Chapter 364 Promotion to the Capital

Chapter 364 Promotion to the Capital

Chen Zhao's brothers are all good people. Although his sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law each have their own thoughts, they all have the most basic moral principles. They wouldn't have any strange ideas about his family's things just because he went on a long trip.

However, he was cautious and planned to write a letter to Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang first to see if it would be convenient for them to visit their relatives.

Unlike Hao Yu, although he also had a good relationship with Jiang Yuan, he hadn't done much for Jiang Yuan. In front of Jiang Yuan, he didn't have the confidence that Hao Yu had to go whenever he wanted.

He suggested that he ask Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang for their opinions beforehand. Only then did Chen realize that in her excitement, she had forgotten to tell Wang Xiaozhi's family about the contents of Xie Wanniang's letter.

"It was A Yuan and Liu Niang who told us to go, otherwise I wouldn't have let your Uncle Hao do whatever he wanted."

Madam Chen told Wang Xiaozhi and Chen Zhao, "Sixth Sister said that everything is expensive in the capital, and she needs to raise a large sum of money to buy a house there. So she sent her steward and guards back to help her collect the money she has earned from her shops here. Now that she has carriages, guards, and a steward, she wants to take us to the capital as well, so that we can also experience the prosperity and excitement under the emperor's nose."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhao was immediately delighted. He joined Chen in urging Wang Xiaozhi, "Go ahead, the children must be very curious about what it's like under the emperor's nose."

"Yes, Mother, go ahead."

"Mom, I want to go too, let's go."

"mother......"

The children pleaded with her one after another, and Wang Xiaozhi quickly gave in to their watery, longing, and pleading eyes.

"Alright then." She ruffled her little daughter's hair with a hint of helplessness. "Your dad and I will arrange things around the house first."

The house needs someone to look after it, the chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs need someone to feed them, and the vegetable garden, orchard and fields all need someone to take care of them. Thinking about it this way, they really do have a lot of things to entrust to others.

Before she could figure it out, Chen Zhao had already made a quick decision: "The house can be looked after by my eldest brother's two sons. They can live here, and the things that need to be fed, as well as the vegetable garden, fruit trees, and so on, will all be taken care of. As for the orchard and crops outside, we can hire people to do the work when needed, and my eldest brother and his brothers can help take care of them on a regular basis."

Wang Xiaozhi thought about it and felt there was no problem, so she only added, "Then go and say hello to the village head, your parents, and those people in the clan who are on good terms with you. Tell them as well. Your older brother and the others are usually busy. If there is anything they can't take care of, it's good that you've informed the clansmen in advance, so they can be of some help."

Every village has its good-for-nothing idlers and loafers. These people do nothing but loaf around in the county town or township, doing petty theft and shady things. When the autumn harvest season comes, they will run off to steal other people's good crops. In short, they are both lazy and immoral.

Chen Zhao's family owns a lot of land. Although Chen Zhao's brothers' families have not lived as well as his family in recent years, they are still doing quite well. When the autumn harvest season comes, they may not be able to take care of all of Chen Zhao's family's land.

With them gone, Wang Xiaozhi was genuinely worried that those thieves would start targeting her family's crops to steal.

It's different when clansmen help keep an eye on things. With more eyes watching, those thieves will naturally have fewer opportunities to make a move.

They are willing to spend money, so when the time comes, Chen Zhao's brothers will only need to help them hire people to harvest, thresh, and store the crops, and their grains and fruits will be much safer.

Having lived in Mingfu Village for half his life, Chen Zhao naturally understood what Wang Xiaozhi was worried about. He nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will."

As for Hao Yu's family, he had already sold off all the scattered plots of land that Hao Yu had bought before. Like Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang, he now only had the large, contiguous plots of land in the manor.

Compared to the scattered fields of ordinary people, the large fields in the manor are much easier to manage. Moreover, whether it is the manor manager or the tenants, everyone relies on the annual harvest to make a living. Without Hao Yu, the master of the house, having to say anything, they will automatically and spontaneously guard the ripe crops.

His house, shops, and so on—the house could be entrusted to someone for a while to take care of it, and the shops had all been rented out in advance, so they didn't need to do anything else.

The two families agreed to travel together. Hao Yu then asked the Chen family, the village head, and the doctor's family. Xie Wanniang did not show favoritism and invited both the Chen family and the doctor's family when she invited Hao Yu and the others.

Chen Lizheng and Doctor Chen naturally wanted to go, but they were too old to make the long journey, so they ended up sending only one of their grandsons each.

Chen Lizheng's eldest grandson was quite good at studying; at only twenty years old, he had already become a scholar. Doctor Chen hoped that his grandson could come into contact with more doctors and learn more about medicine.

The two old men had no worries about entrusting their grandson to Hao Yu's family and Wang Xiaozhi's family. They gave the child enough things and money, and then went about their business without any worries.

As for whether the other children and grandchildren want to go, who wouldn't want to go? The problem is, they can't really send a whole bunch of people to Beijing!

Like Hao Yu, Wang Xiaozhi, and others, Xie Daoheng's family also received Xie Wanniang's latest letter. Xie Wanniang invited them and other members of the Xie clan to come to the capital, but none of Xie Daoheng and his family planned to go.

Firstly, some members of the Xie family held official positions in the capital, so opportunities to go to the capital were not so rare for them. Secondly, Xie Daoheng thought that his daughter was already busy enough taking care of herself and her own family, as she was unfamiliar with the place. He decided to keep the other children in the clan in check so that they wouldn't cause trouble for his daughter.

Anyway, if they really want to go to the capital, they can go and seek refuge with those men surnamed Xie. Those people are the pillars of the Xie family, and they should be the ones to shoulder the responsibility of revitalizing the family and taking care of its members. His daughter is just a married woman, and she should not share the responsibilities and obligations of the Xie family.

However, he did write several letters to Xie Wanniang. Apart from one letter that was a reply to Xie Wanniang, the rest were letters he wrote to his relatives and old friends who were officials in the capital.

Along with the letter, Xie Wanniang also received the visiting cards that those people had left with Xie Daoheng.

Xie Daoheng did this for a very simple reason—in case Xie Wanniang encountered any difficulties in the capital, these were all the connections she could turn to for help.

Now he no longer says that Xie Wanniang is not the pillar of the Xie family and should not take up the Xie family's connections and resources. In short, his bias is quite blatant.