A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Gu Xixi lay flat on her back, wide awake, her eyes staring straight up.

Are you sure... Mr. He?

He Jinglan hesitated for a moment, "I think I'll pass. The children still attend their morning classes on time even on days off, so how can I find an excuse not to teach?"

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "Who was it that left the class to Teacher Liu before and insisted on coming to the border with me?"

He Jinglan said, "That was in the past, things are different now."

"I've become more determined now that women should also have their own careers."

Gu Xixi replied knowingly, "Because of Madam Zhao?"

He Jinglan sighed noncommittally.

After meeting Matchmaker Zhao, I was indeed deeply moved by her.

She began, "Zhao Niangzi has remained true to herself for many years and has never forgotten the person in her heart. If it were someone else, they might have spent their whole life dwelling on the past and getting stuck in pain from which they could not extricate themselves."

"On the contrary, she found her career very early on. It must be very difficult to be the best matchmaker, right?"

Gu Xixi nodded on her pillow, "To excel in any profession, you have to put in a lot of effort."

He Jinglan continued, "She earns enough money not only to support herself, but you can also see that her clothes and household furnishings are much more luxurious than those of ordinary villagers."

Gu Xixi said, "No matter who it is, having enough money in your own hands is the most reassuring and confident thing to do."

"I will never get married or have children in this life. I definitely want to save up a substantial amount of money for retirement, the more the better."

He Jinglan felt something was off and turned to look at Gu Xixi.

The way you're talking makes it sound like you're talking about yourself, not someone else.

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "Not at all. If I have the chance, I still want to find a man I like."

At the same time, she silently thought to herself, "If I can't find someone I like, then of course I should stay single and enjoy it!"

He Jinglan said, "After seeing you and Zhao Niangzi, I've made up my mind!"

Gu Xixi asked curiously, "What?"

He Jinglan chuckled smugly, "Once everything settles down, I'm going to trick my brother out of all my dowry... no, I'm going to try and get it all to do business with you! I can't let An Qinghe steal all the opportunities to make money."

"Of course, I promised to be your accountant and help you with your writing whenever I have the chance, and I will do that too."

Gu Xixi yawned, "Okay, I definitely will if I have the chance."

He Jinglan became even more excited, and simply jumped up and listed them off, "You want to plant trees, make tea, and do other agricultural techniques. Although I don't understand those, I do know how to eat, drink, and have fun!"

“I already had a few shops, so I thought I’d take them back for my own use.”

"You make tea, and I'll open a tea shop in the capital, offering a one-stop service from buying and selling tea to drinking tea."

"I'm determined to open the sweet soup shop I mentioned before. Where have those noble ladies in the capital ever tasted such delicious sweet soup? I'm confident I can break even in less than a month!"

"You'll be in charge of providing the prescription, and I'll invest the money and provide the shop. How about we split the profits 40/60?"

"In two years, when your Bodhi fruit bears fruit, you should be able to make fruit drinks, which will definitely sell like hotcakes!"

……

Gu Xixi was a little sleepy, but He Jinglan's commotion woke her up completely.

“You grew up in the elite circles of Beijing, where these women love novel and exquisite food and are willing to spend money.”

"It certainly sounds like a promising opportunity."

"We're not just opening one store; we can open a chain of stores later."

"A chain?" He Jinglan frowned, then quickly understood, "You mean opening branch stores, right?"

She laughed again, "Didn't you say you didn't want to hear the word 'lock' all the time lately? Why did you say it again?"

Gu Xixi said calmly, "I've already figured out how to solve this."

He Jinglan asked in surprise, "You can pick locks?"

Gu Xixi closed her eyes and said, "You'll find out tomorrow. Go to sleep."

The next day at noon, He Jinglan and Shi Tou returned from the village school and saw that the long-closed west room was wide open.

Shi Tou ran over in surprise, "The door! Sister Xi Xi, where's the door?"

Gu Xixi pointed, and the two looked in that direction and found that the two door panels were against the west courtyard wall, with a gleaming copper lock in the middle.

"The bathroom is almost finished today, so I'd like to ask the two installers to help me remove the door while they're at it."

"Uncle Qian happens to have some old doors that he doesn't need anymore. He'll bring them over in a bit, and we can just install them."

She smiled at Shi Tou and said, "You're growing up, you can't live with Aunt Zhang forever."

"There's a table in this room, which will make it easier for you to do your homework. You can move in tonight."

Stone cheered happily, "Great! I have my own house now!"

At this moment, he seemed to have completely forgotten that he had promised to watch over the house for Mr. Chen.

He Jinglan examined the door and lock, realizing that her thinking was still too narrow.

"What should we do with this? Just throw it away?"

Gu Xixi said, "Aren't copper locks quite valuable? It would be such a waste to just throw them away. I've made up my mind, I'll give them away."

He Jinglan asked, "Who is it for?"

Gu Xixi said, "Naturally, it's for Master Liu."

"The door lock has been returned intact, and I will naturally ask the person behind him to reimburse me for the loss of these two door panels."

A few days later, at the junction of the northwest and southeast, a continuous mountain range rose into the clouds.

Inside the military tent, Mu Nanzhao suddenly sneezed.

Meng Chengping glanced sideways and said, "I heard that if someone sneezes inexplicably in the summer, it's because someone is talking about you."

Mu Nanzhao said coldly, "It's just gossip from women and children, yet General Meng took it seriously."

Meng Chengping was already quite used to Mu Nanzhao's way of speaking.

He smiled and said, "The batch of medicine that Boss Gu sent should arrive soon, right?"

"Even though the general didn't personally request it, she took it very seriously and volunteered to make mosquito repellent for us."

“I think Mr. Gu is probably worried about your frail body. You’ve only recently recovered from a serious illness, and he’s afraid you might catch another disease and not be able to handle it.”

Mu Nanzhao sneered, "If you're so bored, go help out at the cookhouse."

After a long campaign and several days of arduous travel, the army was finally able to set up camp and rest today, while also waiting for the medicine that Gu Xixi was sending.

Meng Chengping, of course, had plenty of free time. "I'm telling you the truth, I envy your good fortune. I'm just unlucky."

"My Jinglan may have long forgotten me."

Mu Nanzhao was too lazy to even roll his eyes; he simply responded with silence while reading his book.

Just then, a soldier ran in to deliver a message, saying that the medicine being transported had arrived.

"The General said he is temporarily unable to leave, and asked Mr. Mu and General Meng to sign for it personally."

The open space at the front of the campsite was filled with a car full of stuff.

The person delivering the items first took out two envelopes.

"This letter is from Boss Gu to the person in charge of receiving it, and this one is for General Meng."

Meng Chengping chuckled and said, "Why is there one for me too?"

As he opened the envelope, he couldn't help but tease Mu Nanzhao, "I knew Boss Gu was talking about you, and here you are! You're the one who receives things here, of course. I just wonder what you said to me..."

He glanced at the letter, his smile suddenly froze, and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.