Chapter 105 Zhan Xiao Leaves
Shen Zhi gradually became listless, but thinking about staying up all night to celebrate the New Year, he shook his head to wake himself up.
"I'm leaving tomorrow." Zhan Xiao sighed.
"We're leaving tomorrow, the first day of the new year?" Shen Zhi suddenly came to his senses.
"Yes, the Japanese pirates in Yuanzhou have been almost eliminated after taking your laxative. Recently, the Japanese pirates in Haizhou along the southeastern coast have been rampant, so the emperor sent us to Haizhou. Haizhou is thousands of miles away from Qingzhou Prefecture, and I don't know when I will see you again. Girl, you must be well." Zhan Xiao stroked the new clothes on his body. This was the first new clothes the girl made for him. He would take it off and wrap it up tomorrow. He would be exhausted from the journey, so as not to damage the new clothes.
Shen Zhi felt sad and depressed. "It's okay, there will always be a chance to see you again." Shen Zhi said.
The two chatted until the New Year's firecrackers sounded. Shen Zhi was very sleepy, Zhan Xiao touched her head lovingly and let Shen Zhi go back to her room to rest. He sat in a daze at the window of the guest room, he always felt that if he left, the girl would leave him.
The first day of the Lunar New Year arrived as expected, and the whole Stone Village became lively. Children went door to door to ask for snacks. This was the custom here. In the past, the snacks that Shen Zhen and her sister had begged for fell into the mouths of the two children in the eldest house.
After moving out this year, Shen Zhi never treated herself and her family badly in terms of food, and now she is not greedy anymore. But she still bought a lot of candy this year, just in case the children come to ask for it.
Indeed, many children from the village came to their house, and a leading child timidly knocked on the door. Shen opened the door, smiled and brought them a lot of candies to share with them. The children were very happy, as these candies were all things they had never eaten before, and they must be very expensive.
More children came over one after another. Perhaps because they heard the first group of children say there were candies here, Shen accepted everyone and gave them a handful of candies each time they came.
There is a saying among them that the more children come to a family to ask for snacks on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the more prosperous the family will be in the coming year. Therefore, every household in the village will prepare a lot of snacks for the New Year. Those who have extra money will buy melon seeds and candies, and those who don't have money will prepare some fried peanuts. In short, the children who can't come will go home empty-handed.
Today, Shen was very happy. Almost all the children in the village came to her house. If she met children from poor families, Shen would secretly give them two white flour buns.
Shen Zhi and her friends also got up early today and exchanged New Year greetings with their family members. The elders gave New Year's money to Shen Zhen and her sister Lan Tian and Lan Xue, and even Eunuch Cao prepared New Year's money for the four of them.
Breakfast was noodles, longevity noodles rolled by Shen herself. New Year's Day was the birthday of Shen Zhen and her sister. Today they were officially twelve years old.
Zhan Xiao had known that today was their birthdays, and secretly prepared a jade pendant for each of them. Both were carefully carved from the finest mutton-fat jade. Shen Zhen's was a jade pendant with cloud patterns and gold beads, while Shen Zhi's was an ice flower hibiscus jade pendant.
After lunch, Zhan Xiao and his group prepared to leave. Shen Changzhou stayed this time and went to Yuanzhou to take charge after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Shen Zhi didn’t know if she would have the chance to see Zhan Xiao again in the future. She cleaned out a lot of things for Zhan Xiao and wished she could move the entire space to him.
After Zhan Xiao left, Shen Zhi felt empty inside. But she quickly adjusted herself. She didn't have to visit relatives on the first day of the new year. They played cards at home, ate and drank, and it was so comfortable.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Shen Changzhou stayed at home to accompany Ah Si. Shen Zhi's family, together with his third uncle, his third aunt and Zhuge Ling, went to Shenjia Village. The whole family spent a lively day at the great-grandfather's house.
After the second day of the Chinese New Year, no relatives came to visit. Everyone stayed in the courtyard to bask in the sun, eat and drink. Shen Zhi took this opportunity to ask Eunuch Cao about the situation of the manor given by the emperor. Since it was given to her, she has not been there and she doesn't even know which way the gate opens.
Eunuch Cao had nothing to do, so he told Shen Zhi about the story of Zhuangzi.
It turns out that the previous owner of this manor was the King of Huainan. After the King of Huainan fell, all the properties in his palace were confiscated. The King of Huainan used despicable means to take this manor from a wealthy businessman two years ago. The wealthy businessman went to the capital to file a complaint not long ago. It happened that the King of Huainan colluded with Japanese pirates, and the emperor sent people to arrest the King of Huainan. However, the wealthy businessman was afraid of revenge from the remnants of the King of Huainan, and did not want to come back, so he voluntarily put the manor into the national treasury. The emperor pitied him as a victim and rewarded him with a thousand taels of gold, which indirectly bought the manor.
The people in this manor were all the old subordinates of the rich merchant and were the most loyal to him. Before Eunuch Cao came, the rich merchant learned that the manor was awarded to Yixiang Jun. He had heard about Yixiang Jun saving the eighteen heroes and admired him the most. So he wrote a letter and asked Eunuch Cao to take it to the owner of the manor.
This farm has hundreds of acres of fertile land, and there is also a hill inside. The hill is planted with fruit trees, and in autumn it is a scene of abundant fruits.
However, Eunuch Cao still suggested that Shen Zhi should replace the people in the manor with his own people. It would be better to buy some people from the pawnbroker and hold the indentures in hand so as not to be afraid of their betrayal.
Shen Zhi nodded and invited Eunuch Cao to accompany her to learn more, saying that she believed in his judgment of people. Eunuch Cao agreed without hesitation.
Shen Zhi remembered that she was going to open a photo studio, so she had to put it on the agenda as soon as possible so as not to delay the spring ploughing.
So Shen Zhi mentioned to Eunuch Cao that she wanted to open a photo studio after the New Year, and Eunuch Cao became curious.
"Oh, a photo studio, one that can take pictures that are more realistic than paintings? If you can open it, it will be the only one in our Great Xiao Dynasty, and the business will definitely be good. I will go there more often then, to prevent those ignorant people from thinking that you have no foundation and bullying you." Eunuch Cao said.
With Eunuch Cao's words, Shen Zhi felt much more at ease and began to make preparations.
First of all, there was the issue of equipment, computers, printers, cameras, etc. Shen Zhi had already checked in advance in the space. Currently, a company called S-SHOP has developed a whole set of photography equipment that is all new energy. It has solar cells inside, which have strong power storage capacity and can last for half a month on a single charge. Shen Zhi has already placed an order for five sets, which are temporarily stored in the space.
The next thing is technology, including photography technology and photo editing technology, etc. Shen Zhi decided to buy a group of people first, train them for a month and then open the store to let them start work.
During the training period, you can find a store, or rent one, and then find someone to decorate it. Shen Zhi had already drawn the decoration drawings. This was the plan that Shen Zhi finally decided after searching the Internet for a long time. It was very suitable for this era but not cliché.
Now we are just waiting until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is over and the pawnshops open before we can look for shops and buy people.