A few more days passed in a hurry, and it was March 14th in a blink of an eye.

Since the work-study students will come to the Ministry of Industry for internship next month, Jiao Shun has been laying the groundwork for this matter in the past few days. On the surface, he has obtained the approval of each company's doctor one by one, and secretly he has formed an offensive and defensive alliance with various craftsmen.

The former can only be done by himself, while the latter can only be done by Liu Changyou's master and apprentice.

Jiao Shun didn't expect the craftsmen to deliberately give preferential treatment to the working-study students, but during the internship, they suffered hardships and were even excluded and suppressed. He just couldn't sit back and watch the working-study students being humiliated!

Because the working-study students endured hardships and were suppressed, it had no real impact on Jiao Shun, and it could even cut off their delusions of getting closer to the scholars, thus prompting the working-study students to unite closely under his command, Lord Jiao.

But allowing the work-study students to be humiliated would hurt Jiao Shun's face, and it would go against his original intention of elevating the status of craftsmen.

This request is not too much, not to mention that the people they have to deal with are only scribes and assistants, so the craftsmen and officials are eager to be the first, rushing to ensure that they will take good care of the master's 'subordinates'.

Speaking of which, the craftsmen and officials at the Ministry of Industry did not have a high degree of recognition of Jiao Shun at first.

Although Jiao Shun was promoted to the Ministry of Industry by the emperor largely because of his invention of pneumatic tires, in the eyes of the craftsmen and officials, his most distinctive mark was that he was born into a wealthy slave, rather than being a craftsman.

This is also the reason why Liu Changyou's mentor and apprentice, instead of taking the initiative to surrender to Jiao Shun, actually tipped off the former head of the Department of Affairs.

But after more than a year, Jiao Shun showed his unique insights in industry and spared no effort to improve the status of craftsmen. The degree of recognition of him by the craftsmen and officials has naturally increased day by day.

The introduction of model operas a year ago—often referred to as "gong opera" outside—has pushed the craftsmen's recognition of it to an unprecedented level.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, what Jiao Shun has to do now is to consolidate this emotion based on identity and form a community of interests with him as the core in the Ministry of Industry.

Of course, at this stage, even if all the craftsmen and officials can reach a consensus and unite under the banner of Jiao, it is completely foolish to hope that this can counter the deep-rooted civil servant group - even if it is just the civil servant group of the Ministry of Industry.

Fortunately, Jiao Shun is still young and has unlimited possibilities in the future.

In short, Jiao Shun and Liu Changyou carefully checked this morning. The newly formulated internship regulations first summarized several deficiencies and shortcomings, and then discussed the corresponding solutions one by one.

In the afternoon, he was invited by the Ordnance Department to attend a phased seminar on new muskets.

Under the guidance of Jiao Shun's "far-sightedness", after nearly half a year of project establishment and research and development, based on the closed magazine technology of the handyman's office, the developed repeating rifle has been initially finalized, and several samples have even been trial-produced.

But at present, it is only the product of the meticulous work of the master craftsmen in the inner workshop, and there is still a long way to go before actual mass production.

After leaving the office in the evening, Jiao Shun went to Dingxiang Tower near Shuntian Mansion to make an appointment with Jia Yucun.

Jia Yucun is now the Tongzhi of Shuntian Prefecture, with an official rank of fourth grade, but in terms of real power, he is not as powerful as Jiao Shun, the chief executive of the Ministry of Industry. Moreover, he has always been low-profile, so dealing with him is much easier and more comfortable than Jia Zheng.

But Jiao Shun vaguely remembered that this man was a two-faced man. Although he was affectionate on the surface, he was secretly wary of him and never wanted to have any actual relationship with him. To be honest, the two of them were just fair-weather friends.

The wine and banquet were over.

Jiao Shun returned home, threw his official robe and boots to Yuchai and Siqi respectively, and ordered Xiangling to bring sobering soup. He then leaned on the bed and rested his head on Xing Xiuyan's thigh, putting his ear against her bulging belly and listening.

Fetal heart rate.

Occasionally he would feel the child kicking his legs and stretching his arms, and he would make a fuss, which made Xing Xiuyan laugh while holding his belly in his hands.

When Jiao Shun drank half a bowl of hangover soup and looked sober again, Xing Xiuyan said: "Ms. Shi came here at noon today. She said she came to borrow the money from the Three Kingdoms to kill, but she should have avoided it at this time, let alone me.

She was hesitant, as if she had something to say but was too embarrassed to say it."

Jiao Shun was not surprised by this, and while he warmed his hands and climbed up Xing Xiuyan's bulging belly, he lazily took the test: "Then do you think she encountered something difficult?

"

"this……"

In fact, Xing Xiuyan had already made a guess, but she still pretended to think hard for a long time, and then hesitantly said: "I have just been hired. If there are any difficulties at this time, and they are related to our family, they should probably be for the half of the shares, right?"

As he spoke, he covered his heart with a red head and a swollen face, and said shyly: "Master, I can't help it."

"It's already five months old. As long as you're careful, it doesn't matter."

Jiao Shun tried to persuade her to submit, but unfortunately he failed as always. He had to retract his hand angrily and turned his attention to Siqi, Xiangling, and Yuchuan, wondering whether to throw the die or let them guess each other's punches.

.

At the same time, he said again: "I think so too, don't worry, if she doesn't mention it, we will pretend to be confused, if she mentions it, we will just prevaricate as we discussed earlier to whet the appetite of the Baoling Hou family.

"

Others thought that the Shi family had suffered a setback this time, but in Jiao Shun's opinion, the Europa minister had great potential.

Nowadays, the maritime trade between Xia Kingdom and Europa is actually quite developed, but it basically comes and goes - most of Xia Kingdom's merchants do not go to sea, only collect goods at home, and wait for Western merchants thousands of miles away.

Come all the way to buy something.

There are pros and cons to this model.

Because he was beyond his reach, Jiao Shun originally didn't bother to take care of it, but since he was the in-law of the Shi family, he might as well take the opportunity to get some benefits from it, and also do a favor at the same time, and continue to improve Shi Xiangyun's favorability.

…………

But when Shi Xiangyun came out of Jiao's house at noon, he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself.

Although Wu reminded her to be careful about Xing Xiuyan, who was pregnant and loved by Jiao Shun, Shi Xiangyun did not think that Xing Xiuyan would be that kind of poisonous woman who was plotting against someone behind her back.

So I made up my mind to send the message through Xing Xiuyan.

But when the matter came to an end, she couldn't help but become a little shy. She made up a lot of words, but she couldn't say even a single sentence.

Fortunately, Xiangyun is open-minded by nature, and he was sulky all the way. When he saw the sisters, he soon became cheerful again. While playing cards, he thought about the grand occasion of tomorrow's poetry meeting, and the sound of laughter could not be heard.

When they were in high spirits, they suddenly heard a burst of laughter like silver bells outside. Everyone knew that Wang Xifeng must be here, and they hurriedly got up to greet her.

"Sit, sit, sit, why are you so polite to me?"

When Wang Xifeng entered the door, he pressed his hands with both hands, then sat down Baoyu and Baochai back in their original positions, and said with a smile: "I'm glad I knew you were playing cards. If you didn't know, I'd be afraid to hear the killings going on inside."

I thought I was entering a den of robbers!"

Li Wan smiled and cursed: "I don't know which one in this room looks most like a bandit! If it really is a den of bandits, you must be the leader!"

Everyone laughed and started joking.

Wang Xifeng raised her hands in a gesture of surrender and said: "It's amazing, it's amazing. I can't resist my sister-in-law's response. Fortunately, I have been thinking about you all the time, but now none of you are looking towards me."

After joking for a while, she gave Shi Xiangyun a piece of jewelry and said to Cuixi beside her: "I'll keep an eye on you girl for a while. I have a few words to say to her."

"Yo!"

Li Wan still refused to let her go, and continued to tease her: "Are you going to speak for your mother's family, or your husband's family? If you go against the people you trained in your house, we won't listen!"

"You talk a lot, go ahead and play your cards!"

Wang Xifeng grabbed the general card on the table and stuffed it into Li Wan's collar. Before Li Wan could react, she giggled, picked up Shi Xiangyun and fled outside.

After arriving outside, she suddenly became suspicious. This sister-in-law had always been so pure, but just now she saw that there was something in the skirt of her clothes...

"Why is my sister-in-law looking for me?"

Shi Xiangyun saw Wang Xifeng pulling him out, but tilting his head and not knowing what he was thinking, so he couldn't help but urge: "Just say what you have to say, and don't miss the poetry meeting we are discussing tomorrow."

"You've already promised me, why are you still thinking about having fun?"

Wang Xifeng teased her, and then said seriously: "I heard that when brother Shun was hired a few days ago, he also transferred half of the shares to you? I don't know when you will come with me to inspect the shop, and we will also

So that we can clearly hand over the accounts."

Ever since Mrs. Wang took the initiative and sold half of the shares to Jiao Shun at a low price, Wang Xifeng had been wary of him taking the opportunity to cause trouble. Even though Jiao Shun used Ping'er's words to express his tendency to coexist peacefully, he never let down his guard.

.

Now that she heard that Jiao Shun had transferred the business to Shi Xiangyun, Wang Xifeng breathed a sigh of relief.

Taking the initiative to bring up the handover of accounts now is just a pre-emptive strike.

Although Shi Xiangyun didn't pay much attention to official career and economics, he knew Wang Xifeng's character. He immediately said hurriedly: "How can I understand the account books? Besides, with my sister-in-law in charge, how can I still go on a business trip?"

Wang Xifeng didn't want to climb up the pole immediately: "In that case, I will save the dividends for you first, and then give them to you exactly as they were when you get married, so as to save your aunt from being upset."

Last year, due to the yard repairs and the bonus from Tianxingjian, she was greedy and became more and more extravagant.

Now that we have finished building a separate courtyard, we are gradually unable to make ends meet.

This is obviously not a long-term solution.

But Wang Xifeng was absolutely unwilling to ask her to give up her ostentation and live frugally, so she recently returned to her old business and started loan sharking.

Now they say they want to help Shi Xiangyun save his dividends, but in fact they are just borrowing money to lay eggs.

"this……"

Shi Xiangyun immediately became embarrassed and hesitated: "Auntie told me a few days ago that she wanted to borrow it to supplement the family income. I also promised to discuss this matter with the Jiao family."

Wang Xifeng raised an eyebrow when he heard this, and then lowered his face and lectured: "You girl, you are usually very smart, but why are you confused about this?! The Jiao family has only just started to gain momentum. Even if they get fat, these two or three

Wan Yin is not a small sum for his family!"

"Brother Shun is willing to take it out now because he cares about your family background and character, and he is specially trying to show your face. Anyway, when you get married in two years, the money and shares will be taken back as dowry, so you won't

It's an advantage for outsiders - but if you generously give this money to your parents' family, how will your future parents-in-law think of you?"

"They say that a daughter-in-law of many years becomes a mother-in-law. How about you? You haven't even entered the door yet, but you have to be the master of the family first?"

Shi Xiangyun didn't think it was so complicated originally, but now that Wang Xifeng's analysis made sense, he felt confused and hesitant.

Seeing this, Wang Xifeng hurriedly struck again while the iron was hot: "It's better to keep this money according to my wishes - if she asks, just say it's Brother Shun's wish. Can she still question Brother Shun face to face?"

?”
To be continued...