“Have you made up your mind about the name of your daughter?” Zhao Jinge asked again.

Jiang Zhen froze . . . He . . . still hadn’t decided. Why did he feel like all the names in the world were not worthy of his daughter?

“Otherwise . . . should we call her Mingzhu (Pearl)?” Zhao Jinge asked. “I saw this word today, called ‘the apple of the eye’ . . .” Even during confinement, Zhao Jinge still read books to his daughter.

“OK, just call her Mingzhu,” Jiang Zhen decided. “This name’s meaning is very good. It’s also easy to hear and remember!” He really couldn’t think of a better name.

Jiang Zhen’s eldest daughter had been named Zhao Mingzhu since then. The apple of his eye, his full moon. Jiang Zhen specially sent some things to his subordinates to celebrate.

Originally, he wanted to have a full moon wine, but later, he found that the Zhao family had no relatives, and he could only invite his own men. So he simply sent them wine; it was cheaper than to buy them a meal and a wine.

Jiang Zhen was very happy with the first month celebration, but the happiest one was still Zhao Jinge. He could finally go out! Could finally take a bath!

Although Jiang Zhen insisted that he could wipe his body this month, he could not take a comfortable bath. He always felt that he was smelly. Jiang Zhen did not dislike him and took the child to sleep in the same bed with him every night, which made him really admire him.

Early that morning, Zhao Jinge went to take a bath.

Jiang Zhen left the training of his men to Wang Haisheng and He Chunsheng today and planned to stay at home all day. At this time, he was responsible for delivering hot water to Zhao Jinge.

“Really, before he was not allowed to do anything, but all of sudden, there is no taboo . . .” Jiang Zhen could not help but complain about it. Before Zhao Liu watched over Zhao Jinge very strictly, but he did not expect that the ban would all be lifted at once.

Jiang Zhen was talking outside, but Zhao Jinge wasn’t listening. He suddenly found a little terrible thing, that was the skin on his stomach was loose. Even if he did not care much about it during pregnancy, but all his solid muscles were gone . . .

Zhao Jinge secretly made up his mind to go out for a good exercise tomorrow!

After Zhao Jinge washed, he smelled of soapberry fragrance, which made Jiang Zhen, who had not tasted “meat” for several months, ready to move. However, Jiang Zhen quickly suppressed his desire. Zhao Jinge’s body has not yet fully recovered, so he could not toss Zhao Jinge.

This night, Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge went to sleep with Zhao Mingzhu. That night, they were unexpectedly awakened several times by Zhao Mingzhu.

Zhao Mingzhu was still very small and had to eat several times at night. But the breast milk from others could not be well preserved with the weather warming up, and if not refrigerated, the breast milk would spoil after only a few hours. But there was no refrigerator at this time.

As for going to others for fresh milk at the middle of night, it was just not appropriate. Finally, Jiang Zhen came up with a method—boiling.

In the evening, Cook Li and Zhao Liu would go out and bring a lot of fresh milk, and then boil it in a pot of water. Putting a piece of wood underneath to let it slowly burn, put the breast milk in a cup and then leave it in the water to boil . . . so this way, the breast milk was kept hot and would not grow bacteria.

Although boiling made it lose more or less some nutrients, it was better than allowing bacteria to multiply in it.

A large section of the wood burned slowly. A piece of wood can keep the water in the pot hot for several hours. Therefore, after Jiang Zhen took milk from the pot to Jiang Mingzhu in the evening, he just added wood one in the middle of night.

By four or five in the morning, fresh milk would be available again.

This night, Jiang Zhen got up to take the milk a few more times; he was pleased to find that his daughter was eating more and more. Also. . . she was a little overweight. When she was born, she clearly had a pointed chin, but at the moment, she had double chin. Her whole face looked like a pear! However, this chubby little face was really good-looking. There was nothing more beautiful!

After feeding, Jiang Zhen couldn’t help but give his daughter a kiss on each side of her face, completely forgetting that he used to think such fat children were ugly.

When Jiang Zhen went out the next day, he took Zhao Jinge and Zhao Mingzhu with him.

Before that, Zhao Liu had not allowed Zhao Mingzhu to go out for fear that she would get sick from the wind, but after her month’s celebration, she did not stop them. But when Jiang Zhen wanted to take Zhao Mingzhu out, she was still a bit hesitant.

“If you want to go for training, just take Jinge with you. What is the point of taking Mingzhu?”

“Let the Mingzhu see the training,” Jiang Zhen said.

At this time period, it was much more difficult for girls and gers to live a good life. It’s much more difficult for them to live like men, but he couldn’t bear his daughter to be wronged in the future. So he must educate his daughter from the early age and then train her more so she does not meet scum in the future and be bullied! If not for his daughter being too young, Jiang Zhen would like to prepare a training plan for her . . .

A girl seeing the training? Zhao Liu was a little puzzled, but Jiang Zhen had already taken his daughter in his embrace. Not long after, he arrived at the training place of his men.

At the moment, there were more than a hundred people under Jiang Zhen’s command, all of whom were well-trained. Jiang Zhen decided that Jinzhen Escort Agency could officially start operating. For this, he also specially asked Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi to embroider several Zhen banners; their embroiderers were no worse than the embroiderers he found in the capital.

At the same time, while he was spending money like water to feed his men and sailors these days, those women and gers helped him make a lot of money by weaving clothes.

Zhao Mingzhu was one month old, but her neck hadn’t gotten strong yet, so she had to be held horizontally.

When Jiang Zhen held her, he was very careful. And as he looked at her, his gaze inevitably softened.

This kind of Jiang Zhen made some of his subordinates, who were not used to it, uncomfortable, but thinking about how he used to treat Zhao Jinge, they eventually got used to it. It’s just being nice to your daughter. In fact, it was nothing . . .

Now who doesn’t know that Jiang Zhen is very good to his wife and daughter ah . . .

Zhao Mingzhu was too small, so Jiang Zhen could only take her out for a while every day. Most of the time, she would stay at home, but Zhao Jinge would stay outside for a long time.

Jiang Zhen didn’t let Zhao Jinge do too many strenuous exercises, but he didn’t forbid him to do some low-intensity restorative training. So after another month, Zhao Jinge figure returned to that before the birth.

Of course, that was not the most important thing; the most important thing was that Jiang Zhen could finally hold Zhao Jinge again and make out with him.

For the sake of convenience, Jiang Zhen also specifically asked the carpenter to order a crib that was much taller than their bed and placed it inside their room. When Zhao Mingzhu fell asleep, he put her into the small bed to make it convenient for him and Zhao Jinge to do things . . .

After several months of not doing it, no matter how excited Zhao Jinge or Jiang Zhen was, it did not last long . . . But soon, his little brother became energetic again, and this time, he fought with Zhao Jinge for 300 rounds.

After Zhao Jinge’s body recovery, Jiang Zhen’s life became “colorful” again, and at the same time, the Jinzhen escort agency opened again.

Jiang Zhen first contacted the businessmen he had worked with last time then said hello to the Zheng family, and soon received some business.

Jiang Zhen had been reluctant to leave his daughter before, but he had to leave. This time, Zhao Jinge would also not go with him.

Zhao Mingzhu had been sleeping with them all the time. Because of their care, she was very close to them. If they left together, she would not get used to it, so Zhao Jinge stayed. Fortunately, Jiang Zhen wasn’t going far. According to calculation, he would be back soon, and when he came back, the furniture he ordered would be almost ready so they could move in.

“Jinge, I am leaving.”

On the dock, Jiang Zhen said goodbye to Zhao Jinge, and then he gave his daughter a kiss. Then he boarded the ship without looking back. It was not until the ship started that Jiang Zhen appeared at the stern of the ship and raised his hand to Zhao Jinge.

Obviously, Jiang Zhen hadn’t really left yet, but Zhao Jinge already missed him a little. Watching Jiang Zhen leave, Zhao Jinge took a deep breath and carried his child home where he handed the child to Zhao Liu.

Before Jiang Zhen left, he left all the work with him, so he certainly couldn’t stay with his child all the time in the following days.

Zhao Jinge had been learning how to read with Jiang Zhen for a year. Even when he was pregnant and gave birth to a child, he never stopped learning. Although he still could not say that he knew all the characters currently, he could basically recognize all the common characters and was very good at arithmetic. So it was not difficult for him to manage his subordinates.

What’s more, most of the people went out with Jiang Zhen, so he was now mainly in charge of the brick kilns.

Because of Jiang Zhen’s reward policy, a lot of bricks were burned in brick kilns. This time when Jiang Zhen went out, he packed a large ship with bricks and planned to take them to Fucheng to sell. With things like green bricks, you never had to worry about selling them there. Even so, there were still a lot of bricks left here.

Zhao Jinge went to the county town with bricks and found some people Jiang Zhen knew, like Yang Jing as well as the steward of the gambling house. After a few days, someone came to their newly built dock with a boat and bought a lot of bricks. At the same time, news that there was a new dock in Hexi village and things about the sale of green bricks had slowly spread out.

There was only one small brick kiln in Hecheng County, and there weren’t many bricks produced there. Because of this, when the news of bricks being sold here spread, it was no surprise that more and more people came to buy them, making Zhao Jinge very busy.

“Jinge, you’ve been running out all day, and you’ve got a tan.” Zhao Liu looked at her son getting darker and darker and couldn’t help feeling a little upset.

Before going to the capital, Jiang Zhen and his men were all tanned, but because Zhao Jinge spent most of his time in the cabin, he did not tan at all and even became a little whiter. After he came back, he stayed in the house all the time which made him even whiter.

But before Zhao Liu could become happy that her son was getting whiter and whiter, Zhao Jinge got tanned again.

“Mother, it’s all right,” Zhao Jinge said.

If he didn’t run about, he would think about Jiang Zhen all day. Instead of doing so, he might as well continue to run about. However, when he went out the next day, Zhao Jinge finally put on a straw hat to shade him from the sun. It was summer; the sun was really strong.

When Jiang Zhen went out this time, he only planned to stay out for ten days, but his plan could not help change faster from the previous. He currently had a lot more staff than before and had his own fleet. In addition, when he was selling goods in Fucheng, he got to know some people. Finally, he took on some big businesses in Fucheng.

With so many people at his disposal, even if he took on a few big business deals, it won’t affect his going home. He could ask his people to help deliver the goods. However, there were too few people who could read under him. Most of them could not read, so how could he let them go out alone to deliver goods and provide escort?

Jiang Zhen had made a lot of preparations before, but at this time, he found these were still not ready enough. Because of the sudden emergence of several big businesses, Jiang Zhen had to stay out for more than twenty days before he could finally return to Hecheng County.

He wanted to go home and see his daughter at once, but the merchants in the fleet were going to the dock in Hecheng County.

The fleet slowly approached the Hecheng County dock. There were many ships at the dock, so Jiang Zhen’s fleet needed to wait a while to find a place to dock. It was this waiting that made Jiang Zhen more and more impatient.

Standing at the bow, Jiang Zhen said to He Chunsheng, “Find me a small boat. I will go back first. You can keep watch here and let the merchants unload the goods first after landing. I will come over later to deal with the follow-up matters.”

Jiang Zhen was only halfway through his words when he stopped. He saw a man in a straw hat on the bank raising his hand at him. After he looked at him, the men put down his hand and took off his straw hat. If this person was not Zhao Jinge, who was it?

“Boss, are you in such a hurry to go back?”

“The boss must miss his wife!”

“Do you miss your daughter too?”

 

. . .

 

Jiang Zhen’s men said with a smile. But just then, Jiang Zhen, whom they were talking to, suddenly jumped into the river.

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: XLB

 

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