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

"Grandpa Village Head, Steward Liu said that Master Zhu didn't think our silk was good enough and didn't like it. We were at a loss when we happened to pass by Aunt Kong's cloth shop. Unexpectedly, her family also does some silk business and took a liking to our silk at first glance."

"Oh, I see. I'm so sorry to have troubled you! Well then, there's not much to do at the cooperative these days, so you two don't need to go. Just stay home and rest for a couple of days!"

"Okay, thank you, Grandpa Village Head!" Shen Man was overjoyed and quickly thanked the village head.

During this period, they were so busy selling silk that they put aside their family matters.

Two days ago, when she went to check on the bees in the jujube orchard, she found that honey was already flowing out of the small holes for the bees to enter and exit, which meant that the beehives were full of honey.

Actually, honey is their family's main source of income, so they need to hurry up and get the honey out.

Back home, Shen Man told Lan Xiang about going to collect honey the next day, and Lan Xiang agreed.

The next morning, just before leaving, Tingxian learned that they were going to collect honey. She was very curious and planned to catch the carriage and go with them.

Lanxiang and Shenman were more than happy to have another person help with the work.

The three arrived at the jujube grove. Shen Man first called out the queen bees and greeted them before carefully opening the hive to collect the honey.

Tingxian stood aside, watching the bees fly around, afraid of being stung, and dared not approach the beehive.

A moment later, he noticed that the bees were only flying around Shen Man and Lan Xiang without stinging them, and he was very curious. "Man'er, why aren't they stinging you?"

“Because we’re friends!” Shen Man replied with a smile.

"Is that really true?" Tingxian asked, somewhat skeptical.

"What else? You watch, I'll call them over, and they'll come. Little bees, come to my hand!"

As soon as Shen Man finished speaking, several bees flew over and landed on her hand.

"Ah, it's really true!" Tingxian found it incredible upon seeing this.

"Brother Tingxian, come help us scrape the honey. Don't worry, I've already spoken to the bees, they won't sting you!"

Tingxian approached the beehive with some skepticism, only to find that the bees really didn't attack him. This feeling was both novel and fun to him.

He imitated Shen Man, gently scraping the honey off the honeycomb with a knife and putting it all into a bucket.

With the addition of the beekeeper, the honey harvesting process sped up considerably. However, due to the large quantity of honey produced, the three of them only managed to harvest honey from four hives in half a day.

However, with just four beehives, they harvested several large buckets of honey. Tingxian helped load the honey onto the car, humming a little tune all the way, extremely happy.

After returning home, they put all the honey into the large jar they had bought last time, planning to sell it when they had time.

Lanxiang filled two small jars with the contents and prepared to give them to Li Mufeng and Tingxian.

Lanxiang took the honey to Li Mufeng, who was reading in his room. When he saw Lanxiang arrive, he quickly got up to greet her.

"Mr. Li, this is honey we just harvested today. We've brought some for you to try."

"Thank you, Sister Lanxiang, you're too kind." Li Mufeng accepted the honey, feeling very warm inside.

"These are all our own things. This jar is for Tingxian. Thanks to his help today, otherwise Man'er and I don't know how long we would have had to get them!"

"He's free anyway, so feel free to call him if you need anything. Oh, and you can use the carriage anytime, no need to be shy!"

Lanxiang chatted with Li Mufeng for a while before leaving.

Li Mufeng looked at the honey in his hand, then placed it on the table without opening it or tasting it.

For some reason, he had been feeling uneasy these past few days, and even his appetite had decreased significantly.

When Tingxian returned to the house, he learned that Lanxiang had brought him honey, and he couldn't wait to take a bite. The sweetness of the honey delighted him, and he couldn't help but eat a few more bites.

"This honey is delicious!" Tingxian said with satisfaction. "Young master, won't you try some? It's even sweeter than the honey we had in the capital!"

"I have no appetite. Tingxian, after you've helped Sister Lanxiang bring all the honey back from the fields, go to Tong'an County and see if there's any news from the capital!"

"Yes, young master!"

The three of them worked for another two days before they were able to collect all the honey from all the beehives.

The honey harvested this time weighed over 300 jin (approximately 150 catties), which was far too much for one large vat to hold.

Lanxiang had no choice but to buy another large vat.

That day, Tingxian rode out early in the morning, while Lanxiang and Shenman stayed home to put the honey into a newly bought large jar.

"Mother, should we sell this honey to the Zhu family again?" Shen Man asked suddenly, looking at the two large vats full of honey in the house.

"If we don't sell to them, who else can we sell to?" Lanxiang looked at Shen Man, somewhat puzzled, not understanding why she asked such a question.

“Regarding the silkworm incident last time, I always felt that Manager Liu didn’t tell us the truth.”

"Probably not?"

“When we showed it to him that day, he clearly said the quality was good and that he would come to buy it after showing it to Master Zhu. But later he said that Master Zhu said the quality was not good. Mother, Steward Liu is an old man who has been with Master Zhu for a long time. If he thinks it is good, how could Master Zhu not like it?”

"Man'er, do you mean he didn't even show it to Master Zhu? Why would he do that?" Lanxiang stopped what she was doing and stared blankly at Shen Man, asking.

"Do you remember when he first came to our house? He wasn't very nice at first. It was only after I gave them six taels of silver as a bribe that his attitude improved. This shows that he is actually a very greedy person!"

"If that's the case, then Steward Liu is really being dishonest!" Lanxiang said angrily, but quickly looked troubled. "But besides the Zhu family, who else can we sell to?"

After a moment of silence, Shen Man suddenly had an idea: "Why don't we ask Aunt Kong another day? Doesn't she say she buys all kinds of wild delicacies? We can't always rely on one company for our business..."

Lanxiang's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she quickly nodded, saying, "That's right! How could I have forgotten about Aunt Kong! Maybe her family really does buy this honey!"

The mother and daughter were talking inside when they heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats outside. They looked out and saw that Tingxian had returned from Tongan County.

Tingxian dismounted, still catching her breath, and shouted towards Li Mufeng's room, "Young Master, urgent news from the capital!"

Li Mufeng quickly opened the door, rushed to Tingxian, and took the letter from his hand. Unfolding the letter, Li Mufeng's eyes scanned the words rapidly.

His brows furrowed, and his expression grew increasingly somber.

Upon reading the last part of the letter, his body suddenly swayed, as if struck by an invisible force.

"Young master, what has happened?"