I played as an assistant in ancient times

Chapter 218

Let’s order it later tomorrow...

The sky was just getting light, and it was exactly the hour of Mao when an ordinary blue cloth mule cart with the word "Fu Ji" marked on it drove out of the east gate of the capital city which had just been opened.

It is late spring now, when the weather is still cold. There was another light rain last night, and many coachmen wrapped themselves tightly in their clothes and whipped their carriages.

Old Mai swung the whip and exhaled a breath of cold air.

However, although he was wearing a thin cotton coat, he was wearing a pair of five-finger gloves sewn by the fourth girl in the car, so he did not feel cold.

After a while, two "coughs" were heard in the car, and then an anxious child's voice sounded: "Dad..."

Then there was another series of coughs...

Old Mai slowed down the car and asked from the side: "Fourth Master?"

Inside the car, Mr. Shen Si, who had been fed two sips of water by his daughter, had gradually stopped coughing. There was a slight blush on his fair face, which was caused by coughing too quickly just now.

"It's okay." The gentle voice of the Fourth Master Shen Ruoyun soothed Old Mai. He pulled the reins and continued on his way, but his speed was obviously slower than at the beginning.

Inside the carriage, Shen Xiao stared at Fourth Master Shen while patting his one-year-old brother who was a little nervous. He secretly regretted that he should have listened to Madam Hu the day before and left with Fifth Uncle Hu to set off together instead of rushing them to go to the Tongzhou Villa first to clean and settle down.

There were not many servants in Guiyuan. Although my mother was a daughter of the royal family, she was only from a side branch of the royal family. She had no father or brothers to support her, and no younger brothers and sisters to help her. She grew up under the care of her aunt, and she had no control over any of the family property.

When he got married, he only brought two concubines, a small dowry, 800 acres of land, and a shop.

And his father had been sick for many years, and had been in a deep sleep for half a year since his mother passed away. If he got a little cold wind, he would cough for half a day. He didn't like too many people in the courtyard, so only Madam Hu and her son took care of him.

Grandpa Mai is only responsible for Dad's travel and usually stays in the study in the outer courtyard.

Therefore, Guiyuan was a little short of manpower. Fortunately, Shen Xiao, who had lived two lives as a human, was not really only nine years old. Like his parents, he did not like to be busy in front of others.

In her previous life, she lived to her twenties and was very good at taking care of herself.

"Dad," the younger brother Shen Qillang stretched out his chubby little hand and gently stroked the chest of the Fourth Master Shen Ruoyun.

Fourth Master Shen smiled at his two children, patted his daughter's head, and then took his youngest son and touched his forehead to his. Both father and son soon burst into cheerful laughter.

Shen Xiao also relaxed, and his tense little round face slowly turned into a smile.

He picked up the bamboo tube that his grandmother A Gu had prepared early in the morning and took a big sip of the warm rice oil.

A Gu is very talented in cooking. She is ten years old this year, only one year older than Shen Qiao. Even Chef Fang in the big kitchen has praised her for her work in the stove.

Her parents were on the farm looking after the dowry land of the late Mrs. Shen, and her fifteen-year-old brother was learning martial arts from Uncle Hu.

Before leaving, Shen Xiao asked A Gu to keep an eye on the door, especially the study.

Recently, my great-uncle has been bedridden and has consulted the imperial physician several times. My second cousin from the eldest house wants to continue the title of the Earl of Zhongyi, which has been passed down for three generations. He has gathered the strength of everyone in the mansion to collect rare treasures, hoping that someone can say a few good words to the emperor and ask for an imperial decree to inherit the title.

For this reason, my second cousin begged and snatched away the original Yan sticker that my father had promised to give away.

Lu Hanlin, who had originally requested the sticker, was the most difficult to deal with. If he knew that the sticker had been passed on to someone else, he would come to my house every day in order to snatch some more treasures from my father's study.

Dad was afraid of dealing with people, so he decided to take them back to the ancestral home to live for a few days and go out for a walk.

If my great-uncle cannot survive this, the title of Earl will be taken back.

My grandfather, who was dependent on the Bo family, was a man who didn't care about anything. In the future...

"Seven taels?" Shen Ruoyun looked at her daughter's expression with amusement, sometimes smug, sometimes nervous, and sometimes worried. She was afraid that she would have forehead wrinkles at such a young age. "What are you thinking about?"

"Dad, can Second Uncle really relax all the joints?" Shen Xiao asked, holding the cotton-wrapped bamboo tube and looking up.

Shen Ruoyun patted his son who was already asleep in his arms and whispered softly, "It's very difficult. Since the founding of this dynasty, only one Duke of Ying and Marquis of Yongjing have been able to inherit the title without interruption, and the others have inherited the title for three generations.

Pingjiang Earl is an exception. The previous Pingjiang Earl collapsed while protecting the late emperor.

The prince of their family had just come of age and asked for a title when he took part in the Northern Expedition in the second year of Xuande. He was shot and killed while trying to save the emperor, leaving only one bloodline. That's why there was an imperial decree that the title could be inherited for five generations.

Do you think our house can compare?"

Shen Xiao shook her head. Although her ancestor's four sons and one daughter were all killed in the wars before and after the founding of the country, the only remaining daughter was also granted the title of Lady by Taizu and was allowed to marry a husband to inherit the family line.

She is also one of only two women to be granted a title in this dynasty after the first Marquis of Yongjing.

My eldest uncle and third uncle died in the Northern Expedition. Although they had military merits, that was the duty of a military general.

Shen Ruoyun smiled and said, "I'm going to take you back to Wujiaao to live. Are you afraid of hardship?"

"Don't be afraid!" Shen Xiao felt that no matter how hard it was, she and her brother still owned 800 acres of private property. Even if the Earl's Mansion took back the title and divided the family, and levied a tax of one-third, they would not starve.

Not only did she and her brother have enough food, they also had a grocery store in Tong County. Her father had helped her mother run the store for several years, and even though it was a little far from the canal wharf, they still made more than a hundred taels of silver every year.

"I don't have to work in the fields, wash clothes or cook. I just live in the countryside and have enough food and clothing. What kind of hardship can I endure?"

"Haha, as a father, I want to experience the joy of farming and studying under the farm wall." Shen Ruoyun couldn't help teasing the child.

"Then when you are plowing the land, I can help you with leading the cattle. When you are planting vegetables, I can help with watering. I am very strong!" Shen Xiao also likes the countryside because the air is good. In her previous life, her father died and her mother passed away in a car accident. When she was a child, she lived with her aunt and helped with farm work. She knew how to water the land, plant peanuts, and pick cotton.

After graduation, she started working and was sent to the grassroots mountain villages. Alas, I hope that my aunt, uncle and cousin in my previous life would not be too sad about her sudden death.

Who would have thought that she would encounter a landslide on the way to a meeting in the village, causing her to be reborn as a human again.

Shen Ruoyun laughed and said, "Okay, Dad is waiting for you to lead the cows and water the vegetables."

Inside the carriage, while the father and daughter were chatting about what to plant, the mule cart had already arrived at Datong Bridge Wharf.

Although it was just daybreak, the area near the dock was bustling with people. This was the terminus of the canal transportation and was always busy.

Shen Xiao lifted a corner of the car window curtain and saw the beautiful lake in the distance. Among the reeds on all sides, there were occasional water birds flying and yellow orioles singing.

There are many teahouses and canteens on both sides of the river, and the sounds of hawking are endless.

There were constant traffic on the road, official ships, civilian ships, and cargo ships on the river, people coming and going on the shore to receive goods, send people off, and enjoy the scenery. People and boats were coming and going early in the morning.

Farther away, the shadows of sails on the river surface are dotted, contrasting beautifully with the carriages and horses on land.

Although it is not as lively as the March 3rd Temple Fair, it is still busy in its own way!

As if he had guessed her thoughts, Shen Ruoyun said, "Now is not the time for the grain to be stored in the warehouse. By then, the number of people, carriages, horses and boats will be more than a hundred times that of now."