Chapter 270: Persuasion

In the evening, Lin Xu and Lin Xianniang turned back one after another.

After dinner, Lin Xu went back to the second courtyard to study. Yufeng served tea to Qiu Chen and Lin Xianniang, and the two leaned on the big pillow comfortably, drinking tea and talking.

After taking two sips of tea, Qiu Chen smiled and said, "How is the business today?" Tired or not? ”

"It's fine! I'm just looking at two places, and I'm not tired. Lin Xianniang replied gently.

Qiu Chen snorted, looked at Lin Xianniang with a smile and asked, "The shopkeeper here in the old shop is very capable, and the shopkeeper in the new shop is okay?" ”

Lin Xianniang smiled, held the teacup, and said softly: "The two shopkeepers are very diligent, and the shop is also very good...... Speaking of this, Lin Xianniang lowered her eyes, and from Qiu Chen's direction, she could only see the corners of her slightly upturned mouth, "It's just that my sister is idle at home...... The sister-in-law knew that her sister was not good at needlework, and she couldn't sing poems and paintings to kill time, so she went to the shop and talked to the guys in charge, and she felt loose......"

was silent for a moment, just when Qiu Chen couldn't bear to go around and around and wanted to express his chest, Lin Xianniang suddenly raised her head, looked at Qiu Chen and said, "Sister-in-law, I know that you are for my good, Ming'er, I won't go to the shop." ”

Qiu Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It's November now, and it's about to be the New Year when I enter the wax moon." I can't pay attention to the countless things in the family, big and small, and my sister can stay at home, so she can help me. Chen is a thoughtful person, and from tomorrow, let her accompany her sister to learn to deal with family affairs...... Well, when it comes to poetry painting and female red needlework, my sister can learn it now, if my sister wants to learn, I will inquire, and it is very cheap to invite the master to teach at home. Of course, it all depends on my sister's interest......"

"Is it really possible?" Lin Xianniang's eyes lit up suddenly, and she looked at Qiu Chen with joy.

"Of course." Qiu Chen smiled and nodded, "However, we can't learn all at once, the fifth sister thinks about it, what she likes, it's enough to choose two or three things to learn." ”

Lin Xianniang nodded again and again, frowned and thought for a moment, and said, "Sister-in-law, I want to learn to read and write, settle accounts, and ...... Sewing. ”

Qiu Chen was also surprised by the three things Lin Xianniang selected. Writing and accounting, needlework and thread are all pragmatic. I didn't choose to write poetry or paint anything!

Smiling, Qiu Chen said: "Just read and write and settle accounts, think about it again, what else do you want to learn...... Learn the same hobbies, and spend your free time. ”

Lin Xianniang somehow, looking at the woman opposite who was smiling gently, she felt a hot current rushing through her nasal cavity, which made her eyes red instantly. Originally, she had nothing to do with her at all, but it was admirable that she was able to be generously contained and allocated nearly half of the family property to the three of them...... However, along the way, she was far from stopping, but always cared about her and helped her like a real sister-in-law...... Now, she is so indulged in asking her master to study. When she thought of her own situation, she only chose the practical ones, but she asked her to choose a pleasant subject to study, just so that she could have something to spend in her free time in the future.

Choked up, Lin Xianniang smiled again, blinked her eyes, and said, "I listen to my sister-in-law, then choose to paint!" After learning to draw, I can use needlework and thread. ”

Qiu Chen nodded connivingly: "Okay, then I'll let Daxing go to the embroidery girl early tomorrow morning." You follow Sister-in-law Chen to learn housekeeping in the morning, our family has few things, and half an hour is enough. You can still have about an hour in the morning for you to read and write. In the afternoon, I also took an hour to paint and needlework, interspersed with study. After dinner, you came over with an abacus, sister-in-law can't do anything else, the accounting plan will be some, take you into the door, and the rest is for you to practice slowly. ”

Speaking of this, Qiu Chen paused and said with a smile: "It's just that, in this way, the fifth sister may be very tired, let's try according to this arrangement first, the fifth sister feels tired, let's adjust the time." ”

Lin Xianniang shook her head with a bright smile, and said continuously: "I'm not tired, I'm not tired, my sister-in-law doesn't have to indulge me so much, my sister won't be tired." ”

Originally, Lin Xianniang was fifteen or sixteen years old, and she always had a deep and excessive feeling, but today's appearance of joy above has more childishness and coquettishness that a girl of her age should have, which makes Qiu Chen also have a little more sigh and pity. No matter how mature she is, she's just a teenage girl.

After breakfast the next day, Qiu Chen called the Chen family and Shunzi's family over.

"Our family is gradually getting more and more people, and we will add more people in a few days...... In the future, there will be a lot of things, and I have to plan, and every morning, I will start to deal with things in the backyard in the inverted seat of Sanjin. If you want to do anything from all over the place, or ask someone for something, or receive money, you will come to ask for instructions at that hour, and if you want to discuss it again, you will immediately settle it down. It's not much, I guess half an hour is enough. The two of you pondered and pondered, and in several places in the kitchen and on the front, first go through the personnel again, and appoint a steward in each place. The Shunzi family still controls all parts of the inner courtyard, and the Chen family is in charge of human relations. If there is anything I can't think of, you can also mention it, they are all from big households, and they know more rules than me. ”

As soon as these words came out, the Chen family knew it, but the Shunzi family showed a look of unexpected joy.

These days, as Chen gradually won the favor of his wife, she always felt that she could not move forward. This time, as soon as Qiu Chen arranged, she was in charge of the inner courtyard, that is, the chief manager, and this family was a little worse than the chief steward Daxing, and she really had real power. On the other hand, the Chen family is just asking her to take care of human relations, although this job is more revealing, but after all, the new people in the Lin family are very limited, and there are two or three families in total, how many things can happen! Naturally, there is not much power to do anything, and it looks like the Chen family is idle!

The joy of the Shunzi family agreed infinitely, and the attitude and words were naturally easy-going, and discussed with the Chen family in a low voice, and soon decided on a steward of the needle and thread, a steward of the big kitchen, and the rest of the rough work of washing and cleaning, which was still taken care of by the Shunzi family for the time being, and no other management personnel were placed.

After a while, the Shunzi family reported the result of the discussion between the two to Qiu Chen: "...... Madam, let's use it like this for the time being, when the new person comes, the population is large, let's discuss the placement, can you take a look? ”

"Very good." Qiu Chen nodded with a smile, and said about inviting Mr. Lin Xianniang, "Embroidery Niang teaches needlework, you can be in the fifth lady's room." After all, it is inconvenient for the teacher to enter the backyard, and the Shunzi family looks at the west side of the courtyard and cleans it up, and lets the fifth lady go there to take classes! ”

Junko's family hurriedly bent their knees and agreed.

Looking for embroidery workers is very smooth, Daxing a few days ago to find embroiderers to understand a lot of market, soon found two full-time in the Gaomen embroidery household to teach the embroidery of the young lady embroidery to come. Qiu Chen called Lin Xianniang to choose by herself, and she generously picked an embroiderer who looked a little mean, but the embroiderer was better, and stayed.

What Daxing brought in this time, in addition to the embroidery girl who taught Lin Xianniang, Huang Pozi brought more than a dozen little girls over. The age span of more than a dozen little girls is relatively large, there are three twelve or thirteen years old, and the rest are ten years old, seven or eight years old, all of them have beautiful faces and good facial features, and it can be seen that Huang Pozi has carefully selected them.

Qiu Chen and Lin Xianniang sat on the Luohan couch where they got started, Qiu Chen said with a smile: "The fifth sister doesn't have anyone to serve around, this time I specially asked Mrs. Huang to bring a few older ones, and the younger sister picked one by herself, and watched the one who stayed with her heart." ”

"Sister-in-law, I ......" Lin Xianniang subconsciously wanted to push back, seeing Qiu Chen's smiling gaze, she didn't say it in the end, smiled and nodded, turned around and looked at a few twelve or thirteen-year-old girls for a while, and called up and asked a few words, leaving a person who looked dignified, Lin Xianniang changed her name to Dongyue.

"Sister-in-law, my sister has picked it!" Lin Xianniang said with a smile while beckoning Dongyue to salute Qiu Chen.

Qiu Chen shook his head with a smile, didn't say much, and turned to provoke the little girl.

This time, Mrs. Huang is really attentive, these dozen girls are all innocent, beautiful, and not too glamorous. Although it is inevitable that there will be some restraint at this time, the response is quite appropriate. It can be seen from the number of etiquette that Mrs. Huang has also taught, and she can get by roughly.

Qiu Chen asked them one by one, but he simply didn't bother, he left them all and handed them over to Chen and Yuxiang to teach. First follow the rules of the ten days, and then pick and choose by the way, and then divide them everywhere.

These girls, Qiu Chen plans to hand them over to Xiuniang to learn needlework, and hand them over to Chen's to learn the stove, if they are organic and spiritual, pick out one or two, and teach them to read and settle accounts...... Teach them a skill, teach them from a young age, and use them to rest assured. In the future, she will use it for herself, or as a companion for Man'er.

The girl was taken down by the Chen family and the Shunzi family to bathe and change clothes, and then assigned a room to receive bedding utensils and so on.

Qiu Chen was not in a hurry, and left Mrs. Huang to talk.

"This year's disaster year, has your business been affected?"

Mrs. Huang sighed before speaking, and said: "Don't hide it from Mrs. Madame, the mother-in-law's business, if it is not a disaster year, the impact is not big, when it is a disaster year, the people can't survive, there are many children and daughters, and the population is cheaper...... Alas, although the mother-in-law had to do this business as a last resort to make a living, and she has been doing it for 20 years, she still feels sad every time she sees the scene of selling her sons and daughters...... Speaking of which, these children are all good children, but the families who give birth to them are poor, they can't eat, and they are about to starve to death, so they really can't sell their children, and this year's disaster year is even more so, these families who have children to sell may be able ......to escape with some money, if they don't even have a child to sell, maybe it will be difficult to survive this winter."

Lin Xianniang stared at Mrs. Huang, without a smile on her face, but she couldn't see what she was thinking.

Qiu Chen frowned slightly and asked, "The imperial court has given relief several times, and there was also a charity sale during the Double Ninth Festival...... By now, the relief money should have been distributed a long time ago, how could anyone still starve to death? ”

Mrs. Huang looked at Qiu Chen, wiped the corners of her eyes, shook her head and said, "Mrs. doesn't know, the relief of silver and grain is in the disaster area and the epidemic area, and in those places where there is no disaster and no plague, where is there relief silver and rice." But although those people did not invite disasters and did not experience the plague, many of them abandoned their families and businesses and ran out of the city to take refuge, and there was no autumn food at all, not even a little dried vegetables, and a trip to avoid the disaster and the family property trembled, and now, this day is very sad......"

Qiu Chen was stunned for a moment, and then sighed suddenly.

She always thought that the people in the disaster area were having a hard time, and she really ignored the people in the non-disaster area, because the farmland was abandoned to avoid disasters, not only did the autumn grain not be harvested, but many of them did not even have autumn planting, which means that next year's summer grain will also not be harvested...... At this time, the yield per mu is low, and the people have worked hard for a year, and under the premise of good weather conditions, it is just enough to make a living, and there is basically no surplus. If you are affected by a disaster in one season, you will be hungry, but if you do not harvest in two consecutive seasons, you will not be hungry...... What's more, now that it's winter, it's cold and snowy, and there is nowhere to dig a wild vegetable...... It's no wonder that even Mrs. Huang sighed.

Qiu Chen thought about it, if Qin Zheng had the final say before, she could also propose that the government use work for relief and build a river embankment, so that those victims could find a job, and the family might be able to survive. But now that there is a third prince, Tang Wenyong simply avoided his edge and returned to the capital, and Qin Zheng also kept his head in obscurity...... Hey, maybe Qin Zheng can use this opportunity too!

Political differences are much better than the wounds he gets all over every time! Self-defilement!

After chatting with Mrs. Huang again, Qiu Chen still gained a lot. These mothers-in-law often go in and out of various high-ranking households, the news is the most well-informed, the third son of the emperor arrived in Anyang Mansion only a few days of effort, it is said that two beautiful women have been carried in. From this, it can also be seen that the name of the third prince Yang Jingyu who is lustful and greedy for flowers is not in vain.

Mrs. Huang said very exaggeratedly, and said with a sad face: "Good girl, just carry it in such a small sedan chair in Tsing Yi, not to mention that there is no half of the name, I am afraid that if I go in, I will never be able to come out again." ”

Qiu Chen glanced at Lin Xianniang, and saw that she looked puzzled, but it was difficult to ask because of her unmarried status, so he asked on her behalf: "What is this, that is the prince, maybe it will be in the future...... Ahem, if this is powerful, it will be a dignity and blessing that many people can't envy! ”

This sentence made Mrs. Huang slightly stunned, looked at Qiu Chen with an inquiring gaze, saw that she had already indifferently held the tea and drank it, and then saw the beautiful Lin Xianniang next to her...... These mothers-in-law have been doing this business for a long time, and their eyes have long been connected into fiery eyes, and they are the best at observing words and feelings. After seeing this, I roughly understood in my heart, sighed slightly, and sighed: "Mrs. This is to say, let those little girls who are not familiar with the world listen to it, the mother-in-law does not agree with it in any way." ”

After a pause, her eyes swept over Qiu Chen and Lin Xianniang's expressions, and Huang Pozi was even more sure that she had guessed correctly, so she exaggerated more and more: "The prince or something, the old woman has never seen it, and she doesn't understand it." But the young masters in this city, the old women have really seen a lot, how many young masters have watched the flower-like girl carry in, and they are still concubines, but what, nine and a half out of ten have not ended...... Since those young masters love this flower-like appearance, how can they really love that person, but after a few days of freshness, they will be tired and annoyed, and naturally there are better and fresher flowers waiting for them to pick...... The stale flowers, sold or given, are just a word...... Alas! The old woman has seen a lot! ”

Qiu Chen's gaze swept over Lin Xianniang's gradually pale face, and the contrast was almost the same, so he coughed and instructed Yuxiang with a smile: "After listening to Sister-in-law Huang for a long time, she must be thirsty, hurry up and send her a cup of good tea to quench her thirst!" ”

Mrs. Huang also made a sudden appearance, half raised her body, and said with a guilty face: "Mrs. forgive me, the old woman forgot her form, and actually said this in front of the fifth lady, she really deserves to be beaten!" As he spoke, he raised his hand and slapped it on his cheek with a loud sound.

Qiu Chen smiled faintly: "That's it, Sister-in-law Huang is also unintentional." Fifth sister, don't be afraid, although our family is not talking about the eunuch family, but today's life is passable, where can there be that kind of thing! ”

Lin Xianniang's heart turned upside down at this time, and the bittersweet and sour taste was indescribable. Qiang smiled and got up and said, "Sister-in-law don't worry, my sister is fine." Sister-in-law, my sister is curious about the embroiderer's needlework, so I will take her to see the embroiderer. ”

Qiu Chen smiled and waved his hand: "Go, go, it'll be dark in a while, remember to let people light the candles early." Don't be in a hurry, learning nothing is a day or two. ”

Lin Xianniang bent her knees in response, took the girl Dongyue she had just selected, and called the embroidery master she had invited to go back to her west wing together.

Watching Lin Xianniang go out, Qiu Chen turned around and said to Mrs. Huang that no one would mention the topic just now, but instead talked about the few little girls sent this time, Mrs. Huang explained the origin and family history of the little girls one by one, Qiu Chen listened carefully, and thanked her sincerely, let Yufeng take half of the value of the silver to Mrs. Huang, took more than a dozen points of the deed of sale, and sent Mrs. Huang out.

Qiu Chen entered the Dongli room, kicked his shoes and got on the kang, stretched his legs and feet, leaned on a large pillow, and began to ponder.

That night, Lin Xianniang said that she was not feeling well and did not come over for dinner, Qiu Chen took a look, and saw Lin Xianniang sitting in front of the window, her expression gloomy, and she forced a smile when she saw her. Qiu Chen comforted her a few words, asked her to send a light sick meal, and went back to his room.

On the second day, Lin Xianniang got better, and came to Qiu Chen's side for breakfast again, her expression almost couldn't see any clues, Qiu Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time, she also secretly admired, how many ups and downs does a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl have to go through in order to exercise such a deep and tenacious mind!

Qiu Chen, who could persuade her, also tried her best, no matter what, she really couldn't do anything. simply threw away these, only carefully restrained the family, tried not to go out, and quietly waited for the third prince Yang Jingyu to leave Anyang.

The search for Mr. Painter went well, and two days later, Lin Xu took Guo Mingsui to Lin's house and recommended a painter surnamed Shi in Anyang, who was the best at painting flowers and birds; There is also a painter surnamed Wang in Huixian County, who is best at landscape freehand.

Although it is more practical to use it for embroidery foundation, Gongbi flowers and birds are more practical, Qiu Chen still went to ask Lin Xianniang. Sure enough, Lin Xianniang had her own attention, and she chose the Wang painter who was good at landscape freehand.

------Off topic------

It's late...... Crawl away with your face covered......