What the prince saw was such a scene: Princess Zhaohua Tan Weixin was sitting in a comfortable rocking chair at the moment, swaying and reading a book. But seeing that she almost put the book on her forehead, it was obvious that she was not serious about reading. Next to the rocking chair is a round table with a teapot, a teacup and a fruit bowl. And Ye Tao, at the moment, moved a chair and sat on the edge of the round table, peeling oranges. When Tan Weixin turned her head and seemed to be joking, Ye Tao very skillfully stuffed a slice of orange into the mouth of Her Royal Highness the Princess. Too skilled, not for the first time, maybe not even for the hundredth time......

Suddenly hearing someone shouting "sister" to the princess, Ye Tao was startled, and quickly stood up and faced the prince. These days, except for calling "Her Royal Highness the Princess" when he comes every day, most of the other times he doesn't pay much attention to etiquette. Although formally these two people are the children of merchants and craftsmen, and the other is the daughter of the current ruler of the country, a very powerful princess, the kind of modern people's sense of equality in the bones of the two people still dominates. These days, calling the princess "Xin'er" is already very smooth. Now suddenly the princess's younger brother, the prince and others, although a little reluctant, had to prepare to kneel and salute.

Unexpectedly, when Tan Weixin heard that it was the prince who came, she immediately said: "Stand up, don't kneel." He's just my brother. You have to kneel down him, and wait for him to become the lord of Dongping in the future. ”

Ye Tao was a little embarrassed, on the one hand, the prince looked at him viciously, and on the other hand, Tan Weixin was unhurried and didn't seem to be worried at all. He couldn't help but sigh secretly: Miss, even just a civilian.

However, since the princess ordered, he pretended to be embarrassed, took a deep look at the past, and said respectfully: "Xiaomin Ye Tao, meet His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

The princess's command turned the knock into a visit, and the prince Tan Weiming was stunned for a moment. Perhaps he was accustomed to his sister, who was not the same, he touched his nose, waved his hand and said, "No courtesy!" ”

Seeing that Tan Weixin had no intention of standing up at all, Ye Tao stood aside with interest. The crown prince sat in the seat he had just done, doing what he had just done - putting a slice of orange into Tan Weixin's mouth.

Although they are the sisters and brothers of the first family in Dongping, even in Ye Tao's imagination, they should be different from ordinary families, and the relationship between them may be a little polite. However, looking at this picture of getting along with each other between sisters and brothers, looking at this picture of being easy to get along, Ye Tao felt a little like laughing.

Ye Tao was on the side, Tan Weiming felt a little uncomfortable, and glanced at him viciously. Ye Tao was not a nervous guy, so he hurriedly bowed down and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince, His Royal Highness the Princess, Xiaomin retires." ”

Tan Weixin smiled and said, "Ye Tao, go back first, and come back tomorrow." …… Well, I'm kind of craving mustard soup, how about bringing one for me tomorrow? ”

Ye Tao said: "I should serve." Then he bowed and walked out of the ashram.

This was the first time in these days that he hadn't stayed in Chun Nuanju until dinner, and Ye Tao felt a little relaxed and a little stunned. After all, the intimacy with Tan Weixin was interrupted like this. Jealous? It won't be like that. After all, Tan Weiming is Tan Weixin's younger brother, the current prince, and the future lord of Dongping. And from the fact that Tan Weixin didn't seem to be in a hurry to return to Beijing at all, but attracted the prince, Ye Tao could naturally feel that there was something strange about it. Tan Weixin's body determines that there are many things in this world that she can't do, but with her intelligence and her insight beyond this era, Ye Tao has no doubt that with such a head, she can do many things that others dare not imagine.

The arrival of the prince also reminded Ye Tao of one thing: Tan Weixin is about to return to Beijing. And he has promised her that he will go to the capital as soon as possible to establish an "IKEA" branch. As for Yi Zhan Lou, because Tan Weixin's interest is really great, Ye Tao also agreed to let Tan Weixin become a shareholder in her personal name, in terms of rule formulation and development planning, Tan Weixin occupies forty percent, which includes funding the establishment of a special organization for formulating and evaluating rules, improving the algorithm between marching chess, especially the big fight gameplay and more complex gameplay, simplifying the calculation process, including her influence on the popularization of military chess and other games on a larger scale, and more importantly, She also has a heart that comes from the modern era and loves games. The Yizhan Building in the capital can be regarded as the first franchise store of Ye's marching chess business, right? For this franchise store, the first phase of investment will be half of each of Ye's and Tan Weixin's, and the subsequent additional investment will be calculated one by one.

Ye Tao was a little curious. He knew that there was a lack of entertainment in this era. The spread of marching chess from its creation to the present, as well as the popularity of local marching chess in Yicheng, and even the prosperity of Yizhan Building and Yizhan Shop, all prove this. But this was originally out of Ye Tao's idea of thinking about modern entertainment, and it was beyond his expectations that it could develop to this point. He wondered what made Tan Weixin so confident in expanding marching chess into an entertainment industry.

Ye Tao usually came out without an entourage, and a white horse carried him around. There are thousands of wealthy households in Yicheng, and no one will attract onlookers on the street. And the security of Yicheng is too good to be true. Although it seems that it is not possible to do it without leaving the road untouched and not closing the door at night, the difference is also limited. Just when Ye Tao was thinking wildly, he had already returned to the courtyard of the Ye family in Qingyun Lane.

"Childe, why did you come back so early today?" Lao Zhang, the old servant of the family, led the horse for Ye Tao and asked. Lao Zhang was a buddy in the master's shop when Ye Laogeng was learning art. Because his right hand had been injured, he couldn't learn carpentry work well, so he had to do some odd jobs to earn a salary. Later, the master passed the shop to Ye Laogeng, and Lao Zhang also watched Ye Laogeng take care of the small shop and earn enough money to buy a yard. At that time, Lao Zhang felt that he was too old to be able to do even a carpentry handyman, so he begged Ye Laogeng to let him be a servant in the Ye family's courtyard. In fact, according to Ye Laogeng's original idea, he was going to let Lao Zhang take care of things in the shop and not have to do the work, but Lao Zhang said that he had no work under his hands, and he couldn't manage people in the carpenter's shop, although Ye Laogeng regarded him as a junior brother, but he had to agree to Lao Zhang to help in the Ye family's yard. Although he is a servant, everyone knows the past, and he doesn't really treat Lao Zhang as a servant, and the Ye family's courtyard lives nothing more than the Ye family, as well as several disciples of Ye Laogeng who have not become a family, everyone is diligent and hardworking, and there is not much work to keep Lao Zhang busy.

"Uncle Zhang, is my father here?" Ye Tao asked.

"The master went to the workshop in the morning, but I guess I should be back soon." Lao Zhang said.

"Uncle Zhang, when my father comes back, let him go to the Returning Chao Pavilion, and a few senior brothers will also let them go together. I would like to invite Uncle Dai and the young master of the Du family to talk about something. ”

Lao Zhang said: "Childe still has to go out." What about this horse? ”

Ye Tao said with a smile: "Just walk around a few steps, don't ride a horse, Uncle Zhang bothers you to feed this little guy." ”

Lao Zhang smiled and led the horse away.

Suddenly remembering something, Ye Tao walked back to his yard. Since he became the head of the Ye family, and his status in the family gradually improved among his brothers and sisters, his father let him move to a small two-story building in the small garden. For the previous owner, this small building may just be a place for the family to gather together to enjoy the scenery and chant poetry when the spring is warm. But for the Ye family, who bought this courtyard, it was too extravagant to have an empty building in the small garden. Ye Laogeng and his wife and Ye Tao's senior brothers felt that everyone lived together in a place similar to a courtyard house in front of them, but they needed to be quiet, they needed to consider various problems, and Ye Tao, who needed to quietly carve some precious products, was given special care.

Sophie, the maid, is taking a nap. Although she is a maid, Sophie's habits are quite aristocratic, and she can only fall asleep when she is completely quiet. Or, simply when you're tired and dizzy. To be honest, although she is a maid, there is really not much she needs to do. Ye Tao, who is already a well-known figure in Yicheng, has only a few clothes, and the set of overalls that gets dirty the fastest has always been thrown in the workshop with the workers' clothes, and washed by the first-year apprentices. And the most cluttered room in the house is precisely where Ye Tao strictly forbids anyone to move anything indiscriminately, and it is full of all kinds of patterns and manuscripts full of whimsical ideas, or some models that have been reduced to see the effect. The only work that occupies Sophie's time is the manuscripts that Ye Tao took out from the studio for her to copy, or the drawings that she asked her to trace and arrange. For the rest, it may be just a matter of waiting.

Sophie, who was 13 years old at the time, looked at Ye Tao, who was one year younger than herself, and lightly instructed the girls, who were completely unsure of their future fate and couldn't grasp it, to choose the life they wanted. Maybe it's not an easy life, and they need to worry about their food, clothing, shelter and transportation. Maybe it's just that they themselves think that if these girls don't have any skills to support themselves, Ye Tao will at least ensure that they can live with peace of mind. However, when they were in a guarantee of "don't worry, you can think slowly, just let people tell me when you think about it", when they were learning to read, write and speak Chinese, they saw Ye's business expansion that was not very profitable, but full of whimsical ideas, saw those exquisite and delicate things, and saw the path pointed out by Ye Tao for every apprentice, every student and even everyone who served Ye in IKEA and Yizhan Building, and they were moved. Is this a better life than serving a man with one's own body? Perhaps, it's a little different from the indoctrination that these dancers who have been destined for life from the beginning of their selection.

Sophie wasn't called Sophie at the time, her name was Flmel. When some of the dancers who were given to Ye Tao joined the shop as clerks, some chose to continue learning trades such as bookkeeping and embroidery, and the youngest Kassandra was actually accepted by Yip's workshop as a special apprentice, Flmel didn't know what her path was. She didn't know if the noble blood she had boasted about by the traffickers when she was sold to Muhammad was true, and the years of tossing and traveling had completely washed away her childhood memories. If you can't become a nobleman, then become the other side, at that time, Sophie thought so, so she tried to ask Ye Tao, who was one year younger than her: "I want to serve you." May I? ”

She still remembers the way Ye Tao looked at her at that time. At first, it was a little strange and a little surprised. When Ye Tao's eyes stayed on him for a while, what appeared in his eyes was as if he had discovered something, calculated something, and looked forward to something, and later, what was poured into his face and body was almost some kind of fanatical look. Flmel was a little worried, was the decision she made the right one? Then, she heard 12-year-old Ye Tao say to herself, "Okay then." In the future, can I call you Sophie? ”

From that moment on, Flmel became Sophie. She thought that her life would be monotonous, like that of every ordinary, lowly servant. However, it didn't take long for her to discover that she had more to learn than the dancers who chose to learn certain skills. Ye Tao taught her to look at those magical three views, taught her to recognize and draw various marks, taught her to use those exquisite drawing tools, made and copied those drawings, and sometimes, even let her into the room where anyone who rushed into it would make him very angry, and assisted him in sorting out the drawings and materials. Sophie felt as if she wasn't a maid. Sophie, who had wandered around the world, felt that her job should be called a "secretary", and in some countries, it was a great thing to be a secretary for some big people.

She didn't know why she had become such a special maid, not the way she had been told she would be. has lived under the same roof with Ye Tao for two years, maybe it is Ye Tao, this little young master who everyone loves and trusts very much has not grown up yet, and he has not touched her. However, Ye Tao would occasionally look at her face very intently, study every detail very carefully, and sometimes comment on her that she had grown up. Is Ye Tao waiting for her best time? Or is he hoping that she can become a woman who is beautiful enough that he finally can't resist? Sophie didn't know. Sometimes, when Ye Tao praised and ridiculed her, there was some loss in her eyes. Sophie knew that she was not the most beautiful of those dancing girls, not the Vichy who had now become the assistant bookkeeper of the Ye family, the Iberian girl who was enjoying the wonderful feeling of being pursued and hovering on the edge of love. If Ye Tao is really greedy for beauty, then why did he accept her? She has never been able to figure out this question.

Sophie was awakened by the creak of the doorshaft turning, and she opened her confused eyes to see Ye Tao walking in through the door and into the room he called the "Creation Room", where something was being turned around.

Sophie patted her face and immediately got up. Twisting his neck and stretching his hands, legs and shoulders, he walked towards the door of the studio.

"Childe? What are you looking for? Listening to Ye Tao rummaging for a long time and still not finding it, Sophie asked.

"The last time you were asked to sort out the drawings of the curved hall that you repainted...... Oh, you're awake. Ye Tao then replied that Ye Tao had always been unwary of people he knew and was close to.

"The drawing cabinet is full, and you rolled up the drawings and put them in that new toolbox that day." Sophie reminded.

"Found it!" Ye Tao said gratefully, "Thank you, Sophie. ”

"Childe, do you want to go out?" These days, Ye Tao went to buy food at noon every day and then sent it to Chun Nuanju to please the young lady from the capital, and then chatted with the young lady in the afternoon and played chess. She'd heard these things many times. Because she is just a maid, not a candidate who may become Ye Tao's wife in the future, everyone doesn't avoid her when they say these words, they just jokingly remind her. The girl's heart didn't break so easily, but she felt a little uncomfortable.

"Go to Uncle Dai and Du Gongzi...... That's right, Sophie. I'm sorry for you these days. Ye Tao said suddenly.

"What's the matter? Childe commanded it. Sophie replied.

"Please organize and pack all the drawings, manuscripts, and models in this room. Let's pack it according to different categories, and put related things together. Don't miss a piece of paper. If possible, help make an index. Ye Tao said.

"Moving? Is it going to the Spring Warm House? "After following Ye Tao for two years, Sophie still knows Ye Tao very well. For Ye Tao, those clothes and supplies are insignificant, but everything in this studio seems to have an unusual meaning to him. All of Ye Tao's clothes may be filled in one box, but there are all kinds of things in this creation room, and it is estimated that ten boxes may not be able to be filled. When Ye Tao said this, he was obviously preparing to move the space for the creation room.

"It's not...... A little further. Let's go to the capital. It probably won't be long before that. Ye Tao shrugged his shoulders and said.