Zhulan followed Zhou Shuren’s gaze and saw that the army returning to the court was marching so fast that Zhulan could not see anything. She only saw the raised dust and had a mouthful of dust in her mouth.

Zhou Shuren lowered the car curtain and said, “I think I saw Old Master Zheng’s eldest grandson Zheng Hong and Wu Chun just now.”

Zhulan was excited. “Zheng Yang’s brother Zheng Hong? And Wu Chun? Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong?”

Although she was not their biological gūgū, her zhízi have been very filial to her in the past two years, especially Wu Chun. Every time he went out to escort the goods, he would bring back some local specialities for her gūgū. Even though the Zhou family did not need subsidies, this boy never stopped bringing things back. No matter what he brought back, it was Wu Chun’s love.

Among the three zhízi, ahem, Zhulan has had the longest contact with Wuchun. As their adopted gūgū, she really cared about Wuchun the most. As for the other two, she just thought they were young and should fight, so she only cared about them a little bit.

Now that she heard it might be Wu Chun, her worries were put to rest, but she became depressed again, “Wu Chun doesn’t know we are in the capital, and we can’t find him!”

Zhulan was depressed. The ancient communication was so primitive. If there were phones, they could know each other’s information with just one call!

Zhou Shuren smiled and said, “Aren’t you curious why Wu Chun followed the army back to the court?”

Zhulan was happy for the Yang family and Wuchun, “Why should I be curious about this? Wuchun was a general under the Zheng family and should have continued to guard the border. He must have made a great contribution by being able to return to the capital.”

This time, they captured a leader of a foreign tribe and won another great victory. By now, the news had spread to the capital, and the foreign tribes in the northwest had surrendered.

Zhou Shuren held Zhulan’s hand and said quietly, “You have done a great job by returning to the capital with me!”

Unexpectedly, he helped the Yang family to get the opportunity, and the Yang family really seized the opportunity. He was very happy in his heart, and Wu Chun did a good job!

The carriage stopped for half an hour before it set off again. The entire convoy was excited to see the army returning to the city. The dynasty had just been established not long ago, the bloodshed had not yet been cleansed up, and the people were very brave. The first major battle since the establishment of the dynasty conquered the powerful foreign tribes in the northwest, which was inspiring and the cohesion of the entire dynasty became stronger and stronger.

When the convoy arrived in the capital, they did not see the returning army. They should have returned to the military camp near the capital, rested for a day, and would be entering the capital again tomorrow.

Zhulan thought that was great, she could go to the street to watch tomorrow, and maybe Wuchun could see them!

It was dark when they arrived in the capital, and it was dark when they returned to the house. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren bought a lot of food in Pinggang. Pinggang was a port with many merchants coming and going. Most of the people staying in the inn were merchants, and it was common to exchange goods.

Zhou Shuren and Zhulan met the merchants while having dinner, and asked tentatively if they could buy some. Because of his status as a juren, the merchants actually gave Zhou Shuren face and sold him some.

It was just the beginning of winter and the first snow of the year had not yet fallen. There were still a lot of fruits in the cargo shipped from the south to the north.

Zhulan was in a good mood for investment and was willing to spend money. She bought a basket of apples, a basket of pears, and some persimmons. There were many persimmon trees in the capital, but Zhulan had never seen them in Pingzhou City. Persimmons were not afraid of frost, so Zhulan bought two baskets. She even bought a basket of oranges. It was not that Zhulan did not want to buy more, but that the merchants did not sell more and were waiting to ship them to the north to make more money.

Zhulan also bought some fresh peppers. The peppers were relatively resistant to transportation, but quite a few of them went bad. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to pick and choose, and they were only sold in one basket. Zhulan bought a basket.

The other thing they were selling was dates which was not rare, as they were available in shops in the capital. So Zhulan did not buy any.

Because they bought a lot of things, they hired an extra carriage.

Li Shi stood at the gate and watched baskets of things being carried in. They were covered with straw mats. Li Shi was very curious and asked, “Mom, what did you buy?”

Zhulan walked towards the backyard and said, “They are all fruits. Take some out and wash them and eat them after dinner.”

Li Shi just remembered that she didn’t know her parents were coming home today, so she didn’t cook dinner for them. Although she didn’t have to worry about the food going bad in winter, she still cooked a fixed amount for each meal because she found that ever since the Zhou family’s meals started coming in, well, no one wanted to eat leftovers.

Li Shi said, “Mom, please change your clothes and rest first. I will go cook two more dishes.”

Zhulan was craving pepper-fried eggs and pepper-fried pork, “Oh, by the way, I brought back a basket of fresh peppers, let’s make pepper-fried pork and pepper-fried eggs!”

Li Shi was pleasantly surprised, “Mom, are there fresh peppers?”

When she first came to the capital, she could still see fresh peppers in the market, but now she could no longer see them.

Zhulan nodded, “There should be quite a few that are bad. Let Xinghua pick out the good ones tonight.”

“Ok.”

Zhulan returned to the room, which was a little cold. This was because the people didn’t know that she and Zhou Shuren had returned. Zhulan thought that Li Shi was still not considerate. If it were Zhao Shi or Dong Shi, they would have heated up the small kang in the room regardless of whether she and Zhou Shuren came back or not.

Zhulan sat and waited for a while. Boss Zhou lit the small kang and the charcoal stove in the room. After waiting for a while until the temperature in the room came up, Zhulan changed her clothes.

Zhou Shuren waited for Zhulan to change her clothes, then stood in front of the window and opened a crack. “It’s too dangerous to burn charcoal in the house.”

Zhulan was also worried, “But there is no other way. It is too troublesome to rebuild now, and this house will be sold sooner or later.”

Zhulan missed the air conditioner and the big kang with fire wall!

Zhou Shuren was changing his clothes. He had no other choice but to be more careful.

After dinner, Mingteng was the happiest. He got to eat apples in winter, which was something he could never have imagined in Pingzhou or his hometown.

Zhulan saw that Li Shi had only washed apples and pears, “Where are the oranges and persimmons?”

Li Shi exclaimed, “Those are oranges and persimmons!”

Zhulan was silent. Oh, right, let alone Li Shi. She had been here for almost three years and only saw these fruits this year when she came to the capital. Not to mention Li Shi, ordinary people in Northeast China had only heard of these fruits but had never seen them.

Zhulan: “Well, go get some oranges and persimmons.”

Li Shi stood up happily. She really enjoyed herself following her mother-in-law. Oh, this was the orange the neighbor was talking about. Humph, she let the neighbor’s wife show off, and this time she got to eat it too!

Li Shi didn’t dare to take more, and only took five oranges and five persimmons. She originally wanted to take four, but four didn’t sound good, so she took five.

Li Shi thought to herself, her parents each got an orange, she and the head of the family got one, her younger sister got one, and the two kids got one. Now there was one more, well, she didn’t have to share one with the head of the family.

Zhulan saw that there were five oranges and five persimmons each, and she divided them exactly as Li Shi had thought, with Li Shi and Boss Zhou each getting one orange and one persimmon.

Li Shi grinned. She was getting smarter and smarter. She could even guess what her mother-in-law was thinking.

Zhulan was about to ask how to eat an orange, but Li Shi took a bite and said, “.”

Li Shi said with a snort, “Mom, oranges are not delicious at all. The neighbor’s daughter-in-law lied to me. She said oranges are sweet and sour!”

Zhulan: “She didn’t lie to you.”

Due to the problem of varieties in ancient times and the lack of modern sweetening agents, the taste was indeed sweet and sour. Of course, there were also good varieties that were not circulated on the market and were supplied to the palace.

Zhulan demonstrated how to eat an orange, “Peel it first.”

Li Shi: “.”

She embarrassed herself again and embarrassed the adults as well.

Mingteng was not polite to his mother at all and laughed out loud. Boss Zhou couldn’t help laughing, “You are impatient.”

Li Shi, “.”

Now even her son bullied her!

The next morning, Zhulan and Li Shi went out to the street early. Zhulan had come early enough, but the street was still crowded. She wanted to go to the restaurants on both sides, but unfortunately, they were basically booked by the rich and powerful!

Li Shi was very depressed. It was the first time she saw her mother-in-law so excited. Alas, the crowd was crowded and she saw her father-in-law was so weak. Her father-in-law couldn’t protect her mother-in-law. Only she could do it. “Make way, make way.”

(End of this chapter)

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