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

"Perhaps they've changed after going through so much," Shen Man said, picking up another pancake as she ate. "No matter what, I'm determined to make silkworm farming a success. I'll show the Geng family that we can do it without them!"

After dinner, Lanxiang and Shenman went back to their room to rest.

Exhausted yet hopeful, they gradually drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps because she hadn't slept well at the Geng family's house the night before, and because she had walked too long yesterday, Shen Man slept very soundly. When she woke up the next day, it was already past Chen Shi (7-9 AM), and she had long missed the time she had agreed to practice with Li Mufeng.

She had assumed Li Mufeng had already gone to school, but to her surprise, when she peeked through the crack in the door into the courtyard, she saw Li Mufeng, dressed in a green robe, standing there like a bamboo shoot, waiting for her.

Shen Man quickly dressed and came to Li Mufeng, saying regretfully, "I'm sorry, sir, I'm late!"

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng looked at her with gentle eyes and asked softly, "I heard that you didn't manage to get things done in Lin County this time. Could you tell me about it?"

Shen Man was somewhat surprised to hear this.

You see, although Li Mufeng was living in her house, he never cared about their family affairs. Today, he actually took the initiative to ask about it, which really surprised her.

However, since the other party had already spoken, she couldn't refuse, so she told him the whole story.

“If we can’t reel silk, we can only sell silkworm cocoons, which will reduce our earnings by more than half. The Geng family said they were willing to buy our silkworm cocoons, but I know very well that they just want to profit from the price difference.” She sighed after saying this.

Li Mufeng nodded slightly after hearing this, seemingly understanding the reason.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly spoke up: “I have a friend whose family also raises silkworms and weaves cloth. Why don’t I write him a letter to ask about the situation and see if we can invite an experienced and skilled master craftsman to come and teach you how to reel silk?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Man's eyes lit up, and her face lit up with surprise. She quickly said gratefully, "That's wonderful, thank you, sir!"

Looking at Shen Man's smiling face, Li Mufeng's mood improved: "No need to thank me in time, it's still uncertain whether things will work out!"

Shen Man thought to herself, "You are the young master of the Duke's mansion. Once you've spoken, who would dare not give you face!"

But what she said was: "Whether it works out or not, I should thank you, sir. It's enough that you have this kind thought."

"Okay, hurry up and practice your skills. I have to go to school." Li Mufeng told her and went out the door.

After finishing her training and having breakfast, Shen Man followed Lan Xiang and the villagers to Wild Boar Ridge.

They wanted to see if any silkworms had sprouted on the oak trees.

That noon, Li Mufeng returned from school and wrote a letter, asking Tingxian to deliver it to the capital.

When Tingxian took the letter, she saw that it was addressed to Gu Cang, the second young master of the Gu family.

He immediately said to Li Mufeng with concern, "Young Master, aren't you afraid of revealing your whereabouts by writing a letter back to Second Young Master Gu at this time? The Gu family and the Cui family are related by marriage. I heard that the Cui family has sent people to search for you everywhere..."

"It's alright, what's meant to happen will happen, I can't hide from them forever... Business is important, I want to see if Xiaoman'er's idea of ​​investing and partnering will work. This little girl's ideas are so varied, they've really broadened my horizons!" Li Mufeng looked at the big camphor tree outside the courtyard and said calmly.

Tingxian knew that it was difficult to change her young master's mind, so she could only nod and ride her horse towards the town.

When Shen Man and the others returned to Wild Boar Ridge, although only half a month had passed since their last visit, the scenery in the mountains was completely different from the last time.

There was a large oak forest, where the withered yellow leaves that had fallen from the branches had spread on the ground like a golden carpet.

And on those bare branches, countless tender green leaves are sprouting. Beneath these new leaves, everything is fresh and vibrant, brimming with life. They will replace the old leaves and bring a completely new atmosphere to this mountain forest.

To Shen Man's even greater surprise, tiny, black insects, as small as ants, were slowly crawling on the tender leaves of the oak tree. These were the newborn silkworms she had seen in her previous life.

They must have just hatched; they are so tiny that you can't even tell unless you look closely.

Overjoyed, Shen Man carefully picked an oak leaf and placed the silkworm on it in her palm.

The little creatures seemed to sense the warmth and slowly crawled in her palm.

Shen Man smiled with relief, as if she could see hope for the future. These silkworms would spin cocoons and become high-quality raw materials for silk.

"Everyone come here, look, what is this?"

Hearing Shen Man's shouts, everyone gathered around, but when they saw some small black spots lying in Shen Man's hand, they couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Man'er, what happened to your palm? Why is it all black?"

"Look closely, everyone, see what I have in my hands!"

Shen Man held her hand out in front of their eyes so they could see it more clearly.

"Oh my god, I think I see something black moving up there!" someone exclaimed.

“That’s right, I saw it too, and there seem to be quite a few…” someone echoed.

"This... Man'er, why are you carrying a bunch of ants on your hand?" someone asked in confusion.

"Haha, these aren't ants, they're newly hatched silkworms. Silkworms that have just hatched from their eggs are black and look like ants, so they're called ant silkworms."

"I never imagined that silkworms are the size of ants when they're young! But they're so tiny, when will they ever grow up?"

Shen Man smiled and said to everyone, "As long as there is enough food, silkworms grow extremely fast. From birth to death, they only live for about two months."

"So what do we need to do now?" a villager asked.

“Starting tomorrow, we need to send someone to watch over them to prevent them from being eaten by other animals. Also, if we find too many silkworms clustered on a leaf, we need to separate them in time to ensure they have enough food.”

After returning home, the group went to the village head's house and told him about finding silkworms in the mountains.

The village head was very pleased to hear this and immediately assigned several young men to guard Wild Boar Ridge.

"The rest of you, don't just sit idle. Starting tomorrow, go and clear out those barren hills in our village. After a while, we'll buy some mulberry or oak saplings to plant! Lanxiang, you and your mother should take some time to go to town again and see if Manager Liu has returned. We still need to find a way to resolve the silk reeling issue!"