Traveling to an ancient peasant family: I got rich by doing business

The two boxes were about the same size. In order to hide their identity, the box given by the neighbor was ordinary and had scratches on it.

But Li Yu knew that these things were given by Donggong.

After thanking Boss Bai calmly, Li Yu asked someone to move the box into the house, then closed the door and opened the box.

She first opened the gift sent by the East Palace. Inside were four small wooden boxes. In each of the boxes was a pile of books, a set of jade masks, and a set of clothes that Han Xiaomei could wear. On the clothes were jewelry that a girl of thirteen or fourteen could wear.

The last box contained a set of knives, seven or eight of various sizes. The smallest one was the most eye-catching, with a dazzling gem inlaid on the scabbard.

There was a letter at the bottom of the wooden box, written by the Crown Princess herself, saying that it was not convenient this year, so she gave her a New Year's gift in this way.

Li Yu swept his eyes over all the boxes and closed the letter.

Under such circumstances, the Eastern Palace still sent her rewards. It seemed that the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess were quite satisfied with her.

Then she opened the door of Prince An’s Mansion.

There are more small boxes in the box in Prince An’s Mansion.

However, it can be seen that some of the items were prepared by Princess Jianing, including glass cups, four treasures of the study, gold, pearls, and spices that are rare in the capital, totaling about twenty kinds.

Li Yu looked at them one by one, took out those that might be used in the near future and those that were easily broken, and put the rest back into the box.

*

In the evening, after Han Zheng, Han Xiaomei, Lu Xuan and Si'er returned, Li Yu opened the box again and let them see it.

Han Zheng's eyes lit up when he saw the books sent by Donggong. "These books are all unique copies. I have only heard Mr. Su mention them before. This is the first time I have seen them."

Han Xiaomei ignored the cold weather and put on the clothes sent by the Eastern Palace, which fit her perfectly.

Li Yu looked at the exquisite red and green color combination and the heavy embroidery on the clothes and couldn't help but sigh at the care of the people in the Eastern Palace.

On Lu Xuan and Si'er's side, Li Yu put out other things and let them choose for themselves.

Lu Xuan looked around and finally chose a knife.

The fourth child chose an inkstone.

Li Yu looked at it and gave him two more pens and two inkstones. The An Wang Mansion had sent a lot of pens and inkstones, so this was not enough. Besides, Si'er had been with them for so long that he was almost considered a family member, so it was okay for him to take these.

*

After the Little New Year, New Year’s Eve is getting closer.

Lu Xuan planned to leave on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, so on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Yu first took out the things she had prepared for Lu Xuan. There were 80 taels of silver, more than 20 kilograms of pickled and bacon, 10 kilograms of braised meat, and some of the popular snacks, fruits, and rose tea in the capital. She also brought him some.

In addition, there were some hot pot base ingredients that she had prepared in advance. After Lu Xuan returned home, if her family wanted to eat hot pot, they could just put the base ingredients into the bone soup and boil them.

She also brought him some daily necessities, including two pieces of cloth, a few pieces of leather, and some scented soap for washing hands. They were not very valuable, but not bad either.

Lu Xuan didn't expect her to give so much, and he showed an embarrassed expression, just like when he first followed Li Yu.

Seeing that he wanted to refuse, Li Yu said directly: "The Mo family is well-known in Beizhou Prefecture. When you worked in the Mo family before, you must have felt more comfortable than you do now. I only prepared these for you, and I feel that I have treated you unfairly."

Before he followed her, Lu Xuan was a special bodyguard, and it was his responsibility to practice martial arts and protect the master's family. After he followed her, he changed from a simple bodyguard to a bodyguard and helper. In addition to protecting their family, he also had to do the work in the store and at home, and he did a lot more work.

Lu Xuan felt that Li Yu was mistaking his thinking. When he was in the Mo family before, he just received normal wages, and when he did a good job, his master would reward him with some silver.

But no master would casually give him a bonus of eighty taels during the New Year, and no master would let him eat with them all day.

After following Li Yu, he felt much more relaxed than when he was at the Mo family.

Of course, compared to other families, the Mo family is considered a good host family. The masters are kind and don't beat or scold people easily, and he is also grateful for that.

Li Yu was afraid that he would be too entangled, so she clapped her hands and said, "You didn't go back last year. If you bring too few things this year, the people in the Mo family and your parents might think that I'm mistreating you. So you should take these things with you. When you go back, your family will feel relieved when they see you."

What she said made sense and Lu Xuan had no choice but to accept it.

*

Because the journey was long, Li Yu gave the carriage in the store to Lu Xuan. Early in the morning on the 25th, his family helped him put his things on the carriage, and watched him go away before they went about their own business.

Han Zheng still had a few days before his annual leave, so he went to the Hanlin Academy after breakfast.

Li Yu and Han Xiaomei went to the shop.

Li Yu plans to close the shop tomorrow afternoon and distribute everyone's year-end bonuses today.

The two stores made a lot of money this year, with the combined net profit for the year being nearly 10,000 taels.

Everyone worked sincerely, and Li Yu did not treat anyone unfairly.

Anyone who works from the beginning of the year to the end of the year will receive a bonus of three months' wages, plus twelve pounds of meat.

After that, for every month missing, there will be a few days less of wage bonus and one pound less of meat.

In addition, the housekeepers, Nanny Tian and Madam Yan, received housekeeper rewards, fifty taels for Nanny Tian and thirty taels for Madam Yan.

Cheng, Zhu and others who helped manage people on weekdays were given an extra bonus of five taels.

It cost Li Yu a lot of money to distribute the rewards to everyone.

Li Yu thought it was a big deal. Everyone in the two stores had been working diligently this year. If she was stingy, people would be unwilling to work hard in the future.

*

All in all, Li Yu and the helpers in the store were satisfied with this year.

Especially those who were recruited by Li Yu, each one was happier than the other.

How could they have found such a generous boss? They must work hard next year.

Of course, they can't let outsiders know how much their bonus is. People in Beijing are very smart. If they know that the store pays high wages, they might find ways to steal their jobs next year.

In order to make money for a long time, they must keep a low profile.

The hired helpers reached an invisible consensus, and when the neighbors asked what they had received at the end of the year, they just gave vague answers.

*

Li Yu didn't care how the helpers worked. The shop closed on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month. She spent the remaining days either shopping or frying or cooking meat.

Considering the cooking skills of Xie Youlan and her maidservants, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, after the braised meat and fried meat were ready, she went to the courtyard where Xie Youlan lived.

In addition to the meat, she also brought some fresh vegetables and snacks.

Xie Youlan's maid A Ruo was worrying about how to fry the meat. When she was in the Changqing Marquis's Mansion, as a personal maid, she didn't know how to cook at all, and the young ladies in her family were better than her.

She has learned to make some in the past few months, but she is not good at frying things.

Just when I was thinking about whether to go out to buy some, Li Yu arrived.

When Xie Youlan saw what she brought, she sighed softly and said, "Aruo and I don't have to worry about this New Year. With what you brought, we can make a few decent dishes."

Li Yu burst out laughing.

*

Because he was busy in the past few days, Li Yu did not go out on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.

On New Year's Eve, when Li Yu opened the door in the morning, he found snow all over the ground.