The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

In the cold winter, Gu's Restaurant has added thick leather curtains to the door to keep out the cold wind.

Wang Qian, Wang Baiwan's son, sat in the lobby, discussing business with Su Qianqian.

He has already transported a large amount of grain to Qinghe County, and has also obtained the 20 sketches that Su Qianqian promised.

Wang Qian originally thought that buying 10 paintings would be better than expected, but he ended up getting 20, which was a pleasant surprise.

"Miss Su, it was a pleasure doing business with you. After returning to Beijing this time, I will definitely come to Qinghe County again after the New Year."

By the time he returns to the capital and sells his goods, it will be around the time the roads are blocked by heavy snow.

\

Besides the portrait of Zhu Laosan, Wang Qian also received several sketches of flowers and plants. As soon as he brought them back to Beijing, they once again boosted the popularity of the Wang family's calligraphy and painting shop.

The shop was packed with scholars admiring the paintings.

Some people genuinely love painting, while others are simply following the trend, believing that anything that everyone is scrambling for must be good.

The paintings by the genius artist increased the daily sales of Wang's shop by more than tenfold.

Wang Qian's biological father, Wang Baiwan, as the head of the Wang family, spoke highly of his third son, Wang Qian.

This son is truly outstanding; he is the pride of the Wang family. No one else can buy the paintings of that genius painter from Qinghe County, yet his son managed to buy twenty of them in one go.

Look, once the painting is hung in the calligraphy and painting shop, the shop's business increases many times over compared to usual.

During dinner, Wang Baiwan publicly praised his son, saying, "Third son, I have high hopes for you. Keep up the good work, and the position of the family head will surely be yours in the future."

Wang Qian's brothers were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

She regretted not having Wang Qian's luck in becoming friends with that genius painter from Qinghe County.

The eldest brother, Wang Yi, mocked, "Third brother, I heard you bought a lot of shop assistant uniforms. Don't let them become unusable."

"No need for you to trouble yourself, elder brother."

Wang Qian was very confident. Those waiters' uniforms were exactly the same as those worn by the waiters at Gu's Restaurant. How could something related to the Su family not sell!

Originally, Wang Qian was the least capable among the brothers, but he was lucky. He went to Qinghe County a few times and ended up outshining his eldest brother, Wang Yi, who was the most capable.

The hundreds of sets of waiter's uniforms that Wang Qian brought back to the capital were originally intended to be sold to various high-end restaurants.

He visited several high-end restaurants and told them how popular Gu Ji was and how well-received their waiters' uniforms were, but the restaurant owners had no intention of standardizing the waiters' uniforms because there was no such tradition.

Wang Qian had no choice but to change his approach. He advertised in the ink and brush shops that the people around that genius painter liked to wear this style of clothing.

As a result, it really piqued the interest of scholars, who rushed to buy the servants' uniforms.

Wang Qian was secretly delighted. Miss Su's reputation was indeed effective. As soon as it was mentioned that everyone around Miss Su wore the clothes, scholars began to scramble for them.

Anyway, he wasn't lying. The genius painter was always surrounded by Gu Ji's employees, and those employees wore this kind of clothes!

Wang Qian knew that many people in the capital had misunderstood, thinking that the genius painter and the girl who cultivated the exquisite orchids were two different people.

So Wang Qian revealed the truth, telling everyone that the genius painter was the girl who cultivated the exquisite orchids.

"It's true. The two girls you admire are actually the same person. If you don't believe me, you can ask those who have been to Gu's Restaurant in Qinghe County."

The scholars admired Miss Su, who lived far away in Qinghe County, even more. She was not only a genius painter, but she had also cultivated exquisite orchids, bringing glory to the Great Qi Dynasty. She was truly an extraordinary girl.

I heard that the envoy from the Southern Yue Kingdom came to the capital to ask for flowers. Their original crystal orchid in the Southern Yue Kingdom actually died, hahaha.

Since so many people around this genius artist wear these clothes, I have to snag one and try it out.

As a result, hundreds of sets of shopkeeper's uniforms were snapped up by scholars in the capital.

Even Luo Kang and his son Luo Minggeng from the Luo family each snatched two sets so they could alternate wearing them, which made them especially happy.

The next day, Wang Qian was drinking with two other merchants from the capital whom he knew from Qinghe County at a restaurant.

The wealthy merchant surnamed Chen, looking at the various scholars in the restaurant, all dressed in the uniforms of the waiters from Gu's Restaurant in Qinghe County, was completely captivated by Wang Qian.

"Brother Wang, you are truly amazing. You actually managed to sell Gu Ji's shop assistant uniforms to these proud scholars in the capital."

Even Wang Qian himself couldn't help but laugh.

He thought he could sell those clothes to high-end restaurants in the capital, but who knew that they would all end up being sold to scholars at high prices, all thanks to the celebrity effect.

And he wasn't lying. There were indeed many people around the genius painter who wore this kind of clothing, but those people were all waiters at Gu's Restaurant.

The wealthy merchant surnamed Zhao said, "Brother Wang, you've hung paintings by a genius artist in your calligraphy and painting shop, and it's packed with people every day. It's truly enviable! It's all thanks to you, Brother Wang. We went to Qinghe County ourselves, but we still couldn't buy any works by that genius artist."

Wang Qian nodded. He himself felt that he had been favored by God, otherwise how could he have obtained twenty works by genius painters all at once!

You should know that other merchants can't even get one of these.

\

Prefect Xu received a letter from his second son, who said that he had fallen in love with a girl who was eight years older than him.

The couple were in agreement and both disagreed.

Prefect Xu looked quite angry and threw the letter on the ground. "This is absolutely unacceptable. The age difference is too great."

Mrs. Xu's voice was also stern, "I can accept children under five years old, but eight years old is absolutely unacceptable."

People can be very nagging; if word gets out, we'll be laughed at.

Xu Ruoxian kindly persuaded her parents on behalf of her second brother: "Dad, Mom, I know Miss Gu Ying. She's a very nice person. She has a good personality, is pretty, and is also a great cook."

Xu Ruoxuan is quite optimistic about her second brother and Gu Ying. This is the first time in his life that her second brother has said he likes a girl.

If Gu Ying marries her second brother, she can establish a kinship with the Su family, which would be wonderful.

Prefect Xu remained adamant, "That won't work either, the age gap is too large."

When persuasion failed, Vivian Hsu had no choice but to resort to her trump card.

"Father, Miss Gu Ying is Su Dongjia's cousin, and Su Dongjia takes special care of her. If Second Brother marries Gu Ying, our family can establish a connection with Miss Su."

Prefect Xu was overjoyed; such a wonderful thing had happened!

He immediately changed his tune, "Why didn't you say so earlier? I think this marriage is quite good."

Prefect Xu felt that the marriage between the two children should be arranged as soon as possible, so that he could become relatives with the Su family sooner.

It sounds wonderful, and I can't help but want to show it off to my colleagues right away.

Xu Ruoxuan pouted, knowing this would happen. "Dad, if you're so stubborn, then keep pretending! If you're so capable, then don't change your mind!"

It seems that as long as it can be related to the Su family, Dad will agree.

Su Dongjia was very influential with her father, so she didn't need to waste any more words and directly told him the important thing that Su Dongjia had repeatedly told her.

"Father, Master Su wrote that many bandits of unknown origin have recently appeared in Qinghe County. He wants you to raise more soldiers to deal with emergencies. What if those bandits have no money for the New Year and come to Pengcheng to harm the people? Listening to Master Su is definitely the right thing to do."

Upon hearing this, Prefect Xu resolved to maintain a force of one thousand soldiers, since his daughter's earnings were more than enough to support them.

The Great Qi Dynasty stipulated that a prefect could support a maximum of one thousand soldiers. Currently, there are only a few dozen people in the Pengcheng government office, so we can greatly expand the recruitment.

"Father, recently the people of Qinghe County have all been learning martial arts from Master Su."

"The Su family is learning martial arts? That's a good thing. Your father's health isn't very good either, so I should learn some martial arts to improve my health."

Xu Ruoxian thought to herself: Dad, you are a huge fan of Su Dongjia. No matter what Su Dongjia does, you will follow suit.

Prefect Xu was indeed a big fan of Miss Su. Upon hearing that Miss Su was teaching martial arts to the people, he quickly invited a martial arts instructor and led his constables to learn martial arts outside the yamen. He also encouraged ordinary people to join in.

\

Late at night in Meihua Lane, Qinghe County, Gu Huai and Qin Shi were so worried about their daughter that they couldn't sleep. In fact, they hadn't been able to sleep for several nights in a row.

Qin's hair even fell out in clumps because of insomnia.

The couple discovered that Yingzi and Xu Juren had feelings for each other.

The scholar Xu secretly gave Yingzi a portrait painting, which depicted Yingzi herself.

Yingzi would secretly take it out to look at it every day after she got home, and the blush on her face showed that the girl really had feelings for Xu Juren.

The couple was afraid that Prefect Xu would not take a liking to Yingzi. After all, the prefect was a high-ranking official, and Xu Ruofeng had the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations). What worried the couple the most was that Yingzi was eight years older than Xu Ruofeng.

In Daqi, it is extremely rare for a girl to be eight years older than her boyfriend.

If the Gu family's family background were better than the Xu family's, that would be fine, but the problem is that the Gu family's family background is far inferior to the Xu family's.

Madam Qin sighed and said, "If all else fails, let Qian'er transfer Scholar Xu to another place. If the two young people don't see each other for a long time, they might gradually forget each other."

The couple spent the whole night worrying, and the next day at noon they received gifts and a letter from Magistrate Xu.

The letter was very polite, directly asking when the two children would be engaged, and saying the sooner the better.

Gu Huai and his wife looked at each other and smiled. They hadn't slept for several nights, worrying for nothing. They hadn't expected the Xu family to agree so readily.