Wanjin Lady

Chapter 198: Fox

Cheng Yunzhang was indeed a master of painting. In just a moment, he sketched out a graceful portrait with just a few strokes.

Old Madam Yao took one look and said with a smile, "Really? She has Wan Niang's charm."

Yao Shizhen also said, "Not bad. With just a few strokes, he captured the character's spirit. His attainments in calligraphy and painting far surpass mine!"

Cheng Yunzhang quickly said, "I dare not compare myself with the teacher."

He looked at Wen Wan again and explained, "If the portrait is too perfect, it will be ugly. Just a facial outline is enough to tell that it is a woman."

Wen Wan smiled and said, "Leaving blank space. I know a thing or two about this."

Cheng Yunzhang really wanted to know whether Wen Wan's knowledge of painting was similar to her knowledge of fishing or chess.

Seeing Wen Wan's satisfaction, Cheng Yunzhang followed her example and extended his hand, then asked her with a smile, "Where is the ten taels of silver that Junior Sister promised?"

Wen Wan was completely focused on the little statue. She happily folded it up and put it into her sleeve. "I'll increase my debt to two hundred and ten taels! I'll pay it back to my senior brother when the time comes!"

Cheng Yunzhang sneered, "You just sold Senior Brother Jinyu's gift and got five hundred and sixty taels of stolen money!"

"Hey... Senior brother, please be careful with your words and actions... Don't talk nonsense!" Wen Wan was thinking about making this portrait into a seal and printing it on every pot of Ruiguo juice. She would be the spokesperson for her own product!

"Senior Brother Xiuwen's surname is Cheng, right?"

Cheng Yunzhang didn't know why she suddenly asked him this, but just raised his eyebrows.

"Cheng's Winery and my Wen's Winery are rivals in the business world, right?"

Cheng Yunzhang pursed his thin lips tightly, "What do you want to say, Junior Sister?"

The young lady smiled brightly.

"Cheating my rival's money... developing my own winery... is there anything wrong with that?"

Cheng Yunzhang: ...

Yao Shizhen said, "Tsk tsk tsk," "This girl... is a bit of a fool, she has so many tricks up her sleeve!"

It was rare to see Cheng Yunzhang being humiliated, so Wen Wan laughed heartily and presented him with ten taels of silver with both hands, "Brother Xiuwen, this is a fee for writing... I was just teasing you."

Tease him?
That wouldn't work. Only he could walk the fox, but the fox couldn't walk him.

Well, let’s take a walk next time.

In April, the weather starts to get hot.

Father Wen has already started packing his bags and counting the people to go to Bozhou to participate in the Green Plum Wine Festival in May.

Wen Wan was pregnant with twins, and her belly was starting to show signs of growth. Her waist looked thicker than usual for a five-month pregnant woman. Therefore, for the past six months, she had only been around Ping County.

Fortunately, the baby in her belly was sensible and obedient. Except for the first three months when she was very tired, whenever the baby bothered her, she would recite "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic" to educate the baby about maternal love.

Although the baby's facial features may not have developed yet, it does not stop her from raising the baby.

Later, it turned out that the baby in her belly didn't seem to like reading either. Whenever it heard her reading, it would quickly stop, and her morning sickness also stopped. Hmm, I've found a way to manage the baby in the future.

Wen Wan has always adhered to the idea that it is better to push yourself than to push your child. If you push your child, he or she will not listen to you; it is better to push yourself and create an environment for your child where he or she can lie down as soon as he or she is born. Wouldn't this reduce conflicts between mother and child or mother and daughter?

Old Man Wen was very worried, so before leaving, he called Aunt Chen, Liu Yiyi and others to the study for a meeting. He gave them a lot of warnings and instructions, asking them to take good care of his eldest grandson.

Wen Wan saw Aunt Liu's reluctant look and smiled, pouting, "Dad, your trip to Bozhou will take at least two months. There's no one to take care of you on the way, so why not take Aunt...oh...Mother with you?"

Liu Yiyi patted her chest and said, "Miss, if you really can't change your way of speaking, then don't change it. Just call me by the same name as before. We don't talk about these things in our family."

The main thing is... Liu Yiyi felt a little guilty after defeating Bai Yueguang.

She took away Wen Wan's mother's position as the head wife and asked the eldest girl to call her mother. Liu Yiyi was afraid that Wen Wan's mother would come into her dream in the middle of the night to question her.

"That won't do. We can't let others say our home is a place without rules."

But Father Wen refused and insisted on keeping Liu Yiyi: "Yiyi, if you stay, it will be easier for me to take care of you. I am an old man, not a woman who has just given birth."

Sometimes, Wen Wan admires her cheap father's dry sense of humor.

She glanced at Old Man Wen's shiny forehead and secretly sighed that her father was self-aware.

Wen Wan smiled and said, "Dad, letting Aunt Liu go to Bozhou will not only take care of your daily life, but also have other uses."

Liu Yiyi: Huh? How come I don’t know?

Seeing both of them looking at her in confusion, Wen Wan smiled and asked Old Man Wen, "Dad, what is the main purpose of our trip to Bozhou to participate in the wine-cooking meeting this time?"

"Of course, we have to promote our Ruiguo pulp and expand its sales! It would be best if we could win first prize!"

Wen Wan reminded Old Man Wen: "The champions of this wine-cooking conference were all paid a huge sum of money by the merchants!"

Father Wen patted the bulging purse at his waist and said, "Daughter, we have money! Dad will get you the top spot on the list!"

Wen Wan was furious, "Give me back my wallet! I didn't give you a hundred taels so you could bribe the judges! Give me back half of it!"

Seeing his daughter's anger, Father Wen couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Dad knows, I was just teasing you! I've been to Bozhou several times, so how could I not know that the Green Plum Wine Competition is just a gimmick for wine merchants to compete with each other? This hundred taels of silver... not even a splash! The important thing this time is to participate!"

"Yes!" Wen Wan was finally relieved. She had previously been worried that her adopted father would be taken advantage of by someone else, so she stubbornly spent all her family savings on a trophy. That would be a loss. "Remember, our family is dirt poor right now! This one hundred taels of silver was donated by Lord Wei. You must spend it frugally and don't get cheated!"

When Father Wen thought of this, he felt his wallet burning. "My dear, do you think... Lord Wei should be a very kind person?"

"Peaceful?" Wen Wan sneered. "I heard from my adoptive father that at the beginning of the year, he closed the gates of Bingzhou City and slaughtered all the wealthy families like pigs. He also took his ships out to sea from the coastal islands and killed the Japanese hiding in the fishing villages along the coast. He cut off their heads and hung them on the city walls, leaving them for birds to pick at. This was to deter the wealthy smugglers."

Old Man Wen's eyelids twitched. He had heard that Huai'an Marquis Wei Zheng was cruel and ruthless, and he never thought that killing rich people was as easy as slaughtering pigs.

The powerful are so terrifying!
"How about... let's redeem those things! If he knew you pawned his gift, wouldn't we end up like the Japanese?"

The young lady's eyes were cold and gloomy. "We can't even pay the winery workers. Dad wants to disband the winery now?"

Seeing that Father Wen's face turned pale with fear at her, she couldn't help but smile, "Don't worry, Father. I asked my adoptive father quietly, and he said that Senior Brother Jinyu is a protective person. I can be considered his junior sister, so I'm half family. We just need to get back as soon as possible and redeem the things. He won't kill a weak girl like me, will he?"

(End of this chapter)