Some time ago, Yue Shujie's youngest daughter, Yue Chan, married a county magistrate in Qingdu County, who was more than 20 years older than him, as a third concubine. That Yue Chansheng was beautiful and had a foxy atmosphere, and within two days, he fascinated a county and obeyed Yue Chan's words.

The county is the second-in-command in the county, and his status is very lofty. Speaking of which, the county Cheng also has some ability, not only as a tolerance in the county government, but also in Qingdu County to run a large silk and cotton business. There are two or three hundred taels of silver in the running water alone every day.

This Yue Chan is still a woman who cares about her family very much, so she softly begged her mother's family, Yue's family, to do business with the county.

The county naturally couldn't resist this little fox, so he immediately agreed. In this way, the Yue family, with the help of the county Cheng, started their first business, reselling lint. They collected lint at a low price from Xinle and Dingzhou in Zhendingfu, brought it back to Qingdu County, and then sold it at a high price from that county.

Today, the three brothers of the Yue family returned from Zhending Mansion for the first time. Rest at home for the night, and it will be transported to the county seat early tomorrow morning. According to the county Cheng, in this way, a full car of lint can earn six or seven taels of silver, and these dozen or so cars of lint will earn a hundred taels at least.

A hundred taels of silver is not a number. At this time, the Ming Dynasty, an ordinary family of five, saved only three or four taels of silver for a year. For a poor household like Zhou Zhijia, the amount spent in a year will not even exceed two taels of silver.

Rao is a big family like the Yue family, and the family's annual expenses will not exceed three hundred taels of silver. Such a simple trip can earn a hundred taels at once, how can you not make Mrs. Yue's heart happy? So he personally led people to bring firecrackers to greet them. At the same time, it also showed the prestige of his Yue's family, announcing to the villagers that his Yue's family has embarked on the road of business since then.

Merchants were actually not valued much in the early Ming Dynasty, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the status of merchants seemed to have been greatly improved. It turns out that many of the rules and regulations that bind businessmen basically exist in name only.

Zhou Zhi's ears listened to everyone's discussions, learned about the situation, thought a lot, and stopped for a long time before turning around and going home.

Mother-in-law Zhou He and sister Zhou Luyun had already prepared dinner at this time, waiting for Zhou Zhi to come back. Seeing Zhou Zhi coming back with a large cloth bag, Zhou Luyun asked, "Xiaozhi, I borrowed so many books today, it seems that my family Xiaozhi has really made up his mind to take the test for fame!" ”

Zhou Shaocheng, the younger brother on her side, pouted and said, "Sister, how do you know, my brother is not only to make a name for himself, but also to be a good official!" ”

In Zhou Shaocheng's eyes, his brother Zhou Zhi is his idol, so he naturally wants to please Zhou Zhi at this time.

"Giggles, if Xiao Zhi really becomes an official in the future, then the relationship will be good, and my Zhou family will no longer have to live this kind of hard life." Zhou Luyun said with a smile. But those eyes are clearly full of many beautiful yearnings.

Zhou He saw that Zhou Zhiti had brought back so many books, but he was slightly stunned and did not speak. I experienced so many things a few days ago, and Zhou Zhi was settled alone, and Zhou Zhi was already a man who knew how to measure, was smart and could do things, and did things in a very orderly way.

Dinner is naturally coarse tea and light rice, but the family sits together, and Zhou Zhi eats very sweet.

It's just that during the meal, Zhou He mentioned his father Zhou Tie, which made the family dull. Speaking of which, the weather is getting colder and colder, and Daddy Zhou Tie has been gone for a month, and he should come back.

After dinner, Zhou Zhi naturally fed the horses with grass. After finishing these tasks early, Zhou Zhi went back to the house to sleep. Naturally, you can't read at night, the lamp oil is too expensive, Zhou Zhi has made a plan to get up early tomorrow to read.

Dawn was up, and Zhou Zhi first read "Mencius".

The full text of "Mencius" is less than 40,000 words, and Zhou Zhi read 3,000 words in one go. Then he closed the book and began to recite it silently, and he was able to recite all of them. If there is a place that is not smooth on the back, open the book in time and take a second look. In such a morning, I can memorize all three thousand words.

Zhou Zhi found more and more that his memory ability was gradually improving, and he used to have to read it at least twice before he started to memorize, but now it was only once. Especially in the morning, the mind is very clear, and after reading the book, the words on the book seem to be imprinted in the mind. Zhou Zhi couldn't help but be pleased.

In the later life, although his memory was really good, it was not as good as it is now. Could it be that he actually has a talent for ancient literature, and he chose the wrong major when he was studying in college in later generations? Zhou Zhidu began to doubt himself.

You have to have a plan to read a book, and you need to recite 3,000 words this morning and another 3,000 words in the afternoon.

Zhou Zhi made a rough calculation, just read it at this speed, and memorized all the four books and five classics in February next year. Moreover, with the enhancement of his memory ability, he will increase the amount of reading in the future according to the situation.

After reading the book and practicing writing for a while, Zhou Zhi feeds the horses and goes to the field.

Every day was like this, and it was the middle of November.

Speaking of which, although the weather is getting colder these days, it is not as cold as in previous years. Many families don't even need to burn a kang to sleep at night, and some of the able-bodied people don't even wear winter clothes.

Zhou Zhi knows that in fact, the coldest time in history of the Xiaoice River should be the end of the Ming Dynasty, but from now on, the climate should be colder and colder every year.

It was the twelfth day of November, and it was suddenly very cold, and before I knew it, it was snowing. At noon, there is still sporadic snow sand, and in the afternoon it slowly turns into goose feather snow. Zhou Zhi told his sister Zhou Luyun to remember to burn the kang and feed the horses at night. Then he put on his winter coat, put on his futon, took a book by the way, and walked out into the field.

Now the vegetables in the greenhouse are growing very well, and in a few days you can cut a crop of leeks and sell them in the town. It's suddenly so cold today, and the greenhouse has to burn the clay kang.

When I got to the field, I gently lifted the straw curtain and entered the greenhouse, fortunately, although the temperature in the shed was a little low, it was not so bad as to freeze the vegetables. Zhou Zhi put the bedding away and began to fetch firewood to burn the kang.

Later generations heard that their grandfather once talked about the skills of burning the kang, and Zhou Zhi followed what the grandfather said in later generations, and lit firewood at every stove behind the greenhouse. Then go back to the shed and feel the temperature in the shed.

The temperature in the shed should be kept constant, and it should not be too cold or too hot, so Zhou Zhi had to add firewood every once in a while. This kind of work must be persevered, but fortunately, he has already prepared a lot of firewood in advance, which is enough to be enough.

At night, Zhou Zhi naturally has to sleep in the greenhouse. These days, you basically can't go home, and at this time it's the critical period of vegetable growth, and you can't be negligent.

Sister Zhou Luyun brought dinner early, and when she saw Zhou Zhi squatting in the shed reading, she couldn't help laughing, "My family is really amazing, I want to read when I have time, my sister really hopes that you can read a famous hall!"

Xiaozhi, my mother said, you are alone in this greenhouse after all, after all, let me help during the day. ”

Zhou He's came to the vegetable greenhouse once under Zhou Luyun's constant prodding. Seeing that Zhou Zhi actually planted green vegetables, and the structure of the vegetable greenhouse was very novel and reasonable, it seemed that Zhou Zhi could really ensure that the vegetables would not be frozen to death, so he simply began to support Zhou Zhi.

In fact, taking care of such a thing as a vegetable greenhouse really needs a helper, since my sister said it, Zhou Zhi readily agreed, and taught my sister in detail the skills of burning the kang and feeling the temperature change in the shed.

In fact, it is a very simple thing, Zhou Luyun is a smart woman, and Zhou Zhi understands as soon as she says it.

Tomorrow Zhou Luyun will come to the greenhouse to help, Zhou Zhi ate dinner, then reclined on the futon, his mind was like a movie, silently reciting the book he read this morning, feeling the temperature in the shed, and after a while, he went to the stove outside to add firewood.

In the middle of the night, the heavy snow outside finally stopped.

Zhou Zhizheng squinted his eyes slightly, closed his eyes and recuperated, and suddenly heard the sound of "creaking" and stepping on snow outside the shed. The voice was gibberish, and it was clearly not a person. Zhou Zhi was startled, Gollum sat up, picked up the axe used to chop wood next to him, and said secretly, this midnight three watches, could it be that someone came to the greenhouse to make trouble?