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

Li Mufeng smiled slightly, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes: "Yes. Remember, no matter what difficulties you encounter, don't give up easily, you must persevere. Also, if you need any help, you can write to me."

Shen Man took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down: "I understand, sir. I haven't had a chance to repay you the money I borrowed..."

"You can return it to me next time we meet. By the way, Man'er, this is the indenture between Jiang Qi and his wife. Keep it safe!"

Li Mufeng took out two indentures from his sleeve and handed them to Shen Man.

"Sir, this..."

"Better safe than sorry. After all, they were given to us by the Gu family. If they do anything wrong, you can just sell them off."

"Okay, thank you, sir!" Shen Man carefully put away the indenture, intending to give it to Lanxiang for safekeeping later.

"Man'er, we're leaving now. See you later!"

"Sir, Brother Tingxian, take care!"

After they said their goodbyes, Tingxian cracked his whip, and the horse galloped away.

Shen Man stood under the big camphor tree, watching the carriage gradually disappear into the distance until it became a black dot and completely disappeared at the end of the mountain road.

Shen Man took the two indentures back to the house and handed them to Lanxiang.

"Mother, this is what the master left me, the indenture of Grandpa Jiang and the others. Please keep it safe."

Lanxiang didn't say anything, took the two indentures, and turned to go back to her room.

Shen Man arrived at the room where Li Mufeng and his servant had lived and found that all their belongings had been taken away, leaving only the original furniture, as if they had never been there.

When Lanxiang came in, she saw her daughter sitting alone in the room, lost in thought.

"Man'er..."

"Mother, now that the master and the others have left, the house feels so empty!"

Lanxiang patted her daughter's shoulder and comforted her, "Don't be sad, they've only left temporarily. We'll have a chance to meet again in the future."

Having spent so much time together, Lanxiang felt a pang of sadness at Li Mufeng and the others' departure. But she knew that life had to go on.

Shen Man decided to cheer up. She cleaned the room thoroughly and changed some of the decorations to make it look more cozy.

When you're busy, the sadness of parting is lessened considerably.

Fortunately, with so much going on at home, Shen Man didn't have much free time to miss Li Mufeng.

The next day, Changsheng happened to be driving an oxcart to town, and Lanxiang and Shenman hitched a ride with him to the Kong family's cloth shop.

When Kong's sister-in-law saw them, she immediately invited them into the shop.

"Auntie, we came here today to ask you if you buy honey?"

"Yes, we've got it," Sister-in-law Kong said with a smile. "But why did you suddenly decide to sell honey?"

Shen Man explained, "My family has collected more than a dozen beehives, and recently they have produced a lot of honey. We can't eat it all, so we thought we would sell it to get some money."

Sister-in-law Kong nodded. "I see. Did you bring any samples? Let me see how the quality is."

Lanxiang took out a small jar of honey that she had prepared beforehand and handed it to Sister-in-law Kong.

Kong's sister-in-law opened the lid, smelled it, then dipped a little with her chopsticks and tasted it, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.

"This honey is of good quality, very sweet and pure," said Sister-in-law Kong. "This isn't our first time doing business. I'll name a price; you can sell it if you want, or not if you don't, how about that?"

“Okay, go ahead and say it!” Lanxiang said.

"Two ounces and three mace per pound!" said Sister-in-law Kong after a moment's thought.

"Row!"

Upon hearing that the price was three qian of silver per catty higher than what she had sold to the Zhu family, Lanxiang readily agreed.

"How much stock do you have at home? I'll have my husband go and get it when he's free tomorrow."

"It weighs about one or two hundred pounds! This jar is for you, Auntie!" Shen Man said to Sister-in-law Kong.

"Okay, thank you very much!"

Although the jar is not large, the bees weigh it down, and this jar weighs a good two pounds.

Kong's sister-in-law was very pleased with Lanxiang and her daughter's generosity.

After discussing the honey business with Sister-in-law Kong, the mother and daughter strolled through the market and happened to run into Doctor Yu passing by.

He spotted Shen Man immediately and called out to her, "Little Man, it's been so long! Did you manage to gather the asarum I asked for?"

"Dr. Yu, it's you! I've been busy with family matters lately and haven't had time to go up the mountain. I'll come and pick some for you when I have some free time in a few days."

"Okay, don't forget!"

"I won't forget, don't worry!" Shen Man replied confidently.

After they finished speaking, they went their separate ways.

Around 9 a.m. the next day, the Kong family's carriage arrived at Shen Man's door.

This time, it was Boss Kong and the same guy who had come with Sister-in-law Kong last time.

After the two explained their purpose, Lanxiang invited them in and led them to the place where the honey was stored.

After inspecting the goods himself, Mr. Kong was very satisfied and immediately said he would buy them all at a price of two ounces and three mace per pound.

Lanxiang packed all the honey for them and was about to weigh it when Manager Liu's voice rang out from outside the door: "Is the young master home?"

Lanxiang and Shenman exchanged a glance, neither able to guess the purpose of Manager Liu's trip.

However, out of politeness, Shen Man quickly went out to greet Steward Liu.

"Manager Liu, what brings you here?" Shen Man asked curiously when she saw Manager Liu.

"I'm here today to discuss business with you, young master," Manager Liu replied with a smile.

"Oh? What kind of business is it?" Shen Man asked.

"Your honey should be ready for shipment by now, right? I came here today specifically to buy some," said Manager Liu.

Shen Man thought to herself, "This Manager Liu really knows his stuff!"

"Manager Liu, I'm sorry you're too late. My honey has already been sold," Shen Man said calmly.

"What? You sold the honey to someone else? Didn't we agree that all your honey would be sold to me? How could you sell it to someone else?" Manager Liu asked Shen Man anxiously.

"Manager Liu, what are you saying? The goods belong to our family. If someone is willing to buy them, why shouldn't we sell them?"

"I'll offer a higher price, sell it to me," Manager Liu said anxiously.

"This...this isn't quite right. Our family values ​​integrity the most in business." Shen Man looked troubled.

"I really want to buy your honey. I can raise the price a little more, two ounces and one mace per pound, how about that?" Manager Liu continued to persuade.

"Who do we have here? It's Manager Liu from the Zhu Family Trading Company!" Boss Kong came out of the house after hearing the conversation between the two in the courtyard. "Unfortunately, I got here before you; they've already sold their honey to me!"