Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

After passing through Huaitong, the road gradually became easier to walk, and there were more cities and villages along the way.

However, the group of people led by Zhang still did not dare to arbitrarily stay at Sheng Chaoren's site. They either rested in the wild, or rested in the Danba stronghold.

In this way, after walking for several days, the group finally arrived at Rongguang Villa.

Zhang pointed to a few Ale people and brought all the wool to trade in the villa, while the others were placed in a courtyard outside by the North Temple for a while.

The waiting time was a bit boring. Inside the courtyard, a Lama man paced back and forth a little irritably, looking out of the courtyard non-stop.

This time, the Zhang family not only emptied the wool stock of the Ale nationality, but also purchased wool from several surrounding tribes that have good relations with the Ale nationality. Several tribes didn't believe that wool could be exchanged for money, and they decided to take a risk to see if she could really connect with Danba, a big Rong merchant, and borrow his business methods.

In addition to sorting out the wool in the tribe, these tribes also sent several men from the tribe to accompany them.

Once, the wool was transported from the fortress to Cannes, even if the trade route of Danba needed guards to protect it. Second, it was actually to monitor Zhang's actions.

Therefore, when Mrs Zhang left Xiuma's sight at this time, Xiuma was a little anxious.

Disturbed by the sound of his pacing, a big man next to him shouted in the Rong language: "Xuma, please be quiet."

Shuma glanced at him.

If it was someone else who spoke out, Xiuma would definitely have exchanged a few words with him, but the big man who spoke was not only the most impressive of their group, but also the tribe they belonged to, which was relatively the most powerful. .

Xiuma didn't dare to offend him at will, so she found an open space next to him and sat down directly: "Ada, aren't you worried?"

"What are you worried about?" The big man named Ada raised his water bag and took a sip. "It's just some worthless wool on the left and right. It doesn't matter if you lose."

Shuma frowned.

"However, our tribe has spent a lot of time picking out these clean wools before." He bit his lip, "If we can't get things back this time, we'll be busy working in vain."

For a small tribe like Xiuma, wasting time hoarding winter supplies and sorting out a batch of wool is already a consumption of the tribe. If this batch of wool can't be exchanged for something as Zhang said, then their tribe will be very sad this winter.

In fact, he did not agree with the decision of the patriarch. He did not want to fight with the Sheng Chao people, but he also did not want to deal with the Sheng Chao people. Every year, the caravans of the Shengchao people who pass through their tribe will use inferior salt and bitter tea in exchange for a large amount of their fur, cattle and sheep. The young and vigorous Xiuma felt that these people from the Sheng Dynasty were cunning.

Ada sneered.

He said leisurely: "It doesn't matter if you can't exchange things here. Although the Ale people are small, there will always be some people, cattle and sheep. If we go back empty-handed, we will go to the Ale people...hehe."

The meaning of his words is self-evident. A few left-behind Ale men in the courtyard looked at him angrily. After reacting, they shrank back angrily—

With the strength of the Ada tribe, he did have the confidence to say such a thing.

Hearing the words, Xiuma suddenly realized that if Ada's tribe really launched an attack on the Ale tribe, they could also follow behind to pick up some leaks, in short, it would not be in vain.

After thinking about this, he suddenly became enlightened, and he no longer had the previous worries.

Next to him, another small tribe person asked Ada: "But... Ada, will they be trying to trick us here, and then... kill, kill..."

He shrank his neck and said nothing.

Ada glanced at him with contempt, and mocked: "How could your patriarch send out a cowardly and stupid person like you?"

The man opened his mouth, but did not dare to speak again.

When night fell, the Zhang family they were waiting for did not return. It was Rongguang Villa who sent people to bring food for them.

Mrs. Bai took the other cooks to put the food away, turned her head and said to everyone, "Miss Zhang was left to eat by our stewards. These are the dishes prepared for everyone, please enjoy them as you like."

After she finished speaking, she turned to leave.

Ada stopped her and asked in utterly broken Chinese, "Zhang, Mrs. Zhang, come back? When?"

It took Bai Shi a while to figure out what she meant.

She replied, "I don't know either, but Zhuang Nei's remuneration is not ready yet. It will probably be done tomorrow, and Mrs. Zhang should not be back until tomorrow."

Having said that, she smiled and reassured: "You guys have a good rest tonight, there will be news tomorrow."

After Bai Shi finished speaking, he left with people.

The people in this courtyard were sent out by their own patriarchs because they knew some Chinese, but in fact, they were not proficient in Chinese. After Bai left, everyone gathered together for a while, and then they roughly understood what she meant.

However, Bai's whole paragraph contained a lot of information, and the men of the Rong tribe took a guess, saying "Zhang's will be back tomorrow", and then exclaiming "no reward".

The crowd was noisy for a while, but in the end, Ada slapped the scene with his hand.

He picked up the rice porridge brought by the Bai family and the others, took a sip, and then said: "Don't make a noise, I'm so upset! Everyone sit down, eat those who want to eat, and go to sleep for those who don't want to eat. If that woman doesn't come back tomorrow, I'll go out and tell them."

When everyone heard the words, they stopped talking and found a place to eat.

Shuma sat next to Ada, took a mouthful of porridge, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

Rongguang Villa has just had a bumper harvest now. All the new rice in the village is this year. The cooked porridge is not only sticky, but also fragrant and moist, which is very delicious.

The rice and wheat that Xiuma had eaten in the past were all old and moldy grains deliberately made by the merchants, and they were completely incomparable with the new batch of rice brought by the Bai family.

As soon as the porridge water entered his throat, he felt the difference: "This... This villa is really rich, and we use such good things to entertain us."

He suddenly gained some confidence: "Maybe Mrs Zhang really didn't lie to us."

Ada sneered and poured cold water: "Sheng Chao people are the best at doing business, and they are more stingy than Danba. How much can those wools that no one want get in exchange?"

He kept sending food to his mouth with both hands: "It's just right to hurry up and fill your stomach while you have something to eat now."

Xiuma was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yeah."

While he was eating, he took a few wheat biscuits into his arms when everyone was not paying attention. When he looked up, he found that not only was he doing this alone, not only those around him who were from a small clan like him, but even Ada, who was bulging in his arms, obviously hiding something.

Everyone has the same thought.

The food Bai's prepared for them was very sufficient, and they thought they couldn't finish it all. But the group of people ate and took it, and they "cleaned up" the food in no time. But in fact, this group of Rong people only filled seven or eight points, and many of them were quietly stocked up, ready to bring back to the tribe, so that their parents and brothers could also taste it.

After eating, they slept freely in the courtyard.

On the second day, it was just after lunch.

Just when Ada and Xiuma were a little anxious, and even when they were discussing whether to rush out to find Zhang, Zhang finally came back.

This woman, Sheng Chao, who was extremely thin in their eyes, changed her clothes and looked a lot cleaner than before, but she still had that indifferent look on her face.

Seeing her returning alone, Ada stepped forward and asked rudely, "Where's the money? Did they give it?"

Zhang Shi glanced at him.

She could already speak simple Rong language, so she replied in Rong language as well: "No money."

Everyone in the courtyard frowned when they heard the words, and were about to have an attack. Mrs. Zhang said again: "Get ready, we are going back."

After saying this, she turned around and walked outside the courtyard.

How could Ada let her leave like this, hurriedly chased after her, and said in her ear: "What do you mean? Why don't you have money? I warn you, if you don't get the benefits you promised this time, our tribe will definitely..."

Before he could finish speaking, he had already followed Mrs. Zhang out of the courtyard gate and came outside.

Hearing the words, several Aalite men who were arranging carriages turned their heads and looked at him in confusion.

Mr. Zhang glanced at Ada with a blank expression, and ignored him. He turned to his brother-in-law, Gus, and instructed, "These new wheats are very important, and they must be tied tightly."

Gu Sihan smiled and said, "I understand."

Zhang Shi checked it, nodded with satisfaction, and looked back to see Ada still standing there stupidly.

Others in the courtyard took advantage of this time and ran out. They looked at the cart that had been filled with wool before, now full of bags of new wheat, salt and tea, so surprised that they were speechless.

Xiuma suddenly ran forward, took out a handful of wheat from a sack on the ground that had not been loaded into the car, and put it in front of his nose to smell it.

After a while, he said intoxicatedly: "Yes... it's new, just planted..."

Only then did Ada and the others react.

They hurried forward to confirm the supplies one by one.

Compared with the wool that was packed tightly but still had no weight before, the batch of materials returned by Rongguang Mountain Villa seemed to have shrunk several times in terms of volume.

But after Ada and the others went forward to check, they found that the bags were full of good things, the rice and wheat were newly harvested, the salt was clean, and the tea leaves were in clumps. The kind of shreds that Rong merchants trade.

A thin man picked up a whole piece of tea cake and suddenly shouted: "This... in our tribe, we can exchange five sheep... this, this..."

He looked at the big bag of tea cakes in front of him with tears in his eyes, as if he was wondering how many sheep were there.

Zhang Shi let them confirm it for a while, and after a while, he stepped forward and found Ada, the faint leader among these men, and said, "Ada, after we return to the tribe, we will distribute them according to the wool produced by each family.

"Now, let's move faster. It's going to snow next month, but I guess the winter is only just beginning, and the snow won't be too heavy. When I'm ready to go back, hurry up and send wool out before the new year, what do you think? Woolen cloth?"

Only then did Ada and the others react.

The sturdy Rong man swallowed and nodded: "Okay...Okay."

Rao was how calm he was before, seeing these unexpected supplies, his performance was not much better than Xiuma and the others.

Mrs Zhang nodded: "Then hurry up, you guys pack up, we will set off directly in an hour."

Then everyone put down the things in their hands and calmed down the turbulent emotions in their hearts a little.

Some people went back to the yard to pack their things, while more people stayed outside to help pack the things they got back into the car.

Half an hour later, Mrs. Zhang came out to bid farewell to the North Temple for them, and agreed on a time for their next visit.

This group of Rongmen embarked on the journey again, but their future is no longer slim.

——

When Zhang's family sent the wool to Rongguang Villa, Cao Mi was leaning on the heated kang in the palace, and seldom touched the cashmere thread in front of him.

According to her description, Liu Ge has already made out the wool spinning machine. Most of the cashmere that Cao Mi ordered the caravans to buy back during the spring and summer seasons had turned into fine woollen balls.

Cashmere is soft and light because of its texture, which is more convenient to handle. The cashmere thread woven with it is also very soft and skin-friendly.

As soon as Cao Mi's hand touched it, he was reluctant to take it down.

The three children were having a good time on the heated kang. Seeing that she was in love with the **** of cashmere threads, they also came over.

The third child twitched the thread in his hand, raised his head in confusion and asked his brother, "What is this?"

Qi An smiled wickedly, and suddenly said, "You can try it."

Qi Ran has learned countless lessons under his instigation, but every time he turns his head and forgets it, when he hears this, he directly puts the ball of wool in his mouth.

Fortunately, Cao Mi discovered the situation on their side early and stopped Qi Ran's tragic tragedy in time.

She patted Qi An's palm lightly with her hand and frowned, "Don't bully my brother."

Qi An pouted: "I didn't bully him, he wanted to believe it!"

Cao Mi took another shot as punishment: "He believes in you so much, you are a big brother, and you always tease him."

Seeing Qi An's unconcerned appearance, Cao Mi added another example: "Think about it, if Qi Rui deceived you like this, would you be happy?"

Qi An turned to look at Qi Rui, pondered for a moment, and finally nodded, "Got it."

Only then did Cao Mi let him go, and explained to the three: "This is wool, hey, Qi Ran, don't entangle yourself."

Little Fatty tossed for a while, and then with the help of Qi Rui, he rescued himself from the ball of wool.

Seeing this, Cao Mi took the ball of wool back and wrapped it up.

After this, Qi Rui no longer trusts Qi An, so he obediently leaned over to Cao Mi and asked, "Mother, what is this?"

"You can't eat it!" Cao Mi jokingly emphasized to him first.

Qi Ran puffed out her cheeks and nodded.

Cao Mi rubbed the soft wool on his white and tender face, and said, "I used it to make clothes for you. How is it? Is it soft?"

Qi Ran smiled straight at her, nodded "um", and rushed over to grab what was in her hand.

While the two were playing around, Qi Rui, who was intrigued, came to Cao Mi's side, grabbed a ball of wool, and asked, "How does this turn into clothes?"

Hearing this, Cao Mi smiled.

She took Qi Rui aside and took the needle that Liu Ge helped to cut.

Cao Mi grew up in the countryside, and naturally followed his grandmother and mother and learned several stitches for knitting sweaters.

Although I can't come up with the various patterns of modern times, it is not a problem to gradually knit a lined sweater or something.

She originally planned to try it on her own, and then call the embroidered ladies in the house over to teach her, but she didn't expect that the three children were here, so she asked her to show her hands in front of the children first.

Thinking like this, she took a ball of wool dyed light red, wrapped the thread around a needle, and began to try to knit it.

Fortunately, although her technique was a little unfamiliar because she hadn't knitted a sweater for a long time, she didn't have any major flaws.

The three children watched intently by the side, fascinated by it.

Slowly regaining the feeling at the beginning, Cao Mi's hands were getting faster and faster, and in less than half an hour, a small sock appeared in her palm.

In order to be in a hurry, she knitted this sock a little rough, and she didn't use any dazzling stitches. When she fled the socks to Qi Ran's little feet and looked at the "little bag" that didn't fit the soles of her feet anywhere, Cao Mi coughed a little guilty.

But the three children saw that she used two "wood sticks", and first, the **** of wool turned into a "small bag", and they all cheered the venue.

Cao Mi concealed his guilty conscience, pinched his fat feet, and asked, "How are you, are you warm?"

The supporter Wang Qiran, the chubby chicken, nodded as if pecking at the rice, twisted his toes, and replied, "It's so warm."

Cao Mi was amused by him, so he hugged him and said to the three: "In a few days, I will ask the embroidered lady in the house to make clothes for you all from this, it will snow after a while, and you will not be too much outside. cold."

There is something good in the house, Cao Mi has always been here with his three children.

Now that winter is approaching, and seeing that the cold is about to become the number one natural enemy of children, Cao Mi himself has been worried for a while.

You must know that in this day and age, a cold and fever is no small matter. If you are not careful, it may develop into a serious and life-threatening disease.

Before, the heated kang and the ground dragon had been built in the Fuzhong. As soon as the late autumn came, Cao Mi ordered that it should be heated up in several places where the children often played. Now, the cashmere thread was also made out before the snow fell, which really made Cao Mi breathe a sigh of relief.

Just imagine, although the winter in Liaozhou is colder and more severe than that of the capital, the children will not be fully armed with cashmere, and they will be warmed by a heated kang and a dragon. The odds are also much reduced.

And more importantly, with cashmere threads, wool threads should be around the corner.

Cao Mi was thinking about waiting for Liu Ge to handle the first batch of wool sent by Zhang's, so that the refugee women who stayed in the villa Maodong would have something to do.

The sweaters made in this winter can not only meet the needs of the villa, but also find a new channel to sell them when there is more time.

When Qi An heard the words, he touched the cashmere socks on Qi Ran's feet, turned his head and shouted to Cao Mi, "Well, I want too!"

Cao Mi touched his head: "Well, you have it too!"

Taking advantage of the strong interest now, Cao Mi picked up the wool ball and planned to arrange Qi Ran's other foot. Although she has realized her poor craftsmanship, but three children are enough to support her, she is also very happy to weave.

At this time, Dong Li suddenly came in from the outside, and saluted Cao Mi and said, "Princess, Zhang Jiang has sent some papers over here. Does the princess receive them?"

Cao Mi put down the wool that had just started in his hand.

During this time, Liu Ge was dealing with the wool business, and Zhang Mao did not stop working on improving the printing technique.

Before, according to Cao Mi's idea, they made a batch of paper notes, but the effect was not satisfactory. Zhang Mao's side has been optimizing it.

After all, printing is not the same as printing.

Seeing that they have achieved results again, Cao Mi was naturally overjoyed and said, "Well, let them go inside the hall, and I will go outside to see them."

Dong Li nodded, turned around and went out again.

She sat up and said to the mammy next to her, "You take care of the three children", then tidied up her clothes and went out after confirming that it was correct.

In the hall, Zhang Mao and a girl in blue were waiting for her.

The girl in blue is the female master who is good at painting. Her name is Qi Linger, and she is a good age of double eight.

Every time Cao Mi saw Zhou Xue, Qi Linger and the others, he would sigh with emotion for the ability of those noble families in Liaozhou.

Cao Mi sat down on the main seat, and Zhang Mao excitedly presented a small box and said, "Princess, please take a look."

Cao Mi only looked at the appearance of him and Qi Linger, and knew that the paper note thing was probably done.

After all, they had sent two or three batches of paper before, but they were not as excited as they are today.

So Cao Mi opened the box knowingly, and was really attracted by the neat paper in the box.

The paper notes produced in this batch are very delicate, and in terms of appearance, they are already indistinguishable from those modern works that can be imitated.

Cao Mi took out the paper and looked at it, and found that some were printed with flowers and plants, the petals of peach blossoms in March were falling, and the dragonflies in June were just beginning to come up... Some were printed with beautiful portraits that are sought after by scholars nowadays, with different looks. The women stand or sit, each with its own characteristics.

These interesting patterns are either printed in the lower left corner or at the beginning, leaving a large blank space in the middle for people to write, which makes people feel poetic.

Cao Mi flipped through a few pictures left and right, and nodded again and again: "Well, not bad!"

Zhang Mao excitedly introduced to her: "We divide the complete painting into several layers according to the princess's previous suggestion, and then color and print them separately. If you repeat it three or five times, you can get this effect."

Cao Mi nodded: "I'm just making a suggestion, it was made by Zhang Jiang and Ling'er, and the effect is still beyond my expectations."

Zhang Mao and Qi Linger blushed when they heard the words.

Qi Linger said shyly, "The princess likes it."

Cao Mi nodded: "You continue to print on the paper, Zhang Mao, you can send a batch to Linger's side and let them use it.

"As for you... I'll go back and talk to Liu Jiang, and then determine the reward for you."

Zhang Mao and Qi Linger bowed their thanks, and Cao Mi asked them to go back first.

Holding the box of paper, she turned back to the house.

After Cao Mi left, the interest of the three children had turned away from the wool thread. Qi Rui even picked up his book again, letting the twins make a noise next to them without distraction.

Of the three children, although he is the most obedient, he is not as good as the two little ones. Since entering the academy, there has been a little more indifference to happiness and anger, unlike Qi An and Qi Ran, who can be interested in just a little thing.

Cao Mi came to him and held the box in front of him mysteriously: "Rui'er, guess what this is?"

Qi Rui raised his head and gave her a look when he turned the pages.

Seeing Cao Mi insist, he put down the book and slowly opened the box with a cold face.

Then, his eyes widened, he reached out and carefully touched the paper in the box. After a while, he turned his eyes away from the box and looked at Cao Mi expectantly.

Cao Mi looked at his small expression with satisfaction, and suddenly leaned forward and teased, "If you kiss your mother, your mother will give them to you."

Qi Rui was stunned when he heard the words, and then tilted his head back.

His cheeks quickly turned a thin red, but his expression became a little embarrassed.

Qi An noticed what was going on here, and regardless of whether it was 37 or 21, he directly came over and smothered Cao Mi's face with saliva.

He didn't even look at the things in Cao Mi's hands, he just said subconsciously, "Mother, I kiss you, give it to me!"

Cao Mi poked at the soft flesh on his face with a smile, and said, "You don't need these things, so why don't you give it to Brother Rui first?"

Qi An glanced at Qi Rui, pouted, and retorted: "But if the eldest brother doesn't kiss you, he definitely won't."

Before he could finish his sentence, Qi Rui suddenly leaned forward and kissed Cao Mi on the cheek.

Cao Mi was still in a daze, he had already taken the box away and put it tightly in his arms.

The author has something to say: thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 2 bottles of Qiqi on the side of the water and on the left bank; 1 bottle of not forgetting the original intention;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!