The four of them talked for a moment and then went home. Li Yanqing is still living in Liwen Village. His life does not seem to have much change from five years ago.

But no one expected that Li Yanqing was already a rich man in the countryside at this time. The Li Ji Grain Store, which they founded five years ago, has now developed into the largest grain merchant in Xiangzhou. The business is no longer in Tangyin. It moved to Anyang County, the prefecture of the prefecture, the year before yesterday, with business spread throughout Hebei West Road. The assets have increased by 1,000 to 10,000 yuan, and it also has a fleet of ten large ships.

However, in Beijing, they only belong to small and medium-sized grain merchants, and hundreds of grain merchants of all sizes in Beijing, and they cannot even get a list. This is not surprising. Every family has a background of royal relatives and has a history of hundreds of years.

It is not easy for a small grain merchant like them who had only been founded for five years to gain a foothold in the capital. This was because they received the help of Li Wenyou's brother Li Wensi, which allowed them to escape two catastrophes.

However, although Li Ji Grain Store's assets have increased tenfold, under Li Yanqing's strong advocate, Li Wenyou and his father did not disperse the benefits, but continued to accumulate and prepare for the Li family to move southward.

Although he did not share the profits from the business, Li Yanqing had thousands of taels of silver, which was his income from writing books for five years, and the money was enough to make him ranked among the top ten gentry in Xiaohe Township.

Li Yanqing's home doubled compared to before, because Uncle Hu had quietly come back four years ago to inquire whether Fang La had continued to send people to find him. Before leaving, he sold the foundations of several old houses to Li Daqi.

Li Daqi built five or six brick houses on the basis of the Hu family, turning their house into a two-in-one yard. Since Li Daqi spent most of the year in Anyang County, he invited a servant to take care of Li Yanqing and hired a cook to cook. In this way, Li Yanqing would no longer have to go to Li Zhen’s house for dinner.

Li Yanqing walked into the yard, Dahei, who was basking in the sun, stood up, staggered to Li Yanqing, and rubbed his head affectionately. Dahei was one year older than Li Yanqing, and he was in his twilight years. He could no longer catch weasels, and spent most of his time basking in the sun in the yard.

Li Yanqing touched its head, took out a syrup pancake and stuffed it with it. This was Dahei's favorite food. Dahei returned to his nest with the pancake in his mouth.

"Is the little official back?" The chef A Ju-sao looked out of the kitchen and smiled.

A Ju's wife's surname is Wu, from Tangbei Township. She is the niece of Aunt Gu San in the village. Her husband died in the battle of Xixia last year. She became a widow and lived with a two-year-old daughter. The house and pension were stolen by her parents-in-law and brother-in-law. The mother and daughter were desperate and came to join her aunt.

Seeing that his niece was having a difficult life, Li Daqi's family happened to need a cook. Aunt Gu introduced her to cook for Li Yanqing full-time, earning four jin of money a month, including food and accommodation, and the mother and daughter became stable.

"Hello, where is Ding Ding?"

"She is sleeping in the room. Do you want to eat something? I stewed an old winter melon and added some brown sugar. It was quite sweet."

"Yeah! Give me a bowl."

Li Yanqing walked towards his room, and after walking a few steps, he asked again: "Where is Uncle Zhong?"

Uncle Zhong is their hometown servant, from Anyang, and his surname is Li, but he has nothing to do with their Li family. He is very honest and honest. Li Daqi was bullied when he was feeding horses in Li's mansion. Only he sympathized with Li Daqi, so Li Daqi asked the patriarch to take care of Li Yanqing.

"Uncle Zhong went to Qianshan Village. It seems that something is wrong, I didn't ask."

"I see!"

Li Yanqing went back to his room, sat down and started writing. He had a heavy homework today and probably had to do it until very late to go to bed.

Soon after, Aju's wife brought him a bowl of candied winter melon soup and then stepped down. Not long after writing, a sound of talking came from the door, as if a guest had come to the door.

Li Yanqing had to put down his pen and walked to the outer yard. He saw several people standing in the yard, one was Uncle Zhong and the other was a middle-aged man. Behind him was a little girl, with a thin figure, wearing a coarse cloth short coat that was washed white, timidly lowering her head and carrying a small bag in her hand.

Uncle Zhong smiled and said, "This is Zhang Ping from Qianshan Village. He said he had met with a small official before."

Li Yanqing remembered that it was Li Dongdong's brother-in-law, a scoundrel second-rate man. Li Dongdong also took good care of him and often helped their family. However, every time Zhang Ping got the money, he would go to Yichunyuan. It was easy to bet, and he owed a lot of debts outside. If he hadn't been afraid of Li Dongdong, he would even sell his wife to others.

Zhang Ping stepped forward and nodded and smiled, "Little Official, I heard from Da Yan that you need a little maid here. I just happened to have a little daughter. Can you accept it?"

Dayan is Zhang Ping's eldest daughter. She sold the dictionary to Li Wenyou for seven years and will be married in two years. However, the patriarch's wife liked her very much and was ready to continue to use it.

Li Daqi wrote a letter to the patriarch in Anyang County, asking him to pay attention to finding a little maid for his son. Li Wenyou handed the matter over to his wife. When Dayan heard the news, she immediately told her father.

How could Zhang Ping let go of this opportunity to make money? He immediately brought his little daughter to the door.

Li Yanqing recognized the little lady behind Zhang Ping, as if she was the magpies she had seen back then. He was very impressed by this little girl and had a good impression of it. So he looked back at Uncle Zhong, who smiled and said, "I have been to Qianshan Village just now and asked Baozheng, so there should be no problem."

What I worry most about buying a maid these days is that the second one is selling the second one, and then I can’t argue, so Uncle Zhong wants to go to Baozheng to confirm.

Li Yanqing asked Zhang Ping, "I can accept the person, how much does it cost? How long does it cost?"

Zhang Ping was very excited, with a cunning light flashing in his thin eyes. He rubbed his hands and said, "Last year, someone fell in love with magpies and paid 70 taels of silver to buy them for ten years. I think that person's family is not in good condition and was worried that magpies would be wronged, so he did not agree. If the little official likes magpies, I hope to sell them for 70 taels of silver to sell for ten years, and add 30 taels of silver to sell them for the sake of magpies. The magpies are well-behaved and obedient, work hard, and look handsome. She will not suffer any loss when buying them for the little official."

There is a difference between selling dictionaries and selling. Selling is the amount of wages given per month, and then calculate the contract period and give the wages to the other party’s parents at one time. When the contract is over, the person will be free.

The salesperson is to give one more money based on the agreed wage, which is equivalent to a personal deposit. After the expiration of the period, the deposit needs to be returned to redeem the person. If the seller does not redeem it, it is difficult for the seller to be free.

Zhang Ping had no idea of ​​redeeming his daughter at all. He sold the geese to Li Wenyou. Of course, he would not sell the magpie at a cheap price. Uncle Zhong coughed twice beside him, meaning that the price was too expensive, fifty taels of silver was enough.

When Li Yanqing saw Xi Magpie look pitiful and saw Zhang Ping being so cruel and betrayed her daughter, he felt a little unbearable, so he said to Zhang Ping: "Then I'll say that you'll have a hundred taels of silver. You can take the man back first. I'll make a contract with Bao Zheng tomorrow and give you the silver."

Zhang Ping was overjoyed. His youngest daughter could not sell for 40 cents of money because she was too thin. Many people thought she could not do anything. It was a burden to buy it, so they refused to buy her. Zhang Ping hated her for beating and scolding her daughter for eating rice at home every day.

Unexpectedly, he came to work and actually got 100 taels of silver from Li Yanqing. Zhang Ping was afraid that Li Yanqing would regret it, so he hurriedly said, "No need! People are here, I will come to Uncle Zhong to complete the procedures tomorrow."

Zhang Ping turned around and scolded his daughter a few words, asking her to be obedient and obedient to her master. If she was retreated, she would be beaten to death. The magpie was so scared that her legs trembled and she kept wiping her tears.

Looking at Zhang Ping running away in a flash, Li Yanqing said angrily: "There is such a father in the world, and I am very eye-opening today."

Seeing that Xi Magpie was still hunched and lowered her head, Li Yanqing ordered A Ju’s wife beside her, “Let her have dinner first, then clean up the west wing of the back room and live there for her!”

A Jusao and Uncle Zhong looked at each other meaningfully, and both of them understood that since the young official arranged for the young lady to live in the inner room, it meant that the young official was about to treat her as his personal maid.

In fact, the two of them were thinking too much. Li Yanqing asked her to live there just because the magpie is young and the west wing is empty, so she didn't have the idea of ​​a close maid.

Li Yanqing immediately arranged for Uncle Zhong to go and go through the procedures with Zhang Ping tomorrow, so he went back to his room to continue his homework.

While she was concentrating on writing, Li Yanqing suddenly felt someone behind her. She was shocked and turned around suddenly. She found that the little girl was standing behind her with a bowl of tea. She could see that she was also startled and had a panic on her face.

Only then did Li Yanqing remember that he had a little maid, and he quickly comforted her and said, "Don't be afraid, I forgot you, so I was shocked."

The magpie whispered: "The little slave knows, and he won't stand behind the little official in the future."

Li Yanqing was awkward when he heard this, so he scratched his head and said, "Don't call him Xiaonu in the future. It's so good to call him Ximai, it's both auspicious and easy."

"Yes! The magpie remembers it."

She put the tea on the table, twisted her hands, and asked nervously, "Do you have any instructions for the little official?"

Li Yanqing looked at her and asked with a smile: "Do you still remember me?"

"Remember!" the magpie whispered.

"Time flies so fast! You were still a little taller at that time, but now you are so old, are you nine or ten years old this year?"

"Nine years old!"

She lowered her head and looked even more cramped. Li Yanqing wanted to joke with her and ask her to call her Uncle Qing again. But seeing that she was timid, she put away her joking and asked her, "Have you packed up all the things? There is a bed there, but no bedding or pillows."

"Sister A Ju has brought it to me."

"Okay, go to bed! I will do it very late today, don't wait for me."

The magpie didn't say anything, but stood aside. Li Yanqing knew that she was timid, so she stopped urging her. She continued to write at the desk and wrote three thousand words in one breath. Li Yanqing suddenly felt something and glanced at Xi Xi from the corner of her eyes. Seeing that she was so sleepy that she could hardly open her eyes, she secretly yawned with the back of her hand covering her mouth.

Although the homework has not been finished, Li Yanqing didn't want to write anymore. He put down his pen and smiled: "It's over. Go and make a basin of hot water, I'll wash my feet and go to bed."

"Small officials wait, I'll go now."

When Li Yanqing saw her thin body running out, he felt a little pity. He came out to be a maid at the age of nine. In his era, a nine-year-old girl was not favored by her parents, and children from poor families had already become the family. This was right, but after a second thought, he felt that her family was not poor, but had a father who was not good at learning.
Chapter completed!