Su Xiaoqi was not particularly interested in Sun Jiaojiao's affairs.
However, she cared about Du Yiyi, so she still wanted to know why Sun Jiaojiao had offended the Old Madam Du.
It turned out that one day, when Sun Jiaojiao was slandering the Old Madam Du behind her back, Du Yiyi orchestrated a plan to make her grandmother overhear it.
At that time, the Old Madam Du did not say anything, only feeling that she had doted on Sun Jiaojiao too much, causing her to lose her manners.
For Sun Jiaojiao's future, she took it upon herself to invite a very well-mannered nanny to teach her etiquette.
Who knew that this teaching would lead to problems.
Sun Jiaojiao, being used to her freedom, naturally refused to be controlled by the old nanny.
This annoyed her, and she refused to learn etiquette properly.
The teaching nanny, acting on Du Yiyi's instructions, went to the Old Madam Du to lodge a complaint.
Sun Jiaojiao was then severely reprimanded by the Old Madam Du.
This, however, stirred up a hornet's nest. Sun Jiaojiao, feeling indignant, went as far as to plot against the Old Madam Du.
She obtained some medicine to make her grandmother weak, and then planned to act like a good person, cure her, and thus regain the Old Madam Du's trust.
The Old Madam Du was muddle-headed, extremely easy to deceive, and was easily fooled.
But after all, she had lived for decades and had some experience.
Especially since Du Yiyi, after bringing Su Xiaoqi to meet her last time, had listened to Su Xiaoqi and become more suspicious of Sun Jiaojiao.
Du Yiyi then directly borrowed her father's men to investigate, and quickly found the problem.
Du Yiyi had learned her lesson this time. Fearing that her grandmother would be unreasonable and continue to shield Sun Jiaojiao, she decided not to involve her and directly approached her father, Lord Du.
She had Sun Jiaojiao dealt with on the grounds of harming an elder in the family.
In the end, it was her aunt who intervened and pleaded with the Old Madam Du, managing to save Sun Jiaojiao.
But the condition was that she was no longer allowed to enter the Du family's door.
Du Yiyi was finally relieved, no longer having to worry about someone instigating the Old Madam Du behind her back to cause trouble for her.
In addition to these matters, Du Yiyi also brought good news to Su Xiaoqi.
Their jointly operated Chen Jin Ji business was booming, and the white fungus they had placed in their grain shop had also become incredibly popular.
This allowed their small shop to make a profit of two thousand taels that month.
Furthermore, people in Tongchuan County who had previously bought potato and corn seeds on credit, under the organization of a villager from Dawang Village, returned the seeds uniformly.
She had someone compare the returned seeds with the original credit notes and found that the repayment rate was as high as ninety percent.
This was forty percent higher than their initial prediction of fifty-fifty.
Du Yiyi praised the young man named Er Gouzi from Dawang Village in her letter.
It was said that Er Gouzi's efforts were the reason why the seeds that had been given out were collected so completely.
As for the remaining ten percent that were not returned, Du Yiyi stated in her letter that she could do nothing about it and let it go.
After all, they had not held much hope for it initially.
However, it was gratifying that the people in Tongchuan County could finally fill their stomachs.
And she planned to take this opportunity to open a grain seed shop in Tongchuan County.
The main purpose of writing the letter today was to invite Su Xiaoqi to join them.
"Xiaoqi, I can't do it without you," was the last sentence in Du Yiyi's letter.
Su Xiaoqi looked at it and covered her mouth, chuckling. This Yiyi was truly improper.
If others saw this, they would think they had some unusual relationship.
Mianzhou City in the twelfth lunar month was still very cold.
Su Xiaoqi, bundled up warmly, sat at her desk writing a reply to Du Yiyi.
After finishing, and waiting for the ink to dry before sealing it, she heard Guo'er announce that a guest had arrived.
Just as Su Xiaoqi was about to ask who it was, she heard a familiar voice say, "Sister Xiaoqi, I've come to see you."
Su Xiaoqi looked up and saw Zhao Xiaozhu's delicate face appear before her.
Su Xiaoqi looked at her with some delight, "Xiaozhu, you're here."
As the end of the year approached, everyone was busy making new clothes, and Zhao Xiaozhu had taken on a lot of work through Yu Yifang.
She had originally thought that Xiao Er and Xiao Sanzi would come over from the supermarket courtyard.
She hadn't expected Zhao Xiaozhu to come.
It seemed she wasn't alone.
Su Xiaoqi turned her gaze to Zhao Ye, who was standing beside them, watching her attentively.
"Oh, Zhao Ye is back too." Su Xiaoqi thought about how she hadn't seen Zhao Ye the last time she visited the supermarket courtyard.
Seeing him now, he seemed to have grown quite a bit.
Coupled with the good food by the courtyard, his physique was upright, and his body was stronger than before. However, because he often ran around outside, his skin was still a wheatish color, looking very healthy.
He was carrying a lot of things in his hands and had a large backpack on his back.
Seeing Su Xiaoqi looking over, he waved the things in his hands.
Before Su Xiaoqi could ask, Zhao Xiaozhu stepped forward and said, "These are gifts for cousin and Sister Xiaoqi."
She placed them on the ground and then went to pick up the one in Zhao Ye's hand.
Su Xiaoqi also helped to retrieve the backpack behind Zhao Ye.
When they were all piled on the ground, Su Xiaoqi was startled.
These were three full baskets.
"So many, did you prepare all of this?" Su Xiaoqi exclaimed in surprise.
Zhao Xiaozhu nodded and said softly, "Yes, thinking of the Winter Solstice, we have all received kindness from Sister Xiaoqi, and we have nothing to repay you with.
So we each prepared something you like to eat or play with for you.
This is from Xiao Yi, this is from Xiao Er and Xiao Sanzi, and these pastries are handmade by Xiao Xique and Xiao Shi'er.
And this is something I specially sewed for you." Zhao Xiaozhu spoke a long string of words in one go.
This matter was indeed quite difficult for her.
She had always been someone who preferred to act rather than speak.
Su Xiaoqi took the dark green embroidered pouch that Zhao Xiaozhu handed her, tilted her head, and opened it. It was a bronze foot warmer.
"Sister Xiaoqi is afraid of the cold, so I prepared this for you. You can keep it in this embroidered pouch," Zhao Xiaozhu had put a lot of thought into it.
The embroidered pouch made to hold the foot warmer had a blooming winter jasmine embroidered on it. The pale yellow color, set against the dark green background of the pouch, made people's eyes feel refreshed at first glance, appearing elegant yet solemn, which was the feeling Su Xiaoqi liked.
She thanked Zhao Xiaozhu with a smile, saying she would use it tonight and would no longer be afraid of freezing hands and feet.
With that, she began to look through the gifts from the others.
Now that everyone had received an education, their gifts had names on them, so there was no fear of mistaking them.
In short, they were not expensive items, but they were all prepared with care.
It was evident that they all remembered her kindness towards them.
Su Xiaoqi accepted them one by one, very pleased, and quickly asked Guo'er to help her prepare return gifts.
Guo'er was efficient and prepared them quickly, but she couldn't carry them alone, so she had to call Zhao Xiaozhu for help.
Zhao Ye also voluntarily went to assist.
They carried them out back and forth.
On the last trip, Zhao Xiaozhu carried them to the mule cart outside, and he became free.
He stood by the corridor, looking at Su Xiaoqi, his throat moved, wanting to say something, but he couldn't.