The Great Zhou Dynasty emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, and the status of merchants was extremely low. The Zhu family has been cultivating and reading heirlooms for a hundred years, but in fact, the business is very large, and they are involved in all walks of life, and with a lot of silver, there are naturally many connections in the court.

The Zhu family's ethnology is to learn business.

The clan conference is to gather the outstanding children of the Zhu family in the ancestral hall every year to conduct an open and fair examination in front of the clan.

The patriarch will select the top few excellent ones, give them the industry, let these Zhu family children run it, and after a year, according to the results of the operation, they will decide whether they can be reused by the family, and the excellent family will be cultivated, and the incompetent family will give it up.

Zhu Youning is a girl, so naturally she can't get into ethnology, but her brother who died before she went to ethnology, and he will tell her some things about ethnology, but this memory is not profound.

Zhu Youning was thinking in his heart, when he suddenly heard the polite greetings of the neighbors in the yard:

"Hey, isn't this Mother Wang, why are you free today? Come inside and have a cup of tea. ”

"Yes, Mother Wang, please take a seat."

Then a woman's slightly serious voice said, "Don't bother. The old lady told me to pick up Miss Nine, where does Miss Nine live? ”

"Here, please go here."

Zhu Youning pushed open the door of the house, and saw Mrs. Li's eldest daughter-in-law and Zhu Laosan's family leading a fifty-year-old woman wearing a dark green satin jacket and a round bun with a silver hairpin obliquely inserted into it.

"Mother Wang." Zhu Youning smiled slightly.

Mother Wang's expression was a little arrogant when she looked at Zhu Youning, but because of her identity as a young lady, she also took a few thoughtful courtesies, and said with a smile: "Is Miss Nine still used to living outside?" ”

Zhu Youning didn't like to look up at people and talk, so he went into the house and sat down, and pointed to the only pestle in the house and said, "Mom, sit down and talk." ”

After Wang's mother sat down and the two looked at each other, Zhu Youning said: "There is nothing unaccustomed to following my father and mother." ”

Mother Wang smacked her lips, her eyes turned around the dimly lit room, and the disdain in her eyes deepened.

"Yes, you're used to it, since the big man had that incident, you also came out with the big lady for almost a year, right? Don't you miss the old lady too? Why don't you go back and take a look? The tone is three parts joke and seven points resentful.

Zhu Youning secretly thought that this old lady was also interesting, she really missed her granddaughter, and she hadn't seen her make any moves in the past year, let alone seen her care about their family of three, the old lady had come to see her before, so she arranged for someone to come, but she had to beat a seven-year-old girl for not going back to see her.

Zhu Youning just sat quietly and didn't say a word.

Mother Wang knew that Miss Nine had always been honest, and now that she saw her like this, she didn't want to worry about a little doll.

"That's it, today an old lady ordered the slave maid to pick up Miss Nine and go back for lunch. The hour is almost up, so come along. He stood up.

Zhu Youning was a little hesitant.

She was afraid that she would be detained in the house when she returned.

But she also knew that she had no room to refuse, not to mention that if she wanted to live a good life, as long as she was on the boundary of Fuyang County, she would have to deal with the Zhu family, and it was inevitable to meet.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youning nodded and said, "Then let's go." ”

Mother Wang looked at Zhu Youning and asked, "Miss Nine doesn't change her clothes?" ”

Zhu Youning looked down at the half-worn light green cotton jacket on his body, and then at the satin on Wang's mother, and said with a smile: "There is nothing to change." ”

If such a thing is something that is done by a big family next to it, it may feel strange, but under the style of the Zhu family, it is normal for the subordinates with a good face to live better than the master, and Zhu Youning doesn't care.

Zhu Youning was the first to go out, and Wang's mother followed behind her.

When I arrived in the courtyard, I saw the eldest daughter-in-law of Zhu Laosan's family and Mrs. Li coming over, smiling very eagerly.

"Miss Nine is out?"

Zhu Youning nodded and took the lead out of the hospital, and Wang's mother glanced at the two of them and followed behind.

The two hurriedly sent each other off, no matter how arrogant and cold Mother Wang was.

When he got outside, Zhu Youning heard the people inside say:

"Look, the old man is going back."

"yes."

"You also persuade your mother-in-law, if you don't have it, you will be convicted, and the person is the old lady's son-in-law......"

As I walked away, I couldn't hear the words clearly.

After passing through a quiet alley, I came to the main street, and after walking forward for a while, I was the main entrance of the Zhu family's old house.

At this time, the door was closed, and there was a kid kicking the key at the small corner door on the side, and when he saw Wang's mother coming back, he hurriedly came forward to greet him warmly, "Wang's mother brought back a girl?" ”

Wang's mother is in charge of personnel and often buys and sells some girls.

"You monkey cub, this is Miss Nine." Mother Wang took a sip, but she was not angry, so she led Zhu Youning and said, "Miss Nine, come on." ”

Zhu Youning entered the door as usual.

Menzi looked at the backs of Zhu Youning and Wang's mother and stuck out his tongue, "A young lady, she is not as good as a girl!" "I thought about which room Miss Nine belonged to, and it became clear.

The Zhu family occupies a huge area, with five large mansions in depth, each of which is carved with dragons and paintings, revealing a sense of age and the unique elegance of the water town.

The two of them went all the way forward, turned left into an alley after turning through the second Yimen, and then passed the weeping flower gate and entered the inner house.

Zhu Youning compared what he saw along the way with his memory, walked quietly with an expressionless face, and the servants and maids he saw on the road greeted Wang's mother with a smile.

"Did Mother Wang eat lunch?"

"Mother Wang, is this going back to the Evergreen Hall?"

"Mother Wang has worked hard, the girl you said you wanted to buy early this morning, Renyazi has just been delivered, waiting for you to see."

……

With a little arrogance, Mother Wang replied with a smirk, and it took some time to come to the door of the Evergreen Hall where the old lady and the old lady lived.

The two little girls who didn't leave their heads squatted on the steps and fought grass, and when they saw Wang's mother coming back, they all smiled and saluted, and one of them was clever and saw that Zhu Youning was still following on the side, so they ran all the way in to pass the word.

Wang's mother stepped into the threshold first, strode in front of her, walked through the hall, walked through the verandah, came to the door of the main house, lifted the dark blue Fushou pattern curtain and entered the house.

Zhu Youning saw that Wang's mother was in a hurry, and she was not busy chasing, so she just walked slowly.

When I got to the door, I saw the curtain of the door coming from inside, and Wang's mother came out: "Miss Jiu, are you not invited in?" ”

Zhu Youning raised his eyebrows, and immediately entered the door with a well-behaved smile.

A large interstitial screen carved from sour branches and wood, pine and cypress, obscures some of the light. After turning the interstitial screen and going around the Duobao Pavilion, I arrived at the side room with luxurious furnishings.

The brocade carpet of flowers on the ground looked very soft, lining Zhu Youning's half-worn cloth shoes with dust.

Several girls of her age, or older, each dressed in red brocade, stood or sat beside the old lady.

The old lady was born with a slender figure, a well-maintained face with light makeup, and it was impossible to see that she was over fifty years old, with black hair tied in a bun, only wearing a forehead inlaid with sapphires, wearing finch blue silk pleats, and sitting cross-legged on the cloud pattern three-circumference arhat bed.

Zhu Youning lowered his eyes and saluted: "Granddaughter greets grandmother." ”