Before one's very eyes, snow turns into mud.

  The servant from the Tao family came to report that the house was ready, and Tao Shun-qin accompanied by Lin San-lao-yeh, escorted Mrs. Tao and Lin Jin-rong to the villa to recuperate.

  At the time of parting, although he had promised Lin Shenzhi to study hard and come to pick him up every ten days or half a month to stay in the Zhuangzi for a while, he still had tears in his eyes, stomping his feet and holding onto Tao's hand tightly.

  Mrs. Tao was reluctant to part with him, but she knew that nothing was more important than her son's future, so she steeled herself and ordered Lin Jianyin to take Lin Shenzhi away, without even looking back as she helped Mrs. Gong onto the carriage.

  "What a big bubble!" Lin Jianrong teased Lin Shenzhi, and everyone took a look. Lin Shenzhi had cried so much that his nose was running all the way down, and he blew another bubble. No matter how you looked at it, it was hilarious, and everyone couldn't help but burst out laughing. Lin Shenzhi was embarrassed, buried his head in Lin Jianyin's arms, and rubbed his runny nose all over Lin Jianyin's chest. Lin Jianyin was shocked and let out a disgusted cry, which made everyone laugh even harder. Even Tao Shi, who was watching from the carriage, couldn't help but burst out laughing. This way, it also dissipated some of the sadness of parting.

  Because of concerns that Taoshi's weak body could not hold up, the usual two-hour journey was dragged out to nearly three hours and still had not been completed. The journey was long and boring, and in the carriage, wrapped in high-quality silver silk quilts, Taoshi had long since fallen into a deep sleep, and Gong Mama also dozed off a bit, Lin Jiner quietly lifted up a small gap in the window curtain to take a peek outside.

  The horse carriage was walking slowly along a river, on the other side of which was a vast expanse of desolate and uninhabited land. The protruding white crystals reflected dazzling light in the sunlight, as if it were snow that had not melted. Lin Jingrong asked softly, "Uncle, what is this place? Why is it so bright and shiny?"

  Tao Shunqin narrowed his eyes and smiled lowly: "Nangnang, this is a salt alkali land, also known as a salt spring land. The shiny things you see are the salt that has seeped out. Nothing grows on this kind of land."

  Is this really the Salty Land? Lin Jin Rong widened his eyes: "I've heard that even land that has been flooded with salty water can become fertile fields, growing top-grade rice?"

  Tao Shunqin, with his extensive knowledge and experience, spoke eloquently: "That's called a 'yū tián' (accumulated field). In some places, after April every year, when the rainy season arrives and the water is at its murkiest, alum from the mountains is released to irrigate the yū tián fields. Over time, they become fertile land."

  "What is alumite water?" Lin Jinyong asked seriously.

  "It's the river water after April." Tao Shunqin didn't mind her asking, and patiently explained: "At that time, the river water is the most turbid, with a smell of alum, so it's also called Alum Mountain Water or Heavenly River Water."

  Lin Jianrong's thinking jumped quickly and immediately said: "Then, the people who bought salt land at a high price earlier didn't make a profit?"

  Tao Shunqin was taken aback for a moment, and then he caught up with her train of thought. He saw Lin Jinyong staring intently at the salt-alkali land, his eyes shining with excitement. Thinking back to her previous actions, begging Tao Fengtang to exchange gold and silver, and vowing to make money, he couldn't help but smile: "Little girl, it's not that easy to get a good field. First, you need to have the Tianhe River water, second, you need to build canals and dams, and be able to store and drain water. It's not something that one household can do." He teased her with kindness: "Otherwise, wouldn't this large piece of salt-alkali land have been bought up and turned into good fields long ago? Qingzhou and Pingzhou don't have the conditions for poldering, no one would want these salt-alkali lands!"

  Lin Jin smiled faintly and withdrew his head. Qingzhou and Pingzhou didn't have the condition of Yu Tian at that time, but later on, they also implemented this Yu Tian method. Lin Jin's eyes fell on the intricate Lou Xuan grass pattern on the copper hand warmer cover, and his thoughts drifted back to the past.

  At that time, An Er had just turned one month old, and Lu Xuan and she still had a good relationship.

  That morning, he handed her a small bowl of crystal rice: "A Rong, come and taste the flavor of this rice?"

  He has always been silent and reserved, adhering to etiquette, and even his smile is just a faint one. It's rare to see him show such joy on his face. She smiled and took a bite, savoring the flavor carefully, but couldn't taste any difference: "It's almost the same as what we eat every day."

  The smug look on his face became even more pronounced: "Can't tell, can you? This is the rice that grew in the barren land. Who would have thought that a barren land that couldn't produce anything would become a fertile field of good rice?"

  At that time, she was good at studying and didn't know what a place of rejection was, nor did she know what it meant to be a place where one had been rejected before, so she just smiled: "Yes."

  She thought he wouldn't just let her try the rice for no reason, hoping he would continue speaking, but Lu Xuan didn't say another word and just buried his head in eating, not speaking while eating or sleeping, a rule he had kept since childhood. She also stopped asking him about it. Afterwards, no one mentioned this matter again.

  After some time, it was rumored that Lu Xian's biological mother, Tu Shi, had picked up a great bargain. Tu Shi only took out a small amount of dowry money and bought more than ten connected pieces of barren land, which were then reclaimed by the newly appointed Taiping Prefecture's governor with a single order, widely recruiting civilians to cultivate the land that had been formed by the sedimentation of the Zhujiang River, increasing its value a hundredfold. The three branches of the Lu family publicly claimed that it was Tu Shi who had a prophetic dream and good fortune came to her heart. Lin Fengzhen did not believe this at all, convinced that Lu Xian was eating inside and scratching outside, letting the benefits fall into someone else's field, and she was very resentful in her heart, unable to catch Lu Xian's weakness, so she had to take it out on her, scolding her for being ungrateful and disloyal, intentionally not reporting what she knew.

  She was so aggrieved that she hid in the house and cried, Lu Xian asked her why, but she didn't want to cause more trouble, so she didn't say anything. The two sat opposite each other for half a day, and Lu Xian finally just sighed and left without saying anything. Afterwards, Lin Yuzhen didn't scold her again about this matter, but always made snide remarks, reminding her not to forget their aunt-niece relationship, which made her feel completely at a loss.

  Now that I think about it, it's laughable how they quarreled and argued over nothing. What business is it of hers? She really has nothing better to do than meddle in other people's affairs.

  "Hey, got a bit off track. Lin Jinyong lifted the curtain again and carefully examined the salt flats outside that were shining with silver light. I wonder whose land this is now? What's its value? She had to find a way to get her hands on this piece of land."

  Before arriving at the Zhuangzi, Tie Huan, a middle-aged man in his 40s who was dark and stout, led several junior servants to greet them. He had followed the Tao family from Qingzhou and was an old servant of the Tao family, genuinely delighted by the arrival of Mr. Tao and his son, Tao Shunqin. With great enthusiasm, he bustled about, leading a group of people into the Zhuangzi and quickly settling them in.

  Although this villa was the dowry of the Tao family, through twists and turns, it had changed hands twice. Lin Jinrong had heard about it countless times, but this was his first visit, so he couldn't help but feel a lot of novelty and curiosity, looking around everywhere with wide eyes.

  Although the village is not large, it has all the necessary facilities.

  The three-in-one courtyard, accompanied by two small courtyards, Lin San Lao Ye, Tao Shi naturally lived in the main courtyard, Tao Shun Qin was placed in the west wing, and Water Old Master avoided suspicion by living in Tie Huai's house. Lin Jin Rong lived in the east wing, with a total of six rooms including the main house, side house, clean house, and ear house. Although there were only six rooms, the courtyard walls were covered with peach blossoms, and the courtyard was paved with green stone slabs, with an old pomegranate tree and a blooming plum blossom tree. Under the pomegranate tree was a stone table with four stone stools, and the plum blossom tree was full of fragrance, blooming right under Lin Jin Rong's bedroom window.

  On the west side of the wall, there was a well. It's said that it had been there for many years. The stone around the well was polished to be extremely smooth and no longer had any marks from being carved. The water inside the well was sweet and refreshing, truly a rare good water. Lin Jinrong didn't believe it, so he immediately called for the coarse servant girl who swept the yard to fetch half a bucket of water to taste. After tasting it, his expression changed to one of delight.

  It was night, and the Tiehuajia family personally went to the kitchen to make a table of fresh and sumptuous rural home-cooked dishes, such as freshly slaughtered live sheep, fat carp just caught from the nearby river, self-raised silkie chickens in the courtyard, white radish that had just been pulled out of the ground and was sweet due to being frozen by ice and snow, dried wild mushrooms, and newly made tofu.

  The method is simple, but the taste is extremely delicious. Lin Jinrong was so excited that he not only ate an extra bowl of rice, but also encouraged Tao Shi to eat half a bowl more, plus a bowl of red date black chicken soup.

  She and the Tao family had few people, didn't drink much, finished eating quickly. Lin Sanlao and Tao Shunqin were still drinking until the second watch of the night before dispersing. Mrs. Tao was tired and went to bed early, Lin Jingrong naturally took on the responsibility of the hostess, from time to time ordering someone to check if the charcoal basin was burning well, whether the wine, water, and hot dishes were served in a timely manner, and also ordered the kitchen to prepare a hangover soup.

  After several times, Mrs. Gong was surprised by her thoughtfulness and wanted to see how far she could go, so she instructed everyone to follow the fourth girl's requirements. Seeing that she had arranged everything neatly and clearly, she couldn't help but feel secretly amazed.

  Shao Qin, Tao Shunqin let people in and reminded: "Uncle said that the fourth girl is young, today's rush is tired, no need to wait for service, first rest, with Gong Mama and Tiehuajia's care can be done."

  Gong's mother gave an order, and they all urged Lin Jiren to rest. Lin Jiren thought that Old Master Lin was a drunkard who loved wine, and Tao Shunqin might also have many things to discuss with Old Master Lin, so he didn't insist on it anymore and went to wash up and lie down.

  A good night's sleep.

  The sky was just getting light, and Litchi came in to attend to Lin Jing. "Was Miss disturbed last night?"

  Lin Jinyong heard her tone and hastily asked: "What's wrong?"

  Lychee grasped the wooden comb and combed Lin Jirong's thick, black hair all the way down: "Nothing much, just that Master drank too much last night and didn't feel well afterwards. He even went to fetch Old Master Water in the middle of the night to take his pulse and prescribe medicine. This place is small, and you can hear every little movement, but the servant women are not very disciplined, going in and out, making a big racket, I'm afraid they might disturb you."

  Is the "Gynecological Holy Hand" treating Mr. Lin San for his illness? Lin Jinrong felt like laughing, thinking that Mr. Lin San had probably caught a chill from the wind on the road and had drunk too much wine at night, causing an imbalance of cold and heat that led to this illness. Since Water Old Master was known as the "Gynecological Holy Hand", he should be able to diagnose such a simple condition. So she suppressed her smile: "I slept extremely soundly and didn't hear anything. I'm just worried that my wife might have been disturbed."

  Lychee said: "Don't mention the mistress, even Uncle Lao was startled. I heard him talking in the main courtyard at night."

  Lin Jinyong tidied up, called Guigui to sweep the floor, and led Li Zhi to the main courtyard to find Auntie Gong to ask about the situation. Before reaching the main house, she smelled a strong medicinal scent, Auntie Gong was squatting in the corridor, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, staring intently at one of the medicine pots, her expression extremely serious and cautious.

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