No rules were abolished, nor were many formalities removed. For this courtyard located near the Great Goods Street in Yanhe Lane, the change in atmosphere began after the master of the house returned in late autumn.

For the old servants of the Su family who had followed them north, perhaps they had not imagined that this family would become so relaxed after moving north. The Su family of Jiangning was a large family, though not yet a family with profound inner strength, but its methods of managing the household had its own merits. Su Tan'er, leading her family north and settling here, maintained the same atmosphere, especially in the absence of the master of the house. As a woman in her early twenties, she had to have her own authority to manage the household. But after Ning Yi returned, everything changed imperceptibly.

It wasn't a deliberate change, but the atmosphere existed in the most ordinary words and deeds. Ning Yi had always been amiable at home, sometimes even a bit reckless. After autumn, in this winter, Su Tan'er had somewhat followed her husband's pace with a mix of amusement and exasperation, adapting to such changes. Sometimes, such casualness would even undermine her authority as the mistress of the house, and sometimes she would feel as if she had been tossed back to her girlhood, able to laugh and play without restraint. But in fact, even when she was a girl, she had never felt so childish.

From the moment she clearly decided that she wanted to do business, she had always maintained a "mature" mindset. In this world, what kind of demeanor a woman should have, what kind of authority a master should have, and what kind of behavior a wife and mother should have, had always been very clear to her, and she could indeed do it very well.

Since marrying Ning Yi, especially after gaining mutual understanding and being able to communicate, there had been many happy days. Of course, since going south to Hangzhou, there had always been many things to do, and later she faced the rebellion of Fang La, the division of the family, and the hatred of the destroyed family. She had never thought that now that she was a mother, she would become even more childish. Sometimes, teased by her husband, she would feel so angry that she wanted to hunt him down. Not long ago, she was dressed up as a man and dragged by him to a poetry meeting to join in the fun. Later, when strolling through the lantern market and guessing lantern riddles, she also learned that her husband was not omnipotent.

Whether she was happy or felt bad, she couldn't say for sure. Facing outsiders, in managing the cloth shop and building new workshops, she still tried to maintain the authority of the mistress of the house. In the eyes of the servants, she was perhaps still the more terrifying mistress of the house compared to the master, but there were always some images that she was forced to give up maintaining, and she had to slowly adapt and experience some feelings that she had never experienced before.

"Wow... don't bite me, Xiao Xi, Mommy is washing her face, if you smear saliva on me again, I'll wash you too..."

In the lively bedroom, Su Tan'er was washing her face. Ning Xi stretched out his hand to lean towards his mother. After Xiao Chan carried him over, she realized that the child wanted to smear saliva on her face, and quickly laughed and used a towel to scare him away. Ning Yi let the wind into the room for a while, then closed the window, and smiled as he took the child.

"He's going to kiss you, not smear saliva. Our Xiao Xi gave you a kiss, and you don't accept it, come, give your great daddy one... uh, no? He has personality, try your Aunt Xiao Chan..."

After washing up in the morning, Xiao Chan and Juan'er took the washbasin out and went to urge the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Tan'er took the child and sat by the bed to feed him breakfast. These days, although they had hired a wet nurse, Tan'er still breastfed the child herself most of the time. Ning Yi sat by the bed and discussed with her the situation of the child growing his second milk tooth.

"When he grows two more, he's really going to bite me..."

Having just washed her face, Su Tan'er's face was clean at this time, her hair was slightly messy. Because she didn't want to be bitten, her tone was slightly melancholy, but also slightly blushing. When Xiao Xi grew his first milk tooth not long ago, she secretly told Ning Yi about this. The little baby would not have pity for his mother's pain. When she talked about this, the two were lying in the bed, and Ning Yi also tested it with her, letting her taste the feeling of being bitten. For Su Tan'er, even if Ning Yi did anything to her, she would feel it was justified, but thinking about it, she would still feel a little ashamed.

They only talked about such things when they were alone. Soon after dressing up and going out, Tan'er would once again be the dignified and composed mistress of the Ning family and the shrewd businesswoman. And in fact, now that she was a mother, she also had many self-awarenesses. The woman who had shouldered many things on her shoulders was actually only the age of a girl who had just entered university in later generations. And at this time, she had already taken it for granted to shoulder half or even a whole family. On the contrary, the joy like a girl that she occasionally discovered by Ning Yi was perhaps what she considered an extra gain...

These kinds of feelings sometimes made Ning Yi feel warm.

"...Actually, the several workshops outside the city are about to be completed. If we can get the first business from the Lü family, we probably have things to do during the New Year. But now it has started to snow, and I plan to visit the new workers we recruited earlier, one by one. Husband, what do you think we should send when we visit, cotton cloth or charcoal..."

Gently patting the child in her arms, after saying some casual words, she entered the mind of a female strong person again. Ning Yi didn't agree with her running around on snowy days, only saying to let the manager go. Su Tan'er thought that her family had just arrived in Bianliang, and the manager might not be famous among the workers yet, and it would show more importance if the head of the family went. The two discussed for a while, and relatively noisy voices came from outside, meaning that the young people in the family had returned after practicing martial arts in the morning, and it was almost time for breakfast.

Since coming from Jiangning, this family, in addition to some accountants, stewards, guards, cooks, and handymen who followed, also had relatives such as Wen Ding and Wen Fang, plus newly hired servants. A total of fifty or so people lived in the four courtyards, which was quite lively. In order to avoid a situation like the Su family when a group of young people couldn't even handle knives, Ning Yi asked the brothers in the family to do some exercise as much as possible, and invited Lu Junyi to teach them some things in these months. And most of the time, it was Yan Qing who supervised their exercise.

After returning from Shandong, some of the Liangshan generals who surrendered and were deemed usable, such as Qin Ming and Guan Sheng, were incorporated into some military formations that had a good relationship with Right Chancellor's mansion after Qin Siyuan helped to whitewash them. Yan Qing was very capable. Ning Yi had suggested that he join the Secret Intelligence Division, but such things were not important to Yan Qing. He wanted to wait until Steward Lu was whitewashed before considering other things.

And although Ning Yi had promised to whitewash Lu Junyi, some of the subsequent matters were actually more troublesome. Liang Zhongshu, who had participated in framing Lu Junyi, was Cai Jing's son-in-law. In order to whitewash him, Qin Siyuan had several exchanges with Cai Jing's side. The two sides had taken a step back. It was simple to whitewash Lu Junyi's identity, but it was very troublesome to recover his family property and so on. On the other hand, Lu Junyi was suitable for military formations, while Yan Qing was suitable for intelligence work. Qin Siyuan seemed to have a good impression of Lu Junyi during this period and wanted to wait until there was a more suitable position before arranging him, so it was put on hold for a while.

Ning Yi felt somewhat guilty about this and visited Lu Junyi and Yan Qing several times when he had nothing to do. In fact, according to Lu and Yan's ideas, they probably had a respectful and distant attitude towards Ning Yi, because this guy was too ruthless and vicious once he used tricks. But after a few visits, they probably felt that it wouldn't hurt to make friends. Not long after, Ning Yi asked Lu Junyi to teach Wen Ding, Wen Fang and others in the family martial arts, and the other party agreed.

In this way, recently, every morning before dawn, a group of young people from the Su family had to go out for exercise, mainly to strengthen their physique.

Not long after, the Su family's dining hall became lively. This dining hall was not small and was also heated with a honeycomb briquette stove. When Ning Yi and Tan'er arrived, most of the relatives and stewards had already arrived. Wen Ding and Wen Fang had already washed their faces and changed their clothes. Su Yanping had an egg on his face, probably punched by someone in the previous sparring, but at this time he was still laughing and joking with people while applying it. Only when Ning Yi and his wife came in did everyone restrain themselves and greet them.

"Second Sister."

"Second Brother-in-law, good morning."

"Second Brother-in-law, where's Ning Xi..."

For others, they might not know the inside story of this family and would feel that the mistress was far more dignified and imposing than the master. Sometimes they would even feel that she was difficult to get along with. But in the eyes of Wen Ding, Wen Fang, and others, the real backbone of this family was Ning Yi. In Jiangning, he single-handedly forced back the Liangshan bandits, and then wiped out Liangshanpo in three months. After that, no matter how amiable he appeared, perhaps some people felt close to him, but no one would think that he was kind and could be bullied. As long as he was there, at least this small family would maintain an imposing manner and move forward.

"Don't Ning Xi, Ning Xi, Su Wending, you bastard, you were the one who ran to tease him yesterday and made him cry, and I had to coax him for half a day."

Amidst Ning Yi's laughing scolding, Xing'er pushed the wooden baby carriage and opened the curtain to come in. Wen Ding and others laughed and swarmed up, running to tease the child. Su Tan'er pursed her lips, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Such teasing usually didn't end well. The child would be laughing and giggling at first, but would soon cry in humiliation. Because of previous experience, Xing'er had already turned the baby carriage and started running away, while the several stewards in the room, the slightly older Su family accountants, were still smiling as they watched the whole situation unfold.

Soon after, various breakfasts were brought up. Amidst the commotion of this period, it was also a time for individuals to decide what to do today. In this Ning family at this time, Su Wending and several shopkeepers were basically helping Su Tan'er manage the cloth shop, and they had recently prepared many things. Su Wenfang, Su Yanping, and the rest of the family who had come over were arranged by Ning Yi in the large courtyard outside the city to be responsible for various miscellaneous things, such as some variety show ideas, the creation of equipment for manufacturing honeycomb briquettes in the iron smelting department, and the management of meals, rewards, records, and so on for many workers in the large courtyard.

The large courtyard that Ning Yi had organized was still in a mess, and the entire system was not fully formed. Although the salaries and rewards were generous, the workers who had been recruited could not fully understand what they needed to do. The iron smelting block was to hire some blacksmiths to build things according to instructions, and in the paper-making workshop, Su Yanping was responsible for supervising the workers to test various paper-making materials and processes. Many ideas were still proposed by Ning Yi, and everyone implemented them step by step.

In terms of kilns, several kinds of firebricks that were not easily broken had been fired in the last few days. Because Ning Yi had dabbled in the materials before, there were results within a few months. The most important thing was to use them as the liner for coal stoves.

At this time, if you want to manufacture a portable honeycomb coal stove, it is difficult to wrap it with iron sheet. The cost of making iron sheet is too high. If you use a bamboo or wooden shell, wrap a few circles of iron wire outside, you have to consider the insulation effect. Therefore, in order to put this simple thing on sale, it probably took more than two months, and iron wire still accounted for a part of the cost.

In addition to these things, the variety show troupe in the eyes of outsiders is experimenting with various strange magic ideas. According to Ning Yi's vision, it should be a group that concentrates on brainstorming, making systematic creativity and plans for various things, but at present it is difficult to gather a group of smart people to do this kind of thing. Previously, when operating Zhuji in Jiangning, Ning Yi had already begun to pay attention to acrobats and other craftsmen, and at this time, he gathered some barely usable craftsmen to help them first with magic and acrobatics.

It can be said that the things in the entire courtyard have not been on the right track at all, because at present, the workers inside do not have too much subjective initiative. Ning Yi can only slowly make a reward and punishment mechanism in the chaos at this time. For example, in the honeycomb coal block, when the basic process is done, some people will be moved out to build workshops, and a few skilled craftsmen who have the ability to innovate will be left behind.

When the paper-making party can come up with a practical effect, Ning Yi will also move out some people, leaving innovative craftsmen, and the rest will also do so step by step. Such a system, rewards, and guidance will definitely not be done in a day or two, but fortunately for Ning Yi, the entire system is not a very troublesome thing.

On the contrary, in the entire courtyard, perhaps the most subjective initiative is the aspect of gunpowder, because at present, the one who is doing things inside is the "Entering the Clouds Dragon" Gongsun Sheng of Liangshan. He was captured when Liangshan was destroyed and chose to surrender. After Ning Yi investigated him, he found that this Liangshan leader, who could call the wind and rain, was actually best at alchemy. Although he had high martial arts skills, he was actually obsessed with various strange researches.

After asking Lu Junyi, Yan Qing, Qin Ming and many other people's opinions, Ning Yi probably chatted with this Mr. Gongsun for a few days about physics and chemistry, and showed him black gunpowder and other things. In the end, he decided to support his alchemy research and win over a technical house. Although everyone's cognitive system is very different at present, at least many of Ning Yi's ideas, the other party has the ability to research. Similar to sulfuric acid and nitric acid, he tinkered with them for a long time, but for these alchemists, they have enough ability to prepare them, which can be regarded as a good start in the entire chemical research.

"However... Second Brother-in-law, you really shouldn't give him that gunpowder formula, causing that Mr. Gongsun to do explosions in the yard all day long. One day he will kill himself... Second Brother-in-law, you know that those Taoists have a trick to throw gunpowder out and light it. Yesterday, Mr. Gongsun threw a handful of fire and burned his sleeves. We hurried over to hit it with something, luckily he was okay..."

Eating steamed buns, Su Wenfang talked about this, and everyone was also talking about it. Ning Yi was drinking soy milk and laughing.

"Cough, it's okay, just keep an eye on him. It doesn't matter if he does some experiments... But today I'm going to see the firebricks. As long as the process is okay, I'll prepare to sell them for money... Yanping, get ready to be busy. I'll tell you how to do it today. We'll only do it for the first year or two at most. We'll get in and out quickly. This kind of thing doesn't have much technical content. Once it's done, others will imitate it in a short time. When that happens, we'll sell it at a flat price. This is just for you to try your hand, but don't take it lightly..."

Everyone was talking and laughing, while Tan'er quietly ate her food, smiling as she watched Ning Yi chatting with her cousins. In the cloth shop business, her style was relatively tough, and she was not good at how to cultivate the people around her. Only in front of her husband could these young people who were originally mediocre and a little lazy in the Su family show such vitality.

After talking for a while, Su Yanping said, "I heard that Wen Yu will be back in the next few days, and also that Wang Shanyue."

He had previously gone north with Su Wenyu. Su Wenyu stayed in Shandong to work. Now that he could finally follow Ning Yi to manage one aspect of things, he missed this brother a little. Ning Yi smiled and said, "It is estimated that there will be delays due to the heavy snow, but they should arrive in the next two days. After the New Year, Zhu Biao of Zhu Family Village will also come over, and he will train you in martial arts at that time. He is very powerful, don't take it lightly."

Su Wending spread his hands and smiled, "We are also very powerful now!" Everyone laughed and echoed. Ning Yi shook his head with a smile, "A bunch of bastards, wait to get beaten up."

After returning to Bianliang, Ning Yi also had a lot of contact with the Wang family. The Wang family used to be known for making ink, but after arriving in the capital, due to the deaths of Wang Qisong and other Wang family men, the craft of ink making had lost a lot. Most of what they did were miscellaneous things such as selling ancient books. Ning Yi contacted the other party for a while, and Su Tan'er also went to visit several times, hoping that they could run some printing and publishing businesses. Ning Yi could make plans and help manage them, and the two sides could cooperate.

After all, this is the world of scholars, not the world of merchants. Wang's publishing books is a different concept from Ning's publishing books. Even if some messy things happen in the future, with the reputation of the Wang family in front, which official would dare to control it? It's just that these things have to be officially determined after Wang Shanyue comes back.

The family had a lively breakfast, and each returned to their room. Tan'er changed into clothes for going out, put on a fox fur coat. She hugged the child and sat in Ning Yi's arms to talk for a while. The little face between the fox fur occasionally showed a pure smile like a girl. Not long after, the carriage was ready outside, and when Xing'er came over, Su Yanping had also come to find Ning Yi. When holding the child and waving goodbye to her here, Su Tan'er also smiled and waved back, but when she stepped out of the courtyard door, the sunlight shone down, and on her fair profile, she had returned from a girl to the composure that once belonged to Su Tan'er...

***************

Suburbs of Bianliang.

For half the morning, Zuo Houwen was watching the figure of the woman entering and leaving the courtyard across the street from the carriage. That was a new workshop for a cloth shop. Recently, things had been continuously transported in and moved in. Although it was snowing today, it was still the same. A batch of looms were being transported over, and the workers were moving them into the door. A woman wearing a fox fur coat looked like the head of the family, watching and directing back and forth. The woman had a married woman's hairstyle, but her face was clean and beautiful. Judging from her appearance alone, she looked very young, but her temperament could not be underestimated. With a smile, although she did not say much, she had her own momentum. Often, a few clean and neat words would make people obey orders.

The youthful tenderness and mature and clean temperament were mixed together like that. In the heavy snow, she was like a narcissus blooming proudly.

He was already in his forties, and the cloth shop under his name was just a small business. He just came over to take a look casually, but he unexpectedly saw such a unique woman. He had also seen some women from merchant families, or those who supported a family after the death of their husbands, but they were somewhat different from the woman in front of him. In the heavy snow, she seemed too young and clean, and too composed. She was not the composure that ordinary merchant women had to maintain.

"Who is that person?" Putting down the Book of Songs in his hand, he asked the manager of the workshop.

"The newcomer, the cloth shop seems to be called Su's, but the head of the family is said to be named Ning. That woman calls herself Mrs. Ning."

"Su's? Ning's? That's strange? Did her husband die? Letting a woman show her face in public?"

"It doesn't seem like it. He's been here a few times. He's a scholar..."

"I see." Zuo Houwen frowned and probably understood. A scholar marrying a merchant's daughter was not uncommon, but the scholars who were willing to do this kind of thing also had limited integrity. "Ask for her name next time... Manager Liu, let's go back. After going back, see if there are any... invitations from this Ning family."

At the same time, in a large courtyard outside the city, Ning Yi was squatting on the ground with Su Yanping to look at the fired firebrick blanks. Not long after, someone handed over an invitation, saying that there was something to invite from the Prime Minister's mansion - Wang Shanyue and Su Wenyu had returned.