Lin Qingwen was very happy, because Lin Yuhbin had been very happy these past few days, and the three girls of the Shang family were also very happy. Even Old Lady Shang was very happy... well, except for Second Madam Shang.

  Lin Qingwan walked into the garden and saw four little girls picking flowers, huddled together chattering away, occasionally bursting out in silvery laughter.

  Lin Qingyan stopped and smiled, asking, "What's so funny?"

  Lin Yuhu ran over with a flower basket and entwined her, saying: "Auntie, we want to go up the mountain to fetch spring water."

  "Didn't someone send it over?"

  Lin Yuhong pouted and said: "But we want to go ourselves, we want to dry the flowers and make flower tea, which requires the cold spring water from the mountain."

  "You can't even soak them today, even if you dry them in the sun today."

  "We also want to make some dim sum and need sparkling water."

  Lin Qingwan nodded her head and said, "After all, you just want to go up the mountain to have fun, go ahead, go ahead, just be careful, if you fall down and get hurt, you'll have to bear the consequences."

  Lin Yuhbin cheered in a low voice and turned his head to exchange sly glances with his sisters.

  Tan Lan's three admirers were envious, they also wanted such an aunt who could go out just by wrapping herself up like this.

  "Auntie, you're not busy either, why don't you follow the young lady too?" Bai Mei reminded: "Dr. Xu said that it's best for you to move around more these two days."

  Lin Yuhbin tensed up upon hearing this, "Is Aunt ill?"

  Lin Qingwan saw that her face had turned white, and she hastily comforted her: "It's not an illness, it's just that I've been busy these past few days, my mood has been a bit anxious, so Dr. Xu told me to relax and get some exercise, if I were ill, I would be taking medicine now, do you smell any medicinal scent on me?"

  Lin Yuhu took a sniff and let out a sigh of relief, then hugged her arm and said, "Let that little girl go up the mountain with us."

  Lin Qingwan thought for a moment and said: "Alright, since we're going up the mountain, let's bring a few small baskets. It's the season for wild mushrooms and vegetables, maybe we can find some."

  Several girls got excited after hearing it, changed their clothes and left.

  Five people went up the mountain, followed by a group of servants. Lin Qingyuan didn't let them leave either. The mountain wasn't steep, but if they fell, it would be quite serious, so it was safer to bring the servants along.

  They went straight into the mountain from the corner gate of the backyard, this piece of mountain is rarely involved in villagers, and it's all left by the lower officials of the government who came up to fetch water, so there are many wild vegetables on both sides of the small road.

  Lin Qingwan teaches them which ones are wild vegetables and which ones are weeds.

  Several girls were excited and picked a lot of wild flowers to decorate their small baskets. Lin Qing saw this and simply plucked the flower branches to make them into flower garlands to wear on their heads.

  Four girls exclaimed in surprise, "Aunt Lin's hands are so clever?"

  Lin Qingwan burst out laughing and said: "The easiest thing to learn, you will all pick it up in no time."

  This was taught by a roommate when she was in college. At that time, they went on an outing and took materials at random. The six girls in their dormitory were all good at it after one semester.

  Five people each carrying a wreath of flowers walked in, Lin Yuhbin looked at the wild vegetables in the basket and asked in confusion, "Auntie, didn't you say there were mushrooms? We picked so many wild vegetables but didn't see a single mushroom."

  Lin Qingwan looked around and said: "It won't be here, we need to go deeper into the forest, where there are more rotten leaves and dense grass, maybe we'll find it."

  Four girls were excited and didn't rush to see the cold spring anymore. Under Lin Qingyan's lead, they left the small path and went into the forest, specially parting the dense grasses to look. Before long, Danlan suddenly exclaimed with excitement: "It's here! It's here!"

  The maid beside her took the lead and went up, rolled up her sleeves to pick, the family guard who protected them couldn't help but laugh, "Miss Biao, this is not edible."

  Lin Yuhong and Danzhu Danju came up and asked in doubt: "Since it's a mushroom, why can't we eat it?"

  "Anyway, we can't eat it," said Jia Ding, scratching his head.

  Lin Qingwan walked forward and took a look at the pale red mushroom, smiling: "Such beautiful mushrooms are poisonous, eating them can be fatal. We need to find those white ones or tea-colored ones, they will grow under trees, also in grass thickets, you guys go find some more."

  A group of people dispersed to search, at this time the Jiangnan region had a lot of rain, the ground was wet and humid, there were many wild mushrooms in the forest, villagers often went up the mountain to pick them, but they didn't dare come here, instead they searched on the side.

  So on this side, it was unexplored, and soon Lin Qingyan found a clump of edible wild mushrooms, and others also found them one after another, starting to excitedly pick them.

  It was almost noon when they finished loading the baskets and climbing up the mountain. The few people sat by the cold spring, took a look at the scenery, and each filled a jug of water before going down the mountain.

  It took so long to climb up the mountain, but it took less than a minute to get down.

  Hand over the basket to the servant. Lin Qingyuan instructed, "Let the kitchen select ingredients from this, we will have wild vegetables and mushrooms for lunch."

  Tan Zhuo envied and said to Lin Yuhong: "Lin aunt is really good to you, she doesn't restrict you at all."

  Danlan lowered her voice and said: "Didn't the old lady say she would send us to school? Maybe it will be more relaxed then."

  Danhua worriedly said, "But these past few days, neither Old Lady nor Second Lady has mentioned it. My cousin's place has already signed up, and there isn't much time left until New Year's Day... what about Eldest Lady's place..."

  Lin Yuhu smiled and said: "My aunt said that Aunt Zhang will eventually agree, so you can rest assured. When the time comes, we'll go to school together."

  Danlan smiled and said, "Isn't it unlikely that your aunt can tell fortunes or something, how did you know my mother would agree?"

  Lin Yuhu pushed her and said: "My little aunt can't tell fortunes, but I know that my big aunt has a kind mother's heart, for your sake, she must agree?"

  Danlan's smile on her face was faint, and she just smiled without saying a word.

  Does her mother have a kind heart?

  Since she could remember, her mother had been staying in the Buddhist hall to eat vegetarian food and recite scriptures. No matter if she was ill or her brother got into trouble, she would not show up, only when it involved the title of nobility would she speak up.

  Nobility?

  Danlan's heart moved slightly, as if she had thought of something.

  In the evening, a servant brought by Danlan made an excuse to leave Lin's villa to fetch something. Lin Qingwen pretended not to see him. The next day, seeing the fine weather, she took them to play in the garden.

  Lin Yuhbin followed his aunt to the countryside this spring and got to know many crops, but Shang Danlan and others were really unfamiliar with grains. They could recognize them when they became rice, flour, and beans, but now that they are growing in the fields, they can't recognize any of them.

  Then Lin Qingwan became a biology teacher again, teaching them to recognize crops and popularizing their growth process.

  Four girls listened with relish, looking at the endless green crops, Danlan envied: "By autumn harvest, Lin aunt will make a big profit."

  Lin Yuheng sighed and said, "It's not that simple. The fiefs bestowed by Your Majesty still have more than half of the land uncultivated. Both labor and materials require money, and autumn harvests also depend on the weather. If heaven doesn't smile upon us, it would be good if we don't suffer losses."

  Dan Zhu listened with amazement and smiled: "Let me take a look quickly, is this still Lin's sister? Could it be fake?"

  Danhua burst out laughing, "It must be some kind of evil spirit possessing her, otherwise my carefree and detached sister Lin wouldn't be worrying about such things!"

  Lin Yuhong stomped his foot in anger, "I'm being serious with you guys, but you're making fun of me."

  Danlan smiled and comforted her, "It's no wonder they're surprised, it's really too unexpected. When did my cousin learn all this?"

  Lin Yuhong's face turned red as he looked at his little sister-in-law.

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said: "At the beginning of spring, I was busy running around, it was she who helped me, all the household accounts had to go through her hands, didn't she know?"

  Three girls had a flash of envy in their eyes, they were not young anymore, but had never managed the family's finances, although managing finances can be tiring, and there may be many things to learn.

  They already vaguely feel that only the skills they have learned are their own.

  The situation at home is complicated, and it's not allowed for the three unmarried girls to take charge. Even Second Madam Shang didn't think of teaching Danzhu about managing the household, let alone Danlan who has no mother and Danhua who was born out of wedlock?

  It's also because of this that they envy Lin Yuhong so much, although her parents passed away early, but her aunt is wholeheartedly good to her, and the days she spends with her are not worse than those years when she was fostered in the Shang family.

  It can be seen from her increasingly sunny personality.

  Lin Qingwan was good to Lin Yuhong, and they also benefited from it. These days, Lin Qingwan handled affairs in the morning, while they read books and practiced calligraphy in the study room. In the afternoon, Lin Qingwan either took them to the farm to see the crops, or took them to see the pond excavation, or handed over some account books to let them learn how to manage accounts and household chores.

  If it weren't for the old lady sending someone to pick them up, they would have almost forgotten that they needed to go home.

  Three girls held Lin Yuhong's hand, reluctant to part with her, and repeatedly reminded her: "Cousin, you must remember to ask someone to pick us up to play, whatever post you make, the old lady won't refuse."

  Lin Yuhbin nodded and said, "Don't worry, maybe by New Year's Day we can meet again."

  The aunt who came to pick her up smiled and said, "It's not possible to meet on the first day of the new year. The old lady has already made arrangements with the Lu family to send three young ladies to school on New Year's Day, and at that time, Miss Biao will also go, so they will naturally meet then."

  Danlan was surprised, "Really, is it settled?"

  "It's settled, it's settled," said the nanny with a smile all over her face: "The second mistress has already opened the trunk for the young ladies to make clothes, and the second master even took time out to go to the Hanmo Studio to buy them stationery and brushes."

  It's just a pity that the second lady was so angry about this matter, feeling that the second master had wasted his time reading books, and almost beat up the little servant who served by the second master's side.

  In front of the Lin family, Nanny naturally didn't say this, and after repeatedly thanking Lin Qingwan, she took the three masters back.

  She was an old lady's person, the first thing to do was to go in and report to the old lady, and then tell her about what she had seen at Lin's house. Then she smiled and said: "Now that the old lady is relieved, the young ladies of the Lin family are close to our Shang family, and the misses get along well with each other."

  The old lady smiled and nodded, "As long as the children get along well."

  She paused and asked: "Is Second Master still reading in the study?"

  "Yes, tomorrow I have to go see Mr. Lu, so Second Mistress won't let him out the door, he's still reading."

  The old lady frowned and said, "Reading books isn't like that, go and call him over. Let him relax a bit, after all, we can't exhaust my dear grandson's body for the sake of reading. If his mother asks, just say I told you to let him come and show filial piety."

  The old lady responded in a low voice, she knew that the old lady had been fighting with the second lady recently and did not dare to persuade her, so she retreated and called someone.

  Shang Mingjie was caught in the middle as a tool for his mother-in-law's struggle, feeling uncomfortable. He was young and initially somewhat confused, but with the intensifying conflict between his grandmother and mother over time, he became increasingly sensitive and felt something despite being confused.

  He was led out of the study by the nanny beside his grandmother, but instead of feeling happy, he felt another knife hanging over his head, emitting a cold glow, as if it could fall at any moment.

  It's just that Shang Mingyuan couldn't help but sympathize with this cousin who was entangled in his own interests, and said to Xiaofang, "Actually, it's not bad if mother doesn't interfere."