Contentment with modest wealth

How many times did he kowtow in Chapter 60?
This was a cloth bag that couldn't be simpler. It was just a piece of red cotton cloth—perhaps scraps from making clothes or shoe soles—folded up and sewn into a small cloth bag about an inch square.

It's not even the most ordinary silk cloth.

Shen Qingzhou had rarely seen such coarse cloth in his life, but now it carried the blessing of the Bodhisattva and hung on his wrist.

"You asked for it for me?"

"Of course! Don't underestimate it. Uncle Li is the most famous Taoist priest in our area. His family has been Taoist priests for seven or eight generations, and their magical powers are boundless!"
"There's a piece of plowshare iron in here, which is for warding off evil, and a talisman, which is for driving away disasters."

"Almost every child in Shawan has had one of these talisman pouches."

"Wear it carefully, and it will surely protect you."

As Lu Jia spoke, she solemnly patted the talisman bag.

The doctor examined him last time and only said it was a deficiency of qi and blood, but couldn't explain the extent of the deficiency. It seems that his condition is probably quite serious.

Lu Jia didn't know why, but when Li Chang mentioned how effective the talismans were, she thought of Qin Zhou. Perhaps she simply couldn't bear to see someone like him suffer such a tragic fate.

Shen Qingzhou clutched the bag, looked at it several times, and suddenly raised the oil lamp and brought it close to her face.

Lu Jia looked at his suddenly enlarged face and leaned back unconsciously: "What?"

Shen Qingzhou did not retreat. Under the lamplight, the fine hairs on her forehead were clearly visible, making the red mark even more distinct.

Previously, it was too dark to see clearly, but now that I look closely, I realize that the mark is not a mosquito bite at all.
It was clearly the result of a collision.

He straightened up and looked at the woman.

How many times did you kowtow?

"What?"

"You don't need to kowtow to ask for a talisman?" Shen Qingzhou had dealt with Taoist priests before.

Lu Jia realized what was happening and said embarrassedly, "Not much."

Ninety-nine.

Come to think of it, she didn't kowtow much when she was a child in the Lu family.

Later, when she arrived at the Xie family, her adoptive parents wouldn't let her kowtow during festivals.

She did kowtow a lot during her five years at the Yan family, but she always kowtowed on the ground, so she got used to it.

Li Chang told her to kowtow ninety-nine times, and she actually kowtowed like a fool.

By the time Li Chang realized that she hadn't even used a cotton pad and had fallen directly to the ground, it was too late; a mark had already appeared.

Lu Jia was ashamed to talk about such an embarrassing thing, but he was standing way too close!
Eyes, nose, and mouth that she usually didn't dare to look closely at were all suddenly fed into her field of vision!
Lu Jia turned her face away: "Don't take it to heart. Actually, I originally planned to ask for it for myself, but then I thought that I would need your help in the future, so I decided to ask for it for you as well."

"You don't need to thank me. Just be more diligent in the future because I'm such a kind and good-hearted employer!"

When she feels guilty, she always looks down, and her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her face, like a forest.

Shen Qingzhou straightened up.

Through her shoulder, you could see the moonlight spilling across the windowsill.

What was he trying to do just now?

Oh, he's decided to leave.

The kind of goodbye that never comes again.

But now he feels that staying to talk a few more words won't hurt him.

They even felt relieved that they hadn't left.

He took out some medicine from his purse and applied a little ointment to her wound. He wasn't strong, and his fingertips were surprisingly soft.

Lu Jiazhen never expected that she could enjoy such benefits as an employer.

She secretly inhaled the fragrance emanating from his clothes and said, "You're not leaving? If you're not leaving, let's talk about long-term employment."

This江湖人 (jianghu person) is quite particular.

These clothes, which don't cost much, were even scented.

After applying the medicine, Shen Qingzhou sat down, her voice as gentle as water: "You've become a wealthy man, what kind of person can't you have?"

Lu Jia sat down on the other side of the table: "But I have to trust you first!"

Shen Qingzhou glanced at her: "Have you spoken to the Su family yet? Although Su Mingxing is in prison, the Su family is still a local power. For the sake of future stability, it's only right to pay them a visit."

"But there's no need to go in person, otherwise it'll seem like you're in the wrong. Just ask the butler to go. That way you'll save face for them, and they won't be able to make things difficult for you later. Even if they do make things difficult, you'll be in the right."

Lu Jia shrugged: "I can't even find the guards, let alone the butler."

Shen Qingzhou said, "I'll go in your place."

Lu Jia took a breath: "Really?"

"Prepare the gifts tomorrow, and I will come at noon."

Arresting Su Mingxing and putting him in jail was just a side effect. Every autumn and winter, the Su family would bring a large amount of wealth to the capital; it was still unclear who they were looking for.

He absolutely had to go and investigate the Su family this time.

And look at her again, her perfectly good forehead has been ruined like this. Doesn't she care about the scars?
That's it.

You're beholden to someone who gives you a handout.

If you make some connections and pave the way, she'll have one less enemy in the future. If you let them come to you on their own, they'll likely be met with cold shoulders.

Please send a housekeeper. Where can we find such a capable housekeeper in such a short time?

He would only feel at ease if he went there himself.

Lu Jia was so excited that she spun around twice on the spot: "So you want to be my housekeeper? How much salary do you want? Let's make it clear first, you can't ask for too much!"

Shen Qingzhou left the medicine bottle on the table and stuffed the talisman into his pocket: "For others, I would charge at least three times the normal price. But since you said you would treat my illness, I'll just charge the market price."

What a money addict.

They even asked for the talisman and tried to negotiate the price with him.

……

Lu Jia never expected that she would actually succeed in persuading him!

Qin Zhou was considering exactly what she was worried about. Now everyone in Shawan County knew that the Zhang family's seven shops and ten thousand taels of silver had fallen into the hands of the widow and her son. Although they didn't know that there was another 120,000 taels, the money that was in the open was enough to attract the covetous eyes of some people. Hiring stewards and guards was something that had to be done immediately.

After much deliberation, Lu Jia realized that Qin Zhou was the only person she could truly trust and who was also most capable of protecting this family fortune. With him on her side, everything else could wait.

With this worry gone, Lu Jia immediately threw herself into running the shop. That very night, she found two merchant ships heading north at the dock and offered a generous reward to the crew members she knew on board to inquire about some information.

Shen Qingzhou returned to the county government office under cover of night, where Guo Yi had been waiting for a long time.

"You're finally back!" Guo Yi, travel-worn, greeted him with a scroll of documents in hand. "The people sent out to all the prefectures and counties, including Tanzhou Prefecture, have all returned one after another."

"New information indicates that there are thirteen officials indirectly connected to the Yan family and their faction within the entire jurisdiction of Tanzhou Prefecture. The one with the closest ties so far is Zhou Sheng, the Assistant Prefect of Tanzhou Prefecture."

"Zhou Sheng's teacher was Liu Zheng, the Vice Minister of Works. Liu Zheng, in turn, was promoted by Yan Song to serve as the Assistant Minister of Rites in the seventeenth year of the Jiayong era, and later married the cousin of Yan Shu's wife, Lady Du!"

Shen Qingzhou: Jiajia kowtowed and begged me for a talisman! Jiajia doesn't want me to get sick! How could Jiajia leave me out?!
(End of this chapter)