The next day, Ming Teng ate while standing, knowing that he would be beaten when he returned home in the evening. After breakfast, Ming Teng had to go riding no matter how painful his butt was. Even the steady Mingyun had a gleam in his eyes.

Zhou Shuren had finished all his work, so there was really nothing to do. Of course, he wouldn’t let Zhulan go back on her word, so he pushed everything off his agenda.

Zhulan thought Changzhi would also be interested in horse riding, but Changzhi was not interested at all. After dinner, he asked Second Zhou to harness the carriage and took the carriage back to Zhoujia Village.

There was no vegetable growing in the vegetable yard of the house, and the space was quite large. Zhou Shuren took a few children to ride horses in the vegetable garden.

The horses they bought were not good horses to begin with, and they were specially used to pull carriages. Horses were very gentle and friendly, so the children became even braver. Mingyun could ride a horse and even dared to trot on it, which made Zhulan’s heart beat fast.

Horse riding was not only liked by boys but girls too. Zhulan was quite talented in learning horse riding. She learned it with Zhou Shuren at her mother’s house. Zhulan held her two granddaughters and rode for a while.

Xue Han’s eyes sparkled, “Mom, I want to learn too.”

Zhulan didn’t think it was bad for girls to learn horse riding. If girls learned horse riding, they could at least ride a horse when something happened in the future, right? “Okay.”

Zhulan carried her daughter up and taught the little girl the key points. Xuehan was quite talented and brave, and she wanted to run away once she mastered the key points.

The children had a lot of fun in the morning.

Zhulan sat on a chair and watched the children play with a smile on her face. The ancient times were bustling and full of vitality.

Zhou Shuren played with the children for a day and went to the county to meet his friends the next day.

Zhulan was also busy with her work. After a few days, they would return to Pingzhou.

Zhulan first made cotton-padded clothes and small shoes for the two children and then asked Second Zhou to collect a lot of mountain products to bring back for eating in the capital.

Then Zhulan went back to Zhoujia Village again and visited her parents twice. However, the atmosphere at her parents’ home was a bit bad. The three grandsons of the Yang family were all fighting in the war. The war was not over yet, and the Yang family was always worried. The waiting was the most exhausting thing.

By the time Zhulan had met everyone she was supposed to meet and prepared everything she was supposed to do, eight days had passed.

During this period, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the county magistrate’s house. Dong Lin Shi did not mention Zhulan’s punishment of Dong Shi and was still very warm to Zhulan. Zhulan was generous in her gifts, and Dong Lin Shi was also generous in her return gifts.

She guessed it was because she heard from Dong Shi that she liked furs, so Dong Lin Shi’s return git was furs, all of which were top-quality furs, including two fox furs!

When Dong Shi came back from her parent’s home, Zhulan found that Dong Shi was more sensible than before, or it could be said that she was better at hiding her thoughts than before.

On the fifteenth day of Xuemei’s confinement, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went back to Pingzhou.

Zhulan gave all the silver locks for the two children to Xuemei. When the children’s third wash was approaching, Zhulan didn’t allow the celebration because they were twins and she was afraid of causing trouble for the children. The full moon celebration had to be held. Zhulan gave all the silver money for the two children’s full moon celebration to Zhao Shi and gave the money for the full moon banquet to Xuemei.

Finally, Zhulan left fifteen taels of silver for Zhao Shi, which included their monthly allowance for their family of four, as well as some silver for rice and household expenses.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren left. Yushuang and Mingrui cried very hard. Jiang Du and Jiang Miao were used to it. They knew that waìpó and waìgōng were not grandparents, so it was normal to be separated.

But Yu Shuang and Ming Rui couldn’t do that. Although their grandparents had gone away before, they knew they would be back soon. But this time, they don’t know how many months it will take for them to come back!

While Zhulan felt sad, she thought to herself that they were all good children. She opened her eyes after the carriage had gone far away and she could no longer hear the crying. The crying made her feel very uncomfortable.

On the way back to Pingzhou, Zhulan felt listless and had no energy. Only when she returned to her home in Pingzhou did she recover.

Without the second son’s family, the Zhou family seems to be missing a lot of people. The second branch didn’t have much presence before, but now that they were not at home, they had a presence.

The first person to feel it was Boss Zhou. Without Second Brother Zhou, Boss Zhou had to do all the work on his own.

The next one was Dong Shi. Without Zhao Shi’s help, Dong Shi had to take on a lot of work.

The next morning, Zhulan asked Li Shi and Xuehan to pack their luggage and prepare to set off for the capital.

Zhou Shuren found a caravan and would set off in seven days. He had already informed Zhao Bo and Wu Ming that Zhulan and Zhou Shuren would not take the family carriage when they went to the capital this time.

One was left for Second Zhou in his hometown, and the other was left for Chang Lian.

Zhulan brought a lot of things with her to the capital this time, including a whole cart of mountain products and useful things. She also counted some of the gifts she had received and took them with her. She also picked some for Dong Shi to keep, to be used as a gift among family members in the future. The rest of the gifts were sealed in boxes and locked in the house, and she took the key with her.

This was a good thing in ancient times: no one except thieves dared to open things locked by the elders.

The most important thing after returning to Pingzhou was to buy slaves. The place to buy slaves in Pingzhou City was Dongcheng. Zhulan only found out after returning that the officials had brought a lot of slaves to Pingzhou City some time ago.

This was due to the Emperor’s great purge. In several prefectures to the north, one-third of the officials were killed, and the rest were confiscated and exiled. The property of these officials was confiscated, and slaves were also part of the property, so naturally they had to be resold. Every prefecture got some of them for sale.

Many merchants liked to buy these official slaves because they knew a lot about rules and regulations.

It was a pity that the Emperor of this dynasty was a calculating person to the core. Even though the goods could be sold out in one state, he insisted on dividing them into several states. As a result, more people would sell them, and naturally, the highest bidder would get them, and he would make more money.

Zhulan was also very tempted, but she didn’t know if she would be lucky enough to buy it because these slaves were so popular.

Besides, she found out a little too late; the good ones had all been picked up.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went together. Zhulan felt bad looking at the slaves waiting to be sold and reminded herself once again how dangerous survival was in ancient times.

Ren Yazi knew that Zhulan needed a family, and his eyes narrowed. Buying a family of servants would be the most profitable, “Madam, you came a little late, the good ones have been bought, and there is only one family left, which is a little old. Please take a look.”

Zhulan followed the Yazi to the yard. The accommodation conditions were actually quite acceptable. The slaves waiting to be sold were all dressed up cleanly and tidy. Zhulan thought so too. These people were all silver, and to make more silver, they would not be treated too harshly.

There were eight people in a family standing in the yard. The old couple looked to be in their fifties, a couple looked to be in their thirties, and there were four children. Three boys, the oldest was almost twenty years old, the youngest was about eight years old, and there was a girl who looked to be about ten years old.

Zhulan looked carefully. The whole family had their hair neatly combed and stood very neatly. Zhulan understood why this family was left out. The two old people were too old and could not do much work. In a big house, people of this age were basically left alone. Moreover, the old lady was very thin and looked not in good health. There were four children, and the two younger ones were too young and could not do much work. Naturally, no one wanted this family.

(End of this chapter)

---