In the middle of June, the people sent by Mr. Cheng to Bingzhou returned the news, proving that what Banqin said was true.
"It was hit by thunder and fire, and half of it was burned. The Taoist temple over there was scattered. I thought that the person was kidnapped and ran away. I am afraid that if we pursue the case, all the Taoist priests will run away." Mr. Cheng put the letter on the table and said to the people in the room.
people said.
Mrs. Cheng and Mr. Cheng Er and his wife were both there at this time.
Everyone looked a little strange, as if they didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
"Where's the Zhou family?" Mrs. Cheng asked.
"I haven't received a reply yet," Mr. Cheng said. "I don't know if I didn't receive it or if I received it and ignored it."
"Even if I ask, I'm afraid they won't know." Mrs. Cheng said, looking at Mrs. Cheng, "When Mrs. Zhou's family made donations to the Taoist temple, the family was not very happy."
Not to mention secretly burying a large sum of money in the Taoist temple, let alone letting the Zhou family know about it, otherwise, the money would have to be taken back once Mrs. Zhou died.
Mrs. Cheng Er nodded and thanked her sister-in-law for the explanation.
"Now that it's confirmed, let's take good care of it." Mr. Cheng said.
Everyone agreed and dispersed.
Mrs. Cheng Er returned to her room, took off her makeup and took a nap. While being served by the maid, she thought about what she had just heard.
After getting married, she first served her parents-in-law at home for three years, and then she and her husband went to live with her husband in Bingzhou after giving birth to a daughter. At that time, the idiot had already been raised in a Taoist temple. No one in the family ever mentioned the child, and her husband never visited her.
I have lived in Bingzhou for four or five years, but this fool has never appeared in my life, as if he does not exist.
But not appearing doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. As long as it exists, it will always appear.
"Is the Zhou family very rich?" she asked.
I remember hearing from my parents at that time that the ancestors of the Zhou family were from the border state of Shaanxi. They went to Beijing to serve as officials and were also military attachés. They were incomparable to a scholarly family like them.
At that time, the person they sent to meet the late wife's mother-in-law was very vulgar.
"Very rich." The woman combing her hair said quickly after hearing this.
Mrs. Cheng Er glanced at her.
"You know better than me." She said calmly.
With the return of the fool these days, although she knew Mrs. Cheng was not happy, the maid couldn't bear to talk about Mrs. Zhou's old things in private.
The woman combing her hair was brought by Mrs. Cheng Er from her natal family.
The woman combing her hair looked down in a daze.
"Why is he rich?" Mrs. Cheng Er asked.
Seeing that the lady did not blame him, the woman breathed a sigh of relief.
"Madam, if nothing else, do you know how generous the dowry was when Mrs. Zhou... Mrs. Zhou got married?" she said.
Mrs. Cheng Er glanced sideways at the woman.
Nonsense, is she a step-sister going to check her ex’s dowry?
The woman looked embarrassed. Isn't this unpleasant? What the servants said in private was even worse.
"...When Mrs. Zhou came in, it was such a scene, with gold and silver jewelry, cloth and silk, two shops located in good areas in the east and west of the city, and two villages located in the suburbs with good land and good harvests..."
"..Those are all carefully selected by the Zhou family who sent people to our Jiangzhou City half a year in advance..."
"..I still remember that Mrs. Zhou had just passed away at that time, and the old lady took care of a portion of the dowry. I heard from the ladies in charge that the harvest of one shop alone was enough for our family's expenses for half a year..."
That is a dowry that can bring wealth with real money.
Think about today’s wife’s dowry again…
After all, noble families who are not from the capital cannot be compared.
The woman combing her hair picked up what she could say.
Mrs. Cheng Er gritted her teeth secretly, so what, it doesn't matter if the dowry is rich, it means nothing when she closes her eyes.
but…
The harvest of one shop can cover half a year's expenses?
"Are these shops all managed by the master?" She suddenly thought of something and asked.
With so much income, why has my family never seen it?
Do those green ladies, thirteen ladies, etc. all rely on this income to support them?
"No, no." The servant girl knew what her wife was thinking at a glance and said hurriedly, "It's at the eldest lady's place."
Madam?
Mrs. Cheng Er took off a hairpin and slowly placed it on the table.
"How come my sister-in-law never told me?" she laughed.
Although the families are not separated, the food and clothing expenses of each party are accounted for. Now the mother-in-law does not take care of the housework, and the sister-in-law is in charge of the middle income.
"After all, it is the dowry of the first one, so I'm afraid madam, you might be taboo about mentioning it," the servant said.
Mrs. Cheng Er felt uncomfortable, and she couldn't say where she felt uncomfortable.
Sooner or later, the dowry belongs to that fool, and neither she nor her children can use it, but the proceeds...
The elder sister-in-law is in charge of all household expenses, and the income naturally does not need to be divided between the big house and the second house, but...
She still felt uncomfortable somewhere.
It’s been nine years since we got married, and she just found out about it, thanks to that fool!
If that fool never comes back, will she never know about it for the rest of her life?
"Madam, the heat-relieving soup from the kitchen has been delivered." A girl came in and asked.
Although the Cheng family is wealthy, they have always been frugal. They have three meals a day, plus snacks and snacks. In the hot summer recently, the eldest lady asked the kitchen to add summer soup, but she didn't use it herself. She only let the children eat it.
, the second lady naturally followed the sister-in-law, and there was no need.
But the servants will still come and ask when they should.
Mrs. Cheng Er turned around.
"Bring it here, I just want to use it," she said.
"Yes." The girl responded, turned around and left. After walking a few steps, she came to her senses.
What did the lady just say?
"Hey, madam, did you say no?" she asked the girl next to her in a low voice.
The girl yawned.
"Are you confused? Madam clearly said she wanted to use it," she said.
Huh? Only then did the girl realize that she heard correctly.
"It's really strange, why did Madam use it?" she laughed.
"Ma'am, you can use the things at home if you want. If you don't use them, it's useless." The girl from before said lazily.
At this time, in the vast alleys of the capital, in front of the gate of Zhou's residence, a heroic young man of seventeen or eighteen years old was jumping off his horse.
The porter had come out early and four or five young men were rushing to lead the horses.
The young man raised his hand and took off the money bag from his waist and threw it over.
"Go and have a drink with the reward for you," he shouted.
The boys scrambled for it.
"Thank you Liulang for the reward!" they shouted in unison.
Saturday Lang laughed and went straight in.
The Zhou family's house was remodeled according to the ancestral house in Shaanxi Province. The screen wall in particular was dismantled and shipped directly from the house. The money spent was equivalent to ten screen walls. It became famous in one fell swoop and has been one of the rarest things in Beijing ever since.
In the family list, he is known as Lao Shaan Zhou.
Zhou Lang strode into his yard. Under the eaves, sat a young man of similar age, with long eyebrows and narrow eyes, wearing a long-sleeved robe. He was looking thoughtfully at the white porcelain Go board in front of him. Two children were kneeling next to him.
The girl also looked at the chessboard and chattered.
"Qin Langjun, this is so boring, why not play backgammon." They said.
Hearing Liu Lang's footsteps, everyone looked over. The two girls knelt straight and then leaned forward to salute.
The young man still looked at the chessboard.
"Sangzi, why are you here today?" Zhou Lang swung his sleeves and sat down cross-legged. He used the chessboard as a table, put his arms on it, and messed up the chess pieces on it.
The young man didn't take it seriously either.
"I'm so bored, I came here to hear interesting things." He said.
"What interesting things do I have here?" Zhou Lang asked.
"I heard that your uncle's family sent someone from Jiangzhou Prefecture?" the young man asked.
Liu Lang looked at the two girls sitting on their knees behind him. The two girls lowered their heads with guilty conscience.
"That family is indeed an interesting story." Saturday Lang said, reaching out to fiddle with the chess pieces.
"It's about your cousin," the young man said, "Why didn't you ask more questions before driving away the Cheng family members?"
"What do useless people have to do with our Zhou family?" Zhou Lang said with disdain on his face, "My aunt didn't listen at first and insisted on keeping such a fool, harming others and herself, and wasting the money raised by my grandmother and grandfather. As for that fool, my grandmother also
It violates the benevolence of a woman to not let her die early and take care of her, but instead takes care of her and feeds her. Pigs can still eat meat, but what's the use of feeding idiots?"
The young man chuckled.
"Liu Lang, your cousin who is worse than a pig is raised in Bingzhou." He said, "The Cheng family is here to ask if you sent her back to Jiangzhou."
"Yes, what if they come to ask? Should we answer respectfully?" Zhou Lang looked at him and asked with eyes wide open.
The young man looked at him and smiled, then stretched out his hand and drew a line on the chessboard with his long fingers.
"From Bingzhou to Jiangzhou." He said, "Your cousin was in the Cheng family, and she went back by herself without your family knowing."
Zhou Lang looked at him, his brows slightly furrowed.
The young man reached out again and scratched from one point to that point on the chessboard.
"From Bingzhou to Jiangzhou, a young girl." He said with a smile, "How did a useless person do it?" (To be continued)
