After traveling through time, she still led the villagers to make money as a county magistrate

Luckily, I reacted quickly, otherwise I would have leaked it— Oh! No, there's nothing shameful about this. Why am I so nervous?

Gu Niannian came back to her senses and coughed twice. "It shouldn't be difficult for your two cousins ​​to find wives. It shouldn't be difficult to find another one either. It's impossible for all of them to be snatched away by He Zhubu..."

Zhou Mi was also simple-minded. He didn't think much about what Gu Niannian said and replied, "Well, they have many rules in wealthy families. The marriage is arranged since childhood. They know each other's background and are well-matched. Finding two more families like this is not such a simple matter."

"Besides, my two cousins ​​are also proud and arrogant. They are already over 25 or 26 years old. There is no wife candidate they like. Anyway, they have no shortage of beautiful maids at home, so they just keep dragging it on."

"Then Master Zhou is not in a hurry, so why not follow them?" Gu Niannian asked doubtfully

Zhou Mi looked around, leaned close to Gu Niannian and whispered, "Don't think that your uncle is in charge of the Zhou family's assets on the surface. The real people in charge of the Zhou family are my two cousins."

"My cousins ​​follow their uncle in small matters, but they insist on their own opinions on big matters, such as their own marriage."

It seems that there is something fishy going on in the Zhou family. I never thought that a random guess I made up would turn out to be true. Gu Niannian smiled bitterly, "It seems that Master Zhou has been sidelined."

"Who says it's not true? My cousin is old, and some of the decisions he made are too conservative. The Zhou family's business is stagnant, and he reuses the old people from before. This business world is like a battlefield. If you don't advance, you will retreat." Zhou Mi sighed.

"What about this Royal Merchant Election?" Gu Niannian thought that if it was true as Zhou Mi said, that Mr. Zhou was a conservative and stubborn old man, then he should not have made such a bold decision. After all, if he failed, it would be a loss of most of the Zhou family's wealth.

“I’m not very clear about this.”

"Actually, I've only heard about these things. I'm not sure if they actually happened, but my cousin hasn't remarried, so I think they're probably true."

Zhou Mi really didn't know about this. To be honest, he heard those statements from others. Either his mother said them casually, or someone in the family mentioned them. With such a big family, any little thing would be known to the whole city.

"I haven't seen Mr. Zhou very often. He only comes to give me gifts during the holidays. He seems to be in good health and very kind. He is also caring towards the younger generation. If there are younger people in the family who want to take the imperial examination but are short of money, he will help them a little."

"Oh, by the way, in order to help the younger generation in the family, my cousin also opened a charity house specifically for students from poor families who are determined to study. Tuition, food, drinks, and travel expenses for the exams are all paid by my cousin."

"Ah! Supporting a scholar is not cheap, and he has to support so many people. This is not a small expense." Gu Niannian was a little surprised.

Although she had never taken the imperial examination, she had original memories. She remembered that the tuition for her brother's tutor was two taels of silver per month, plus the usual pens, ink, paper, and inkstone, as well as books, it would cost about three taels of silver per month, not including the expenses for traveling to the examination. Compared with the expenses for pens, ink, paper, and inkstone, many students gave up because the journey was long and they needed to prepare enough silver, and most importantly, there was no guarantee that they would pass the examination in one try.

So, no matter what Mr. Zhou’s purpose was, he did have a kind heart and helped many students.

When they were almost done chatting, Gu Niannian saw that it was still early and not yet curfew. She didn't want to sleep in the yamen anymore, so she said goodbye and went back alone.

Walking on the road, the sky was already dark and the sound of wind could be heard from time to time. Gu Niannian wrapped her clothes tightly and quickened her pace.

A drop of rain fell on Gu Niannian's head

Gu Niannian reached out and touched it, "Is it raining?"

"It's not good that there's no weather forecast. It would be helpful to bring an umbrella. We still have more than half an hour to go. I'm afraid we'll be soaked to the skin when we get back."

As Gu Niannian walked, the rain was getting heavier. Fortunately, the sleeves of her official uniform were wide enough. She didn't care and just raised her hands to shield herself from the rain with her sleeves.

While walking, I tried to stay close to the eaves. As I walked, I saw the entrance of a mansion in front of me, so I thought of hiding from the rain and waiting until it was lighter before walking again.

It’s almost time…

"Hey, has the rain stopped?" Gu Niannian looked up and saw an oil-paper umbrella standing above her head.

He turned around and asked, "He Zhubu, why are you here?"

He Feng coughed twice, "Ahem... Sir, this is the door of my home."

Gu Niannian looked up at the plaque "He's House"

"What a coincidence! I'm hiding from the rain and am now at the doorstep of He Zhubu's house."

"That doesn't make sense. Even if it's your doorstep, why are you standing at the door with an umbrella so late at night? Are you waiting for someone?" Gu Niannian expressed her doubts.

"Your Excellency guessed it right. I am indeed waiting for someone."

"Who are you waiting for?" Gu Niannian asked subconsciously, and only after she finished speaking did she realize that she was too gossipy.

He hurriedly tried to make amends, "I was just asking casually, Master He doesn't have to answer."

"It's okay, it's just a customer. His wife is having a birthday and he ordered some rouge and powder as a birthday gift. As a man, he couldn't afford to go to a rouge shop, so he asked her to come to his house to choose." He Feng tilted the umbrella towards Gu Niannian.

"It seems that he is an old customer, and he needs to be waited on by Master He himself."

"An old friend" He Feng's words are shocking

"Then let's not chat in the rain. It's raining so hard, can we go to your house to take shelter?" Gu Niannian saw that half of He Feng's shoulder was soaked.

He Feng didn't say anything, but made a gesture of invitation.

The two of them were in a hurry, and as it was dark and raining, they didn't notice that the threshold under their feet was an inch higher than usual.

She stumbled and almost fell (if He Feng hadn't grabbed her wrist in time)

"My lord, are you okay?"

“No problem”

"It's just that the threshold of He Zhubu's family is higher than that of other families." Gu Niannian half-jokingly said

"It's my fault for not reminding you, my mother said that the threshold for doing business in this industry needs to be higher."

"Is there still such a thing?"

"Sir, let's go inside and talk! It's raining heavily." Once they started chatting, they couldn't stop talking.

"You can go in, but your hand..."

Gu Niannian realized that He Feng's hand was still tightly holding her wrist, with no intention of letting go, and reminded

He Feng grabbed Gu Niannian's hand and jumped away as if he had been electrocuted. He said awkwardly, "Sorry, I forgot..."

"Let's go!"

……

Tea room

He Feng sat on the futon and prepared to make tea. "Sir, what kind of tea do you usually drink?"

Gu Niannian was not good at drinking tea, so how could she know so many tea names? She just casually mentioned a tea she was familiar with, "Yuqian Longjing".

He Feng paused holding the tea leaves, then replied, "Your Excellency is really good at drinking, but it's a pity that this tea is too expensive, I don't have it."

Gu Niannian didn't have to drink this. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I'll drink whatever He Zhubu drinks."

"Fine!"