She's skilled in medicine, martial arts, and even understands animal language—the abandoned dau

Considering that many people wanted to go to Linxian County to learn silkworm breeding techniques, Shen Man and the village head decided to hold a selection exam in the village after some deliberation.

She hopes to select truly promising and enthusiastic individuals to study in Linxian County, so that they can learn genuine skills and contribute more to the village's silkworm farming in the future.

As soon as the news spread, the young people in the village enthusiastically signed up to participate.

After several rounds of rigorous assessments, three outstanding individuals emerged. They are the clever and resourceful Sun Erqiang, the diligent and studious Sun Changrong, and the skillful and dexterous Sun Xiaoyu.

As the largest shareholder and initiator of the cooperative, Lanxiang and her daughter naturally had to go along as well.

Accompanying them was the village head, an elderly man, who was the cooperative's financial manager.

The next morning, the village head, along with Changsheng and his son Changrong, two young men from the village, and Lanxiang and her daughter, squeezed onto his oxcart and headed towards Qiufeng Town.

Upon arriving in Qiufeng Town, the group rented a horse-drawn carriage from a car dealership and headed to Lin County.

Linxian County is located south of Tongan County, and the Geng family's home is in Shuangchun Town, which is on the border of Linxian and Tongan Counties. It takes about half a day's drive to get there.

The carriage was crowded, and the road was rugged and difficult to travel. Everyone was jostled so much that they had no interest in talking the whole way.

Finally, around 1 p.m., they arrived at Shuangchun Town. The group found a noodle shop on the street, each ordering a bowl of vegetarian noodles, and asked the noodle shop waiter for the exact location of the Geng family's house.

The man told them that the Geng family was a wealthy family in Shuangchun Town, living in Yingchun Lane at the southernmost part of the town.

After finishing their noodles, the village head led everyone to the Geng family's door and gently knocked.

A moment later, the door opened, and an old man poked his head out.

Seeing so many people standing at the door, including the elderly and children, men and women, a look of doubt flashed across his face. "Who are you people, and what brings you here?"

“Uncle, we’ve come from Qiufeng Town. We’ve heard that the Geng family has excellent silkworm breeding techniques, so we came here specifically to learn from them,” Shen Man explained to the old man as she stepped forward.

"Are you here to learn silkworm rearing techniques? Please wait outside for a moment while I go in and inform the master!" the old man said, closing the door and preparing to leave.

"Wait, I have a letter here. I hope you can take it to your master."

The old man took the letter, slammed the door shut, and shut everyone out of sight.

After waiting outside for a long time, the door finally opened again.

The old man smiled and said to everyone, "Our master said he would like to invite you all into his mansion for a chat." As he spoke, he gestured for them to enter.

The group followed the old man into the courtyard, where they saw a middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back, looking in their direction.

The village head stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "You must be Master Geng. I am Sun You, the village head of Xiaoyao Village in Qiufeng Town. I have brought a few young men from the village here to learn some silkworm breeding techniques from you."

With the opened letter in his hand, Master Geng clearly already knew the reason for the matter.

He said calmly, "Since you were recommended by Steward Liu, you are no outsiders. Please come with me to the living room for a detailed discussion."

The group followed Master Geng to the living room and took their seats according to their status as hosts and guests. Master Geng ordered tea to be served and then said, "You have all come from afar and must be tired. Why don't you rest here for the night? As for the matter of studying, we can discuss it tomorrow."

Hearing his words, the guests had no choice but to accept and stay at his residence. At dinner time, the servants of the Geng household brought the food directly to the guest quarters, so they did not see Master Geng again.

Shen Man felt something was off about the Geng family's attitude, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. If the Geng family wasn't welcoming, they brought the finest food; if they weren't welcoming, they hadn't shown up at all from afternoon until evening, as if they'd forgotten about them.

Meanwhile, in the study of the main courtyard of the Geng family, Geng Qingsong, the head of the Geng family, was sitting with his two younger brothers discussing matters.

"Have you heard that a group of people came from Qiufeng Town, Tongan County today, wanting to learn silkworm rearing techniques from us? What do you think we should do about this?"

The second brother, Geng Qingbai, spoke first: "Big brother, I think this is an opportunity. We can use this to expand our business and make more friends."

The third brother, Geng Qingshi, shook his head: "I'm worried that once they learn the technology, they'll become our competitors. Besides, they're in Qiufeng Town just like the Zhu family's trading company. If they have silk to sell in the future, why would the Zhu family bother to come all the way here to buy it? The Zhu family is a big customer of ours, and we can't afford to lose them."

Geng Qingsong pondered for a moment and said, "Third brother, your concerns are very reasonable. But they were introduced by Steward Liu. It doesn't seem right to not teach them anything."

“Brother, we can teach them how to raise silkworms, but we don’t need to teach them how to process and handle the cocoons. That way, even if they raise silkworms and harvest the cocoons, they won’t know how to process them and will have to come to us for help. Then we can buy their cocoons at a low price and make a fortune,” Geng Qingshi said.

Geng Qingsong listened to the third brother's words and a hint of appreciation flashed in his eyes.

“This method is excellent! It saves Manager Liu face without causing the apprentice to starve the master.”

The second son nodded in agreement.

"That's settled then! I'll go see them tomorrow and explain things to them," Geng Qingsong decided.

The next morning, Geng Qingsong invited Shen Man and her group to the living room. He explained the situation to them according to the plan he had discussed with his brothers the night before.

“Teaching you how to raise silkworms is no problem, but the techniques of silk reeling and dyeing are family heirlooms of my Geng family. There is an ancestral rule that they cannot be passed on to outsiders, so please understand.”

Everyone was somewhat disappointed when they heard that they could only learn silkworm raising but not the subsequent processing techniques.

If it's just about raising silkworms, there's not much to learn; it's simply a matter of feeding them regularly.

Shen Man plans to release the silkworm eggs she bought into the wild so that they can forage for food on their own and won't even need to be fed.

“You only teach us how to raise silkworms, but not the subsequent procedures? Mr. Geng, we won’t learn for nothing, we are willing to pay tuition…” Shen Man said.

“Little sister, this isn’t about money. It’s a rule from my ancestors. If we break it, wouldn’t that be unfilial?” Geng Qingsong said, feigning difficulty.

“But Master Geng, if we learn how to raise silkworms but don’t understand the subsequent processes, won’t we still be unable to make money from raising silkworms?” Shen Man said anxiously.

After a moment's thought, Geng Qingsong said, "This is indeed a problem, but we can't go against the rules of our ancestors. How about this, you can sell the silkworm cocoons you produce to us, and we will handle them. As for the price, you can rest assured, I will definitely not treat you unfairly."