Little Peach Manor
Upon seeing Zhao Ruxi and her group, Qian Duoduo quickly ran over and bowed, saying, "Miss."
He looked up, smiled, and said, "The poultry and livestock you asked me to prepare are all ready. Shall I have them delivered to your residence now?"
When Zhao Ruxi took over Egret Manor, it was already autumn, not a good season for hatching chicks and ducklings. But Zhao Ruxi still asked Qian Duoduo to find a way to buy some half-grown livestock and poultry to raise. The number of livestock and poultry raised on the manor doubled compared to before.
Zhao Ruxi divided these items into two portions. A smaller portion was given to the Earl of Suiping's Residence, while a larger portion was distributed to the management and craftsmen as welfare, and some was kept for the people on the estate for the New Year.
She originally planned to take some of the portion intended for the Earl of Suiping's Residence back to the manor during the New Year, and then send some back when the manor held a banquet after the New Year. However, since it was decided yesterday that the manor would not hold a banquet, she instructed the estate to collect some poultry and livestock every day and send them to the manor, so that these things could be processed and consumed gradually.
As for the livestock and poultry produced on the estate of the Earl of Suiping's Residence, she instructed Lady Zhu to simply sell them locally. The meat delivered to the manor daily from the Egret Manor alone was enough for the Earl of Suiping's Residence to have a good New Year.
The Earl of Suiping's Residence's family lived a refined life and it was not appropriate for them to slaughter sheep and geese at home all day. So Zhao Ruxi sent someone to tell Qian Duoduo in the morning that he should prepare the food at the estate and send it to the mansion.
The best meat was delivered to the Earl of Suiping's Residence. The remaining sheep heads and bones were used to make soup in a large pot, with some side dishes added. A large bowl was then distributed to every household in the village, serving as a free daily dish for the villagers to enjoy some meat.
Hearing this arrangement, Qian Duoduo felt even more grateful to Zhao Ruxi, so she had come personally to supervise the people cleaning the chickens, ducks, sheep and geese, just in case they didn't handle it carefully enough.
"Yes, once it's packed, have them take it to your residence in an oxcart," Zhao Ruxi said.
She strolled around the estate, observing the lives of the servants, and then looked at the several breeding farms and fishponds that had been built according to her instructions, before leaving Egret Manor for the Little Peach Manor.
She had been busy recently, and everything at the Egret Manor was back on track, so she didn't need to worry about it much. As a result, she hadn't been to the Egret Manor for almost a month.
She was going to the Little Peach Manor this time, so she stopped by to take a look.
Little Peach Manor was a manor given to her by Grand Princess Shangde. Because Grand Princess Shangde planted many peach trees on the manor, it was named Xiaotaozhuang.
"Miss, would you like to ask Qian Zhuangtou to come along?" Zhou Chun asked, seeing that Zhao Ruxi had gotten into the carriage without asking Qian Duoduo to come along.
"No need for now, let's see how things go," Zhao Ruxi said.
Zhou Chun didn't ask any more questions. He rode his horse and went to the Little Peach Manor with Ma Sheng and the others.
After walking east from the Egret Manor for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, you'll reach Little Peach Manor. Little Peach Manor is indeed surrounded by walls and has a proper gate.
At Wushi, Zhao Ruxi and her party knocked on the door. Not long after they entered, Wang Qin, the head of the Little Peach Manor, led several people over in a hurry. They bowed to Zhao Ruxi and presented her with a list of servants and account books.
Wang Qin, presumably following Grand Princess Shangde's instructions, treated Zhao Ruxi with great respect.
The estate that Grand Princess Shangde gifted was called a small manor, but in reality, it was only slightly smaller than Egret Manor. There were a total of over two hundred servants. Zhao Ruxi followed Wang Qin and the others on a tour of the estate and found that their lives were better than those at the Egret Manor, which she had just taken over. The houses were all made of mud bricks, and the servants' clothes and complexions were also better than those of the servants at the Egret Manor. It was clear that Grand Princess Shangde was a good hostess.
"You've managed this estate very well. Just continue to do things the same way you did before," Zhao Ruxi said to Wang Qin.
"Yes." Wang Qin even knew the rules better than Qian Duoduo.
After leaving Little Peach Manor, Zhao Ruxi explained to Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng, "This village was given to us by the Princess, and Wang Qin was once her subordinate. As long as nothing goes wrong, everything will continue as before. They will not be involved in transporting stones to the south or managing the workshops."
As soon as she said that, Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng understood what she meant.
Beining was the fiefdom of Grand Princess Shangde, whose status was far superior to Zhao Ruxi's Grand Princess Shangde. In the minds of Wang Qin and others, even though the estate had been given to Zhao Ruxi by Grand Princess Shangde, they would still prioritize Grand Princess Shangde and were not loyal to Zhao Ruxi.
If they were involved in Zhao Ruxi's important secrets, these secrets would be exposed as soon as Grand Princess Shangde inquired about them.
Zhao Ruxi didn't let Qian Duoduo come over, partly to guard against this.
It's best if the two estates don't have any contact, lest the people of the Egret Manor think that the servants of the Little Peach Manor are their own people, and become completely unguarded in front of them, speaking carelessly and revealing secrets.
"Let's not do anything about increasing revenue for now; let's just keep the estate as it is," Zhao Ruxi added.
Little Peach Manor is famous for its peaches, which would be perfect for making canned peaches. But once the village came under her control, it prospered greatly, and the servants' living standards improved rapidly. Doesn't that make Grand Princess Shangde seem incompetent?
Not to mention Ma Sheng, even Zhou Chun thought for a long time before he understood why Zhao Ruxi did this, and he was once again filled with emotion.
Back when he was with his former master, he thought he was quite clever. There were few people in the household, whether masters or servants, who were smarter than him.
But when he was by Zhao Ruxi's side, he often felt that his intelligence and emotional intelligence were insufficient. Not only was he unable to think ahead of his master in everything and offer advice, but he also had to ponder for a long time before he understood why his master had given him instructions. For this, he often felt ashamed.
It was one thing for Miss Guang to be like this, but so were Wu Zong Lord Wu and others. Zhou Chun realized that it wasn't that he was smart, but that his former master was too stupid. He had stayed in his former master's house all this time, truly a frog in a well, unaware of his own limitations.
With the annual exams at the Beining Women's Academy over, the students in the painting training class also went on holiday. With the year-end competition still a dozen days away, Zhao Ruxi suddenly found herself with plenty of free time.
On the day when the students in the painting training class were on full vacation, Xiao Lingyan arranged to meet her.
The first thing she asked upon meeting was, "Are the Feicui jewelry pieces up for auction tomorrow?"
During the two months of transporting the Feicui rough, she had people observe all the jade craftsmen in the jade workshop. After questioning several of them, she signed contracts with three jade craftsmen, including Ge Wu, and settled them in a newly built house to cut and carve Feicui ornaments.
Feicui is a type of hard jade, which is not easy to cut and carve. Zhao Ruxi also studied with three jade craftsmen for a long time and improved the jade-carving bed.
Fortunately, she had both a blacksmith's workshop and a carpentry workshop, so it was easy for her to make whatever she wanted. She just needed to hand over the blueprints for the parts to the craftsmen, and after the parts were made, she could come back and assemble them, and the machine would be hers.
In ancient times, red was revered, and it was the New Year, so she chose a piece of red jade, carefully designed the style, and had three jade craftsmen carve it into a headdress, which she then handed over to Xiao Lingyan to manage.