He didn't abolish too many rules, nor did he remove too many etiquettes. For this courtyard on Yanhe Li near the Great Goods Street, the change in the atmosphere began at the end of autumn, when the male master returned.
For the old servants who had followed the Su family all the way to the north, perhaps they had never thought that the family would become so relaxed after they went north. The Su family in Jiangning was a big family. Although it was not the kind of family that was very sophisticated, the way they ran the family had its own principles. After Su Tan 'er led her family to the north and settled down here, she maintained the same atmosphere, especially when the male master was absent. As a woman in her early twenties, if she wanted to take charge of the family, she had to be dignified. However, after Ning Yi came back, everything changed subtly.
It was not a deliberate change, but something like the atmosphere existed in the most common words and deeds. Ning Yi had always been kind at home, and sometimes even a little reckless. After autumn, in this winter, Su Tan 'er followed her husband's pace, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and adapted to this change. Sometimes, this kind of casual behavior would even damage her dignity as the mistress of the house. Sometimes, she felt that she had been tossed around like a young girl, and she could laugh and be happy without restraint. But in fact, when she was a young girl, she actually didn't think she was so childish.
Since the first time she made it clear that she wanted to go into business, she had always maintained her "mature" mentality. In this world, what kind of manners a woman should have, what kind of dignity a master should have, what kind of behavior a wife and mother should have, had always been very clear to her, and she could indeed do it very well.
Ever since she and Ning Yi got married, especially after they understood each other and were able to communicate, there were many happy days. Of course, since she went south to Hangzhou, there had been a lot of things to do. Later, she faced Fang La's rebellion, separation, and destruction of the family. She had never thought that she would become even more childish now that she was a mother. Sometimes, when her husband teased her, she would be so angry that she wanted to kill him. Not long ago, she was disguised as a man, and he dragged her to a poetry meeting to join in the fun. Later, when they went to the lantern market and guessed lantern riddles, she also realized that her husband was not omnipotent.
She couldn't tell whether it was because she was happy or not. In front of outsiders, she still tried to maintain the dignity of a mistress when it came to managing the cloth shop and building a new workshop. In the eyes of the servants at home, she might still be the more terrifying mistress compared to the male master, but there were always times when she was forced to maintain some image. She could only slowly adapt and experience some feelings that she had never experienced before.
"Wah … don't bite me, Xiao Xi. Mother is washing my face. If you put more saliva on it, Mother will wash it for you too …"
In the bustling bedroom, Su Tan 'er was washing her face. Ning Xi opened her arms and wanted to lean towards her mother. After Xiaochan carried her over, she realized that the child was going to smear her face with saliva. She quickly smiled and scared him away with a towel. Ning Yi turned on the wind in the room, then closed the window and took the child with a smile.
"I want to kiss you, not smear saliva. Our Xiao Xi gave you a kiss, but you didn't accept it. Come, give your great father a … uh, don't give? Have character, try your Aunt Xiaochan … "
After washing up in the morning, Xiaochan and Juan 'er took the basin of water out and went to the kitchen to supervise the breakfast. Tan 'er took the child and sat by the bed to feed him breakfast. These days, although the family hired a wet nurse, Tan' er still nursed the child by herself most of the time. Ning Yi sat by the bed and discussed with her about the child's second baby tooth.
"When it grows two more, he'll really bite me …"
Having just washed her face, Su Tan 'er's face was clean and her hair was a little messy. Because she didn't want to be bitten, her tone was a little melancholy, but her face was also a little red. When Xiao Xi grew her first baby tooth not long ago, she secretly told Ning Yi about this. Babies wouldn't feel sorry for their mother's pain. When they were talking about this, the two of them were lying under the blankets. Ning Yi even tested it with her and let her taste the feeling of being bitten. For Su Tan 'er, even if Ning Yi did everything to her, she still felt a little ashamed when she thought about it.
They would only talk about this kind of thing when they were alone. Soon after dressing up and going out, Tan 'er would be the dignified and calm mistress of the Ning family and the shrewd businesswoman. In fact, she was already a mother and had a lot of self-awareness. She already had a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders. She was just like a girl who had just entered university in the future. At this moment, she had already taken it for granted that she had to shoulder half of the family, or even the entire family. On the contrary, the occasional youthful joy that Ning Yi had unearthed was perhaps what she thought was an extra reward …
This kind of feeling sometimes made Ning Yi feel warm.
"… Actually, speaking of which, the workshops outside the city are about to be completed. If we can get the first business from the Lu family, I'm afraid we'll have a lot of things to do before the end of the year. But it's starting to snow now. I plan to visit the new workers one by one. My dear husband, do you think we should send some cotton cloth or some charcoal …? "
She gently patted the child on her chest. After a little gossip, she entered the thinking of a strong woman again. Ning Yi did not approve of her running around in the snow. He only said that it would be fine to let the manager go. Su Tan 'er thought that since her family had just arrived in Bianliang, the manager might not be famous among the workers, so it would be more important for the owner to go there. The two talked for a while, and a relative noise came from outside. It meant that the young people in the family had come back from practicing martial arts in the morning. It was almost time for breakfast.
After coming from Jiangning, in addition to some accountants, housekeepers, guards, cooks, and handymen, there were also cousins such as Wen Ding and Wen Fang. Plus the newly hired servants, there were a total of 50 people living in the four courtyards. It was quite a lively scene. In order to avoid the situation where a group of young people did not know how to hold a knife again, like the Su family, Ning Yi asked his brothers in the family to train as much as possible. He asked Lu Junyi to teach them as much as possible in the past few months. Most of the time, it was actually Yan Qing who urged them to train.
After returning from Shandong, some of the Liangshan generals who had surrendered, such as Qin Ming, Guan Sheng, and others, were put into some military formations that had a good relationship with the Right Minister's Residence after being cleared by Qin Siyuan. Yan Qing was very capable. Ning Yi suggested to let him join the Office of Secret Investigations, but this kind of thing was not important to Yan Qing. He wanted to wait until Lu Junyi was cleared before considering other things.
And although Ning Yi promised to clear Lu Junyi's name, some of the follow-up things were actually more troublesome. Liang Zhongshu, who had participated in framing Lu Junyi, was Cai Jing's son-in-law. In order to clear Lu Junyi's name, Qin Siyuan had several negotiations with Cai Jing. Both sides took a step back. It was easy to clear Lu Junyi's name, but it was very troublesome to take back the family property and so on. On the other hand, Lu Junyi was suitable for military formations, while Yan Qing was suitable for intelligence. Qin Siyuan seemed to have a good impression of Lu Junyi during this time. He wanted to wait until there was a more suitable position to make arrangements for him, so he put it aside for a while.
Ning Yi felt somewhat guilty about this. When he had nothing to do, he visited Lu Junyi and Yan Qing several times. In fact, according to Lu and Yan, they probably wanted to keep a respectful distance from Ning Yi, because once this guy used a trick, he was too cruel and too vicious. But after a few visits, perhaps they felt that there was no harm in making friends. Not long after, Ning Yi asked Lu Junyi to teach martial arts to Wen Ding, Wen Fang, and the others in the family, and Lu Junyi also agreed.
Just like that, during this period of time, before the sun rose, the group of young people in the Su family would go out to train, mainly to strengthen their bodies.
Not long after, the side hall where the Su family ate became lively. This side hall wasn't small, and it was also warmed by a honeycomb stove. When Ning Yi and Tan 'er came over, the relatives and housekeepers were all there. Wen Ding, Wen Fang, and the others had already washed their faces and changed their clothes. Su Yanping took an egg and put it on her face. She had probably been hit in the fight earlier, but at this time, she was still laughing and joking with others as she put it on. Only when Ning Yi and his wife came in did everyone calm down and greet them.
"Second Sister."
"Second Brother-in-law, good morning."
"Second Brother-in-law, where is Ning Xi …"
To others, perhaps they didn't know the ins and outs of this family, they would feel that the female owner was far more dignified than the male owner. Sometimes, they might even feel that it wasn't easy to get along with them. But in the eyes of Wen Ding and Wen Fang, the true backbone of this family was actually Ning Yi. In Jiangning, he forced the Liangshan bandits to retreat alone, and then in three months, he flattened the Liangshan Lake. After that, no matter how kind he acted, maybe some people would feel that he was close, but no one would think that he was kind. And as long as he was there, at least this small family would maintain an imposing aura and move forward.
"Don't call me Ning Xi, Su Wending you bastard, you went to tease him yesterday and made him cry. I had to coax him for so long."
While Ning Yi was laughing and scolding, Xing'er pushed open the curtain and came in, pushing the wooden baby carriage. Wen Ding and the others laughed and rushed over, running to tease the child. Su Tan 'er pursed her lips and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Such teasing usually didn't end well. The child would laugh at the start, but not long after, he would cry unbearably from the humiliation. And because of her previous experience, Xing 'er had already turned the pram around and started to run away. The few stewards in the room and the slightly older Su family accountant were still smiling as they watched the entire situation unfold.
Not long after, all sorts of breakfast were sent up. During this period of hustle and bustle, it was also time for everyone to decide what to do today. In this Ning family, Su Wending and a few shopkeepers were basically helping Su Tan 'er manage the cloth shop. Recently, many things had been prepared. Su Wenfang, Su Yanping and a few others from the family were arranged by Ning Yi to the large courtyard outside the city. They were in charge of all sorts of messy things, such as creative acrobatics, the forging of tools for making honeycomb briquette in the smelting department, the management of the meals of the workers in the courtyard, the records of rewards and so on.
The big courtyard that Ning Yi tidied up was still in a mess. The whole system was not fully formed yet. Although the salary and rewards were generous, in fact, the recruited workers were not completely clear about what they needed to do. In the smelting department, some blacksmiths were hired to forge things according to instructions. In the papermaking workshop, Su Yanping was in charge of supervising the workers to experiment with various papermaking materials and processes. Many ideas were still put forward by Ning Yi, and they were carried out step by step.
In fact, in the kiln, several kinds of fireproof bricks that were not easy to break had already been produced. Since Ning Yi had dabbled in these materials before, the results had been achieved in a few months. The most important thing was to be used as the liner of the coal stove.
At this time, if they wanted to make a movable honeycomb briquette stove, it was actually very difficult to wrap it with iron sheets. The cost of making iron sheets was too high. If they used bamboo or wood shells and wrapped iron wires around the outside, they would have to consider the effect of heat insulation. Therefore, it took about two months for this simple thing to be put on sale, and the iron wires still accounted for a part of the cost.
In addition to these things, in the eyes of outsiders, the juggling troupe was experimenting with all kinds of strange creative magic. According to Ning Yi's expectations, it should be a brainstorming group to make systematic creative plans for all kinds of things. However, it was difficult to gather a group of smart people to do this kind of thing. Previously, when Jiangning was managing Takeshi, Ning Yi had already begun to pay attention to the juggling craftsmen. At this time, he gathered some craftsmen who were barely usable and asked them to help with creative magic and juggling.
It could be said that the whole thing in the courtyard was not on the right track at all. Currently, there was not much subjective initiative among the workers. At this time, Ning Yi could only slowly create a reward and punishment system in the chaos. For example, in the honeycomb briquette case, when the basic process was done, a part of the people would be moved to build the workshop, and a few skilled craftsmen with the ability to innovate would be left behind.
When the papermaking side could come up with practical results, Ning Yi would also move a part of the people away, leaving behind craftsmen who could innovate, and the rest would follow the same routine. Such a system, rewards, and guidance would not be done in a day or two, but fortunately for Ning Yi, the whole system was not very troublesome.
In the whole courtyard, the most subjective initiative was probably the gunpowder side, because the person working inside was Gongsun Sheng, the "Dragon in the Clouds" of Liangshan. He was captured when Liangshan was destroyed and chose to surrender. After Ning Yi investigated him, he found that this leader of Liangshan, who was said to be able to summon the wind and summon the rain, was actually best at alchemy. Although he was quite skilled in martial arts, he was actually obsessed with all kinds of strange research.
After asking the opinions of Lu Junyi, Yan Qing, Qin Ming, and many others, Ning Yi chatted with this Mr. Gongsun about physical chemistry for a few days, and showed him the gunpowder and other things. Finally, he decided to support his alchemy research and rope in a technical geek. Although their cognitive systems were very different, at least many of Ning Yi's ideas could be studied by the other party. He had been fiddling with things like sulfuric acid and nitric acid for a long time, but for these alchemists, they had enough ability to prepare them. It could be considered a good start in the entire chemical research.
"But … Second Brother-in-law, you really shouldn't have given him the gunpowder formula. Recently, Mr. Gongsun has been making explosions in the courtyard all day. Sooner or later, he will kill himself … Second Brother-in-law, you know those Taoist priests have a way to throw gunpowder out and ignite it. Yesterday, Mr. Gongsun threw a fire and burned his sleeves. We hurriedly took things to hit him, but fortunately, he was fine …"
While eating steamed buns, Su Wenfang talked about this matter. Everyone was also talking about it. Ning Yi drank his soy milk and laughed.
"Ahem, it's okay, just watch him and do some experiments … Today, I'm going to take a look at that refractory brick. As long as there are no problems with the process, I'm going to sell it … Yan Ping, get ready. I'll tell you how to do it today. We'll only do it for the first one or two years at most. Fast in and fast out. This kind of thing doesn't require much technology. Once it's done, others will imitate it in a short period of time. At that time, we'll sell it at a reasonable price. This is just for you to try it out, but don't let your guard down …"
Everyone was talking and laughing. Tan'Er was eating quietly, smiling as she watched Ning Yi and her group of cousins chatting. In the cloth business, her style was more robust, but she was not good at how to cultivate the people around her. Only in front of their husbands could these youths, who were originally mediocre and lazy in the Su Family, display such vigor.
After talking for a while, Su Yanping said, "I heard that Wenyu will be back in a few days, and that Wang Shanyue."
He had gone to the north with Su Wenyu before, and Su Wenyu stayed in Shandong to do things. Now that he could finally follow Ning Yi to manage one side of things, he missed this brother a little. Ning Yi smiled and said, "It's probably because of the heavy snow, but he should be back in two days. After the New Year, Zhu Biao from Zhu Village will also come over. At that time, he will be the one to train you in martial arts. He's very good, so don't let your guard down. "
Su Wending spread his hands and smiled. "We're very good now too!" Everyone laughed and agreed. Ning Yi smiled and shook his head. "A bunch of bastards, just wait to be beaten up."
After returning to Bianliang, Ning Yi actually had a lot of contact with the Wang family. The Wang family used to be famous for making ink, but after coming to the capital, due to the death of Wang Qisong and the other male members of the Wang family, the ink making skills had been lost. Most of what they did was selling ancient books and other miscellaneous things. Ning Yi contacted them for a while, and Su Tan'er also visited them a few times, hoping that they could run some printing and book publishing businesses, and Ning Yi could make plans and help them manage it.
After all, this was the world of scholars, not the world of merchants. The Wang family publishing books and the Ning family publishing books were two different concepts. Even if some messy things happened in the future, with the Wang family's reputation in front of them, no official would dare to interfere. However, these things could only be officially confirmed after Wang Shanyue returned.
The family had a lively breakfast and went back to their rooms. Tan'er changed into clothes for going out and put on a fox fur coat. She held the child and sat in Ning Yi's arms, talking for a while. Her small face under the fox fur coat occasionally showed a pure and beautiful smile like a young girl. Not long after, the carriage was ready outside. When Xing'er came, Su Yanping had also come to find Ning Yi. When she waved her little hand to send her out with the child in her arms, Su Tan'er also smiled and waved back. However, when she stepped out of the courtyard, the sunlight shone on her fair face. She had returned to the calmness that belonged to Su Tan'er …
*****
In the suburbs of Bianliang.
For half the morning, Zuo Houwen sat in the carriage and watched the figure of the woman going in and out of the opposite courtyard. There was a new cloth workshop over there. Recently, there had been a lot of things being transported and moved in. Although it was snowing today, it was still the same. A batch of looms was transported over, and the workers moved in. A woman dressed in a fox fur coat, who looked like the owner of the house, looked back and forth and gave orders. The woman had a woman's bun, but her face was plain and beautiful. From her appearance alone, she looked very young, but her temperament was not to be underestimated. She had a smile on her face, and although she did not speak much, she had her own imposing manner. Often, with a few clean words, she could make people obey her orders.
Young, gentle, and mature temperament blended together like that. In the heavy snow, she was like a proud daffodil blooming proudly.
He was already in his forties, and the cloth shop under his name was only a small business. He just came over to take a look, and did not expect to see such a strange woman. He could not help but stop the carriage. He had also seen some women from merchant families, or those who supported the family after the death of their husbands, but they were somewhat different from the woman in front of him. In the heavy snow, she looked too young, plain, and too calm. It was different from the calmness of ordinary merchant women.
"Who is that?" He put down the Book of Poems in his hand and asked the supervisor of the workshop.
"She is new. The cloth shop seems to be called Su Shi, but I heard that the owner's surname is Ning. That woman calls herself Madam Ning."
"Su Shi? Ning family? So strange? Her husband's family died? Letting a woman show her face in public? "
"I don't think so. She came a few times, a scholar …"
"So it's like that." Zuo Houwen frowned, and roughly understood. It was not uncommon for a scholar to marry a merchant's daughter, but the scholar who was willing to do such a thing also had a limited backbone. "Next time ask for her name … Supervisor Liu, let's go back. After we go back, see if there is … an invitation from this Ning family."
At the same time, in a large courtyard outside the city, Ning Yi and Su Yanping were squatting on the ground looking at the baked bricks. Not long after, someone handed over an invitation, saying that there was an invitation from the Prime Minister's residence – Wang Shanyue and Su Wenyu had returned. "Su Shi? Ning family? So strange? Her husband's family died? Letting a woman show her face in public? "
"I don't think so. She came a few times, a scholar …"
"So it's like that." Zuo Houwen frowned, and roughly understood. It was not uncommon for a scholar to marry a merchant's daughter, but the scholar who was willing to do such a thing also had a limited backbone. "Next time ask for her name … Supervisor Liu, let's go back. After we go back, see if there is … an invitation from this Ning family."
At the same time, in a large courtyard outside the city, Ning Yi and Su Yanping were squatting on the ground looking at the baked bricks. Not long after, someone handed over an invitation, saying that there was an invitation from the Prime Minister's residence – Wang Shanyue and Su Wenyu had returned.
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