Chapter Twenty-Three: Cheapness

From the beginning of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, the cold weather shrouded the city of Jiangning, the eighth and ninth days of the first month, the sky began to snow, with goose feather-like snow flakes, the white coat will quietly wrap the whole ancient city.

The snow is not thick enough to prevent people from going out for the time being, but according to the usual practice in the past, since this has begun to fall, then until the beginning of spring next year, maybe there will always be, the snow flakes will be intermittent in this time of two to three months, if it is a poor family, such weather is almost difficult to go out, in some places, people do not even have winter clothes, when the snow covers the mountain, they can only be wrapped in a quilt all day long on the kang, winter is not a good day for the vast majority of people in this era.

A big city like Jiangning will be better, after all, the business is developed, and there are still a lot of people with a little wealth, and the school is still open for a few days after the first snow falls, of course, a few students who live outside the city do not come, which is also a common thing. The lecturer has a small pot of charcoal on his side, and the students can only rely on the doors and windows to block a little more wind, but fortunately, they are all at the age of blood and strength, and the problem is not big, and the two female students each have a beautiful hand warmer and hold them in their arms. Originally, the adults in the family had not allowed them to come to the school again, but they were reluctant to miss the story told by Ning Yi, so they still came over to listen to the class.

Qin Lao's chess stall has naturally stopped since the weather began to get colder, and Ning Yi has also been to his house a few times, of course, it can't be too often. However, for the elderly, it is naturally a good thing to have someone who can speak to visit the door, but there was also a time when I met Kang Xian, the old man took a few ancient paintings to taste, and let Qin Lao put a seal on it after he saw it.

After the heavy snow fell, Ning Yi built a snowman in the courtyard of Su Mansion. Every night, the scenery of the entire Su Mansion is the most charming, looking out from the second floor to the surroundings, the light spots swimming between the various courtyards and houses are warm and magnificent, antique, obviously the oriental style, those light clusters seem to be immersed from beautiful oil paintings, if there is a camera, Ning Yi wants to take a few photos as a souvenir. However, the second floor is also windy, and after standing for a while, Xiaochan is about to come up to call someone.

In such an evening, after all, it is more interesting to sit in the living room downstairs to bake the fire, chatting and gossiping, playing chess, reading books, Su Tan'er and a few maids choose fabrics and do embroidery. Ning Yi and Su Tan'er's master and servant relationship is naturally good, sitting together and playing backgammon, Xing'er, who likes gossip, occasionally tells some interesting stories that happened in the mansion, and occasionally a few little girls will argue about the content of the story Ning Yi told, who is more fierce when the fox demon fights with the general, does General Xiahou, who likes to eat eyes, have a beard, or will those female goblins who were killed be very innocent, the content varies, and occasionally runs over to ask Ning Yi and asks him to judge the victory.

Su Tan'er also gradually liked the simple rules of backgammon, she would check the account book every few days, sit next to her and play the plan, and the three little girls would occasionally come over to help. If he played chess with Ning Yi, he would also idle and talk about some interesting stories about the relatives of the mansion, and briefly reveal some of the relationship between each other.

Occasionally, there will be relatives who come to place at night, and after the snow, a few students in Ning Yi's school will occasionally come over to ask for something or something, in fact, they want to set some stories to listen to, purely in terms of stories, Su Tan'er also likes to listen to these things, and took a needle and thread to sit aside and embroider and listen to the book by the way.

Occasionally, some brothers and sisters will come over, the younger one is called Su Tan'er "second sister", most of them want to do something and have no money, come to complain to her or something, and want to make money, Su Tan'er is good to these people, these people also know that as long as they are measured, Su Tan'er will most likely give it, if you want a hundred guan, you can always get sixty to eighty guan, but you probably have to listen to Su Tan'er's advice and nagging. The ones they got were enough for them to drink a few nights of good flower wine on the Qinhuai River.

What these people say is an excuse for progress, but what will happen in reality, even Ning Yi, who is not very familiar with these cousins and cousins, can see it clearly, Su Tan'er is still quite patient, no matter what excuse the other party is looking for, she always takes it as if she believes it completely, and says some sincere suggestions along the topic, and then tells the other party not to spend money indiscriminately, if she wants to call her brother, her posture is also very low, and her sister's image is extremely well-behaved, and occasionally jokes:" When will the girl in Chunfeng Courtyard become my sister-in-law last time...... "It's a mess to be kind to others, and after the people leave, she put away the small box containing the silver ticket, still with a beautiful and kind smile, and then told Ning Yi about the interesting things about this cousin and cousin in the past, all of which were good words, and the pride was overflowing with strong family affection. ,

Ning Yi looked at these shots from the side and felt interesting, family affection may be there, but he also understood why the third generation of the Su family had no usable people. Su Tan'er's marriage has dragged on for a few years, and she is nineteen years old this year, and she is already an old girl, but in Ning Yi's eyes, this is naturally not the case, her wife, who has begun to grasp the Su family's big house, is actually still a girl's appearance and figure, and she even has a little greenness when she speaks and smiles, but the sense of proportion contained in various actions is indeed not to be underestimated.

Being able to get together every day, play chess, tell stories, and talk about family life, the atmosphere between Ning Yi and Su Tan'er is more natural than when they just have a meal every day, and then, Su Tan'er also put forward an invitation to let Ning Yi occasionally go out with her and visit the homes of some people who need to visit.

The Su family's cloth business is big, and there are also many vassal merchants, reliable or unreliable business partners, Su Tan'er occasionally goes out to visit other people's homes to talk about business, and it is always better to have a man to follow. In fact, these visits from the previous year were not very necessary, but once the New Year is over, it becomes important for the two of them to go out to every house to pay New Year's greetings together. Su Tan'er's invitation at this time was actually hoping that Ning Yi would be somewhat familiar with these things. Of course, after a few days, she would be satisfied to find that Ning Yi was very competent at least in terms of being an ornament.

Ning Yi is not interested in these people doing business and other things, others talk about business, he pretends to drink tea on the side, read calligraphy and paintings, smile in a daze, if there is a greeting to find a topic, naturally take out the trick of ten thousand essential oils perfunctory, only showing a polite nerd appearance. Su Tan'er brought him over, in fact, he only asked him to be able to deal with other people's greetings naturally, so as not to give people a bad feeling. These people have more or less business contacts with Su Fu, knowing that Ning Yi is rich, so as not to make it difficult for him, of course, there are also people who have heard that Ning Yi is famous, and find someone to talk to him about poetry and writing, this kind of casual chat, is not a serious school examination, Ning Yi is naturally relaxed.

Which family or household to visit, often when she was on the road the day before or the next day, Su Tan'er told Ning Yi the background with a smile, some of them were the seniors of the shopping mall who took care of the Su family, some were the current partners, or some were the grass on the wall that the wind blew on both sides. In this mode of getting along, she has a very good relationship with Ning Yi, and when she goes out, she will also smile and tell Ning Yi about the results of this trip, make a few jokes or scold a few words such as "Old fox, he refuses to penetrate any wind" and so on.

The vast majority of the itinerary is such a boring thing, of course, there are occasional exceptional episodes, such as the visit on November 14, which makes Ning Yi feel ...... I'm really bored......

******************

“…… The scale of the silk business done by the He brothers is still good, and these two brothers also have the ability, but they have not been qualitative, after the batch of business they talked about last time, this time, I heard that they have negotiated cooperation with the Xue family, and they came over today, and they are just doing their best......

On the carriage, Su Tan'er said while turning the small bead chain in her hand. Ning Yi nodded.

"So, just a little perfunctory?"

"Hehe, Xianggong is perfunctory at will." She smiled and put the bead chain on her wrist, raised her head, and tilted her head to reach out to fix the sideburns on the back of her head a few times, "After the perfunctory, Xianggong still has something to do in the afternoon?" ”

"I'm going to go to the bookstore in the east of the city to look for a book from the Tang Dynasty."

"The concubine will leave this morning, let's go with the prime minister."

"It's good."

It is a business that cannot be negotiated, and it is just a visit in line with the idea that the business cannot be benevolent, as Ning Yi said, it is enough to be perfunctory. However, if there is always a fly buzzing around during the perfunctory process that should be peaceful, it will kill the scenery. This afternoon, it was not only Su Tan'er and Ning Yi who came to visit the He family, but also people from two merchants, so He Jun, the eldest of the He brothers, the silk merchant who was called Uncle Shi by Su Tan'er, entertained everyone in the side hall on the side of the garden. Also accompanied by the host's family is his son He Tingguang.

There are two principals of the He family, except for He Jun, the second eldest among the brothers, He Feng, is the most talented person. Su Tan'er just came over to say hello, and after the tea party was held for a while, she and the three maids and the rest of the people went to the garden to enjoy the snow, and then met He Feng who came from there. There were fewer people in the side hall, He Tingguang began to entangle Ning Yi's poetic talent, he probably didn't believe that Ning Yi had much talent, and wanted to test him, but unfortunately he didn't have much talent, Ning Yi said a few perfunctory words, and the other party was chattering over there, and hinted at his friendship with the talented Xue Jin, and by the way, a few new works of Xue Jin were for Ning Yi to comment. ,

This guy is also a straw bale...... Ning Yi was bored, He Tingguang's father He Jun probably also felt that his son was saying something boring, and opened his mouth to help with the original scene, Ning Yi naturally had to pick up the conversation: "I heard Tan'er say that the scale of the He family's silk business is admirable, mainly in the Shouzhou area, right?" ”

He Jun frowned, but He Tingguang already laughed: "Good to teach the world brother to know, my family is actually mainly engaged in Luzhou and Chaohu area, if the world brother has time to go out to play in the future, don't find ......the wrong one."

Ning Yi was stunned for a moment, and then nodded: "Oh, I see...... Luzhou and Shouzhou are not far away, and the raw silk is transported over ......"

He Jun didn't know what he thought of over there, and his brows furrowed even deeper: "Why did the virtuous nephew suddenly mention Shouzhou?" ”

"No, isn't the Xue family having a batch of workshops in Shouzhou, what kind of Yan Da shopkeeper is in charge, I seem to have heard someone say it last time...... Hmm, so I thought Hefu's business would be ...... in Shouju"

He Tingguang laughed: "Brother Shi doesn't understand this, don't talk nonsense, Yan Da's shopkeeper is obviously in charge of Luzhou's affairs, and most of the uncles here know the way, if you don't believe it, you can ask a few uncles, hehe......"

When he said this, the people from the other two shops also laughed and confirmed, Ning Yi smiled and nodded: "I don't understand this, I occasionally listen to a few bits and pieces of news, and I made a mistake and made a mistake...... Everyone knew his identity as a son-in-law, and they didn't think it was surprising about it, they just smiled. Over there, He Jun said in a deep voice: "I don't know where these fragmentary news that my nephew said came from. ”

Ning Yi looked at his serious expression, and thought about it with some confusion, and then shook his head blankly: "I'm just...... Listen to someone talk a few words once in a while, uh...... The specifics are not clear, heh, let Uncle Shi laugh, in business, Tan'er understands a little, but he doesn't understand it, and he doesn't know much about the Xue family, but he confuses Luzhou with Shouzhou, hehe......"

He was so perfunctory, and then the whole thing became a little weird, He Jun frowned as if he was really thinking about something important, and then called a steward to come over and tell him a few words, Ning Yi frowned: What you said casually, you can't really guess it, right......

He has been running around with Su Tan'er these days, although he has no interest in talking about business with others, but he can slowly establish an outline in his heart, who does what business, and how to operate in the overall situation. These things, whether they are deliberately thought about can be placed in front of him clearly or vaguely, there is a possible outline, at this time, when it comes to Shouzhou, it is just a random push away from the topic of He Tingguang, he just faintly felt from the small talk he heard in the previous days that the Xue family's business may change, and the center of gravity of Luzhou may change to Shouzhou, and then in the direction of Shouzhou, in fact, there is also a silk merchant who is opposed to the He family, and may get involved...... These things are only vague outlines in him, and he can't grasp them, but he can keenly feel a trace of the key points, but in the results, he really let himself say something......

So soon after arriving, he said goodbye and went out, when Ning Yi and Su Tan'er said goodbye to He Jun and were about to get into the carriage, He Feng chased him out from behind, and exchanged a look with He Jun with a serious face: "My niece, please stay, about the silk in Ming Chun, I don't know if Su's plans in several nearby places have been decided, if my niece has time today, there is a batch of spring silkworm business, and I want to discuss it with my niece......"

Su Tan'er turned her head with a puzzled expression, not understanding why there was such a change all of a sudden. With his back to that side, Ning Yi rolled his eyes in boredom.

"...... Cheap mouth......"

);