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  79 Net Reminder: You can quickly find us on "79 Free" or "79 Net". He Zhizhong said to Lao Guandao, "However, it's not worth arguing with an ignorant woman. The 79 Free Net is also forced by livelihood. I suppose they won't dare do such things again in the future. For my sake, let's just forget about reporting them to the authorities."

  That old steward was only afraid that the previous performance would make He Zhizhong and others angry, not to mention the house next door, even the land by the river wouldn't be sold. Hearing him say this, how could there be any reason not to agree? At once he said: "Good idea. As long as the guests are not angry, everything is easy to discuss. Now about this business..."

  He Zhizhong smiled and glanced at Hu Dalang's father and the others, saying: "That piece of land I must have. As for this house, we'll talk about it later." After finishing speaking, he led the still flushed-faced Dalang away.

  The old steward thought for a moment, and then said: "Alright, I'll sell this land to you. If we wait until later, it won't be easy to sell the house separately. And if another buyer comes along, I'll have to explain everything all over again. So let's take advantage of this opportunity and sell both together." He gritted his teeth and said: "Wait a minute! I'm willing to lower the price a bit more!"

  He Zhizhong was well aware of this pricing psychology tactic, which was just an excuse to refuse, but not a direct refusal, and he left with a flourish.

  Just as a few people were about to get on their horses, Ah Tao suddenly rushed over like a flying bird and blocked the horse's path. She stared blankly at Peony and said: "Little lady, would you be willing to buy me?"

  The peony frowned: "Why?" To be honest, she couldn't understand the girl's thoughts - just because of being forced by circumstances, could she turn around and harm innocent people? There was no reason for that.

  "Our family can't stay here anymore, Father and brother have nowhere to go, selling me will allow them to return home, with relatives taking care of them, they won't starve. Your family has plenty of money anyway, having one more person to feed doesn't matter. I'm very cheap, just 10,000 yuan is fine, I can do anything."

  Peony's face was expressionless as she said, "I don't want to buy people now." Upon hearing this, she became even more displeased. This girl was too clever for her own good, thinking of herself and her family, which wasn't wrong in itself. But the tone of her words, "Your family has plenty of money anyway, having one more person eat with you won't make a difference," was just like that of her stepmother - harming people, blackmailing them, cheating them, and making them help her as if it were their duty.

  At that moment, Ah Tao was stunned. She had thought that she would be beaten, but Peony helped her up and even used a handkerchief to wipe her face. The stepmother had not retaliated, and He Zhizhong had given the stepmother a bag of money for no reason. She had thought that this was a family of good people, with soft and kind hearts, and if she could sell herself, she would not have to suffer so much. Since she could support herself, she could also give her father and brother a way to live. Who knew that Peony would reject her without leaving any room for compromise?

  As Peony mounted the horse, those people behind her were again driving her father and brother to pack up their things and leave. She didn't care about anything else, rushed over and knelt down on the ground, desperately kowtowing to Peony: "Young lady, I know you look down on what we do, but if we had a choice, would we be willing to do this kind of thing? My father's body is crippled, he can't do hard labor. I know I was wrong, and I won't dare to do it again in the future. Please, save a life, it's better than building a seven-story pagoda, the Buddha will bless you with longevity. If you take me in, no, if you take your slave in, even being treated like cattle is fine."

  The peony saw that she had softened, and also knew that what she said was not entirely a lie. Seeing that it wasn't long before, a package the size of a pigeon egg had already appeared on her forehead, but she didn't seem to be afraid of the pain as she desperately knocked her head, her heart had already softened.

  It's just a matter of buying and selling, Peony has never done it before, and I don't know if this girl can be bought. After all, I still live with my parents now, so I'm a bit hesitant. Looking up at He Zhizhong, He Zhizhong turned his eyes away, with an air of not meddling in other people's business. The young master coughed softly and said, "You decide for yourself."

  The peony fell silent for a moment, and she couldn't help but laugh at her own foolishness. She had been warned by He Zhizhong just now that in the future, she would have to deal with all sorts of people when selling flowers. The 79 yuan was enough to get rid of the woman, thanks to his keen observation and grasp of human psychology. As for this family, the most despicable one was that shrewish woman, who had already left. The remaining few were not worth worrying about.

  If you want to help, just help. If it doesn't feel right after helping, it's not too late to handle it again. Having the deed in hand is even more empowering. What's there to worry about? He Zhizhong had already made up his mind on how to deal with these people earlier, and was just waiting for himself to take action. It's just that he couldn't let this girl think that helping her was a matter of course, and that he was soft-hearted and easily bullied.

  "Get up! Are you trying to force me to take you in? If I don't want to, will you not get up then? Let me tell you, even if I don't want to, you can kneel till death and I still won't!"

  Atao stared at Peony in dismay, seeing that she was sullen and unyielding, with a hint of desperation on her face. But then Peony said: "However, I see that you're still young but know how to take care of your family members, not stubbornly refusing to repent. So I'll have to pull you along." She immediately called out to Yuhe: "Go and tell the steward to let them stay for one night, and get their contract ready. Tomorrow I'll come over to pick them up."

  Yu He nodded and pushed A Tao: "Don't you hurry up and thank her?"

  Atao was both surprised and delighted, and she happily gave Peony another bow. She was a clever one, and without waiting for Yuhua to speak, she ran off to bow to He Zhizhong and Dalang as well. Peony said calmly, "You're an intelligent person, so I won't say much. Just one thing: if you do something like this again, I'll definitely not let you stay!"

  Atao just nodded her head like a chicken pecking at rice, and Yuhe laughed and said: "Alright, follow me inside to ask about your father's intentions, and then we'll make it clear with the housekeeper."

  After the two left, He Zhizhong smiled and said: "Dan Niang, you can consider it, first keep him and his family to watch the door. On the one hand, it won't drive them to desperation immediately, on the other hand, it can also spread your reputation for being kind and generous. If he doesn't obey later, you can still drive him away without anyone blaming you, they will only say that he is ungrateful. Having betrayed his master twice, he won't get any sympathy."

  "Father, don't you have another sentence to add? Keeping them here is just right for dispelling rumors. Otherwise, people might think the feng shui of this estate is bad and won't come to visit. As the saying goes, being considerate of others makes things convenient for oneself as well."

  He Zhizhong burst out laughing and said with satisfaction: "From now on, you follow the old man slowly. Doing business is not that easy."

  When the rain lotus finished her task, A Tao led her brother out, looking pitifully at Peony and saying: "The slave will always wait for the master to come." With a look of fear that Peony and others would not come.

  The peony's heart softened again, and she still had a calm face: "Tomorrow will definitely come." After walking a long way, the peony turned her head to see Ah Tao sister and brother still standing there looking up at each other. She couldn't help but think that if she were not He Mudan when she first came here, but a girl like this, or even more helpless, who had to go into servitude for survival, what would she be like? This is an unpredictable answer.

  But she believes that she must have longed for someone to lend a helping hand.

  That day after returning, He Zhizhong took Dalang to find the Taoist priest who had previously divined the He family's house. They agreed to go together the next day to look at the Zhou family's house. In the end, the feng shui of that house was recognized by the Taoist priest, and it was bought for 610,000 yuan. The old steward was delighted and indeed left Lin Tao and Li with Peony and others.

  When Peony paid the down payment with her own dowry, Master and the old steward went to the government office to file a deed, writing the land deed and house deed in Peony's name. Peony had truly become a small landowner and finally had her own property, which she gave a very common name - Peony Garden.

  A Tao and his family stayed there to watch the house for Peony, and look at that piece of orchard. Da Lang Ma went to find craftsmen to repair the house, painting where it should be painted, and whitewashing where it should be whitewashed. After that, he sent the servants who could do the work to clean up the house and garden, and soon everything was brand new and ready for people to live in.

  Lin's mother thought about it and wondered if she should first move the furniture and other dowry of Peony into the house, so as not to leave them piled up in the warehouse all the time.

  "Peony shook her head and said, 'It's not suitable to move in at this time. We haven't found a suitable house yet, and we still don't know the true nature of the Hu family father and daughter. Besides, the garden needs to be renovated. Let's just move some inexpensive essentials in for now, so when we're tired, we can go in and rest.'"

  Lin's mother agreed, but she thought that before she could put her mind at ease, she had to find a suitable family member to take care of the other side, so she went forward to look for Mrs. Cen.

  Peony leaned on the table, using a carbon pen to add the final touches to her self-drawn design. During this time in the house, she had already thoroughly understood the surrounding terrain and listened to the suggestions of the geomancer, knowing which places could be used to build mountains and which to divert water, and having a general idea of how to construct the garden. Now all that was left to do was to roughly sketch out the garden's design, then find a way to get it reviewed by an expert, and if it was satisfactory, begin construction.

  During this time, Mrs. Cen and Yuhe came in several times, all of whom saw Peony concentrating on the ground with her eyebrows and eyes fully focused, as if she hadn't heard anyone coming at all, so they didn't disturb her and quietly exited.

  When the last stroke fell, Peony raised her head with satisfaction and stretched her waist. Only then did she find that her neck, shoulders, and waist were unbearably sore. Looking out of the window again, the sun was already setting near dusk.

  Yu He sat outside, sewing and listening to the movements inside. When she heard the sound of tables and chairs, she immediately called Kuang Er to go forward and deliver a message to Mrs. Cen: "Dan Niang is ready here, dinner can be served soon." Then she went into the house to fetch water for Peony to wash her hands and face. Only then did Peony realize that the whole family was waiting for her to eat. In a flurry, she rolled up the scroll and took it out, but saw everyone sitting and chatting, the children not even crying with hunger, and finally let out a sigh of relief, laughing: "It's all my fault, I've kept Father, Mother, brothers and sisters-in-law waiting for so long."

  Zhen Shi had been a bit strange towards Peony ever since she failed to get her brother to marry Peony and was reprimanded by Mrs. Cen. Later, when she saw that Peony had bought some land, she slightly improved her attitude. At this time, she was the first to see the scroll in Peony's hand, so she went forward to take the scroll from Peony's hand, laughing: "Ah, our family's Dan Niang is actually a talented woman! She has been painting for so long, let us take a look at what she painted."

  The peony smiled slightly and handed it to Zhen Shi to look at, but she couldn't make out what it was either. Smiling, she passed it to Zhang Shi and the others: "Take a look, what are these? I don't understand."

  Zhang and others gathered around, but saw that the paper had a lump here and a block there, which was indeed different from the usual landscape painting. Although they were puzzled in their hearts, they did not mock the peony like Zhen. The peony had long been prepared to be mocked by them, and seeing Zhen laugh at her, she didn't get angry either.

  He glanced at it a few times, but somehow managed to make out some meaning from it. He roughly knew where the walls, mountains, houses, streams, ponds and bridges were. However, such a design was indeed too simple and strange. But thinking that his own sister hadn't passed this either, and she didn't need to draw something so outstanding, anyway, it was just about building a garden, so Erlang didn't laugh at Peony, but instead asked: "Peony, what are you planning to do with this?"

  " I want to ask my brothers to help me find out who is the most skilled and elegant in gardening in the capital, so that I can invite him to help me take a look, polish it up, and prepare the materials as soon as possible."

  He Zhizhong took the scroll and asked Peony to explain it to him, pointing out where everything was and what they planned to do. He didn't care about anything else, only that Peony was following the Taoist's instructions for arranging the landscape. Seeing that Peony had listened, he said no more, only: "Tomorrow I'll get your brother to go ask our cousin Li for help and see if he can find out anything."

  Madam Cen said, "Why bother him with every little thing! I had someone inquire about it a few days ago. There's a monk named Fuyuan at the Pingfang Falushou Temple who is very good at this sort of thing. It's said that he can cure Princess Fu Jia's illness. The temple will be having a secular lecture soon, and many people will be going. I'll take Dan Niang there to seek his help."

  He Zhizhong frowned and said, "He only treats the princess's garden, I'm afraid he won't easily treat ours." These people thought they were doing elegant things and wouldn't easily give them to others. It seemed like giving it to someone casually would make them lose face. As merchants, even with money, when dealing with this kind of person, they couldn't avoid being looked down upon. Unlike Li Yi, who had the title of an official's younger brother, when he went out to do things, people would always look up to him.

  Mrs. Cen said, "I've heard that it's not so arrogant after all, but I don't know the specifics. We can't help but go and ask for a favor, if it doesn't work out, we can look for another way later." After the Li family expressed their unwillingness to form an alliance with the He family, Li Wei didn't come over for several days either. She was thinking that she couldn't always be asking people for favors, making others look down on her own family even more.

  Peony knew what Mrs. Cen was thinking, and seeing that He Zhizhong still wanted to persuade her, she smiled and said, "You're right, let's go try first."

  He Zhizhong also gave up and let them go their own way, mother and daughter.

  On this day, the several ladies of the He family who were going to Fashou Temple all dressed up in their finest clothes, preparing to attend a secular lecture and take in some excitement. As they walked near the East Market, they stopped at the city gate. Before long, two apprentices from the Fourth Son's shop hurried over with two sheep and two large fat pigs, greeting Mrs. Cen: "Please, madam, take a look at these longevity sheep and longevity pigs."

  Madam Cen glanced at the sheep and pig, then said: "Their appearance is quite decent, follow them from behind."

  Look at those "fairly decent-looking" smelly sheep and fat pigs, then look at the fragrant silk clothes on our own sisters-in-law and maidservants. Can't help but feel a little embarrassed. Who came up with this idea? To do good deeds, they want to buy back these pigs and sheep and raise them in the temple, calling them "long-life pigs" and "long-life sheep". Raising sheep and pigs without slaughtering them for meat, just to be offered in the temple for people to admire. Isn't this a waste of food and spirit? Don't know how many pigs and sheep are being raised in these temples, thinking about it is ridiculous.

  Lin's mother said softly, "Dan Niang, the mistress has been very good to you. All of this is for your sake, praying to Buddha to bless you with a long life, marrying into a good family, and having both fortune and longevity."

  It's a mother's heart. Peony immediately put away the messy and chaotic thoughts, and when she looked at her own team of weirdos again, she didn't think it was that funny anymore.

  Because the pig walked slowly and didn't listen to orders, the group had no choice but to walk and stop repeatedly. By the time they arrived at Pingfang Fashou Temple, it was already packed with people. A vulgar monk sat on a cushion, using very colloquial language to narrate "The Great Muqian Lotus's Descent into Hell to Rescue His Mother".

  The He family handed over the Long Life Pig and the Long Life Sheep, and after donating incense money, they were led by a young monk to sit down in a relatively quiet corner. Peony glanced around at the people, but saw that regardless of whether they were men or women, old or young, everyone was listening with great concentration and enthusiasm. When the monk finished speaking, the bell and conch sounds rang out together, and then the monk took a deep breath and sang the entire story again in a high-pitched and clear voice. His singing was extremely pleasant to listen to, with an indescribable charm. Peony was also enchanted by his performance, feeling that his level of singing was not at all inferior to those professional singers who were relatively more outstanding.

  If it was a novelty for Peony to hear the monks retell stories from Buddhist scriptures in the form of storytelling and singing, then what she saw next was even more astonishing - the temple not only preached scriptures but also had a theater, and on days when large crowds gathered, it was a great time to perform plays.

  After the vernacular speech ended, the crowd did not disperse but instead waited with bated breath. Before long, a participant wearing a hood and green robe, along with an attendant dressed in a black livery, appeared on stage to perform the "Participant's Play". The two actors exchanged witty remarks and performed comical actions that left everyone in stitches, causing the crowd to erupt into thunderous applause.

  Peony watched with relish and also burst out laughing together with the crowd. Mrs. Cen was preoccupied with asking Master Fuyuan about something, so she didn't have the heart to watch the play. She stuck her head out and kept looking back until she saw Xia Shami waving at her, then she let out a sigh of relief and pushed Peony: "What's important is taking care of business, we can come again another time."

  I really am greedy for fun, seeing these strange things and forgetting the proper thing, Peony's face turned red and she gathered her thoughts, got up and followed that little monk with Mrs. Cen to the back of the temple, while Xue Shi and others remained in their original place watching the play without mentioning it.

  Compared to the hustle and bustle earlier, the rear temple of Fashou Temple seems particularly quiet. As Peony passes by a row of ancient cypresses, she notices a small courtyard in the distance surrounded by a group of men wearing green turbans, green robes with high collars, and high boots. They are tall, sturdy, and alert, with golden dragon and phoenix rings on their waists and gold-thread-wrapped hilts on their swords.

  The peony had seen this kind of knife on one of Jiang Changyang's friends during the previous Dragon Boat Festival, and after asking Li Wei, she learned that it was a knife assigned to the Imperial Guard, which ordinary people did not have. She guessed that there must be some noble person with a different status in that courtyard, so she didn't look anymore, withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and followed the little monk inside.

  A thatched cottage, a few volumes of green bamboo curtains, a few clusters of tall bamboo, and a few pieces of white Kunshan stone, just a few simple things, outlined a different atmosphere, this is where Master Fuyuan lives. As soon as Peony saw the thatched cottage, she knew she had found the right person.

  She didn't expect Fuyuan to be so young, previously she thought he was at least a middle-aged monk in his forties, but it turned out that he was a young monk in his twenties. His face was thin and pale, with fine eyebrows and eyes, and when looking at people, he always had a sorrowful expression, not as arrogant as He Zhichong had imagined, but instead very politely received Mrs. Cen and Mudan. Upon hearing that Mudan already had a draft, and it was drawn by herself, he became very interested and asked Mudan to show him the draft.

  The peony knew that the level of his painting was probably not good enough to enter the eyes of a famous painter, so he handed over the scroll with both hands and said with some shyness: "I had no experience before, I just drew it impulsively, it's rough, and I'm afraid it will make you laugh."

  Fu Yuan smiled slightly, his slender fingers skillfully unrolling the scroll to examine its contents. After a moment, he raised an eyebrow. Peony feared he would return it to her and hastily began explaining the symbols. He was extremely intelligent and grasped the meaning of the other icons after only a few sentences. His face did not display disdain or amusement, but rather seriousness as he inquired about Peony's thoughts and intentions. Finally, he left with the scroll, saying: "I must personally visit the site to determine what to do."

  Madam Cen and Peony couldn't find what they were looking for, so they quickly got up to bid farewell. They made an appointment for the second day to send a car to take him to Peony Garden. As female guests, it was not suitable for them to stay in a monk's residence for too long, so after finishing their business, they took their leave.

  Fuyuan monk still let Xia Shami send them back, walking to the small courtyard that was heavily guarded by the Forbidden Army before, the group of people suddenly moved, and a line of people came out from the gate.

  Xiaosha hastily led Mrs. Cen and Mudan to retreat to the side, in a hurry, Mudan only saw Fasheng alone, with a tall and straight figure, his silver-white round-necked robe was particularly dazzling in the sunlight.

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