I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 39 Dividing the Family Property

The next day, the morning light was bright and Tang Zhao, who had had a good sleep, felt refreshed and had a breakfast full of northwestern characteristics.

Tang Zhao was very satisfied with the mutton buns with thin skin and large fillings, the rich and fragrant mutton vermicelli soup, and the perfectly pickled Lanzhou pickles.

Unlike the exquisite and beautiful food in Luoyang, people in the northwest pay attention to quantity and value. Tang Zhao does not have the bad habit of wasting food. After drinking the last mouthful of soup, he hurried out for a walk to digest the food.

Nanny Li sighed, saying that the princess was really easy to feed and had a big appetite.

The Northwest Palace is not as exquisite and wealthy as the Luoyang Palace, but it has one significant advantage: it covers a huge area.

After Tang Zhao walked through a willow garden, he felt much better in his stomach.

The gardener in charge of pruning the garden was busy all the time. Tang Zhao felt unhappy when he thought of his own Bidan Courtyard where there was not even a single weed.

She went back and stopped Gu Ci who was about to leave. "When will you fulfill the persimmon tree you promised me?"

"Wait a minute," Gu Ci turned around and avoided her, "My mother wants to see you, so I'll go to Minghui Hall."

Tang Zhao trotted after the man and asked, "How long do you mean to wait? You have to give me a deadline, Gu Ci!"

The man ignored her and just kept walking forward.

Tang Zhao chased him breathlessly and finally grabbed the man's sleeve in front of Minghui Hall.

"Hoo, hoo, you, you have long legs, amazing, hoo," Tang Zhao panted, "I, I can't take it anymore, wait a minute, let me recover."

Gu Ci tugged at his sleeve but couldn't get it out, so he turned his head to look at the ginkgo tree beside him.

"Fifth brother!" A surprised male voice suddenly sounded.

Tang Zhao turned around and saw a handsome man striding towards him. He patted Gu Ci on the shoulder and said happily, "It really is you!" He turned back to the woman walking towards him and said, "You said I was mistaken!"

The woman smiled shyly, "I have never seen the fifth brother. I only heard my husband's description. From the back, I thought it was the second brother."

The man laughed, "Second brother and fifth brother look the same from behind! I couldn't tell them apart when I was little, but it became easier as I grew up." He looked at Tang Zhao standing beside him, "Fifth brother, this is Fifth Sister-in-law, right?"

Without waiting for Gu Ci's reply, he bowed respectfully and said, "My younger brother Gu Bai greets the fifth sister-in-law. I hope she is well!"

The woman standing next to Gu Bai knelt and saluted, "My concubine Wu greets Fifth Brother and Fifth Sister-in-law."

"No need to be so polite as we are family!" Gu Ci's expression softened when he saw his brother.

The two brothers walked in while chatting about family matters, leaving the two sisters-in-law behind to chat awkwardly.

As soon as we entered the main courtyard, the prince and his wife were already waiting in the main hall, and opposite them was a young couple.

Gu Baixian saluted the prince and his wife, "Big brother, big sister-in-law," then turned and said to the side, "Third brother, third sister-in-law."

Gu Yang ignored him, and Wang smiled and replied, "Sixth brother."

Tang Zhao followed Gu Ci and sat on the left, while Gu Bai and his wife sat opposite them.

Gu Yang looked Tang Zhao up and down for a moment, "Is this my fifth brother's wife?"

I am your father! Tang Zhao rolled his eyes at him and said, "It is me, the princess."

Ha, Gu Yang sneered, and stood up nonchalantly to salute, "Greetings, Princess."

Wang followed suit and bowed, "I, Wang, greet the princess. May the princess be well."

Tang Zhao put on airs and said, "No need to be polite."

Gu and Yang sat back in their original seats.

Mr. and Mrs. Gu Bai looked at each other, not knowing whether they should greet each other again. While they were hesitating, Princess Xuan came out from the inner room.

Everyone stood up and saluted, "Greetings, Mother."

"Everyone, sit down!"

After Princess Xuan took her seat, everyone sat down.

"I've called you all here today because I have something to tell you," Princess Xuan said straight to the point. "Now that you've all started your own families and careers, I'm old and don't have the energy to manage the palace's vast estate. So, I've discussed with the prince about allocating some of the property to you."

"Firstly, you can help me share the burden of the palace affairs, and secondly, you can have more money," the princess said. "However, according to the palace family rules, men are not allowed to own property, so the property is left to the wives to manage."

"You are living under your own daughter-in-law, so you should consider your own limits."

"Don't worry, mother," everyone said in unison. The princess took out the deeds from the box and said, "There are four deeds here, corresponding to four plots of land and shops, with a total value of roughly the same."

A bookstore, a rouge shop, a restaurant, and a farm covering a thousand acres.

Tang Zhao couldn't take his eyes off it.

"I'm not partial. You can draw lots to decide who comes first."

Nanny Zhao took out a slip of paper that she had prepared long ago, wrote a number on it, crumpled it up in front of everyone, threw it into the box, closed the lid, shook it vigorously for a while, opened it and placed it on the table.

Princess: "Go ahead."

Tang Zhao looked left and right, and seeing that no one dared to move, he took the initiative to step forward, "Mother, I'll smoke first!"

Gu Ci stopped him, "There is order of seniority."

"Young Master, you're such a jerk!" Is this the time to be humble?!

Gu Ci died of anger.

The princess smiled and said, "Then Zhao Shan will smoke first."

Tang Zhao walked forward, looked it up and down for a long time, and chose the one hidden underneath.

Wang and Wu did not dare to be presumptuous and waited until the Crown Prince's Consort Ming had finished choosing before making their selection based on age.

Princess: "Open them all and take a look."

Tang Zhao clasped his hands together, holding the small piece of paper between them, and prayed eloquently, "God bless me, bless me to draw the first one, the first one!"

"Don't beg anymore, God doesn't have time to care about you," Gu Ci said coldly.

Tang Zhao glared angrily.

"You are the fourth."

"How do you know?" Tang Zhao asked angrily.

Gu Ci: "Everyone else has finished reading it."

Tang Zhao looked at the three in the hands of the Crown Princess and the two in the hands of Mrs. Wu, then he looked down at his own bloody four and raised his head to look at Mrs. Wang.

Wang smiled from ear to ear and held up the piece of paper with the word "one" written on it to show off to her.

Tang Zhaoxizi covered her heart.

The women discussed in whispers with their husbands which industry to choose.

Tang Zhao also pulled Gu Ci's sleeve and whispered, "Do you think it's possible that they suddenly went blind and refused to give up the farmland, leaving me to pick up the spoils?"

"They don't need to be blind. No one in their right mind wants the farm." Gu Ci pulled back his sleeves and said speechlessly, "Only you want it."

Tang Zhao:!
Sure enough, Wang chose the restaurant, Wu chose the rouge shop, and Ming glanced at Tang Zhao, then turned her hand and stretched it to the right.

Tang Zhao:!
Gu Ci, you lied to me again!
The man glared and asked, "Who told you to stare at your sister-in-law? Did she misunderstand you?"
"Well, sister-in-law," Gu Ci said, "the princess can't read or write, so she can't open a bookstore. It's better to leave the farm to her."

Tang Zhao nodded hurriedly.

Ming didn't know what to do, she looked at her husband.

Gu Liu saw his brother winking at him, and his sister-in-law looked at him like a savior. Although he didn't know what the two of them were up to, he didn't care.

Gu Ci nodded.

Ming turned her hand again and stretched it to the left.

Tang Zhao stepped forward and held the long-coveted land deed in his arms.

Everyone feels like they've made a profit.

On the way back to Bidanyuan, Gu Ci said afterward, "It's true that Mingxia Manor covers a thousand acres, but five hundred acres are forests, and of the remaining five hundred acres, only fifty acres are fertile farmland."

Tang Zhao:.
Tang Zhao's smile froze on his face.

Zhao Zhao: Then I want the land too!

Hehe
We are also landowners.

(End of this chapter)