Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 72 Tongzhou Again

A county typically has two to four officials, with the exact number depending on the size of the county.

In smaller counties, officials would hold concurrent positions. Qinghe County, however, only had three officials: the magistrate, the registrar, and the county lieutenant. The county assistant was concurrently held by the magistrate.

The gifts given to the three people could not be of the same value. Shulan had prepared the gift list, with the county magistrate, who held the highest position, receiving the most generous gift, while the gifts for the other two were less valuable.

As for those minor officials, they were not listed on the gift list.

It should be enough to just prepare some small gifts and send them over as a token of our appreciation.

There are significant differences between different minor officials; the main minor officials in a county government office wield considerable power.

You just need to maintain these things; there's no need to worry about them too much.

"My lady, the clerk is of higher rank than the county lieutenant, so why are their etiquettes the same?" Zhou An asked.

"Didn't Father-in-law want to open a teahouse? The county magistrate is in charge of public security, so he'll definitely need to be bribed. Please remember to mention it when you visit, sir," Shulan said.

Zhou An, holding Shulan's hand, smiled and said, "Mother is right. It's truly my blessing to have married you!"

He hadn't really thought of these things. After all, teahouses catered to relatively ordinary people, while the truly wealthy went to brothels.

Brothels and teahouses are called "goulan".

It refers to the brothel or entertainment venue.

Many people consider brothels and theaters to be frivolous places, but in fact, they were quite respectable in ancient times.

Goulan refers to venues with performance stages that provide opportunities for opera, folk songs, storytelling, and acrobatics.

These kinds of venues would build a railing around the stage; that's where the term "goulan" (勾栏) comes from.

"Washe" refers to the area where such places gather.

Why do we say that brothels are still respectable places? Because brothels are for prostitutes, not prostitutes.

"Prostitute" refers to those who possess artistic skills but do not sell their bodies.

Prostitutes, on the other hand, sell their bodies but not their skills.

Of course, most of the women in brothels were held in contracts by their employers, and once they had accumulated a certain reputation, they could be sold for a good price.

Therefore, it's very expensive inside, and most people simply can't afford to go.

Teahouses and storytelling venues were places for ordinary people to pass the time.

In places like this, his academic achievement as a scholar is enough to intimidate people.

However, these kinds of places are full of all sorts of people, so it's still very necessary for the authorities to take care of them.

"It's what I should do."

Shulan blushed slightly and withdrew her hand.

"You may all step back."

Zhou An did not loosen his grip and gave instructions to the maids inside the room.

"yes!"

The maids bowed and left.

"My lady, it's still early, rest with me for a while."

"Please rest, sir. The servants will prepare the gifts later, and I need to check them."

Shulan felt the burning passion in Zhou An's eyes, and her face turned even redder.

But it's daytime now, how could she possibly do that?

"It's alright, we can check it after we wake up."

Zhou An put one arm around her and used the other hand to untie her belt.

"My lord, it's not dark yet. I'll serve you tonight," Shulan pleaded, looking at Zhou An.

As a wife, she couldn't refuse her husband, but it was too embarrassing to do it in broad daylight.

"It's good during the day; you can see clearly."

Zhou An lifted her chin and lowered his head to kiss her.

.........

Over the next few days, Zhou An visited several officials in Qinghe County, bringing gifts with him.

The Zhou family continued to cause trouble outside the Zhou family's gate the next day, and each time they attracted the officials, they left.

The officials couldn't do anything about them. Thursday was with her three daughters, and she herself was not young.

The officials could only expel her on the grounds that there were too many onlookers and a stampede was likely to occur.

After several days of this commotion, the local gentry she owed money to sent people to take them away, thus ending the farce.

"That person is gone, but I don't dare to go out now. Many people are talking about our family and gossiping about us," Zhou Li said with a worried look on his face.

"Father, don't worry."

Zhou An laughed and said, "Didn't you want to open a teahouse and hire storytellers? I'll write this story into a tale later, and you can have the storyteller tell it in the teahouse. Then the people of Qinghe will know the inside story, and naturally no one will gossip about our family anymore."

"That's a good idea!"

Zhou Li's eyes lit up when he heard this. Although many of the stories in the storybooks were fictional, many people believed them to be true.

However, he quickly frowned and said, "But I haven't found a place to open a teahouse yet. Why don't you write down the story and I'll ask a teahouse owner I know to help me make some arrangements?"

"Your daughter-in-law has already found you a shop to open a teahouse. She bought the shop and has already had it furnished," Zhou An said with a smile.

Decoration means renovation.

"what?"

Zhou Li was stunned upon hearing this. He opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

To say it's too wasteful is an understatement; after all, it's a daughter-in-law's way of showing filial piety.

But if he accepted, he was afraid he would lose out.

He wanted to open a teahouse because he found the stories told by the storytellers very interesting. A pot of tea and two plates of snacks, and he could sit there for an entire afternoon, which was very leisurely.

In addition, he also wanted to find something to do, so he thought about opening a teahouse.

But he wasn't really confident about whether he could run the business well.

"Don't worry, you won't lose money."

Zhou An laughed and said, "Besides, it's our own shop. If we lose money, we can just rent it out."

"You wanted to do all that yourself, but now you're afraid of this and that," Hao said, giving him a disapproving look.

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

After being persuaded by several people, Zhou Li also became more determined.

Shulan also sent Manager Jiang to be the manager and help Zhou Li manage these things.

Zhou An stayed at home for about a month. After his father's teahouse opened and business was good, he bid farewell to his parents and took Shulan to Tongzhou.

Before leaving, he visited the Sheng family, but Sheng Wei had already gone to the capital.

.........

"My wife, once we're settled, I'll show you around."

Seeing Shulan glancing outside with a look of excitement in her eyes, Zhou An smiled and said...

At that time, Neo-Confucianism had not yet emerged. Although women did not stay at home before marriage, the farthest place Shulan had ever been was Qinghe County.

Upon arriving in the prefectural capital, the bustling scene of the city naturally attracted her.

After all, she's just a seventeen-year-old girl.

"My husband's studies are the most important thing. Let's go out for a stroll when you have time," Shulan said with a smile.

"Um."

Zhou An nodded.

The carriage stopped at a residence in the south of the city. Shi Tou took out his key and went to open the gate.

Zhou An and Shulan got out of the car and pointed to the house, saying, "Let's go, I'll take you inside to have a look."

"Um!"

Shulan looked around the house, nodded upon hearing this, and followed Zhou An into the house.

The other servants who accompanied the group began carrying the luggage they had brought.

Zhou An had visited this house once before, under the guidance of Guan Yan.

The house was just a small house with three courtyards.

The number of courtyards is not the key factor in determining the size of a house. The number of courtyards refers to the number of courtyards that are passed through each gate on the central axis.

The main gate is considered the first courtyard. The outer courtyard leads to the middle courtyard by crossing another gate, which is the second courtyard. The third courtyard is the back courtyard.

Simply put, "in" refers to the depth, while the size of a house also depends on its width.

If there are side courtyards on the left and right, it is almost equivalent to three times the size of this house, but it can still only be counted as three courtyards.

There are several dilapidated rooms in the front yard of this house, which were used as living quarters for the servants.

There are side rooms on both sides of the main hall in the middle courtyard, and several main rooms in the back courtyard, totaling more than a dozen rooms.

After the two finished their stroll, the servants had already tidied up the backyard.

As for other places, we can only deal with them gradually.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Zhou An decided to take Shulan to the tofu restaurant for dinner.

When he described the dishes at the tofu restaurant to Shulan before, Shulan was already drooling.