The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 248 Investigation

Chen Cui looked at her nephew whom she had not seen for a long time. Although his features were very similar to Chen Dahai's, he had become more bookish due to reading many books over the years and was no longer as rough as Chen Dahai.

"Just treat this place as your own home. If you need anything, just tell me. Don't keep silent."

After the banquet, Chen Cui called her nephew over and gave him instructions in a gentle voice.

The three Changping brothers also showed Chen Daoyuan the books they had read, the notes they had made, and the articles they had written, and told him that if he had any questions, he could ask them after they returned home in the evening.

Don’t underestimate this information; it is a valuable resource that each company does not easily pass on to others. Unless you are a close friend, you will not be able to see it.

Chen Daoyuan naturally knew the importance of these books and notes, and he promised to take good care of them.

As for seeking advice, he would not do so easily.

The cousins ​​all had their own jobs. After a busy day in the yamen, they had to come back to spend time with their wives and children. Therefore, he would not disturb them easily unless it was absolutely necessary.

From then on, Chen Daoyuan began to live as a guest in Liu's mansion, concentrating on studying behind closed doors.

Because her nephew was not married, Chen Cui did not arrange any maids in his courtyard. She only put a old woman and a servant to serve him.

This is also to prevent certain bad things from happening. If something happens between the nephew and the maid before marriage, she, the aunt, will be in a difficult situation.

A maidservant serves the young male master personally. If one of them has bad intentions, the originally pure master-servant relationship will be difficult to maintain and will evolve into another form.

In fact, she has never really understood why those so-called big families would take the initiative to arrange for young men to have concubines to teach them about human affairs. Even if it is for enlightenment education, it is not necessary to practice it personally!

Before the legal wife gets married, the husband already has someone else by his side. This is very unfair to the wife who is required to remain a virgin before marriage!

But in ancient times, there were many unfair things between men and women, not just this one!

The reason why wealthy families have concubines is probably because of the status of servants in their eyes.

They felt that those maids were not human beings, but just toys. They could keep them when they were happy and send them away at any time when they were unhappy. That was why they were so casual about it.

So are the concubines.

Concubines are bought and sold. Essentially, they are no different from other property in the family. They only have their seemingly glorious status because of the likes and dislikes of the male owner. But in fact, if we really talk about their value, they are not much more valuable than the family's fields and properties!

Although Chen Cui has been assimilated into this social environment to a great extent, and on the surface seems to be no different from other ladies who employ slaves and servants, and can calmly accept the service of maids and old women, but she really cannot agree with the thing of concubines!

Therefore, she explicitly forbade her sons to take concubines or even concubines, and asked Changping to write this matter into the family rules, forcing future generations not to take concubines or concubines.

All the maids in the Liu family know that they are not allowed to covet the male masters of the family. Once they are caught doing something improper, not to mention the young mistress, even the old lady will not let them go, and selling them out would be the least of their worries!

Once, there was a maid who showed some frivolous behavior when serving the master. Before she could do anything, the master reported her to the old lady, who personally sent her away!

The eldest young mistress had nothing to do with this matter, and it was handled clearly. It also set an example for all the maids in the mansion. From then on, no maid dared to have such evil thoughts and try to get close to the male master!

The two daughters-in-law were naturally very grateful for this, but they also encouraged themselves in their hearts to give birth to more sons so as not to disappoint their mother-in-law's good intentions.

Since there are no concubines, the pressure of childbirth naturally falls on the wives. They have to give birth to more children so that the Liu family can have many descendants!

Despite this, they are still willing to do so. Compared to having other women in the family, or even the possibility of having illegitimate sons and daughters, and living an uneasy life, they would rather have more children.

After all, with such good family conditions, having children is not a difficult or painful thing for them. Even if there are occasional twists and turns along the way, the result is still good.

Just like Zhang Hongjuan, her figure was completely restored two months after giving birth. She ate and drank as usual, and her child had a wet nurse to take care of him. Her life was not much different from the past.

Even the job of teaching at the girls' school was taken over from Suisui again, and she resumed her teaching career as Mr. Zhang.

Nanny Chen was very helpful. Not only did she find out all the information about Liu Changfu, she also carefully inquired about the other masters of the Liu family, especially the female masters, in an effort to uncover deeper information.

However, this result is still very gratifying. There really is no dirty business in the Liu family. The brothers are united, the sisters-in-law are harmonious, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law get along well. The relationship in this family is so good that it doesn't seem real!

At first, Nanny Chen didn't quite believe it. As far as she knew, the Liu family was originally a farming family in the countryside, and they had only been prosperous for a few years. They later moved to the capital because their son passed the imperial examination and became an official in Beijing.

It stands to reason that a family with little background and newly-rich would have some bad habits, but under the leadership of Mrs. Chen, the Liu family did not have any bad habits.

Although among the three Jinshi of the Liu family, only Liu Changping had a good career in officialdom, the other two performed just mediocrely in officialdom. If Liu Changan could still be considered diligent, then Liu Changfu's performance was just average and there was nothing outstanding about him.

But these three people did not have any bad records. Officials in Beijing have always been poor, so if they want to make more money, they can only find other ways. Some people take risks just to make money.

But Mrs. Chen, the mother of the three Liu brothers, was a good business owner. Relying on several profitable businesses, she made the Liu family richer than most official families. So they didn't need to take those crooked paths and their reputation as an official was pretty good.

The eldest and second young ladies of the Liu family live a comfortable life. Not only do they get along well with each other, they also have good relationships with their mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Moreover, they are much freer than the women of ordinary officials' families. From this point of view alone, the Liu family is a good place to be.

Liu Changfu was not very noticeable among the many low-ranking officials in the capital, but he had a calm temperament and a clean family background. He had no bad habits, did not gamble or visit prostitutes, and had no maids at home. He was very clean, and Nanny Chen was very satisfied with this.

They are princesses of high status, they can’t possibly give in to a playboy just to avoid those dirty things!