Niu's family is so sick that he only has half a life left, and he is so happy, he really has nothing to do with Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan received a "deposit" from Zhao Qixuan, and began to actively smear Zhao Ze in front of the Niu family. entrusted him with the good foundation laid in front of his grandmother before, but now in front of the Niu family, his weight has already surpassed Zhao Ze, and he is just short of being a concubine. When he spoke in front of Niu, he was really much more effective than his brother Zhao Ze, who had always been "disobedient".

Zhao Yan wanted to earn Zhao Qixuan's three hundred taels, and he spared no effort. He has a good brain, of course, he didn't expect to be able to say that the Niu clan abandoned Zhao Ze, the grandson, just by talking about it, and he had to work hard from somewhere else. It just so happened that he was working in that spice shop, and occasionally he could meet the steward of the dignitary family to buy, and the next year was the peak season for buying goods, he seized the opportunity to tie up with the steward of an imperial merchant and made a big business, not only won the appreciation of the owner, earned a lot of commission, but also got a relationship with the steward.

Zhao Yan also used the supply of goods from Zhao Qixuan's side to match the steward, and bought a batch of high-quality rouge gouache produced by Jiangnan, the four treasures of the study, and various market books and Fengyue novels produced by the southern bookstore at a fairly favorable price. The steward relied on this batch of goods in private, and quickly curried favor with a bunch of young masters, young ladies and aunts in the master's house, got a lot of rewards, and even raised his position, and took over two more oily and watery procurement projects, which can be said to be complacent. Zhao Yan invited the other party to eat two more meals, and the two began to call each other brothers.

Zhao Yan didn't just pick the housekeeper of the family and start stammering. This family is an imperial businessman, the family is rich, and it is also very mixed in the capital, with a wide range of contacts, and it is rumored that there are several high-ranking officials behind the backing, so the head of the family is bold, and he dares to do some things that others dare not do. This year, so many officials have fallen due to conspiracy cases, and their property and houses have been confiscated. When the Ministry of Internal Affairs auctioned off these things, the imperial merchant relied on his connections to collect a lot of residences or shops cheaply, and then rented, sold or pawned, and made a lot of money, including the Niu family's house. However, because the Niu family was also beautiful back then, the house was still quite large, and it was inconvenient to rent it. The imperial merchant ordered someone to split the Niu family's house into three, build walls and partitions, and divide them into three small houses and rent them out.

Zhao Yan relied on his friendship with the steward and rented one of them at a very favorable price, which happened to be the west courtyard of the Niu family's house, where the Niu family lived when they were not married.

Zhao Yan went to Niu with this good news, and when Niu learned about it, he was so excited that he almost fainted. In fact, if you talk about the length of time she lived, of course, she lived in the old mansion of Jiannan Hou Mansion for the longest time, but what left her with the deepest memory was the old house of the Niu family where she lived before she got married. Now that she has the opportunity to live back in her old house, how can she not be excited? Even if she can only rent it now, it is better than watching it become someone else's residence. If it weren't for her ambition to remind her, she would have said goodbye to the Wang family immediately and moved back to her mother's old house.

Zhao Yan took the old house of the Niu family to tempt her and curry favor with her: "When my grandmother recovers from her illness, let's move over together, right?" Although there are only three entrances in the front and back of the house, it is also an authentic mansion, and it is much stronger than the courtyard in the alley of Yongguang Temple. That's where your grandmother should live, and that's where you were when you weren't married. ”

Niu Shi clutched his sleeve tightly: "Can you buy it back?" How much silver?! ”

Zhao Yan's face was embarrassed, but he still said resolutely: "At the moment, our family doesn't have so much silver, but I have agreed with the steward of the imperial merchant, as long as I pay him four taels of silver every month, I can rent it for a few years if I want." Now he is in charge of renting a house, whether it is renting or selling, he has the final say, and the price is easy to handle. When we have a little more money, if you say a word, I'll go to him and buy the house. What do you think? ”

Niu Shi was very satisfied, she looked at Zhao Yan with a face full of appreciation: "Good boy, you are very good, very good!" ”

Zhao Yan smiled and lowered his voice: "If what your grandson does satisfies your grandmother, can you give your grandson a little reward?" ”

Niu's face sank, and his tone became a little dangerous: "What reward do you want?" "If you want silver, it's a dream!

But to her surprise, Zhao Yan wanted nothing valuable at all, in fact, Zhao Yan had long seen through that she was an iron rooster to other people and was only generous to herself, so she never expected her to give her grandchildren any benefits. What he asked for was very simple: he wanted to become the heir of this family, and the implication was that he wanted the Niu family to drive Zhao Ze out of the house.

The Niu family was a little surprised, but it didn't seem strange that Zhao Yan would say such a thing after several grandchildren had been fighting for their concubines for many years. In fact, starting from Aunt Qian's grandmother, they have been desperately striving for the status of the eldest child, but unfortunately they can only be concubines from beginning to end. When Jiang was first imprisoned, Zhao Jue almost divorced her, and at that time she wanted to marry another lady, and Aunt Xiaoqian once jumped for a while, striving to straighten up. Later, the Jiang family intervened, and Zhao Jue dispelled the idea of divulging his wife, and Aunt Xiaoqian naturally had no hope of correcting herself. But in the past ten years, there has been no wife to press, and Aunt Xiaoqian's status in the Zhao family is almost the same as that of the wife of the main house, but unfortunately the title is still a concubine, and the children born are better than the sons and daughters-in-law, but the identity is always a concubine.

Now, Zhao Yan's wings have grown stiffer, and he begins to want a better identity.

After thinking about it, Niu used a tricky method. She just threatened Zhao Ze that if he didn't obey again, she would kick him out of the house. But at the same time, she summoned the whole family (only the members of the small long room plus three girls), announced that she would straighten Aunt Xiao Qian on behalf of her son, and ordered the girls to call Aunt Xiao Qian "Mrs" in the future, no longer called Auntie, and then introduced Zhao Yan, Zhao Man, and Zhao Yan to the outside world, and they all called them concubines. Of course, Zhao Ze and Zhao Xiang, the sons and daughters of the Jiang family, are also the identities of the descendants.

Zhao Xiang strongly opposed his grandmother's decision, but unfortunately was suppressed by his grandmother. Zhao Xiang was unwilling to accept the cousins he had always looked down on, and he was on an equal footing with him from then on, and even sneered at his grandmother's decision. Who in the capital doesn't know that Zhao Yan is a concubine? Even if the family gives them a famous position, who will take it seriously? But Niu's scolded this granddaughter who has always loved him, and solemnly mentioned this matter to Wang Dongsheng and his wife, which seemed to be serious. Zhao Xiang was aggrieved and angry in his heart, and wanted Zhao Ze to come out, but Zhao Ze had no weight to speak in front of Niu.

Aunt Xiao Qian has since become Zhao Jue's "wife", even if this is an identity that only the family recognizes, when Zhao Ze faces her again, he must call "mother". He was reluctant to shout, nor did he argue against it, but protested his grandmother's decision in silence. As for the Wang family husband and wife, they only thought it was a joke, they had never heard of a mother-in-law who could still support her daughter-in-law on behalf of her son, especially if her son was dead, what was the point of correcting a concubine?

Niu Shi seemed to be iron-hearted, not only insisted on correcting Aunt Xiaoqian, but also signaled that she could find a way to contact her mother's family, relatives and friends. Compared with the Jiang family, who returned to their hometown after being dismissed, the Qian family is at least a solid family, and I heard that Aunt Xiao Qian also has a brother who became an eight-rank official, and he did not step down after Zhao Jue's downfall. With the current situation of the Zhao family, it is not a shame to have an eight-grade in-law, and Zhao Yan can be regarded as a child of the official family. After becoming an official in-law, the Qian family's connections can also be used by him.

Zhao Yan seemed to quickly wake up from the dissatisfaction that the plan failed, and closely followed the distant relatives of the two Qian families in the capital to get in touch. He is particularly talented in this kind of thing, and he is so stubborn that he actually gets involved with those two families. This made Niu even more satisfied. Although the two families are petty officials, they are always better than the ordinary people, and they may be able to come in handy in the future.

In contrast, Zhao Ze disappointed Niu. The injury did not improve for a long time, and the shopkeeper of the study shop was handed over to someone else. I heard that the new shopkeeper of the shop has an inventory every year, and a few months after opening the store this year, the store has already had an income of several hundred taels. If it is still Zhao Ze and Zhao Yan who are taking care of the shop now, maybe they can draw a lot of money for the family? But the reality is that Zhao Ze lost his errand, and stopped Zhao Yan from taking over the shop, the lucrative salary was gone, and Zhao Qixuan also claimed that there were many people in the shop, which was not conducive to Zhao Ze's recuperation, and he intended to send him back to the courtyard of Yongguang Temple Hutong. In Niu's opinion, this is clearly that the second and sixth rooms are going to give up Zhao Ze, and they don't plan to continue to support him in the future.

Is this worth it? Without the original rich income, I have to pay for Zhao Ze to take medicine to treat his injuries, and the courtyard of Yongguang Temple Hutong will be renewed after the year, where will the money come from? It's all Zhao Ze's fault!

Niu's resentment towards the eldest grandson is getting heavier and heavier, of course, Zhao Yan's oil and vinegar are indispensable, as well as the daily slander of the two big girls around him, Thrush and Bailing - the former was instructed by Zhao Yan, and the latter was ordered by the Marquis of Jiannan. Day after day, the Niu family saw Zhao Ze more and more as a burden.

Recently, Zhao Yan went to Wang's house to visit Niu's family again, and discussed with her in the room for a whole hour. No third person knows the contents of the secret discussion. But according to Bailing's appearance afterwards, it is estimated that it has something to do with Zhao Xiang's marriage. I don't know what advice Zhao Yan gave, after Niu saw his second grandson, he smiled and was in a good mood.

When Mrs. Wang went to visit the patient again, Niu struggled to sit up, and deliberately sighed and said that he was worried about the future of his grandchildren. Mrs. Wang's heart was vigilant, and she didn't answer, just sat coldly and indifferently. Who knew that Niu's style of words changed, and he began to ask Mrs. Wang to help find a decent family affair for his eldest granddaughter Zhao Xiang. She doesn't want the other party to be a high-ranking official, she just hopes that she is a decent and good family, with a solid family background, and will not let her granddaughter be poor, and her grandson-in-law is good to her granddaughter, and she does not dislike her granddaughter as a criminal official.

Niu also said: "What is the situation of our family, Mrs. Wang also knows, I am afraid that I will not be able to buy a rich dowry for Sister Xiang'er, I just hope that my future in-laws will not dislike it." I knew that this would make Mrs. Wang embarrassed, but I grew up watching this child grow up, and I couldn't bear to see her being rationed to a family that was not in order. ”

Mrs. Wang's impression of Zhao Xiang has long been bad, and she is very disapproving, but Niu can no longer beat her son's idea, but wants to borrow her hand to marry Zhao Xiang, she naturally welcomes it, and agreed without saying a word, and immediately put forward two candidates, both of whom are small officers under Wang Dongsheng, one is the son of a small officer, and the other is the little officer himself, who is a few years older and has a decent family background, which is a good candidate.

Niu refused politely, the reason is that the officer wants to fight, if after getting married, the grandson-in-law went to the frontier, and the granddaughter was alone in the empty boudoir, wouldn't it be pitiful? Therefore, it would be better to be able to not be in the military.

This sentence vetoed almost all the candidates that Mrs. Wang could propose. Mrs. Wang had to choose another person, and within two days, she found two more families, both of them were small officials, one was poorer and the other was richer. The two Niu families declined, she thought that the poor family was too poor, afraid that her granddaughter would suffer after marrying, and the rich family was too rich, afraid that the other party's silver would come from unknown sources, and it was okay in a small place, but at the foot of the Son of Heaven in the capital, sooner or later something bad would happen.

Everything was said by Niu, Mrs. Wang was angry, but it was not good to lie to her, so she had to change her to say that she was busy with things in the new year, anyway, Zhao Xiang was still young, and it would not be too late to discuss it when he was free after the year. Niu accepted her suggestion calmly, and asked her, can you take Zhao Xiang with you and teach some housekeeping knowledge? It's a busy year, but it's also a good opportunity to learn. Since she is going to say kiss, there are some things that should be taught. Zhao Xiang's mother couldn't teach her this, and her grandmother fell ill in bed, so she couldn't expect her stepmother, who had been a concubine for more than ten years, to teach her, right?

Mrs. Wang was begged by the Niu family, so she had to agree, and she began to regret it when she went out. But when she later took Zhao Xiang by her side, she found that the latter was quite honest, even if she met her two sons by chance on the road, she didn't squint, and it seemed that she was really no longer delusional.

Mrs. Wang's heart was a little calm, and she really taught Zhao Xianglai.