The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

"Of course it's great news, but my little sister's relationship is definitely off."

"Oh?" Du Mingxian raised an eyebrow, it must be that Xiao Zhoushi has some new information.

Wang Qi also knew about Ling Xiaomei's situation, and upon hearing some gossip, he immediately stepped forward, "Second Sister-in-law, tell me in detail."

Little Zhou's eyes crinkled with laughter. "You wouldn't believe it, the man's mistress came looking for him, and the two of them fought like mad. In the end, the village intervened and made the man take his mistress as his concubine."

Du Mingxian was very surprised. Few villagers could accept such an outcome, and she never expected it to actually work.

“Mother’s sisters will be busy in the future, so they will definitely not have time to scheme against her younger sister. With a concubine stirring things up at home every day, how will she have time to think about anything else?”

"Her sons didn't help when the two were fighting, and now her relationship with them is probably strained. When a woman is unhappy, she can resent everyone."

Wang Qi couldn't stop laughing, "This is great news!"

Because he was busy, Wang's father had to leave three days after the family reunion banquet. Before leaving, Du Mingxian went into the mountains with Wang Qi and hunted two wild goats and a fox, which Wang's father took back with him.

Wang's father liked wild game and was very happy with the wild game that Du Mingxian gave him.

After seeing Wang's father off, Du Mingxian planned to continue to treat Ling Silang's health. After a short while at the family reunion banquet, Ling Silang's face turned pale, which showed that his health was not good.

difficult.

It's hard.

Very difficult.

Before she even entered the kitchen, a steward sent over by Wang's father approached her and asked, "Miss."

"Is something wrong?"

"The master gave the shop to Miss. If Miss doesn't have anyone to help her, I'd like to recommend someone to her."

"A shop?" Du Mingxian was stunned. When did her father give her a shop?

wrong.

She hasn't even opened the box that was given at the family reunion banquet yet.

"Wait a minute." She quickly went back to her room, took the box out of the cabinet, opened it, and saw what was inside.

A beautifully carved piece of jade, with the character "王" (Wang) on ​​the back, and even... the royal family's crest.

Both shop contracts are in the county.

She came out carrying the items, holding up the jade, and asked, "Is there any special significance to this jade?"

The steward looked at the jade with respect and said, "This is a symbol of the Wang family master's status. With this jade, you can take anything from any shop in the Wang family and also allocate manpower."

Du Mingxian felt as if a stone was pressing on her heart. If giving two shops was a generous and valuable gift, then this piece of jade was too heavy for her to bear.

"I haven't been to the shop yet, but the person you recommended can come and meet me. Whether he has real skills or not, we'll have to see him in person first."

"Yes." The manager was quite happy.

Du Mingxian took the things and went to find Ling Silang.

After looking at the items, she asked, "What did your godfather give you?"

"The finest pine ink and inkstone."

These are items that scholars would appreciate, showing that the father of the king put thought into choosing the gift.

"Two shops are already very valuable, but this jade is too heavy for me to accept."

“It is not appropriate to refuse a gift from an elder. Besides, you have already accepted it. If you return it, your godfather will probably be unhappy.”

"What can we do?"

“It’s simple. For my godfather, Wang Qi is the one he cares about most. Every father hopes his son will succeed. My godfather has a heavy heart, and we can’t repay him. So why not just help my godfather take care of Wang Qi, supervise him, and help him succeed? That would be the best way to repay him.”

Du Mingxian's eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, I'll go urge Wang Qi right away."

Ling Silang watched her leave in a hurry, his eyebrows curving into a smile.

Wang Qi was unaware that the journey of his studies was only a minor setback; the real trials were about to begin.

……

Ling Silang was going to study at Fang Daru's house, so Du Mingxian went with him. She stayed in the county and waited for Ling Silang to finish his studies before they went home together.

When Du Mingxian arrived at the Xu family home, she noticed that Old Mrs. Xu looked much better and was able to get out of bed.

"Is Grandma feeling any better?"

"I feel much better now, come and sit down." Grandma Xu waved her hand. "It's not good to be hot or cold. The weather has only just started to get warm, and my body is already protesting. It's better to stay in my comfort zone."

Du Mingxian didn't respond. What is a comfort zone? It's hard to define.

"Did Silang go to the teacher's house?"

"Yes, I came over after I saw him come in."

Grandma Xu was very happy. "That's great. He stays in the county for a long time, so you can stay at home for a few more days."

"Mm." Things at home are all settled, so she doesn't have to worry about much.

Besides, she wasn't planning to expand the business too much; it's good enough to stabilize it at the current scale.

If you want to speed, you can't reach it.

Du Mingxian settled in, and with other people at home, Da Zhou Shi went back to her busy work at the shop every day, leaving only the servants, Old Madam Xu, and Du Mingxian at home.

Du Mingxian herself is also someone who can't sit still. She has a lot of vegetables in her space, and whenever it's time to go grocery shopping, she always volunteers to go.

She had been in the county for three days and would go for a stroll every day. Today, as usual, she was walking around the streets with a basket, planning to wander around a bit longer before heading back. On her way back, she would find a secluded spot to put the vegetables in and go home.

However, today was a bit special; she had only gone out for a short while when she unexpectedly ran into Du Mingwei.

What a coincidence!

Du Mingwei was accompanied by a man, chatting and laughing, and... his face looked very familiar.

Du Mingxian couldn't immediately recall where she had seen this man before. Watching the two chatting and laughing, she felt a little strange.

Since Wu Daniu left, has Du Mingwei been running around outside every day?

Who is the man next to her? I'm so curious.

However, since it was none of her business, she didn't take it to heart and continued doing what she was doing.

On the fifth day after arriving in the county, the person recommended by the steward sent by the Wang family arrived.

He was tall and thin, and looked aloof, but when he smiled, he gave off a kind feeling. "Miss, my name is Chen Yu."

"What skills do you have?"

Chen Yu was quite surprised, "Didn't Fu Ji mention that?"

Fu Ji was one of the stewards assigned to the Ling family by the King's father.

"I didn't let him speak; I want to hear you speak yourself."

"He doesn't have any great skills, but he can manage the shop, do accounting, and knows a little about business."

"With your skills, you could easily find work anywhere. Why are you suddenly willing to come here?"

A hint of pain flashed in Chen Yu's eyes. Seeing this, Du Mingxian looked around. It wasn't appropriate for the two of them to talk in the street. "Let's go to the shop first, and you can explain it to them properly then."

"Yes."

Du Mingxian had visited the shops before coming here. There were two shops, one large and one small, both with backyards. They were different in size, but that was good enough.

She went to the small shop.

Before the Wang family gave her the shop, they had already removed the servants and goods and cleaned the place thoroughly.

The small shop used to sell grain, and the large shop used to sell general merchandise.

There was only a counter in the small shop at the moment, nothing else. After she went in, she didn't sit down, but just looked at Chen Yu and said, "Go ahead and say it."