Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Zhou continued, "Qing is new here and doesn't know the situation at home yet. Tonight I will tell you about some things at home so that you can be mentally prepared."

Upon hearing Zhou's words, Wang Qing'er thought to herself, "Could it be that the Mu family has some unknown secret?"

Zhou sighed softly, her gaze lingering on the past, as she slowly recounted the turbulent and changing history of the Mu family to Wang Qing'er.

The Mu family was once a renowned and wealthy family! They owned several estates and numerous bustling shops, enjoying immense prestige.

However, fate is always unpredictable. More than a decade ago, a sudden disaster struck, forcing them to leave their homes and embark on a long and arduous journey of famine relief, eventually arriving in this unfamiliar land.

When they first arrived, they went through many hardships, but fortunately, the Mu family was quite wealthy, and they still had some money to spare.

Therefore, they resolutely built this residence here, hoping to re-establish themselves and enjoy a peaceful life.

At first, there were several loyal servants attending to the household.

Upon arrival, in accordance with the regulations at the time, each family was allocated over thirty mu of fertile paddy fields and an equal area of ​​dry land based on the number of family members.

In addition, this spacious and grand residential plot was also purchased with real money, and its scale is more than ten acres.

Mu Nan's grandfather had a keen eye and a good business sense, and decisively bought a shop in town to start a business.

With his keen market insight and outstanding business management skills, the shop's business flourished, and he earned a considerable amount of money.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. As fate would have it, Mu Nan's grandfather fell seriously ill and became bedridden.

In order to treat the old man's illness, the family spared no expense, almost exhausting all of their savings.

What's even more heartbreaking is that ever since Old Man Mu took over the shop, due to his honest and kind nature and lack of business acumen, the once highly profitable business has gradually fallen into a state of loss within just two years...

Later, he simply sold the shop, and Old Man Mu returned to farming. He also dismissed several servants in the house, giving them some money and land so that they could set up their own households.

Mu Nan passed the imperial examination at the age of fifteen or sixteen and studied at the county academy. His ex-wife was the younger sister of his classmate, and the two hit it off immediately.

After some back and forth, they got engaged and married, and later had Mu Yao.

Later, the Mu family could no longer afford the tuition and the cost of writing materials. Mu Nan, unwilling to rely on the Yun family, dropped out of school and returned to Aoshan Village with his wife and children to farm.

Because Grandpa Mu Nan relied on expensive medicines to prolong his life, the family became increasingly poor. At first, Zhou sold her jewelry.

In the end, they even sold off the furniture in the house and borrowed hundreds of taels of silver from several uncles.

Yun Kai, the elder brother of Mu Nan's ex-wife Yun Shang, was not only Mu Nan's classmate and friend, but also a fellow student under the same academy's headmaster. He offered to lend the Mu family two hundred taels of silver, which Mu Nan could not refuse and had to accept and write an IOU.

Wang Cuiying's family also sent several dozen taels, and there were also several dozen taels borrowed in other small amounts.

Anyway, the IOUs in Zhou's wooden box for storing money always outnumbered the silver. Although some have been repaid over the years, he still owes more than four hundred taels of silver.

If it weren't for Grandpa Mu's absolute refusal to allow the sale of the house and land, saying he would kill himself if they were sold, Old Man Mu would have given up, otherwise they probably would have been gone too.

However, after Master Mu died, he demolished the house in the backyard and sold the second-hand bricks and tiles to pay off his debts.

Mu Nan's ex-wife couldn't stand it anymore and proposed a divorce from Mu Nan three years ago, returning to her parents' home.

Mu Nan's grandfather also passed away three years ago. In recent years, Mu Nan has made a living by growing vegetables and grains to sell. Mu Nan also often goes up the mountain to hunt wild game and collect herbs to sell, which has helped pay off some of the debts.

The village's private school was jointly run by my third and fourth uncles. My third uncle was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, but he was unable to continue his studies after injuring his left foot.

Fourth Uncle had no interest in an official career. After passing the imperial examination and becoming a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations), he didn't want to study anymore and went traveling for several years.

Before fleeing the famine, the two brothers ran an academy in the county town and trained many scholars and officials.

After fleeing to this place, he opened a private school in the village, charging two taels of silver per child per year, or the tuition could be paid every six months.

In recent years, the harvest has been good, and many families in the village are willing to send their children to private schools to learn to read and write. Even if they cannot pursue an official career, it is still good to be able to read and write.

People from several surrounding villages also sent their children here. The children ate lunch at the private school and paid an extra three coins each day.

There are now over fifty children in the private school, and Mu Nan helps out with teaching when she's not busy at home.

When the uncles saw that their brother had passed away, and that apart from Mu Nan who had passed the imperial examination at the county level, the rest of the Mu family members were mediocre and none of them were good at studying, they realized that the younger generation of the Mu family were all mediocre.

But Mu Nan is the eldest child, with a grandmother, parents, younger siblings, and a daughter to support, so it's impossible for her to continue her studies.

Seeing that Mu Lin was quite clever, his third and fourth uncles let him attend private school for free. The two uncles grew to like Mu Lin more and more as they taught him, and eventually even provided him with the necessary writing materials.

As Wang Qing'er listened to her grandmother calmly recount everything about the Mu family, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man sitting next to her.

I secretly glanced at him several times, but he remained calm, as if he were just a listener to a story.

Wang Qing'er got up and went back to her room, took out the five taels of silver from yesterday, and then took out three taels from her jewelry box after thinking for a moment.

I glanced at the jewelry, but remembering that it was a gift from my maternal grandfather and aunt, I didn't take it out.

She carefully put the things away, then returned to the front yard with the heavy eight taels of silver in her hand.

She gently placed the silver in front of Zhou Shi and said softly, "Grandma, this is the money I've saved up over the years. It's not much, but it's a token of my appreciation. Please use it to help pay off your debts."

Zhou hurriedly pushed the money bag back to Wang Qing'er, as if it were a hot potato. "Qing'er, I'm telling you all this so you know about the family situation. Now that you're a daughter-in-law of the Mu family, you have the right to know these things."

"Grandma doesn't want you to use your savings to pay off debts. You've just married into the family, so keep this money for yourself. If you need it urgently in the future, Grandma will ask you for it."

Old Man Mu quickly said, "Qing girl, take the money back. How can we take your money?"

“Yes, Qing’er, we appreciate your kindness. Take the money back and keep it safe,” Wang Cuiying echoed.

Wang Qing'er was momentarily at a loss, her face turning bright red like a ripe apple. She placed the money back in front of her grandmother and said shyly, "Grandma, please accept it!" Then, like a startled deer, she hurriedly got up and went to the kitchen to help Mu Qin wash the dishes.