Chapter 165: Questioning Dong Zhiqing, understanding Dong Zhiqing

In the main hall of the Jiang estate, Jiang Rong was drinking tea while asking the maid why she didn't see her mother and the other women of the Jiang estate.

Her mother had always been mysterious, so it was normal for her not to be in the Jiang family.

But her aunt and sister-in-law were both quite home-loving and didn't go out usually; now it was dinner time, so logically they should be at home.

The maid answered: "The mistress and the young mistress are tired today and are resting in the inner courtyard, telling us servants not to disturb them; the eldest wife left the Jiang estate yesterday morning and hasn't returned yet."

This made Jiang Rong very puzzled: "What is so busy?"

The maid continued to answer: "Eldest young lady, have you forgotten? Recently the estate has been recruiting servants, and the mistress has been personally selecting them, and two guests came to the house yesterday, and the young mistress has been entertaining them."

Saying this, Jiang Rong remembered the recent recruitment of servants; according to what was agreed before, the servants' character had to be good, followed by knowledge and ability.

This was to enter the Jiang family and possibly be promoted to butler in the future, so there could be no sloppiness.

It was better to have no servants than to choose people with bad intentions.

It was estimated that her aunt was busy with these things, which Jiang Rong could understand.

But what she didn't understand was what kind of guest came that required her sister-in-law to entertain them personally?

This aroused a certain curiosity in Jiang Rong; she spoke: "What kind of guest came? Is their status very distinguished?"

The maid thought for a moment, leaned into Jiang Rong's ear, and whispered: "Eldest young lady, it is said that they came from the Imperial Capital, a man and a woman, and they also have a token from Imperial Consort Yi."

Hearing this, Jiang Rong understood; it turned out to be people related to the palace, no wonder her sister-in-law entertained them personally.

Originally, the Jiang estate had no men, so men were temporarily not allowed to live in the estate, but people from the palace were indeed special, and their status was indeed distinguished, so they couldn't be negligent.

As a member of the Jiang estate, Jiang Rong planned to meet the guests.

Who knew, the maid also said the guests were resting in the inner courtyard, which made Jiang Rong somewhat uncomprehending.

But soon she understood; the journey from the Imperial Capital to here was long, and after traveling all the way, they indeed needed to rest for a few days.

Her aunt was also afraid that the maids would disturb the guests from the Imperial Capital, which was why she told the maids not to go to the inner courtyard.

She would never have thought that her aunt and sister-in-law were still serving in bed.

Jiang Ningyue had thin skin and didn't want people to know about this, which was why she told the maids not to go to the inner courtyard, using a casual excuse.

"Since my aunt and the others are all resting, I won't disturb them; later you send dinner to my room; I'll go back to my room to rest for a while, and if my mother returns, remember to notify me."

It could be seen that Jiang Rong's current appearance was also relatively exhausted.

There were two reasons why she had been very tired recently; the first was being busy with the Jiang family's industries.

Jiang Rong had shown commercial talent from a very young age and was often praised by her father.

Actually, at the beginning, Jiang Rong felt that even if her father wasn't there, she could take good care of the Jiang family's industries on her own, and perhaps even expand the industries and bring the Jiang family to a new height.

But when the heavy burden truly fell on her, she knew what it meant to be unable to breathe.

Not to mention expanding, recently, for some reason, it was as if she was being targeted, and the family's industries were constantly weakening.

Yesterday, she was even reported to the Lin Chengjian, saying she was communicating with demons.

Jiang Rong felt that this was simply groundless; the Jiang family's industries were very regular, how could they communicate with demons?

The new Lin Chengjian was a model of a strong woman, doing things meticulously.

The first stage of the investigation indeed showed that there were no problems with the Jiang family's industries.

However, they still had to wait for the person who reported the Jiang family to continue providing intelligence before the Lin Chengjian could continue the investigation.

Jiang Rong wanted to know who reported it, but according to the rules, to prevent retaliation from the accused, she couldn't know who it was for the time being.

Thinking of this family, they were indeed lacking people to help.

She hoped that the three servants recruited would have some ability and could help the family manage some commercial matters.

This was the first reason why Jiang Rong was very tired; the second reason was a physical problem.

In recent years, Jiang Rong had developed better and better, always feeling that her chest was heavy, and her shoulders often ached.

Perhaps this was talent, and she had no other way.

Moreover, Jiang Rong wasn't a cultivator, and her physical fitness was average, so she would indeed feel it was very heavy.

She also lived in the inner courtyard, but in a different place.

The Jiang family's courtyard was very large and used to house many people, so they were all separated.

Jiang Ningyue's inner courtyard was on the east side of the Jiang estate, and the courtyard where Jiang Rong lived was on the west side of the Jiang estate.

After finishing dinner, Jiang Rong fell into a deep sleep.

And on the other side of the Jiang estate, it was surging with undercurrents, with artillery fire filling the sky.

Li Chen enjoyed the service of Jiang Ningyue's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and now he was too lazy to go out.

The three of them all had a feeling of meeting each other too late.

After only one day of getting along, the level of tacit understanding between the three of them made Wu Nanzhi feel that those two women were Li Chen's consorts, and she was like an outsider.

This couldn't be blamed on Jiang Ningyue and Dong Zhiqing; after all, in their eyes, Li Chen was the supreme Emperor, and what if Li Chen blamed them if they didn't serve him well?

Perhaps in their view, being able to serve Li Chen was already the greatest honor for women like them.

If those who participated in the servant test outside knew this, they would likely vomit blood.

Over a thousand people went through layers of selection, working so hard just to be able to enter the Jiang family, to be able to look at these ladies and young ladies a few more times; if there was an opportunity to get close to them, they would probably be willing to die.

But the women they worked hard to get were working hard to serve Li Chen.

Li Chen was also enjoying it, until almost dinner time, when the four of them walked out of the room.

Just as they arrived in the hall, Jiang Ningyue learned from the maid that Jiang Rong had returned.

She let her daughter-in-law accompany Li Chen to eat first, while she went to the west side of the courtyard to call Jiang Rong over.

That was to introduce Jiang Rong to Li Chen.

In her interaction with Li Chen, she also slowly learned Li Chen's hobbies and the types he liked.

Jiang Rong happened to be the kind of woman who satisfied Li Chen's requirements.

The reason Jiang Ningyue tried so hard to keep Li Chen in the Jiang family was to give Jiang Rong an opportunity to become a consort.

Now that Jiang Rong had returned, she certainly had to tell her about this good opportunity.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ningyue left the hall.

But before she walked to the place where Jiang Rong was resting, someone chased after Jiang Ningyue.

Hearing the footsteps, Jiang Ningyue looked back; it was her daughter-in-law, Dong Zhiqing.

At this moment, Dong Zhiqing's expression was a bit flustered.

Looking at her expression, Jiang Ningyue thought her daughter-in-law had offended Li Chen and wanted to come to her for help.

But thinking about it, it wasn't right; Li Chen liked her daughter-in-law very much, liked her tightly, and her daughter-in-law was also obedient, so she shouldn't have offended Li Chen.

Jiang Ningyue asked: "What's wrong, why are you so flustered?"

Hearing her mother-in-law say this, Dong Zhiqing lowered her head, a bit coy, her eyes dodging.

Finally, she began to speak: "Mother-in-law, why don't we tell the eldest young lady in a few days."

Hearing this, Jiang Ningyue was very puzzled; why tell Jiang Rong in a few days?

But looking at her daughter-in-law's shy appearance, as a woman, she naturally realized it.

Her daughter-in-law had finally felt the happiness of a woman, and Li Chen's status was incomparably distinguished; usually, let alone contact, they couldn't even see him once.

Her daughter-in-law felt that if she introduced Jiang Rong to His Majesty, then His Majesty would certainly be with Jiang Rong, and wouldn't care about her then.

After all, they weren't the kind of noble young ladies who were still unmarried like Jiang Rong; being able to receive the Emperor's favor was already very good, and they really didn't dare to hope for anything else.

Dong Zhiqing felt that being able to accompany Li Chen for a few more days was good, even if it was just a few days.

So when Jiang Ningyue said she would call Jiang Rong over, Dong Zhiqing thought of this point and summoned the courage to say so.

Jiang Ningyue could also understand; she was also intoxicated by it.

It was just unexpected that her daughter-in-law had this thought.

Jiang Ningyue thought for a moment and said: "What you said is also right; the eldest young lady has been busy with the family business recently and is already very tired, and is resting in her room; we shouldn't disturb her."

Hearing her mother-in-law say this, Dong Zhiqing was overjoyed.

She was really afraid that her mother-in-law would scold her, so she didn't say it clearly.

It seemed her mother-in-law also couldn't bear for His Majesty to leave.

Jiang Ningyue had also gone from questioning her daughter-in-law at the beginning to understanding her daughter-in-law, and now she was firmly supporting her daughter-in-law.

Just like this, this pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who understood each other returned to the hall.

And Jiang Rong temporarily lost the opportunity to hold onto Li Chen's thigh.

"Your Majesty, I'm really sorry; the eldest young lady has been too busy with the industries recently and hasn't rested for a whole day yesterday, and is now asleep in her room."

Jiang Ningyue expressed her apology immediately upon seeing Li Chen.

During this time, she had been saying all kinds of good things about the two young ladies of the Jiang family in front of Li Chen, making Li Chen want to see them; now, for her own selfish desires, it was indeed a bit embarrassing.

Later, she could only compensate Li Chen well. However, she wasn't lying; Jiang Rong was indeed resting.

But if Li Chen really wanted to see Jiang Rong, she would still go and call Jiang Rong over.

If Li Chen didn't want to see her for the time being, she could only rely on herself and her daughter-in-law to continue serving him.

"It's fine, let her rest well; we will also rest later," Li Chen said casually.

From this sentence, it could also be seen that Li Chen's mind was entirely on this pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law now.

Otherwise, why would one say the three of them were very tacit?

At dinner, all kinds of nourishing things changed from tiger paws and deer antlers to tiger whips and deer whips.

After careful cooking in the back kitchen, it was also full of color, fragrance, and taste.

During the banquet, Li Chen didn't even need to use his chopsticks; as long as he wanted to eat something, the three beauties could feed it to his mouth.

The head of the Jiang family, Jiang Ningyue, was even held in Li Chen's arms.

Li Chen had already become the true master of this region.

!

After dinner, tonight's work had to continue.

This time Li Chen was prepared to do some role-playing; he would play Jiang Ningyue's husband, so as the daughter-in-law, Dong Zhiqing, she would have to call Li Chen father-in-law.

With such a special relationship, it made Dong Zhiqing feel even more stimulated.

On the fourth morning, Jiang Rong finally had a good sleep.

She got up and stretched, feeling that her clothes were very tight.

It seemed this set of clothes had to be changed to something looser; with a figure like hers, it wasn't very fabric-saving, thanks to the Jiang family having money.

Jiang Rong came to the hall, thinking she could see her aunt and the guests, but as a result, she was the only one there.

She asked the maid, and the maid indicated that Jiang Ningyue was preparing for the final servant test today, and the two guests from the Imperial Capital were still asleep in their rooms.

"Perhaps people from the Imperial Capital like to sleep in."

Jiang Rong muttered a sentence, and after finishing breakfast, she left the Jiang family, preparing to continue to look after the shop.

She hoped her aunt could choose a few better servants to help, otherwise, she would really be tired to death.

Just as Jiang Rong and her maid walked out, a young man with a somewhat handsome appearance came toward them.

This person was none other than the Son of Destiny, Lin Mo, who had been squatting in the dark outside the Jiang estate's front door for a long time.

Today, Lin Mo was here to participate in the Jiang estate's third round of testing, which was the final servant test.

In order to leave a good impression on the examiner, Jiang Ningyue, Lin Mo got up very early; he specially chose a clean and tidy set of clothes and squatted at the door.

Then he carried out an 'inadvertent encounter,' which was to greet Jiang Ningyue and also show that he was very active.

However, what he waited for wasn't Jiang Ningyue, but the eldest young lady of the Jiang estate, Jiang Rong.

Jiang Rong's features were exquisite and beautiful, her long hair hung down like a waterfall, and her skin was as white as snow.

And the most eye-catching was her plump figure, which was delicate and dripping.

As soon as Lin Mo saw Jiang Rong, a surge of indescribable excitement rose in his heart.

Because he felt that seeing Jiang Rong this time, she was clearly plumper than last time, making it hard for a young man like him, full of vigor, to bear.

Moreover, Lin Mo was also practicing the dual-cultivation technique of the remnants of the previous dynasty, which made him even more restless.

He stepped forward quickly, wanting to greet her.

However, Jiang Rong's maid blocked his way, her eyes full of vigilance.

"Stop! Who are you?" The maid's momentum was very strong, and she was very big; one look and you could tell she had practiced.

This was Jiang Rong's personal maid, an expert sent by her mother to protect her.

Lin Mo smiled slightly, bowed, and said: "I am Lin Mo, a candidate who has come to participate in the servant test."

The maid heard this, her brows furrowed slightly, seeming to doubt Lin Mo's identity.

In her view, everyone who approached the eldest young lady had bad intentions.

Why say so?

Because in the maid's view, with the eldest young lady's figure and looks, unless this man had a problem with his orientation, or was a eunuch, how could he not have bad intentions?

Even if Lin Mo acted like a gentleman, the maid didn't believe it.

But just at this time, Jiang Rong waved her hand, signaling her not to be so nervous.

"It's fine, Sister Xiaocui, I know this person."

Jiang Rong's voice was like a spring breeze brushing her face, very kind.

Before she took over the family's industries, she had also participated in some poetry gatherings, celebrations, etc., in Shanghe City, and had indeed seen Lin Mo's figure.

Lin Mo was indeed quite talented, and his strength was also good.

He could be considered a rising star in Shanghe City in recent years.

Now hearing that Lin Mo was going to participate in her own family's servant test, Jiang Rong looked at him with encouraging eyes and said: "Lin Mo, I have heard that you are quite famous in Shanghe City, with outstanding talent; you must perform well in today's servant test."

Lin Mo heard this, and a warm current surged in his heart; he bowed respectfully and said: "Thank you, eldest young lady, for your encouragement; I will certainly do my best and not let you down."

In his view, this was the perfect beginning.

Now that he had become a familiar face in front of Jiang Rong, once he passed the servant test, he could logically strike up a conversation with Jiang Rong.

After saying this, Jiang Rong left here to look after her own shop.

And Lin Mo respectfully watched Jiang Rong leave, looking at that wonderful figure, his imagination running wild.

He waited at the door of the Jiang estate for a while, and seeing that the time was almost up and Jiang Ningyue hadn't come out, Lin Mo took a step forward to the test venue in the side courtyard.

When he arrived here, the other nine people participating in the test were already standing here in high spirits.

To the side were still those familiar maids, but this time Jiang Ningyue was still late.

Lin Mo and the others didn't feel there was any problem; their brains were already full of all kinds of supplements, thinking this was another test of patience, wanting to see who couldn't hold their breath.

However, when the beautiful woman Jiang Ningyue came, Lin Mo discovered that her eye sockets were clearly a bit dark, and she was constantly yawning; it seemed she hadn't rested well last night.

It was estimated that she was overworked for the Jiang family.

Lin Mo thought that once he entered the Jiang family, he must exert his ability to share the heavy burden of the Jiang family.

All the men present knew that the Jiang family didn't have a single man; whoever managed to sneak in, wouldn't the Jiang family be theirs in the future?

Lin Mo's guess was also correct; Jiang Ningyue had tossed and turned all night and indeed hadn't slept well.

Now, while the family members were all resting, she took the time to test these reserve servants.

Jiang Ningyue was the head of the Jiang family, and her aura was also very strong.

At least in front of these people, Jiang Ningyue was the representative of coldness and arrogance; they all stood straight, waiting for Jiang Ningyue to inspect them.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Jiang Ningyue began the third round of testing.

As everyone knew, the Jiang family had many industries in Shanghe City, and the servants chosen must have a certain commercial mind to help the Jiang family stabilize the industries.

Then the third round of testing was to let Lin Mo and the other nine servants be 'salespeople' for a day in various shops of the Jiang family, to see if they could double the sales of the Jiang family's shops.

After Jiang Ningyue finished speaking the rules, she let the maids list the shops, and let the servant candidates choose for themselves.

Those who came here to participate in the servant assessment were all locals of Shanghe City and had a certain understanding of the Jiang family.

This group of people immediately ran to the maids and began to choose the shops they wanted to serve as salespeople for.

Seeing this group of people in a hurry, Lin Mo wanted to laugh.

According to Lin Mo's analysis, don't look at this hurdle as simple, but there was a pit in it.

Because what Jiang Ningyue said was 'let the Jiang family's shop sales double,' and this doubling had a particularity.

Doubling sales and having more sales were two different things.

If they were comparing sales, they would certainly choose shops with expensive goods; even if they only sold one more item, the sales would naturally be more than other places.

But what was said here was doubling; Lin Mo instead felt that expensive things were not easy to sell, because there were very few people who could buy them.

Although cheap things were easy to sell, the daily sales volume was large, and the flow of people was already very high; even if he relied on his ability, he would only increase some sales and couldn't double them.

It wasn't to say that going to those shops with moderate prices would have better returns either.

Lin Mo felt that the test of this hurdle was vision.

For example, selling umbrellas on a rainy day, selling grain during a famine, selling cotton clothes in cold weather; such rigid needs could make the day's sales double.

Lin Mo looked at the weather and felt that today was very sunny, just a bit cool in the early morning.

He was thinking about what was good to sell in this season?

Suddenly, Lin Mo remembered something; recently it was an auspicious day, and many people would choose to get married during this period, so wedding items would be very good to sell.

Furniture like dragon and phoenix quilts and nanmu boxes that were not easy to sell usually, and jewelry like hairpins and scepters, all had a certain meaning; then as long as he chose shops with these, coupled with his sales talent and heaven-defying luck, the sales would certainly double several times.

Seeing the people around him choosing blindly, Lin Mo felt he didn't have too much pressure; he was steady.

You ordinary people, just honestly be my foil.

Just as Lin Mo chose the shop he liked, Jiang Rong encountered trouble on her side.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 166 =====