After some small talk, they had the girls line up and pay their respects to the three gentlemen.

  Including the children of Lu's family, there were fifteen people in total who came to pay their respects this time. With the children of Lu's family at the front, they lined up in rows of five and knelt down to pay their respects to the three female teachers, presenting them with the gifts that their parents had prepared for them.

  Shi Xian sat in the middle, after receiving all the gifts, and spoke on behalf of Mr. Shi, "The world is difficult, women are often not easy to get by, you are from a wealthy family, more fortunate than most people in this world. You have parents and brothers to rely on, but you can't just rely on others, you should also have the ability to stand on your own. If you retreat, you can protect yourself, if you advance, you can help your parents and brothers. A person's life should have some meaning, not just existing."

  This remark is quite surprising at present, and not to mention other ladies, even Lin Qingyuan looked at Shi Xian in surprise.

  Shi Xian looked at the fifteen students below with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, "In this world, it's hard to find a good teacher, and even harder to find a good female teacher. Therefore, I hope that after you enter school, you will study diligently and make progress, don't waste the efforts of your parents and us, and don't waste this opportunity to attend school. The Lu family's school will not only teach you to read and write, play chess and paint, but also the way of being a person, and the ability to manage."

  Shi Xian let out a long sigh and said: "We have done our best, I hope you will also do your best, don't follow in my footsteps."

  The girls with unclear expressions looked puzzled, while the wives who knew the inside story bowed their heads in contemplation. As Shi Jia was a renowned historian and had always been open-minded, it was said that Shi Xian's marriage had been agreed upon by her, and it seemed that she had even chosen Cui Jin herself. But wasn't this saying that the Shi family was not good at divination, and their judgment of people was inaccurate?

  Shi Xian finished speaking and nodded slightly to his cousin and Lu Er's wife. The girls then came forward one by one to pay their respects and serve tea to the teacher.

  The three of them just took a sip and put it down, sending out the prepared four treasures of the study, and the courtesy to the teacher was complete.

  Today is just a ceremony, this afternoon the girls will stay behind for emotional exchange, so parents need to go back first.

  The requirements of the Lu family's private school were even stricter than those of the government-run school. While the government-run school had a two-hour break at noon, the Lu family's private school only had a one-hour break, and after eating, everyone could rest for just a short while.

  However, after reviewing the course schedule, parents found that apart from the heavy morning courses, the afternoon classes were mainly focused on entertaining subjects such as piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Parents also noticed a course called "Nature", which was inspired by Zhuangzi's concept of following nature.

  Lin Qingwan also knew that Shi Xian originally wanted to name this course "Morality". If "Ren Yi" is the label of Confucian thought, then "Dao De" is the essence of Daoist thought.

  However, Shi Hui strongly opposed it, because although most of the course is about Lao Zhuang's knowledge points, there are also extensions, and directly defining it as "morality" is not appropriate.

  The two sisters debated for two days and finally asked Lin Qingyuan to be the judge. Shi Xian conceded, and it was renamed "Nature".

  Although it's been renamed, everyone still knows that this is a course about Lao Zhuang. The ladies looked at each other without saying a word, but they were very satisfied in their hearts.

  At this time, Confucianism had not yet occupied a dominant position in the field of knowledge and culture, and Taoism still occupied an important position at the cultural level.

  The ladies who can send their daughters from home to Lushi's house to study are not to mention, and they are still open-minded. Even the second lady of Shang likes Taoism better.

  So they didn't show any dislike for this course.

  As for Lin Qingyuan, she said that although education in this era is scarce but refined, what else can be admired about her?

  Unfortunately, the cost of reading is too high, so there are very few people who read, and even fewer women.

  She and Yuhwan were lucky, Lin's family was a scholar clan, so there would be much less resistance to reading.

  Lin Qingwan patted Lin Yuhong's head and whispered, "Go on, get along well with your classmates. If someone bullies you, don't fight back in person, come back and tell me."

  Lin Yuhbin blinked his eyes, doubting that he had misheard, "Fighting? Not quarreling?"

  Lin Qingwan smiled and patted her head, saying: "It's a fight, quarrel if you want to, just don't get into fights with others, or you'll end up losing."

  Lin Yuhbin's face turned black, "Little girl, do I look like someone who would fight?"

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said, "How can you tell? When someone is annoyed, they can't do anything."

  She was also known as a good girl when she read books, but when she fought, even she herself was afraid.

  Lin Yuhu stayed behind after class, Lin Qingwen bid farewell and left. When she got outside, she found that most of the parents had already left, but Mrs. Shang Er still stood at the door with Xiao Fangshi.

  Lin Qingwan smiled and stepped forward, "Would Second Madam and Mingyuan's wife like to come to my place for a visit?"

  Mrs. Shang smiled and declined, "I'll go another day when I'm free, I still have to wait for Ming Jie, that child is really something, he said goodbye to the master and then came out to talk to me, but now there's no sign of him."

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "I reckon Mr. Lu left him to talk, since Mingyuan hasn't come out, that means things are going smoothly."

  She paused and smiled: "I haven't congratulated Second Madam yet. Ming Jie has taken Mr. Lu as his master, and he will be even more promising in the future."

  Mrs. Shang was all smiles, humbly saying with pride: "As long as he is willing to study hard and not think about playing every day, I am very satisfied."

  Lin Qingyan curled up the corners of her mouth, this was truly the most careless lie.

  She nodded slightly to Xiaofang and bid farewell with the two of them leaving together.

  The car arrived at the foot of the mountain, and Lin Qingyuan said, "Let's go take a look at the fruit trees first."

  The carter immediately turned his horse's head and went towards Qingfeng Village.

  The orchard is under construction, and the craftsmen of Lin's mansion have drawn up a blueprint according to Lin Qingwan's requirements, designing thatched cottages, open halls, corridors and pavilions, which are currently being built by hired workers.

  The small river in the orchard was also cleaned up, and many flowers and trees were planted. Lin Qingyan selected three flower craftsmen from the government office to take care of them specially.

  This year and next year, there will be no harvest from the fruit trees, so we can only make up for it by picking some from the flower woods.

  The foreman of the orchard ran over to pay his respects, "Madam, all the fruit trees have survived, and the flower and wood carvings that you had planted are being taken care of very well by Chen Hua. By Dragon Boat Festival, we can harvest a batch of flowers."

  Lin Qingwan was shocked, "So soon?"

  The foreman smiled, "The flowers moved from the government office and old house were originally big branches. With care for a month or so, they will bloom. Those bought from the market and transplanted by ourselves may have to wait until Mid-Autumn Festival."

  The foreman looked at Lin Qingwan's face and carefully asked, "Miss, do you want to sell this flower on Dragon Boat Festival?"

  "Come on," Lin Qingyan smiled, "if it can be sold, why not sell it?"

  "Then this person in charge..."

  "I'll go back and discuss with Zhong Daguantie, in two days I will send someone to take over, at that time you can return to the mansion."

  The foreman was overjoyed when he heard this and happily agreed. He could finally stop being exposed to the wind and sun here.

  Lin Qingwen went back and found Zhong Daguantie, "How is Lin Shun's training going?"

  "He's a clever kid, and having followed Old Loyal for many years, he seems even more steady than his father. These past few months following me, he's become even more mature," said Zhong the steward after a moment of silence: "If Mistress doesn't have other plans, I think I'll take him under my wing, to groom him as a successor."

  "There's no hurry, Uncle Zhong is still young and can work for another twenty or thirty years. Let him go somewhere else to gain some experience first."

  Zhong Daguan couldn't help but laugh, "Auntie also thinks too highly of me. If I can make it to Old Zhong's age, I'll be very satisfied. Where do you want to send him?"

  "On the side of Qingfeng Village, the flowers and trees there can be sold, although not many, but someone needs to manage them, and the work in the garden also needs someone to take over."

  Zhong Daguan hesitated, "Isn't this a waste of great talent on a small matter? That garden is only over 300 mu, and the fruit trees haven't grown big yet, so it won't take up much of his time."

  But Zhuangzi's side needs people in many places, and it is difficult to get talented people. Sending Lin Shun over there would have the suspicion of being demoted.

  "Then let him take care of the pond too," Lin Qingyan said with a smile: "Don't look down on it because it's small, in the future that garden might become a big source of income for our Lin family."

  Zhong Daguanshi just smiled and said, "Fruits are expensive, but no matter how expensive they are, the fruit garden can only make so much money?"

  But if you plant too much and can't sell it, then you'll lose money. Only grain and silk are the way to go, so Manager Zhong still thinks that this big estate is more important.

  Lin Shun was assigned, Lin Qingyuan met him first and told him about her plan for the garden, hoping that he could put forward better opinions in management later.

  Lin Shun was still a bit disappointed, after all, he was transferred from Zhong's side to manage a small villa. Who knew that this villa would be so important? He listened with sparkling eyes and asked: "Miss, what will the garden be called in the future? Can't it just be called an orchard? Yi Garden has a good name, we should also take a more impressive one."

  Lin Qingwan first thought of the modern and refreshing "XX Farmer's Music", she coughed lightly, here, the name can't be taken so, she thought for a moment: "Since the audience is book lovers, let's call it Wen Garden, with literature as friendship, with flowers as medium."

  Lin Shun hastily ran to grind the ink and spread out the paper in front of Lin Qingyuan, "Please, young lady, grant me a word."

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but smile, and she picked up her pen to write the two characters "Wen Yuan". She smiled and said: "Lin Shun, there's no rush with Wen Yuan. It won't be open to guests until next spring at the earliest. Before that, you have to get everything inside built up properly. Those pavilions and roads must be complete, and don't forget about the pond on the Zhuangzi side either - those are your responsibility too."

  "Don't worry, Auntie. For the past few days, I've been supervising them digging the pond at the construction site. Apart from my dad, I'm the most familiar with this project."

  Lin Qingwan nodded, "After the pond is dug, we can put water in to raise fish. The sugarcane mud excavated can be used as fertilizer and piled around the pond as a base. We can also plant fruit trees or mulberry trees on it. Our Jiangnan region has plenty of water, if you can dispatch people to help, they can also raise ducks."

  Lin Shun was stunned and asked blankly, "Miss, is there still money in our house?"

  Lin Qingyuan: "......"

  "Madam, we don't have the money, so forget about the fish fry. And as for this duck, no one wants to buy it anyway. Who eats duck? Everyone loves chicken meat."

  He counted the money with his fingers for Lin Qingwan, "The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and the gifts for Beijing were just sent out two days ago. The festival gifts for the clan and the Shang family also need to be prepared in advance. There are also those old friends of Master's in Yangzhou, who also need to send a gift to maintain relationships."

  Lin Guan's eyes were filled with tears as he looked at Lin Qingyan and said, "Auntie, after the Dragon Boat Festival is over, it will soon be Mid-Autumn Festival."

  "Our family also accepts gifts, doesn't it?"

  Lin Guanjia's eyes were about to flow with tears, "Auntie, if Master knew that we had to sell gifts to make ends meet at home, he would be so heartbroken in heaven."

  Seeing Lin Guan's tearful face, Lin Qingyan didn't dare mention money again. Coughing, she had spent a bit too much recently, so she would slow down for now.