Ma is not optimistic about the eldest sister's plan.

Zhou Ma's idea has many flaws, and it is easy to find out the truth, and she will be a traitor to the Zhou family's third room at that time.

But even so, Mrs. Ma and Zhou Shigong's father and son are just scolding. Zhou Mashi has been scolded over the years, and the problem is not big.

This matter is that Mrs. Ma and Zhou Shigong and Zhou Jinpu do not take care of it. It is unreasonable to snatch the daughter-in-law's dowry, and it is even more unreasonable to hide the corner of the border army from the whole clan. Even if the Zhou Ma clan makes trouble in the clan, it will not be her who will be blamed. If she goes to make trouble now, the Zhou clan will appease her instead. It's just that she still has illusions about her husband in her heart, and she doesn't want to see his disappointed expression, so she will use this sneaky way to sabotage the plan to build a workshop in three rooms.

The third room of the Zhou family had no face to punish or abandon Zhou Ma on the grounds of this incident, and the Ma family was tossed by the eldest sister. If something really happens, the eldest brother and sister-in-law are afraid of the power of the Zhou family and dare not protect the eldest sister, she will also come forward as her maiden sister to seek justice for the eldest sister.

Ma changed the subject.

She put a small box prepared in advance in front of Zhou Ma's: "Take it." I don't know how much money you and your eldest brother spent to rebuild the study in front of you, but if you want to come here, there will be only a lot more, and if you have more, you will be given pocket money. ”

Zhou Mashi opened the box and saw that there were two neat rows of small gold ingots, which were very cute, and he immediately smiled: "Enough is enough, it's just an old gold collar at the bottom of the box, and when it was more than a hundred taels of silver, it only took a hundred." Now that the price of gold is expensive, it is worth two hundred taels to say the least. Sister, thank you for your kindness. ”

She carefully closed the small box, tied it tightly with the handkerchief, as if she was afraid that the little gold ingot would fall out, and very solemnly stuffed it into her clothes and hid it close to her body, looking like a treasure.

Seeing this, Ma remembered that when the eldest sister was still at home, in order to dress decently when looking at each other, he spent two or three hundred taels of silver to make new clothes and new jewelry, without blinking his eyelids.

The eldest sister is obviously married! She now has children, daughters, and orders, and even grandchildren!

Ma Shi sighed and asked in a low voice, "Is it really so difficult for you in the Zhou family?" Since money is tight, why bother to pay this money in the first place? With such a big house and a few fewer rooms, our family can still live in it! ”

Zhou Mashi laughed dryly: "The forehead is not as poor as you think, just let people know that there is silver in the forehead, and someone will calculate it, so it is better to pretend to be poor, save worry and effort." Your house is really not good-looking when it burned down at the beginning, and if you move back and rebuild a new house, your family will not be able to live in stability, so it is better to finish building it early. The total is only three study rooms and two regressions, and it will be built in less than a month, but there is more work to be done with detailed work such as doors, windows and furniture. ”

Speaking of Zhou Ma, he couldn't help but file a complaint, and the complaint was the mother's sister-in-law, Uncle Ma's wife, Jiang: "Picking the door and being mean!" The lion opens his mouth! The person who rented your house at the beginning was a relative of an official, and he was generous, rented it for a few years, and subsidized a lot of money to his sister-in-law. But when the study was on fire, she ran to the door to make trouble regardless of her feelings, and she asked for five hundred taels when she opened her mouth! The people were scared by her, so they stopped renewing the lease, and moved away after giving the money. The sister-in-law accepted the money, but she didn't mention the reconstruction, and she didn't even bother to clean up the ruins after the fire. Those who want to rent a house will not come when they see it. The sister-in-law directly took the money as a bride price, and wanted to hire the only daughter of a big merchant family to be her daughter-in-law for her precious grandson! Actually, it's not like you're trying to get someone's money?! ”

Ma was a little surprised. That's not what Hai Changan said before. However, maybe this child is considerate of her own mother, and it is not good to talk directly about the excessive words and deeds of her mother's family.

Ma skipped the matter and only asked: "Which grandson is the sister-in-law hired as a daughter-in-law?" In the past, she didn't even pay attention to the officials of the seventh or eighth grade, but now she can still look at a merchant girl? ”

"It's not the same time anymore." Zhou Mashi sighed, "You haven't been in Chang'an all these years, and you don't know that the life of the eldest brother and sister-in-law is getting more and more difficult. The eldest brother has been sick for many years, and it costs a lot of money to see the doctor take medicine, and his two sons also have to spend silver to become officials. Many of the properties left by my father were sold and sold, and those who were defeated were defeated, and there was only one Zhuangzi left with two shops. The sister-in-law is afraid of making people laugh, and she has to slap her swollen face and become fat every New Year's Day, spend money to maintain pomp, eat the food of the New Year, and secretly act as something every New Year's Eve. Now let alone marrying a seventh-eight-grade official, even if it is marrying a businessman's family? As long as she can earn a rich dowry and re-prop up the dignity of the Ma family, her sister-in-law is willing to do anything! ”

As for the grandson that Uncle Ma's wife took out to marry the merchant family, although he is not the eldest son and grandson, he is also her heart. Her two sons, the eldest son married an assertive daughter-in-law, the Yue family refused to help the son-in-law, only willing to promote the grandson of the in-law, so angry that she hated the eldest daughter-in-law for not being intimate and filial enough, and refused to pay money to help the eldest son with some officialdom and seek promotion. The second daughter-in-law is that she learned the lesson of the eldest daughter-in-law and specially married a person with a soft personality. It's a pity that this good daughter-in-law, who has a supple temperament and is willing to plan for her husband and son, is not prominent and wealthy enough, and can provide limited help. She can only tell her little grandson a rich daughter-in-law, so that she can scrape together enough money to help her second son rise to the official position, and then give her little grandson a good job in the army.

Zhou Mashi is not very optimistic about his sister-in-law's calculations: "When our eldest nephew Lu Yuan married his son to a daughter-in-law, he listened to his father-in-law's words and appointed a daughter of a teaching family, and the dowry was simpler, but the daughter-in-law knew books and etiquette, was sensible, and could be a family." The sister-in-law thinks that this eldest granddaughter-in-law is too poor, and she has to marry a rich one, and she is bent on making a fortune. But the girl she fancied was not a fuel-efficient lamp! I've heard the rumors of that family for a long time, and people may not be able to look down on her grandson! ”

Ma asked, "Which one?" Recognizable? ”

Zhou Ma shook his head: "The merchants who came to Chang'an a few years ago, where do you recognize them?" I heard that it was from Shuzhong, and the couple only had a daughter under their knees, and they raised so big as a baby. The girl is born with a peugeot, that is, she acts frivolously, always likes to go out and wander around, and makes new clothes with jewelry at both ends in three days, which does not seem to be able to pass the days. There are many offspring in the city who want to marry her, but there are few families who come to the door to propose marriage. The sister-in-law was dizzy, and she didn't want to think about the current situation of the Ma family, where could such a girl who could spend money be able to see it? ! ”

Ma heard that his sister-in-law had not been able to say this for his grandson, so he didn't ask more. If someone else's family has money, she can spend her love as she wants, so what does it have to do with her?

She was only worried about her brother's illness: "What is the illness of the eldest brother?" Listening to the tone of the eldest sister, have you been sick for many years? ”

"Actually, it's an old trouble left over from the army that year." When Zhou Ma talked about this, he couldn't help but show a little shame on his face.

She married into the Zhou family, thinking that she could help her mother's brother, but she didn't expect her husband Zhou Shigong to nod her head when she opened her mouth several times. When the old marshal of the Zhou family was going to take a group of young generals to the battlefield and fight with the Hu people, the border army needed to gather a group of civilian officials to accompany the army and be responsible for the allocation of money, food and materials, so Zhou Shigong ordered her brother.

Although the elder brother did not encounter any danger in that battle and was successfully promoted afterwards, he fell ill because of the march in the bitter cold weather. When I was young, the older I get, the worse my condition gets worse every year. On weekdays, he only needs to walk on crutches, but when it rains and snows, he is so sick that he can't get out of bed in the cold winter season.

Dragged down by his illness, his brother's performance in office was mediocre and it was difficult to be promoted, but he didn't dare to speak lightly, for fear that after he retired, his two mediocre sons would not be able to support the family. But he has not been able to recuperate, and his illness will only get worse and worse, and it will drag on until this winter, and finally he can't hold on, and he must make up his mind.

(End of chapter)