The road is smooth, and the fifty-mile journey can be reached in an hour by horse-drawn carriage. The green mountains and green water in the suburbs are fresh and the air is fresh. In the distance, you can see two terraced mountains and tea ridges, and a large fish pond at the foot of the mountain.
The fish pond is quite high, but due to drought, the water level is getting lower and lower. Freshly cut grass is scattered in the water, and the fish belly can be vaguely turned white.
There are about twenty-three fish ponds in a row. The fishermen and farmers seem to be very diligent. They are still cutting grass under the scorching sun, and the weeds beside the ponds are kept clean.
Shen Ning and others climbed the mountain in the scorching sun, and the vast terraced tea forests were still well maintained. There were tea farmers carrying water up the mountain for irrigation, and the tea trees were all a few years old. This showed that the person in charge of the manor was very attentive.
She doesn't understand tea, but she has an idea about the fish pond. It can be changed into a mulberry fish pond in the south. The mulberry leaves can be used to raise silkworms, forming an ecological chain of pond mud and mulberry.
There is a lot of money on the outskirts of the capital, and the surrounding areas are all rich people's estates. The ecological environment is really good.
Shen Ning likes this place. There are many houses and courtyards at the foot of the mountain. The houses and courtyards can be repaired and renovated. When they get tired of living in the capital, they can take a vacation.
When looking around, my eyes couldn't help but fall on the north, and I felt vaguely familiar.
"Miss, that is the manor under the master's name. You lived there for two years before."
After coming down the mountain, Shen Ning went to find Hong Dongshan, the person in charge of the manor. He was a dark-skinned middle-aged man who looked quite honest and honest. His generous hands were calloused and he was a hard-working man.
The owner sent news that a buyer was coming today, and Hong Dongshan dutifully introduced the situation of the manor.
There are more than 20 people in the manor, all brought here with their families. Hong Dongshan has worked in the manor for more than 20 years, from a young boy to a middle-aged man, and also got married and had children here.
Shen Ning chatted slowly, asking questions here and there, while Hong Dong answered all questions without being tactful, but he seemed to be a frank person.
We chatted for a long time, and after reviewing the revenue in the past few years, the profit was not huge. Excluding expenses, it was only a little over 2,000 silver dollars per year.
Shen Ning didn't give the right words, so he got up early to return to the city as it was late.
After getting on the carriage, he asked the driver to take a detour to the Shen family manor.
It's not far apart, and we arrived in about two quarters of an hour.
The location of the Shen Manor is not as good as that of the tea estate. Crops are grown in the estate and there is a large lotus pond.
The person in charge was a little confused about the sudden visit, "Second Miss."
"You guys are busy, I'll stop by and take a look."
Looking for the pitifully few memories, Shen Ning found the courtyard where she once lived.
The room was full of dust, with spider silk hanging everywhere, and no one had cleaned it for a long time.
Unlike the Shen family, this place has not been touched. There are not only the original owner's clothes and withered potted plants, but also bottles and jars on the table.
Shen Ning opened a few of them and almost vomited on the spot.
Centipede poisonous insect wine, rats soaked in strong wine, and various poisonous insect powder.
In order to cure her face, she really risked her life. Her survival depends on the Lord of Hell not accepting her.
There are miscellaneous treatises, Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, medical books and secret recipes in the drawer. There are all kinds of mess, even acupuncture figures...
Shen Ning found a brocade and wooden makeup box. There was no jewelry, but there were many handicrafts. The workmanship was rough and worthless.
After pouring all the contents onto the table, she checked them one by one without triggering any memory. However, she found that the makeup box seemed to have an interlayer.
Use a dagger to pry open the piece of wood, and inside is a piece of jade pendant with dragon pattern and auspicious clouds of excellent quality.
Even if you don't know anything about jade, you can tell that this is a rare item.
It stands to reason that since it was hidden so secretly, this piece of jade should be very important to the original owner. Why wasn't it taken away?
Shen Ning rummaged through his mind several times, but still couldn't find any useful clues. Then he remembered that the original owner suffered from split personality. He probably forgot its existence when he was ill, and then left it in the dust.
It was getting late and no useful clues were found, so I took the makeup box away.
He hurried back to the city before the city gate closed, had dinner, washed up, and took out the original owner's things again to ponder.
Still didn't have a clue. Thinking of centipede, poisonous insect wine, and soaking the mouse in strong wine, his hair stood on end. He threw the valuable jade token into his makeup box, and asked Zhu Qing to put the other things in the warehouse and lock them up.
Buying a tea house requires a lot of money, and Shen Ning cannot afford to be careless, so he offers to help with the investigation when he is removing the poison from Xiao Weijing.
Night Owl checked it out very quickly. The seller was a bit dishonest in what he said, but overall he was honest. The tea house didn't make much profit, so it was still okay to buy it for fun.
Shen Ning happily gave it to him and went to the county magistrate to register and transfer the ownership.
I sent a message to Hong Dongshan and gave him five hundred taels of silver, asking him to prepare more food. In addition, this winter may be very cold, and the tea forest needs to be kept warm and anti-freeze. If it freezes to death, it will be a huge loss.
Hong Dongshan has experience in preventing frost in tea forests. In the autumn, he can buy straw, wheat straw, etc. from the grower and calculate the required quantity.
Shen Ning added three more to his calculation, "You don't have to wait until autumn. Start preparing now. Don't wait until you don't have enough money."
Hong Dongshan was surprised, "It will be more expensive before autumn."
The drought and high temperatures have killed many fish, and the tea leaves are not growing as well as usual. Let alone making money this year, I don’t know how much we will lose.
Hong Dongshan was afraid that Zhuangzi would decrease, so he suggested: "There is not much work now, and the Autumn Festival is coming soon. There are not many straws and wheat straws that can be sold. How about I arrange for people to go up the mountain to cut the grass, dry it, and spread it in the tea forest?" It can prevent freezing and save some money.”
Shen Ning had no objection. She had to test Hong Dongshan's character and make her job clean and beautiful before continuing to give money.
Next, I spotted another house.
In the area of Yong'anfang, each row of courtyards is not very big. It belongs to the special courtyard area of the rich and powerful families. The environment is elegant and quiet, and they are mostly used to hide the pampering outer rooms.
The house that Shen Ning was looking at was a street-side house, which was the largest in the courtyard area. It had three separate courtyards and could be used as a separate house. The advantage was that it was in a good location and had new buildings, including small bridges, flowing water, rockeries and pavilions.
Shen Ning climbed up to the three-story pavilion and looked at the nearby environment. She couldn't see clearly from a distance, so she took out a homemade telescope from her bag.
The lens was made by the Liuli master, and it took a lot of trial and error before he succeeded. The lens tube is made of bamboo tube, the simplest and roughest combination.
This is the first generation design product. The magnification of the lens needs to be mentioned. When the ideal magnification is reached, the lens barrel can be designed and made by Zhenbao Pavilion.
As the magnification increased, the blurry scenery in the distance became clear. Shen Ning looked around and found that there was a woman in a cloak in the alley, and her appearance was faintly visible.
Everyone has a voyeuristic desire in their heart, and Shen Ning is no exception. His eyes followed the young woman, and he saw her walking straight into the alley, then pushing the door open and walking in.
Shen Ning counted carefully and found that she entered the sixth row in the side alley.
After entering the courtyard, the woman took off her cloak and looked around carefully, then walked into the flower hall.
Seeing the woman's face clearly, Shen Ning's jaw almost dropped in shock. It was Shen Rou who came, no wonder the figure looked familiar.
The former number one socialite in the capital has become a joke among the ladies since she broke off her engagement. She was so shocked that she stayed behind closed doors. Why is she so secretive now?
Shen Ning instantly became interested and stared at it with relish.
About a quarter of an hour later, a carriage slowly stopped in front of the courtyard, and a young man got out of the carriage.
Hearing the sound, Shen Rou quickly came out of the flower hall and hugged the man tightly.
The man picked her up by the waist, spun her around twice with a smile, and couldn't wait to kiss her...