Ms.Fang genuinely felt like she couldn’t go on anymore, regretting her decision imdiately, thinking, "You truly suffer when you don’t heed the advice of the elderly."
If only she had known, she wouldn’t have co to the capital with Zhou SiLang.
Manbao checked her pulse and changed the prescription.
Even at ho, the dicine was taken from her own storeroom; she prescribed and recorded the pulse case as if treating an outsider.
Manbao fetched a dose of dicine for Ms.Lu from the storeroom and then headed to Jishi Hall with Zhou Liru.
Upon reaching the front yard, they saw Bai Shan and Bai Erlang riding their ponies, causing her to pause.
Bai Shan said, "We have a riding class today."
Bai Erlang proudly stated, "We’ve planned to go for a leisurely ride in the suburbs after class."
Manbao’s gaze at Bai Shan involuntarily carried a hint of resentnt.
Bai Shan smiled and asked, "Do you want to co?"
Manbao said, "Yes!"
Zhou Liru added, "I want to go too."
Manbao replied, "Aren’t you supposed to study dicinal herbs this afternoon?"
Zhou Liru was heartbroken.
Manbao earnestly patted her shoulder, saying, "Study hard, once you’ve mastered it, you can choose when to work and when to go for an outing."
Bai Shan heard this, glanced at her, mounted the horse, and thought: This talk only fools children. She at least has two days off every ten days; he hadn’t seen Doctor Ding ever take a rest.
Zhou Liru didn’t notice this point and was happy at the thought of earning money and having ti for leisure once she mastered dicine, nodding, "Alright."
Aunt and niece got on the carriage and left ho with Bai Shan.
Zhou SiLang, early in the morning, together with Sanzi and others, placed all the tea leaves in the storeroom, set so aside, planning to have Aliudun inspect them.
When he ca out of the storeroom, Manbao and the others were already at work or school.
Sanzi and the others started sweeping with brooms, exclaiming, "Fourth brother, the new house your family rented is so big; we can have two people to a room even with so many of us."
Zhou SiLang hadn’t even explored the place himself but knew that Old Madam Liu had rules—servants could only stay in the front yard while maids were allowed in the back.
Hence, he advised, "Don’t go to the back; that’s where Old Madam Liu and the lady folk live. Be careful not to offend them."
Sanzi replied, "Rest assured, Fourth brother, we know."
Only then did Zhou SiLang take a stroll to the back and found that the residence was indeed large. There were even two empty courtyards at the back.
After his round, when he ca out, Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang had already gone to the restaurant, and there was no inford person at ho; he had nowhere to inquire.
The kitchen cooked so at porridge for Ms.Fang, which she consud before taking dicine.
Ms.Zheng brought along two maids to visit them, intending to familiarize them with the ho and assist in looking after the children.
Zhou SiLang unloaded the preparations from ho, saying, "Madam Bai, these are the items Old Master Bai and Mrs.Bai prepared for you."
Besides what the Bai Family entrusted them to bring, there were various dried vegetables, pickled vegetables, and pickled bamboo shoots prepared by Ms.Qian.
Spring shoots were crunchy and tender; there were many bamboo plants on Qili Village’s mountain. Ms.Qian asked Zhou Dalang and the others to pick plenty of bamboo shoots and pickled two large jars for Manbao.
Zhou SiLang directly unloaded various jars from the cart, while Ms.Zheng looked on, rembering the occasional spicy stir-fried mutton with Ms.Qian’s pickled bamboo shoots she’d eaten, and salivated.
Zhou SiLang placed a large jar down and told Ms.Lu, "Sis-in-law, have Five fetch so good-looking small jars later; I didn’t realize we had moved to a new ho, ask him to divide so of the pickled vegetables in the jar to give to our neighbors."
Zhou SiLang relented a bit, "These were especially for Manbao; she likes to eat pickled vegetables with rice porridge. Now giving them to the neighbors, perhaps only next year will she taste sister-in-law’s pickled vegetables again."
Ms.Zheng promptly said, "Our ho has only three neighbors, not many."
After a pause, she added, "Further away, along this street and adjacent to our house, are rely seven hos."
Zhou SiLang laughed and said, "When giving gifts, at least an entire street should receive; otherwise, if soone lacks them, it might be difficult to interact later on."
Ms.Zheng said, "Going down this street, there are only four houses."
Zhou SiLang: ...
Ms.Lu curiously remarked, "Are the streets in the capital so short?"
Zhou SiLang: No, it’s just that our house is too large.
Zhou Wulang delivered the procured items to the restaurant, then took Zhou Lijun to find Aliudun, and brought them ho.
Aliudun and the others, upon seeing Zhou SiLang, happily approached for shoulder-pats, hugs, and greetings.
Recently, they’ve stayed in the capital, working while searching for the things they needed.
After much deliberation, they found the best choice was to buy salt.
The amount of salt transported from the central plains to the grasslands is fixed and scarce, while salt on the grasslands is far more expensive than in the capital and hard to obtain. Thus, they decided to buy salt to take ho.
This way, they wouldn’t have to buy salt on the grasslands, saving them a lot of money.
Unfortunately, the governnt’s regulations were nurous, and each person was restricted on the amount of salt they could purchase at one ti. But it wasn’t a concern; Zhou SiLang hadn’t returned to the capital yet, aning they had plenty of ti.
Recently, they’ve all been working hard as laborers and, upon returning to the rented courtyard, they purchased the regulatory amount of salt at the salt shop to seal in jars, planning to take it back to the grasslands.
Thanks to their daily efforts, they’ve already acquired two large jars of salt.
The group of Hu people was particularly pleased, unaware they’d long been watched by the capital prefecture.
When they set foot into Zhou Residence, Yin Li beca aware.
Ordinarily, such trivial matters shouldn’t have been reported to him, but Zhou Residence was in Chongyuan Courtyard, where Zhou Man also lived with so standing. More importantly, Zhou Man had so friendship with the capital prefect’s son, hence it was reported to Yin Li.
Basically, difficult people or tricky cases in the capital were always reported to the capital prefect because ordinary people couldn’t suppress them.
Yin Li took one glance and said, "Pass the case to Chang’an County and let the county magistrate investigate."
Yin Li thought of sothing and smiled, "From now on, all cases under Chang’an County, regardless of difficulty, should be handed over to Chang’an first; the county magistrate will naturally report to if unable to handle them."
His subordinate hesitated to ask, "Can County Magistrate Guo suppress those people?"
An abundance of nobles dwelled in the capital, and so idle sons loved to fight for fun.
Yin Li exhaled comfortably, smiling, "Last night His Majesty already announced moving Tang He from the Ministry of Justice to Chang’an County; the decree should be issued early today. Tang He is familiar with Zhou Man, so let him handle it."
The subordinate imdiately congratulated, "With Lord Tang’s assistance, you can enjoy a bit of respite, sir."
The two counties within the capital fell under the jurisdiction of the capital prefecture, along with the city’s overall security. Yin Li often had to conduct military drills, keeping him extrely busy.
Yin Li nodded, sensing he could finally relax significantly.
Unfortunately, Yang Heshu was determined to imrse himself in the Ministry of Revenue and sought outside experience; otherwise, placing him in Wannian County would surely lighten Yin Li’s load considerably.
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