They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 378 Going to the Village

Liang Xiaoman still took the job of driving the carriage and accompanied the others, while Xu Zhichun brought Chunfen with him.

After all, He Biao Tou was practically Chun Fen's master. Even after returning to the village, Chun Fen practiced martial arts with incredible diligence. Although Xu Zhichun didn't quite understand, he could see that Chun Fen had made great progress, so He Biao Tou had to test him out.

Upon arriving at the estate that day, Xu Zhichun gathered Steward Mao and everyone else together to meet Liang Minglang.

Xu Zhichun hadn't initially made a point of mentioning her status as a widow. However, after she was granted the title of Lady Shanci, rumors and gossip inevitably spread about her family's situation, making it impossible to keep the truth hidden. But she was shrewd and resourceful enough to keep it under control, so no one in the village dared to have any other ideas.

When Liang Minglang appeared, everyone was startled, thinking she had remarried. Xu Zhichun briefly explained the situation, and everyone was astonished—it turned out the master had come back from the dead! No, the master had never died in the first place!
A person who survives a great calamity is bound to have good fortune in the future. The lady has finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel!
The farmhands and tenants, who were already hesitant to harbor any ill intentions, were even more afraid now.

Xu Zhichun first went to check on the tomatoes, peppers, and morel mushrooms grown in the forest. The morel mushroom strain was something she had obtained from her spatial storage; anyway, she said she got it from a merchant, and no one could verify that it wasn't.

Now is the perfect time for these companies to go public.

Steward Mao eagerly handed the account book to the two of them, saying, "Master and Madam, please take a look. Our fresh tomatoes, peppers, and morel mushrooms have been sold to the provincial capital. Several large restaurants get their supplies from us, and most of them are supplied to them, with a small portion going to small vendors in the provincial capital."

Liang Minglang only heard the beginning before waving his hand: "Manager Mao, is that right? You can tell these things to Madam, no need to tell me. Madam, I'll just take a walk and come find you later."

Manager Mao was taken aback.

Xu Zhichun nodded and smiled: "Okay, then go ahead."

Some people just don't like hearing about these income and expenditure figures; it gives them a headache, which is perfectly normal. I understand.

Once he arrived at the estate, it was quite normal for him to call himself "Madam," since it wouldn't be appropriate for him to keep calling her "Zhichun, Zhichun" in front of the servants.

Watching Liang Minglang walk away, Xu Zhichun withdrew his gaze and smiled, "Manager Mao, please continue."

"Ah? Yes, yes."

Manager Mao perked up and continued speaking, his attitude seemingly even more respectful than before.

Based on his keen eye honed through over thirty years of experience as a steward, he was certain that the master was not someone to be trifled with. Since the master had entrusted everything to his wife, it was clear how much he respected her; how could he dare to be negligent in the slightest?

Truly, he had never seen anything like it in his entire life—a master who had come back from the dead and still allowed his wife to manage such a vast fortune.
The tomatoes, four different varieties of green peppers, and fresh morel mushrooms from the village sold very well. The supply came from the village every three days, and He Biaotou and his men delivered them. They were basically all snapped up by various households as soon as they arrived in the provincial capital.

"Those big restaurants also want other fresh vegetables, so they simply asked us to bring whatever fresh vegetables we had on our estate. We sold quite a lot of lettuce, celery, lettuce, garlic sprouts, chives, bamboo shoots, and so on! Oh, and the chickens in the chicken farm have started laying eggs sporadically. We can collect thirty or forty eggs a day now. In another ten or twenty days, the young hens will probably all be laying eggs, and that will be a lot! This old servant is currently in the city buying a lot of things."

Xu Zhichun looked at the account book and silently calculated that the income from tomatoes, peppers, morel mushrooms, and other crops here, plus those from Liangjia Village, would be nearly five thousand taels of silver this year.

That's a large sum of money.

I planted more than an acre of strawberries this year, and they're ready to sell now. The price is a little lower than last year, but the strawberries are two big ones. Looking at the yield, I can secretly take some more from my space warehouse and sell them for two or three hundred taels of silver without any problem.

There are still three acres of watermelons left, which should be ripe by summer.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, she should be able to earn quite a bit this year. More importantly, she no longer needs to hide her wealth or be overly cautious; even without Liang Minglang's return, she can now protect her family's business.

Having settled the accounts, Xu Zhichun was in high spirits and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work, Steward Mao, and everyone else has also worked hard. Here's what we'll do: take some money from the account and distribute it to everyone. Firstly, as a reward; secondly, as a way to celebrate the Master's return; and thirdly, since the Second Master will soon be taking the imperial examination, this is for good luck. Each of the farmhands under twelve years old and over sixty years old will receive two hundred coins, and everyone else will receive five hundred coins; each of the tenants will receive fifty coins. Head镖师 He and the others will receive twenty taels, which they can divide among themselves. The three junior stewards in the farm will each receive one tael, and Steward Mao will receive three taels."

"It's getting hot today. Go to town tomorrow and buy some cotton cloth. Distribute it according to the requirement of two sets of clothes per person. The junior steward will receive two bolts each, and the head steward will receive four bolts each."

"Let's leave it at that for now."

Steward Mao was overjoyed, his face beaming with delight: "Yes, yes, thank you for your generous reward, Madam! Thank you, Madam! Everyone is so happy to hear this! Madam is so kind, Heaven and Buddha will surely bless our Second Master to pass the imperial examination!"

Xu Zhichun laughed, "Then I'll take your good wishes!"

Although it's feudal superstition, it sounds nice. I like listening to it, please say more.

After they had reached an agreement, it was almost sunset, and there wasn't enough time to visit the cotton fields. Xu Zhichun went to find Liang Minglang and, while he was there, strolled around the estate.

In the open space behind the manor, He Biaotou and his group were sparring with Liang Minglang. Chunfen also joined in with great enthusiasm, creating a lively scene.

When Xu Zhichun arrived, Liang Minglang had just defeated He Biaotou, drawing cheers and sighs.

He, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), was completely convinced and bowed in defeat, saying, "Master's skills are truly remarkable; we are far inferior to you!"

Liang Minglang laughed heartily: "He is too modest, Chief Escort. I only won by a narrow margin."

"No, no, Master is still the best! If Master has some free time these next few days, how about we have another spar?"

"Good! Chunfen has made great progress. Chief He, could you give her some more guidance?"

"Row!"

Liang Minglang instructs the group of bodyguards, while He, the head bodyguard, helps teach Chunfen—a perfect match.

He Biao Tou is older than Chun Fen's father, so there's no need to avoid suspicion.

Seeing Xu Zhichun standing there smiling at a distance, Liang Minglang strode over and asked, "Have you finished talking about business?"

"Yes, the farm's output is good, and the profit is considerable. Once the cotton harvest comes, it will be even more profitable. Would you like to take a look at the accounts?"

Liang Minglang smiled and said, "No need, it's good that you saw it. Didn't you say the fish in the mountain stream here are delicious? Let's go fishing, and we can have fish for dinner."

Xu Zhichun looked up at the sky; the sun was just beginning to move westward, so it was still in time.

A pot of spicy and fragrant boiled mixed fish looked incredibly tempting, and she nodded decisively: "Okay!"