When I got home in the evening, Ah Zhen came over and said, "The old lady said that I will entertain guests tonight, and everyone will eat in the small kitchen."
Zhao Ling'er asked Su Yining: "What shall we eat tonight?"
"Let's have hot pot today. My brother and sister-in-law and I had hot pot at your house that day. It felt so good to have everyone gathered together."
Zhao Ling'er looked at it and said, "Okay, why don't we invite Ah Xin, Ah Zhen, Ah Ke, and Ah Wang to eat together."
"Huh? Isn't this... bad?" Su Yi Ning hesitated.
"Oh, it's okay. Let's eat once in a while. It won't damage your master-servant relationship. Besides, they have been with you for more than ten years, right? You have long regarded them as family members, haven't you?"
Su Yi Ning thought for a while and said, "Okay then, it's just that I have never had dinner with them before, so I'm not used to it."
"It doesn't matter. You'll get used to it after eating it a few times. Ah Zhen, go talk to Ah Xin and the others. We'll have hot pot together in the kitchen tonight."
Azhen was a little confused and asked: "Young mistress, you mean... we will eat hot pot with you and the young master?"
Zhao Ling'er said: "Yes."
"Well...this...isn't good," Azhen muttered.
"Oh, come if I ask you to come! It's okay, we're just having a meal together, don't be so formal."
"Okay, I'll call them over."
Everyone finished cooking and sat around together.
The servants and Su Yi Ning were a little at a loss.
"Hey, where's our wine? Ah Zhen goes and gets the wine." Zhao Ling'er said.
Ah Zhen brought the wine and poured a glass for Su Yining and Zhao Ling'er respectively.
"Pour some for yourselves too."
Seeing that everyone had poured the wine, Zhao Ling'er raised his glass and said, "I haven't had a meal with you since I got married. It happened to snow today, so it's a good time to have hot pot together. Come on, let's raise a glass together!"
"Wish us... what do you wish us?"
Zhao Linger looked at Su Yining.
Su Yi Ning shrugged, shook his head and said, "I don't know."
"Then I wish all our wishes will come true and live a long life!"
After drinking a glass of wine, Zhao Ling'er suddenly felt much warmer.
"The mutton is cooked, let's eat together!"
The servants were still a little restrained. They watched Su Yining and Zhao Ling'er pick up the mutton before they dared to take action.
"A Xin, how many years have you been at Su's house?" Zhao Ling'er asked while eating.
Ah Xin looked at Su Yi Ning and said: "I came to serve the young master when I was 7 years old. Now I am 16...I have been here for 9 years."
"Seven years old? So young!" Zhao Ling'er asked in surprise.
"Actually, he grew up with me. His parents were my father's and my mother's personal servants." Su Yi Ning said.
"Oh." Zhao Linger nodded, "Then you must know Su Yining very well!"
Ah Xin nodded: "That's right."
"Did Su Yining do any bad things when she was a child?" Zhao Ling'er asked with a smirk.
Ah Xin thought for a while and said: "I remember when the young master was six or seven years old, I took him out to play once. He carried a kite on his back, not saying it was wings. He stood on the city wall and shouted loudly, 'I want to fly.'"
Hey, I'm going to fly!', and he was about to jump off, which scared me. It was neither standing on the ground waiting nor going back to find my wife. Fortunately, a passing adult rushed up and took him down from behind, otherwise
My sin is huge."
"Also, I remember when the young master was a child, he would give him a bath at night, and he would always splash water on us until we were all soaked!"
"Also, my wife taught him to read, but he refused to read and insisted on playing catch with cats with us. As a result, my wife insisted that we had led him to bad things, and made us kneel in the yard all afternoon."
Zhao Ling'er looked at Su Yi Ning with a smile: "Haha, I didn't expect you to be so naughty when you were a child!"
Su Yi Ning poured herself a glass of wine and said to Ah Xin and the others: "I was not sensible when I was young, and I caused trouble for you all. I will punish myself with a glass of wine."
"Where, where."
"Don't dare."
Several people quickly stood up and had a drink with him.
A Xin said: "Actually, the young master still loves us very much. I remember one winter, he picked up a sparrow that was about to freeze to death in the garden, brought it into the house, covered it with a quilt, and gave it
Feed it water and steamed buns. Unfortunately, it died in the end, and the young master cried for a long time!"
Zhao Ling'er looked at Su Yi Ning, who was eating the food expressionlessly. Zhao Ling'er couldn't help but wonder, is this person that A Xin is talking about Su Yi Ning?
"Axin, you are already 16 years old. Have you ever thought about when you would get married and have children?"
Ah Xin lowered his head in embarrassment and said, "I...hehe, I don't know."
"Oh..." Zhao Ling'er smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will keep this in mind. I'll wait for you..."
Suddenly, the master's personal attendant, A Yuan, knocked on the door outside and asked Su Yining and Zhao Ling'er to come over.
"What does dad want from us so late?" Zhao Ling'er muttered softly.
Entering the hall, Mr. Su smiled and introduced to the guests: "These are my dog and my daughter-in-law. This fire kang was their idea."
The man stood up and said: "Second Young Master is indeed smart! Once the fire bed is lit, the room will be much warmer. You see, I don't need to wear a robe in your house. I only need to wear a single coat. It is really much lighter!"
Zhao Ling'er said: "If I don't mind it, my husband will send a servant to get one for your family tomorrow!"
"Oh, really? That would be great!"
Su Yining said: "You're welcome."
"Okay, please step back."
"It's great, more and more people like my fire bed!" Zhao Ling'er said happily.
Back in the kitchen, Zhao Ling'er told A Xin and the others what had just happened and then asked A Xin: "Do you want to make some extra money?"
When they heard about making money, they were very happy and looked at Zhao Ling'er expectantly.
Zhao Ling'er said: "Since you are already so experienced in building fire pits, why not ask your elder brother to set up a stall in the Yingbin Building. If anyone wants to build a fire pit, I will send you there. Each family charges 500 Wen, what do you think?"
"500 Wen?" A Xin was surprised and delighted: "It's whatever the young lady says, and we don't have any objections."
Zhao Ling'er said: "Let's try this first. If there is anything inappropriate, please report it in time. We can make adjustments at any time."
"Young lady, can you find some kind of job for us? We also want to make some extra money." Ah Zhen looked at Zhao Ling'er and whispered.
"Haha, well, there are plenty of opportunities, but I haven't thought of it yet. Just wait."
The next day, Zhao Ling'er went to the study to get a booklet of the first ten chapters of "Journey to the West" and went to Wu's mother's house.
Wu Jianshen turned over a few pages and wanted to read more, but didn't want to keep Zhao Ling'er waiting, so he reluctantly closed the book and said: "Miss Ling'er, is this the book you are talking about? How can we cooperate?"
Zhao Ling'er said: "This booklet sells well in our Yunzhou. If you are interested, I will supply it to you at the wholesale price. You can take the book to bookstores in other states to promote it, and the difference will be covered by the sale price."