Chapter 137 (2/2)

Yu Xiaocao had Little s.h.i.+tou put the little animal down . The little roe deer first looked at her and only after it got her approval did it rush towards the vegetables leaves and gobble it down happily . As it ate, its s.h.a.ggy little tail waved happily and both of its ears twitched . It looked incredibly adorable!

“Brother Han, when we go to the prefectural city tomorrow, will Uncle Zhao be going too?” Yu Xiaocao asked quietly as she stood next to Zhao Han, watching the roe deer eat .

Zhao Han smiled and nodded his head, “Yup! The prefectural city is too far from here, so my father doesn’t think it’s safe for me to go alone!”

Yu Xiaocao pursed her lips and replied somewhat enviously, “The furthest I’ve been to is the town, I’ve never been to the prefectural city . . . ”

Zhao Han apparently had heard her hint within her words and looked at her gently, “How about . . . I could talk to Uncle Yu and see if you could also go with us to the prefectural city?”

Yu Xiaocao’s eyes lit up and she secretly glanced at Yu Hai, who was picking vegetables from the fields . She quietly replied, “Do you think that it’ll work? The prefectural city is so far from here that we can’t get back in the same day . My father will definitely not agree to this . ”

Zhou Zixu felt rather resentful about Zhao Han ‘abducting’ Yu Xiaocao . He frowned and earnestly interjected, “Brother Zhao, Younger Sister Xiaocao is not related to you by blood . Although she’s young, she’s still a girl and is not suited to spend the night away from home . ”

When she heard Zhou Zixu say that, Xiaocao immediately felt that her hopes were even more uncertain . She pouted her lips in unhappiness .

Zhou Zixu tried to console her, “My family has a small residence in the prefectural city and the renovations are almost finished there . I can bring you to the prefectural city to play and conveniently find a good location to establish a branch of Zhenxiu Restaurant . ”

A smile stayed on Zhao Han’s face but the expression in his eyes as he looked at Zhou Zixu had cooled down perceptibly, “Please excuse my question, but if Xiaocao isn’t suited to go to the prefectural city with us, then why is it okay to go there with you? You may have a residence in the city but it’s not Xiaocao’s family’s home . If she stayed there, wouldn’t that be the same thing as spending a night away from home?”

“You! Xiaocao is like my younger sister; she’s not an outsider!” Zhou Zixu refused to be cowed .

“Pffft——How come I have never heard of Uncle Yu having an additional son?” Zhao Han reb.u.t.ted fiercely .

“You . . . how absurd!” Zhou Zixu angrily replied .

“You’re the one that’s——being completely unreasonable!” Zhao Han’s words held a lot of anger .

Yu Xiaocao watched as the two boys continued to fight and felt that it was quite amusing . She couldn’t help but let out a peal of laughter . The two youths each looked at her . She waved a hand and managed to stifle her giggles, “You guys continue, just ignore me over here!”

Zhou Zixu and Zhao Han silently looked each other in the eye . For whose benefit were they arguing for?

When Yu Xiaocao noticed that the two youths were finally able to calm down, she made her final plea, “Father, I want to go to the prefectural city tomorrow with Uncle Zhao and Brother Han . Maybe I’ll think of a new way to make money along the way?”

Yu Hai heard her plea but before he could answer, Madam Liu b.u.t.ted in to express her thoughts, “Is the town not enough for you that you have to go to the prefectural city? It takes several days by foot to get there . It’s already quite tiring for your Uncle Zhao and you want him to help take care of you, a little girl? I absolutely refuse to give you permission!”

Yu Hai had a look of ‘there’s nothing I can do’ on his face . He said, “Your mother is right! Our family is not so poor that we have no options . We don’t need to send you, a small girl, to the prefectural city to find work . Relax a bit, you still have your father here!”

In an effort to pull them out of poverty, a little girl who hadn’t reached the age of ten had to make braised food, sell her recipes, and even figure out a method to cause vegetables to grow faster . She was so busy that she was getting stretched out like a rubber band . He was really afraid that she might snap under all of the pressure .

Now, their family could sell braised food and vegetables to have a stable income and some savings . They were even on the verge of buying a few shops, so they were no longer considered poor . Thus, they really needed to let his daughter rest a bit .

“But Father . . . I really want to go to the prefectural city to become more experienced and knowledgeable!” Yu Xiaocao did her best to use every trick in her book to act like a spoiled child . She knew her father was particularly vulnerable to these methods .

Sure enough, Yu Hai’s heart softened . He secretly approached his wife and quietly said, “Muyun, Doctor Sun himself had said that our Xiaocao is not a person with an ordinary destiny . She’s only nine years old yet she has earned almost two thousand taels . In the future, she will definitely be even more prosperous . As her parents, even though we may not be able to help much, we absolutely cannot pull her down!”

“What do you mean by she won’t have an ordinary destiny? Don’t forget that Xiaocao is a girl and will need to marry someone in the future! If she was a boy, then I, as her mother, would absolutely support her!” Madam Liu still believed in the old traditional values such as, ‘a woman’s virtue is to have no talent’ . She felt that girls should spend more time at home doing needlework, managing the house and such, but there was no point in spending too much time out in the public .

When Zhou Zixu saw that Xiaocao was about to cry, he immediately forgot his previous position and hurriedly interceded, “Auntie, your beliefs are a little too outdated! It’s no longer considered shameful for women to go out of the house and do business . For example, Jiang Siniang herself established the store, ‘Exquisite Garments’, that is famous and known to everyone in the capital . Even the n.o.blewomen in the capital have a difficult time getting her to make them a piece of clothing that was personally designed and sewn by her . In fact, all of the emperor’s imperial consorts want her to enter the palace to create clothing for them! I believe that Xiaocao’s future accomplishments,will absolutely not be inferior to Jiang Siniang’s! She can only be better!”

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