Lin Yuhu's face turned serious as he said, "Auntie has always told me to take care of my body, but your health isn't good either, and you've been working hard lately. You should be taking care of yourself too. This winter melon soup is very nourishing, try some."

  Lin Qingwan quietly took a deep breath and drank it all in one gulp.

  What can she do?

  She doesn't like to eat winter melon, but if you add a few pieces of pork ribs inside, she might like it.

  However, they were still in the mourning period and could only eat vegetarian food.

  Lin Qingwan finished drinking the soup and handed the bowl back to her, saying: "I'm done, I've finished drinking."

  Lin Yuhong slightly pursed her lips, she also saw that her sister-in-law didn't like to eat winter melon, but people can't be picky about food, this was what her sister-in-law had taught her when scolding her.

  She thinks her sister-in-law is absolutely right.

  Lin Yuhong handed the bowl to Yingyan and leaned over to ask, "What are you busy with?"

  "I'm writing a plan," Lin Qingyuan pulled her over to sit down beside him, pointing at what she had written: "We have thirty-five hectares of land in the west of the city. Thirty hectares are our fiefdoms, although they can't be passed down to future generations, we still need to manage them well."

  "Come and take a look, as the county master, you have ten hectares of fiefdom land, think about what you want to do with this land."

  Lin Yuhbin was perplexed, "Isn't land used for growing crops? Just rent it directly to the tenant."

  "Foolish child, collecting rent is the stupidest way to work on the land," Lin Qingwen tapped her head and said with a smile: "You're not an old lady without energy, nor are you someone with other important businesses, why don't you put more thought into managing your own land?"

  Lin Yuheng was taken aback and asked after a while: "How will that little girl arrange her own land?"

  Lin Qingwan turned around with her hands behind her back and said, "The good land is naturally used for growing grain. Apart from the servants serving in the mansion and those working in various shops, there are also 28 households with a total of 196 people who have been arranged to return to their hometowns this time. Their positions have not been arranged yet. Most of the family's industries have been sold, and apart from this land, there is no other place to arrange for them to go. So I plan to set aside the good land, except for the original tenant households, and give it to them. If they are willing, they can rent and cultivate it like the tenant households. At that time, we will only collect some rent from them each year, and the rest will be given to them."

  "If they are not willing, then we can still use the monthly salary to work on the land. Besides the fertile fields, there are also some that are not so good and have been abandoned for a long time. In addition to growing grains, we can also plant fruit trees, mulberry trees, and dig ponds." Lin Qingwen smiled: "It all depends on how we arrange it. So, Yubin, you can also think about how to use those lands."

  Lin Yuhong was at a loss, she had learned to manage accounts now, but when it came to thinking about what to plant in the field, she was momentarily at a loss.

  This matter is not urgent. Firstly, they can't go out during the mourning period, and secondly, it's still early to leave Chun, so there's plenty of time to think about it. Therefore, Lin Qingwen was very tolerant and didn't set a deadline for her.

  "Auntie," said Bai Mei as she came in from outside, seeing Lin Yubin pause in his steps and bow to her before saying, "Second Master has arrived."

  Lin Qingwan said with a smile, "Please come in."

  Although Lin's house was closed to visitors, Shang Mingjie seemed to be unaware of it and came here every day or at least every other day, she couldn't help but get used to it.

  "This time Shang Mingjie brought a box of pastries, 'This is the new product that our family's chef has just developed, my sisters all said it was good after trying it, and grandma remembered that cousin also loves sweets, so she asked me to bring some over for Lin Auntie and cousin to try. If you think they're delicious, Fangzi can copy the recipe and let the chef see if she can make them.'"

  Xian Yi immediately lowered his head and handed the box over to Bai Mei.

  Bai Mei first glanced at Lin Qingwan before presenting the box to Lin Yuhong.

  Lin Qingwan smiled at Shang Mingjie and said, "It must be your idea to give Fangzi, the old lady wouldn't think of letting us make it ourselves. She must have said that if we eat well, someone will send a box over every day."

  Shang Mingjie scratched his head, with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "I wasn't thinking that our two families are in different neighborhoods and it's not close by. If the cook finishes making them and sends them over later, they'll be cold already. It's better to eat these pastries while they're still hot, if they get cold, they'll easily become greasy. If Auntie's cook has a recipe, then when Auntie and my sister want to eat them, they can have them immediately."

  "Thank you for your concern," Lin Qingyan accepted his prescription, smiled and said: "When I get back, please thank the old lady on my behalf. After the mourning period is over, I'll ask my sister to come and pay her respects."

  Shang Mingjie nodded and glanced at Lin Yuhong: "Grandma is worried about her niece, often worrying whether she eats well, sleeps well, or still cries..."

  Lin Yuhong's face turned red as she said, "Who says I always cry? I've been doing well lately, tell my grandmother not to worry."

  Lin Qingwan lowered her head and drank tea, letting the two of them talk.

  The old lady indeed cared about Lin Yubin, and on the third day after they returned to Suzhou, she sent a servant girl to visit Lin Yubin. Shang Mingjie was able to frequently visit the Lin residence, apparently with her support, otherwise Shang's second wife might not have been willing for her son to come to the Lin house at this time.

  After all, Zhao Sheng is still in Suzhou.

  It seems that she and Zhao Shengzhen have a bit of a grievance, every time he finds fault with her, although every time he doesn't end up well, but having such a person around is really annoying.

  Now Zhao Sheng seems to be rooted in Suzhou and won't leave, she's not worried about others, but worries that he will cause trouble because Lin Jiang was very wary of the Zhao family when he was alive.

  She didn't think that kind of vigilance came out of thin air.

  Lin Qingwan and the two children had chatted for a while, before she inserted a question: "Mingjie, what has your older brother been busy with lately? Why is it always you who runs errands for the family?"

  Shang Mingjie naturally wouldn't say that all the errands to Lin's residence were snatched by him, nor would he say that he created many opportunities to come here. So he said to his brother, "He is resting at home, Auntie doesn't know, this time he has been away from home for a long time, his sister-in-law misses him and doesn't allow him to run around again, so I took care of all the errands."

  Lin Qingyan nodded and smiled: "You've made quite a bit of progress, I must say. Besides coming here to see me, you're also taking care of your Second Uncle's place, aren't you?"

  Shang Mingjie smiled awkwardly and scratched his head, saying: "Second Uncle doesn't need me to follow him, he's busy with important things, if I go he'll just think I'm a nuisance."

  "Huh? I thought he came to Suzhou to see your mother, but it turns out he's here on business?"

  "He originally came to see my mother, but somehow he suddenly wanted to set up a villa at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain. Recently, he has been running around with Zhao Guan Shi to see if he can buy some land."

  Lin Qingwan tilted her head and asked, "Qingfeng Mountain, is the land there very fertile?"

  "I've never heard of Fertile, but many families in the city have built villas there. My family also built a small one two years ago." Shang Mingjie furrowed his brow and said in a low voice, "I think Big Brother means that Grandmother wants to send us to study at the Lu family's place on the mountain, so she had a small villa built at the foot of the mountain."

  Lin Qingwan raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Lu loves money very much, I heard that outsiders who want to enter the school must pass three gates, how many gates can you pass now?"

  Shang Mingjie lowered his head and said, "My nephew has never tried it before."

  "Their exam papers for each test should not be difficult to find, why don't you get some from the past two years and take a look."

  Shang Mingjie didn't say a word and just shook his head, having heard that the Lu family was very strict, and being slapped on the palm of the hand was already the lightest punishment, he wasn't going to go.

  Lin Qingyan saw that he was unwilling and didn't say anything more. After keeping him for a while to talk, she let him leave.

  Lin Yuhu poured tea for his sister-in-law and saw that she looked lost in thought, so he couldn't help but ask softly: "Sister-in-law, don't you like the Zhao family?"

  Lin Qingyan sneered, "It's not that I don't like the Zhao family, but rather the Zhao family doesn't like us."

  Lin Yuhuan was puzzled, "Why, both our families have relatives with the Shang family and are considered outer relatives, why don't they like it?"

  In this era, marital relationships are very close and very important.

  Although the Lin and Zhao families do not have a direct marital relationship, they both have a kinship with the Shang family. With the Shang family as a link, the two families dare not say that their relationship is close, but they should be in the same interest group.

  Lin Jiang must have thought so a long time ago, but he definitely saw something in the sky mirror, so his disgust for the Zhao family was so obvious.

  It's only when trust is betrayed that one becomes so angry and resentful.

  Lin Qingwan naturally wouldn't tell Lin Yubin these things, so she just nodded and said, "Zhao Jie wants to be the Jiangnan Surveillance Commissioner, he's older than your father by a few years, definitely not something he just thought of this year."

  Lin Yuhbin's face sank, which means that the Zhao family may have had their eyes on this position a long time ago, and his father had blocked their way.

  Lin Qingwan patted her head and said, "Fortunately, your paternal grandmother is still around, so the Shang family is still somewhat reasonable."

  For Mrs. Yu Shang, her son-in-law is naturally much closer than her daughter's brother.

  Lin Yuhuan let out a sigh of relief and leaned against her, saying: "Little sister, from now on you have to teach me these things."

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "Alright, I'll teach you everything little sister understands."

  "Why did Uncle Zhao set up a separate house at the foot of Qingfeng Mountain?" Lin Yubin asked curiously, "His family isn't from Suzhou, if he wanted to build a separate house, wouldn't it be better in the city?"

  "It's for the younger generation in the family to study, I suppose," Lin Qingyuan sighed: "Lu Shi, that's a big clan..."

  Lin Yuhuan rolled her eyes and said: "Little sister, let's also build a separate house."

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but smile, and pointed to her forehead: "You're really a silly child, half a mile down from Qingfeng Mountain is the village where our family lives, and on the other side of Qingfeng Mountain there's also a large piece of land that belongs to our family, why would we need to build again..."

  Lin Qingwan's voice paused, the smile on her face slowly faded away, and she nodded at her knee: "Yes, Qingfeng Mountain is not private, because of its beautiful scenery, Lu Su built a thatched hut on the mountain to settle down. Later, some members of the Lu family sent their children to him for guidance, so they built another house on the mountain to teach."

  "The government turned a blind eye to the Lu family's actions, and later their private school became even larger. The Lu family wanted to buy Qingfeng Mountain from the government, but the government refused because the mountain was too large and had good scenery, making it a popular destination for scholars and poets. Instead, they only collected some rent from the Lu family, allowing them to build a villa on the mountain to teach..."

  Lin Jiang told her this as a story because she had too much on her mind and couldn't recall the story for a moment.

  Lin Qingwan searched around on the table and finally found a document, "At the foot of Qingfeng Mountain, there is only one small village with about ten households. Except for the fields allocated to them by the imperial court, all the others are ownerless wasteland within the jurisdiction of the government office. This time, the fiefdom has been assigned to that side..."

  "So," Lin Qingyan's face sank, "did Zhao Sheng go to build a separate house on the mountain for the sake of the Lu family's learning or for the sake of the Lin family's noble fields?"

  Lin Yuhong was tongue-tied, "Little sister, perhaps you're thinking too much."

  Lin Qingwan nodded and said, "I hope so."