Chapter 23: A slut

Starting from the beginning of the 11th month of the lunar calendar, cold weather enveloped Jiangning City. On the eighth and nineth day of the lunar month, snow started to fall. With the snowflakes like goose feathers, the white coat quietly wrapped the entire ancient city.

The snow is not thick enough to prevent people from going out yet, but according to the usual practices, since it has begun to fall, it may be there until the beginning of next spring. Snowflakes will fall intermittently for two to three months. If it is a poor family, it will be almost difficult to go out in such a weather. In some places, people do not even have clothes to spend the winter. When the snow covers the mountain, they can only wrap themselves in quilts and sleep on the kang all day. Winter is not a good day for most people in this era.

A big city like Jiangning would be better. After all, there are many people with a more prosperous family. In the few days when the snow fell, the school was still open. Of course, the few students living outside the city did not come, which is common. There is a small pot of charcoal fire on the teacher's side, so the students can only rely on the doors and windows to block the wind. Fortunately, they are all young and old, so the problem is not big. The two female students each have a beautiful hand warmer, holding them in their arms. Originally, the adults at home no longer allowed them to come to the school again, but they were reluctant to miss the story Ning Yi told, so they still came over to listen to the class.

Since the weather started to get colder, Ning Yi went to his house several times, and of course it was not too frequent. However, for the old man, it was naturally a good thing to visit someone who could speak. Once, he met Kang Xian. The old man took a few ancient paintings to evaluate, so he asked Mr. Qin to stamp it on it after he had learned it.

After the heavy snow fell, Ning Yi piled a snowman in the courtyard of Su Mansion. Every night, the scenery of the entire Su Mansion is the most charming. Looking out from the second floor, the light spots swimming in the various courtyards and houses are warm and magnificent, and the quaint flavors are obviously in the oriental style, and those light balls seem to be soaked out of beautiful oil paintings. If there is a camera, Ning Yi would like to take a few pictures as a memory. However, the wind on the second floor was also strong, so after standing for a while, Xiaochan was about to come up and call people.

On such nights, it is even more interesting to sit in the living room downstairs to roast the fire. They chat, play chess, read books, and choose fabrics with several maids. Ning Yi and Su Tan'er have a good relationship with their masters and servants. They sit together and play gossip. Xing'er, who likes gossip, occasionally tells some interesting stories that happen in the mansion, and occasionally a few little girls will argue about the content of the story Ning Yi told, who is more fierce when fighting with the general, whether General Xiahou, who likes to eat eyes, has a beard, or whether the female witches who were killed will be innocent. The content is different, and occasionally comes over to ask Ning Yi and ask him to judge the outcome.

Su Tan'er gradually likes Goji, which has simple rules. Every few days she checks the account book, sits next to her and plans to plan, and the three little girls occasionally come to help. If she plays chess with Ning Yi, she will also talk about interesting stories about the relatives of the mansion and simply reveal their relationships.

Occasionally, there are relatives who come to place them at night. After it snows, several students in Ning Yi would occasionally come to pay their respects. In fact, they wanted to put some stories to listen to. In terms of storylines, Su Tan'er also liked to listen to these things. She took the needle and thread and sat aside to embroider and listened to the storytelling.

Occasionally, some brothers and sisters come over. The younger ones call Su Tan'er "Second Sister". Most of them want to do something and have no money, come to complain to her, and want to extort money. Su Tan'er is good to these people. These people also know that as long as they have a proper position, Su Tan'er will probably give it. If you want a hundred guan, you can always get it from 60 to 80 guan. But you have to listen to Su Tan'er's advice and nagging. What you get is enough for them to drink good flower wine for a few nights on the Qinhuai River.

These people say that they are naturally a good excuse for being motivated, but what will happen? Even Ning Yi, who is not very familiar with these cousins, can see clearly. Su Tan'er is still quite patient. No matter what excuse the other party is looking for, she always regards it as if she believes it completely, and says sincere suggestions according to the topic, and then tells the other party not to spend money indiscriminately. If she wants to call her brother, her posture is also very low. Her sister's image is very well-behaved. She occasionally jokes: "When will the girl in Chunfengyuan become my sister-in-law last time..." She is so kind to others that she put away the small box containing the silver notes, and she still has a beautiful and kind smile. Then she also tells Ning Yi about the interesting things about her cousin's cousin in the past, which are all good things, and pride is accompanied by strong family affection.

Ning Yi looked at these scenes next to him and found it interesting. There might be family affection, but he also understood why the third generation of the Su family's unavailable person came from. Su Tan'er's marriage delayed for a few years. She was nineteen years old this year and she was already an old girl. However, in Ning Yi's eyes, she was naturally not the case. Her wife, who had begun to master the Su family's eldest wife, was actually still a girl's appearance and figure. She even had a little awkwardness when she spoke and smiled, but the grasp of her degree contained in various actions should not be underestimated.

Being able to get together every day, play chess and tell stories and family matters, the atmosphere between Ning Yi and Su Tan'er is more natural than when he is just having a meal every day. Later, Su Tan'er also proposed an invitation to ask Ning Yi to go out with her occasionally and visit some people who need to visit.

The Su family's cloth business is big, and there are many vassal merchants, reliable or unreliable business partners. Su Tan'er occasionally goes out to other people's houses to discuss business, and there is always a man following him. In fact, these visits before the New Year are not very necessary, but once the New Year is over, it becomes very important for the two to go out to pay New Year's greetings together. Su Tan'er's invitation at this time actually hopes that Ning Yi will be familiar with these things. Of course, after a few days, she will be satisfied to find that Ning Yi is at least very competent in being a decoration.

Ning Yi lacks interest in doing business and other things. When others talk about business, he pretends to drink tea, look at calligraphy and paintings, smiles and dazed. If anyone says hello and finds topics, he will naturally take out the tricks of ten thousand essential oils and only show a polite nerd. Su Tan'er brought him over, but in fact he only requires him to be able to deal with other people's greetings naturally so that he will not give people a bad feeling. These people have more or less business connections with the Su family. They know that Ning Yi will not make things difficult for him. Of course, some people who have heard of Ning Yi's reputation are so famous that they can find someone to talk to him about poetry and prose. Such casual chats are not serious about taking the school entrance exams, so Ning Yi is naturally easy to deal with.

Which one is to visit? Often when Su Tan'er was on the road the day before or the next day, she would tell Ning Yi about the background. Some of them had cared for the Su family's shopping mall seniors, some of them were current partners, or some of them were fence-bearers with wind blowing on both sides. In this way of getting along, she had a very harmonious relationship with Ning Yi. When she went out, she would smile and talk to Ning Yi about the results of this trip, making a few jokes or cursing a few words, "Old fox, you won't be able to penetrate any wind."

Most of the itineraries are such boring things. Of course, there are occasional exceptional episodes. For example, when visiting each other on November 14th, Ning Yi felt... he was really bored...

"... The Silk Business of the He brothers is still good. These two brothers have the ability, but they have not been very specific. After the business I talked to them the last time, this time I heard that I had already negotiated cooperation with the Xue family. I came here today and I was just doing the best of my etiquette..."

On the carriage, Su Tan'er said while turning the small bead chains on her hand. Ning Yi nodded.

"So, just just be perfunctory?"

"Haha, my husband is just perfunctory." She smiled and waited on her wrist, raised her head, then turned her head and stretched out her hand to tidy up the hair behind her head a few times. "After perfunctory, my husband will have something to do in the afternoon?"

"I plan to go to the book shop in the east of the city to find a book from the Tang Dynasty."

"I will say goodbye this morning and go with my husband."

"OK."

It was a business that could not be negotiated, and it was just a visit based on the idea that the business was unsuccessful and righteous. As Ning Yi said, it would be enough to be perfunctory. However, if a fly was buzzing and buzzing around during the perfunctory process, it would be quite a terrifying scene. This afternoon, Su Tan'er and Ning Yi were not the only ones who came to the He family to visit, but also from two merchants. So He Jun, the eldest of the He brothers, and the silk merchant who was called Shishu by Su Tan'er, treated everyone in the side hall next to the garden. Several large stoves burned the surroundings and could see the snow scenery in the garden outside at a glance. When speaking, the atmosphere was quite elegant. Also accompanying the owner, his son He Tingguang was also accompanied by his master.

There were two in charge of the He family. Except for He Jun, the second brother, He Feng, was the most talented man. Su Tan'er had just come to say hello. After a while, she went to the garden with three maids and the rest of them to appreciate the snow. Then she met He Feng who came from there. Looking over from here, the few people were talking there. There were fewer people in the side hall, and He Tingguang began to entangle Ning Yi's poems. He probably didn't believe how talented Ning Yi was. He wanted to test him, but unfortunately he didn't have much talent. Ning Yi said a few perfunctory words, and the other party was chatting there, and he hinted about his friendship with the talented man Xue Jin. By the way, he said a few new works by Xue Jin were for Ning Yi to appreciate.

This guy is also a fool... Ning Yi was bored. He Jun, the father of He Tingguang, probably thought his son was saying something boring. He asked a few words to help the scene. Ning Yi naturally had to follow the conversation: "I heard Tan'er say that the scale of the He family's silk business is admirable, mainly in Shouzhou, right?"

He Jun frowned, but He Tingguang smiled: "I know that my family actually mainly operates Luzhou and Chaohu. If Brother Shi has time to go out for a trip in the future, don't look for the wrong one..."

Ning Yi was stunned for a moment before nodding: "Oh, so that's it... Luzhou is not far from Shouzhou, the raw silk is transported over..."

He Jun didn't know what he thought of, and his brows frowned even deeper: "Why did the nephew suddenly mention Shouzhou?"

"Not it. Isn't the Xue family's workshop in Shouzhou? That shopkeeper Yan is in charge of it. I seemed to hear someone say it last time... Well, so I thought the business of He Mansion would be in Shouzhou..."

He Tingguang laughed loudly: "Brother Shi doesn't understand these, so don't talk nonsense. Manager Yan is obviously responsible for Luzhou affairs. He is probably aware of the uncles and uncles. If you don't believe it, you can ask them, haha..."

He said this, and the people from the other two shops also laughed and made a confirmation. Ning Yi nodded with a smile: "I don't understand these things, and occasionally I listen to a few fragmentary news, and I got it wrong..." Everyone knew his son-in-law's identity, so they didn't think it was surprising about this matter, but just smiled. He Jun said in a deep voice: "I don't know where the fragmentary news that the nephew said came from."

Ning Yi looked at his serious expression and thought about it with some confusion, then shook his head blankly: "I just... I occasionally listen to people chatting for a few days, uh... I don't know the specific ones. Haha, let Uncle Shi laugh. Tan'er understands a little about doing business. He doesn't understand it below. He doesn't know much about the Xue family. Instead, he messed up Luzhou and Shouzhou, haha..."

After he was so perfunctory, the whole thing became a little strange. He Jun frowned and seemed to be thinking about something important. Then he called a manager to come over and reminded him a few words. Ning Yi frowned: I said casually, I won’t really guess it…

He ran around with Su Tan'er these days. Although he was not interested in other people's business talks, he could slowly establish a contour in his mind. Whose business is done and how to operate the overall situation. These things can be placed in front of him clearly or vaguely, and there is a possible contour. When talking about Shouzhou, he just casually pushed away the topic of He Tingguang. He just felt from the chats he heard in the previous days that the business of the Xue family might change, and the focus of Luzhou might turn to Shouzhou, and then in the Shouzhou direction, there was actually a silk merchant that was in opposition to the He family, who might intervene... These things were just vague outlines in him, and he had no grasp, but he could just keenly feel a slight key point. But in the end, he really made himself say something...

So soon after he arrived, he said goodbye and left the door. When Ning Yi, Su Tan'er and He Jun were farewelling and preparing to get on the carriage, He Feng chased him out from behind and exchanged a look with He Jun with a serious look: "Please stay with the silk of the clan of the clan. I don't know if Su's plan for the silk of the clan in the vicinity of the clan is decided. If the clan niece has time today, there is a group of spring silkworm business, and I want to discuss it with her niece..."

Su Tan'er turned around, looking puzzled, not understanding why such a change suddenly occurred. Turning back to the other side, Ning Yi rolled his eyes bored.
Chapter completed!