Qin Miaoyan smiled and took out a bowl of fruit jelly from the food box she brought and handed it to Xie Yan.

  "On a spring day, it's best to eat sweet and refreshing fruits. This is made with fresh loquats and cherries stewed together, with a little honey added. Want to try some?"

  Today, Qin Miao happened to wear a new light pink spring shirt with a narrow waist design that was extremely strict, which set off her already slender figure perfectly. The chest line was not the usual style of a cheongsam dress, but instead had small folds and wrinkles that effectively concealed Qin Miao's immature development. Looking at the shoulders, it deviated from the current trend in the capital where noblewomen loved to wear sleeveless dresses, and instead clung to the woman's rounded shoulder line all the way down, highlighting the woman's slender and delicate arms, until the cuffs were slightly open, revealing a glimpse of Qin Miao's coral bead necklace.

  As she walked step by step, the bell on her wrist made a faint "tingling" sound, crisp and clear like a mountain spring flowing, plus the fruit soup wafting from the bowl, Xie Yan couldn't help but say that it was quite enjoyable.

  The moment he touched the porcelain bowl, he inadvertently touched Qin Miao's fingertips, and then met her warm and playful smile. He couldn't help but move his index finger quickly, and soon a bowl of fruit porridge was gone.

  Xie Xuan's expression was quite pleased, and Qin Miao felt much more at ease. It seemed that Ah Wei had been right, he really did love sweet things. First strike, success!

  After being driven out of the door early after adding tea, Xingzhi is now somewhat hesitant to move forward, staring at the inside with eager eyes. And similarly waiting outside, Zixuan was quite calm and collected standing under the corridor, only her eyes never left Xingzhi for a moment. As Po Feng, who had been standing by Xie Xuan's side as his personal attendant, also noticed Xingzhi's unusual behavior today. Seeing that she seemed to want to push open the door and enter, Po Feng quickly stepped forward to stop her.

  "What are you doing?"

  Apricot branch was startled, hastily withdrew the hand that was about to push the door, and subconsciously said: "N...nothing, it's just that the lady has been inside for a while, I don't know if anything will happen."

  Upon hearing this, Zixuan, who was standing guard at the side, couldn't help but laugh and cry. What is this girl thinking...even if something happens, isn't it supposed to be that way? However, she still took it to heart and planned to remind her mistress about it later.

  It was Po Feng who had the presence of mind to speak up, saying seriously to Xingzhi: "The young master and mistress have something to discuss inside, what could it be? You just wait patiently, if they need you to attend to them, they will naturally call for you." After finishing speaking, he retreated back under the corridor pillar, while Xingzhi inexplicably blushed and also fell silent.

  Inside the house, it's not as awkward as outside, but rather harmonious. Seeing Xie Yan finish the fruit soup, Qin Miao continued to talk about the topic from before. She didn't retreat back to sit down, but instead walked around inside while speaking.

  "If we want to reverse the situation where income does not match expenditure, it is nothing but the old adage of increasing revenue and reducing expenses, there is no other way."

  Xie Xuan also stood up and paced along with her. "It's easy to talk about being open-minded and frugal, but specifically how to be open-minded and how to be frugal?"

  "She didn't think and directly said: 'You only got half of it right. Currently, from the perspective of difficulty, the easiest is to not increase income but reduce expenses, second is to increase income and reduce expenses at the same time, and the most difficult is to only increase income without reducing expenses.'"

  After getting married, Xie Yun discovered that his wife rarely called him "Hou Ye" like the others in the mansion, and she didn't seem to have the self-awareness of a married woman, instead calling herself "Qie Shen". He didn't mind, but was curious about her intentions. However, Qin Miao hadn't paid attention to such details, and perhaps the people around her had reminded her to use honorifics when interacting with Xie Yun, not to be casual. But Qin Miao's nature was straightforward, and she would put aside such so-called etiquette. Just like now, it was just you and me, not anything else.

  Qin Miao Zheng was behind him when he suddenly turned around, a pair of moist apricot eyes met his with a serious expression: "As the master of the Marquis's household, which one do you want to choose?"

  Uh... originally just followed behind her, secretly watching the swaying steps of her hairpin was quite interesting, didn't expect this girl to suddenly turn around and bump into him. Xie Yan faintly felt a sign of his ears burning, hurriedly clearing his throat a few times to indicate he was thinking.

  "What you said about the three ways will have what specific impact on the Hou Mansion, I'll make a judgment after hearing it."

  "This is not hard to understand. The first kind of thriftiness is actually just reducing expenses in the household, not keeping unnecessary servants, cutting down on monthly allowances for each room, and only spending money on necessary things. In short, if you can save a penny, don't spend an extra half cent! And that includes you, your expenses need to be reduced too!"

  A small finger suddenly poked up, almost touching Xie Yan's chin, followed by the faint scent of flowers wafting from the sleeve. Was it jasmine? Xie Yan wondered in his heart, but his hands covering his body involuntarily twitched with the urge to grab that small hand and take another sniff, wondering if it was indeed the fragrance of jasmine.

  "Hey! Are you listening to me?" Qin Miao was most particular about not being distracted while working, and that included the beautiful young man who had been on his mind.

  Xie Xian slightly averted his head, pretending to be calm and looking in one direction: "What about the second and third kind?"

  However, in this brief moment, Qin Miao clearly saw that Xie Yan's ear roots had already turned red, and upon closer inspection, hmm... it seemed that the cheeks close to her ear roots were also slightly red, faintly so, even lighter than her favorite cherry lip balm.

  Qin Miao quickly said a sentence that made Xie Yan's face turn red: "Master, why is your face red?" The joy and curiosity in her words were evident.

  Good fellow, a casual husband's words made Xie Yun almost blow his top, and his already slightly hot cheeks suddenly turned bright red. He was originally born with a fair and elegant complexion, but now being teased by Qin Miao like this, he had become as red as the evening clouds, with a dreamy flush on his face.

  The white-faced handsome man's face with a blush made Qin Miao look silly again, and as a result, she said another true sentence without fear of death: "Husband, you are really too good-looking!" Her admiration poured out from her bright and shining apricot eyes, which was quite unstoppable.

  "Speak properly! Don't spout nonsense!" Xie Yun was somewhat annoyed, especially seeing Qin Miao's completely unguarded infatuated face. How could this person be so utterly without restraint? Fortunately, there was no one else in the house today, otherwise it would have been...

  Perhaps it was Xie Houye's loud voice that suddenly doused Qin Miao's already excited and joyful thoughts, leaving her no choice but to reluctantly utter a single word: "Oh."

  Unable to help himself, Xie Yun sat back down at his desk, not even looking at Qin Miao who still had a radiant face, and continued the previous topic in a low voice: "Then... what about the second and third kinds?"

  To be honest, Qin Miao's previous actions were all her true nature and not intentionally provocative, but Xie Yan was somewhat displeased, feeling uncomfortable in his heart. He knew that he was a military general by nature, yet had the face of a charming scholar, which made him feel frustrated every day. Today, being teased by Qin Miao right to his face, even though she was his wife, didn't make him feel too comfortable either. However, at the same time as feeling uncomfortable, an unconscious strange feeling arose within him.

  Qin Miao didn't know so many twists and turns, seeing Xie Yan seemingly a bit annoyed, still feeling inexplicably puzzled in her heart, so she just didn't go look at him, speaking only to herself.

  "The second approach is to cut expenses and increase income, relatively mild. Although still need to cut expenses, the degree of reduction is lighter than the first one, because it can rely on reorganizing industries to increase income. The third approach is not to cut expenses but only to increase income, which is quite bold. Since we want to maintain the household's expenditure, the income must be sufficient, and we need to turn around the decline of previous years and add new profits. This requires us to reconsider the composition of our industries. I have ordered people to review the various estates and shops under the Hou family name, and only a few are profitable. If we adopt the third approach, we will inevitably have to sell some assets and reconfigure the lucrative businesses. The personnel adjustments that follow will also be quite laborious, and the current staff may not be suitable for the new industries, so those who need to be laid off must be laid off, and those who need to be newly hired must be hired."

  The woman who was still swaying in front of me just now had already fallen onto the desk, her two hands straight and propping herself up on the desk. She was staring at me with a distant and spirited gaze, her eyes still filled with a hopeful expression: "I wonder which one you want to use?"

  After listening for half a day, Xie Yun also heard it vaguely, but in fact, he was not very confident. "The first one is too conservative, like a trapped beast or a fish in a dead pond, there will always be a day when it can't hold on. The third one is indeed as you said, over-ambitious and under-prepared, if things go against our wishes, it will be difficult to wrap up."

  "So... you want to use the second one?"

  Xie Xuan thought for a moment before nodding cautiously.

  "Alright! Since you've made up your mind, I'll go back and draft a detailed plan, then discuss it with you again. Once everything is settled, we still need to notify the ancestors and each household, after all, we have to reduce expenses, and say what needs to be said."

  "Alright, I'll go with you that day." Xie Yan's proactive and supportive attitude actually made Qin Miao feel much more at ease.

  The two of them discussed for a while, and then Qin Miao decided to bid farewell and leave. Just as he reached the door, he heard Xie Yan ask from behind: "If you were in charge, which one would you choose?"

  She just smiled lightly, turned around and walked away, with a gleam in her eyes: "If it were me, I'd choose the third option. As they say, no destruction, no construction! Farewell!" With that, she elegantly opened the door and left, leaving Xie Lin alone to savor what she had just said, "no destruction, no construction".

  As soon as she stepped out, Qin Miao saw Xingzhi hastily looking into the house and let out a long sigh when he saw her come out. It has to be said that Qin Miao was very good at reading people, but whenever she encountered Xie Lin, she lost all decorum. Now facing Xingzhi, with just one glance, she could tell that this girl had feelings for her beautiful young master. Sure enough, the person inside called out for someone to come in and add tea, and the girl in front of her went in excitedly, like a joyful egg, and even the blush on her face didn't escape Qin Miao's eyes.

  At this moment, her heart was a bit uncomfortable again. But she held back and didn't say anything, calling out to Zixuan as they left Tingyu Pavilion in big strides.