It's still a month before Chinese New Year, so it's already the coldest period of the year. Don't work too hard in the fields at this time.

  The refugees have gone to get their farm tools, but the people from our clan are still hesitating. Except for a few who went to get their tools, everyone else is gathered together talking and reluctant to go.

  Lin Qingwan didn't rush them either, letting Lin Shun decide for himself whether or not to go, with her own scale in mind.

  Lin Chuan and others waited outside for half a day, seeing people going out to work all coming back for lunch. Lin Qingwen still didn't appear, so he couldn't help but say: "We're standing here and it's useless, we might as well go back and find the clan leader. It was the clan leader who let us come, this matter he should give us an explanation."

  "Alright, go back and find the clan elder uncle, Auntie will have to listen to Grandpa's words anyway."

  It's strange that Lin Run didn't come to find Lin Qingyuan, but instead said directly to them: "Your aunt only made you work for twenty days and shouted about being tired, so why didn't you learn a skill from her for free and help her out?"

  "Hmph, whether it's reading books, farming, or doing business, the first element is to persevere. You're now going to learn a skill, but you can't even bear this little bit of hardship, how can I believe that you'll master this skill?"

  Lin Chuan and others bowed their heads, those who were younger than him stood behind, and he was the leader, so Lin Run caught him first.

  He didn't hold back either, taking the ruler and "slapping" it against his body, saying: "You're lazy and don't like to work hard, you're unfilial and unvirtuous. They're either younger than you or lower in generation than you, you can't even set a good example, yet you still lead them to cause trouble for your aunt, should I hit you or not?"

  The clan leader was furious, and Lin Chuan was dissatisfied in his heart but didn't dare show it, so he could only kneel down to listen to the lecture.

  Lin Run hit him a dozen times before stopping and saying: "Take them back to apologize to your aunt, then honestly go to the fields and work for me."

  Lin Run's face sank as he said, "If you really don't want to study, then come back early and don't bother others."

  The crowd suddenly dispersed more than half, and they went to Lin's house in pairs to apologize.

  Lin Chuan and a dozen others were left staring at each other in dismay. In the end, they decided to go home and ask their parents for advice.

  As soon as he entered the door, he was beaten out. His parents scolded him, saying: "You're really blind to your own shortcomings! Do you think it's easy to learn a skill? How many people have paid tuition fees and become apprentices just to master one skill, only to be beaten and ordered around? You were lucky enough to work for your aunt for 20 days, but you still can't do it?"

  "If you weren't the only son in our family, I wonder if I would have let you go..."

  As a result, Lin Qingyuan had someone return to pass on the message, "It's not necessarily that only boys can go, girls are also fine. Making paper is said to be easy but also tiring, however, it's not too tiring either. The girls in our household who have strong willpower can also do it."

  The families with eligible daughters were suddenly in an uproar, some without hesitation summoned their daughters over, while others were unwilling, "This daughter who is married out is like spilled water, when they leave won't they take the family's skills with them? Those are things of our clan."

  Lin Qingwan had this announced directly by Old Loyal in the hall, without mentioning it to Lin Run or the Zong elders beforehand.

  In winter, everyone had nothing to do, and most people gathered in the yard to gossip or play, so this word quickly spread throughout Linjiazhuang.

  Those who have a clever and filial daughter, upon hearing this, immediately returned home, hitched up their ox cart and set out. For those without an ox cart, if they had sons, the sons would escort the daughters over; if not, the parents themselves took action.

  They were lucky, at that time the head of the clan said the refugees were pitiful, and we could help a little when there were several pecks of rice in the house.

  Although they are not many in number, they have made it onto the list, so they can be called upon to learn a trade.

  They had only daughters at home, so it wasn't proper to send them away, and thus the opportunity was wasted. Now they finally have a chance.

  By the time the three clan elders reacted, many families had already taken the girl out of the village. The three of them stomped their feet in frustration, "Sister Wan is being reckless! If she passes on her skills to the girl, how can we ensure they are preserved?"

  Lin Run directly took a jar of wine and went out to visit friends, he decided that it was better for him to have a good chat with his close friend recently, so they could enjoy each other's company and forget about returning.

  His father and two uncles were not easy to fool, but Wan Jie was even more unwilling to give in easily. He was caught in the middle and no matter what he did, it was wrong.

  Moreover, Wan Jie had revealed before that the formula for making grass paper would be passed on later. If outsiders can learn it, what's wrong with letting the girls in our clan learn it a step earlier?

  Naturally, these things were hidden from the people in the clan; otherwise, they would have caused a huge commotion long ago.

  Lin Run shook his head and left, while sixteen new girls arrived at the Lin family's other courtyard.

  Lin Qingwan thought of them as girls, so she didn't let them run back and forth every day. Instead, she took in a guest house for them to live in.

  She saw Lin Yuhong's recent mood was not good, so she said to her: "Get two sets of old clothes and go learn a trade with them, so you won't be bored alone."

  The Lu family was worried about the unrest outside, and with the New Year approaching, they casually assigned a lot of homework to their students before going on a long vacation.

  After Lantern Festival, I will go back to school.

  Lin Yuhbin never found homework difficult, and she only needed to spend an hour on it every day. Recently, she hasn't been in the mood, so she didn't study by herself either, just sitting there staring blankly.

  Lin Qingwan thought it was still because she had too much free time, if people were busy, who would have time to think about sad things?

  And as you meet more people and go through more experiences, when you look back, you'll find that what you thought was a big deal at the time wasn't a big deal after all.

  These sixteen girls were of the same generation as Yu Bin, some older than her by one year, and some younger than her by one year, but they were all about the same age, with the oldest being only fourteen years old and the youngest only eleven years old.

  Lin Yuhong looked at them with a tongue-tied expression and asked, "Are they strong enough?"

  She knew that there were several steps in papermaking that required great strength.

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said, "Don't underestimate them, they've been doing farm work since they were young, they're much more capable than you."

  She didn't let these girls go weeding and fertilizing, but instead had someone take them to tend to the flowers and trees.

  The Spring Festival is approaching, and the flower market is also becoming lively. The other courtyard has planted a lot of flowers this year, plus those in Wenyuan, I dare not say that they dominate the flower market, but at least in terms of quantity and quality, they are among the top two or three.

  There were slightly insufficient hands, and the arrival of these girls was just in time.

  After pruning or transplanting the flowers, they are carried out by the women and loaded onto carts to be sold at the flower market. Before the New Year, the flowers should sell well.

  Lin Yuhuan changed into a half-new and not-so-old outfit, following them to squat in the courtyard to tidy up flowers and trees. He gradually forgot about the Shang family's affairs, his heart didn't feel so painful anymore, and he even gained some appetite.

  Lin Qingyan was preparing for the annual gift-giving ceremony, with gifts for each of the households as well as for the imperial palace.

  She put a stack of clean white bamboo paper into the box and handed it to Bai Mei, "This box is for sending to Beijing, change to a smaller one for other families, you can pack them yourselves."

  Bai Mei and Bai Feng nodded in agreement, carrying the box down to lock it up securely.

  "Auntie, the Southern Expeditionary Army has won a great victory. Governor Zhou is hosting a banquet at his residence and has invited all the families to attend," said Lin, the housekeeper, as he brought in an invitation card. "This is the invitation sent to our household."

  "We haven't even left yet, just send a gift over. Lin Qingwen paused and said: "Did Fifth Brother receive the invitation too?"

  "Yes, the post for the clan side is separate."

  "It's just a victory in the first battle, but Lü Jing is a genius at leading troops. It's too early to celebrate now."

  Lin Guan's family smiled and said, "As the New Year is approaching, Governor Zhou also wants to celebrate."

  "While our comrades-in-arms are still fighting bloody battles."

  Inside and outside Suzhou, everyone is filled with joy, putting down their work to prepare for the New Year. At this time, business owners are the busiest.

  The Lin family's side house was also busy, with people inside and outside the villa working hard from dawn till dusk.

  Lin Chuan and others occasionally saw a scene where merchants came to buy flowers in the morning, were shocked by the lively scene, listened to the prices quoted by those merchants, and couldn't help but secretly sigh, "Growing flowers can also make so much money?"

  "It seems the big house isn't poor after all..."

  "No matter how poor we are, it's nothing compared to the direct line," someone whispered: "And do you think flowers are easy to grow? Without some skill, who can grow them?"

  That's also true, the long house has a flower craftsman, does their family have one?

  They looked at the hoes in their hands, and now they had to learn a trade, but first they still had to work for others. Several people sighed and resignedly carried the hoes to go to work.

  Lin Qingyuan did not separate her clansmen and refugees, they all worked on the same land, and what they heard from the refugees was:

  "Yesterday I saw many workers on the mountain digging holes, it seems they are going to plant bamboo, let's go help them after work this evening."

  "Okay, but I don't know if Old Lady Lin will let us help."

  "Just learn a skill from her in plain language, if we can't help a little more, we will really feel uneasy."

  "I've heard stories about Lin Gong since I was a child, but I never saw him before and thought it was just elders' nonsense. Who would have thought there's such a virtuous person in this world? Now that I've seen Grandma Lin, I realize I'm the one with a narrow mind."

  "Yes, Lin's grandma is so kind and capable, her ancestors must be no worse."

  "The Lin family is all very kind-hearted, and it's said that we can stay in Suzhou because the head of the Lin family persuaded the other families."

  ……

  Following them to work, the fellow clansmen felt both proud and embarrassed. Proud that the Lin family they mentioned was their own clan, but also embarrassed by their previous behavior, making it seem like the refugees were ungrateful.

  As the Spring Festival approaches, people's restless hearts gradually calm down. Whether they are migrants or descendants of a clan, they slowly adapt to the local way of life and work hard every day as if competing in a contest.

  Lin Guan's family looked very satisfied, and the old lady was right, letting the refugees and clan children work together had a much better effect.

  As long as the clan's children stop oppressing the refugees, that's all. However, Lin Guan Jia didn't have a chance to take action either, because this batch of children sent over were not only obedient to Lin Qing Wan but also had kind hearts, and even if they were lazy, they wouldn't oppress the refugees into doing work for them.

  On the contrary, they were very sympathetic to the refugees and would sometimes lend a helping hand when they saw a thin and small boy struggling to pull a cart.

  Seeing them behave like this, Lin Qingyan also let out a sigh of relief, she was really afraid that the people she taught were not human.