Er Mao's matter didn't have any impact on Zi Qing and the others, but rather Zi Qing, who had a windfall and got two laborers to do five days' worth of work for free. Shen Shi even said to Zi Qing that Er Mao's affair was something she had expected all along - when you walk many nights, you'll eventually run into ghosts; well, now they've run into one.

  "Mom, I feel like you're taking pleasure in my misfortune. Don't you worry about Dad being pressured by Grandma to get involved in the messy affairs of my eldest aunt's family?"

  "How can this child talk like that? If you educate your children in the same way as your aunt and uncle, it's a wonder if nothing goes wrong! Normal parents would ask questions when they see their child taking out unknown sources of money, but not them. They don't even ask, instead they show off everywhere, as if their son has some great ability. All they can see is the money in his eyes. Last time, Er Mao's leg was broken and they still didn't learn a lesson. Now another disaster has happened. I'm fed up with them, when something happens to their own child, instead of thinking of ways to solve the problem with money, they come back to their hometown to calculate how to get others to pay for it. Last time was the same, Er Mao's leg was broken and they didn't immediately find a doctor in Anzhou City, but instead dragged him to your grandfather's house. Whose daughter gets married and keeps going back to her parents' home? It's like a bottomless pit that can never be filled."

  "I thought our family was going to suffer a loss this time, but when I heard Father agreed to go to the yamen to investigate, I was still worried that Father would soften his heart and spend money to help Eldest Sister escape disaster, which would be unjust. Who would have thought that Father also had a backup plan?"

  "It's all because of your grandma, otherwise your father wouldn't have bothered with you. As for your eldest aunt, he really didn't care about her at all these years, but this time when we went to Anzhou and saw your grandfather, it was a real blow to your father." Shen said, recounting the whole situation from that day.

  "It's better this way," said Shen. "From now on, let's just reduce our interactions with each other, it's all just a bunch of things."

  Zi Qing was extremely surprised, wasn't the ancient times the most particular about clan concepts? Zeng Ruiqing could actually say such things. It's clear that he didn't take the Zeng family seriously, didn't take Old Master and the others seriously. Could it be that he also crossed over from somewhere?

  Mr. Tong and Master Xu returned a few days later, Mr. Tong said that he had dug up several orchids and rhododendrons, which have been transplanted to the Qingyuan Garden. Master Xu was also delighted, saying that he had bought several good pieces of wood from someone else.

  The sky is getting hotter and hotter, this year's harvest is good, peaches are hanging on the branches. Watermelons have also had a bumper harvest, just a few days after Dragon Boat Festival, the peaches turned red, Mr. Tong said while biting into a sweet peach: "No wonder you wanted to plant peach trees in the yard, peach blossoms are beautiful and peaches are delicious, it's not bad."

  When Zhou Zhanggui came to pull the peaches, he also smiled and said: "This is much more than last year." The peaches that cost five cents a pound actually sold for nearly eighty taels of silver. It's more than twice as much as last year, but Zi Qing knew too. The peach tree has entered its mature period.

  On this day, Zi Qing was accompanying Zhou Zhanggui to pick melons when Wang Tie Shan came over and said stiffly: "The chickens at home have started laying eggs. Among the first batch of more than 80 chickens, there are more than 50 hens. The remaining capons weigh about 3-4 catties." Zi Qing thought for a moment before saying to Wang Tie Shan: "You can eat these eggs as you like, especially the children who are growing up. Give each child one boiled egg every day. On days when there's a surplus, let your wife sell them. One cent per egg, and have your son keep track of how many are sold each time. Put the silver money aside, and I'll check on it when I bring you the monthly allowance on the first day of next month."

  Wang Tieshan probably didn't expect Zi Qing to trust them so much, and was quite surprised, looking up at Zi Qing, but quickly agreed.

  Ziying thought that the orange garden had raised nearly two thousand chickens, and in the future, the eggs would be another trouble. The small place would definitely not be able to digest so many, and it was still necessary to go to Anzhou City. He asked Zhou Zhanggui how much more he could accept, and Zhou Zhanggui was very straightforward, saying that his miscellaneous goods store couldn't take much, but he could find another household. He had acquaintances, and Ziying made an appointment to meet again in a month.

  At the end of May, Mr. Tong finally said that the reeds were cleared, and Zi Qing decided to pay the wages for the clearing work first. After all, everyone had worked hard for more than a month. The wages for Master Luo and his team reached twenty taels, and with Zhou Yunjiang added, it exceeded twenty taels, which was even more than the silver used to buy the land. If Zi Qing hadn't chosen this place, it would indeed be unsuitable.

  Mr. Tong chose to start construction on June 2nd, and the house is said to be a two-entry three-entry building. Zilu, Zishou, and Zixi all came back from their break to take a look, saying it's much more spacious than the current one they live in. The last row is the master bedroom, and the garden is nicely arranged, you can't see its original desolation. Zishou and Zixi saw the opportunity and ran with it, so Ziqing handed over the account book to them, teaching them how to keep accounts, categorize, calculate, and be extra careful when there's a temporary need for money on site. Zixi was particularly interested in these things and happily took over.

  Zi Rong's new house was finally completed at the end of June. What Zi Qing didn't know was that Shen Shi had also made her dowry chest this time. The family's watermelon income this year was 1,200 taels of silver, and the early rice rent was 300 taels. Shen Shi held the silver bills in her hand, feeling a sense of relief, and said she wanted Zi Rong to accompany her on a trip to Changzhou to buy all the wedding gifts and jewelry.

  After Shen's departure, Zeng Rui-xiang had nothing to do and often went for a walk in the Qing Garden. The pond on that side had been filled with new water, and the largest pond had already been stocked with fish fry. Sometimes Zi-qing also instructed Zi-shou to put the small yellow eels he bought into it.

  On July 1st, Ziqing went to Orange Garden with Zishou and Zixi. As expected, the chicken eggs didn't sell well in the market. The mother chickens they bought later started laying eggs, and now they can produce around 200 eggs per day. Wang Tieshan surprisingly goes to Anzhou City every day to sell eggs with a bamboo basket.

  Zi Qing looked at the five taels of silver and one string of cash in her hand, then told Wang Tie Shan to take the five taels of silver to buy a donkey and a cart. From then on, every other day, she would send eggs to the pawnshop in town, and settle accounts at the end of each month.

  That afternoon, the weather was unusually hot and humid. Zilu, Zishou, and Zixi had all returned to school. Shen Shi had gone back to her mother's house to visit He Shi. Zi Qing couldn't do needlework, so she was in the study teaching Zi Yu how to keep accounts. Over the past two years, Zi Yu had learned many characters from Zi Qing, who also consciously trained her to manage household finances. Just as Zi Yu was studying diligently, the doorbell rang, and Zi Yu ran out to answer it. Lin Kangping entered the house.

  Ziying was overjoyed, and when she stood up, she accidentally spilled some ink from the inkstone on her hand onto the account book. Lin Kangping hurried over to help clean it up and took advantage of the opportunity to grab Ziying's hand. Ziying looked up and saw that Ziyu hadn't followed them into the house.

  It was Mr. Tong who sent him a letter, the house should be built, and he came back to preside over the beam-raising ceremony this time, bringing the carpenter master along. "I've already sent someone over, they're living in a temporary shed, I asked Wang Tieshan's family to cook for them every day. Tomorrow I'll go into the mountains to pull wood, and the beam-raising date is set for August 8th, what do you think?"

  "The house is going to be built, how didn't I know?" Zi Qing asked with wide eyes.

  "Fool, I told you not to worry about it, so naturally no one will come and tell you these things." Lin Kangping put his hand on Zi Qing's face, suppressing the urge to press his lips against her eyelids.

  "Aren't you supposed to head to Canton? Will you make it by the eighth?" Zi Qing furrowed her brow.

  "After finishing the business on the ninth day, I'll leave. The people I bring will hire a good boat in Jingdezhen, buy good porcelain and tea leaves to take the waterway, and I'll ride a horse to take a shortcut from this side to get there on time." Lin Kangping said, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.

  Ziying saw Lin Kangping looking very tired, so she quickly gave him water to wipe his face. After learning that he wasn't hungry, she sent him to bed to rest. She herself took out the account book of Qingyuan and calculated it roughly: 280 taels of silver for blue bricks and tiles, more than 20 taels for stones, 10 taels for the labor cost of five uncles, about 20 taels for the labor cost of Luo Shifu and others, 10 taels for fish fry, plus the silver spent on clearing reeds and buying land, it was roughly around 400 taels. This expenditure was much more than when they built their own house that year, but it was just a shell of a house. Unfortunately, Ziying had never been to Qingyuan even once, Shen Shi didn't allow her to go out now, and Lin Kangping said he wanted to give himself a surprise, so Ziying couldn't bear to ruin his enthusiasm.

  Just thinking about this, Shen and Zeng Ruixiang returned home, and Zi Qing only knew that her father had deliberately gone to pick up her mother. Her grandmother's body had also recovered greatly, no wonder Shen was smiling all over her face.

  After dinner, Lin Kangping pulled Zi Qing and said they were going for a walk to digest their food. The two strolled to the back mountain, where there was still a faint glow of sunset in the western sky, incredibly beautiful. Zi Qing looked at Lin Kangping who had been holding her hand all along, his face softened under the sunset's glow. She knew she was lucky. From the moment they met, interacted, made promises and to their romance today, he always put her first and unconditionally trusted and respected her. Thinking of this, Zi Qing hugged him and asked: "Kangping, what do you most want to do in your life?"

  "What I want to do most in this life is to marry you, then stay with you and accompany you. How about you? What do you want to do most?" Lin Kangping asked with his head down, the eyes in front of him shining brightly like water.

  "What I want most is to be able to hold your hand and watch the sunset every day, to have you by my side whenever I need you, until we grow old together."

  "Alright, I promise you. But what I want to do most now is this." Lin Kangping said, his hands cradling Zi Qing's face, gently stroking it.

  Ziying's skin was already as smooth as jade, and with her frequent use of sheep's milk to secretly wash her face and body, her skin felt exceptionally good. Lin Kangping held her as if he were holding a delicate porcelain vase, carefully admiring her. Under his deep and affectionate gaze, Ziying's heart skipped a beat, her face flushed red, and she closed her eyes, still seeing the trembling eyelashes.

  Lin Kangping lowered his head and gently pressed his lips onto hers, the fragrance of the girl still carrying a hint of milk sweetness, refreshing and sweet. Lin Kangping couldn't help himself, continuously lightly sucking, at first a bit clumsy, a bit tense, a bit shy, but soon adapted, even instinctively inserting his tongue into Ziying's mouth to play, the two completely forgetting themselves, kissing until Ziying was out of breath, her face flushed red, before Lin Kangping reluctantly let go.

  At this moment, a great joy filled Lin Kangping's heart. From the engagement to now, more than two years have passed, and his Qinger has finally accepted him from the bottom of her heart. He is no longer alone. Lin Kangping hugged Zi Qing tightly, and Zi Qing buried her head in his chest, blushing. At this moment, she really only had him in her heart, and her heart was full of gratitude.