The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 208: Resettlement in the Capital

In the following days, Chen Cui was busy looking for a house and setting up a new workshop. She was extremely busy.

By the time she finally finished the work at hand, it was already early October. The new house had been renovated and was ready for occupancy. The workshop had also been fully set up, and they had started producing hot pot base and were preparing to distribute it in Beijing.

Their new home is located in the east of the city, not far from Wang Ruomei's home. It is a large house with three courtyards.

The reason why Chen Cui bought such a big house was that she took into consideration that her three sons were all grown up and would have to get married and start families in the future, and a small house would not be enough for them to live in.

This house is said to have three courtyards, but in fact there is a row of back rooms at the back, and there are cross courtyards on both the east and west sides. It is larger and more spacious than the average four-courtyard house.

However, the houses in the capital are really expensive, especially this house which is quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle, with convenient transportation and complete commercial facilities nearby. Most importantly, it is very close to various government offices in the inner city. No matter where you go to the government office, you won’t be delayed too long on the road.

The purchase of the house and its renovation cost a total of eight thousand taels, which made Chen Cui feel very painful for a while. However, considering the house's prime location, she felt it was worth it.

When Zhang Ruomei came to visit her new home, she kept praising her ingenuity and the good renovation of the house, and said she wanted to do the same with her own home.

Her family's house was purchased more than ten years ago when Wang Hengzhi had just passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. He bought it in a hurry and did not live there for long. Then he went to work as an official in the local area and did not move much.

Now they probably won't leave the capital in the short term. Seeing how comfortable Chen Cui's home was, she couldn't help but become interested.

In fact, Chen Cui's biggest changes were in the kitchen, toilet and bathroom, and the other changes were not significant.

It is cold in the capital in winter. Small families use stoves and kangs for heating, while rich families use fire walls or ground heaters. Ground heaters are too expensive, so only the imperial palace and top dignitaries can afford them. Chen Cui's family uses a combination of kangs and fire walls for heating.

However, she set up a toilet and a shower room in her living suite, so she doesn't have to go out to take a shower or go to the toilet, thus retaining her personal privacy to a greater extent.

Not only her and Suisui's rooms were modified in this way, but each of her sons had his own yard, and their rooms were also decorated in this way. This way, when they got married, they would have their own little world and would not have to go out for everything.

However, due to technical reasons and cost limitations, she is currently unable to lay pipes on a large scale and enjoy the convenience of tap water.

Therefore, water still needs to be fetched manually nowadays and cannot be self-serviced, which is a little regrettable.

However, as long as there are enough people, this is not a problem, because she is not the one doing the work anyway.

Now that the house is bigger, a lot of manpower is needed accordingly. Chen Cui picked a lot of servants from the human traffickers and bought two experienced maids to train them to ensure that they would be easy to use in the future.

When she moved into the house and looked at the maids and servants around her, Chen Cui couldn't help but sigh that she had finally become an old feudal lord who had everything provided for her.

That's right, she is now surrounded by a nanny and four maids, while Suisui is surrounded by a nanny and two maids. They hardly have to do anything by themselves, as these people take very good care of them, mother and daughter.

However, Chen Cui thought that it was okay for her to enjoy herself, but Sui Sui was still young and could not develop such a character. She insisted on letting her do things by herself, and the maids were just her assistants.

As for Changping, Chen Cui asked him his opinion. He felt that he did not need a maid, so she added a book boy and a permanent attendant for him, so that he would have someone to serve him on a daily basis and someone to pass on messages when he went out to do business.

She was actually a little worried about her son's decision not to have a maid. He was already twenty years old, and he never interacted with any woman other than his mother and sister. Moreover, he didn't even want a maid. Wasn't this a little abnormal?

However, she soon dispelled this doubt because Changping actually took the initiative to mention his marriage to her.

Just after dinner that day, Chen Cui was about to go to the study with Sui Sui to practice calligraphy. She also started to practice the calligraphy given by Mr. Zou with Sui Sui, and the mother and daughter often compared with each other.

At this moment, Changping suddenly called her, with a suspicious blush on his face.

"Mom, I have something to tell you."

Chen Cui was a little surprised. This child was always calm and composed. What happened that made him look like this?

"What's the matter?" Chen Cui asked.

Chang Ping did not speak directly, but urged Sui Sui to leave quickly: "Sui Sui, go to the study first, mother will go later."

Sui Sui stared at her elder brother with eyes wide open. Is this still her good elder brother? What on earth did he want to tell their mother that he even didn't let her, his own sister, hear it?

Chang Ping saw that she didn't move, so he coughed again and said, "Go quickly, I'll buy you a donkey roll tomorrow."

Donkey rolls are a snack in Beijing. Sui Sui likes it very much. However, as it is made of glutinous rice flour, it is not easy to digest. Chen Cui is afraid that she will have indigestion, so she doesn't let her eat too much. She hasn't eaten it for a long time.

Seeing that her elder brother promised to buy it for her, Sui Sui turned around and left happily.

With the donkey rolling, it no longer matters what the eldest brother wants to say to mother.

"Mom, I...I...want you to help me propose marriage!"

Changping waved away the servants and said this to Chen Cui with a red face.

Chen Cui was speechless. She thought her son was going to say something, just this?

When she first arrived in the capital, she asked about Changping's marriage, because in some novels she had read before, it was said that many new scholars would be selected as sons-in-law from the list of successful candidates, and she wanted to know whether her son had been chosen by any family.

As a result, the son did not go to see the list because he was sick. Later, someone came to the house with the intention of forming a marriage alliance, but the host was sick and could not see the guest. Later, the other party found out that the new scholar had been ill for a long time and had been taking medicine, so he gave up the idea.

People who want to marry a new scholar are all eyeing the future prospects of this man. This man is so young and in such poor health. Who knows if he will have a future?

As a result, Changping's reputation for being in poor health spread, and gradually no one came to propose marriage to her anymore.

Even after he recovered from his illness, he still looked skinny and bony, which further confirmed this statement. Many people who had originally intended to marry him gave up the idea.

When Chen Cui found out about this at first, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Now, several months have passed, Changping's health has long since recovered, and he has regained his former handsomeness. Now his marriage is in sight, which is really great.

"Which family is the girl from?"