Lin Qingyuan was still the same as when they saw her two years ago in April, but in their hearts, her weight had long been different.

  Even if she was just talking big, the three of them still had to think carefully about it.

  Eleventh Uncle thought for a moment, and unexpectedly felt that she was very reasonable. He looked at Sixth Brother, then at Old Eight, and finally coughed lightly: "Wan Jie, don't be too hard on your Eighth Uncle, this kind of talk hurts people's feelings."

  Lin Qingwan said seriously: "Eleventh Uncle, what I said is not nonsense."

  She looked at the three of them and said, "I am a person of Lin's family, with great feelings for Lin's family, so I am willing to pay. But if I don't get any return after paying, it's okay, but even gratitude can't be obtained, and too much feeling will also be exhausted."

  Lin Qingwan said solemnly, "I and the Xie family have little to do with each other except for Er Lang and a marriage contract, but my mother-in-law dotes on me, and the Xie family respects me. Feelings can be cultivated."

  Their faces changed color.

  Emotions can be cultivated, so if she is disappointed with Lin's family and Xie's family treats her well, will she stand on Xie's side?

  Eighth Uncle was about to scold her as soon as she opened her mouth, but facing Shang Lin Qingwen's clear and bright eyes, he swallowed his words again, and for a moment, he couldn't turn back.

  Sixth Uncle also had some reservations, in his heart, no matter what the family was like, it was still a family, how could one not think of the family and instead look outside?

  But he also felt that Lin Qingwan was right, emotions can be cultivated.

  "Sixth Uncle, Eighth Uncle, Eleventh Uncle, people's hearts can get hurt, I don't want to be like my father and get hurt, so if there's anything wrong with your niece, please forgive her."

  The three of them suddenly remembered the disaster of Gengwu and Lin Zhilai, and Liu Shu immediately said: "Wan Jie, your eighth uncle didn't mean anything else, he just can't speak. You can take charge of those things in the paper mill yourself, that formula was researched by your family's craftsmen."

  Eleventh Uncle said: "Yes, yes, we're old now, you young people think about these things for yourselves."

  Although Eighth Uncle was not convinced, he still nodded his head in agreement.

  Lin Qingwan pursed her lips and said, "Thank you, Sixth Uncle, for understanding."

  It seems that it's still necessary to knock from time to time after all.

  Lin Yuhai behind the plum tree was stunned, looking back and forth at the three uncles in surprise.

  The four people sitting at the table did not continue this topic, and the atmosphere was slightly relaxed. Lin Qingyuan got up to pour boiling water for them to make tea, with a smile on her face: "Three uncles, just now it was sister Yuan's fault, please forgive me."

  The three of them exchanged a glance, all took the tea and drank it. Sixth Uncle smiled and said: "It's also because we care too much, as long as Sister Wen doesn't mind our nagging, that's fine."

  Eighth Uncle took a sip of tea and smacked his lips, saying: "I still don't like the taste of this clear tea, it should be cooked with some ginger slices and cheese. I don't know where this trend started from, but now everyone is drinking clear tea."

  Lin Qingwan twitched the corner of her mouth and sat down, saying: "I think this clear tea tastes better. Eighth Uncle is probably just not used to it yet. In three more months, our family's share from the tea garden should arrive too. At that time, I'll give some to Eighth Uncle for him to try."

  Although the tea garden has been sold out, at that time, an agreement was made that every year the tea garden would give a certain share to the Lin family.

  Not much, just about 5 taels, but for tea lovers, even one tael is hard to come by.

  Eighth Uncle didn't really love tea, but after Lin Qingwen said that, he felt a bit better in his heart, and the anger from being scolded by her earlier had dissipated quite a bit.

  The four of them started chatting over tea, from the tea leaves to the soil and water, and then to various crops. Sixth Uncle sighed, "Fortunately, your brother reminded us to make preparations early, these two years our family has sold very little grain, and we managed to avoid this disaster."

  "Yes, I heard that the grain prices outside have risen to thirty-five cents," said Eleventh Uncle, shaking his head. "It's only just the beginning of the month now, and by March or April, who knows what it will be like?"

  "It depends on when the war between Nandu and Nanhan will end," said Ba Shu, turning his eyes: "Taking advantage of the current grain price being acceptable, why don't we also stock up some grains?"

  Lin Qingwan's face fell, and Liu Shu directly rebuked, "Lao Ba, hoarding grain with malicious intent and artificially raising prices is a serious crime. How old are you now that you're still fighting for such petty gains?"

  "Eight uncle curled his lips, 'Now storing grain, maybe in a month or two, it can be doubled, is that a small profit?'"

  Sixth Uncle's face was solemn, Eleventh Uncle sneered: "Then let people point at Lin's nose and scold? Eighth Brother, the accumulated virtues of our ancestors will be ruined by you."

  Eighth Uncle puffed out his chest and glared, seeing Sixth Brother's expression getting worse, so he held back his breath and said: "I didn't really want to do it, I was just saying it."

  Lin Qingwan didn't know what to say, she rubbed her forehead and said: "It's best if Eighth Uncle is just talking, now that the war in the south is raging, this is a rare opportunity for Daliang. Your Majesty and the officials in the court will not allow anyone to drive up prices and cause chaos in the rear."

  Lin Qingwan's eyes held a warning, "Now it's the New Year, so the court doesn't care, but after this year is over, I'm afraid Your Majesty and all the dignitaries will have to take action."

  During the Chinese New Year, Zhou Zong personally led his men to resettle refugees in the countryside, showing the extent of his dedication. If he treated refugees with such care, how could he allow the people of Suzhou to live in chaos?

  No one knows how long the battle of Southern Han will last, and for now, grain and fodder are still being issued from the national treasury. But if it drags on for too long, Jiangnan will definitely have to collect military taxes again, and even recruit soldiers.

  At this time, neither Zhou Zhi or Your Majesty dare to let the grain price skyrocket, otherwise they will not wait for the conquest of Southern Han, and their own capital will be in chaos first.

  The three heard this and their spirits were immediately shaken, asking: "Did Sister Wan get the news ahead of time?"

  Lin Qingwan twitched her mouth and said: "I guess so, Your Majesty is a person who strives for perfection."

  Three people with faces of disbelief.

  Lin Qingwan didn't explain anymore, seeing the gloomy weather, probably going to snow again, so she called over Lin Yuhbin who was wandering around behind the plum tree and bid farewell: "Sixth Uncle, I think the weather isn't good, I'll head back first and come again tomorrow to pay respects to the three uncles."

  Sixth Uncle immediately summoned the housekeeper to send her away, saying: "Since you've returned, then stay for a while longer. If there's anything lacking or insufficient at home, have someone come here to fetch it."

  Lin Qingwan nodded and bid farewell to her three uncles.

  Lin Yuhong also followed suit and bid farewell, no one remembered her previous rudeness, everyone was thinking about the situation in Suzhou and the war with Nan Han.

  Bai Mei saw the masters coming out and immediately wanted to put down the horse stool. Lin Qingwen waved her hand and said, "Let the carriage go back first, we'll walk back."

  It's not far from the old house, but it's not close either, and you have to walk for about half an hour.

  Thinking that she had been exercising less recently and was a bit out of breath, Lin Qingyuan took Lin Yuheng's hand and said, "The wind is small now, let's walk back slowly."

  The streets inside Lin's village were all paved with bluestone bricks, swept very clean. Lin Yuhong didn't know much about the clan, and from childhood to adulthood, he had lived here for less than a year in total, let alone walking around in the clan.

  So she looked around curiously, the houses were symmetrical, the streets were clean, a group of children whizzed past from the street in front of them, shouting and running into another alley, Lin Yubin couldn't help but smile.

  Just as I was about to withdraw my gaze, a little boy wearing a big red padded jacket stumbled out of the street corner, crying and chasing after the group of children, calling out in a muffled voice: "Brother, brother..."

  Lin Yuhu's heart ached instantly, and he was about to go comfort him when a big kid ran out from the alley entrance, grabbed the little one's arm, slapped his butt, and scolded: "I told you not to follow me earlier, what are you following me for? Now you're crying again and blaming me."

  The big kid looked disgusted, but still bent down and carried his little brother on his back, running to catch up with his playmates with a "thud thud thud" sound.

  Lin Yuhbin walked to the entrance of the alley, turned his head and saw a group of children playing with stones together. The big child from just now was holding his younger brother with one hand and playing with others with the other hand.

  That little kid couldn't even speak clearly, but kept clapping his hands to cheer on his brother. Lin Yubin felt a pang of envy and stood at the entrance of the alley for a long time, unable to snap out of it.

  Lin Qingwan stood beside her, looking at those children with a gaze that softened involuntarily.

  "Auntie, if war comes here, will we no longer see such scenes?"

  Lin Qingyan was silent, and already tens of millions of families had been destroyed in the war. How many such scenes had been destroyed?

  Unless the whole country is unified and the war is completely eliminated, who dares to guarantee that the war will not reach here?

  "Auntie," Lin Yubin's eyes became even more determined, "when can I be as fierce as you?"

  Can be respected by people, can protect a group of people, and can calculate all things in the world without going out.

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "Auntie wasn't always this fierce from the beginning."

  She knew what she meant, and it was mostly inspired by the things from Liu Shu and their affairs.

  "You have to let people know your ability, only then will you be respected. When you go to do things, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort," Lin Qingyan said: "So the most important thing is talent."

  Lin Yuhong pouted, "But Auntie taught me everything I know now, and all I can do is manage the household accounts and take care of the back house. I want to be like my younger sister, able to analyze current events, so that when something happens, I won't be completely clueless and unprepared."

  "Silly child, I taught you more than just managing accounts and taking care of the household," Lin Qingyan shook her head with a smile, "and don't forget, you're still in school."

  "I'm sending you to school, not just to learn poetry, books, etiquette and chess, painting, your teacher can teach you a lot. Mr. Shi is from a famous historian family, and history books know the laws of prosperity and decline." Lin Qingyan smiled: "There's a lot of knowledge in books, it's not that you understand it by reading it, you also need to apply it in practice to be truly proficient."

  "For example, how can I be sure that this time's price increase is due to someone intentionally hoarding grain and artificially raising prices?"

  "It rose too quickly," said Lin Yubin, "I heard Lin Anshun say that in just three months it went from eighteen cents to thirty-five cents, a rise of nearly one hundred percent."

  Even if the Lin family didn't buy grain from outside, they were still shocked by the price of grain.