The oil bottle of the Red Chamber

Before the members of the Zhao family came, they had planned to restrain Mrs. Zhao's family, just because they didn't want to offend the very popular Chen family, so as to bring disaster to the Zhao family.

It's just that people's hearts are unpredictable, even though the elders of the Zhao family are aware of current affairs, they are inevitably resentful when they are forced to come here, but because of the power of the Chen family, they dare not say it out loud.After listening to Chen Gui's promise at this moment, the elders of the Zhao family immediately forgot the humiliation they had been forced to do before. They were relieved, afraid that Chen Gui would change his mind again, and hurriedly begged the young servant to come to him in front of Chen Gui. The backyard sent a message to the women in his family, instructing them how to deal with the conversation.Seeing this scene, Chen Gui knew that everyone in the Zhao family was convinced.He didn't say anything more at the moment, and led everyone back to the banquet to eat wine.

This description was really cumbersome, but it was just a cup of tea, and everyone in the Zhao family changed their attitudes under the pressure of Chen Gui's words.Seeing this, Xu Zichuan, who knew a little about the inside story, couldn't help admiring Chen Gui. Although he was not as good as him in book learning, he was not as good as Chen Gui in terms of human empathy.

Not to mention the mixed feelings in Xu Zichuan's heart at the moment.Speaking of the back residence of the Chen family, Mrs. Zhao was really upset because the old sister-in-laws in the family showed their obstructive attitude.It was only because of Mrs. Chen's tough words just now, Mrs. Zhao was afraid that she would give up the banquet and pretend to be sick in a moment of embarrassment, but she dared not bring up the matter of taking the two sisters home. Seeing that Mrs. Chen had suppressed Mrs. Zhao's desire No more arrogance, and no more mention of the banquet.After the plays ordered on the stage have been sung, the banquet is withdrawn and another meal is served.Smile and invite all guests to sit down.

Seeing this, all the female guests in the hall tacitly turned a blind eye to Mrs. Zhao's family.Immediately, they toasted and staggered, talked and laughed at Yan Yan, and toasted the old birthday star without going into details.

Xinran finished his meal and had tea again.Seeing that it was getting late, everyone said goodbye.Mrs. Chen ordered Mrs. Feng to take her daughter-in-law and others straight out of the gate of the ceremony. Seeing that the vehicles from all the prefectures had disappeared, she turned around.

Chen's mother and daughter came out of the room after all the guests were gone, and went to the main room to kowtow to the old lady again.Because it was the old lady's birthday, the Chen mother and daughter specially changed into plain and auspicious clothes.Old Mrs. Chen saw her daughter and two granddaughters dressed up in bright clothes and looking very gratifying, she couldn't help smiling from ear to ear.Thinking of the ghostly thoughts of the old lady Zhao at the banquet, he sneered even more.Make up your mind that you will never let that old lady Zhao succeed.

Although Mrs. Chen is in the back house, she is very well informed.I also know that Mrs. Zhao brought Zhao Lin's family over to make trouble.Immediately sneered and said: "It's an old bastard with a fat heart. It's only been a few days, and I forgot how great my aunt is. I'm the kind of dough waiting to be manipulated? If today isn't Mom's birthday, I have the ability to scold them bloody first, and then tell the boys to beat them out with sticks. I also want them to know how many eyes Prince Ma has!"

Seeing this, Mrs. Feng quickly smiled and said, "You are too willing to get angry. This is such a big deal, why bother to yell at you like this. Besides, you always behave like this in front of the children at home, so you are not afraid of the elder sister and the second daughter. When my sister grows up in the future, she will also learn such an embarrassing accent, how can she make it?"

After finishing speaking, he smiled and said to Chen Wan: "Today is the old lady's birthday, and you are tired too. Take your younger sisters to rest in the back."

He also ordered Chen Rong to go back to his room to rest, "I have to go to school tomorrow!"

Old Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen remembered this, and hurriedly persuaded Chen Rong and his sisters to go back to bed.

When Chen Rong and the others saw this, they had no choice but to get up and leave.

Waiting for all the sons and daughters to file out, Chen Gui looked at his sister still looking aggrieved, and said with a smile: "This has nothing to do with you. If Mrs. Zhao is serious about her death, there are still parents, your brother and me." , why do you need to go to battle in person? You just stay at home and put on this virtuous appearance, don't scare your good husband away. "

Chen Gui only cared about teasing the girl, but forgot that Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen didn't know about the red thread in his case.Hearing this, Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen pressed for questions.Chen Gui thought to himself that the matter was almost inseparable, and he no longer concealed it, and hurriedly opened his mouth to tell the old couple the truth.At the end, he still smiled and asked: "Your Master and the elders have also met, how do you think my Baoshan is doing?"

After listening to Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen, they couldn't help but think of Mrs. You's mother and son at the birthday banquet. Mrs. Chen thought of Mrs. You's frivolous behavior on the Shangyuan Festival, and felt that this person only cared about beauty, and his character might be a bit uneven. Therefore noncommittal.On the contrary, Mrs. Chen liked You Ziyu's personality.What's more, You Ziyu was still Chen Gui's top peak back then, and he often supported Chen Gui on weekdays.Now if the two families do another marriage, wouldn't it be a perfect match?Not only does the daughter have lifelong support, but the son also has help in his official career.

It's really the best of both worlds.

Thinking of this, Mrs. Chen felt happy.He repeatedly asked what the You family meant and when they would propose marriage.Chen Gui will then discuss with Mr. You, and wait for Chen to live up to his ex-husband's filial piety.After hearing this, Mrs. Chen was silent for a while, and said with a smile: "This is also a secular gift, and it should be kept. It's just hard for our sister Hui, who has been married to the Zhao family for many years, and hasn't reaped any benefits. She deserves the punishment." But much the same."

After hearing this, Mrs. Chen hurriedly laughed and said, "Why is there no benefit? The birth of the eldest sister and the second sister is the greatest benefit that the Zhao family has given. Just for this, I will rest assured to guard his death for three years." laugh."

After hearing this, everyone in the Chen family also felt that the second sister was their little lucky star.Immediately also laughed.

Due to the busy schedule of the birthday banquet during the day, everyone in the Chen residence was already exhausted, everyone was exhausted, after a few words, they dispersed and went back to their rooms to resettle.There was nothing to say all night.

Looking ahead is the Mid-Autumn Festival in August. Because Chen Gui has already been promoted to the sixth-rank principal, Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Feng, as Chen Gui's aunt and wife, have also been promoted to the sixth-rank imperial order, and they are named Anren.

According to the imperial decree, officials of the sixth rank and above in the imperial court can enter the imperial court and stand on duty.Officials of the sixth rank and above and their family members are also eligible to enter the palace to congratulate them.

It was the fifth drum of the day, and Chen Gui, under the service of the servants at home, put on the court dress and crown. Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Feng also put on a full set of deacons and entered the palace to congratulate.

When he came back with a banquet, he led all his sons and nephews to open the ancestral hall to celebrate the new moon.After the ceremony, everyone returned to the upper room, Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Feng glanced at each other and talked about the majesty and solemnity of giving banquets in the palace. After hearing this, everyone just took it as news and became more and more excited.While talking and joking, suddenly something happened and people came back and forth, "Someone from Mr. Zhao's house, the commander of the Jinyi Army, came to see the master".Hearing this, Chen Gui felt puzzled, wondering why Mr. Zhao sent someone to speak at the mansion during the New Year's Eve.At the moment, he didn't dare to be negligent. On the one hand, he invited people to the hall for tea, and on the other hand, he came out to meet him in full clothes.

Everyone in the Chen family didn't know why, they looked at each other unconsciously, in a daze.

After about a meal, Chen Gui returned to the inner house with a sad expression on his face, and hurriedly ordered Mrs. Feng at home to find his plain clothes and put them on.Everyone didn't understand, so they hurriedly opened their mouths to ask.While ordering people to prepare for the funeral ceremony, Chen Gui explained to everyone.

But it turned out that it was Zhao Bihe who had just received the news that a talented person who was raised in the Prince's Garden in the East Palace had died.Not only that, even a young princess who was raised in Bieyuan also died of a sudden illness.When the prince suddenly heard the bad news, he didn't realize that all his internal organs were burned.Because Zhao Bihe's son Zhao Yin was accompanied by the prince, he knew the news immediately.I was busy preparing the funeral ceremony to appease the prince.Because he thought that Chen Gui had followed the prince's line before he could be promoted, and Chen Gui had frequent contacts with the East Palace recently, the prince seemed to like Chen Gui's character, so he sold his personal love to Chen Gui.

He also asked the manager of the Zhao family to remind him secretly that the deceased Feng Cairen was also related to the Chen family.Tell Chen Gui to be more careful with his words in front of the prince, so as not to offend the prince.

After hearing this, everyone in the Chen family became even more confused.How could the majestic prince and talent of the East Palace have anything to do with the Chen family?

Seeing this, Chen Gui couldn't help but talk about the old story of catching kidnappers during the Shangyuan Festival, and everyone suddenly realized.

Not to mention for now, Chen Gui changed into plain clothes and went to the East Palace to be annoyed.It is only said that since the second sister found out the omissions in Chen's dowry shop once in the accounts, and earned back 500 taels of silver for her own mother, Chen knew that she was not as good as her daughter in housekeeping and general affairs, so she simply gave away all the money. The dowry account is handed over to the second sister.He also ordered his elder sister to study beside him.

The second sister came through time travel from later generations, and she fully understands that in life, regardless of gender, she must live and live on her own.I also understand that it is useless to put money on the bottom of the box, you have to take it out to do business, so that money can make money.

It's just that the second sister is still young and doesn't know the world affairs and business outside, so she doesn't dare to make a decision lightly.Later, after half a day of discussion with his mother, Mrs. Chen, and several serious discussions with his grandparents, uncles and aunts, he finally decided to spend two-thirds of Mrs. Mrs. Chen's money to buy fertile land.

One is to buy a pavement in a relatively good location, even if you don’t do business yourself, you can rent it out to collect rent.Even if the annual rent is limited, it can be accumulated year after year, which is also an open source matter.In short, it is much better than sitting and eating.

Second, buying fields and renting them out to tenants will enable them to harvest every year. Half of these harvests will be converted into silver, and half will be used for chewing at home, which also means to relieve the pressure on Chen Jiagong.After all, the Chen family's mother and daughter will stay in the Chen family for a period of time, even if the entire Chen family doesn't care, if the mother and daughter clearly have spare energy but don't spend any money, it's not the reason to get along with each other for a long time.

Since grandfathers, grandmothers and uncles and aunts do not accept their own money, it is better to deliver rice, noodles, fruits and vegetables directly to the door in the name of early adopters.Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds.

These words were said to Mrs. Chen by the second sister in private, and Mrs. Chen also took it seriously after hearing what she said.She was used to being undisciplined, and the people who fought with the Zhao family were almost out of their minds, and they still spend a lot of money on weekdays, so the few bastards who called the second room of the Zhao family have gained a lot of glory. .In the end, he did not hesitate to share half of the dowry with the Zhao family for the sake of the two sisters.This is true for enemies, but now she spends money on her own family, Chen feels even more happy.

It's just that there is no need to tell Mrs. Chen and others about this plan.After the surface of the fertile farmland has been converted, it is enough to directly order the tenants to send the rent and rice noodles for the spring and autumn seasons.

Because there is no one in the family who is familiar with Jiaxuan, the second sister is afraid that she will be fooled by comprador brokers when buying land, and she will not get a good land after spending a lot of money.So after thinking twice, he discussed with the Chen family and asked the Zhang family to help look at the land.The Zhang family has managed Huangzhuang for generations, so they naturally understand the good and the bad.Zhang Yun even wanted to please his in-laws, patting his chest and taking care of everything.He also asked Chen Gui if he also wanted to pay for the land, and he could help to find out.

Chen Gui didn't expect these things, but after hearing Zhang Yun's words, he also knew that this was a major matter of increasing income and reducing expenditure, so he was not tempted.Discussed with the family, and finally took out 1000 taels of Wenyin, and handed it over to Zhang Yun for preparation.

Zhang Yun wandered outside for more than half a month. When he came back, he said: "Although there are good fields in the suburbs of the capital, they are only at the foot of the emperor. The price is much more expensive than that in other provinces. After all, if it is in the Shandong area, it can be bought for two taels of silver. One mu of good land, in the capital, you may not be able to buy the same good land even if you spend six taels of silver. Calculating with your fingers, I am afraid that the price of buying a hundred mu of land in the suburbs of Beijing is enough to buy two or three hundred mu of land in other provinces. It's really not cost-effective. I was thinking, but if it doesn't work, I will go one or two hundred miles farther, even if I go to Ping'an Prefecture to buy land, it is better than wasting money. I met such a gentleman—a Beijing official, looking for vacancies, and his family is selling land to raise money, looking for love and a way out. Because he sells in a hurry, the price can be suppressed a lot Besides, it's also close to the capital—it's in Red Sandalwood Castle, 900 miles away from the city in the eastern suburbs. There's a total of [-] mu of fertile land and nearly [-] mu of medium-sized land, as well as a few houses, all priced at [-] taels of silver. Dare to ask sister-in-law, is this price acceptable?"

When Mrs. Chen heard this, she was naturally delighted.Just thought for a while, can not help but hesitate.Because of the money she had in her hand, she counted the 500 taels paid by the manager of the former shop to make amends, and it was only 1000 taels with zero. Now she only spent 900 taels to buy a field and land, plus she begged her brother Chen Gui to find the land. The shop I touched was beyond the budget.

Seeing this, Chen Gui smiled and said, "It's such a good thing to take advantage of, so there's no reason to hesitate. Why don't we share the [-] mu of land equally between my brothers and sisters, and you want [-] mu of good land and [-] mu of medium-sized land. , and the rest will be distributed to the family. It’s just that we both pay the money together.”

Zhang Yun heard the words, and laughed again: "Because Brother Chen is an official, when I negotiated the price with that family, I didn't mention Brother Chen's identity, so as not to cause any trouble. If Brother Chen can trust me, I will hand over this matter to you." Let me do it."

Chen Gui laughed and said, "Naturally, as the saying goes, don't bother the two masters. It's just that Brother Zhang is tired."

Immediately paid silver and Zhang Yun.That Zhang Yunlue sat for a cup of tea, and left in a hurry on the grounds that he was busy with the autumn harvest.

A few days later, he ordered Mrs. Zhang's family to send the house deed with the changed name to Chen's house.Because the Chen family is a female family member, and everyone in the Chen family does not care about Jiaxuan, Zhang Yunhao helped the Chen family recruit tenants, and discussed how to collect rent and grain in spring and autumn.As soon as the action is taken care of properly, the Chen family doesn't need to worry about it.

As for the purchase of shopfronts, Chen Gui himself is the head of the household department, so he can pick some shops with relatively good locations and reasonable prices from the houses confiscated and confiscated by officials in the court, and buy them at official prices.

Mrs. Chen thought to herself that she didn't have the skills to do business, let alone the energy, so she leased the shop she bought to others and lived on rent every year.

It's my own dowry shop, which used to sell hair oils, powders, spices, hairpins and bracelets, which are commonly used by women.Because the goods purchased are ordinary, the business is neither bad nor bad.It's just that since the second sister picked flowers, duoer, rouge paste and various face powders in the summer, the unused ones at home were sent to the shop for sale—even though the price was more expensive, some of them were gradually accumulated Word of mouth, and even the sales of other cosmetics in the store have also increased a lot.It's just that customers who can afford the rouge paste made by the second sister are still not used to other inferior products, and they often complain.

For a while, the reputation of Chen's dowry shop outside was completely different.

Seeing this, the second sister simply discussed with her family and asked the shop not to buy those inferior goods.Move on to something of decent quality.According to what I have seen and heard in later generations, I tried to make a lot of flower cakes, flower and fruit drinks, configured scented teas for different purposes, and configured some spices according to the ancient recipes I have seen, and even innovated, constantly tinkering with some new tricks Come, put it in the shop and sell it.

As time passed, Chen's dowry shop has successfully transformed from a small shop selling inferior goods to an exquisite shop for officials, women and merchants.The second sister is well aware of the consumer psychology that demand exceeds supply, and insists on improving the workmanship of her own rouge face powder, and the monthly output is also limited.

In this way, the female relatives who were able to buy Chen's incense powder were naturally very proud, and those who couldn't buy it felt sorry and had to go to a nearby shop to buy it.Therefore, even though the rouge powder from the Chen Family Spice Shop was expensive, it did not pose a threat to other shops.Even though everyone was envious of the good business of the Chen Family Spice Shop because of this, there was no evil thought to get rid of it and quickly.

There were also people who were secretly thinking about the various spice formulas of the Chen Family Spice Shop, but they did not dare to act rashly because Chen Gui was more and more used in front of His Highness the Crown Prince.Some people who are qualified to act rashly don't look down on the income of a mere spice shop.

In this way, the Chen family's spice shop opened smoothly, as if it was under a big tree to enjoy the shade.