Ziying had just arranged everything, when Old Master and Tian arrived. Seeing that Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen were not there, Tian immediately asked Ziying: "Didn't I tell you? Find something for San Mao to do, my words are useless, your father's words are also useless? You have a ready-made family member but instead sent an outsider from afar. How is it that your father and older aunt, who came out of my belly, aren't closer than outsiders? I don't care, call your father over, today if this matter isn't made clear, I won't leave." After speaking, Tian sat down in the hall's armchair.

  The old man glared at Tian Shi and said, "You always have to be so roundabout in your speech, every time you make everyone look like a fool, just because of your tone, can the children be willing?"

  The old man said to Zi Qing: "Zi Qing, it's not that I'm not on your side, San Mao is indeed different from Da Mao Guiying, and he hasn't done anything wrong to you. Your eldest aunt's family is also having a harder time, so why don't you listen to me and let him try out with you? If it doesn't work out, you can always drive him away."

  "Grandpa, grandma, it's not that I don't want to take care of San Mao, but first, my sister said so earlier. Secondly, my brother-in-law used to be an accountant, so these things come easily to him. Third Uncle is not an outsider either, he has been helping us out for many years, and I really can't do without his help around here. Why don't we let San Mao come over and help clear the reeds? That's all the manpower I need, and I still have to go greet Master Luo and the others."

  "It's exhausting to clear the reeds, and he is still a child, can't do such heavy work, just let him follow your younger uncle to do some errands, follow and learn from experience, in the future when he goes out, he will also be able to learn something." Tian said.

  Zi Qing knew that if he didn't agree today, his parents' days would be even more difficult. Tian Shi would still make trouble every now and then. San Mao hadn't done anything too bad so far. He might as well give him a chance to try, see if he could endure hardship, and whether the rotten bamboo could produce good shoots after all. If it was indeed a good one, then that's fine. But if he wanted to be like Da Mao and others, lazy and cunning, Zi Qing had already thought of ways to deal with him.

  Thinking of this, Zi Qing said: "This won't do. If we want to get things done, we can only go clean up the reed field. Little Uncle's side doesn't lack people running errands either. San Mao also has no experience at all, why should I trust him? Can't just give him silver for nothing, right? Besides, you guys promised before that Big Aunt's family wouldn't come to bother us again, what is this now?"

  The old man got angry as soon as he saw Zi Qing and hurriedly said, "It's just a reed marsh, it's just a reed marsh."

  "Let me be upfront, if you're lazy or have any improper thoughts, I'll fire you on the spot. And there won't be a single penny of wages, so you won't blame me later. If San Mao is willing to work, we'll sign a contract. The contract will state that San Mao must complete the tasks assigned by Master Luo and his team every day. Whatever they do, San Mao only needs to do half of it, and receive 30 cents in wages. You should know that Master Luo and his team, with their great labor, only earn 40 cents a day. If you can't finish your work, don't go home, keep working, or work harder the next day to make up for it. If you still can't finish your work after a month, then I'm sorry. No wages will be paid, I won't raise idle people. You said so yourself, Ah Po. I spent money to hire someone, not to do nothing. I'll give San Mao an opportunity, but don't think about just taking the money without doing any work. Let's sign the contract first."

  "We are all family, why sign a contract? Can't we just not sign it?" Tian asked.

  "No, at that time I'm afraid you'll regret it and cause more trouble. This is me being a small person first and then a gentleman. To be honest, considering what happened in the past, I didn't want to have anything to do with your family, but Grandpa said, 'Three Miao is Three Miao', don't kill him with one stick, so I'll give him a chance."

  The old man hesitated when he heard it, but he also wanted to see if the child was worth helping, so he tacitly agreed. Tian saw that the old man had tacitly agreed and thought that no matter what, Zi Qing would still not give him wages, so he also agreed.

  "Besides, I have no place to live and don't care about eating. All the workers go home for meals by themselves. There are many things to take care of at home, we can't manage." Zi Qing added.

  The Tian family also knew that in the past, when San Mao and his friends were studying, Shen's family didn't get along with them. What more can be said about the incident between Da Mao and Guiying? The two families barely spoke to each other, and even maintaining a superficial harmony was difficult. Moreover, Shen's family is currently busy preparing for Zi Rong's wedding, and they have carpenters and painters at home, so it would be impossible for her to take care of San Mao. Today's purpose is mainly to find a job for the child, although it's not a good one. Tian thought that as long as San Mao pretended to work, being relatives, who would dare to supervise him? He would still receive his wages, and Tian's goal would be achieved, so he readily agreed, unaware of Zi Qing's thoughts.

  When sending off Old Master and Tian, Zi Qing had just opened the door when she saw someone riding a fast horse rushing towards her from afar. In an instant, he dismounted his horse with ease, smiled as he walked towards Zi Qing, and took hold of her hand. Old Master coughed on the side, while Tian hummed in discontent. Lin Kangping hastily let go of Zi Qing's hand and respectfully greeted the two elderly individuals.

  The old man still remembered Lin Kangping slapping him in the face back then, so he wasn't very enthusiastic. As for Tian Shi, it's even more unnecessary to mention. Da Mao's crippled hand was like a thorn, if not for the old man having told her thousands of times not to look for Lin Kangping to reason with, because originally it was Chunyu's family that owed Zi Qing. Otherwise, she would have questioned Lin Kangping long ago, so when she saw Lin Kangping, she didn't have a good expression either.

  Lin Kangping didn't care about this at all. Zi Qing's eyes rolled, and she said: "Kangping, just now my grandfather and grandmother said they wanted to let San Mao come over to do things, I agreed, don't worry first, listen to me." Zi Qing saw Lin Kangping change his face, and quickly told him the conditions that were discussed with the old master earlier. "Kangping, what my grandfather said is right, San Mao is San Mao, just give him a chance, it's just right, you are the host, go sign this contract with him."

  Lin Kongping, what kind of person is he? Zi Qing smiled and looked at him, how could he not know what she was thinking. "Ah Gong, since Qing'er has said so, let San Mao come find me tomorrow, before signing the contract, I'll make it clear what he needs to do, don't worry, I won't intentionally make things difficult for him, but also can't because he broke the rules, so, just follow Zi Qing's words. Do half of Luo Shifu's work, if he has no objections then sign, you all see if that's acceptable?"

  The old man and Mr. Tian were stunned for a moment, but still agreed. After they left, Zi Qing brought Lin Kangping back to the house, boiled some hot water, prepared him to wash up, and thought about cooking something to eat, but Lin Kangping held her hand and said he wasn't hungry.

  "What are you thinking again? Luckily I came back. Just in time, or else, you wouldn't have given him his wages anymore, and he would've been driven mad by your grandparents. In my opinion, it's better to just kick him out directly, I don't want to see his family members, every time I see them I feel like kicking them twice, and you'd still try to stop me. Don't affect my mood."

  "Who made me their eldest aunt? They only think of taking advantage of others, this time I'll teach them a lesson too. Coming but not going is also impolite. What am I afraid of? Isn't there still you?"

  "If San Mao does a good job, will you still pay him wages?"

  "That's natural, I reckon my grandfather also had such thoughts, let's see if he's worth pulling. However, I don't think highly of him."

  After Lin Kangping finished washing up, the two sat down. Zi Qing only then knew that he had hurried back to take a look at the progress of the house and then buy some tea leaves and porcelain from this side to go to Guangzhou.

  "I've already spoken to Wen San, he's getting married in October. After the wedding, someone will take over the shop, I bought a new one in Beijing for 1,000 taels of silver, and I plan to leave the two young servants who followed me to manage it, preparing to sell some dried seafood and foreign goods. Every year, I'll go to Guangzhou twice to deliver tea leaves and porcelain, and bring back some dried seafood and foreign goods on the way. They're familiar with Beijing and more reliable. By the way, I'm in a hurry to come back because I'm worried that you don't have enough silver, our family savings still has over 3,300 taels of silver, I'll leave 500 taels for household use, which should be enough for building the house and courtyard, furniture can wait until next time. These years, every time I went into the mountains to purchase tea leaves, I found some good wood materials, after the house is built, I'll bring them back, the carpenter has already been arranged, he will come with me."

  "You'd better bring three thousand taels of silver this time, I still have the silver you gave me last year, and when you left at the beginning of the year, you also left me the rent for the shop. In total, I have more than 200 taels here. If you leave 300 taels with me, that would be enough. You can take the rest with you, and if you come across some high-quality porcelain decorations, bring some back." Zi Qing said.

  Lin Kangping thought for a moment and said: "That's okay, anyway I'll be back in the fall, and when I get back, I won't leave again."

  "Right, you just mentioned going into the mountains to purchase tea leaves, deep in the mountains? Is it dangerous?"

  Lin Kangping held her hand and said, "Don't worry, I have some martial arts skills. The tea leaves in the deep mountains are not only of good quality but also cheap. Moreover, it's not easy for them to come out once, now that I'm going into the mountains to collect goods, it's a good thing for both us and them. Sometimes I also help them bring some dry mountain goods out, and I've been selling them in Guangzhou."

  The two of them chatted for a bit, and Lin Kangping wanted to go take a look at the construction site. Zi Qing also wanted to follow him, but Lin Kangping wouldn't agree, saying that the site was chaotic and all men, so Zi Qing had no choice but to give up and do her own thing instead. Anyway, this man was very capable and always thought ahead, which made Zi Qing happy to save her worries.

  In the evening, Zeng Rui-xiang and Shen Shi heard that Lin Kang-ping was going to ask San Mao over to do something, they were all somewhat perplexed. Zeng Rui-xiang said: "Qing Er, Kang Ping, didn't I say so? Don't consider me, I've already refused your aunt, how come she still hasn't given up, directly finding you guys, sigh, find some reason, fire him."

  "Father-in-law, this matter has already been decided. You don't need to intervene anymore. Everything is under my control, and I have made up my mind. If he behaves well, that's fine; otherwise, I have a way to make him leave on his own."

  Lin Kongping waited for a few days, and every day he went to see the progress. It seemed that it would take about a month to complete the entire cleaning work. After clearing the reeds, they also had to clear the silt, which needed to be piled up and dried in the sun to make fertilizer. Some of the ponds needed to be expanded, some needed to be filled with soil, and there was also a small island that needed to be built up. In short, it was quite complicated.

  Zi Qing listened and clicked her tongue, saying: "No wonder Father didn't let us buy it. It turns out that the cost of clearing the land is even more than the silver for buying the land. No wonder nobody wants to buy it, it's not worth it at all."

  "It's actually been cleaned up and planned out, so when the time comes, we can raise fish, plant lotus flowers, and even raise your favorite yellow croaker. It won't be a loss then." Lin Kangping smiled as he pinched Zi Qing's cheek.

  Just then, Mrs. Shen led two people in.