Chapter 168 - Chapter 168: Shopping Can Relieve Your Pressure
Chapter 168: Shopping Can Relieve Your Pressure
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Look at what you’re saying. In the past, Ru ‘er helped me manage the family business, so I still had time to go out. Now, it’s just me. Zongsheng is an official, so he can’t interfere in business matters. How do I have time?”
Zihan comforted her, “Mother, you still have a son. I’ll help you take care of it.’
Everyone realized that Zihan was really getting better. They looked at Qiao Mai happily.
“The medicine you gave me is really effective!”
“I’m not a doctor. This is what someone told me when he gave me this medicine. I took it and let Zihan try it. It’s good that it works. After you finish it, I’ll ask that person to buy another bottle.”
“I’ll get someone to send you 20% of our annual profits,” Wang Zongsheng said sincerely.
“There’s no need. I don’t want anything from you guys. I don’t lack money.”
“Because of this, we treat you as a relative of the Wang family. You must take it.
You and Prince Shunqin will get 20% and 30% respectively.”
“Aren’t you going to give it to the main branch?”
Speaking of this, the Wang family’s face darkened.”No! We’d rather throw the money into the water than give it to them. They have gone overboard.”
Qiao Mai’s mouth twitched. “Alright, I’ll keep it. When are we leaving for home?”
“The day after tomorrow. You’ve been out for a while now. Many things are waiting for you at home. The sooner you go back, the better. The children have also missed quite a few days of homework.”
“Alright, we’ll pack tomorrow.”
As they mentioned about returning home, everyone in the family, except Madam Wang, felt eager. They wanted to go home and rest comfortably for two days.
Although Bichun Garden belonged to Old Mistress Wang, she did not treat it as her home.
To put it bluntly, she did not even treat the Wang family in Wei City as her home. She had long treated Lucky Garden as her home.
As long as she was at the Qiao family’s residence, she could eat and sleep well and do everything with great effort.
The next day, Qiao Mai asked Yue Hong and Yue Xia to clean up. She went south of the city and saw another group of disaster victims, but there were not many.
She didn’t have time to send food, so she gave each family twenty-five taels of silver and asked them to find a way to enter the city to buy food. She did the same for the disaster victims in the north. They probably heard of a kind noble helping them and came for this.
She had done charity twice in Old Mistress Wang’s name.
Therefore, the disaster victims only knew about Old Mistress Wang, not Qiao Mai.
After that, she went to various branded shops. She ate, drank, wore, used, and played. She bought everything she wanted and spent money to her heart’s content.
Sure enough, shopping could relieve stress. No wonder women would shop when they were happy and sad. It was satisfying!
She had the space and shopping platform. She really didn’t care much about ancient items.
However, since she had come to the capital, she had to bring some gifts back for everyone.
After hiring two carriages, she finally returned. Old Mistress Wang was dumbfounded. It was good being rich!
They took five carriages when they came, but it took eight on the way back. It was because the Wang family had also received many gifts.
This time, Wang Zongsheng went with them, bringing many guards on the way.
On the morning of their departure, Jiaru and the young prince came over to send them off. Ru’er hugged this and that reluctantly.
She cried and was despised by Qiao Mai.
“Don’t cry. In the future, I’ll only have the chance to come here more often when you’re in the capital. Besides, we’re in Wei City, so you can take the opportunity to visit. How interesting would it be for you to go back and forth like this?”
“That’s different.
“What’s the difference? You were in Wei City, and I’m in Tianshui Town. You don’t even come to my house for half a year. We didn’t grow apart. Alright, stop crying. Let’s go. If you miss us, write a letter. Let’s go.”
Qiao Mai took the lead and got into the cart. The children came over and said goodbye to Jiaru.
“Aunty, don’t cry. My mother is capable. When the time comes, write a letter and let my mother get you whatever you want to eat.”
“Good boy!”
One by one, they bid her farewell and got into the carriage. Seeing that the carriage had gone far, Jiaru was reluctant to turn around and go back.
“Ru’er, let’s go home?”
Jiaru pouted and glared at him.”Who told you to like me? If you don’t like me,
I’ll still be living a carefree life in Wei City. Humph!”
Then, she got into the carriage in a huff. The young prince liked her personality. He felt that she was cute.
He followed her into the carriage. After coaxing her all the way, the two finally reconciled.
The Wang family left the capital on September 21st and arrived home on October 3rd.
Wang Zongsheng and his wife felt helpless. They passed by their house, but their parents didn’t even linger for a moment. They let the coachman drive the carriage away with Qiao Mai without looking back.
Why did it feel like they were picked up from the streets while Madam Qiao was their biological daughter?
Once they reached home, everyone felt comfortable. They lay on the brick bed and did nothing but sleep.
After Qiao Mai made the arrangements, she settled the accounts for the carriage and walked around the house.
It was October – time for the autumn harvest. She had to pull the seedlings and prepare to cultivate the field.
Before winter arrived, they had to buy a large amount of firewood and charcoal. The more they stored, the better.
Also, she had been away for more than a month, so the stock in her shop would be empty and needed to be replenished.
When she went over to inspect, it was true. Other than some fruits and vegetables they could produce, the other items were all sold out.
Qiao Mai quickly got someone to move the fruits in her courtyard. Baskets after baskets of fruits were brought from outside, but she had picked them from the space and placed them in the room in advance.
With her return, everyone immediately had a leader.
After Shopkeeper Niu arranged all the goods into the inventory, he reported the situation to Qiao Mai for the past month.
“Mistress, the house has been fine this month. The Yuan and Qiao families came to cause trouble once but haven’t come again.”
“What did they do?”
“They knew you were away and wanted to take advantage of the situation. I got someone to chase them out. They wanted to blackmail us into reporting to the government. When the official came, they left after understanding the situation. I gave each official ten taels of silver.”
“Okay, beat them if they come again. Remember these two families and the Tian family of Peach Blossom Village. No matter who comes, break their legs if they dare to cause trouble.”
“Yes, Mistress!”
“Quickly erect a sign at the shop entrance to collect firewood and charcoal.
Remember to get good quality ones.”
“Yes, Mistress!”
“Why hasn’t anyone asked about the shops in the south?”
Shopkeeper Niu shook his head. “They all think it’s expensive.” “Then we won’t rent it. Whoever comes next, say that it’s rented out.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Is Jiaqi coming back at the end of September?”
“He’s back. He stayed home for two days and helped the family with housework every day. The servants at home all said that he is the best.”
“We traveled slowly, or we would have seen him again. There’s no hurry.
Anyway, he must return at the end of this month.”
Qiao Mai got up and left the shop. She looked at the birdhouse and only went to rest after seeing nothing abnormal.
The next day, everyone returned to their normal life.
Qiao Mai divided the gifts into several portions and sent them to the Lu, Qian, and Qin families.
At the same time, she also prepared two small gifts for Liu Ye and Liu Hai to bring home.
In Tianshui Town, not only was the Qiao family busy, but everyone else was busy as well. During the golden autumn season, some people learned from the Qiao family and began to stock up.
It was like making pancakes. One could tell at a glance. Every family was making pancakes after collecting persimmons.
This year, the Qiao family did not do this. They only collected peanuts, corn, chestnuts, and sweet potatoes, all stored in the empty courtyard.
For some reason, it was only mid-October. People had just collected the crops in the fields and brought them home.
It was frosty early in the morning, and the temperature dropped immediately. It was so cold that people couldn’t stand it..