Quick Wear: Even big guys have to work hard

Most importantly, the price of honeycomb briquettes is very reasonable.

Every household in Xijing could afford it and used honeycomb coal, which reduced the number of people who froze to death in winter by half.

There were only beggars, homeless people, and people who froze to death.

but.

The government set up a shelter and installed many coal stoves specifically for the beggars to keep warm.

In the past two winters, no one has frozen to death in the city.

When the news was reported back to the capital, the emperor even issued an imperial decree of commendation, which was definitely a great political achievement.

The prefect of Xijing was promoted to an official in Beijing.

Only if An Zhuo has a good relationship with his superiors and gets excellent evaluations can he be promoted to the fifth rank.

An Eryue also gained merit because of this.

There are also many small inventions in daily life, such as fingerless gloves, leather raincoats, spring carriages, etc.

On a small scale, it has improved the living standards of the people.

It is also a good deed with merit!

An Zhuo has received very good evaluations in recent years.

After he finished his term and returned to Beijing, he would most likely be able to get a government job there. He asked the Marquis's Mansion to help him find a real vacancy just in case.

in fact.

He had already prepared the money for the job, and planned to return to the capital and hand it over to the government. But he did not expect that the Marquis's Mansion would be so heartless.

An Zhuo was very sad.

That is his own relative!

"Master, do you really want to seek a vacancy in the capital?"

Yang's face was filled with worry: "Although the capital is prosperous, the people in the mansion don't know the situation in Xijing yet. What if..."

What if the Marquis's Mansion finds out that they have property in Xijing?

What will the Marquis' Mansion do?

The old lady will definitely use filial piety, and the eldest wife will use virtue to pressure the second wife, until they hand over the honeycomb coal industry to the national government, right?

But how does the Marquis' Mansion treat the second wife?

Without even a chance to negotiate, he flatly refused to help. Could the second wife willingly hand over her property to the public?

Of course not!

If I stay in Beijing, since the family has not yet split up, I will have to live in the marquis's mansion. There are so many people around, it will be difficult not to let the news leak out.

As long as it’s not in Beijing.

Even if the government knew about it, it was too far away and they had plenty of excuses to cover it up.

"The honeycomb briquettes business is under your name, so that's okay, right?"

An Zhuo said uncertainly.

"Master, let's not talk about others, just talking about Third Brother's wife's temper, will she let us go?"

Yang asked back.

The third wife, Qian, was the daughter of the old lady’s younger sister. She lost her mother when she was young and was often taken to live in the marquis’ mansion.

She and the Third Master are childhood sweethearts.

But he is stubborn, mean and greedy.

The old lady felt sorry for her because she had lost her mother, and doted on her very much. She was afraid that she would suffer if she married someone else, so she let her youngest son marry her.

The couple in the third room are also a perfect match and are both spoiled.

An Zhuo thought about Cousin Qian's temper and his mother...

"Let's go back to Beijing and see what happens. At worst, I can find another job outside Beijing!"

An Eryue's soul consciousness was withdrawn from the system observation window.

She wholeheartedly supported her father's pursuit of a foreign post.

There are so many people in the marquis' mansion in the capital, and there are also family fights and other things. It's a complete waste of time.

Being an overseas employee is so free!

In fact, she was not worried that the Xijing industry would be known to the Marquis' Mansion.

Because she has the system in hand, she only needs to collectively block keywords.

But An Eryue still hopes that her father will be assigned to another post.

Go out more often and collect more maps and species to facilitate future work. After all, her main job is the vacation system.

Speaking of external assignments.

under normal circumstances.

Foreign officials who are evaluated as excellent will generally be promoted after serving two terms.

Of course, there are also people who are promoted continuously in one place.

But those officials were close ministers to the emperor and were very favored by him.

For example, in the wealthy land of fish and rice, the Zhao family, the Jiangnan weaving business, has been run by generations of ancestors for decades.

It is said.

Most of the gold, silver and treasures in the emperor's treasury were embezzled from the Zhao family. That was the emperor's purse.

Although the Nan'an Marquis Mansion is a family of meritorious officials.

But he is not the confidant of the current emperor, and in terms of respectability, he is not as good as the Zhao family.

The second aunt of the marquis's family.

Her husband's family is a branch of the Zhao family in Jiangnan.

As the second wife of the Nan'an Marquisate and without a title, An Zhuo had no chance to see the emperor, let alone gain his favor.

and so.

An Zhuo never thought that there would be a chance to continue staying in Xijing.

In no mood.

The prefect who had just taken office was in mourning.

Therefore, An Zhuo was appointed as the acting prefect, which was an affirmation and reward from his superiors.

Both Yang and An Eryue were very happy.

It is better to do something familiar than to do something new.

How could it be easier than in Xijing? We have our own industry here!

But the joy didn’t last long.

On this day, someone from the capital came to report the death of the old lady!

It was a bolt from the blue.

A month ago, a letter came from the servant of the second house who stayed in the capital.

They also said that the old lady was in very good health and that she climbed up to Dajue Temple by herself to burn incense.

The servant who announced the death was sent by the eldest wife.

An Zhuo and Yang asked in detail one by one.

The servant obviously had no intention of hiding anything and told every detail he knew.

The old lady was actually angered to death by her beloved third wife and husband!

At the end of last month.

The old lady had caught a cold, and it was quite serious. After seeing the imperial physician, she was getting better.

Who knows.

For some unknown reason, the Third Master and the Third Madam angered the Old Madam. According to previous practice, all they had to do was say a few nice words to appease them.

But this time.

Not only did the couple fail to appease the old lady, they also quarreled and said a lot of disobedient words.

The old lady was so angry that she fainted and never woke up again.

Asking what was going on made the old lady angry.

The servant was not quite sure what the matter was, but this servant was a family-born child and had many relatives working in the mansion.

The niece of his wife's sister-in-law's cousin's eldest sister-in-law.

It is said that he works in the old lady's courtyard.

A few words came out of her.

It seems like the Third Master has a concubine and has a bastard son.

The Third Lady asked the Third Master to send the concubine and the illegitimate son away. The Third Master naturally refused, so the Third Lady made a fuss to the Old Lady.

The old lady only agreed to half of her niece's request.

The illegitimate grandson must be taken back, but the concubine is not necessary. However, the Third Master likes the concubine and is unwilling to send her away.

The old lady immediately sent someone to deal with the third master's mistress.

The Third Master not only tried to stop them, but also threatened to divorce his wife, which almost angered the old lady to death!

An Zhuo, Yang Shi, and An Eryue: "..."

Didn’t they say that the Third Master only spent a few thousand taels to take in a concubine?

Why do you have a concubine?

"Reporting to the Second Master and the Second Madam, it is true that the Third Master took a concubine, but he only spent thirty taels of silver on her. It is said that she was bought from a young man as a concubine. The other several thousand taels were embezzled by the Third Master and given to his mistress!"

and so.

The old lady is so angry, maybe it’s because she was deceived?

Come to think of it.

She was deceived by her most favored youngest son, who also wanted to divorce her most beloved niece.

People with good health will be angry to death.

What's more, the old lady is frail and sick.

An Zhuo found it hard to accept for a moment. That strong and biased mother was gone just like that?

"What does the Lord say?"

Yang came to her senses and asked the servants.

"The Marquis called the elders of the clan, and it was said that the elders wanted to expel the Third Master from the clan and report him to the authorities.

The Marquis finally persuaded the elders of the clan to follow the family rules and separate the third branch.

However, we still have to wait for the Second Master to return to Beijing to attend the funeral, and for the Old Madam to come back a hundred days later to divide the family property."

An Zhuo heard this.

I suppressed my grief and anger and couldn't help but sneer in my heart, what a good brother!

After he returns to Beijing, will the second wife be divided out as well, and the Marquis' Mansion will belong entirely to the first wife?