Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

When Xia Yu returned home, Aunt Ma and two other maids were helping Liu Shi choose fabrics for her. These were newly woven patterns from Zhang's weaving workshop.

After several years of development, Zhang's Silk has become quite well-known, attracting many merchants from other regions to purchase goods every year. Xia Yu's silk and fabrics are not only of high quality, but because they handle the entire process from silkworm rearing and silk reeling to weaving, their prices are about 10% cheaper than similar materials on the market. Zhang Youtie himself never imagined that what was originally just something his wife and a few other women made in their spare time would now account for half of their family's income.

Thanks to Xia Yu's family's businesses, the villagers of Zhangjia Village have also earned a considerable amount of money over the years. If you stand on a high point and look down at Zhangjia Village, you will see rows of neat and impressive courtyards with blue bricks and red tiles. Even on the 5th and 10th of each month, people come here to trade. The village's bustling atmosphere is almost surpassing that of the town where they originally traded.

"Madam, Miss is back." Ziyan, who was facing the door, was the first to see Xia Yu at the door.

When Liu turned her head, she saw her daughter standing prettily at the door, smiling at her.

"Come and take a look, do you like it?" Liu said to Xia Yu, pointing to the fabric in her hand.

Xia Yu approached and got close to the fabric. Green Cloud, who was beside her, quickly picked up the oil lamp so that Xia Yu could see the pattern on the fabric clearly.

"Hmm, it looks good. Mother, I have plenty of clothes, why don't you use them yourself?" Xia Yu felt that her mother had become a bit obsessed with making clothes for her. As long as the new patterns woven by the weaving workshop suited her, she would think about making clothes for herself.

"Oh, Mother has clothes to wear."

"Mother, has my father not returned yet?" Xia Yu sat down at the small round table, poured herself a cup of tea, and asked Liu Shi.

"No, a letter came back today. It might take another ten days or so for it to arrive home. Do you miss your dad?"

"Hmm..." Xia Yu nodded listlessly.

Seeing the mother and daughter talking, the people inside the house led the two maids out first.

Ziyan was Guan Mengshi's eldest daughter, formerly known as Xiaocao. Two years ago, when the Zhang family was hiring servants, her mother asked Aunt Ma for help to send her to serve as Liu Shi's personal maid. Xiaocao had already been with the Zhang family for three years by then, and Aunt Ma had practically watched her grow up. She knew the girl was gentle, perceptive, and not talkative. So she mentioned this matter to Liu Shi.

Lady Liu naturally agreed, but even though he was to serve her, he still had to continue learning what he was supposed to learn at school and not neglect it.

Green Cloud was newly bought from a slave trader; her family was too poor to afford food. Her father sold her for five taels of silver. When she first arrived, her name was Daya.

Later, Xia Yu felt that the two names didn't sound very nice, and besides, Da Ya from the village was her good friend. So she took it upon herself to change their names to Zi Yan and Lü Yun. Because of this, Da Niu grumbled about it to Xia Yu for a long time.

"Miss, could you change my name too? I think the names you gave Ziyan and Lüyun are very nice. Could you give me one as well?"

"Nineteen hasn't changed, has he? I'm used to calling you both by your names. If you suddenly change them, I'll have to think twice before calling you again."

After repeating this several times, Xia Yu insisted on not changing her name, and gradually Da Niu gave up on the idea of ​​changing her name.

Getting back to the main topic, let's talk about the mother and daughter who are currently speaking.

Looking at her sullen daughter, Liu hugged her and gently patted her back, just like when she was a child.

"You spent the whole afternoon running in the mountains today, are you hungry?"

"I'm hungry," Xia Yu nodded in Liu's arms.

"Ziyan, bring the food."

Upon hearing her daughter say she was hungry, Liu called out to the outside.

Soon, Ziyan, Lüyun, and Aunt Zhou brought up the food on plates. When Liu saw Aunt Zhou come over personally, she smiled and said...

"Why did you bring it here yourself? Aren't there maids in the kitchen?"

"Madam, Miss, I specially made the stuffed pork belly that you mentioned to me before. I wanted to come and ask you how it tastes and if there's anything that needs improvement." After speaking, Aunt Zhou placed the dishes on the tray onto the table one by one, then stepped back two steps, waiting for her two mistresses to taste it.

Xia Yu first placed one of the plump, meat-filled belly pieces from the plate onto Liu Shi's dish.

"Mom, this is mutton stuffed in a sheep's stomach, and then braised. Would you like to try it? Is it good?"

Liu picked up her chopsticks, took a bite of the stuffed meat, and chewed it slowly.

"Mmm, it's delicious. I can't quite describe the texture, but it's really good."

Hearing what Liu said, Xia Yu quickly picked one up and bit into it, causing the soup inside to burst out. Xia Yu was scalded and jolted.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you," Liu said with a smile when she saw her daughter had burned herself.

The people standing nearby covered their mouths and chuckled as they saw Xia Yu's reaction.

"Sister Zhou, it's delicious. I thought this was the taste. When my dad comes back in a while, make it like this again, he'll definitely love it."

"Yes, Miss. I've got it. I'll make this dish when Master comes back." When Aunt Zhou heard Xia Yu's generous praise of her cooking, her already round face beamed with joy.

Those people the Zhang family bought back then have visibly become plumper in the years they've stayed with them. Especially Zhou, the cook, has gained a considerable amount of weight. Her youngest son, Gou Dan, is now fourteen and has been Chang Yun's page since he was ten. Like Chang Yun, he spends his days at Li Taifu's house, and although he's just a page, he's learned quite a bit.

When he came back last time, he even recited several poems to Aunt Zhou, which made her so happy that she burst into tears. When she and her husband were separated, besides worrying about her other two children and her husband, her biggest fear was that she wouldn't be able to raise Gou Dan properly. Now, seeing her son growing up so successfully while following the young master, how could she not be happy?

After dinner, Xia Yu chatted with Liu Shi for a long time until late at night before she got up and returned to her own courtyard. In recent years, her family's business had grown increasingly successful, and her father spent less and less time at home. Changyun only returned home once every three months from Li Taifu's house; usually, it was just her, Liu Shi, and her aunt at home. Before, Liu Shi's aunt would keep her company every night, talking or doing needlework.

But ever since her aunt got engaged, her mother made her embroider her dowry in her own courtyard during the day. After washing her face at night, she would have a maid apply a sleeping beauty cream, and then go to bed early. Liu was determined to keep her younger sister's skin fair and smooth, like a peeled egg, before her marriage.

Xia Yu was worried that Liu would be bored at night, so she would stay by Liu's side every night to talk to her or read her newly published storybooks. The mother and daughter lived a rather enjoyable life.