Expelled from the Duke's mansion, the fake heiress is richer than a country.

Yu Wanran was unaware of the laughter and commotion she witnessed from behind Yan Cheng'an and his servants. Exhausted, she returned to her room, had her maid boil water, washed up, and went to sleep.

If we don't conserve our energy, how will we cope with the long journey ahead?

After resting at the security company for a day, Wu Jian arrived that evening with his men to transport their packed luggage. In the early hours of the morning, the Yu family set off on their return journey with the security company's convoy.

This time, Wu Jian only brought eight bodyguards, including Cai Tao, to escort three carts of goods, and they moved quite quickly.

The journey there was fraught with danger, a near-death experience; the return journey, however, was like a leisurely stroll through mountains and rivers. They encountered no bandits and arrived in Tongcheng in less than half a month.

Yu Wanran declined Wu Jian's offer to take them back to Qingping Village. Instead, she hired a mule cart in Tongcheng and hauled the three of them and their luggage home.

Their journey took five or six days longer than expected, and Ji Chunhua and the others, who had received no news, were anxiously waiting at home.

Zhu Xiaozhen took Yu Xiaoxiang to the village entrance every day to look around, fearing bad news. Fortunately, they finally saw Yu Wanran return safely with the Yu family father and son!

A mule cart stopped in front of the Yu family's house, causing a stir among the nearby villagers. Watching the Yu family carry large and small bags of luggage into the house, many people developed conjunctivitis as a result.

Yu Taigang had just returned from the fields, his hoe still in his hand, his trousers covered in mud, when he walked to his brother's room, followed by his two sons and daughter-in-law.

Yu Tai couldn't hide his surprise and pulled Yu Man, whose face was flushed, to look him over.

"Second brother, when did you come to the capital? What are you doing there? You've been keeping quiet all this time, you're incredibly audacious!"

He learned about this several days after Yu Man and the other two had left.

Not seeing his brother, fearing something might have happened to his second brother's family, he asked Ji Chunhua and found out. But what was he going to Beijing for? Ji Chunhua and Zhu Xiaozhen wouldn't say, leaving Xiao Xiang confused and worried sick!

Upon hearing that his second brother had returned, he rushed over without even stopping the half-cultivated field.

Su Li, still holding the wooden spoon she hadn't put down, with porridge dripping from it, shamelessly peeked into the west room, wanting to see the luggage that Yu Man and the other two had brought back.

Several large packages! Exquisite gift boxes peeked out from the worn burlap sacks. It was obvious that the second wife's family had made a fortune abroad; she was incredibly envious.

Her family now eats wild vegetable porridge every day, far less well-off than the second wife's family. The occasional whiff of meat is enough to make anyone's mouth water.

Ji Chunhua placed her cane across the doorway and pushed her out without any politeness.

"Their third brother just got back. Let them wash up and rest properly. We'll invite you over to talk again tomorrow, brother?"

Fearing that Yu Man would be dragged into talking nonsense by Yu Tai, he deliberately shouted loudly.

To her surprise, Su Li was stronger than her and insisted on helping them unpack their luggage, squeezing into the house. Ji Chunhua was disgusted and cried out, collapsing at the doorway.

The noise startled everyone, and they all turned to look.

Su Li was flustered and rushed to help Ji Chunhua, who kept crying out in pain, while waving her hands frantically to explain to everyone.

"My second aunt accidentally fell down..."

Ji Chunhua showed no mercy, pointing her finger at her niece-in-law's nose: "It was clearly you who tried so hard to squeeze into the house and pushed me down! We've already separated our households, what are you, a junior, doing, trying to push your way into the elders' room?"

The two sentences made Su Li blush, and Yu Tai and his son realized what they meant and felt a little embarrassed.

Yu Tai glared at Yu Wencai, then forced a smile and said to Yu Man, "Second brother, you've just gotten back, so get some rest. We brothers can chat sometime when we have time."

As he spoke, his face flushed unbearably hot. Ignoring Yu Man's calls, he took a few quick steps and went back to the next room first.

Yu Wencai was furious that his father had blamed him for this undeserved misfortune. He awkwardly greeted his second uncle's family, ignored his wife, and left after Yu Wenshan.

Su Li was too ashamed to stay any longer and ran after her husband. Once they were gone, the villagers who had been watching the commotion lost interest and dispersed completely.

The west courtyard returned to peace, and Ji Chunhua finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As her children helped her up from the ground, she glared at Yu Man and said angrily, "Look at the face of your niece-in-law! We finally had a domineering and unreasonable sister-in-law lying down, and now this shameless niece-in-law appears—"

"What do we, the second branch of the family, owe the first branch? We've clearly divided the family property, yet we're the ones who are suffering the eldest son's losses!"

Yu Man was also quite annoyed. Thinking of the Ruicaifang contract he carried in his arms, a matter of great importance, he knew he couldn't continue living like before, carelessly drifting through life.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Tomorrow morning I will go to the village to hire people to build a few thatched houses on the wasteland and move away from here first."

There are some sneaky people constantly monitoring their movements; it's really disgusting.

As for his eldest brother, he was determined to help the eldest branch of the family make money once, but only after his family had successfully completed its first business deal. Without verification, he dared not rashly let his eldest brother grow red grass with him.

Ji Chunhua directed her family to move the luggage into the house, close the courtyard gate and house doors, and let Xiao Xiang peek through the window to see what was happening outside. The family then sat down together and began to talk about what they had gained from their trip to Beijing.

Yu Man returned the contract to Yu Wanran for safekeeping and explained the results of her discussions with her daughter and son along the way.

"Tomorrow, we'll split up. I'll be in charge of finding people in the village to build new houses; Ranran will take the eldest son and his wife, along with the fourth son, to Dahong Village to buy red straw mats. At home, we'll ask a few women to help with the washing and cooking."

He looked at Ji Chunhua and said, "Wife, we're busy outside, and the family depends on you. We need to make sure the workers have at least one meal a day."

Ji Chunhua couldn't read, nor did she care about the specifics of the contract. All she knew was that the deal was done and this business trip would be profitable, so she couldn't help but beam with joy.

"No problem, you can leave the house to me! Even though I can't do heavy work now, I still have sharp eyes and a quick tongue!"

I thought about it.

“Spring plowing is coming soon, and it won’t be easy to finish building our new house before then. How about we follow the usual practice of giving each person twenty-five coins, and have them work day and night? It won’t take more than a few days to finish.”

After all, building a mud-brick house with a thatched roof is a very simple task.

No one in the family had any objections.

Who wouldn't want to move to a new house as soon as possible? Even if the new house is a thatched hut, it's still better than the west-facing room we live in now. At least the newly built walls don't let in any drafts, and the space is much larger.

“Just give them thirty coins each. Don’t include meals for the hired workers; let them bring their own food.”

Yu Wanran thought it over carefully: "We're all away, only Mother and Xiaoxiang are at home. If we hire women to cook, it will be too much of a hassle for Mother to keep an eye on things."

She stopped Ji Chunhua from speaking.

“It’s not good to lay a foundation in cold weather; it takes a lot of work. Besides, the cost of hiring workers, ingredients, and all sorts of other expenses add up to almost that much. If something is missing, my mother has to ask someone to buy it for her, and the price there is probably inflated.”

In short, pay more to save trouble.

Ji Chunhua fell silent. She knew her daughter was right, and that her daughter was showing concern for her hardships, which warmed her heart.

Yu Wanran got up and took all the gift boxes that Yan Chengan had given her out of her luggage and placed them on the table.

Yu Man and his son couldn't help but widen their eyes.

They were drunk that night and forgot about it. Only now, when Yu Wanran brought it out, did she realize that they hadn't even looked at the contents of the gift box!