In a flash, the middle of July has come to an end, and the water level in the river outside Fengxian has begun to slowly decline. The farmland in the county has suffered heavy losses after this catastrophe, and many houses and bridges have collapsed, and the new county order has not yet arrived, the county lord is very busy with disaster relief and aftermath every day, but even if he runs around every day, the bad news constantly reported from various places still makes him lose thousands of hairs, and people have lost two laps, and he is looking forward to the arrival of the new county order every day to rescue him from the quagmire.

Compared to the rest of the county, the situation of the Zhao clan seems to be much better. They organized the forces of the whole clan to save themselves and each other in time, so the damage to the house was not serious, and it was repaired early; The cotton grain in the farmland can still be saved in the end, although it is also a heavy loss, but it is better than losing all your money; The families in the clan, whether rich or poor, have food and clothing, and even have the spare energy to benefit the neighboring people with foreign surnames. For a time, the Zhao family gained a good reputation among the neighbors.

When the weather stabilizes, summer is almost over, and it looks like the Midyear Festival. According to the practice of previous years, the Zhao family will definitely worship their ancestors, and they will also hold a banquet and invite the opera troupe to sing for three days, but this year's disaster is strict, who is still in the mood to spend that money? In previous years, the Midyear Festival also paid attention to using the newly harvested rice to worship the ancestors, but this year it was finally clear to see that the weather was clear, and the clansmen were busy organizing hired workers and tenant farmers to harvest Zhuang Wen, and they really didn't have the strength to do this.

So this year's ancestor worship ceremony is simple, and the inner three rooms offer this year's new rice to worship the ancestors. The troupe was saved, and Zhao Xiu took out the money that was originally intended to be used to worship the ancestors to repair the bridge and pave the road. Set up a stone monument next to every bridge and every road, indicating that it was donated by the Zhao clan, using this method to commemorate the ancestors, not only to do good deeds, but also to spread the good name of the ancestors to future generations, isn't it much stronger than setting up a banquet and singing a big opera?

Zhao Jing is in favor of it in his heart, but it is not good to support it openly. asked the eighth old lady what he meant, and then asked the clansmen to discuss it, and finally won fifty-six votes. With forty-one votes in favor, nine against, and six abstentions, the proposal was approved.

The Zongfang, the small second room, the third room, the outer second room, and the outer sixth room all contributed money, manpower and materials. Four stone bridges were built on the territory of Fengxian County. After repairing three river embankments, the reputation of the Zhao family has become better, not only the county government and the people of the county school are praised, but even the prefect of Shanghai has praised it, saying that the Zhao family is a benevolent and benevolent family. If it is said that in the past, outsiders looked up to the Zhao family because of the county grandfather, but in fact, they regarded them as rich people in the countryside and made fun of them behind their backs. Now they are really regarded as big families with heads and faces. The people went out and were more respected than before. Very dignified. The outer six rooms, which were often despised because of business, also tasted the sweetness of being praised by scholars, and for a while it seemed to be beaten with chicken blood, and they donated money to repair several roads that were soaked by rain, and the strength was more than that of the small second room.

Zhao Xiu didn't plan to worry about this kind of thing with the outer six rooms, as long as someone was willing to do good deeds, why did she have to pay for it herself to suppress the limelight of others? She's got a lot to do.

The grain and cotton in the field should be recovered, but this year's harvest at home will definitely not be as good as before, and she has to think of how to find something to make up for it elsewhere. Originally, if it was just a disaster in Shanghai, it would affect the harvest, but now the news outside says that there are disasters in Zhili and Shandong, and several granges in the family are in these places, and the losses are really heavy, and I don't know what the situation is next year, in order to ensure that her family's small life is as rich and comfortable as ever, she still has to think of ways to make money.

How's it going? There are quite a few shops in the family, but they are all rented out for rent. Grandmother Zhang's family was born in a scholarly family, and she didn't think much of this kind of business, at most she accepted cotton merchants or grain merchants like Wailiufang, but there were many ways to make money, so why didn't Xiao Erfang give it a try? Zhao Xiu felt that he didn't have to go into battle in person, just find a reliable and capable person to help take care of it. The Zhao family has a lot of people, and they basically love the little second room, so it is not difficult to find a reliable agent.

She decided to take a good look at the talents in the clan, but she had to be secretive and fast enough, and she must not let the outer six rooms take the lead.

The little master is reliable, Lu Ma and his wife are housekeepers, the days are getting easier and easier, not like at the beginning, they often have to make their own ideas, and now Lu Ma takes out the affairs of the family every day to discuss with Zhao Xiu, no matter how big or small, even if Zhao Xiu doesn't understand, he will introduce it to her, which is a kind of learning and exercise.

For example, today, Lu's mother asked Zhao Xiu: "Those nobles in Jiading, those who do longevity, the sons who put their first birthday wine, and those who marry their daughters and daughters-in-law, are all in the next month, and the old lady is not at home, do you think we should give gifts?" ”

The few clan nobles who stayed in Jiading City were also unlucky, originally the happy events in their families were done separately, but it rained for a few months, and the weather was not good, so it was inconvenient for them to set up a banquet, and now the weather finally cleared, and they didn't know how long it would be clear, so they naturally had to hurry up. There is an auspicious day, and there are several restaurants serving wine at the same time, I really don't know how their common relatives and friends will be exhausted.

Zhao Xiu will not go to this kind of banquet, and Zhang will not go when she is at home, she is a widow, at most she will let her grandson come forward, but gifts are essential. Zhao Xiu knew in his heart that the little second room had already retired to Fengxian, and he had almost cut off contact with the high-ranking families in Beijing, if he even cut off the connections on the Jiading side, I am afraid that he would really be forgotten by the entire aristocratic circle of the Great Chu Dynasty, which would be very unfavorable to the future development of the little brother. She took Mother Lu very seriously to discuss a few gift lists, although the cost was not too distressing, but it was also impossible to find faults. After preparing a few gifts according to the gift list, she asked Lu Changxiu to personally take people and drive the gifts to Jiading City.

The gift-giving matter was settled, and she had to go to ask about the new clothes made of needlework and thread. Every season, everyone in the family has to have new clothes, and although my grandmother and brother are not here this year, they cannot be missing. Zhao Xiu had also helped come up with ideas on this kind of thing in previous years, and he solved the matter very neatly.

She began to count the days with some boredom, her grandmother and brother had been gone for months, and there was no news for a long time, when would she come home? Can my brother get a knighthood? There is also His Royal Highness King Guangping's family, and I don't know what happened now. Outside news said that the king of Guangping had retired to the palace and his injuries were progressing well, but the emperor did not change his decision to re-establish the prince. There are all kinds of news about the appearance of the princes in the palace, but they can't see the good or the bad, it sounds like every prince has their own advantages and disadvantages, even the youngest six princes, some people praise him for his intelligence, and he is a rare prodigy in the history of the opening dynasty.

Zhao Xiu has very mixed feelings about this rumor, and she actually doesn't believe it. If she remembers correctly, this sixth prince seems to be a few months younger than her, she is all plug-ins, and she dared to accept the reputation of "prodigy" when she was a child, but now that she has grown up and converged, her various peculiarities are not as conspicuous as before, and there are fewer people who praise her as a prodigy. Is the cheating of the six princes even more powerful than hers? If it's really a prodigy, how come it hasn't had such a reputation before? I only know that the emperor loves this little son very much, and it wasn't until the new crown prince was about to be elected that no one praised him as a prodigy?

Zhao Xiu suspected that this was the news deliberately released by the supporters behind the Six Princes, but she couldn't refute it, after all, she herself was an unscientific scumbag, so she had to pretend not to know. However, even if the reputation of the Six Princes prodigy spreads far and wide, and others privately discuss the popular candidates for the crown prince, they are still a few adult princes, and no one really regards the Six Princes as a promising candidate. If the person behind it knew this fact, I don't know how it would feel?

Of course, as long as King Guangping is well, this kind of thing has little to do with Xiao Erfang. Zhao Xiu continued to look forward to the news of his grandmother and brother, counting the days, Master Yu and his entourage should have arrived in the capital, I don't know if they will meet with their grandmother.

Just when Zhao Xiu was talking about this matter, the person sent back by the Zhang family to deliver the letter arrived.

The man who came was a manservant, and he set off from Shandong and hurried back on a fast horse, without taking the waterway. He brought the latest news from Zhang and Zhao Wei, who had left Beijing to return to Fengxian in late June, and arrived in Linqing, Shandong, where they had stopped, intending to stay there for a few days, and for fear that Zhao Xiu would be worried at home, he sent someone back to deliver a letter so that Zhao Xiu could prepare to welcome his grandmother and brother.

Zhao Xiu finally had the news of his grandmother and little brother, naturally he was overjoyed, and when he heard that they were going to stay in Shandong, he felt a little strange, and when he heard that it was in Linqing, he understood.

Zhao Zhuo and Mi's husband and wife, along with the shipload of slaves back then, all had an accident in the canal near Liulin Town in Linqing. Since my grandmother and little brother passed by there, they naturally wanted to pay their respects.

The manservant who delivered the letter also said: "There is a big drought in Shandong this year, and the people are having a hard time. The old lady saw that the people in the Linqing area were living in hardship, and remembered that they had also helped her back then, and she was uneasy, and planned to donate some money and rice to help the local people get through the hardships. When I leave Linqing, I may have to go to see my aunt's wife, I haven't seen her for many years, and I don't know when I will see you again. The old lady said that she would come back before the Mid-Autumn Festival, so that the girl could wait with peace of mind. ”

Zhao Xiu was naturally able to wait with peace of mind, and she was happy to know the exact date of her grandmother and brother's return. However, the manservant's words made her suspicious: "Why do you say that if you say goodbye to your aunt this time, you don't know when you will meet again?" "Although the eldest aunt has little contact with her mother's family, there has been correspondence from time to time in the past two years, which is not too cold. Although the eldest uncle is in a foreign position, when the term expires, he will return to Beijing to report on his work. If the elder brother attacks the lord and the second room moves back to the capital, they will naturally see each other again.

Could it be that there is a problem with his brother's title, and he can't inherit the title of Marquis of Jiannan? Or is there something going on in the capital, and Xiao Erfang may not be able to go back for a while? (To be continued......)