Chapter 507 - 501_1
"Zhao Erhu’s family sent over the New Year’s gifts?" The Princely Heir of Marquis of Zhenbei raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, genuinely surprised. Zhao Erhu had only just returned from sea; he hadn’t even reached the Capital City, yet the gifts had already been sent. They obviously weren’t ordered by Zhao Erhu himself.
When he first partnered with Zhao Erhu in business, the Princely Heir had thoroughly investigated Zhao Erhu’s background and status and was naturally familiar with his family situation. With Zhao Erhu away at sea, only his young wife of age for hair-pinning and four children were left at home. His young wife had been bought with silver from another smaller mountain valley, and although the inquiries reported that Zhao Erhu’s wife possessed some insight and skills, the Princely Heir always believed that a rural woman from a mountain valley, even if knowledgeable, would have limited understanding. Now, it seemed he had underestimated her; she knew to arrange for the sending of New Year’s gifts to him. Even daughters from small families might not possess such propriety; it was indeed quite interesting.
"Since the gifts have been sent, naturally we should accept them. These are for me, not the household. Have the New Year’s gifts they sent brought to my yard; I am quite curious to see what sort of things Zhao Erhu’s young wife has sent over," said the Princely Heir with a rare hint of interest in gifts from another’s household. After all, he was very curious about what kind of New Year’s gifts would a rural woman arrange to send?
He had heard that Zhao Erhu’s family had grown a lot of sweet potatoes on their land. One could guess what kind of things a peasant family might have; surely they wouldn’t just send over some chicken, duck, fish, and meat, and then haul over a few carts of sweet potatoes. Of course, there must also be homemade foodstuffs, which is exactly the business they cooperated on with the Jiang Family. If such items were fresh and interesting to eat last year, with the Jiang Family’s large workshop open now, everyone in the Capital City could get them, and they were no longer rare. Of course, if those were the things sent, he would still keep them, but it might be somewhat embarrassing in the eyes of others in the household.
"This, I don’t know either; however, judging by several carts of goods being hauled over, the quantity is not small. There are also a few large wooden boxes on two of the carts, and it’s truly hard to tell what’s inside." The gifts had not yet been accepted, so it would naturally be inappropriate to open them and see what had been sent. However, the Manager guessed they probably weren’t anything special—after all, what valuable things could a rural peasant family possibly have? It was merely a token of goodwill. Besides, it hadn’t been confirmed whether the Princely Heir would accept the gifts from this family, so he hadn’t received the gift list.
"Enough, have them bring the items in first. Once we have the gift list, we’ll know what’s been sent."
The Princely Heir was still residing in the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate. Although his stepmother had spoken ill of him to the Marquis of Zhenbei, leading to him having a separate courtyard to manage his own living expenses, the public funds from the family only allocated a thousand taels of silver to this courtyard yearly, meant to cover his annual expenses. He lacked everything else.