Here is the translation:

  "Speaking of this, she paused and lowered her voice even further: 'Actually, it's not surprising that Madame is angry. You know, Madame has always been a very proud person who can't tolerate others saying anything bad or inferior about her. She only has one niece, and naturally hopes that her niece will be extremely talented. According to Fang Yiyuan, when her niece was still young and couldn't even hold a pen or needle properly, she had already started learning characters and embroidery. Every time Madame went out as a guest, she would bring her niece along, and every move she made had to be perfect. As she grew older, she hired famous teachers to instruct her in music, chess, literature, painting, and needlework - nothing was allowed to fall behind, and she had to excel above others. Her niece is also very proud and arrogant, practicing diligently through the cold winter and hot summer, which has resulted in her current appearance. She's just waiting for the moment to show off her talents and make a good marriage.'"

  But Lin Jinyong returned to the Tao family's house, and didn't make any obvious reaction or expression like Lu Xian. He just said to Tao Shi: "Second Brother said he wants to eat crispy fried peach blossom fish."

  "Oil pastry peach blossom fish?" Tao Shi obviously found it a bit unbelievable, and immediately shook her head with a light smile: "I was worried that he would be pampered and have to abstain from certain foods when he's ill, or have some special preferences. Since that's the case, let the Tiehuajia family make a few simple country dishes to change his palate."

  Her concerns are not unreasonable, as far as she knows, Lin Yuzhen has lost too many children, so in terms of daily life and diet, she is extremely careful with Lu Xian and Lu Yun.

  Mrs. Gong suddenly remembered something and smiled: "Madam, speaking of Mrs. Guo raising these two children, it's really not easy."

  Taoshi had been idle for days and was bored to death, so he quickly asked: "What did you say?"

  "Mother Gong said in a low voice: "Isn't Huang Niangniang close to Fang Yiniang, who is beside the lady? Fang Yiniang followed her to pay New Year's greetings last time and sat with Huang Niangniang for a while. She brought up the matter of our girl competing in tea-making and blowing the埙 last time, and it happened that Xiaoyu heard it and told me..."

  Here is the translation:

  "Speaking of this, she paused and lowered her voice even further: 'Actually, it's not surprising that Madame is angry. You know, Madame has always been a very proud person who can't tolerate others saying anything bad or inferior about her. She only has one niece, and naturally hopes that her niece will be extremely talented. According to Fang Yiyi, when her niece was still young and couldn't even hold a pen or needle properly, she had already started learning characters and embroidery. Every time Madame went out as a guest, she would bring her niece along, and every move she made had to be perfect. As she grew older, she hired famous teachers to instruct her in music, chess, literature, painting, and needlework - nothing was allowed to fall behind, and she had to excel above others. Her niece is also very proud and arrogant, practicing diligently through the three winters and three summers, which has resulted in her current appearance. She's just waiting for the moment to show off her talents and make a good marriage.'"

  Tao's character was very clear to Lin Yuzhen, and the reason why they didn't get along earlier was that she was more beautiful than Lin Yuzhen, and her writing skills were not inferior to Lin Yuzhen's. Secondly, she couldn't tolerate any sand in her eyes, unlike Zhou Shi who was so smooth and flattering like Luo Shi. Therefore, the two of them didn't yield to each other, looked at each other with disdain, and often clashed. In terms of appearance, talent, and husbands, they had their own wins and losses, but when it came to women's fate, these two were really half a catty and eight taels.

  However, she has two daughters and a son by her side, all of whom are obedient and well-behaved. Lin Yuzhen, on the other hand, only has one daughter, and Lu Duan, this half-son who can only be used to prop up the family gate, was even snatched from someone else's hands. She has to guard against him having a change of heart day and night, and guard against being taken back by his original family; she also has to worry about when Lu Jianxin's concubines will give birth to a son, and how they will harm the interests of the first wife with their mother-son relationship. Moreover, she has to prevent the other two branches of the Lu family from plotting against the wealth of the main house, and strictly guard against it. Therefore, Lin Yuzhen's life is truly very bitter.

  At this age, it's all about the children. Mrs. Tao smiled complacently and said, "Actually, she's just making things difficult for herself. The younger generation has its own blessings, look at me, I've never forced my kids to do anything or study anything they didn't want to. Ah-yin is still capable and well-behaved, with a good marriage prospect, and Nang-nang's talent is unstoppable! Little Seventh easily won over his grandfather's affection, but was that because of my forcing?"

  Lin Jinyong saw the complacent look on Tao's face and thought to herself that in her past life, she wasn't much better than Lin Yuzhen. With three children, only one had succeeded, one was a good-for-nothing who died early, and another was a spoiled brat who didn't amount to anything. She didn't say anything else, but instead advised: "Since mother can think this way, that's even better. Good days are all spent by oneself. Why force others and torment yourself?"

  Tao Shi heard this, his smile slightly faded, and he gently patted Lin Jinyong's head, saying: "This little girl, since she turned thirteen, has become more and more like an old pedant, and now she's lecturing me too. Alright, alright, go arrange dinner! Tell them to bring out that set of pink peach blossom porcelain dishes."

  Lin Jinyong pointed to the lychee and others setting the table, and also heard Gong Mama gossiping inside: "To say that this cousin, she really has the temperament of not admitting defeat like Auntie. The whole winter, she was bitterly practicing tea art, bitterly practicing blowing the埙, the maids in her house were so full of tea..."

  Mrs. Tao said with a big smile: "If you ask me, she'd better come and learn from my daughter how to manage the household and treat people, otherwise she'll never be able to surpass..."

  Lin Jinyong found it very amusing, the same thing, when it happened to her, it was a brilliant move, but when it happened to others, it was something that looked good on the surface but was useless in reality. This mother of hers really had no words to describe, she was so biased towards her own child.

  Lychee heard clearly and said in a low voice: "Miss, judging from Miss's momentum, I'm afraid she will come to you again soon."

  He has already taken the first step and is naturally unafraid of the second. Lin Jin said calmly: "I'm ready to accompany you anytime."

  The bowls and chopsticks were just laid out, and the dishes were already served. The Ti Huai family's rural dishes really had a set, with crispy and fragrant oil-fried peach blossom fish, cool and refreshing celery, sautéed pear flower tips, fragrant walnut flowers, salty duck eggs soaked in oil, freshly steamed tofu, spicy chili sauce and scallions dipping water, paired with colorful peach branch bowls and plates, delicate and refreshing, making people's fingers move. Lin Jianrong instructed Miao Yu: "You go invite Third Young Master and Cousin Young Master to come over for dinner."

  Miao Ya quickly retreated and shook her head: "I don't want to see Lao Shou. As soon as he sees me, he teases me, and when I retort, my mother pinches my ears."

  "Miss, I'll be off," said Guī Yuán hastily. She quickly walked out the door and stopped at a corner where no one was around, carefully adjusting the pearl flower on her hair and smoothing out her skirt. From her sleeve, she pulled out a box of rouge, applied some to her lips with her fingertips, and then continued on her way.

  In the western courtyard, the cool evening breeze blew up the pages of books on the stone table. Lin Shiquan looked at the small seal on the cover and smiled: "Is this Mr. Zhu's book? I also studied in Mr. Zhu's private school for two years."

  "Yes, Mr. Zhu lent it to me." Lu Xian was silent for a moment before asking, "Why not continue reading? With your guidance, I won't worry about not having any achievements. If there's anything difficult..."

  Lin Shiquan couldn't help but burst out laughing, interrupting him: "No, it's not that I want to read but can't. You've always said that I have perseverance but lack wisdom. Since that's the case, why force it? Now, I just want to raise my sister and earn a decent dowry for her."

  Lu Xian's eyes flashed with a hint of praise, and he smiled: "Those who are determined will succeed, you will definitely make it!"

  "That's for sure." Lin Shiquan changed his tone: "Lü Erge, who came from afar, have you ever heard of the matter of building a dam in the field?"

  Lu Duan replied, "I've heard that last spring in the eastern capital, Cui Ti proposed to recruit civilians for labor and built embankments according to the terrain, diverting the waters of the Wei River to irrigate 800,000 mu of land, turning it into fertile fields. The people benefited greatly from this."

  Lin Shiquan's heart moved, and he said with a sigh: "My Pingzhou has many salt-alkali lands, just the north side has dozens of hectares, and the west side has thousands of hectares, why is there no one like this?"

  Lu Xian's expression also turned serious as he mentioned this issue, and he said seriously: "Pingzhou is too far from Zhejiang River, it's not easy to divert the river water, it can't be done by a single family. Unless the higher-ups really put their minds to it."

  Lin Shiquan hastily said: "Must you have the water of the Zhejiang River? Can't an ordinary river do, like that one we saw on our way here?"

  "That river is still too small, at most it can only be used as an irrigation canal. " Lu Duan saw Lin Shiquan's disappointed face and casually said: "What, someone wants to cultivate the land? I saw a large piece of saline-alkali land by the river when I came."

  Lin Shiquan was about to tell him that it was Lin Jianrong's land, but he felt it wasn't appropriate and instead smiled: "I just heard people talking about this matter of the salt-alkali land, I think it's a pity to leave it unused. If the higher-ups quickly issue an order to mobilize civilians to build canals and dams, that would be great."

  Not directly answering, that's already a lot. Lu Xian smiled faintly: "It's a pity, but the current official is already old and stubborn, just waiting for his term to end so he can retire and enjoy life. I'm afraid in his term, there won't be any extra moves in these two or three years. Let's see if the next official is enthusiastic about agriculture, really wants to do something practical for the people."

  That is to say, Lin Jianrong still needs to wait for good luck to turn this land into a good field? Lin Shiquan couldn't help but sigh silently, and forced himself to cheer up, bowing to Lu Xian and praising: "Brother Lu is truly knowledgeable and insightful, I'm enlightened."

  Lin San's younger brother mistakenly praised him. I have an older brother who is enthusiastic about farming and told me a lot, just knowing it was okay. Lu Jian got up and returned a courtesy: "I don't know who you heard talking about this field? Since I returned to Pingzhou, it's the first time I've heard someone mention this matter."

  After listening to him say so much, he couldn't help but answer this question. Lin Shiquan was helpless and could only say: "I heard it from Fourth Sister's casual mention. I just remembered it in my heart."

  "Oh." Lu Xian's long, white fingers lightly tapped the stone table twice, and he said faintly, "She knows quite a lot of things."

  "That's her, she's curious about everything, and probably knows more wild vegetables and herbs than I do." Lin Shiquan chuckled lightly, his eyes catching a glimpse of a crimson figure fluttering at the entrance of the courtyard. He thought it was almost time for dinner and guessed that the maids had come to invite them to eat, but seeing the two of them talking didn't dare to disturb them casually. "Who's there?"

  That person walked in, with a smile all over his face, and bowed: "I, Guī Yuán, have seen the Second Young Master and Third Young Master. Dinner is ready, and Madame invites you both to go eat dinner."

  Lin Shiquan then invited Lu Jie: "Lu Erge, please, the home-cooked dishes made by Tie Mama have a unique flavor, which you can't usually eat."

  Lu Xian was just about to go collect the books when Gui Yuan hurried over, laughing and saying: "Young Master can leave this to me, I'll take care of it."

  The young servant was tidying up as usual, and Lu Xuan didn't think much of it. But then he accidentally caught sight of a faint red mark on the tip of Guiyuan's finger, clearly printed on the page of his book. He suddenly flew into a rage and shouted: "Get out! Who told you to touch my book!"

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