Since early summer, the cicadas on the trees have been chirping non-stop.
It was not until the Mid-Autumn Festival that the restless chirping of cicadas disappeared.
Yuan Ziwen gently lifted the bamboo curtain and saw Lu Yuhan taking a nap on the soft couch.
The maid beside her lowered her voice and said, "The weather has become cooler these days, and I can finally have a good night's sleep."
Yuan Ziwen glanced at the sleeping Lu Yuhan again, and told the maid: "Wake the lady up soon, so as not to sleep too much in the afternoon and be unable to sleep at night."
The maid agreed at the side, and Yuan Ziwen said again: "When my wife wakes up, tell her that your sister-in-law has come back from other places and brought her some local specialties."
The sister-in-law mentioned by Yuan Ziwen is Shen Xiu.
When she left Huaian County and returned to Weijia Village, Lu Yuhan was still embarrassed to see her, and Shen Xiu failed to ask a doctor to take her pulse.
Now that she returned to the county town, she remembered what happened to Lu Yuhan, so she specially came to deliver some local products.
Yuan Ziwen happened to be at home and came out to entertain her. At the same time, he told Shen Xiu that Lu Yuhan was indeed pregnant.
Not long after Shen Xiu left Huaian County, Yuan Ziwen asked a doctor for Lu Yuhan. The doctor quickly diagnosed Hua Mai, and Lu Yuhan was indeed pregnant.
When the doctor heard about Lu Yuhan's condition, he was not surprised. He said that his pulse seemed to be very good and that all he needed to do was to keep the baby safe and healthy.
As a result, Lu Yuhan was relieved to take care of her baby. Three months later, Xiaoli finally stopped visiting, and the family was relieved.
In early August, Lu Yuhan gave birth to a fat boy, which made the Yuan family extremely happy.
On the day Shen Xiu arrived, Lu Yuhan was still two days away from confinement.
"She's been so suffocated for a while. Plus it was hot and noisy some time ago, so she hasn't had a good night's sleep for a long time."
After Yuan Ziwen talked about Lu Yuhan, he talked about his son again, with a sense of satisfaction in his words.
"By the way, I forgot to tell my sister-in-law one thing." Yuan Ziwen remembered something and said, "The results of the hospital examination came out as early as May. Needless to say, Brother Wei, although he was not the top one, he was among the top three.
It’s just a pity. If Brother Wei can get the top spot again, it will be Xiao Sanyuan.”
Shen Xiu had no obsession with Xiao Sanyuan. Her original wish was just for Wei Yan to pass the examination as a scholar.
Yuan Ziwen did not do badly in the exam, and like Wei Yan, he was qualified to study in the county school.
However, he felt that the county school was not as comfortable as at home, so he did not go there. Wei Yan was still in Fucheng, studying with Mr. Meng.
"After the college examination list came out, we made an appointment. We will compete again during the provincial examination next year."
Yuan Ziwen still has not lost his desire to compete with Wei Yan. He plans to study hard at home for a year so that he can compete with Wei Yan in the future provincial examination.
Shen Xiu saw his thoughts very clearly. But Yuan Ziwen put all his thoughts on the bright side. If he wanted to win Wei Yan, he just wanted to compete with him openly.
It's not a bad thing to have such an opponent.
Later, Yuan Ziwen mentioned another matter, which caused Shen Xiu's uneasiness.
"Tao Siqian will also take part in next year's Provincial Examination. He also mentioned to us that his family has a house in the provincial capital. We can move to his place when we take the Provincial Examination in the future."
"It's best not to go." Shen Xiu said this without even thinking.
Yuan Ziwen looked at her in confusion.
Shen Xiu concealed his smile and said, "I think it's too troublesome for him. We don't have any friendship with the Tao family."
Yuan Ziwen said: "I think so too. But he invited us so kindly that we couldn't refuse at that time."
Shen Xiu thought about it, and it seemed that during the provincial examination, she had to have a good talk with Wei Yan and let him be wary of Tao Siqian.
Apart from Tao Siqian, Shen Xiu's current worry is Magistrate Zhen.
After she came out of Yuan's house, she thought about it and decided that she didn't go to the county government office to visit Qiao Meier.
However, Luo Gong knew that she had returned to the county town, so he took the time to meet her and told her a lot about Qiao Meier.
"Your cousin has been doing very well recently. Magistrate Zhen doesn't have a real wife by his side. Nowadays, most of the reputable people in the county treat her with respect."
Luo Gong said: "Just one thing, your cousin's parents are a bit ignorant. I heard that they are relying on your cousin's influence to make money in partnership with others."
"Magistrate Zhen is currently rectifying this matter. I think it will be broken sooner or later."
Shen Xiu didn't want to worry about Qiao Tiezhu and his wife lending money.
She frowned and said, "I understand. I will remind Meier when I have time."
After Luo Gong said this, he talked about Wei Yan, "Brother Wei is now a scholar. According to the practice of this dynasty, the land under the name of the scholar can be rent-free. Don't say that I, the sworn brother, am not honest.
I have already scouted out a good piece of land for you. The location is good, and the owner is eager to sell it, so the price is not high."
When he said this, he paused for a moment, looked at Shen Xiu's expression as if he was waiting for him to continue, and then said: "It's just that this fertile land has three hundred acres, and the owner is unwilling to sell it separately, so if you want to buy it, you have to buy it all."
Buy it.”
"How much does this good land cost?"
Luo Gong said: "This fertile farmland is on the outskirts of the county. The terrain is excellent, so one acre of land costs five taels of silver. Three hundred acres of land is equivalent to one thousand five hundred taels of silver."
Shen Xiu calculated the one thousand five hundred taels of silver and found that he only had eight hundred taels of silver left on hand.
I originally had one thousand taels of silver, but I spent some on the road and some more on buying houses and fields for Aunt Xu.
So now there are only eight hundred taels of silver left.
Seeing the embarrassed look on her face, Luo Gong knew that she didn't have that much money on hand.
"That farmland is really good. What's rare is that it is connected together and will be easy to take care of in the future. If you miss this opportunity, it will be difficult to find such farmland in the future."
Shen Xiu also knew that the opportunity was rare, so she simply told the truth to Luo Gong, "But I don't have so much money on hand."
"Then how many taels of silver can you have on hand?"
Shen Xiudao said, "I only have seven hundred taels of silver on hand." She thought Luo Gong wanted to lend her the silver, so she lent her one hundred taels less, lest she spend all the money to buy land and not even be able to pay Lonicera's wages in the future.
Unexpectedly, Luo Gong had no intention of lending her any money, but said slowly: "Then there are still eight hundred taels of silver left." Then he glanced at Shen Xiu, "I have a way to make money here, and I can help you get it as soon as possible.