bookcurios Chapter 118 Mid-Autumn Festival Ceremony
Chapter 118 Mid-Autumn Festival Ceremony
Time flies, and it is August in a blink of an eye.
Apart from taking care of Pei Heng and the two children's daily life, Su Li also spends her time eating, drinking and dressing herself up.
Now she didn't have to go out to socialize, so she had so much less to do. Her capable staff also took care of the affairs in the mansion, so everything was in perfect order and she didn't have to worry about anything.
Eat when you are full and sleep when you are full.
At night, she even had a husband who was so handsome that he was almost a demon. Ah! The life of this ancient noblewoman was really decadent!
However, seeing Pei Heng busy every day, Su Li couldn't sit still for a few days.
As the saying goes, prepare for a rainy day.
Everything now is just the calm before the storm. No one knows when the unexpected change will come, so she cannot slack off for a moment.
It’s far from time to lie down!
Since she couldn't help with the court struggles, she could only take care of her life and business so that her man would have no worries. Perhaps she could even lend him a hand in the future.
Ever since she used Emperor Jingde as a guinea pig to test the acceptance of the new way of brewing tea, she began to pilot this method in the restaurants and teahouses under her name.
"Sister, teahouses and restaurants have already started promoting loose tea. Poetry gatherings and tea parties that complement tea art have also been held, and the results are quite good. Also, I heard that Concubine Jiang in the palace is very skilled in this technique, and the Emperor also likes to drink tea brewed in this way. There's already a big tea art trend sweeping across Shengjing City."
Su Zhe spoke with great joy.
He admired his elder sister so much. He wondered how she had figured out such a novel way of making tea.
Su Li flipped through the account book and said calmly, "How's the deal with you going to the south to buy a tea plantation going?"
"Don't worry, sister. According to your standards, I have bought several tea plantations and tea mountains in Jiangnan and southern Fujian. And according to what you said, tea factories in various places have started to produce loose tea. I brought back a batch of tea samples, and you can try them."
Su Zhe had to go personally for such an important matter. He had just returned from a trip south, and his skin had become much darker. But he was also stronger and more handsome.
Su Li was very pleased to see how tough he looked.
Boil water to make tea and start tasting tea samples. Su Li said:
"Azhe, your brother-in-law doesn't recommend you to serve as an official at this time, and your sister asked you to do this and that. You won't blame us, will you?"
"How could that be?" Su Zhe took a sip of tea and said, "Of course I absolutely believe what my sister and brother-in-law say. I heard from my mother that my father also said that it's better to keep a low profile and be quiet during this period. So when I went to the south this time, my father didn't say anything."
It's rare that his father supports him in doing something. If it were in the past, his father would have broken one of his legs long ago.
"Sister, it's strange that Xuxue Ice City is still selling ice cream since we cut off their ice supply. It's just that there's much less of it, and the daily supply is limited. I checked, and the ice isn't from the East and West Markets. I don't know what other channels she's found."
Su Li was also puzzled by this matter.
Logically speaking, Liu Xu shouldn't be able to get the ice. But she is really powerful. Even if she cut off the ice road, she can still turn over the waves.
Fortunately, after this incident, ice products were now popular. Although Xuxue Ice City's business plummeted, the goal was finally achieved.
However, Su Li felt like something was stuck in his throat because he didn't understand where the ice came from, so he asked Su Zhe to keep paying attention.
Then Su Zhe continued:
"The weather has turned cooler recently, and their milk tea business has gradually become prosperous again. Shouldn't we do something?"
Su Li smiled and said, "Milk tea is not difficult to make. If you release the recipe, it will be sold all over the East and West Markets in a day. Besides, milk tea also requires tea leaves. Once our autumn and winter teas enter Shengjing, we will have the final say in the tea business in Shengjing. What other options do you think Liu Xu has?"
Not to mention tea leaves, I won’t even give her the tea leaves dregs.
"Azhe, you can't stop it by blocking it, you have to take advantage of the situation. Besides, these are just small amounts of money, so take a long-term view."
"Yes. Sister, I've got that in mind. By the way, I talked to a few silk and cloth merchants in the south on my trip. I'm planning to get some new patterns for our clothing store. I've brought back a batch of new fabrics and sent them to you. How about you take a look at them?"
"Ah."
The brother and sister discussed for a long time. After talking about business matters, Su Li asked about him and Song Ci.
Su Zhe said, "Don't worry, sister. I believe sincerity can move mountains and rocks. One day, she will be moved by me."
Su Li shook her head helplessly.
Back at Nanshe, Songtao and Songzhi were sorting a batch of fabrics. Sure enough, the patterns were very novel and unique, and the colors were all what Su Li liked.
"It's autumn now, so I'm just going to cut it into autumn clothes."
Time flies, and once August arrives, things start to get busy. Even if I don't have to prepare the many festival gifts for other mansions, I still have to prepare the festival gifts for the Jinyuan Marquis Mansion, the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, and the Wen Mansion, Pei Heng's maternal grandfather's family.
Another important thing is to go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor and the concubines.
No matter how much Pei Heng and she wanted to keep a low profile, they couldn't avoid these things.
After moving, Su Li and the others had no more contact with the Jinyuan Marquis Mansion. On this day, they prepared a festival gift and sent it over.
When the Marquis's wife saw those conventional things, she didn't want to look at them anymore.
She asked Songzhi, who came to give gifts,
"Is that all? What about the 20% household allowance we agreed on?"
Songzhi politely handed over two cents of household allowance and said:
"Madam said that the farm's harvest was poor and the expenses were insufficient. Business in the various shops was also not satisfactory, and we were barely making ends meet. These were all given by Madam out of her own pocket as a tribute to the Marquis' wife and the Lord Marquis."
When the Marquis's wife saw the pitifully small amount of household expenses on the list, she was so angry that her cheeks hurt.
In the past, she had passed by the shops owned by Pei Heng and had clearly seen that business was booming. She had heard that they had attracted many scholars and writers, who went to restaurants and teahouses to attend poetry gatherings and tea parties. The method of brewing loose tea was very popular among various aristocratic families.
Even the fifth and sixth girls from the third room could pretend to stay in the room for a while.
What a bad harvest, not enough income to cover expenses, that's a lie!
She wanted to explode but the Marquis was right beside her, so she had to swallow her anger.
The Marquis knew that Pei Heng was completely estranged from the Marquisate, and now that he could send some household expenses, he was fulfilling his responsibility as the eldest son.
In comparison, Songhe Hall is much more lively.
Song Tao brought boxes of gifts and placed them in front of the old lady one by one. She also presented a red envelope with a large sum of money and said:
"Madam said these are specially given to the old lady as a filial gift. And these fabrics were specially ordered by Madam from the south to make autumn clothes and shoes and socks for the old lady."
The old lady laughed so hard that she couldn't stop, and said:
"I'm old now, so why would I need so many things? I've also prepared some things for Heng'er, Li'er, Ping'er, and Xi'er. You can take them with you when you leave later."
"Okay! Thank you, old lady." Song Tao said smartly.
Then he said to his third aunt who was accompanying him:
"In addition, these are specially given by Madam to my Third Aunt and Uncle. And these tea leaves and tea-making utensils are for the Fifth and Sixth Young Misses."
Third Aunt was overjoyed and said, "What about ours? Li'er is such a thoughtful child."
The fifth and sixth girls held the tea set and tea leaves in their arms and couldn't let go, and kept thanking them.
Song Tao said, "The general and his wife said that they would be in the palace to see the emperor on Mid-Autumn Festival and would not be able to return to the Marquis' residence for dinner. The day before Mid-Autumn Festival, they will definitely come back to have dinner with the old lady. Then the family will be together to enjoy the autumn moon."
"Okay, okay!" the old lady agreed happily.