When Shang Mingyuan's father died, he was six years old. At that time, his father did not die in a very glorious way. The Shang family was afraid that the emperor would use the excuse of Shang Mingyuan's young age to suppress him and not let him inherit the title, or take back the title, so they let Shang Mingyuan's second uncle, Shang Ping, inherit the title instead.

  There was also Shang Mingyuan who was still young and couldn't bear the weight of the Shang family's consideration, so under various factors, his second uncle demoted two ranks to inherit the title, leaving only one county baron for the next generation.

  Shang Ping made a vow in front of Shang Xing's spirit and the ancestral tablets that when Shang Ming Ruo grew up, he would return the title to his nephew.

  The first two years were spent in a haze of familiarity, with him still being the young master of the Shang household, but by the third year, things started to change.

  He began to be unlucky, his second uncle and aunt were still very caring towards him, even better than the one-year-old Shang Mingjie, but he still fell off a horse, rolled down a hill, caught a cold in spring, had a heat stroke in summer, contracted an epidemic in autumn, and when winter came, it happened to be the time his aunt returned to celebrate his grandmother's birthday, seeing him thin and gaunt, emitting an aura of death, everyone said he wouldn't survive the winter.

  Then his aunt took him back to Yangzhou on the grounds that he was not adapted to Suzhou's climate.

  At that time, Lin Qingyuan was only three and a half years old and had already started reading "Three Character Classic" with a nodding head.

  He spent a winter recovering from his illness and then began going to the study with her to read together.

  That was Shang Mingyuan's nightmare, he is six years older than her, at that time he had already finished reading "Qianziwen", and was about to start reading "Lunyu", but three years later, Lin Qingwan's writing caught up with him, and the books she read also started to be on par with his. She is obviously a lovely girl, but when she raises an eyebrow, people can feel her majesty.

  He didn't like reading books to begin with, and when he was at the Shang's house, no one supervised him. When he arrived at the Lin's house, it was as if he had fallen into hell. Under his uncle's heavy pressure, he reluctantly attended school for half a day every day. And having a good student like Lin Qingwen to compare with made him dislike reading even more.

  Adding to that, Lin Qingyuan from his childhood days was really not likable. Although she was younger than him, she always lectured him as if she were an elder, telling him to study hard.

  Heaven knows that at that time he would feel like vomiting as soon as he heard about studying and just wanted to go out and play.

  So Shang Jia sent a group of people to pick him up. Thinking about the carefree days he spent at the Shang family in the past, he hurried back.

  His sister often teased him for being foolish, although after he returned home, he was always healthy and never had such bad luck again, but also no one like his uncle and aunt forced him to study and taught him various skills.

  It's just now that Lin Auntie praises him for having the ability to manage household chores, which is also what Uncle Liu secretly taught him.

  Xiang Mingyuan wiped away tears for his uncle's concern.

  Xiao Fang was stunned, and after coming to his senses, he pinched him and asked: "Then you still went to Yangzhou, and wanted to take over the Lin family's industry. Isn't this... ungrateful and disloyal?"

  Shang Mingyuan covered his shoulders and said, "The old lady asked me to go, can't I not go? Moreover, what's wrong with giving the property to the Shang family? Let the old lady take it, and when my cousin gets married, give it to her as a dowry. Isn't that better than giving it to the Lin clan? The Lin family's relatives are even worse than us, but in the end, no one got anything, and Uncle donated everything."

  Shang Mingyuan said up to here still quite regretful, so many industries, how can Uncle be so bold?

  If it were him, he wouldn't let go even if dragged underground.

  Xiao Fang was speechless for a moment, then pounced on his back, twisting his waist and gritting his teeth: "What Xiao Gu said is right, you are indeed a fool. Are you really unaware or pretending to be unaware? If this property were handed over to the Shang family, wouldn't it ultimately fall into the hands of the second branch? Your cousin Lin is going to get engaged to Er Lang...

  "Spare me, are you trying to choke me to death? Of course I know these industries will all end up in Er Lang's hands. Isn't Er Lang going to marry his cousin?" Shang Mingyuan thought to himself: If he marries his cousin, then the dowry will be his! Unfortunately, looking at the mother-in-law beside him, he didn't dare say this out loud.

  "Just stiffening my neck and saying my own reason, 'Isn't Erlang's not just a cousin? And isn't it better that the second house has money now? He's so rich, in the future when we divide the family property, he'll definitely give me some... The second uncle and aunt I don't dare to say, but the second brother is still quite friendly and close, as long as I mention it, he'll definitely give..."

  "Go ahead and have your grand illusions, when can you brothers become the masters of the Shang family?"

  The quarrel between the couple quickly changed its tone, Shang Mingyuan hugged his wife and hummed: "No matter what the old lady and Erniang had in mind before, anyway, no one has fallen behind now, and Lin Aunt is clever, thinking of snatching meat from her hand, hum!"

  Zhao Sheng now wants to grab the meat from Lin Qingyuan's hands and asks Zhao Guan Shi, who is running errands for him, "How about the price negotiation?"

  "Tell Second Master," said Zhao, bowing his head, "the price has already been lowered. All you need to do is pay the money and we can go to the yamen to complete the transfer."

  Zhao Sheng furrowed his brow, "Has your family's master not taken out the silver yet?"

  Zhao's face turned awkward with a smile, shouldn't this matter be discussed by you guys with him?

  He's just a servant, still a servant of the Shang family, how dare he mention this to Shang Mingyuan?

  He thought for a moment and said, "The old master can only take out a limited amount of money from the account at one time, so I'm afraid we'll have to wait for a while."

  Zhao Sheng felt displeased in his heart, but thinking that he couldn't take out the money now and could only get it from the Shang's house, he suppressed his emotions and said: "That's good, as long as your master doesn't forget."

  He still wants to tidy up those places after entering winter.

  He wanted to buy the land that was adjacent to Lin Qingyu's, with so much land on the other side, and only over 300 mu at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain, he must not have thought of it, by the time she remembered, he had already occupied most of it.

  Quietly move the boundary stone back, and when the time comes, let her go to the Suzhou Governor's Mansion to make trouble if she wants to.

  Zhao Sheng didn't particularly like those over 300 mu of land, but he felt a lump in his throat that made him feel uncomfortable and unable to swallow.

  For the first time, he suffered such a great loss. Lin Jiang was fine, but what about Lin Qingyuan?

  A young girl who has just reached the age of hairpinning can actually make him suffer a loss, this time he is not calculating for his own benefit, but to harm others.

  Zhao Sheng thought he was being secretive, but he didn't know that Lin Qingyuan had already sensed something, so after entering winter, the first thing she dealt with was that piece of land at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain.

  "Aunt, although there is also water benefit on that side, the land has been deserted for many years and is all virgin soil. Planting grain may not yield a high output. Rather than wasting labor over there, it's better to cultivate the good fields here."

  Now there are many lands but few people, in the first year they definitely cannot fully cultivate, and must rely on good land.

  Lin Qingwan didn't want to waste manpower because of Zhao Sheng either, and instead be led by the nose, which might not harm others but would certainly not benefit herself.

  It's also not good to just leave it there and ignore it.

  Lin Qingwan thought for a moment and said: "Grains need to be carefully cultivated, it's indeed not suitable, then let's plant trees."

  Zhong Daguanshi stared with wide eyes, "Seed? Plant trees?"

  Lin Qingwan nodded, "Peach trees, pear trees, apricot trees, plum trees, plan well and divide them into pieces to plant. When the time comes, we can eat the fruit and sell it out. Moreover, these trees will not take two or three years to harvest, just in time for us to clear the land."

  Zhong Daguanshi let out a sigh of relief, it turned out to be a fruit tree.

  "Tell Xiaodi to contact Guomiao now."

  Lin Qingwan nodded, "Let's keep in touch more often, and when the time comes, we'll also plant some at Zhuangzi's place."

  "'Planting so many fruit trees, I'm afraid it will be hard to sell them after they're harvested,' said Da Guan Shi, who was accustomed to thinking three steps ahead. He furrowed his brow and continued, 'The small plot of land on the other side of Qingfeng Mountain is more than 300 mu, that's enough. This side can be used for mulberry trees instead, and when the time comes, we can spin silk and weave fabric, earning even more.'"

  If it weren't for the limitations of manpower, and planting mulberry required even more effort, he would have liked to plant all the land on the other side of Qingfeng Mountain with mulberry and hemp. After all, compared to silk and fabric, the profits from fruit were limited.

  Lin Qingwan thought of the current purchasing power and population, as well as the shelf life of the fruit, and nodded: "Alright, let's plant that side first."

  Let's talk about it when we find a way to sell it, anyway she has nothing now, just land.

  Because of many things to prepare before spring arrives, Lin Qingyuan started getting busy as soon as winter began.

  As a result, attention was diverted from Shang Mingyuan's side, and no one knew that the Shang family was secretly surging. In the midst of everyone's unawareness, Shang Mingyuan had already clashed with Second Madam Shang.

  Shang Mingyuan never went to withdraw money from the account. Zhao Sheng finally couldn't wait any longer and came to his doorstep. Mrs. Shang could only find Shang Mingyuan to go and persuade him.

  Shang Mingyuan seemed to be reluctant to part with Suzhou and pretended not to understand, unwilling to go to the Ministry of Rites to fill the vacancy, so naturally, there was no money.

  Mrs. Shang was so angry that she almost died, and after hesitating for half a day, she took the money from her account to give to Zhao Sheng, and also took back several shops managed by Shang Mingyuan.

  Shang Mingyuan bluntly mentioned Zhao Sheng's borrowing of money when greeting the old lady, and smiled: "There isn't much money, just over three thousand taels. If I were to say it, Uncle Zhao was too polite, he could have just told Auntie Er and didn't need to come find me."

  The old lady's face sank, and Shang Mingyuan smiled again: "Old lady, second aunt pitied me and handed over the wine tower on the front street to Zhao Guan Shi for management, letting me rest more. Why don't you hand over a few Zhuangzi to Wu Guanshi as well? Let Sun Er be more relaxed before the New Year. You want to hold your great-grandson, don't you? Sun Er and his wife will give birth to one for you next year."

  Wu Guanshi is an old lady's person.

  The old lady was secretly angry, but she couldn't help but smile when she heard the words behind her. She poked his forehead with a meaningful tone: "You're good at dodging work, your second aunt loves you, and you should be filial to her. How can you let her take it easy? You're still young, this is the time you should be working hard. When the end of the year comes and everyone settles accounts, you'll help your second aunt balance them out. Next year, you'll learn to manage the household too."

  This pipe is no longer just a few shops and a few villas, but the entire Shang family's industry.

  The old lady was very angry, the relatives borrowed money, not to mention a few thousand or ten thousand taels, she would lend it all. What made her angry was that the second family had concealed it from her, such a big thing, the money had been given out without even reporting a word, thinking they could be in charge and didn't put her in their heart?