The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Shen Cao and her father declined Shen Yu'an's offer to have a meal. Instead, they took the money, found a food stall, and ate two bowls of wontons.

“Cao’er, you were a bit reckless today. If Shen Yu’an weren’t a gentleman, we might have gotten ourselves into big trouble.” Shen’s father said as he ate wontons and reviewed the day’s events with Shen Cao.

Shen Cao had only taken two bites of the wontons when she realized they were truly awful—little meat, thick wrappers, and a strong porky smell. She simply couldn't eat any more.

She pushed her bowl toward Shen's father, indicating that he could eat hers after he finished eating, and then she heard what Shen's father said.

She thought for a moment and said, "Father, I know your worries. I decided to help him because I saw Shen Yu'an's calm demeanor when he encountered problems and his attitude towards his family's servants. He didn't seem like an unreasonable person."

"You're quite the resourceful one," Mr. Shen said with a smile, playfully scolding.

"You can't do that again next time."

"I know, Dad." Shen Cao smiled and took her father's hand. "By the way, Dad, now that we have money, let's buy some meat to take home later. I haven't eaten meat in a long time."

"Okay, okay, I'll grant your wish. Your younger brother and sister are so happy, they'll get to eat meat now."

Shen Cao and his father checked the time and, realizing it was almost time to meet Uncle Ma, went to the butcher shop.

Shen Cao bought two catties of pork belly. Seeing that there was still half a rack of ribs left on the stall, which looked very fresh, she turned around and looked pitiful, asking her father, "Dad?"

"Alright, go ahead and buy it." Looking at his adorable daughter, Mr. Shen felt guilty because his family hadn't had any meat in a long time. If his daughter wanted to eat, he would buy it. After all, they had enough money to ensure they could eat meat every meal.

The pork ribs and pork belly cost nearly a hundred coins. In the past, Mr. Shen would definitely not have agreed to buy them, as a hundred coins would have been enough for his family's living expenses for two months. However, now that they had sold the ginseng, they were not short of money.

Shen Cao and her father rode back to the village in Uncle Ma's oxcart. Shen Cao skipped and hopped all the way, thinking about making braised pork and sweet and sour pork ribs for dinner. The more she thought about it, the more she craved it, and she unconsciously quickened her pace.

However, before they even got home, they could see a group of people gathered around their door from afar, and occasionally they could hear shouts that sounded very familiar.

"Why are you crying? I didn't do anything to you. Who are you trying to fool by acting like you're the one who's been bullied?"

Oh no! Shen Cao recognized the voice; it was Aunt Li's. She must have come to ask for money again.

Shen Cao quickened her pace, pushed aside the onlookers, and walked to the front. There she saw this scene: Aunt Li was standing in the middle of her yard, hands on her hips, pointing at her mother and swearing at her, demanding that her mother return the money.

Because her mother was not good at arguing, she was speechless for a moment after being confronted by Aunt Li, but she couldn't control her tears. Aunt Li thought that her mother was doing this on purpose to gain sympathy.

Shen Cao went up to her, pushed Aunt Li aside, took out a handkerchief, wiped her mother's tears, and comforted her mother with her hand, telling her to rest assured.

"You!" Aunt Li didn't see anyone and was pushed by Shen Cao, causing her to stumble and almost fall. When she saw that the person who pushed her was Shen Cao, she went up to her, grabbed Shen Cao, and wanted to teach her a lesson.

Shen Cao turned around and glanced at Aunt Li.

Aunt Li was stunned by Shen Cao's gaze and momentarily forgot what to do.

“Aunt Li, I respect you as my elder, and I am the younger generation, so I call you Aunt Li.” Shen Cao said slowly.

"But we agreed on three days, and it's only the second day now. Why are you coming to my house to cause trouble?"

Aunt Li hadn't been paying attention and was intimidated by Shen Cao's glare. When she came to her senses, she realized that Shen Cao was just a teenage girl with no real power. She immediately put on a show of force, "Hmph! I only gave your family three days because of the villagers."

“But I heard from the villagers today that your father and you went to the county town in an oxcart.”

"They all have money to ride in oxcarts, so they must be quite well-off."

"And what if you run away tomorrow? Where am I going to get the money?"

[The Shen family actually took an oxcart to the county town. I only dared to walk there. They must be really rich now.]

[They have no money at all; they're probably just pretending to be rich. I saw them eating wild vegetables the other day.]

Shen Cao looked at the person in the crowd who was talking nonsense, and that person immediately shut up.

Turning around, he said to Aunt Li, "Run? My home is right here, where can we run to?"

Aunt Li pouted, "Who knows where you can run off to? This place is what you came here to set up!"

"Besides, with your few acres of low-quality land, these few thatched huts are probably not worth much money, so there's no loss if you run away."

“Aunt Li, since you’ve put it this way, our family will definitely pay you back, even if we have to sell everything we own.”

Hearing Shen Cao's words, Aunt Li said, "You're just a kid, how can you handle your family's affairs? Go find your father."

Mr. Shen stepped out from the crowd. “In our family, Cao’er has the final say. She can control our family affairs.”

Aunt Li snorted, "No wonder the family is poor, letting a teenage girl run the household."

[Sigh, it seems the Shen family will have to sell this thatched hut and the fields to pay off their debts.]

There's no other way; paying back debts is a matter of course. But what will happen to this whole family?

Shen Cao didn't react to Aunt Li's words. She didn't really care what outsiders thought of her; what she valued most was her family's support.

"Then Aunt Li, please take out the IOU. We borrowed some money from the county today, so let's settle the debt today."

Aunt Li looked at Shen Cao with disdain and said, "Can you really come up with that much money? I don't know where you got it from."

"It doesn't matter where I got the money from, I'll just pay you back."

Aunt Li took the IOU written by Shen's father from her bosom and handed it to Shen Cao. With so many people watching, she wasn't afraid that Shen Cao would renege on the debt.

Shen Cao took the IOU, looked at Shen's father's name on it, and asked Shen's father to confirm that it was the IOU he wrote that day.

Shen Cao went into the room, took out the money bag, weighed out three taels of silver, carefully put the money bag into her bosom, and went out.

She handed the silver to Aunt Li, who looked at her incredulously.

Just two days ago, the family had no money at all, but today they actually took out three taels of silver.

What did they do in the county town today? They actually made so much money.

Aunt Li took the silver, weighed it in her hand, and then took out the scale she had prepared beforehand from her bosom. She weighed it and it was indeed three taels.

She weighed the money, but instead of leaving, she revealed a greedy look in her eyes. "Hmph! This is just the principal; there's interest to be had."