However, after thinking like this, they went into action. But before they could implement it, Jiang Zhen’s men told Jiang Zhen about their intentions, and then . . . Before they could see Zhao Liu, they were beaten by Jiang Zhen’s men. Not only that, but the fee for borrowing silver from Zhao Liu was also doubled.

Given the chance, Jiang Zhen then gave the silver to Zhao Liu.

Zhao Liu did not know that the silver handed to her came from her mother’s family and only thought it was from Jiang Zhen. Jiang Zhen had already given her silver several times before, and every time saying it was for household use.

Without explaining it to Zhao Liu, Jiang Zhen went and did other things with a smile.

The second family taught a lesson by Jiang Zhen was Liang Fufa’s family, who once wanted to buy Jiang Xiaomei.

Originally, Liang Fufa had nothing to do with Jiang Zhen, but when Jiang Zhen accidentally learned that after failing to buy Jiang Xiaomei, they cajoled a little girl from another village. They also wanted to marry her without spending money and asked the little girl to work as a cow and horse for their family. Jiang Zhen did not teach him a lesson in person, only asking his men to give Liang Fufa a trashing and letting him experience the feeling of being beaten up. After learning that Liang Fufa’s first wife had already gone back to her mother’s house, he also helped the women get a divorce document. For this kind of man who liked to beat women up, it was better if they didn’t let him marry any women!

After Jiang Zhen came back from the capital, he lived in Hexi for twenty days, and so it has turned to December. It would be the new year in less than a month if he did not sell those goods . . . he would have to stay for New Year.

With Zhao Jinge and his own fleet, Jiang Zhen left Hecheng County and went to Fucheng.

As the new year approached, the city became very lively, and all kinds of things were easy to sell. After Jiang Zhen contacted several businessmen introduced by Zheng Yi, the medicinal materials, jewelry, fur, and other things he brought were immediately sold out.

Although the Zheng family lived in Hecheng County, they still had some connections in this city. Jiang Zhen, who was under Zheng Yi’s care, did not meet any difficulty when he spent a few days in the city to inspect and sell goods,

Seeing that everything went smoothly, Jiang Zhen began to inquire about brick kilns. There are several brick kilns near Fucheng, and these brick kilns were all under the hands of several big families here. All brick burners had signed deeds of sale with those large families.

Jiang Zhen inquired about it for a while and finally bought two craftsmen who could burn bricks from one of these families.

The craftsmen who could burn bricks were both surnamed Zhang and were a pair of father and son. The son was still unmarried and fifteen or sixteen years old. However, his father, who worked at the brick burner with him, had a wife and five other children.

Jiang Zhen bought the father and son, with the children coming along as bonuses. Jiang Zhen couldn’t help but wonder if this family was too good at having too many children that the big family would be willing to sell them to him. . .

Jiang Zhen thought like this, but soon he learned that it was not the case . . . The reason this father and son were sold to him was not because their family had many children but because their craft of burning bricks was actually not good.

“I haven’t learned for long and often burn bad bricks.” The father looked at Jiang Zhen in some embarrassment. To burn good bricks, one had to practice for a long time, but he and his son were both new and still hadn’t practiced much. They burned bricks before, but the bricks they burned before were often unusable . . .

Jiang Zhen also knows that, these days, no one was willing to hand over the technology to others and it was impossible to sell him skilled craftsmen so easily, so it was not surprising. “Can you burn bricks?”

“As long as I practice more, certainly. I will work hard,” the middle-aged man said. “I am now just adding water now, so I am not sure.”

Adding water? Jiang Zhen had been to a brick factory before and knew roughly how to burn bricks. But he never heard of adding water to burn bricks.

“Tell me more about it,” Jiang Zhen said.

When Jiang Zhen asked, the man explained it to him in detail, but when Jiang Zhen listened, he suddenly found that . . . This ancient brick firing technology was even more complicated than the modern one! In addition, in ancient times, the red bricks used to build houses in modern times were considered inferior to those in ancient times . . .

The ancient green bricks were made by adding water to cool them after firing, so they were strong and durable. They would not be damaged for a thousand years after building a house. However, the red bricks that were naturally cooled had a much shorter lifespan than these green bricks. Therefore, in these days, if red bricks were fired, they would be thrown away as inferior.

Of course, the red bricks at this time, because they were made without coal and the temperature was not high, were not of the same color as that of later generations. They were often green mixed with red, so in the end, they were quite different from later generations’ red brick. However, such bricks were actually not unusable.

“After you go back with me, you will start burning bricks, and the unqualified bricks burnt at the beginning can still be used to pave the floor.” Jiang Zhen said. These two people just lacked experience, but it could always be practiced.

At this time, the big family didn’t want to use defective products, but he didn’t mind it. He just wished there would have been cement. Jiang Zhen knew that cement was fired from mud, which was very simple. But cement was different from bricks, cement needed a formula. So he really did not know how to make a cement. Fortunately, even if there was no cement, there were still many alternatives at this time.

After buying people, Jiang Zhen had nothing to do, so he took Zhao Jinge shopping in Fucheng.

Jiang Zhen once brought Zhao Jinge to Fucheng before, but at that time, they had no money, so they didn’t buy anything. But this time, it was different.

Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge have already been to the capital and seen the prosperity of the big city. However, compared with the capital, this city was completely different, and some things here were even more exquisite, and the style even more beautiful than the things in the capital. For example, rouge, powder, and jewelry were not worse in quality as those in the capital but the prices were cheaper.

Jiang Zhen looked around and thought about bringing something back to Zhao Liu.

Zhao Jinge followed Jiang Zhen and watched him pick things and could not help becoming a little happier only to see that Jiang Zhen completely did not think of him, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

“Sir, what do you think of this bracelet? It’s very suitable for this . . . ger next to you.” 

When the people in the jewelry store saw Jiang Zhen asking about jewelry, they took out a silver bracelet suitable for a ger to wear.

“What I want to buy is not for him but for my mother,” Jiang Zhen said, letting the shopkeeper take out a few other styles to look at.

The jewelry Jiang Zhen brought back from the capital was very heavy, but it was not exquisite. After all, he only wandered around with Jinge at that time and . . . he also thought that prices at capital were too high.

It’s good to show off those jewelry, but it’s not suitable to wear them casually, so Jiang Zhen planned to choose some exquisite ones for her this time.

After Jiang Zhen asked the shopkeeper to take out a lot of things to see, he finally chose a pair of gold flat bracelets carved with dragons and phoenixes, as well as a small hairpin inlaid with jasper.

After the selection, Jiang Zhen asked the shopkeeper to wrap up the things.

“Sir, what are you going to choose for your ger?” While packing, the shopkeeper asked, “Your ger is pregnant with your child. Buying him some jewelry will also make him happy. “

The shopkeeper saw that Jiang Zhen had chosen several things for his mother but didn’t pick anything for the ger who followed him. This ger did not have any jewelry on his body, so the shopkeeper became a little sympathetic toward Zhao Jinge. This ger was ugly, and his husband ignored him completely, which was really a little pitiful.

Jiang Zhen was stunned. He bought this and that for Zhao Liu because others had told him that his mother-in-law must be pleased if he wanted to live a happy life. After experimenting with Zhao Liu, he found that this was indeed true. His mother-in-law, Zhao Liu, was absolutely satisfied with him. It’s just . . . because he wanted to buy jewelry for Zhao Liu, he hadn’t noticed Zhao Jinge.

“I don’t like wearing jewelry,” Zhao Jinge said.

“There’s no one who doesn’t like jewelry, but if you don’t like wearing it, it’s still better to keep some,” the shopkeeper said again.

“Shopkeeper, do you have a ring suitable for us?” Jiang Zhen asked suddenly.

“Yes, sir. What do you like?” the shopkeeper asked.

“Let me see,” Jiang Zhen said.

There were very few kinds of jewelry displayed, so it was just a moment that Jiang Zhen saw two jade rings that looked exactly the same and asked, “Is this shop craftsman in?”

“Yes, the craftsman is right behind.” The shopkeeper said that there were several craftsmen who opened this shop.

“Jinge, wait for me outside. I’ll be right back,” Jiang Zhen said to Zhao Jinge and then followed the shopkeeper into the back of the jewelry store.

Zhao Jinge, seeing Jiang Zhen left like that, was a little confused. Was Jiang Zhen going to give him the ring? Two identical rings. Will he wear one while Jiang Zhen wears the other? If that were the case, it would be really good . . .

“Sister-in-law, maybe the boss will buy you something else,” Jiang Ming, who also came with them was responsible for protecting Zhao Jinge, leaned over and said.

Zhao Jinge began to look forward to it even more. However, when Jiang Zhen came out after a long time, he looked the same. He didn’t even know where he had put the two rings he had in his hands before.

“Come on. We should go back,” Jiang Zhen said. After that, he went out first.

Zhao Jinge followed, suddenly feeling a little depressed.

The ship was very wet. The place where they could stay in was small. So when they came to Fucheng this time, Jiang Zhen took Zhao Jinge to live in the inn.

After returning to the inn that day, Jiang Zhen told Zhao Jinge that business was as usual and urged Zhao Jinge eat more fish and less meat. He also did not mention what happened in the jewelry store before. However, when they returned to their room, Jiang Zhen suddenly said, “Jinge, I have something to tell you.”

“What?” Zhao Jinge asked.

Jiang Zhen took out a ring and knelt on one knee.

Zhao Jinge immediately knelt down with Jiang Zhen. “You . . . what are you doing?” Why did Jiang Zhen suddenly kneel before him? This . . . This. . . Zhao Jinge suddenly felt a little scared.

Jiang Zhen: “. . .” The originally good atmosphere was gone!

Jiang Zhen sighed. “Jinge, stand up, I didn’t kneel down! See, I didn’t get down on one knee.”

Zhao Jinge suddenly felt a little uneasy, so Jing Zhen could only help Zhao Jinge up by himself, and then said to him, “Stand well for me and don’t kneel!”

Zhao Jinge still felt uneasy, but he did not dare not get down on his knees anymore. What exactly was Jiang Zhen trying to say? Why was he kneeling?

Jiang Zhen knelt on one knee again and said to Zhao Jinge, “Jinge, are you willing to marry me?”

Zhao Jinge was a little confused but immediately said, “Yes.”

“I love you. I want to be together with you for the rest of our lives.” Jiang Zhen kissed Zhao Jinge’s hand and put ring on his hand. Then he stood up and gave another ring to Zhao Jinge. “Jinge, put it on me.”

Zhao Jinge nodded and imitated Jiang Zhen when he put on the ring on his finger.

Jiang Zhen kissed Zhao Jinge again. He was in very good mood. He also suddenly found out that he didn’t buy a ring or proposed . . . So after buying the two rings, he also went to the craftsman to have him carve words on the two rings. One ring was engraved with “Jin”, and the other ring was engraved with “Zhen.” Earlier, he put the ring engraved with “Zhen” on Zhao Jinge’s hand, and on himself, he wore the ring with engraved with “Jin.”

When the proposal was successful, Jiang Zhen wanted to be sweet, but Zhao Jinge suddenly asked, “Jiang Zhen, do you want your child to have your family name? It doesn’t matter. My parents mentioned it to me in private.” Jiang Zhen probably knelt down and asked if he wanted to marry him because he wanted a child with his surname?

In fact, Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu did not care much about this. They were willing to marry him to Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen: “. . .”

Jiang Zhen spent some time explaining that he had no such intention and then looked at Zhao Jinge helplessly and suddenly found that his proposal was a failure. He really thought too much . . . Zhao Jinge married him. What was he doing with all of this? If he had time, he might as well order more braziers and eat Jinge again.

Doing just what he thought, Jiang Zhen ate Zhao Jinge again. This time, he fell asleep before Zhao Jinge.

Zhao Jinge couldn’t sleep. He . . . was very happy. Although what Jiang Zhen did startle him at first, he cheered up after Jiang Zhen explained it to him later. In the dark, he took off his ring and touched the back of the ring. Sure enough, he found a word there. There was a “Zhen,” the name of Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen wore the same ring as him, and it was probably engraved with each other’s name . . . Zhao Jinge quickly put the ring back and became reluctant to take it off again.

At the same time, he was a little confused . . . Jiang Zhen said he loved him. But what does “love” mean?

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: XLB

 

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