is not optimistic about this. She and Shen Qianshan have quite the same point of view:
"Actually, if you make an ordinary kind of wine, it only costs tens of cents per kilogram. The profit is extremely thin, and his place is too small, so it will not produce much, and the profit... is worrying."
"Hehe," Zhongli Ruoshui didn't take it seriously, and the third lady, who was born with a gold spoon in her mouth, said lightly: "It doesn't matter whether you make money or not!"
"It doesn't matter even if you lose everything!"
"Grandma said that the most important thing in a person's life is his mood."
"If he likes it, then do it. If he gets tired of it one day... I bought thousands of acres of land under Peach Blossom Mountain three miles north of the city and built a villa."
"If he doesn't want to make wine anymore, and if he likes to be clean, we can go and live in that villa!"
The girl's heart was full of love and her eyes were full of expectation. She held her chin with her hands and seemed to have seen that wonderful scene: "You can see the peach blossom stream when you open the door. He is sitting in the peach blossom pavilion holding a book, and I am stroking it beside him." Play a piano or boil a pot of wine... If he writes a good lyric, I will ask the Shang people to compose a tune and sing it to him."
The girl leaned over and looked at Ning Chuchu, with undisguised admiration in her eyes and full of expectations on her face: "This is how wonderful it is to raise a case with eyebrows and play the piano and the harp in harmony!"
Ning Chuchu looked at Zhongli Ruoshui and forced herself to smile: "Well, it's indeed very good."
She is the fourth princess of Ning Kingdom. She is similar in age to Zhongli Ruoshui. Zhongli Ruoshui can pursue her happiness happily, but she who was born in the Tian family has absolutely no chance.
Ning Chuchu calmed down her mind, put aside those sorrows, and gave Zhongli Ruoshui a knife with her backhand: "But he still doesn't know who you are. Even if he knows who you are, have you ever thought about whether your identity in Zhongli Mansion will change?" Will it scare him?"
"What if, I mean what if he is humble in heart? After all, he has always been a humble person before this. I am afraid that he will not be able to look directly at you, and may even escape because of your initiative... The gap in your identities is too big. Have you ever thought about it? He will most likely stay away after knowing your identity."
Zhongli Ruoshui was stunned for a moment, she really hadn't thought about it!
She is a wealthy person herself.
She has wealth that others cannot get after a lifetime of hard work.
She thought that under such favorable conditions, if Li Chenan knew about it, he would agree without hesitation, because then he would not have to fight for the rest of his life.
Just like the countless students at that literary meeting.
"I always feel that he is different from other teenagers. Maybe your wealth and honor are not what he likes!"
"After all, there are some people in this world who don't like to eat soft food. Otherwise, why didn't he attend your literary party?"
A basin of cold water was poured on Zhongli Ruoshui's head.
Being smart, she instantly understood the meaning of Ning Chuchu's words - Li Chenan should not be treated as an ordinary person!
She was a little nervous, "What should I do?"
"I think you should stay away from him for the time being. Even if you want to get close, don't reveal your feelings, let alone your identity. You have to let him slowly accept you until he likes you, not Zhongli Mansion behind you!"
"Oh," Zhongli Ruoshui suddenly realized. She rolled her eyes and thought about it: "Then I will stage a hero to save the beauty... He is the hero and I am the beauty!"
"In this way, I can justifiably come to this tavern to see him from time to time as a life-saving gift. I will have enough reasons to stay in this tavern for more time..."
"Yes, that's it, just like how my grandma took down my grandpa!"
Ning Chuchu was immediately stunned.
Zhongli Ruoshui's grandfather, Zhonglipo, had only one wife his whole life.
This wife was not a famous lady, but she wrote a legend in Ningguo!
Her name is Fan Taohua,
She is a master of martial arts and is now one of the three great masters of Ningguo.
When she was pursuing Zhonglipo, she played herself as a weak woman. Even for a long time after they got married, Zhonglipo didn't know how powerful his wife was.
It was not until the thirteenth year of Jingtai that the Uighurs in the southwest of Ning State launched a war against Ning State. They captured Dazhen Pass in three months. When the news came back, the government and the public were shocked.
Huaihua General Zhong Lipo, who was only 23 years old at the time, was ordered by the emperor to go into battle, and Fan Taohua accompanied the army.
Zhonglipo and Huihe fought for two months under the Great Shock Pass but still could not break through. Fan Taohua led a thousand Zhonglipo's personal guards to attack the Great Shock Pass at night and conquered the Great Shock Pass in one fell swoop. Zhonglipo's army marched straight in and attacked Huihe. Back a thousand miles.
This is nothing, what really made Uihe desperate was that Fan Taohua commanded a thousand soldiers to attack thousands of miles, and captured the king of Huihe alive. Uihe surrendered, and the new king of Uihe, Chizan Gampo, paid tribute to Ningguo, and he is still a vassal of Ningguo.
The late emperor was overjoyed and made Zhongli Po a Marquis of the Kingdom of Ding, leading a hussar general, from the first rank.
At the same time, the late emperor issued another imperial edict, canonizing Fan Taohua as a first-grade imperial concubine, half a level higher than Zhongli Po.
This is a model of the modern history of Ningguo in which the husband is valued and the wife is valued!
This is also the reason why although Zhongli Mansion is not a Duke, his status is vaguely comparable to that of a Duke.
Zhongli Ruoshui grew up in Dingguo Houfu in Kyoto, and was deeply influenced by her grandmother Fan Taohua. She was unable to practice martial arts due to physical reasons, but she had the unruly charm of her grandmother in her bones.
Therefore, she has no concept of being well-matched. She dares to recruit a son-in-law with literature, and she also dares to pursue the happiness she wants openly.
Now Zhongli Ruoshui wants to imitate her grandmother and take down Li Chenan...
Zhongli Ruoshui is not Fan Taohua, and Li Chenan is not Zhonglipo.
So even if Zhongli Ruoshui succeeds, they won't be able to perform another legendary story, but they can still get a beautiful marriage.
"This matter... is feasible, but how to do it well without leaving any traces requires long-term planning."
In the small courtyard of the tavern, Zhongli Ruoshui and Ning Chuchu discussed, and they chuckled from time to time, thinking about Li Chenan's idea.
At this moment, Li Chenan also had lunch in a small shop outside, and then went to the West Market. He really couldn't buy food in the Shen family's shop.
Of course, there are many grain stores in the West City, and the Shen family doesn't have the ability to monopolize the entire grain market.
Li Chenan came to a small grain shop and looked up. There were four crooked characters written on the small flag in front of the door: Li Ji Grain Shop.
The man named Li walked in. The shop was deserted, and there was no one behind the counter.
"The shopkeeper, the shopkeeper...!"
Li Chenan yelled at the back, and a rough voice came from the backyard: "Come on, come on, please wait a moment."
After a while, a person came out of the backyard, and Li Chenan was surprised——
This is an extremely tall and strong man!
He was wearing a patched green cloth jacket, and his arms were thicker than Li Chenan's calves.
He stood in front of the counter, opened his mouth and smiled innocently, "Sir, what do you want to buy?"
Li Chenan had to raise his head slightly to see his face.
"How much does a dou of rice cost?"
"How much does it cost, guest officer?"
"...I want ten bushels of rice, another fifty bushels of wheat, and ten bushels of red grain. Do you have any corn?"
The big man smiled innocently again, this is a big deal!
"What is corn?"
"Oh, forget it if you don't have it. Please give me a price for these three kinds of food."
"The best quality rice on the market costs 60 cents per bucket, medium rice is 50 cents, and brown rice is 30 cents. Here...I only have medium rice and brown rice."
"Wheat is thirty-five cents per dou, and red grain is thirty-five cents per dou. This is the price."
The big man felt a little uneasy. He leaned over and asked Xiaoyi: "Sir, are you satisfied with the price?"
To be honest, this price is almost negligible compared to the price of the wine he brewed. Li Chenan didn't take it to heart, "Okay, I want Zhongmi, please calculate how much it will cost."
The big man was filled with joy and said, "Thank you sir!"
He fiddled with the abacus very clumsily, but it turned out that he was obviously not good at it. He made several miscalculations, and he was so anxious that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
"Here, sir, wait a minute. My mother is usually the one who settles the accounts. Yesterday, my mother was ill and was recovering in the backyard. I'll ask her how much money she deserves."
Li Chenan grinned, took a tael of silver from his arms and handed it to the big guy, "You can ask again later. I'll leave you an address. I'll need a lot of this food in the future... As for the specific amount, it's more than ten It takes about half a month to find out roughly,”
Li Chenan took the brush on the counter and wrote down the address, "Business is a long-term business. If you are honest, I will buy the grain I need from your shop."
"Okay, okay, thank you sir for taking care of a certain business."
Li Chenan handed the note to the big man and asked, "What's the shopkeeper's surname?"
"My nickname is Li Xiaohua."
"..."
This name spoils Xiaohua!
"Oh, how old are you?"
"Back to the young master, he has just turned twenty."
Li Chenan was surprised. This guy looked a little anxious.
"Hehe, he looks a bit old, mainly because he has been in the military for five years."
"Been a soldier?"
"My family was poor, and I had a big appetite. My family couldn't support me, so I went to the northern frontier army."
"I made some small contributions in the army. When I was discharged from the army, I got some money, so I came here and opened this grain store."
"Is business okay?"
"This..." A look of disappointment appeared on Li Xiaohua's face, "To be honest with you, business is not very good. I want to wait until my mother recovers and go to the dental shop to see if there are any big families who need nursing care... I don’t have any other skills, just, hey, I’m okay with fighting.”
An idea flashed in Li Chenan's mind.
If the tavern's business is doing well, I'm afraid local gangsters will inevitably come to cause trouble. If this guy is guarding...
"You will send the food to me here. If the business really can't continue, come and help me."
Li Xiaohua was immediately overjoyed. He quickly bowed his hands and said with some worry: "Master, I am really good at eating! I am afraid that I will dislike you. In addition... I have only one relative in my family, my mother. I can’t leave my mother behind.”
How much more can you eat?
This man is a good man, very filial, and his mother is not afraid that he will not try his best.
"It doesn't matter. If you think about it, we can have a nice chat."
