The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

In fact, Pei Yanxu also wanted to promote the decree from point to surface. The county magistrate and county magistrate of Qingtian County were both willing to do practical things. Although they were constrained by reality, they were indeed the best that County Magistrate Li and County magistrate Liu could do.

"There are quite a few mountain people in Qingtian County. Even if there is valuable land, it would be difficult for a good cook to make a meal without rice. However, the mental state of every household in Qingtian County is still good." Pei Yanxu said.

"Husband, when I went out to the street with the wife of County Magistrate Liu that day, we found that the surrounding counties and towns were still practicing barter, and the copper coins made by the court were almost useless. And there is also Mandarin. Very few people here can speak Mandarin. If we want to develop in the future, we must be able to speak Mandarin. And there are also official schools. The huge Xiyang doesn't even have a single official school." Xia Mianwan said.

Pei Yanxu knew that changing Xiyang would take time. "The road ahead is long, and the burden on my shoulders is too heavy. However, how can we expect them to learn if they can't even get enough food to eat?"

Xia Mianwan nodded and asked, "Then, my husband, do you have a solution?"

"I do have an idea. That day, Magistrate Li and I went to several villages to investigate. We looked at the land and the mountains. This land... is indeed a bit shabby, and the yield per mu is too low. But there are many varieties of Chinese herbal medicines on the mountain, as well as grapes. So I thought that if we harvest a batch of Chinese herbal medicines first and sell them to Chiang Kai-shek, the urgent need for medicinal materials in the military supply department will be solved, and the county can also collect some silver. As for the land in the mountains, I wonder if we can open a winery like we did in Yanzhou and sell the wine to the surrounding areas." Pei Yanxu said.

Xia Mianwan's eyes lit up. Why didn't she think of this? The sunshine here is long and the wild grapes in the mountains are very sweet. The quality of winemaking will be even higher. She has the skills and can teach local farmers how to grow grapes. She will naturally be able to purchase grapes when she opens a winery. If there are people who buy them, there will be people who can grow them.

"My husband is right. I know about the winery." After hearing what Pei Yanxu said, Xia Mianwan set about looking for someone to do the job. She had the recipe for the wine, and Xuan Xue knew how to make it, so now Yu Jie'er had to be asked to help.

Yu Jie'er received Xia Mianwan's instructions that from now on the affairs of the winery would be in charge of Yu Jie'er and Xuan Xue.

Now, the matter of the shop became even more urgent, but she had another way to deal with it.

The next day, Xia Mianwan took Ruzhu and Suying to the workshop to see what goods were available, but the variety of items here was indeed very limited, so they even had to figure out the source of the goods themselves. Doing business was really difficult!

Xia Mianwan felt tired after walking for half a day, so she took Ruzhu and Suying to a restaurant on East Street. The waiter of the restaurant was a discerning man and could tell from the looks in Xia Mianwan, Ruzhu and Suying's eyes that these guests were not ordinary people.

Xia Mianwan wanted to observe more, so she didn't ask for a private room, but only asked for a seat in the lobby.

Xia Mianwan had just sat down when he met Lei Ming, Mr. Cen and several other people he didn't know coming down the stairs together.

"Mrs. Pei." Lei Ming saluted.

Mr. Cen then realized that the person in front of him was the new governor's wife, but... Lei Ming was always as cold and hard as a stinky stone, and he never interacted with those officials, let alone their wives. But now it seems that Lei Ming and Madam Pei know each other.

"Chief Lei." Xia Mianwan returned the greeting with a smile.

After Lei Ming greeted Xia Mianwan, he left with the others. Xia Mianwan didn't expect... that entering a restaurant would bring her an unexpected gain. She had been thinking about how to let others know that Lei Ming and she were friends, but now there was no problem. Lei Ming was very polite to her just now, and although he didn't say anything, it was enough to make them suspicious.

In fact, only when others don't know the cards of others will they dare not act rashly.

Afterwards, Pei Yanxu sent people to investigate the affairs of the Cen family and got some results. There were problems with many of the contract procedures, and there were also some problems with the accounts of the shops they were running.

Pei Yanxu had a tantrum in front of everyone, and no one dared to say a word. Pei Yanxu had a good grasp of the situation, and he left a way for the Cen family so that they would not resort to extreme measures. However, this road was not so easy to take, and they really had to give up a lot of benefits and bleed a lot.

The master of the Cen family was really anxious and angry. There were many people in Xiyang who did the same thing as him. Pei Yanxu couldn't have been unaware of this, but Pei Yanxu didn't touch anyone else and only picked on the Cen family.

Mrs. Cen was called by her father-in-law and mother-in-law to discuss things, and she just felt a headache. When she went to their house, Xia Mianwan avoided her. When she sent a letter, Xia Mianwan also didn't see her. Madam Tong kept saying that she would help her, but when she really asked her to accompany them to their house, she refused to go.

Fortunately, Cen Dalang is back today, so she doesn’t have to worry about it alone.

"Master Pei doesn't know what it means..."

Cen Erlang said, "Dad, you are too polite to them. You have to let them have a taste of our power. Once they are scared, let's see if they dare to take advantage of Qiao again!"

Seeing his brother sitting there nonchalantly, Cen Dalang was so angry that he picked up the teacup in his hand and smashed it at him, "Do you have a brain? If you hadn't offended them, would they target us?"

Cen Erlang had been afraid of his elder brother since he was a child, and now he shrank his neck and dared not speak.

Seeing that his brother was silent, Cen Dalang continued, "I think Lord Pei just wanted to vent his anger on Madam, otherwise he wouldn't have just fined her some silver."

Madam Cen said, "That's what Dalang said, but the total fine is not small. This amount of silver is equivalent to our Cen family's income for half a year."

Cen Dalang thought for a while and said, "Mrs. Pei and Mrs. Liu have a good relationship. I will go and tell County Magistrate Liu to ask her to bring my wife to visit again."

Mrs. Cen really didn't want to go, but since Cen Dalang had spoken, she had no choice but to say nothing.

"Since Madam Pei wants to open a shop, I think she is also a money-loving person. We in the Cen family have money. Dad will prepare some silver for Madam to go and make some arrangements. Madam Cen can choose which shops she wants. If it's just one or two, we will give them to her. If she wants more shops, we will rent them to her at a lower price."

"What if she doesn't want to return the shop to us in the future?" Mrs. Cen said.

Master Cen said unhappily, "You are just too stingy. You don't think that these shops are useless if they are empty. Xiyang is a place where people can't afford to open shops. Now we don't know the depth of others, so we can use these shops to test their depth. If they are greedy for money, there is nothing to be afraid of. The only thing to be afraid of is that they don't want money."

Mr. Cen and Cen Dalang were not completely stupid after all. After receiving the task, Mrs. Cen hurriedly went to find Madam Liu, and Madam Liu also agreed to it. Xia Mianwan had told her before that if someone wanted to use her as a go-between, she could just agree.