Hand over the money in the name of Shang Er's wife, saying it was Shang Er's dowry, but who knows that the money is Zhao's family, and the dividend money also needs to be handed over to Zhao's family.

  Just as Shang Mingyuan used Xiao Fang's "dowry" to invest a sum of money, who doesn't know that the money is their private savings as a couple?

  That money hasn't even passed through Old Lady Two's hands yet, who knows how much will be left for him?

  She's done it before, and she always has various reasons to deduct from their pay. He and Xiaofang are younger, and when their grandmother and mother don't speak up, they can't win an argument even if they want to.

  So this time he simply took his share of the dividend before coming back, if she asked him, he would drag it out, Shang Mingyuan didn't believe that she would still dare to ask him for money so shamelessly.

  Shang Mingyuan took his own share of the dividend and happily threw the task of calculating the accounts to Shang Er's wife. He also considerately sent a copy to his grandmother, asking her to help take a look and guide him.

  "In his words, 'Grandma, you've walked more roads than I've eaten salt, and this time the grain price is so treacherous that it can scare me to death. Only now do I realize that I'm not as seasoned as you are, Grandma, with your deep wisdom and foresight. So please help me take a look at the accounts, see where I've gone wrong, and let me know how to improve early on, so I won't suffer losses in the future.'"

  The old lady was pleased with his flattery, stroking his hair and smiling: "Good boy, you've done very well. Your father was still getting into trouble at your age. But after all, he's young and can't calm down. Wait for Grandmother to show you and then tell you."

  "Thank you, Grandma!" Xiang Ming looked at his grandmother with a distant and yearning gaze, happily following her order to "rest well for a while", letting his grandmother and Second Aunt fight over this batch of silver.

  Shang Mingyuan will divide the local specialties brought back from Nanjiang into portions and select two of the finest ones to pack in boxes.

  Xiao Fang saw how meticulous he was and couldn't help but say with a sour tone: "Hey, who is this for? You even specially picked out a box."

  Shang Mingyuan glanced at her and said, "Stop being so mysterious and strange. This is for Aunt Lin and Cousin Lin."

  He turned his head and looked her up and down before saying, "Go pick out some clothes, tomorrow follow me to pay respects to Aunt Lin."

  Xiao Fang was taken aback and asked: "You just came back, didn't you rest for a few more days, why do you want to go see Lin Auntie?"

  Shang Mingyuan looked out the window for a moment, then pulled his wife close and whispered, "Can you guess why we're so lucky this time? We just happened to avoid this disaster?"

  "Why?"

  "It was because of Aunt Lin," Shang Mingyuan lowered his voice and said, "I was scolded by her the day before I left, that's why I decided to leave early, who knew my luck would be so good, just barely escaped a disaster."

  Shang Mingyuan just thought about it and felt a lingering fear, this batch of grain was invested with all the silver in the Shang family, and this year's farm output also borrowed a large sum of money, plus the savings he and his wife had accumulated over the years, once lost...

  Shang Mingyuan shivered with fear, he had always been timid, but during that time he was excited like taking medicine, and recklessly purchased grain without any care.

  If it weren't for Lin Qingyan scolding him for being greedy and shortsighted, he wouldn't have snapped out of his trance.

  "This is the first thing, we must thank her well, and there's another," Shang Mingyuan lowered his voice even further, almost inaudibly saying: "I've sent that money to her place, from now on we'll have to rely on her to make more money."

  Xiao Fang's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but reach out to pinch the flesh on his body: "I said so, why didn't I receive any news from my village all this time? It turns out you didn't send the money there."

  Shang Mingyuan let out a low, hoarse cry and grasped his wife's hand, saying: "Easy does it, easy does it, you're going to strangle me to death! The money was sent to your family home, who can this be hidden from? Do you really want everything we do to be under their noses?"

  Xiao Fang let go of him and glared at him fiercely, asking "What do you want to do?"

  Shang Mingyuan chuckled and asked in a low voice, "Do you know how much money was made outside this time?"

  Xiao Fang gave him a sidelong glance and asked, "How much?"

  Shang Mingyuan stretched out his hand and gestured a number with his fingers, looking at her with a pleased expression in his eyes.

  Xiao Fang slowly widened her eyes, her mouth agape for half a moment before she reacted. She covered her mouth and let out a silent scream.

  Xiang Mingyuan looked up at the sky and laughed heartily, then turned to his wife with a smile: "This is the silver we couldn't save in ten years. Do you still want me to embezzle from the shop like I used to when managing the household? Those were just small tricks, but what I earned through hard work in half a year surpasses what I could have swindled in ten years."

  Xiao Fang covered her chest for half a day before she calmed down, and asked in a low voice: "Then what do you want to do, separate the family?"

  Shang Mingyuan's smile paused for a moment, "If I could split the family property, would I need to be so careful?"

  Xiao Fang felt somewhat disappointed. In fact, she and her husband were the same now, they didn't think much of this title anymore. They thought it was better to separate and live on their own, at least they could be in charge of their own household matters.

  They didn't separate from their families, and they had to consult with their elders on everything. But her proper mother-in-law didn't care about anything at all, she just kept thinking about the title of nobility.

  The young aunt is already quite old, and she's anxious as a sister-in-law, but the mother-in-law doesn't care at all. The grandmother only has her second son in mind and doesn't care about the well-being of the first son.

  Shang Ming suddenly remembered the troubles at home, and his excitement faded a bit. He said in a low voice: "It was my sister's idea to send the silver to Lin Aunt's place. I thought of asking Lin Aunt for a favor, letting her sell us the brocade satin she weaves at home, and we can make a profit by reselling it."

  He reached out and touched Xiaofang's belly, saying in a low voice: "Our child is about to be born, we have to prepare some things for him. The sister also wants to talk about the marriage, it will cost a lot of money."

  Xiao Fang held down his hand, her heart a little sweet, she said with a smile: "I'll listen to you."

  The next day, Shang Mingyuan took the local specialties and led Xiao Fangshi to visit Lin's villa. Seeing Shang Mingjie sitting in the courtyard, writing diligently with his head down, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

  He patted his shoulder and asked, "How come you're here so early in the morning? I didn't even see you at home last night."

  "Big brother, you're back?" Shang Ming Jie looked up and smiled, "I just returned with Mr. and the others two days ago, but mother is upset about my involvement in the grain price matter, so I temporarily won't go back to avoid angering her. Recently, I've been staying at Wen Garden."

  Shang Ming Jie looked up and down at Shang Ming Yuan, seeing that he had only become thinner and darker, but otherwise unchanged, and let out a sigh of relief. "I heard the Southern Border is still in chaos, did you have a safe journey here, big brother?"

  Shang Mingyuan knew that Lin Yuhong was resting today, so he let Xiao Fang go to the backyard to see her. Lin Qingwen was in the weaving workshop and wasn't at home at all.

  So Shang Mingyuan sat down beside Shang Mingjie to look at what he was writing, and although he didn't like reading books, he could still understand these things, and his eyes widened in surprise: "You're really writing a farming book!"

  He flipped through it and suddenly his eyes widened even more, "How did grain prices get written in too?"

  "This is also a matter closely related to people's livelihoods, I knew it and naturally wrote it down."

  Shang Mingyuan muttered to himself in amazement, "No wonder Second Aunt scolded you, it turns out that the rebound in grain prices is also your doing."

  Shang Mingjie's face turned red as he hastily waved his hand and said, "I don't have such skills, it was the master who led us in doing this."

  Grain prices plummeted, and many small grain merchants were eager to sell their grains. Lu Su simply took them out, going from county to county, negotiating with the small grain merchants and individual households, asking them to temporarily hold back and not rush to sell, as the imperial court would eventually buy back at a fair price.

  For this, he also took the students to negotiate with those usurious money houses and persuaded them to give the small grain merchants more time, not forcing them to repay immediately due to the sharp drop in grain prices.

  The small grain merchants finally had a chance to breathe, and when the big grain merchants came to their doors to lower the grain price and buy grain, they gritted their teeth and didn't sell. In the end, they waited for the arrival of government officials.

  After the grain price incident subsided, everyone naturally knew what Lu Su had done with the students of the Lu family school. Those people did not dare to hate the imperial court and naturally hated those people to the point of gnashing their teeth.

  Mrs. Shang was also furious when she found out, that bear kid didn't know his family would lose money due to the plummeting grain prices, yet he still went and pushed a hand.

  So when Shang Ming Jie returned home from his training outside, he was scolded as soon as he faced her.

  Shang Mingjie disagreed with his mother's views and couldn't bear her tears, so he could only hide away, otherwise his mother would get even angrier.

  Shang Mingjie wanted to live in the Lin family's villa, but Lin Qingwan was always careful about this and never gave anyone a chance to gossip, so even though Shang Mingjie looked pitiful, she still sent him to live in the thatched hut in Wengarden.

  However, after school and holidays, he would still come over here to write books. Not only because there were many books stored here that could be used for research, but also because Chen Laobo was here, so if he had any doubts, he could ask for guidance.

  Shang Mingyuan flipped through the manuscript he had placed beside him, raised his head and carefully examined this younger cousin of his. Seeing that the childishness on his face was gradually disappearing, and he had become somewhat more resilient, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Second Brother has changed a lot too."

  He became somewhat jealous and fearful of others.

  Shang Mingjie still smiled foolishly as before, "Big brother hasn't changed either,"

  Shang Mingyuan smiled carelessly, "I, your elder brother, will never amount to anything in this lifetime. Where can I change to? Unlike you, who is still young and knows how to read books, with many opportunities ahead."

  Shang Mingyuan patted his shoulder and sighed: "Second brother, from now on, the Shang family will rely on you."

  "Big brother, don't say that," Shang Mingjie said seriously: "Brother thinks reading is not as good as me, but I also think there are many things I'm not as good at as my brother. So you shouldn't belittle yourself. Lin Auntie once said something well, the occupations in this world aren't divided into noble and lowly ones, what's with scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants? Those are just artificial distinctions for ruling purposes."

  Shang Mingjie said indifferently: "If one day the emperor is replaced by a businessman, then for him, business will definitely come first..."

  Shang Ming suddenly widened his eyes, stretched out his hand to cover his mouth, looked around and whispered: "What are you talking about? This is what Lin Auntie taught you. Oh my, you child, although Lin Auntie is formidable, but you can't listen to everything she says..."