?

  Xuan brought Old Three and Old Four back to the Zhou residence, feeling truly delighted. "To celebrate my brothers' successful alignment with a wise lord, I'll give you an extra set of exquisite zither scores - hmm, Old Three, how many sets have you received from me now?"

  "Report to Master, we already have five sets of Zhen Rong."

  "Ah, it's already been five rounds and I've only got 36 rounds of ammunition left!" Zhou Xuan said: "Looks like I'll have to be more frugal, otherwise in less than half a year you two brothers will clean me out, and when that happens you'll just slap your butts and leave, wouldn't that be unjust?"

  Si Chou indignantly said: "Zhou - our master looks down on us too much, are we brothers that kind of person?!"

  Zhou Xuan laughed and said, "Can't I just joke around? Old Fourth, your mental cultivation skills need to be strengthened. Don't be like a mantis that gets provoked at the slightest touch and shows its teeth, ready to fight. You should learn from 'Untouchable', who remains unmoved by ordinary provocations, only getting angry when his butt is touched, haha."

  Zhou Xuan entered the solitary courtyard where San Chi and Si Chi lived. The two brothers were used to living a simple life like Buddhist monks, not wanting any servants to attend to them, so there were only the two of them in the courtyard.

  Zhou Xuan left behind a complex and difficult-to-solve dead knot and returned to the inner courtyard, where he could hear from afar the sound of singing and music, which was the fifth concubine's housemaids and dancing girls playing with silk strings and singing softly while dancing gracefully.

  Zhou Xuan first went to the third courtyard to greet his father-in-law and mother-in-law, asking if they would be disturbed by the noise of music coming from the backyard.

  "It doesn't matter, I like lively scenes too. Since it's so far away, it won't feel noisy. Nowadays houses are big anyway. If we were still living in the same courtyard like before, it would be too boisterous."

  The lady had no objection, and Dr. Qin naturally wouldn't say anything.

  Zhou Xuan arrived at the fourth courtyard and saw that there was no one, not even a little maid could be seen, they all went to the fifth courtyard to listen to music and watch singing and dancing.

  The moon is as bright as day, the houses are exquisite, and that group of slender women wearing light gauze and silk fabrics, with sleeves fluttering and walking elegantly to the sound of silk and bamboo music. This scene is as beautiful as a dream.

  Zhou Xuan stood at the gate of the courtyard for a long time before being discovered by a geisha, who exclaimed in a soft voice: "Young Master Zhou Qizha has returned!"

  The rest of the dancing girls also cheered and shouted: "Zhou Qi Xia Gongzi, Zhou Qi Xia Gongzi——"

  I don't understand what's going on with these geishas, instead of calling him Master Zhou, they all like to call him Master Zhou the Seventh!

  Zhou Xuan was surrounded by a group of beautiful women, just like top fashion designers and models coming out to take their final bow on the T-shaped stage, truly successful and proud.

  Ruì Chū was still here after all, sitting with Yang Xiaoyin on the carpet spread out under the corridor, playing the flute and blowing the sheng.

  Zhou Xuan smiled and asked: "Rui Chu, you've been stuck here for so long, isn't the boss of 'Miao Yin Lou' scolding you?"

  Under the moon, Rui Chu said with a smile, "Let my teacher know that the owner of Miaoyin Building is Rui Chu's aunt. It's an honor for Rui Chu to enter and leave the residence of Master Zhou Qiucha. Moreover, both madams are very kind to Rui Chu. Rui Chu can't help but envy Yang Shi for being able to rely on Master Zhou."

  Ruoyi still addressed Yang Xiaojin as her teacher. Teacher Yang. How awkward.

  Zhou Xuan saw that Qin Que and Zhen were also dressed up and sitting in the corridor, with a group of little maids standing behind them.

  The sound of silk and bamboo rose again, Zhou Xuan personally came down to demonstrate the catwalk for the dancing girls. The whole courtyard was filled with giggles and laughter.

  At that time, Zhou Xuan sent two horse-drawn carriages to send the ten geishas back to Pingkangfang, but Rui Chu wanted to stay and accompany Yang Shi.

  Qin Que said: "It's been a long time since you taught me and Zhen'er sister to play Go, teach us tonight."

  Yang Xiaoyin and Rui Chu followed them to the fourth courtyard, saying they also wanted to learn chess. Xiao Mei and Xiao Ju, these little maids, also said they wanted to learn.

  Thus, the Go popularization work in Zhou's mansion was carried out with great enthusiasm. Qin Que and Zhen sometimes had to call for the maidservants, but after calling for half a day, no one responded. When they went to Ya Huan's room to take a look, several maids were sitting on the floor playing Go, their faces flushed with excitement.

  They made a rule that the maids could only play chess at night when they were free, and no more than two games per day.

  Zhou Xuan has been running back and forth for the past few days. At "Super Autumn War Hall", "Invincible" won five consecutive battles, unstoppable, with those insect wars mainly operated by Si Chou and Tang Xiaosan. Although it wasn't as popular as the Hongzhou Chongyang Chess Battle, after ten consecutive insect wars over five days, they earned a profit of over 1,500 taels. Now, "Super Autumn War Hall" has surpassed the other three insect societies in Jiangzhou, becoming the largest insect society under the jurisdiction of Fenghua Prefecture.

  "Mu Feng Society" Boss Feng proactively proposed to join "Super Autumn War Hall", making the city's "Mu Feng Building" a branch of "Super Autumn War Hall". Zhou Xuan's plan to annex Jiangzhou Bug Society achieved initial victory.

  However, after entering winter, the crickets will gradually die, and the insect market will be deserted. The "Super Autumn Fighting Hall" can still be maintained, while the tea house and wine house of Xia Cuihua are booming, but the branch hall "Mufeng Building" is about to close down.

  Zhou Xuan and Boss Feng discussed the possibility of turning "Mufeng Building" into a cockfighting arena, as cockfighting can be done all year round, especially during winter and spring when farmers are idle and the Chinese New Year is approaching, the craze for cockfighting is extremely popular.

  Mr. Feng agreed to plan this matter, hiring expensive chicken guests and buying famous breeds of fighting chickens, preparing to open a fighting chicken house after the winter insect market closed.

  "The Yunshang Nvzhuang" sign has also been made for a long time

  It will be officially opened on September 22nd.

  Starting from September 20th, Jiangzhou was like a festive season every day, with drumming and female music performances in the morning and afternoon. In front of them were four strong men carrying a giant banner three zhang wide, covered with red silk, written with large ink characters:

  "Rainbow skirt and feathered clothes, created by Emperor Minghuang, in the past it was the elegant style of prosperous Tang Dynasty, now it looks like a cloud skirt girl's dress!"

  Behind the banner is a large orchestra centered on big drums, beating and blowing loudly to create a joyful atmosphere.

  After the drum and horn band came ten charming dancing girls, each riding a tall horse with silver saddles and jewel-studded reins, magnificent and dazzling. These ten dancing girls were all dressed in fashionable hair buns, wearing pearl jade crowns, wearing colorful exotic skirts, some holding flower drums, others holding dragon-shaped zithers.

  Whenever they arrived at a spacious place, the ten dancing girls would dismount and line up in formation, walking back and forth to the beat of drums and music. Their dresses were resplendent and had never been seen before.

  The crowd of onlookers rubbed shoulders and stood heel to toe, their eyes wide with wonder, discussing it in hushed tones.

  At this time, dozens of idle men who were hired to promote the product began to enthusiastically explain to the crowd that this was a new style of cheongsam from the newly opened "Yun Shang Nü Zhuang" clothing store in Jin Feng Alley. It is said that it is a remnant of the prosperous Tang Dynasty's Tianbao era, and many noblewomen and young ladies in the city are competing to buy it.

  These three days of touring have made the name "Yun Shang Nv Zhuang" known throughout Jiangzhou City. Every day, women flock to Jin Feng Fang's "Yun Shang Nv Zhuang" to see the skirt decorations. When asked about the price, they were shocked to find that there are three levels: high-end sets cost as much as 30 taels of silver, with pearl decorations shining brightly on the clothes; mid-range sets cost around 5 taels of silver; and even low-end sets cost more than 1 tael of silver.

  "Yun Chang Nv Zhuang" has not officially opened yet, but the clothes and skirts inside are all for display only, however many women have already left their names to pre-order.

  September 22nd. The golden signboard of "Yun Pei Nu Zhuang" was hung up, and although the Duhu Fu and Cishi Fu were not convenient to send people to congratulate, they sent a large flower basket that was over one person tall according to Zhou Xuan's intention. Zhou Xuan himself ordered someone to write on the red silk "Duhu Fu congratulates Yun Pei Nu Zhuang on its grand opening", "Jiangzhou Cishi Fu congratulates Yun Pei Nu Zhuang on its grand opening". Even if Lin and Xu Cishi knew about this matter, it wouldn't be a big deal, they would just laugh it off.

  Lin Heishan and Lin Hanyun are coming, Lin Hanyun is wearing that purple skirt. Charming and moving. Changing the image of Miss Lin Er in the hearts of Jiangzhou people from a small family servant girl.

  On this day, the "Cloud Dress" store sold out over 200 autumn dresses, and Zhou Xuan spent more than 1,500 taels of silver on a grand procession of courtesans. The first-day sales reached 2,800 taels of silver, with high-end autumn dresses being bought by official ladies, while mid-range dresses were very attractive to the women of Pingkangfang's brothels; not wearing "Cloud Dress" was considered tasteless.

  Abu's sixth concubine, Sulan, was good at arithmetic and quickly calculated that the net profit from selling two hundred sets of clothes on the first day was five taels of silver.

  "Five taels of silver!" Zhou Xuan burst out laughing.

  Knitting her eyebrows and saying: "Husband, we sold so much, how can we only make five taels of silver?"

  Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "If we don't count the 1,500 taels spent on inviting dancing girls, drummers, and idlers, this trip has been a huge success. This kind of promotional tour only needs to be done once or twice a year, and the rest is pure profit. Don't expect to sell 200 sets of clothes every day, if we can make a net profit of 50 taels of silver per day, that's already a success. Let's take it slow, don't rush, in the future, all the women in the Tang Dynasty will wear our Yunxiang female attire. The silver is not enough yet, otherwise, I would have kept all ten dancing girls to travel around and promote everywhere."

  Her dress was tight and flattering, and her bright green eyes sparkled as she gazed at Zhou Xuan, exclaiming: "Young Master Zhou's wisdom is truly unmatched! My husband has been in business for twenty years, but he never knew the benefits of such a grand advertisement."

  Zhou Xuan said: "Brother Abu is a rare talent in business, he's not unaware of the benefits of such publicity, but is constrained by worldly conventions, afraid of being ridiculed, the status of merchants is too low, this is very unfair, people value agriculture over commerce, that's shallow, if possible, I want to fight for Tang Dynasty merchants to have equal status with farmers."

  Hu Ji Xian raised her gaze to look at Zhou Xuan with an expression of utmost reverence, making Zhou Xuan feel embarrassed. This black-clad woman was staring at him in a way that made him feel like she was thinking improper thoughts.

  "Yún Shàng Nǚ Zhuāng" currently has twenty tailors, each of whom is individually sewing. It takes one person two or three days to sew a set of clothes. Zhou Xuan divided the twenty tailors into four groups, with each person responsible for one part of the garment. Finally, the most skilled tailor would link them together to form a skirt. This was the simplest and lowest level of assembly line production. Those tailors specialized in doing one thing, becoming more skilled and faster as they worked. Originally, twenty people could not sew eight sets of clothes in a day, but now they can sew fifteen sets in a day.

  Abu heard Xia La mention this matter, specially came to observe, and went back to apply this method to his five-color glass workshop and Fragrance Forever Frost Workshop, with remarkable results, and couldn't help but exclaim that Zhou Xuan was a naturally talented genius.

  One morning in early October, Zhou Xuan stood behind Qin Que and watched her dress up in front of the copper mirror. The copper mirror was blurry and distorted people's faces. Zhou Xuan said to the copper mirror with a half-annoyed tone: "Is this my beautiful Que'er? This mirror is simply ruining people!"

  Qin Que Yan

  "She said: 'This mirror has been used for a long time, let someone send it to the mirror grinding shop to grind and polish it'"

  Zhou Xuan thought of something and sent someone to call Abu over, asking him if he could make colorless transparent glass.

  Abu said: "Colorless crystal is difficult to make and no one buys it. Five-colored crystal looks better."

  Zhou Xuanxi said: "So you can make it, find a skilled craftsman to make a thin and flat piece of colorless glass. It must be extremely flat, with one side coated with tin foil and mercury, so that it can be used as a mirror. If made well, it will be ten times brighter than a copper mirror, and it will be an essential item for a woman's dressing table."

  Abu was both surprised and delighted, and asked in detail about the craftsmanship of making crystal mirrors.

  Zhou Xuan said: "I don't know the specifics of how to make it, I just know that extremely flat and transparent crystal glass is needed. One side is coated with mercury and tin foil. The other side can be used as a mirror. You go back and tell those craftsmen this, try many times, try 100 or 1,000 times, and you must produce it. This is an extremely profitable rare item. Other merchants may have five-color crystal glass, but this crystal glass mirror is unique to our family. Next year, follow me to the capital, and we will use this crystal glass mirror to open up the wallets of the people in the two capitals."

  Abu hastily returned, gathered the skilled craftsmen of the glass workshop, and carefully considered the matter of making a glass mirror. He set a deadline to produce the first glass mirror within two months, offering a huge reward in silver, which would surely attract brave men. Under the heavy reward, those glass craftsmen worked day and night like their lives depended on it...

  In order to let San Chi replace Fu Yan Nian to participate in the Lantern Festival chess battle of the ten major Du Hu Fu next year. Zhou Xuan took San Chi to find Fu Yan Nian first. Let San Chi and Fu Yan Nian play a game, killing Fu Yan Nian badly, then presenting one hundred taels of silver. Explaining the purpose.

  Fu Yannian couldn't match up to a single house slave of the Zhou's, his face full of shame, said: "I'll fully obey Lord Xu's orders, as long as Young Master Zhou can persuade Lord Xu, I dare not disobey."

  Zhou Xuan then went to see Xu Cishi, Xu Cishi did not know that the "old three" in Zhou Xuan's mouth was actually the assassin San Chi who killed people without blinking. He smiled and said: "Xu Mou has no opinion on this matter, but now it is not under Xu Mou's jurisdiction. Master Zhou should go ask Fan Pan of the Du Hu Fu."

  Fan Judge knew that the sword slave under Zhou Xuan was actually You Xia San Chi, and said with difficulty: "This is a big deal, Master Zhou should go ask Du Hu personally."

  Lin Dao nodded and said, "Since Xuan Shu is determined to have San Chi participate in the chess battle, I'll agree to it. These past few months, San Chi has already subdued his violent nature, and although Xuan Shu isn't a high-ranking monk, he does possess some wisdom in taming the ferocious, haha, this is truly a rare treasure."

  Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Uncle, I have another request. Last time when I married Qin Que, it was a bit hasty. This month on the 22nd, I will be marrying Su Zhen Miss again, and Qin Que will also be re-taking the vows. In the Tang country, I don't have any other relatives except for Uncle Lin who has always taken care of me. So, I was thinking that on my wedding day, Uncle could represent my side as a senior relative, would you be willing to agree?"

  Lin stroked his beard and laughed: "This is a great joy for Xuan's nephew, how can Uncle not attend, haha."

  ******************

  On October 19th, Zhou Xuan took the needle to Mufu Village again. This time was very different from last time. The car and horse were majestic, with dozens of servants and maidservants. When they arrived at Mufu Village, every villager gave a gift. Those villagers saw how magnificent the needle looked and couldn't help but show envy in their eyes. They kept praising the needle's beauty and kindness, saying that since childhood, they had seen that the needle was destined for wealth and nobility.

  On the surface, dignified and reserved, but in his heart, extremely pleased and relieved. This is what it feels like to return home with glory, compared to the miserable state of last time, it's really a difference between heaven and earth.

  Arriving at the graves of my parents and elder brother, the humble yellow earth mound that was there just over two months ago is gone, replaced by three grand and majestic large tombs. In front of the tomb are carved stone beasts standing guard, very impressive.

  This was what Zhou Xuan had arranged for half a month ago, and three days ago he even invited the monks from Hefeng Temple to perform a Buddhist ritual to help the deceased soul ascend to heaven. Zhen didn't know about this matter until now, and upon hearing it, she became so moved that her eyes welled up with tears. She called out "husband..." as she grasped Zhou Xuan's arm, leaned her head on his shoulder, and choked back words that couldn't be spoken.

  Zhou Xuan gently wiped away the tears on her cheek and said, "Needle, don't cry. We came today to tell your parents and brother that Su Zhen is getting married. She's going to marry me, Zhou Xuan, and she'll be happy for a lifetime."

  Zhen nodded vigorously, wiped away her tears with a silk handkerchief, and broke into a sweet smile. She pulled Zhou Xuan's hand, and the two of them knelt down together in front of the grave. Zhen said: "Father, Mother, Brother, Zhen and her husband Zhou Xuan have come to tidy up your graves. In three days' time, it will be Zhen's big wedding day. I beg Father, Mother, and Brother to bless my husband with a peaceful life, longevity, and freedom from illness and disaster..."

  "Please, honorable father-in-law, mother-in-law, and elder brother Zhen, bless us that Zhen'er will love her husband for a lifetime and give birth to noble children soon."

  Zhen couldn't help but smile slightly, gazing at Zhou Xuan with deep affection, wanting to say something, but was too delighted to utter a word.