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

"Sir, I'll go with you!"

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng stopped and waited for her.

He only moved again after Shen Man walked up to him.

When the two arrived at the village head's house, the village head was squatting in the yard feeding chickens with Shuan'er.

"Man'er, come quick! Look, aren't my chicks growing faster than yours?"

Shuan'er, with her sharp eyes, spotted Shen Man as soon as she stepped into the courtyard and called out to her joyfully.

"I'll find you to play later. Grandpa Village Head, we need to talk to you!" Shen Man replied to Shuan'er, and then said to the Village Head.

"What's up, Man'er? Oh, Mr. Li is here too. Come in and sit down."

The village headman stood up and turned around. When he saw Li Mufeng, he immediately threw down the rice husks in his hand and clapped his hands.

Ever since Gu Cang and the others came to see Li Mufeng that day, the village head knew that the young man before him was no ordinary person; he was definitely either rich or noble. Therefore, his attitude towards him was less casual and more respectful.

The two followed the village head into the house and sat down. Shen Man spoke first, "Grandpa Village Head, the master has found two silk reeling masters for us. They have arrived in the village and are sitting in my house right now. I would like to ask you to arrange a place for them to stay. They are an elderly couple."

"Oh, you've found a silk reeling master! That's wonderful news!" The village head was overjoyed and said with a smile, "The room at the east end of the village where Mr. Li stayed last time is still empty. Let them stay there. I'll have someone send them some firewood and rice later so they can cook for themselves."

"Okay, thank you very much, village head!" Li Mufeng cupped his hands in thanks to the village head.

"Haha, I should be the one thanking you. You've solved a huge problem for our village. Come on, I'll go with you to meet those two masters."

“Okay!” Li Mufeng said.

"However, the wages for these two silk reeling masters must be quite high, right?" The village head suddenly thought of something and looked troubled.

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng quickly replied, "Don't worry, village head, I will pay their wages."

“How can this be? You’ve helped us so much, and you’re even paying their wages for us? How can we accept this?” The village head waved his hand and refused. “Our cooperative will pay for their wages.”

"It doesn't matter."

Li Mufeng knew that the annual wages of the two silk reeling masters would be at least a hundred taels of silver. This amount of money was just a drop in the ocean for him, but it was a huge sum for the villagers of Xiaoyao Village.

Shen Man listened to their conversation.

She glanced at the village head, then at Li Mufeng, and suddenly an idea struck her. She said to the village head, "Grandpa Village Head, why don't we add some more shares and register them under Mr. Li's name? That way, he'll become a shareholder of our silkworm farming cooperative, and when we make money, he'll get a share too. Mr. Li won't have worked for nothing!"

"That's a great idea!" The village head's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said with a smile, "In this way, Mr. Li will be considered one of our own in the silkworm breeding cooperative. We can discuss things more easily in the future."

"Man'er, this..." Li Mufeng never expected that he would suddenly become a shareholder of Shen Man's silkworm breeding cooperative. His initial intention was simply to help her, and he had no ulterior motives.

“It’s settled then,” the village headman said. “I’ll draft a contract later and send it to Mr. Li tomorrow.”

"Thank you for your trouble." Li Mufeng nodded, his appreciation for Shen Man's exceptional intelligence growing stronger.

As the three of them talked, they arrived at Shen Man's house.

Lanxiang cooked some porridge and made two pancakes for the two elderly people, and they ate them with relish.

The three of them stood in the courtyard for a while, waiting for the two to finish eating before going inside.

"Uncle Jiang, this is the village head of Xiaoyao Village. You will be staying in this village from now on. If you need anything, you can go directly to him."

"Then I'll have to trouble the village head." Jiang Qi stood up, smiled, and cupped his hands in greeting to the village head.

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. From now on, we'll leave the silkworm raising in our village to you." The village head quickly waved his hand, then looked at Li Mufeng, "Mr. Li, don't worry, Master Jiang and the others won't be mistreated in the village."

"With Li Zheng here, I am naturally at ease," Li Mufeng said with a smile.

While the village head and others were exchanging pleasantries in the living room, Shen Man found some herbs at home that could treat colds, quickly brewed a decoction, and gave it to Granny Song to drink.

Then, the mother and daughter helped them carry all their luggage and belongings to the house at the east end of the village.

The old house at the east end of the village had been repaired by the village head when Li Mufeng first arrived, so apart from being a bit old, it didn't have any other problems.

Although the house was a bit old, the elderly couple, Jiang Qi and his wife, were quite satisfied with it because it was clean and tidy.

In the end, they were nothing more than the lower classes who sold themselves into slavery, and they were already quite satisfied with the treatment they received.

"Grandpa Jiang, Grandma Song, please rest here. We can talk about raising silkworms after Grandma recovers," Shen Man said sweetly as she put the things in the house.

When Granny Song saw that Shen Man was beautiful, well-behaved, and sensible, she immediately took a liking to her.

She took a packet of pastries out of her bag and handed it to Shen Man, asking, "What's your name?"

"Thank you, Grandma. My name is Man'er, and my mother's name is Lanxiang!"

"Oh, Man'er is so good!"

"Grandma, you've caught a cold, so please rest well. If you feel unwell anywhere, remember to tell me," Shen Man said with a smile.

"Okay, thank you so much, Xiaoman'er!" Granny Song looked at Shen Man gratefully.

After everything was arranged, Shen Man went home with Lanxiang.

On her way home, she told Lanxiang about her suggestion to the village head to give Li Mufeng shares in the silkworm breeding cooperative.

“Mr. Li comes from a wealthy family, how could he possibly look down on our little bit?” Lanxiang said.

“That may be true, but we can’t accept their kindness for nothing.” Shen Man said earnestly, “The gentleman has helped us so much, we have no way to repay him, so it is only right to give him some shares in the silkworm breeding cooperative.”

Lanxiang nodded. "You're right, but how many shares should we give them? We'd be reluctant to give them too many, but we're afraid Mr. Li will think we're stingy if we give them too few."

The problem Lanxiang mentioned is also what the village head is currently worried about.

After returning home, he summoned several of the village's major shareholders to discuss the matter with them.

After discussing it, everyone decided to add an extra two hundred shares and register them under Li Mufeng's name.

Two hundred shares, although not a lot of money, is the maximum the villagers can offer.

The next day, when the village head delivered the signed contract to Li Mufeng, he didn't even glance at it before handing it to Tingxian and telling him to put it away.

At that moment, he had no idea that these two hundred shares in the silkworm farming cooperative would one day save him from dire straits.