Lin Qingwan thought that Mrs. Xie must be tired after rushing for three days, so she sent her to Chunxiao Garden and bid farewell, asking the kitchen to prepare hot water and food for her.

  Yang led the maids to open the boxes and arrange things, seeing Madam leaning against the window without speaking, she handed over the things in her hand to the maid, made a cup of tea for her and brought it over, "Madam, have some tea."

  Mrs. Xie took the tea with a lowered gaze and asked in a low voice, "You said that the letter we received was indeed sent by Lin's loyal servant?"

  She nodded towards the scenery outside the courtyard, "The flowers and trees are lush, and the courtyard is clean and tidy. Along the way, we saw a bumper harvest in the farm, she talked about the farm's affairs in an orderly manner, obviously managing it personally, where does it look like someone who can't think clearly?"

  "Madam, why don't you stay a few more days and see? If the young mistress can come to terms with it, wouldn't that be for the better?"

  Mrs. Xie sighed and nodded: "That's right, I was thinking that after she gets older, we can adopt a child for her and the second son to carry on their family line."

  Yang's heart skipped a beat, and she hastily changed the subject: "The young mistress is still just a child herself, how can she raise children? Madam is thinking too far ahead."

  She raised her hand and lowered the gauze curtain on the scroll, smiling: "The young lady is too considerate, specially changing the gauze window and gauze curtain."

  "There are many insects in the countryside, and most of them are used to prevent insects," Mrs. Xie sighed. "She is more capable than before, she might have thought of these things before, but definitely not so carefully."

  Mrs. Xie was a distinguished guest, so Lin Qingwen asked Lin Yuhong to take a day off and stay at home to entertain her. Moreover, she also let the housekeeper go into town to buy a lot of ingredients and prepare to treat Mrs. Xie well.

  Harvesting wheat and Mrs. Xie's affairs coincided, it was already busy enough, and at this time a large group of cattle and sheep came from the north.

  Lin Qingwan didn't dare to rest and let Lin Yuhong stay at home to take charge, then she went with Lin Guanjia to see the cattle and sheep.

  This is from the north, three merchants jointly, there are sixty cows in total, mostly calves, except for five yaks, the rest are all calves.

  Such a calf, let alone this year, even if it's next spring, I don't dare to use it. It's too small, and at the earliest, it will have to be raised until next autumn.

  Lin Guan's face didn't look good, he bought the cows to save labor, but this batch of calves not only couldn't save him labor, but also would take up a lot of labor to be responsible for their feed and safety, it was strange if he could be happy.

  Compared with cattle, those more than 500 sheep were not taken seriously by Lin's family.

  In Daliang, mutton is easy to sell, they have vast lands and grazing sheep is no problem, so they directly skip the sheep and don't mention it, instead focusing on picking out the flaws of cattle.

  Lin Guanjia was dissatisfied, and Lin Qingyuan also frowned and didn't speak. The three merchants explained nervously: "It's really hard to buy good cows, we've spent a lot of effort to get these calves."

  "They lowered their voices and said: 'You also know that the big beam is very valuable, more than half of these are from Liao State, otherwise we can pull even fewer.'"

  Three businessmen were also helpless, for over a hundred years, the war has not stopped, and there are very few cows among civilians. In the eyes of farmers, cows are more important than people, it's hard to buy a cow, let alone a yak?

  They returned to Cangzhou and began searching for cattle. Since it was too soon after the last purchase, they only managed to buy twelve calves throughout the entire prefecture.

  They had no choice but to secretly contact merchants from the Liao State and exchanged goods, using silk fabrics to trade for 48 heads back.

  Otherwise, they would all be too ashamed to come to Suzhou.

  Lin Guanjia listened to the explanation and his face looked a bit better, but he still tried to push down the price. After all, it's not sure whether this small calf can survive or not.

  Lin Guanjia even hesitated whether to buy all the cattle, because some were really too small.

  Lin Qingwan then said after asking about the proportion of males and females: "Let them all stay."

  Since cows are so hard to come by, why not keep them as seeds and open a cow farm in the future.

  Lin Guanjia remained silent for a moment and still didn't refute Grandma's face, agreeing to buy them all.

  Whether it's cattle or sheep, they all trade with silk fabrics. Conveniently, the weaver of the Lin family had woven a lot of silk fabrics, and Lin Guan took them over to settle the account.

  However, the three guests did not take the hint but instead subtly brought up Lin's embroidered silk, indicating that they wanted it.

  Lin Guan's family was annoyed and rolled her eyes: "Cai Yun will be able to weave it out by the beginning of winter at the earliest, where is it now?"

  Three customers said they didn't mind and could wait.

  Lin Qingwan just smiled and said, "Let's settle the bill first. As for the brocade of my Lin family, except for what we need to use at home, everything else is for sale. If you're interested later, come back and take a look."

  The three guests hesitated: "Will the young lady sell it to someone else first?"

  "Is our master someone who doesn't keep his word?" Lin Guan's family angrily said.

  "We didn't mean it that way, we just thought that since we are weak and of low status, the young lady would leave the goods with the original customers."

  "Now that I've said it, I'll naturally give you a fair chance to compete," Lin Qing said calmly: "When Cai Yun comes out, the Lin family steward will contact you, and at that time, you can bid together with them."

  What other customers does she have on her hands?

  The brocades and satins of the Lin family have always been self-produced and self-sold, but now that the Lin family's fabric shops have all been sold out, they must find new sales channels.

  It's also unclear what happened, but in previous years when the silkworms were harvested, many merchants who knew they couldn't get silk fabrics and brocades would still come to the door, but this year they all disappeared without a trace.

  When Lin Guan's family opened the spring, they still thought that selling the brocade to someone was not as good as cooperating with these three businessmen and adding some feelings. But now they have to change their mind.

  The master and servant quietly hung the three merchants, then handed over the cloth, letting people divide the cattle and sheep into two batches to be sent to the pasture on the other side of the mountain.

  The cowshed and sheepfold have already been built, just need to arrange for someone to take care of them. These things will be taken care of by Lin Guanjia and Zhong Daguantie, so Lin Qingyu doesn't need to worry about it.

  Just as she turned around, Old Man Chen came to the door again and said: "Master, the wheat straw has been harvested. Do you think it's time to start preparing the fertilizer?"

  Lin Qingwan nodded and said, "Get ready, I'll let Lin Guanjia, no, let Lin Shun buy you some night-blooming jasmine and animal dung to bring back. You go to the village and choose some people to help you with the work, we'll start tomorrow."

  Yang's nanny came over to find Lin Qingwan, her body swayed back and forth, shook her head and looked over, saw the young lady standing in front of a old man with a head full of white hair, clothes with patches layered on top of each other, only then did she confirm that she hadn't misheard, the previous conversation was indeed said by their family's young lady.

  How could this be, wasn't the young mistress of their household a refined and elegant woman who only read sacred books and played the zither? How could she say something like "night fragrance" or "feces"?

  Lin Qingwan turned around and saw Yang Ayi, then smiled and asked, "Ayi, why have you come? Does Mother have any instructions?"

  Yang's wife stared blankly at her for a while, then smiled slightly and said: "I just wanted to ask the young lady, is there any particular way of using water in the mansion? I brewed some tea and Madame said it was very good, asking if there was more."

  "That's the cold spring water from the mountain, there's still a lot left. If it runs out in the vat, someone will be called to fetch more," Lin Qingyuan saw her dazed expression and couldn't help but ask with concern, "Auntie, are you tired?"

  "No," said Yang Ayi, shaking her head. She was about to leave, but then asked reluctantly, "Was the young mistress just dealing with the Zhuangzi matter?"

  Lin Qingwan nodded, "There are many merchants coming from the north bringing cattle and sheep, I'll have Lin Guanjia buy them to build a pasture."

  "These things can be left to subordinates to handle, where is it necessary for you to personally take care of?"

  "This estate is where my sister and I rely on for our livelihood, being meticulous won't go wrong, besides, I'm bored anyway, might as well manage things to distract myself."

  "Madam, if you're feeling bored, why don't you read some poetry or learn to play the piano? Didn't you say before that you wanted to master your wife's piano skills?"

  Lin Qingwan shook her head and said, "I won't read poetry collections or play the zither again."

  She would write poetry, but the artistic conception must be quite different from that of Wan Jie Er, and since poetry is a reflection of one's character, she didn't dare take this risk.

  Besides, in terms of poetic talent, she can't compare to Wan Jie's cleverness, so it's better not to write poetry from now on, lest she tarnish Wan Jie's reputation.

  As for playing the guqin, she only knew the basics. At first, it was because she was too spoiled that her grandfather had enrolled her in a guqin class to temper her personality.

  She has studied for only one year and can hardly be called proficient.

  But Yuanyu's sister was different, her piano skills were unmatched, and even the Empress Dowager had praised her in the past, saying that the palace musicians were not even a tenth as good as her.

  Wan's sister was favored by Mrs. Xie and said she could inherit her legacy, it can be seen that her piano skills were exceptionally good.

  She doesn't even touch poetry anymore, let alone the piano.

  Lin Qingwan was thinking in her heart, if Yang Nainai asked her the reason, how should she answer without making her suspicious?

  Who knew she waited for half a day, but Yang's nanny just glanced at her twice and turned around to leave.

  Lin Qingyu silently gazed at her back, was she... angry?