System crash, auto update didn't work... looking up at the sky...

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  Lin Jinyong now hated it the most when others made decisions for her, and again entangled with Lu's siblings, she glanced at Lin Wuyi with an unusually unhappy expression, just about to open her mouth to refuse, but saw Lu Yuntian sweetly smiling and wrapping around her arm, happily opening her eyes wide and looking at her expectantly: "Really, that would be great! But what if I don't have a good way?"

  Lin Wu looked at Lin Jianrong's expression and tentatively said, "I have one there, it was given to me by Fourth Sister today, I can lend it to you." If Lu Yun wanted it, she would be delighted, as well as the Lu siblings and even her aunt. But in front of Lin Jianrong, she didn't dare say those words.

  Lu Yun happily dragged Lin Wu with one hand and Lin Jinrong with the other: "After all, it's our own flesh and blood, my sisters are really too good. When I was in the south, I never met anyone who treated me with such sincerity. Fourth sister, when can I come?"

  She didn't say anything, and the two of them decided for her. Were they taking advantage of her because she wouldn't dare to refuse? Lin Jinrong relaxed his tightly pursed lips and slowly said with a fake smile: "I'm now a guilty person, I have to reflect on myself every day, copy the Female Precepts, do needlework, I'm afraid I'll delay Cloud Sister. Let's talk about it again in the future." After finishing speaking, he nodded at everyone: "My aunt is going back to Qingzhou tomorrow, I want to go see her off. The autumn is cold and rainy, so I won't keep you brothers and sisters any longer." He didn't look at anyone, and left with a carefree attitude.

  After she walked far away, Lu Yun pinched the handkerchief and whispered: "I see that Fourth Sister is in a bad mood? Is it because I'm annoying her?"

  Lin Jianrong's displeasure and refusal were obvious to everyone, but no one in the Lin family would really take it to heart. Lin Dashi laughed: "Sister-in-law is being too sensitive, Fourth Sister has always been introverted and shy."

  Lin Wu's expression changed in an instant, and he let out a "tsk" sound, laughing as he said: "That's right. Fourth Sister was punished and wasn't feeling well, plus her aunt and uncle were leaving the next day, and she had only just managed to persuade Old Lady to see them off, so naturally she was a bit impatient. Believe me, Cloud, you're so likable, no one would find you annoying."

  Lu Yun smiled slightly, blinked her eyes, and asked Lin Wu in a sweet low voice: "You said Wu Erge can also play the sheng? Nowadays, there are not many people who can play the sheng well. Are they from the same master?"

  Lin laughed and said, "How is that possible? Men and women are not allowed to sit together at the age of seven... However, this suona skill was indeed passed down from the Wu family. My fourth sister learned it from her aunt, Madame Wu, while Wu Erge is a master of the family art. As for who has more superior skills, I haven't heard Wu Erge play in a long time and don't know. But thinking about it, he's a man and older, so he might be even better."

  But then Lu Dian said: "Fourth sister is already quite good, I only heard in the south that a blind old man's skills are more superb than hers, she is still young, given time, it's likely to be even better. If Wu Erdi is even more outstanding, what kind of superb skills would that be?" If it were really so, then Wu Xiang's reputation wouldn't be undeserved.

  That kind of voice, accompanied by the drizzle of autumn rain, made his heart ache with nostalgia, as if he had returned to the day when he was hastily taken away from Pingzhou after being adopted by his uncle and aunt. On that day, it was pouring heavily, but Lin Yuzhen refused to change her plans, and his birth mother, Tu Shi, saw him off, with an umbrella that couldn't keep out the rain, and Tu Shi's body and face were soaked, making it impossible to tell whether it was rain or tears. He was held tightly in Lin Yuzhen's hand, who was both fierce and nervous, and he didn't dare cry, filled with fear and worry about the future.

  Luckily, Lu Yun was softly leaning against him, coaxingly stuffing a piece of osmanthus sugar into his mouth, then holding his hand: "Brother, I'll share all the delicious food with you, clothes too, toys too, and treat you well..."

  He didn't know if it was Lin Yuzhen who taught Lu Yun, but he indeed felt that the sugar was very sweet and Lu Yun was lovely. Afterwards, Lu Yun had always been very considerate of him. When someone showed him respect, he would show them even more respect in return. He turned his head to look at Lu Yun, just in time to see Lu Yun tilting her head, smiling coyly at him: "Brother wants to know whose skills are higher? Isn't that simple? Let's invite Wu Ergou to play a tune for us another day and we'll know, won't we?"

  Lu Xian nodded and softened her voice: "Okay, when the weather clears up, I'll go invite him to our home for a visit."

  Lin Wu heard him praising Lin Jian's flute playing and felt a bit uncomfortable, so he hastily said: "Don't forget about me."

  Lu Yun smiled and warmly took her arm: "No one would forget the fifth sister." The two exchanged a glance, happily winking at each other, as if they had formed some kind of tacit understanding.

  Lin Jinrong entered the Tao family's courtyard and, after exchanging warm greetings with everyone, she couldn't help but think about how to bring up the topic in a natural way. Just as she was sitting there feeling uneasy, she saw Mrs. Tao dismiss all the maidservants and whisper: "Sister, I'll have someone deliver that thing to your carriage tomorrow, would you mind exchanging those gold and silver items for money? If you see anything good, just go ahead and buy it!"

  "What does sister want to buy?" Lin Jin sat up straight, her eyes shining brightly, oh dear, gold and silver!

  But Wu smiled at her, Lin Jin and Tao also looked at her with a smile. Lin Jing didn't know why they were smiling at her like that, so she hurriedly touched her face: "What are you laughing at? Is there something on my face?"

  Wu smiled and pulled her over, jokingly saying: "We should also prepare for our marriage now."

  Lin Jian's heart tightened, his hands unconsciously clenched the hem of his clothes, and after a long while, he palely said: "I'm still young."

  "Look at this honest child being scared." Mrs. Tao smiled: "Girls will eventually get married, you are the next one after your third sister gets married, now that the price of gold and silver in Qingzhou is higher than in Pingzhou, I should also prepare some dowry for you, the more and better the dowry, the easier it will be to arrange a marriage." This means she looks down on the dwindling dowry from the Lin family.

  Lin Jianrong was momentarily speechless.

  The social trend is declining, nowadays the discussion of marriage and engagement no longer only discusses family background, but rather disregards family background and only seeks wealth. When discussing marriage, they first discuss wealth, at the beginning of the discussion, the bride's family must clearly state on the wedding gift list the official positions and properties brought by the ancestors of three generations, including the grandfather, father, and husband.

  To this end, there were officials of the Imperial Censorate who married into wealthy families; also, a Minister of the Board of War married a rich widow. Moreover, when great scholars of the time married off their sons and daughters, they had to choose rich commoners in order to gain more betrothal gifts. Furthermore, some imperial princesses disregarded the court's regulations, abandoned their noble status, and were willing to intermarry with wealthy merchants and artisans. There were also poor girls who could not get married, poor men who could not take a wife, and marriages that missed the auspicious timing, resulting in many resentful women at home and many husbands who had to work abroad.

  The daughter of the Lin family may not worry about marrying in Pingzhou, but if she wants to marry well and have a high status in her husband's family, she still needs to put in some real effort. After all, nothing is more practical than money and dowry.

  Money, it's all about money. Lin Jinrong sighed silently and put on a curious expression: "Why is the gold and silver in Qingzhou more expensive than this side of Pingzhou?"

  Wu's smile faded: "Why are you suddenly interested in this? But it's a legitimate question, so I'll tell you sisters." Her eyes were fixed on Lin Jianyin, emphasizing her words, "You also know that there's a market in Qingzhou where large transactions take place. If we used copper coins for all of them, just paying would be exhausting, not to mention how heavy and cumbersome they are. Gold and silver are the best options, being both light and convenient. The rarer something is, the more valuable it becomes; the more people need it, the higher its price will naturally be. Do you understand?"

  Lin Jinrong naturally understood that this was the same as next year's Pingzhou and Qingzhou, where the money for the tribute would be changed to silver, and everyone would need silver, causing the price of silver to skyrocket. He continued to ask Wu Shi: "I'm afraid it won't be too high, just earning some hard-earned money?"

  "You don't know the value of rice and firewood when you're not in charge." Wu patiently explained: "Currently, one tael of gold can be exchanged for 5,000 coins, and silver can be exchanged for 800 coins. However, in Qingzhou, compared to Pingzhou, the exchange rate is higher by 50 coins for silver and 350 coins for gold per tael. At first glance, it doesn't seem like much, but accumulated over time, even high-quality white rice only costs around 30 coins per dou, and good fertile land costs 300 coins per mu. One tael of gold can buy one mu of good fertile land; is that a good deal or not?"

  "Wow, so much!" Lin Jirong's face was full of surprise: "That day I went to Lao Taigong's Tingtaoju to listen to the lecture, and accidentally heard someone say that some places have changed to using silver to buy tribute, and at the time of spring and autumn taxes, the price of silver also soared. There are people who smuggle silver from the capital to sell, it's probably this reason?"

  Wu and Tao exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of joy in each other's eyes. They also heard Lin Jianyin calmly say, "That's the way it is." The two were even more delighted.

  "Then, will our Pingzhou also have such a day? Maybe it will rise even more!" Listen to me, stay for now, and next year you will earn even more!

  "This time, Tao's smile came out: 'Oh my, our little girl is also worried about the oil, salt, firewood and rice. But, you see, our Taoyuan is right next to the Zhejiang River, so transportation is very convenient, so we've always been paying in silver, even when several nearby counties changed their payment methods a few years ago, ours didn't change. This year's autumn tax is also the same, otherwise, relying on your grandfather's face, you should have known some wind beforehand.'"

  Lin Jinyong said, "People's ideas are formed in a short time, and the Taoming Prefecture is far from here. What can the Taoming Prefectural Governor do? Can the Pingzhou Provincial Governor know about it? It's not like the Taoming Prefecture will issue an order and we'll follow suit. At that time, the old man might have known something in advance, but by then everyone knew, and they all rushed to grab silver. How much could they grab, and how much could they make? Even people like Tao Shi, who had gold and silver in their hands, sold them at a low price and regretted it to death. If she said so, it would be better to buy more silver now. But even the little bit of silver in Tao Shi's hands couldn't be kept, let alone buying more. So he could only say, "I'm still young, my brother is still young, there's no rush at this time, let's keep some and see if the price of silver will rise next year, it'll be even more cost-effective then."

  "Niang niang has grown up and can help you make decisions now." Wu Shi was still smiling, but Tao Shi was afraid that Wu Shi would be too anxious, so she sank her face: "What do children know? Since we're out, the rain is small, let's go with your sister to see where your father went!" The tone and expression were unmistakable.

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  Sorry, the power supply has been unstable recently. Either at home or in the office, it's always being cut off and doesn't seem to end. I still have two chapters of draft on hand, but I don't dare post them up yet, keeping them for emergency use. So, there won't be any updates over the weekend.