Chen Jinjun sighed. Now that she could not arrive at the scene in person, she just hoped that these shopkeepers could complete their instructions well, step by step, and establish a solid foundation first.
She also asked Xu Sheng to collect information on all merchants in Yongzhou, and she would write and draw in the small courtyard of Huo Mansion every day, for fear of missing any business opportunities.
Huo Tingyu didn't come to bother her in the past few days. He must be busy dealing with corrupt officials.
That afternoon, the second lady, who secretly escaped from the guards, walked along the path to Chen Jinjun's yard.
She stood at the door of the courtyard, constantly looking in. It was Shen Xiaoxiao who saw her first.
"Who are you?" Shen Xiaoxiao asked curiously. They had been in Huo Mansion for some time, but they had never heard of any elders in Huo Mansion.
"They all call me Second Madam, Ping Yan's mother." For some reason, Second Madam, who had always had a loud voice, became shy.
When Shen Xiaoxiao heard this, he quickly took her to Chen Jinjun's study.
"Our boss is inside, I'll let you know."
The second lady stood outside the door a little awkwardly, constantly asking the maid whether the flowers on her hair were still fresh and beautiful. After receiving a positive answer, she looked at the door of the study expectantly.
Shen Xiaoxiao walked out and said to her: "Our boss invites you in."
Immediately afterwards, Chen Jinjun saw a middle-aged woman dressed luxuriously come in. She quickly got up to pick her up: "Second madam, please sit down."
The second lady kept looking at Chen Jinjun and said, "She is so beautiful. It would be great if I also had a daughter."
Chen Jinjun just smiled silently. The second lady's biological flesh and blood, Huo Pingyan, had just passed away not long ago, so it was hard for her to say anything, lest she say something wrong and make the second lady sad.
She personally picked up the teapot and poured tea for the Second Madam. From a relationship point of view, the relationship between her and the Second Madam was that of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She was a junior and she always had to be polite to her elders. At the same time, he was also quietly sizing up the Second Madam. The material of the clothes on the second lady's body and the gold, silver, pearls and jade on her head are not ordinary, but they look a little old.
Seeing that the second lady kept looking at him with a smile, Chen Jinjun said cautiously: "Why are you here?"
"It's not Huo Tingyu who keeps making people look at me. The day he allowed you to enter the house, I didn't even go to the door to pick you up." When Huo Tingyu was mentioned, the second lady was furious.
Chen Jinjun was dumbfounded. It seemed that the relationship between Huo Tingyu and the second lady was not as harmonious as the outside world said.
The second lady took Chen Jinjun to look around, and Chen Jinjun had to laugh with her all the time.
"That's great." The second lady finally saw enough, sighed, and picked up the tea cup.
"Thank you for the compliment." Chen Jinjun was not very good at dealing with such female elders, so he could only squeeze out a bright smile.
The second lady patted her hand kindly and asked expectantly: "I heard that you can do business yourself?"
Speaking of this, Chen Jinjun was no longer at a loss and nodded immediately: "Yes, I have been traveling south to do business with my parents since I was nine years old."
The second lady's eyes were filled with admiration: "That's great. If I had a daughter like you, I would let her do whatever she wants like a man."
Chen Jinjun smiled sheepishly: "You are a good mother."
"You are the first to say that about me," the second lady smiled and shook her head, "Ping Yan has been in poor health since she was a child. She cannot travel far and cannot go out for my mother to see what it is like outside."
The second lady was a little sad: "I knew a little bit about your marriage to Heping Yan at the beginning. Your parents died unjustly. Your grandfather was really afraid of losing you, so he sent a letter to me overnight to tell me about it."
At this point, the second lady sighed: "Ping Yan's father and his uncle were surrounded by those foreigners because of military orders. When the news came back, Ping Yan was only five years old."
Chen Jinjun walked over and patted the second lady on the back, telling her not to be too sad.
"Now that damn Queen Mother is finally gone, and we can finally see the sun." The second lady looked at Chen Jinjun with great emotion in her heart.
"Do you want to hear the story about your mother and me?" The second lady mentioned Chen Jinjun's mother, her eyes crescent like crescent moons.
Chen Jinjun was surprised. She didn't know that the second lady knew her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law had never spoken about the Huo family. Even she knew about the Huo family by reading "Yongzhou City Chronicles" and inquiring about it from Xu Fanming.
"Say." Chen Jinjun sat on the chair next to the second lady and looked at her expectantly.
The second lady raised her face and thought for a while: "That was more than 20 years ago. Your mother and your father went to Jiangnan to discuss business with my mother's Zhong family. I had just got engaged to the Huo family at that time. I was the third
As soon as I saw you, I thought you looked very much like your mother, but your aura is the same as your father's."
"I liked watching my father discuss business at that time, and sometimes I would visit the Zhong family's shop. I wanted to go into business, like your father and your mother, and travel to all the prosperous places in the world with my husband."
The second lady shook her head in disappointment again: "My father said why I, a girl, want to start a business. My mother also said that after I marry into the Huo family, I have to support my husband and raise my children. I can no longer go there every day like I do at home.
Arguing with unreasonable customers in the shop."
"Later Huo Er and I got married, and my parents left the family business to my younger brother. At that time, the Queen Mother of the West blackmailed me into paying a lot of silver, so our distant cousin took the opportunity to drive my younger brother out of the Zhong family.
Now their whereabouts are unknown, and at this time, I have no contact with the Zhong family anymore."
Having said this, the second lady sighed repressedly: "So, when I received your grandfather's letter, I immediately agreed. I thought at that time, if you can be under my knees, I will definitely let you do whatever you want.
, don’t be imprisoned in the high wall of the Huo family like me, and never be able to reach your dreams in your life."
Chen Jinjun suddenly felt sorry for the second lady. Although she had never met her, the second lady never regarded her as her daughter-in-law, but truly regarded her as her own daughter.
Seeing the tears in Chen Jinjun's eyes, the second lady panicked and hurriedly found the handkerchief, deliberately avoiding the embroidery on it, and gently wiped it with the soft silk in the middle: "What's wrong, kid? Do you miss you?"
Mother got married?"
There was guilt in the eyes of the second lady. At this moment, the second lady did not look like her usual tough and overbearing look at all. She looked like a loving mother.
Chen Jinjun shook his head and said he was fine.
The second lady looked at her lovingly, and the maid beside her reminded her that it was getting late.
"Then I'll go back first. If you feel uncomfortable in Huo Mansion, just come to me. I can still talk to you on some things." She patted Chen Jinjun's hand again as if entrusting her.
Chen Jinjun wanted to tell her about the pain of being under house arrest by Huo Tingyu in the Huo Mansion, but seeing the tiredness and age that could not be concealed in the second lady's eyebrows, she held back her words.