I traveled back to ancient times, but I was able to lie down and relax.

Liu Nanjia didn't take it too seriously, just treating it as encountering a weirdo.

Liu Yanxi was somewhat worried. After dinner, once his sister had returned to her room, he found Song Chen and asked her about the day's events at the stall: "What's the story with that guy who wanted to buy the man today?"

Song Chen was also bothered by this, so he told Liu Yanxi in detail again: "He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man, and his clothes were also very ordinary. At first, he queued up like everyone else, but when it was his turn, he didn't say what he wanted. He first observed our stall, and seeing that everything was already made and he couldn't tell anything, he asked if we sold the pieces. He said he could offer 10 taels."

“Nan Jia didn’t show anything at the time, just politely said that the recipe was passed down from his family and he wouldn’t sell it. The man then raised the price to 20 taels, but of course we still said we wouldn’t sell it. Then the people in line behind us saw that he wasn’t moving and started urging him. Several regular customers who were nearby heard what he said and spoke up for us. Seeing that we were firm in our attitude and that other people were urging him to leave quickly if he wasn’t going to buy anything, he finally left.”

"Brother Chen, do you think that person was working for someone else, or did they come on their own?" Liu Yanxi pressed.

Song Chen thought about it carefully again and shook his head: "I don't know either. Judging from his clothes and appearance, he was no different from an ordinary person in town. He didn't seem like the steward of a wealthy family. If he came on orders, he shouldn't have given up so easily. After he left, I looked around and didn't see that person again. But if he really was an ordinary person in town, his behavior was indeed a bit strange."

If it's not about using power to intimidate people, then everyone is the same. How can someone think they can buy their obviously profitable business plan for only 20 taels? Are they just dreaming?

Liu Yanxi and Song Chen are probably in the former situation, where some wealthy family has taken a liking to their business and wants to take it over for their own use.

But there was nothing they could do, and since they didn't know the person's identity, they could only be on guard.

For the next few days, Song Chen was on edge, carefully observing every customer who came to buy things.

However, nothing happened.

That person appeared once and never came back.

Song Chen and Liu Yanxi gradually lowered their guard, assuming that the person was just trying their luck.

The land reclamation work went smoothly. Under Uncle Zhao's leadership, they first burned all the land with fire, taking care of fire safety.

Most weeds are afraid of fire, so this is much less laborious than pulling them out one by one by hand.

After the fire was lit, it was time for the hired people to come and work, and to manually pick out the stones from the ground.

Smaller stones are fine, but larger, especially hard stones, can damage farm tools.

The stones they picked up weren't just thrown away. Uncle Zhao directed them to use them to build an earthen embankment along the edge of the field to protect the farmland and prevent the soil from being washed away by rain.

After the stones on the surface were removed, the oxen could be used to plow the land. The plow was also newly bought, so all the miscellaneous expenses added up to 20 taels of silver for these plots of land.

However, there was also good news. Based on his experience, Uncle Zhao judged that a well could be dug in one of the plots of land. After telling Liu Yanxi and the others, they all thought it was worth a try and told Uncle Zhao to go ahead and do it.

They actually dug up water, which made watering the crops much easier.

There is still hope that the few acres of land next to the well can be turned into paddy fields.

When the news reached the village, everyone marveled at their good fortune, and those who had previously mocked them for buying wasteland fell silent.

Besides that, there was another thing: the carpenter actually managed to build a blackboard.

Ever since Liu Nanjia described the appearance and purpose of the blackboard to him, Fang the carpenter has been very interested. He is indeed capable of running a shop in town on his own, and he has managed to figure it out.

As for the specifics of how it was done, Liu Nanjia didn't understand. The carpenter, Fang, excitedly explained it to her for a long time, and what she came to understand was summed up in one sentence:

A special type of paint and a special application method were used.

This made Liu Nanjia sigh, "These kinds of things should be done by professionals."

Thinking about it, this is actually quite good. She only provides the ideas, and the actual implementation is left to others.

The chalk that went with the blackboard was actually invented by Uncle Wang.

Since Uncle Wang wanted to start a construction team to build houses, he has put a lot of effort into it, such as how to make adobe bricks, how to fire bricks, and he has also dealt with building stone materials several times.

Once, I overheard Liu Nanjia and the others talking about "chalk," and I took it to heart. In the end, I actually managed to make one.

In short, the classroom has been equipped with new gear, which has made things much more convenient for both Liu Yanxi's teaching and the children's learning.

Through this incident, Liu Nanjia also introduced Fang the carpenter to Uncle Wang. The two hit it off immediately and, according to Aunt Wang, chatted all night long.

"I never knew he could have so many things to say."