Qing Yang Alley was located in the south of Fucheng, which was relatively closer to the docks. A lot of people came and went from  that place, making it as busy as the north of Fucheng, so the rich upper echelons in Fucheng did not want to live there.

However, since the houses here were quite large, and the location was also good, it was impossible for the poor people to live here.

When Zhao Jinge bought the house, he considered the geographical location and the price, so he made his home there. By this time, Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu had lived there for two months.

Zhao Fugui and his wife were more or less unaccustomed to leaving Hexi Village, the place they grew up.

When Zhao Jinge and Zhao Mingzhu were around, this discomfort could still be ignored, but a few days ago, Zhao Jinge went out with Zhao Mingzhu and even brought Cook Li and Ruo’er with him.

“I don’t know where they are now and whether Mingzhu misses me or not . . . Alas! If I had known, I would have followed Jinge and went with him.” Zhao Liu sighed. She missed her son, but of course, she missed her granddaughter even more.

Her son took Mingzhu to the sea to pick up Jiang Zhen. But what if Mingzhu had a headache at sea? Zhao Liu sighed again as she thought this.

Zhao Fugui had been messing with the land surrounding the house since he moved in.

This house used to belong to a small businessman; that small businessman’s family was not very rich; it was impossible for them to plant expensive flowers and plants in the courtyard, so they planted just two loquat trees, two peach trees, and very common flowers.

It was said that in the summer at this place was very colorful and beautiful, but now . . . . .

Zhao Fugui thought that being beautiful didn’t have much use, so planting vegetables would definitely be better than planting flowers . . .

The price of vegetables in this city was expensive, and he had nothing to do all day, so he might as well reclaim the land in the yard and plant some vegetables.

The yard was so big, that If he planted vegetables, it would definitely be enough for their family to eat!

With this in mind, Zhao Fugui reclaimed the land and turned it over every day, changing the garden into a vegetable field. Zhao Liu just sighed while he was catching bugs in the vegetable field.

“What do you mean by following him? If you get sick, you will only make them worry about you,” Zhao Fugui said and then continued catching bugs.

Zhao Liu also knew that she was not in good health, so she definitely couldn’t follow them to the sea, but she still wasn’t happy with Zhao Fugui saying that. She glared at Zhao Fugui, who only cared about catching bugs and didn’t even talk to her, so she opened the door and went out.

In Qing Yang Alley, there were many children running around and playing while some women about the same age as Zhao Liu and gers were sitting at the door on stools, watching their own children play while doing some work and chatting with their neighbors.

What these women and gers were talking about was nothing more than some family gossip, and the Zhao family was what they liked to talk about the most recently.

Since someone went to the Zhao family to propose marriage to Zhao Jinge, and after learning that Zhao Jing was a ger, people living in Qing Yang Alley tsked a few times when mentioning the Zhao family.

Before, they thought that the Zhao family was made up of old parents with a widower’s son and a granddaughter. Who knew . . . it turned out that it was old parents with a ger son and a granddaughter with their surname?

“Well, Zhao Liu said that her family had found a son-in-law who married into their family, and that son-in-law is very good . . . She is really good at bragging!”

“That’s right. If her son-in-law is really that capable, would he still marry into another family?”

“She also said that her son-in-law was very gentle and considerate to her son . . . If her son had married a wife, I would believe that she could be considerate, but a man!”

“It’s still a man no one has ever seen. He might not even exist.”

 

. . .

 

The woman who initially wanted to marry her niece to Zhao Jinge and several women who were close to her, secretly gossiped about the Zhao family; while saying so, they looked at Zhao Liu with a meaningful gaze.

Zhao Liu noticed these people and knew that what they said was mostly not good, but she really couldn’t do anything about them.

She had actually explained to them that Jiang Zhen and her Jinge were very close and that Jiang Zhen was a very good person, but apparently, no one believed her at all.

Thinking of this, Zhao Liu was infuriated.

In Hexi Village, she didn’t even have to say it; everyone knew how good Jiang Zhen was, but here . . .

Zhao Liu took a deep breath and raised her fighting spirit. One day, she would make these people envy her!

“Zhao family, I haven’t seen your son and your granddaughter in the past few days. Where did they go?” another neighbor who didn’t know Zhao Liu very well but didn’t have a bad relationship with her asked.

“My Jinge took Mingzhu with him and went to meet Mingzhu’s father,” Zhao Liu said.

“What exactly does Mingzhu’s father do? How come I haven’t seen him show up for so long?” the neighbor asked again. Most of the gossip about the Zhao family was actually related to the fact that the legendary son-in-law of the Zhao family had never shown up.

That Zhao Jinge, who was a ger, was outside all day, but no one saw even the shadow of his man . . . Ordinary people would certainly think that something was wrong here!

“Mingzhu’s father has a big business with a large fleet, and it always takes him a long time when he is away doing business,” Zhao Liu said. She didn’t know about Jiang Zhen going to Hongjiang Salt Farm. Zhao Jinge just told her that Jiang Zhen had taken on a big deal and went far away.

A big fleet . . . that person looked at Zhao Liu and then looked at the Zhao family yard. Zhao Fugui was planting vegetables inside.

This Zhao family was from the countryside, and the mud on their legs had not been washed clean. Even if they had some money, they might not have more than them. Zhao Liu went so far as to say that there was a big fleet that went out on business . . . Everyone thought she was just bragging.

A neighbor wanted to talk properly with Zhao Liu, but Zhao Liu was stalling and lying, so their talk turned quite meaningless.

The woman lightly hummed. “This man that married in your family must be really capable, ah, having a fleet of ships!”

The person’s tone was not complimentary but sarcastic. Zhao Liu knew they didn’t believe her words, so she tried to explain, “I didn’t lie to you. My family’s Jiang Zhen is very formidable. Do you know about the Jinzhen Escort Agency? He owns it, and he even went to the capital the year before last.”

These people really didn’t have any impression of the Jinzhen Escort Agency, nor did they think it was impressive.

In He Cheng Country, almost every household knew about the Jinzhen Escort Agency, but this was Fucheng; people who didn’t go outside to do business didn’t care about a foreign establishment, such as Jinzhen Escort Agency. Even if they had heard about it, they would just think of it as a group of poor people gathered together to serve as guards.

The neighbor did not want to continue talking with Zhao Liu, so she went to the people who had been gossiping about Zhao Liu and then told them what Zhao Liu had just said.

“She is too good at bragging. If she said her son-in-law works as a bookkeeper in one of those big ships, I would have believed it for once. But to directly say that her family has a big fleet . . . if her family is really so powerful, why would her husband dig up the garden flowers and plant these vegetables?”

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: Xiao Hua

 

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