This is indeed a difficult problem!

  It stands to reason that the Ye family should also buy a large house. However, at this time, the workshop had just expanded, and the money earned also had to be divided into four parts for Yang Jianxiu, so it was not possible to take out several hundred or thousand taels of silver to buy a house. Moreover, the two old men had lived here for a long time, and the neighbors were familiar with them, making it convenient to visit and chat; besides, this place was close to the workshop, and moving to a distant place would not be convenient.

  Yue Zhuang thought for a moment: "Let Wang's wife help ask around, if there is anyone nearby who wants to sell their house, we will buy it. If not, we can rent a few rooms in the surrounding area for our servants to live in."

  "This is indeed a good idea." Ye Yukei nodded in agreement.

  If Gu were here, she would definitely oppose it. In her opinion, there is not much work at home, and doing it herself is just fine; moreover, having fewer people around is easier to get along with. Buying servants means adding mouths to feed, not to mention the considerable expense of paying them every month, and it's easy for problems like laziness and conflicts to arise. Rather than worrying about managing them, it's better to just do things herself, simple and straightforward.

  Ke Ye expected to make money and wanted his old wife to enjoy the wealth. Ye Zhuo had been a mistress of a large mansion in her previous life, so she thought it was easy to manage the servants. Moreover, seeing her white-haired grandmother still doing rough work like planting vegetables and watering, she felt ashamed. Therefore, without asking Guan Shi, the two of them settled on this matter.

  However, Ye Zhuo still considered Gu's feelings and said: "I think it would be better to buy two people first. One is a male servant who can follow you out, about 16 or 17 years old, which is suitable for serving you at home; one is a female servant, preferably around the same age as my mother. Let them do some rough work, and it's best if they are in a mother-child relationship. As for Qiuju and Qiuyue, don't let them do embroidery anymore, it takes a month to embroider something that I can earn more money by carving a piece of jade in one day. Just let them serve their grandmothers and aunts."

  "Go." Ye Yuxiu had no objection.

  "Uncle Ye, are you at home? I was worried that you had gone to the workshop." Yang Jianxu's voice came from outside the door. He then walked in, followed by Qiuyue and Yang Yuan.

  Ye Yiqi's face lit up with surprise, and he hastily stood up to greet him: "Lord Yang, how did you have time to come today? Is there something that needs to be said by a subordinate? You're so busy, why bother making this trip?"

  Yang Jianxiu was not wearing official attire today, but only a brand new navy blue long shirt that was about 80% new, with a hat of the same color. He looked particularly spirited. Upon hearing this, he smiled and said: "I've been busy lately, and now I have some free time, so I naturally came to visit Uncle and Aunt. Uncle Ye doesn't blame me for not coming over during that period of time, does he?"

  "What is Master Yang saying? Of course, official business is urgent. Moreover, we have nothing to do, and can eat and drink as usual, how can we trouble Master Yang to remember?" Ye Yuqi smiled all over his face.

  Everyone sat down in a flurry. Ye Zhuo hurried forward to pay his respects to Yang Jianxu. Autumn Moon served tea. Yang Jianxu, seeing that Guan Shi was not there, specially asked Ye Zhuo to take him to the kitchen to pay his respects to Guan Shi, and only then returned to the hall and sat down again.

  Ye Yiqi met Yang Jianxiu, who had become the county magistrate, and was still as approachable as before. He still treated him with the courtesy of a nephew to an uncle, and couldn't help but feel extremely delighted. After inquiring about Yang's father's health and his brother's illness, he turned to Ye Zhuo and said: "Zhuo'er, go to my room and get the account book from that cabinet. Let Magistrate Yang take a look."

  "Yes." Ye Zhuo responded and was about to leave.

  "New Workshop has just opened for a month, no need to rush." Yang Jianxiu waved his hand and looked at Ye Zhuo, "Miss Ye, on the 16th of the new year, it's Mr. Nie's 40th birthday. I want to give him a jade carving as a gift. Can you help me carve one?"

  "Ah?" Ye Zhuo looked at Yang Jianxiu in surprise, with a strange expression on his face. Nie Zhongkun was guarding the jade mine and had exceptional jade carving skills himself, what kind of jade material hadn't he seen before? What kind of jade carving skill could impress him? Why did Yang Jianxiu insist on giving him a jade carving as a birthday gift? Wasn't this just a waste of effort?

  Could it be...

  She looked at Yang Jianxiu with an unpredictable expression.

  Yang Jianxiu seemed to have not seen her gaze and expression change, beckoning Yang Yuan with his hand: "Come on, bring the materials over."

  Yang Yuan walked forward and placed a package he was holding onto the table, then opened it layer by layer. Inside were three objects that resembled jade but weren't actually jade, varying in size and shape.

  "Agate?" Ye Zhuo looked at the thing on the table and blurted out.

  "Alright, Manao." Yang Jianxu nodded, "You choose a piece that feels right from inside, then design and carve it out. On the fifteenth of the first month next year, I'll come to collect it."

  Nephrite is a type of jade, an unripe crystal mineral, also known as "Qiong" in ancient times. It has the texture of jade, but it is different from jade: its surface is smooth and translucent, with better transparency than jade, and its surface presents bright and shiny light, with various colors and natural patterns. In ancient times, due to the small amount of nephrite mining and its relatively hard texture, making it difficult to carve, high-quality nephrite with excellent workmanship was extremely valuable and not affordable for ordinary people, but a luxury item for royalty, nobles, and high-ranking officials.

  Ye Yiqi had been in the jade carving business for a long time and knew the value and difficulty of carving agate. Upon hearing Yang Jianxu's words, he couldn't help but feel uneasy: "Yang sir, although I think Qiu'er's carving skills are not bad, after all, she has only learned jade carving for a short time. She can still carve ordinary jade materials, but this agate is probably too difficult for her to handle. If your agate were to be damaged, that would be terrible. Not to mention the loss of such good material, it would also delay your gift-giving schedule. I think you should let those old jade carvers who have experience with agate do the carving for you."

  Yang Jianxiu waved his hand and didn't say a word, he just stared at Ye Zhuo with his eyes.

  Ye Zhuo didn't say a word, stood up and walked forward, picked up the agate on the table, and looked at it piece by piece. After a long time, he put it down and said, "Okay, I'll try."

  Then she stepped back a few steps, retreated to the center of the hall, and bowed solemnly to Yang Jian: "Thank you, Lord Yang. In the future, if Ye Zhuo has any achievements, he will never forget the kindness of Lord Yang's cultivation."

  "Be quick, don't be polite." Yang Jianxiu hastily stretched out his hand and supported her slightly, "And don't say anything about gratitude or not. If you're not capable, then even if I want to cultivate you, it won't work. Success or failure still depends on your own efforts."

  Ye Zhuo raised his head: "Yes, Ye Zhuo will definitely carve with all his heart and not disappoint Mr. Yang's kindness."

  She had the same worries as Ye Yuqi, but during this period, she not only strengthened her hand-carving techniques but also mastered the skills of using a grinder. She believed that as long as she was patient and meticulous, she would definitely be able to create good agate works. Since Yang Jianxiu had given her this opportunity, she would never shy away or lack the courage to try. Fearless, brave, and tenacious were always the brightest spots in her character, and also the key to her excellence in learning compared to others.

  "Very good." Yang Jianxiu was very satisfied with Ye Zhuo's attitude.

  He turned his head and said to Ye Yuzhang: "Although there is still half a month before the New Year, try not to disturb Miss Ye with those trivial matters during this period of time. Let her focus on creating this work. If her work can enter Mr. Nie's eyes and gain his praise, she will be able to occupy a place among the disciples of the Nie family without waiting for the competition. This is related to the future of the Ye family, don't take it lightly."

  It wasn't until now that Ye Yu understood Yang Jianxiu's painstaking efforts: Yang Jianxiu wanted to take the opportunity of Nie Zhongkun's birthday celebration to give Ye Zhuo a chance to stand out, and present her exquisite jade carving skills in advance to Master Nie, so as to gain his favor.

  Understanding this point, Ye Yuqi was deeply grateful and stood up to give Yang Jianxu a deep bow: "Yang sir, please accept an old man's courtesy."

  Yang Jianxiu was startled and hastily turned his body to avoid the bow, saying: "Uncle Ye, I am a junior, I absolutely do not deserve this courtesy from you."

  "I'm just a humble commoner, it's already an honor to be able to converse with you on equal terms, Lord Yang. You usually address me as 'Uncle', that's your modesty and courtesy speaking. How could I possibly presume to be your senior?"

  Yang Jianxiu's face turned red as he took a step forward and helped Ye Yiqi sit down, then retreated a step, lifted the front of his long gown, and knelt down.

  Ye Yiqi was startled and rushed forward to grab Yang Jianxu's arm, saying incoherently: "Lord Yang, what are you doing? As a high-ranking official of the imperial court, how can you kneel down to me, a commoner? Aren't you humiliating yourself? Quickly get up, quickly get up."

  "Uncle, please listen to me first." Yang Jianxu broke free from Ye Yiqi's hand and said seriously, "I want to ask for the hand of Miss Ye's mother, Zheng Shi, as my second wife. I specially invite Uncle to be the matchmaker for me."

  "What?" Ye Yuqi was stunned there.

  Ye Zhuo was also shocked and looked at Yang Jianxiu. During this time, she had rarely seen Yang Jianxiu come here, and he hadn't shown any intention of this kind again, so she thought Yang Jianxiu had given up on the idea and gradually lost hope. But now, Yang Jianxiu suddenly mentioned this matter, and without going through a matchmaker, personally asked for her hand in marriage with a serious attitude, showing his sincerity. Her heart was naturally both surprised and delighted. However, immediately afterwards, she felt some worry - Zheng Shi had always said that she didn't want to remarry. Now that she had finally met someone as good as Yang Jianxiu, if she still maintained this attitude, what would be the point?

  "My goodness, what did I just hear? What did I just hear?" Guan suddenly rushed in from outside, extremely excited and grabbed Yang Jianxiu's collar, "You just said you want to marry Manwen?"

  "That's right." Yang Jianxiu's face had already turned red like a cooked shrimp, but this sentence still responded very clearly.

  "Great, great!" Guan patted her hands together and started chanting Buddhist scriptures. "Amitabha Buddha, the ancestors bless you. Both of them are such good people, now that it's settled, they'll become a family."

  There will be an update tonight. Thank you for the New Year's red envelope reward from Zhou Xiaorong! Wishing everyone a happy Lantern Festival, reunion and happiness!

  (Thank you for your support, it is my greatest motivation.)

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