The word "Hu" opened the memory floodgates in Chunying's mind, and she immediately remembered the scene when she met Hu Gongzi on the night of the Lantern Festival. Later, she met Hu Gongzi several times in succession, and then made a match, and asked him to partner with Nandeng Hongyu and his wife to do a restaurant business, but after entering the mansion on an errand, she never saw him again.

Although it only happened a year ago, Chunying thinks back that it seems to be a lifetime ago. She only vaguely remembered the other party's mustache, but her facial features were a little blurred. At that time, Aunt Feng next door also discussed the Hu family with Lu's mother, and mentioned that their family was an imperial businessman, and the mustache was a concubine, and she was very favored by her father, but she didn't deal with her mother and brother. Now that his father is dead, what will happen to him?

Nandeng Hongyu and his wife have left the capital, when they first opened a snack shop, although they made some money, the part given to the mustache was no more than one hundred and eighty taels, which was already a huge amount of money for ordinary people, but for the family of the imperial merchants, it was really nothing. If the mustache is ostracized by his mother and brother, he doesn't know how to live.

Chunying watched the funeral pair Wu Hao pass in front of him, and he couldn't see the figure of the mustache no matter how he looked for it, and couldn't help sighing. Who knew that the shopkeeper Shi also sighed beside him: "The Hu family has just gotten rid of the catastrophe, and it has become so public, what is Young Master Hu thinking?" No matter how filial you are to your deceased father, you don't need such a big show, right? From his house to Funing Street, there are still two or three miles away! It's just a matter of going straight out of the city, what do you do around and show off? He is not afraid that the government will come to his door......"

Chunying hurriedly asked, "What's the big problem for their family?" ”

The shopkeeper looked left and right, approached her and whispered: "Isn't it just an errand to buy goods for the palace, his family has a very profitable business, others are red-eyed, and they want to rob his family when Old Man Hu is sick, and the young master Hu doesn't know how much money he spent, and how many people he asked to keep the name of this imperial businessman, otherwise even if Old Man Hu dies of illness, he will be angry and come back to life!" It's just that his family's vitality has been greatly damaged, and Hu Dashao is still wantonly handling the old man's funeral, and he doesn't know how to save! ”

Chunying thought for a while, lowered her voice and asked, "I heard that the Hu family still has a second young master, isn't it?" ”

"Yes, yes, I've seen it, and I often follow the master. The son went out, but unfortunately it was useless, but he was just a half-grown child. The shopkeeper seemed to see an acquaintance across the street, waved his hand, dropped the sentence "I'll come when I go", and ran over to talk to a businessman who also opened a shop on Funing Street.

Chun Ying looked at the crowd of funeral people from afar. Go, I can't help but worry about the mustache, but when I think about it, what kind of heart is she? She can't even take care of herself now! She hurriedly packed up her mood, went back to the backyard to pick up the vegetable basket and the money bag for grocery shopping, and went to the street to buy groceries.

There was nothing to do for a day, but the stone shopkeeper went out at night to make an appointment to eat and drink, but he ate one. The friend who invited the guest hired a little boy to help him back, and Aunt Cheng scolded her younger brother while asking Chunying to reward the boy with thirty dollars, and then instructed the two sons to help the younger brother back to the room.

The shopkeeper was full of wine, and he still shouted indistinctly: "Okay. Buy, sell! Enough friends! Drink...... One more altar! At the same time, struggling to drill into the kitchen, Cheng Suluo and Cheng Suyi were almost taken to the ground by him, Cheng Aunt was so angry that she grabbed his collar, dragged him to the side of the bed and pushed it, and then pulled her son back to the room: "Let's wash and wash, don't pay attention to him, it stinks to death!" Koharu, go cook hangover soup! ”

Chun Ying answered, pinched her nose and went to the kitchen. Aunt Cheng doesn't care, she will do it. Crisply cooked the hangover soup, drank it from the hard stone shopkeeper, wiped his face indiscriminately, took off his shoes and hat for him, untied the wear on his waist, pulled his feet back to the bed, pulled the sheet over and covered it, so as not to catch a cold in the middle of the night, and then blew the lamp and went out.

Stone shopkeeper and clothes. I slept all night, but I didn't catch a cold, but I had a hangover, and the next morning I slept like a dead pig, and I couldn't wake up no matter how I screamed. Seeing this, Aunt Cheng had to let him rest for a day, and the business ahead would be left to the guys to take care of.

Yun Xiangge originally hired two guys, both of whom were old, whether it was greeting guests or buying and selling clothes, they could cope without the stone shopkeeper, but after lunch, there was a troublesome matter.

A man who claimed to be the man of the silk merchant who had invited the shopkeeper to eat and drink yesterday came to the door with several carts of clothes, saying that the shopkeeper had told them yesterday that he had bought these fine materials for three hundred taels and traded them in cash. When the two guys heard that the amount was so high, they didn't dare to make a claim, so they had to report to Aunt Cheng.

Aunt Cheng listened to the offer, then frowned, and glared at the guy outside the door: "Such a big business, what are you in a hurry?!" It's a big deal to tell him to go back and wait until my brother wakes up! ”

The guy wiped his sweat and said, "Auntie, you can't delay, the man said that their shopkeeper was in a hurry to get rid of the goods so that he could take the silver back to his hometown, so he sold it so cheaply." If we are too late, he will go to another house. ”

"Love to sell or not to sell! He's not the only one selling materials. Aunt Cheng rolled her eyes and casually embroidered the work in her hand.

"That's not what I said." The guy quietly wiped his sweat again, "Their price is discounted by seven, which is much cheaper than others." Besides, now that the weather is so hot, the materials for making summer clothes in the store are almost sold out, and if we don't buy them, we won't be able to do business. Recently, there are several large shops that control the supply, and the shopkeeper has prepared the silver, and there is nowhere to buy it......"

"Come on!" Aunt Cheng's face was full of impatience, she picked up a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on her forehead, and called Chunying, "You go, bring a few horses of material in and show me a look, just say I want to inspect the goods!" The man was overjoyed to hear this.

Chun Ying answered, and followed the guy out of the store, and saw the man sitting on the chair opposite the counter, with Erlang's legs crossed, humming a little song in his mouth, and a pair of small eyes were rolling slightly. She first added displeasure in her heart, but her face was not shown at all, and she walked up to her and blessed her, and said, "This lord, our aunt wants to inspect the goods, I wonder if you can take a few horses and show us a few horses?" ”

The man glanced at her: "It's all agreed, what are you procrastinating?" If you can't believe it, say it as soon as possible, let's go to another house! Add one percent of the price, and you can get rid of it smoothly! ”

The guy at the counter raised his eyes and looked at Chunying, and Chunying smiled: "Look at what you said, friends belong to friends, business belongs to business, it is precisely because they are acquaintances that they have to understand it, what will happen in the future, it will not be unclear, so that it will ruin the friendship of friends?" ”

The guy also smiled and persuaded him: "It's just a formality, you see, it's inconvenient for our shopkeeper, such a large amount of silver, you always have to nod your mother." She didn't recognize the noble number, so she was careful. ”

The man thought that this lady was just an ignorant woman, so he answered, waved his hand and asked his attendant to take Chunying to the car to get the materials. Chunying kept an eye on it, and randomly selected a few horses for each car, with two or three horses for different materials, and moved more than a dozen horses back to the backyard before and after.

Aunt Cheng had already set up a table of eight immortals in the courtyard and waited, she asked Chunying to put the materials on the table, touched each horse, pulled out a little and looked at the light a few times, then pointed to one of the cotton cloth and said: "Forget about the others, this is okay, the standard cloth of Yicheng is also considered to be of the highest grade, but I seem to hear that he reported another name?" The guy who came with him said: "He said that it was the standard cloth of Sanlintang, and the price of one dollar and two cents per horse was opened!" Aunt Cheng sneered: "He is a fool for us? Can't you tell if it's good or not?! Sanlintang? He really has the standard cloth of Sanlintang, and he doesn't have to sell it at a discount! ”

Chunying leaned over and touched the pieces of cloth, only to feel that they were all fine and soft, obviously high-grade cotton cloth, it didn't look any different, how could Aunt Cheng tell where it was produced?

Aunt Cheng picked up another red tulle and asked the guy, "What did he call this?" The guy replied to the booklet in his hand: "It is said that it is Xia Ying Sha, and the big families also use this as Soft Yanluo, which was originally prepared for a young lady of an official family as a dowry, but somehow canceled the family affair." This sells for five taels of silver a horse! I heard that all the ladies love to use this as clothes in summer, and with the lining, it is the most soft and cool. ”

Aunt Cheng sneered again: "I think he saw that Yun Xiangge has a small façade, thinking that we have never seen the world." Ladies don't make clothes out of the shadow veil! Besides, this is not a shadow yarn, it seems to be called rouge, but it is just an ordinary yarn material, you go and tell him, five coins of silver, we will ask for it all! ”

The guy was confused: "Didn't you say it was a fake?" Why do you want to be a big lady? ”

Chunying understood: "Cheap goods can also be sold, and there are many girls from small families on Funing Street." ”

Aunt Cheng glanced at Chunying with satisfaction, and continued to pick. In the remaining few pieces of cloth, there is a kind of Jintan Ge cloth that is genuine, but the quality is not too good, and there are a few fine silks that are no problem. She was not at ease, so she asked Chunying to go out and get a few more horses, and found a bunch of faults, and finally bargained to eighty-seven taels, which was not even one-third of the original.

The man quit, shouting to pull the goods away and sell them, but he didn't move his footsteps, the guy saw clearly, so he held those samples in front of him, and said: "This lord, this is not how to buy and sell, we are clumsy, we can't see the good of these materials, if you really want to pull away, please do it yourself, see who else is willing to bid?" Just be careful, don't ask someone to take a broom out. ”

The man blushed suddenly, snorted a few times, and finally nodded, but only said that he raised the price to ninety taels, and then quickly took the money and left.

Aunt Cheng heard it clearly through the window, and while fanning the fan, she said proudly: "You want to lie to me?!" My aunt has walked more bridges than you have walked! Only fools will be fooled! ”

When the two guys heard this, they were a little embarrassed, and they hurriedly lowered their heads and busily put the materials into the warehouse. Chunying hesitated for a while before she mustered up the courage to say to Aunt Cheng: "Auntie, you are so good, those materials look similar, how did you recognize them?" At best, I can only tell which is cloth, which is silk, and which is leno. ”

Aunt Cheng glanced at her contemptuously: "Of course, what have you seen?" Think you've been on an errand in a big family, but you've seen the world? Save while it's too early! There's still so much to learn! ”

Chun Ying smiled and found a fan to fan her, and flattered: "Of course, compared to my eldest mother, one is really in the ground and the other is in the sky." The eldest lady is the best, I wonder if you can teach me? Anyway, I'm also helping my aunt now, in case I'm too stupid and mistaken my aunt's business, wouldn't it be terrible? Let people know, and laugh at the eldest lady. She felt sick to her stomach, and she forced herself to squeeze out the most flattering laugh.

Aunt Cheng casually dusted off the non-existent dust on her sleeves, walked up the stairs slowly, and said lightly: "You don't need to provoke me, you are not my girl, why should others laugh at me?" As for whether to teach you or not, it depends on my mood. ”

Chunying gritted her teeth secretly, but she still maintained a smile on her face, and flatteringly fanned all the way back to the room.

Although Aunt Cheng seemed to be a little unreasonable on the surface, she really taught Chunying a lot of things when she was in a good mood. At this time, Chunying knew that different materials, different origins, or different weaving methods, will have different characteristics, some are softer, some are harder, some are suitable for pulp washing, some must be gently rubbed by hand, some can be pancreas, some can not be ironed and can only be dried naturally, some are suitable for underwear, some are more suitable for outer skirts, some can only be made of shoes and socks, some can not be made of clothes, some can be embroidered, and some must be careful even the seams......

In addition, people of what status can wear what materials, what classes of people can wear what colors, including clothes worn in various seasons and festivals, are all particular. Although it is not stricter now than before, it will be very troublesome for the government to really pursue it.

Chunying had only been roughly exposed to these "common sense" in terms of fabrics in the past, but now she has learned it systematically and completely, and her vision is suddenly different, and she has a little more understanding of the embroidery work that Cheng Damiang usually does, and she can guess the identity of the customer from those patterns and clothes materials.

Aunt Cheng looked at Chunying's changes, she didn't say anything, but she was still in a good mood, and when she saw that the work in her hand was almost done, she beckoned Chunying: "Ming'er, I'm going home, you come and help." ”

Chunying knew that it meant to help with cleaning, and she was used to doing it anyway, so she agreed. After finishing the housework the next day, she followed behind Aunt Cheng and walked to the end of Funing Street, and on the way, she also saw Sister-in-law Jia and her eldest daughter selling tofu brains. Aunt Cheng frowned, and walked over without saying anything.

Just walked to the front of the courtyard of the Cheng family, Aunt Cheng casually searched for the key, Leng might as well hear a roar from the opposite yard, startled, and hurriedly called Chunying: "Go and see, what's wrong?!" ”

Chunying was also frightened, and saw that the surrounding houses opened the doors to see what was wrong, so she boldly walked over, and suddenly the door opened, and a man in his forties and fifties ran out, almost knocking her down, and staggered away. Chunying hurriedly walked in the door to look, only to see a man in the house throwing himself on the side of the bed and crying: "Mother! Mother ......" There was also a young man next to him crying and persuading the man.

The young man seemed to be a little familiar, Chunying's eyes widened, wasn't that the Hu family's little maid Mohan?! Look at the crying man again, his body is like a mustache!

Chun Ying couldn't help but shout: "But Hu Gongzi?!" ”

The mustache didn't look back, still crying sadly, but Mo Han recognized her: "Why are you ...... Over here? ”

Chunying walked to the door and saw the woman on the bed with her eyes closed, but her expression was very peaceful, she guessed what was going on, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.

It's just that...... How could a mustache live in such a place?。.。