Shang Mingyuan's face turned red with anger, and Lin Yubin also understood what was going on. He couldn't help but frown and say: "Big brother, your family isn't short of money, why do you have to do something like this?"

  Shang Mingyuan bit his lip and didn't speak, glancing nervously at Lin Qingwan's solemn face before quietly excusing himself and leaving.

  "Old master, how is it? Has Lin's wife agreed?" asked Zhao the manager with a smile.

  Shang Mingyuan pushed the person away with a wave of his hand, and said with a flick of his sleeve: "What are you agreeing to? Haven't we already received enough grain? We'll set off for Nanjiang tomorrow."

  Zhao's eyes widened, "This is not the time, sir. The autumn harvest is approaching and we can reap another wave of benefits. Do you see any major grain merchants willing to leave Jiangnan? Moreover, the southern border has not yet reached a difficult situation where grain prices are soaring, it's not the right time yet."

  "Father said now set off just now set off, is it you who makes the decision or me?"

  "Of course, it's up to you, sir."

  Shang Mingyuan snorted and turned away with a flick of his sleeve.

  He hastily followed up with a small run, but he was also very suspicious, "Grandpa, didn't you get scolded by Lin's grandma?"

  Shang Mingyuan rolled his eyes at him.

  The old man's temper was not as good as the second master, but he rarely got angry, so when he saw him, he didn't scold him like Zhao Guan Shi. He smiled and said: "I guessed it, but why did Lin Gu Niang scold you? The price you gave wasn't high enough?"

  "Grandpa is kind-hearted, but what can be done if others don't acknowledge him?" Shang Mingjie gritted his teeth and said: "Let's not mention this matter again. First, let's transport the grain to Nanjiang. Whoever wants to do this despicable thing in the future can do it themselves."

  "We bought this grain with real money, how can it be inferior?" Jin glared.

  Shang Mingyuan slapped him on the head, "Things that even I had to be pointed out by others before I understood, can you comprehend them if I tell you?"

  "Pick up gold and it's good to laugh: 'As long as Master is willing to say it, I'll listen even if I don't understand it.'"

  He snorted coldly and didn't say anything, but his mood improved a lot.

  The master and servant got on the horse cart and left, abandoning Zhao Guan Shi.

  Zhao Guanshi caught up from behind and couldn't help but spit on the ground.

  Really think you can be in charge?

  It's just because the second wife is chanting Buddha in the Buddhist hall, otherwise what else would he have to do?

  The horse carriage whizzed by, kicking up a cloud of dust. The wind blew again, and the dust directly splattered onto Shang Mingjie's face just as he was opening his mouth to greet someone.

  After the horse carriage passed by, Shang Ming Jie wiped his face and stared blankly at the rear of the carriage for a long time. Didn't Big Brother come to find him?

  How could he run away without even seeing him?

  "Come on, Second Master, let's hurry up, it's getting late. Your elder brother is probably still waiting for you at home." The senior servant who was responsible for calling Shang Mingjie couldn't help but urge him as he saw him dazing off.

  Shang Mingjie smiled and shook his head: "My big brother has already left, you go back first, I'll go back to help Old Man Chen."

  Having said that, he turned around and went back downstairs.

  Chang Zhang opened his mouth wide, woodenly turning his head to look at the carriage that had long since disappeared on the road, then looked at Shang Ming Jie who was wearing a short jacket and straw hat with his pants legs rolled up, silently swallowing back his doubts.

  He wouldn't have recognized him coming towards him if it weren't for his previous impression of Shang Er Ye's attire.

  Shang Mingjie didn't take this matter to heart, but Shang Mingyuan felt a pang of anxiety after coming back to his senses. He said he came to pick up his younger brother, but the person's face hadn't even appeared before he ran off, as if he had deliberately found an excuse to discuss business.

  He couldn't help but shift his anger to Jin, kicking him to one side with a single foot and scolding: "I may not remember things, but you don't either? You didn't even see Second Master's face before leaving, how are you going to explain this to Old Lady when you return?"

  Picked up gold and swallowed the grievance, but didn't dare to shout, lowered his head and pleaded guilty: "It's all my fault, otherwise, Master, you can kick me off the car, and I'll crawl back to find Second Master?"

  "Get out of here! By the time you crawl back and forth again, it'll be dark."

  He thought for a moment and said, "When you go back, just say that Second Master doesn't want to come back. The Lin family was also very polite to him, so I didn't insist on bringing him back. You be careful not to let the cat out of the bag again."

  "Don't worry, Grandpa, I definitely won't let anything slip."

  Jin carefully approached, diligently massaging his leg and said: "Master, even if we can't buy grain from Lin Gu's place, don't worry, we can buy it from others. There are still many scattered households with grain in hand now, and we can offer a higher price, there are plenty of people selling."

  "You know what," Shang Ming said with a glance at him, "although I want to make money, but not to the extent that I'll take any money."

  Shang Mingyuan hummed twice, if he knew that this money would harm people's lives, he wouldn't be so enthusiastic.

  Isn't this unknown?

  He came to find Lin Qingyuan, first to get grain from her hand, and second also to pull her together to make a fortune.

  After all, she has a lot of grain in her hands, and it's better to sell it now when the price is high. Who knows if there will be such a good price later?

  Don't mention what will happen next year when the good times are gone, this year's boom may not be there next year.

  To say nothing of the others, he knew that the current grain price was also intentionally driven up by someone. Jiangnan was still okay, with imperial control and a bumper summer harvest, so it didn't rise too much.

  The southern Xinjiang region has been pulled by people to a point where prices change every day and are completely out of control.

  He only wanted to make money in Nanjiang, but he didn't expect that some people's hearts were too big, not only wanting to take advantage of the conquest of Nanhan this pass to make money from the common people, but also wanting to squeeze out those small grain merchants and empty their family's bottom.

  If it weren't for Lin's aunt suddenly losing her temper, he would still be working as a knife sharpener.

  Shang Mingyuan had made up his mind not to get involved in this matter anymore, and he went back to tell Shang Lao Furen that they would set off southward the next day.

  The old lady also felt that the money at home was too risky to be invested in grain, and she had borrowed so much money from outside just to buy grain. Now she didn't dare to sleep soundly every night, fearing that something would happen to this batch of grain.

  So Shang Mingyuan just mentioned it and she agreed.

  Mrs. Shang Er still wanted to make more, so she tactfully advised: "Why the hurry? I heard your second uncle say that the grain price outside is still rising. Those big grain merchants haven't gone south yet, why don't we also collect for a few more days?"

  She smiled and said: "Otherwise, by the time you return from Nanjiang, all the grain will have been bought up by those grain merchants."

  "Second Aunt doesn't know, the family's money has all been invested and we've even borrowed a large sum from outside. With such a large batch of grain in our hands, I couldn't sleep at night."

  This remark hit home with Old Mrs. Shang, who nodded repeatedly and hadn't had time to speak when Second Mistress Shang smiled and said: "You're being too cautious, your eldest maternal uncle is in the South Border."

  The old lady's face fell, and she looked inquiringly at Mrs. Shang Er: "How can you make your uncle work so hard? He is a serious person, it's not good to ask him to worry too much about Mingyuan, he can just order the people below him to do things, I think Mingyuan's decision is very good, set off early and get rid of the grain as soon as possible."

  Mrs. Shang II closed her mouth and stopped talking, although she now goes to the Buddhist hall less often, but the power of the housekeeper is still in the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Shang Mingyuan.

  So she didn't want to offend Old Lady Shang at this time, lest she be arranged to recite a large number of Buddhist scriptures again.

  Mrs. Shang II did not object, and Old Lady Shang strongly agreed, so it was settled this way.

  Shang Mingyuan had someone pass a letter to Lin Qingwan, asking if there was anything she needed him to bring back from the southern border.

  The letter happened to fall into Lin Yuhong's hands, and when she delivered it to her aunt, she couldn't help but giggle: "Yesterday, Big Brother's face was so gloomy, I thought he wouldn't come again, who knew that after just one night, he sent a letter over."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said: "He's clever, he knows what's good for him."

  This is also one of the reasons why she has always been willing to mention him from time to time.

  Lin Yuhbin also gradually sensed her aunt's different attitude towards the Shang family.

  To the maternal grandmother, aunt is openly flattering, no matter what the elderly say, as long as it doesn't cross the bottom line, she will respond accordingly, but aunt will still do what she wants to do and won't be swayed by the elderly.

  Between the second aunt and the aunt, they were openly at odds with each other. Although their attitudes towards each other were very good, everyone could smell the gunpowder between them.

  For her elder brother and sister-in-law, as long as they are in front of her, she will mention something if she can.

  As for Shang Mingjie, Lin Yuhong carefully took a look at her aunt. She always felt that her aunt's attitude towards her second brother was very strange. Sometimes she hated him for not being able to do things right, but at the same time, she didn't take care of him like she did with her older brother. She thought her aunt was just coldly observing from the side, and if her second brother did something wrong, she wouldn't remind him like she would with her older brother, instead, she would just watch him coldly.

  But she was very concerned about her second brother, and what he did in the village every day was reported by someone, almost more concerned than herself.

  Lin Yuhuan may not know that Lin Qingyuan is now staring at Shang Mingjie with the eyes of a mother-in-law who is picky about her son-in-law.

  Shang Mingjie had best not make a big mistake. If he did, Lin Qingyuan would immediately kick him out of the reserve list.

  Lin Yuhu didn't know what was on her aunt's mind, but she had always been sensitive and observant, so she had a faint feeling and couldn't help but remind Shang Mingjie in a low voice, "Second brother should think thrice before acting, lest he regrets it afterwards."

  Shang Mingjie's darkened face broke into a silly grin as he said with a relaxed smile, "Don't worry, cousin."

  Lin Yuhbin couldn't bear to look directly at him. Originally a very astute person, why did he appear so silly after getting sunburned?

  After Shang Mingyuan left, grain prices continued to rise, although the increase was small, but even a small increase is a big deal for the common people.

  Many farmers began to rush the harvest of rice, just wanting to catch up with this price surge. A large batch of autumn grain entered the market, and instead of falling prices, they suddenly surged again.

  Even if she hadn't speculated in stocks herself, Lin Qingyuan had heard of it and her face grew increasingly solemn, unable to help but go find Zhou Cishi.

  When they arrived at the gate of the governor's mansion, they happened to run into Lu Su coming out of the governor's mansion. Both were admirers of each other's great names, but this was their first meeting in person.

  Both parties were taken aback, then couldn't help but exchange a smile and bow to each other.

  Lu Su stood on the steps and smiled: "I have long admired the great name of the county master, and I have always wanted to meet him but had no chance to see him. I didn't expect it to be so coincidental today."

  Lin Qingwan also stood on the carriage shaft and smiled: "Lin Mouren is also, always wanted to meet Mr. Lu, but never had the chance, today it's a good opportunity."