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Chapter 586 Blessings and misfortunes
Not long after that, one morning after breakfast, Liu Yueyao suddenly arrived, with a faint smile on her face.

"Master, Madam, you two haven't been out much lately, have you? Today the weather is unusually sunny and warm, wouldn't you like to go out for a stroll in the market?" she said to the two of them. "I don't know if it's because the Double Ninth Festival is approaching, but the streets and alleys have been very lively lately."

Zhu Yu could tell that Liu Yueyao was implying something. She looked at Lu Qing, who was also smiling and looking in her direction: "You must be bored these days, right? Since it's so lively outside, let's go and join in the fun."

The two quickly got ready and went out for a stroll.

This time, they deliberately avoided the crowded and bustling main streets and instead wandered around the neighborhoods where ordinary people lived in the capital.

These places are naturally not as bustling as the main streets, but they have their own unique charm.

Women from ordinary families don't face as many constraints as women from wealthy families. After all, they have to make a living and support their families. Some of them might do small business on the street, selling homemade pickled vegetables, hand-embroidered handkerchiefs, or shoe soles.

There are also those who don't go out to do small business, but still need to be busy with laundry and drying.

The young children were too young to help their families, so they skipped and jumped around in the alley, chasing and playing with each other. Their parents were busy making a living and had no time to pay attention to them.

After wandering around for a while, the two of them strolled into a small alley where several children were clapping their hands and chasing each other, chanting as they played: "The stove fire burns through the nine-tiered eaves, the deer is startled by the abyss and its hooves sink into the sky, the iron pot cracks, the boiling oil is fried, and the copper liquid on the golden pillar is soaked!"

Zhu Yu didn't pay much attention at first, but after walking a few steps, she felt something was off. She quietly pulled Lu Qing along, and the two of them slowed down.

The children were jumping and singing a nursery rhyme, seemingly enjoying themselves even though they didn't understand its meaning.

A woman came out of the courtyard and greeted the man who was repairing the wall: "Husband, I've steamed the cakes. How many should you take with you on this trip?"

The man repairing the courtyard wall thought for a moment and said, "This trip to buy goods is short. Just give me three or five flatbreads, that should be enough to fill my stomach on the way back. I'll be back in no more than two days!"

"Alright! I'll pack six for you then! It's better to be frugal on the road than to be poor. You won't go hungry at home, but it's a different story outside. If you're in the middle of nowhere, even if you have coins in your pocket, there's nowhere to buy food!" After making her decision, the woman looked in the direction of the children. "What are Little Tiger and Li's second son arguing about?"

"Who knows!" The man grinned nonchalantly. "I heard that Zhao Sanya from the other side of the alley and her mother went back to her maternal grandmother's house to visit relatives a few days ago, and she learned some nursery rhymes from the children in that village."

When they came back, the other children all started making a fuss.

Kids like that, they just love to follow others around and join in the fun. Never mind them, I'll be done in a minute. Go and wrap up the pancake for me!

The woman responded and turned to go inside to get busy.

Zhu Yu glanced at Lu Qing. Lu Qing's face, covered by a fake skin, was expressionless, but judging from his eyes, the couple couldn't understand the nursery rhyme, but he understood it and was quite satisfied with it.

The two wandered around for a while before returning to the main street. This time, Lu Qing didn't just go back; instead, she found an ordinary cloth shop and asked the shopkeeper to buy some dark gray coarse cloth. "Boss, we just passed by that cloth shop, why is their fort sealed off?" Zhu Yu asked casually as the shopkeeper measured the cloth. "We were away from the capital for about a month, attending a wedding at a relative's house. When we came back, why is the once-thriving cloth shop closed down?"

"Oh dear, don't even mention it!" The cloth shop owner sighed as he measured the cloth, shaking his head. "They said they tampered with the cloth ordered for the Duke of Yan's family, and the shop was shut down overnight."

Some say the shopkeeper or someone else was caught but fled after hearing the news, while others say he has already been arrested and dealt with.

Anyway, shops aren't allowed to open now, and there's probably no hope for them to open in the future.

"Huh? That serious? What kind of tricks did they use?" Zhu Yu asked in surprise.

"We can't really say for sure about that," the boss grinned. "That powerful person has absolute power; if they say you did it, then you did it. Who would want to listen to your explanations?"

After he finished speaking, he looked up at his small shop and sighed, "To be honest, I used to be so envious of the Tze-Leg Shop."

Compared to other people's shops, our little shop is worse than their outhouse.

I work hard all year round and am always busy, but in the end I don't earn much money.

The Tze-Leg Shop is a large and powerful family. They only do business with wealthy and powerful families who don't care about spending money. A single deal they make can earn more than I do in a whole year!

I used to be really envious of them, but I never expected that their shop would be shut down overnight!

Whether the manager or the shop assistant is alive or dead is still unclear!
It really is... oh dear... what was that saying again... anyway, it's something about fortune and misfortune, calamity and stagnation..."

"Good fortune may be a harbinger of misfortune, and misfortune may be a harbinger of good fortune?" Zhu Yu added for him.

The cloth shop owner nodded hurriedly: "Oh, yes, yes, that's it. It's very literary. I haven't read many books, so I can't explain it, but I understand the meaning."

Anyway, I understand now that making money off the wealthy isn't so easy. I can make a living just by running this little shop, and that's enough for me!

The black cloth was torn up, and the shopkeeper wrapped it up for them. The two of them took it and returned to Yunyin Pavilion. Lu Qing asked Fu Lu to give the coarse cloth to Liu Yueyao and ask her to sew four sets of clothes according to the figures of the two of them, plus Fu Lu herself, with narrow sleeves and short outfits.

Although Liu Yueyao seemed a little confused after hearing the order, she was never one to talk too much. She listened to whatever Lu Qing told her without asking any questions. So she took the cloth back without saying a word and returned the four sets of clothes on the third day.

Zhu Yu looked at them. The four sets of clothes weren't exactly exquisitely made, but they were still quite efficient to have done them in just over a day.

More importantly, Liu Yueyao didn't need to take measurements for each of them. After Zhu Yu tried on the clothes she made, he found that they fit perfectly.