This time there was no rush. Zhulan could finally take a good look at nature. The scenery in Northeast China in autumn was so beautiful. It was the season when the leaves changed colors. The forest was colorful, especially the red maple leaves. The fiery red was so beautiful. Zhulan collected quite a few.

Zhulan carefully picked quite a few intact leaves and pressed them with paper for storage. She had made specimens when she was a child, and although the conditions in ancient times were limited, she wanted to give it a try. Once she reached the capital, she thought about making her own maple tree.

Zhulan found a job for herself. Every time the caravan stopped in the wild, she would take Li Shi and the others to pick up leaves. And they didn’t just pick up maple leaves, they would pick up some beautiful leaves as well.

Zhou Shuren was happy that Zhulan had found an interest and sometimes would help pick up the trash.

Boss Zhou was used to it. His father supported his mother in whatever she did. Zhou Shuren’s behavior also let the newly bought servants know how high the status of Zhulan, the mistress, was.

Sometimes, Zhulan would also paint some pictures. During this trip to the capital, Zhulan didn’t feel tired at all.

Zhulan had a good rest every day and had things to do, so she didn’t feel how much time had passed before she had already covered most of the journey.

The weather was good for most of the journey. It started raining this morning and it got heavier in the afternoon. There were mountain roads ahead and the escort was afraid of accidents based on his experience, so they decided to take shelter in a nearby village.

The escort leader was familiar with the village. It was a large village nearby with about fifty households. There were mountains and forests nearby and many hunters.

When the caravan entered the village, the escort had stayed there before and knew which house had the most vacant rooms in the village.

After listening to the escort’s introduction, Zhulan’s family did not choose the head of the village but chose a hunter’s family. Zhulan wanted to see if there were any good furs.

Zhao Bo and Wu Ming together chose a family with a simple population.

The carriage Zhulan hired arrived at the door of the house she was going to stay at. The family opened the door and welcomed her in warmly. The hostess said, “We just married our son and built a few new rooms. They are now empty. Please come this way.”

Zhulan held an umbrella and looked at the family. The family’s surname was Liu, and they were a wealthy family in the village. They had indeed built several new rooms, and the roofs were covered with green tiles!
Zhulan said politely, “We are sorry to bother you by staying at your house.”

Liu Zhang Shi thought that wealthy families were all about being elegant. “Just call me Liu Zhang Shi. There are four empty rooms in total. Firewood and other things are readily available. Madam, just tell me if you need anything.”

Zhulan smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Four rooms were enough for them. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren shared one room, Li Shi stayed with several girls in another, the eldest stayed with the men in a third, and the remaining room was for the coachman who drove the carriage.

As for the escorts, Zhulan didn’t need to worry about them, they would find a place to live by themselves.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren entered the house. The house was newly built and there was nothing in it. So they didn’t need to move things and replace them with their own things. They could just use what they brought from home.

Li Shi was busy with Xinghua for a while. The kang mat and quilt were laid out. It was raining heavily outside and the quilt was a little wet.

Li Shi arranged the pottery jars, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc., and then went into the house and said, “Mom, you and Dad sit for a while. I’ll go borrow an iron pot and boil some water to wash the dirty clothes.”

Zhulan took out two coins of silver. They had to pay silver to stay with them, one hundred coins a day. They could use firewood and water as they liked, but they needed to pay for other things.

Zhulan handed it to Li Shi, “This money is for Liu Zhang Shi.”

Li Shi took the money and said, “Mom, you should take a rest first.”

Zhulan waited for Li Shi to leave and said to Zhou Shuren, “It’s good to be a mother-in-law. I didn’t even need to help you along the way.”

Zhou Shuren held up a handkerchief and said, “Your hair is all wet. Let me wipe it for you.”

Zhulan sat over, feeling very happy. She really enjoyed the trip. Li Shi took care of the meals and Zhou Shuren took care of the rest. She only had to focus on sightseeing!

Li Shi came back quickly, “Mom, Mom.”

Li Shi rushed into the house and saw her father-in-law with a dark face. Then she saw her father-in-law combing her mother-in-law’s hair and was stunned.

Zhulan was silent. Seeing Li Shi’s dazed look, she gritted her teeth. The eldest couple were indeed more annoying than light bulbs as Zhou Shuren said. What a good atmosphere just now. “What’s wrong?”

Li Shi didn’t dare to look at her father-in-law who was still combing her mother-in-law’s hair, and shrank her neck, “Mom, I saw Zhang Sanni, she is the new third daughter-in-law of this family.”

Zhulan blinked her eyes, “Are you sure?”

Li Shi said, “I am definitely not mistaken. When I came out of Liu Zhang Shi’s room, I ran into Zhang Sanni head-on. She was dressed like a new bride!”

Zhulan thought that Li Shi was at best surprised, and Zhang Sanni was frightened. However, this girl was amazing. She actually married herself off, and she was quite good at choosing people to marry. “I know. If she doesn’t tell you, just pretend you don’t know her.”

Li Shi wanted to slip away. She had never expected that her father-in-law would comb her mother-in-law’s hair in private. He looked very skilled and had done it a lot. She lowered her head and said, “Mom, I’m going out. Um, I didn’t see anything just now.”

After saying that, she quickly slipped away. When she left the room, Li Shi patted her chest. She saw something she shouldn’t have seen. No wonder the head of the family warned her that she must knock on the door before entering!

Li Shi felt a little jealous again. After so many years of marriage, the head of the family had never combed her hair. They were both his father’s sons, but the second son was the most like his father and loved his wife. When Li Shi thought that the head of the family would only bully her, she pursed her lips and became unhappy.

In the room, Zhulan tied her hair up. It was raining outside and the room was quite dim. Zhulan lit two candles, and the room became a little brighter.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren changed their wet clothes. Zhulan told Zhou Shuren to watch the kang and not forget to turn over the wet quilt. She took the dirty clothes out to wash them.

Even though Xinghua was at home, Zhulan insisted on doing her own laundry. Li Shi wanted Xinghua to do the laundry, but unfortunately, Zhulan didn’t want to do it, and Li Shi didn’t dare to do it either.

The water in the pot did not need to be boiled, just warm water would do. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn’t have many clothes, and they didn’t move anything. The clothes were not dirty and were easy to wash. They were washed in a short while.

After Zhulan heard what happened with Zhang Sanni, she didn’t really take it to heart. Instead, Zhang Sanni in the opposite room was feeling very worried.

It was all because after Zhang Sanni exchanged the deed, her luck was both good and bad. It was bad to say the least, because when she and Wang Xin went to exchange the deed, if they wanted to do it smoothly, they had to give silver. The two maids took out the silver and the deed was exchanged, but they were also being targeted.

She didn’t dare to stay in the city, so she took the deed, shook off Wang Xin, and ran away. She was not stupid, she was much better looking than Wang Xin. No one could look at Wang Xin without makeup, but she was different. She was lucky that her current husband happened to go to the city to sell wild animals.

Later, he helped her. She didn’t dare to go alone. After several attempts, her husband knew that she was single and had no bad intentions. Then she made up a story about her life, saying that she didn’t want to go back to Zhoujia Village, and then she followed her husband back to the village.

She also successfully recognized an old childless woman as her godmother and got married successfully. Unexpectedly, she would meet the Zhou family again.

(End of this chapter)

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