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

Liu Sheng frowned as he looked at the small hole under the beehive and suddenly realized that the bees had flown out of the hole.

"Trying to pay up? You bunch of idiots! Why didn't you block up the hole when you stole the beehives? Now all the bees are gone, and you still want me to pay you? Dream on!"

At this moment, Liu Sheng seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer the manager of the Zhu Family Trading Company, but he still scolded people as mercilessly as ever.

These men were rough laborers working on the farm. When they heard him call them idiots, they couldn't hold back any longer and started punching Liu Sheng.

"You broke your promise, you called us idiots, you son of a bitch..."

Liu Sheng was beaten and howled as he retreated, but he still refused to show weakness and continued to curse the people in front of him.

Taking advantage of Liu Sheng's momentary lapse in attention, one of the burly men kicked him to the ground, then quickly straddled him and began slapping him hard across the face, muttering as he did so, "I'll teach you to renege on your debts, I'll teach you to swear..."

Upon seeing this, the others rushed forward and began punching and kicking Liu Sheng.

For a moment, only Liu Sheng's screams echoed in the air, attracting many farmers from the village to come and watch, but no one dared to step forward to dissuade him.

"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me! I know I was wrong. I'll give you money, please let me go..." Liu Sheng was beaten so badly that he had no chance to fight back and could only beg for mercy.

Upon hearing Liu Sheng beg for mercy, the group stopped beating him.

"Why didn't you do this earlier? You had to beat him up before paying him." The burly man at the head of the group stood up from Liu Sheng and spat.

Liu Sheng struggled to his feet, his face swollen like a bun, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Trembling, he pulled a purse from his sleeve, took out some loose silver coins, and handed them to the group of men.

"I'll remember you!" Liu Sheng said threateningly.

"Still dare to talk back!" Someone rushed forward to hit Liu Sheng again, but was stopped by the burly man in the lead.

"Alright, that's enough. Don't make a scene. If the head of the village finds out, you'll all be in trouble. Hurry up and go!" The big man and his men left with the money.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding farmers dispersed.

Liu Sheng watched their departing figures, his heart filled with resentment.

"Just you wait, this isn't over!" He secretly vowed to avenge himself.

However, what he hated most was not the people who beat him, but Lanxiang and her daughter who caused him to lose his position as manager.

If they hadn't sold the honey to the Kong family, why would he have had to kneel before Confucius and ruin the Zhu family's reputation?

If I hadn't tarnished the Zhu family's reputation, how could I have been brought to this estate by the steward and subjected to such humiliation!

Originally, he thought that Lanxiang's honey was valuable, so he stole their bees and would have another way to make money in the future.

Unexpectedly, these people turned out to be so useless, stealing a bunch of empty boxes and causing him to lose more than he gained.

Lanxiang and her daughter Shen Man were completely unaware that Liu Sheng had instructed someone to steal their beehives.

Before we knew it, it was the end of August, and the village was welcoming the second harvest season for silkworm cocoons.

This time, the entire silk reeling process was completed by the villagers themselves. Jiang Qi and his wife just watched from the sidelines, offering pointers when they noticed anything amiss.

Soon, the second batch of silkworm silk was processed, and they were waiting for Sister-in-law Kong to come to the village to buy it.

However, this time, the village sent people to the town several times to deliver messages to Sister Kong, but no one came. The village head couldn't help but feel uneasy again.

"Does the Kong family no longer want our village's silk? I was hoping to sell this batch of silk so I could hire another teacher for the children..."

"How about my mother and I go to town tomorrow to ask around and see what's going on with the Kong family?" Shen Man said to the village head.

"That would be perfect!"

The next morning, Shen Man and Lanxiang went to town together. When they arrived at the Kong family's cloth shop, they met Kong's sister-in-law.

"Lanxiang, you've arrived! Come in and sit down!" Sister-in-law Kong greeted the two women as they entered the shop, but the smile on her face was not as natural as usual, and seemed somewhat forced.

After Lanxiang sat down, she explained her purpose.

Kong's sister-in-law said somewhat awkwardly, "Since you're here, I won't hide anything from you and will tell you the truth. The last time I bought silk from your village, I just sold it all a while ago, and I had to ask an old customer to help me clear out the stock."

"How could this be?" Shen Man and Lan Xiang exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, young lady," Sister-in-law Kong said apologetically. "We're just a small business, we really can't afford to lose money. The wild silkworm silk only comes in one color, and everyone who wanted to buy it has already bought it. Buying too much of the same color gets boring!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Man asked Sister-in-law Kong, "If we could dye the silkworm silk in other colors, would you buy it?"

“If you can dye it, that would be the best, and dyed silk is much more expensive than undyed silk.” Kong’s sister-in-law’s eyes lit up, but then dimmed again. “But wild silk is coarse and stiff, and it’s not as easy to dye as domestic silk.”

Shen Man smiled and said confidently, "How will we know if we don't try?"

“If you want to try it, it will cost money, and the dyes on the market are not cheap. You also need to know how to mix colors to get the color you want.” Sister-in-law Kong disagreed with Shen Man’s confidence.

“There is a weaving master in our village who came from Beijing. He should know the dyeing method.”

Hearing this, Kong's sister-in-law's hope was rekindled. "Alright then, if you can really succeed in dyeing, I will definitely prioritize buying your silk next time. However, the cost of dyeing is not low, so you should think it over carefully."

Shen Man said loudly, "Since we know this path is blocked, we have to try another one. If we succeed in dyeing it, this little cost won't matter."

"That's true. If it gets dyed, remember to send someone to let me know!"

After saying their goodbyes, they boarded the village head's oxcart and returned to the village.

Upon returning to the village, Shen Man relayed Sister-in-law Kong's words to the village head.

Upon hearing this, the village head immediately sent someone to invite Jiang Qi over.

"Master Jiang, the Kong family manager dislikes the limited color options of our silk and is unwilling to buy any more. Do you know how to dye silk?"

Jiang Qi thought for a moment and then said, "I know how to dye domestic silkworm silk, but the two types of silk are different, and I don't know if that method will work on wild silkworm silk."

"Whether it works or not, we have to try it. Write down what you need, and I'll have someone buy it right away!"