Song Yi's beard twitched with anger. "You still covet silver to the point you wish you could sleep while holding it in your arms at night, like this, you will definitely never be successful. How could I have ever accepted an unworthy disciple like you?"

But after he said that, he found Su Tang looking up at him with aggrieved eyes: "Master, this time you've gone too far. You know that this disciple also wants to sleep while holding silver in her arms at night but that she lacks the silver to do so. This disciple is not like you, master, who not only dreams of falling asleep with silver in your arms, but who also has the ability to really realize that dream. Master, you really can't treat your disciple like this. Your disciple also has dreams, grand dreams the likes of which you can't even imagine!"

"However, although master is treating your disciple this way, your disciple is actually still very happy. After all, today I've learned that it turns out that master shares the same dream as this disciple. And so, master, you can clearly see that this disciple shares your dream, but doesn't have the ability to realize it herself, right? Then, master, are you interested in helping your disciple realize our shared dream? For example, when you go to sleep holding your silver now master, perhaps instead you could share your silver so that both of us could sleep with silver in our arms."

Song Yi could only feel resigned. In fact, over the course of his life he had already taken in more than a dozen disciples and, although they would sometimes create troubles, they would always act disciplined, sensible, and obedient, and they would never dare to disobey him, at least as long as they were standing in front of him.

But it seemed that he wasn't destined to enjoy that kind of treatment in his twilight years. After all, even though he had come to this small and distant place, he had ended up taking in another young disciple. Not only was this new disciple a small girl, she spent every day doing mischief as if she was afraid that she wasn't doing enough to anger him to death. Now she even dared to boldly declare her love for money in front of him and even tried to craftily rope him into the same boat.

"Hmph, you're really capable. You can even make the love of money sound so refined." As he spoke, Song Yi set aside the bag of silver taels so quickly you would think it was burning his hand. He was afraid that if he continued to hold the bag of silver, this little fox would definitely take the label 'loves money' and try to push it onto his head.

Obviously, it was her, this little fox, who was the one who really loved money almost as much as she loved acting mischievously. Song Yi began to feel that he really must have been in a muddle-headed state back when he had decided to accept this little disciple.

The orange cat was watching from the side, and he could clearly read Song Yi's thoughts from his helpless expression. Seeing that, the orange cat felt a strong sense of solidarity all of a sudden. Finally, there was someone else to experience these feelings! The feelings of regret, ah!

But what was done was done. The choice had been made, and now they both of them could only continue on, ah, even if they had to crawl!

Su Tang smiled widely when she heard Song Yi's words. "Thank you, master, for your praise. This disciple has always been very outstanding and excellent in this particular respect. It can be considered this disciple's gift and, though this disciple doesn't want it, it isn't something that she can control…"

Song Yi's brows furrowed. She was so cheeky, and also so thick-skinned. Seeing that she was like this, if not for the fact that she was a little girl, Song Yi would have almost thought she was one of those wily old ministers from the imperial court. She certainly had the skills for it, those being shameless, and being extremely shameless. But the real key point was that she was already at this level at the age of eight, so Song Yi really shuddered to imagine what sort of level she would reach by the age of 18.

"Anyway, you want me to help you make money, right? That's fine. After all, you are my disciple. How could I not help you as your master?" Finally, Song Yi decided to just firmly ignore the little girl's nonsense. After all, it wasn't like this was the first time he had crossed words with her, so he knew that it was a waste of time picking at every little thing. This little girl could talk her way out of a burlap sack and leave her captor fainted from anger, so it wasn't worth it to argue with her.

Of course, Su Tang immediately replied, "Master, what are you talking about? Master, as your disciple, I, of course, have to realize my dream through my own efforts. Please rest assured that this disciple is confident and will definitely do an amazing job."

Song Yi looked wry. "If you could take your eyes off your master's silver, your master would also feel that you were quite 'amazing'."

She was a once in a generation genius, but she didn't want to make any progress, she didn't want to study, she was probably in the top ten of all the laziest people Song Yi had ever met… just looking at her made Song Yi's teeth itch with anger.

Su Tang's eyes wandered around and she chuckled, "Hehe, thank you for your compliment master, this disciple feels embarrassed."

"Anyway, you want me to invest in you, so that you can sell more of that toffee, right?" In the end, just who was Song Yi? He was someone who had spent years fighting with that group of old men in the capital, so he wouldn't be stumped by something like this.

Su Tang was a little fox, but as soon as she had opened her mouth in front of him he had immediately seen what she wanted to do.

Obviously, the little girl needed money! Actually, ever since he had found out how much this little girl loved money, Song Yi had prepared some money ahead of time, and he had been eagerly waiting for this day.

So now Song Yi was so happy that he wanted to laugh in his heart. Finally, the day that he had been waiting for had arrived, ah!

Su Tang couldn't know what the old man was thinking, but she could see that smug look on his face.

However, Su Tang wasn't the type to just let someone feel smug, so after hearing his question she replied: "Well, kind of… in a sense… sort of… something like that…"

Song Yi had known from the start this wouldn't be easy, but he had a trump card this time. He was the one with the money! There was no way that this little fox didn't want to make a deal with him today. All that in mind, he just looked at Su Tang with great interest, waiting to see what she would say.

After spouting a bunch of uncertain words, Su Tang finally said, "That's not quite right, master. Rather, I hope you can lend me some money and I will pay you back in three months."

As a matter of fact, Su Tang really had come to borrow some money. From what she could see, there was just no other way. She really wanted to start making money now, but she didn't have enough money in her hands to even begin. Thus, after taking stock of all the people she knew, it could be seen at a glance that Song Yi was the only person she could go to for help. In order for her to be able to really set sail in the world of business and develop her little rowboat into an aircraft carrier, she had no choice but to borrow from Song Yi.

However, Song Yi could see that Su Tang had the ability to learn more so, in order to try to get her to learn more he had been constantly trying all sorts of hard and soft methods in recent days. Considering their usual interactions, Su Tang knew it wouldn't be easy for her to borrow money from her master. In fact, perhaps Song Yi had even been waiting for just this moment, when she was in a situation where she would have to open her mouth first.

Thus, even before she had come here Su Tang had long considered how this conversation would go, and that was the reason she hadn't just asked to borrow money directly and had instead made many detours. After all, if she had really just directly opened by asking for a favor, she would have completely surrendered the upper hand to Song Yi! She had to at least try her hand at acting pitiful for a while first.

It didn't matter if Song Yi bought into her acting or not, it was a matter of showing the proper attitude.

"Child, I am your master, a little money isn't much to me so you needn't worry, but if you want to borrow something you have to open your mouth to ask for it first. And, for instance, there's the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance*…"

Song Yi had long been waiting for this day, ever since he had really gotten a grasp on this girl's talents. After all, although she had agreed to worship him as her master and was properly following him to learn, it was obvious that she wasn't giving it her full effort at all. She was so talented that Song Yi often felt that if he said two words where one would do, he was just saying too much and wasting his pupil's time.

Su Tang was indisputably a born genius and she even learned things faster than Pei Xuan had, who had been the smartest disciple he had ever taken before. Of course, speaking frankly, Song Yi could tell that Su Tang just wanted to live a comfortable life and had no desire to pursue fame or the greatness of a scholar.

He knew it, and it wasn't like he couldn't understand it, but Song Yi really couldn't help himself. Even though she didn't have any ambition, he really couldn't bear to watch Su Tang waste her talents and brains. He wanted nothing more than to teach her everything he could, if only to see how much the little girl could achieve if she really applied herself.

But it was a pity that Su Tang paid no mind to his thoughts, and seemed to solely focus all of her energy on making money. However, thanks to this, Song Yi also knew that he didn't need any other tricks. Thus, now that the day had finally come that the little fox was coming to him with a request, he couldn't miss the opportunity to ask her to follow him seriously and put more effort into her studies in exchange.

Of course, Su Tang knew that he would make this request, but she would never agree. Learning was something great, and people who devoted their lives to learning were great people, but she had no desire to be great. She was more of a pragmatist, she just wanted to work hard and make enough money to live a good life. Enjoying life was the goal in itself.

The life of an academic just wasn't suitable for her. She lived her life by a very simple principle: Does it make her happy, or unhappy? Didn't she live life to enjoy it in the first place? Thus, after discovering that studying all the time made her tired and unhappy she, of course, had no desire to continue doing it.

If Su Tang hadn't already endured more than ten years of boring study in her last life, she might have managed to do it, but, sorry, she had only been in her twenties on the final day of her last life, and back then she had a terrible realization: She had actually spent two-thirds of all of her time on Earth studying, and then died!

So now that she had been born again, why would she want to spend even more time studying? Why would she abuse herself? She could spend a little energy to coax this one old man, but it was impossible to ask her to do more.

Gathering together a bit of money to enjoy was her only pursuit in life. After all, back in her last life, she hadn't even been to afford to buy a house. And although it seemed that they didn't have the fate to be born as a rich second generation, that didn't mean she couldn't strive to be a rich first generation this time around.

"And that Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance that master mentioned, it's a great work that still hasn't been finished even after several dynasties, but it's just too much!"

Su Tang directly clutched her chest, "Recently, this disciple really felt that she was truly sick. There has been a huge shadow in my little heart because of my own father, but until now this disciple has tried to retain her grasp on her single last ray of sunshine."

"But now, all of the sunshine is gone from this disciple's little heart, there's nothing but shadows left. This disciple has decided, she will no longer chase her dream."

"As the Buddha said, possessions are nothing, everything is false. This disciple decided to let go of her obsession with material wealth. In the future, master, you should take good care of yourself, when this disciple is gone, you must keep yourself happy and healthy."

"It's a great pity that this disciple will be unable to serve at master's side in this life, but maybe this is just the fate between us as master and disciple!"

In fact, back when Song Yi had first mentioned the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, Su Tang had directly refused without thinking. After all, this book was the same book she was familiar with from her previous life and, of course, it was a great and powerful historical work, but Song Yi had asked her to memorize the whole thing, okay?

That was just absolutely impossible. She would definitely die first.

"I hope that in the future when master falls asleep with silver in his arms, his dreams realized, that he will also remember that he once accepted a disciple who shared the same dream, but who was unable to realize it."

Song Yi could only feel that his brain was burning. This little fox wasn't open to persuasion or coercion, and in the end, she even decided to smear him as her master! It seemed he really must have owed that little fox something from his last life and she had come around to be his disciple in order to collect that debt.

"As long as you study seriously, I'll give you one thousand taels of silver, enough that you can sleep while holding it." Song Yi directly threw out a high price.

But Su Tang refused, "Master, don't try to convince me. This disciple has decided that everything is false. This disciple has decided to give up on her dream, and instead strive to live a life detached from material things!"

Song Yi felt that finding a genius disciple was really good, but if the genius disciple didn't dislike just anything, but actually disliked learning, and even liked bartering with and threatening her master in an effort to anger him to death, it wasn't so good anymore.

"How much silver do you want?" Song Yi gritted his teeth and decided to sacrifice. Since he had this opportunity, he needed to secure this little fox's promise even if he had to bleed heavily for it. The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance was an excellent text, but an average scholar wouldn't be able to memorize it even if they spent their whole life trying.

Only with a genius of Su Tang's caliber would it be possible, so Song Yi definitely couldn't give up.

"Master, are you looking down on this disciple? This disciple can work hard and get what she wants with her own effort, this disciple has that much confidence in herself. Master, it seems you have no confidence in this disciple, it breaks my heart. This disciple has decided to go back for today, because this disciple needs to go and make some money before anything else. The food in the town is expensive, so I need to work to afford it!"

"And even if you give more money, this disciple will never be able to finish that book. It's true that this disciple never forgets after reading something, but for this kind of book, this disciple can't read it even once. No matter how much money it is, it's not enough to make it worth the waste of time."

When Song Yi saw the little fox beginning to spout a lot of nonsense, he didn't play any tricks, and just directly threw out the words: "If you study the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance seriously for three years, I'll give you ten thousand taels of silver."

For Song Yi, ten thousand taels of silver was a huge amount, but he was determined to be ruthless to himself this time.

Su Tang had known it would be like this, but she really couldn't take a step back here. After all, if she were really to spend three years studying the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, there was no way her usual idle days would be able to continue.

In the first place, the key point behind having money was using it to enjoy a beautiful life where she wouldn't have to look at this kind of boring thing all the time. More pointedly, she didn't even want to know what her life would be like if she really crammed all those strange things into her head.

"You don't like three years? Then what about five?" Song Yi directly raised the conditions.

Su Tang looked him in the eye and said, "Lend me a hundred taels. I'll pay the full amount back within three months. But learning the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance is impossible, I will never memorize it."

"I'm offering you ten thousand taels here. Just how long do you think it would take for you to earn ten thousand taels? Also, isn't it only three years? You're only eight years old now, three years later, you will be eleven years old and have ten thousand taels in your hands. If you are doing business on your own during that time, how much do you really think you will be able to earn, you little fox? Can't you do the math?" Song Yi pressed on.

"No, I can't. I don't want to borrow from master anyway. I'll just find a loan shark and borrow from them, maybe I won't be able to pay it back and end up being sold as a slave, but that would just be my fate. Anyway, I've always just been a poor orphan from the beginning, with a father that didn't love me and a mother that died early, and then no father or mother at all after I was adopted, so this is just my lot in life. Even from young, I can only work to support my family and save any extra money I can to fund my brother's studies. But it's fine, I'll be strong and keep moving forward. This is my life after all!"

Su Tang continued to act pitiful, eliciting a sigh from Song Yi. Eventually, he said slowly, "Tang girl, you should know that your master won't do anything to harm you. In the first place, the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance isn't something that any scholar can see just because they want to. You really don't want to study it?"

Song Yi dropped all pretense and stopped playing around. He knew that his little disciple liked to act mischievous and fool around like a little fox, but he also knew that she was a very thoughtful and mature person, despite being just eight years old. He knew that no one would be able to change her mind if she truly decided on something.

Of course, Song Yi could tell that she had no desire to study the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance but, frankly, this was an excellent opportunity that few people would ever get the chance to have. In all the Qihuang Kingdom, there were only two copies of the document, and the process of writing them was still an ongoing process. Song Yi only had a chance to see it because of his position as an Imperial Preceptor and, in fact, it was something he was still seriously studying himself.

He had hoped that Su Tang could read and memorize it because, after interacting with her for a while, he had found that the little girl had a high ability to digest complex knowledge and a very special and unique point of view. Thus, his hope that Su Tang would read the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance was, to some extent, due to his own desire to have a peer that he might be able to discuss the text with in a rewarding and meaningful way.

However, Su Tang's attitude of refusal was really just too obvious, so Song Yi could only come out and ask her directly and seriously. Did she really intend to refuse no matter what?

Su Tang could sense Song Yi's change in tone, so she replied with equal seriousness: "Master, do you really think it's meaningful for this disciple to read such a text? Is it so that she might learn from history? However, if I may be bold for a moment, I can say that I have seen many changes in our history and that I know better than anyone that the only constant in this world is change."

"This disciple is a person who has died once, so now this disciple considers each new day as something that was earned at a high price. So how should this disciple spend these hard-earned days? Should she pursue success and fame? Or perhaps some kind of life of wealth and splendor?"

"In the end, I only have this one life, ah, and this disciple has no ideas towards any of that. This disciple only wants to be happy. In pursuit of that goal, this disciple will not force herself to do anything that she does not want to do. If it's something that will make her unhappy, then she will not do it. My only thoughts are on how to live more happily."

"In truth, the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance is a great text, and this disciple would probably have a lot of gains if she were to study it, be that for three or five years. However, regarding those three or five years, this disciple is unwilling. It would make her unhappy. And for me, that makes it just a waste of life."

"This disciple works hard to make money because making money makes me happy, and spending money does too. However, this disciple really doesn't want to spend three or five years of her life doing only this one thing. Doing so would be dull, boring, monotonous and, ultimately, a source of unhappiness."

Su Tang knew that the reality of this world, of this time and this era, was that a person had to study and learn in order to get ahead, which was why she was so serious about ensuring Su Nuo could study. After all, he was a boy, so by learning these things now he would have something to rely on to get ahead in the future. But for her, she was different. She had already died once, and she was already tired of seeing that kind of life that full of nothing but desperately pursuing wealth and status, so just forget it.

Su Tang had always felt that she had no big ideals or lofty ambitions, and she had never thought that she could singlehandedly change the world. She just wanted to be happy. She just wanted to enjoy herself. Working backward, she had picked this new enjoyable life up for nothing, so if she decided to make things difficult for herself for no reason, wouldn't that just be stupid?

"Then what if master says he wants you to read it with master as a peer?" When Song Yi heard Su Tang's explanation, he somewhat understood the girl's point of view. However, he also saw that if you were to say that she really had no goals and no pursuits, that would clearly be wrong.

It was just that her whole attitude was very aloof and detached. It was as if she wasn't of this world, and also as if she had no desire to involve herself with the people of this world.

She was the type that wouldn't take the initiative to ask for something, but if she received something, she would reward in turn. Looking at her, you might think that her daily life was very interesting and that she was making efforts to be positive and improve but, in reality, her heart was very cold.

Song Yi sometimes wondered how an eight-year-old girl had developed such a temperament, a temperament as if she had seen too much of the world and was weary of it all, but Su Tang herself would often say that she was a person who had died once, so perhaps that was an explanation. Or perhaps this was just the difference between a true born genius and other ordinary people.

After all, from the start, the way she saw and thought about things was very different from how ordinary people would see or think, and she had the ability to see the whole picture more clearly than many people could ever hope to. Because of that, the fact that her perspective was very different from an ordinary person's didn't come as a surprise at all.

Actually, until now, Su Tang still hadn't understood why Song Yi was so adamant that she should study the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance. She had only felt that it was a meaningless and thankless task, a task that wouldn't be fun and would only tire her out, but after hearing this question from Song Yi she suddenly seemed to realize something else.

This old man, who had already passed the prime of his life, should be very lonely. His wife, who had always been by his side, had already left this world, while his disciples and sons all had their own careers and pursuits in distant places. And, on top of that, he had come here to take refuge in the small Qinghe Town for some unknown reason.

Back when Song Yi had first accepted a small peasant girl as a disciple, Su Tang felt that he had probably only done so on a whim because he reminded him a bit of his late wife, and he felt that having her around would give him something to do. However, after he had seriously begun to teach Su Tang, he had realized that she was a rare person who could communicate with him almost as an equal, which was probably something hard to come by for Song Yi.

But although Su Tang was smart and could easily communicate with Song Yi without taboos, she really didn't like to learn at all. Thus, Song Yi could only spend his time trying to plot methods to prompt Su Tang to want to study, learn, and discuss on her own accord.

Song Yi had spent his whole life in the Imperial Court, so he should have been used to having to speak each word carefully and with much consideration of how his words might be construed or misconstrued, so having someone he could communicate freely with back then was probably something impossible. In fact, he probably had trouble even communicating with other people normally after all of his experiences. If not, why would he have come to this small Qinghe Town and then rather not eat well than just invite some people to come and work for him?!

It shouldn't just be out of his feelings for his late wife. Rather, it should also be because he didn't dare to use anyone easily, for fear that a moment of carelessness may cause him a lot of grief. However, Su Tang was just a little eight-year-old peasant girl with a clear background, which was why he had dared to bring her in as a disciple, and from there it wasn't long before she was the only one able to easily move in and out of the Song residence.

It was clear just how cautious Song Yi was. Even though he was kind to Su Tang, he would never show the same kindness to Su Nuo, who was just a small child. Probably, in the beginning, he had only thought he would teach this slightly interesting little girl for a while, but then he had unexpectedly discovered that she was a person that he could communicate with. From there, it was understandable that Song Yi's feelings would change.

Su Tang, as a person, generally didn't waste any energy caring about people that she didn't need to care about. To put it bluntly, she was a cold person, and she had been that way ever since her previous life. Back then, she had only had one or two true friends, and the rest were just acquaintances or colleagues at most.

However, she did have people that she cared about, and to the people in that small circle, she would always show kindness.

When others were good to her, she would be good to them in turn. This was her iron rule and principle.

If Song Yi had been wanting to use this opportunity to corner her and force her to study against her will, then she certainly would never agree. But if Song Yi was instead asking her to learn and study with him out of his own loneliness, then Su Tang really couldn't say no.

"Give me that loan I talked about first. The time period is three months, no interest. After that, I'll study it, but you can't ask for a specific time." Knowing that the old man was just lonely and wanted someone to discuss things with, Su Tang eventually just sighed and agreed.

"What about this one?" The man asked.

Looking at it, Su Tang felt that the place was nice, but she couldn't afford it and it also wasn't suitable for her business. She planned to sell desserts after all, so having this kind of large and central location wouldn't actually help her much. Rather, she felt that the Jiang family's noodle stall that she had seen before was pretty good.

When he saw Su Tang's non-committal attitude, Zhang Zheng knew that she wasn't interested. So, sure enough, the next place he took her two was a spot that seemed to be much closer to the Jiang family's noodle stall.

"Tang girl!" Madam Qian and Jiang He happened to see the two of them walking over, so Madam Qian called out a greeting.

Su Tang smiled up at her and said, "Huh, it seems Big Brother and sister-in-law aren't tending the stall today?" (tl note: She's Su Tang's "sister-in-law" since Su Tang sometimes calls Jiang He "big brother" but they have no actual relation.)

"Yup. But Miss Tang, who's this?" Madam Qian looked down at Su Tang with curiosity. In actual fact, she knew who Zhang Zheng was. After all, he was a middle man of sorts, and because of all the shops on East Street he was often running around the area, so most of the people with stores and stalls knew him.

After all, despite the fact that there were many shops in this area, there weren't actually that many who could stably do business over the long term. It was a competitive market, so shops that didn't either have something really good or else something really unique would often be driven out of business and then Zhang Zheng would arrive to help sell the empty shops.

Of course, the fact that the rent here on East Street was much higher than it was in other places in town only made the problem worse.

Madam Qian was worried that Su Tang had come because the girl wanted to start selling her fish balls herself. That would be terrible news for her and her husband because their noodle stall had relied almost entirely on her fish balls to reach their present stage of development. Thus, if the girl started selling the fish balls herself there was no way that their own business wouldn't be affected.

Su Tang could see the worry in the woman's eyes, but she didn't offer up any sort of explanation, she just smiled faintly and said, "He works around here, he's helping me come out to have a look at the shops."

When Jiang He heard that, he also began to feel worried and blurted: "What kind of shop is Miss Tang planning to open?"

However, after asking the question, he immediately realized his mistake. After all, no matter how young this girl was, there was no need for her to explain to him what kind of business she wanted to open.

Of course, Su Tang just maintained her faint smile after hearing that question, but she didn't seem to intend to reply at all. On the side, Zhang Zheng was clever and quick-witted, so seeing the situation take this turn he hurriedly cut in: "Miss Su, let's go over here. There's a shop that's a little out of the way, we can go take a look."

Zhang Zheng hadn't started by recommending this shop because the location really wasn't as good as the one he had shown before and it also had a slightly high price when you considered all of its qualities. However, other than those points, there was nothing wrong with it.

That was why, even though Su Tang had told him she didn't need a big shop, he had still taken her to see the larger shop first. Of course, in the end, Su Tang really hadn't liked the larger shop, so now he brought her over to this smaller one.

Because the town's academy was here, this street had naturally developed a bustling market that included many food shops. But the shop Zhang Zheng was talking about really was a bit out of the way, with some distance between it and the gate of the academy.

There were two more shops further past the one he was showing her, but just by taking a glance you could see that their business wasn't good. After all, it took time to walk this far from the academy, so there were correspondingly fewer customers.

The shop was truly a bit on the smaller side, but looking at the empty rooms Su Tang felt that there was a suitable amount of space for her purposes. She asked, "Can we go inside and have a look at the interior and the courtyard behind?"

"Of course!" When Zhang Zheng saw that Su Tang seemed interested, he immediately went up to knock on the door.

A moment later, a middle-aged man opened the door and, when he saw that it was Zhang Zheng, he squeezed out a bitter smile and said, "Zhang Zheng, it's you."

"En, hello again Mr. Lin, I hope your son is doing well? I've brought someone to take a look at the shop this time." After speaking, Zhang Zheng carefully looked over at Su Tang.

When the man heard this, he shook his head. "I see, that's how it is." He sounded agreeable, but when he actually saw Su Tang he froze for a moment. However, he still spoke up to invite them in a moment later, "Come on in you two."

"Miss Su, this is the owner of the shop, Mr. Lin. Even though the courtyard behind the shop isn't very large, he and his three family members are able to live here just fine. All in all, there are four rooms in the courtyard that are connected to the shop through a back door. Also, the location is only a few steps from the back entrance of the academy, so it's very convenient if you need to go back and forth."

Zhang Zheng enthusiastically began introducing the property to Su Tang.

"Right, there used to be only three rooms in this courtyard, but last year I felt that my son was getting to be old enough so I went ahead and built a fourth room. In the end, he didn't stay in it for very long though, so the room is like new." The owner of the two shops Su Tang had looked at, a man surnamed Lin, added in from the side.

In fact, the owner decided to personally say a few words this time because, although the shops on East Street were few in number and hard to buy, they were also very expensive and not easy to sell once you bought them. Right now the owner urgently needed money, but because the New Year was coming up soon not many people had much money on hand, so it was hard for him to find a buyer.

If not for the pressing circumstances, he wouldn't have wanted to sell either of his shops, especially the bigger one that had such a good location, in the first place. After all, that bigger shop was being rented now and generating income for him. However, his son was sick, so he desperately needed money immediately. However, after looking into selling his assets, he found that selling his small shop was actually quite troublesome and it seemed that there was almost no hope of selling it, so he had gritted his teeth and prepared himself to sell the larger shop. But now a potential buyer for the small shop had popped up, he was very active in trying to convince her.

After taking a look around, Su Tang surmised that this courtyard behind the shop wasn't too different from the courtyard that she was currently living in, the one that Luo Xingchen had rented. On the downside, the land it was on was overall a bit smaller, but on the plus side, there were four rooms. Although the main room seemed a bit run down, with a bit of tidying up it would easily be livable.

"The location is a bit…" Su Tang trailed off as if she were hesitating.

Seeing Su Tang's expression, Zhang Zheng quickly chimed in, "The shops here on East Street are all expensive, and they don't often come up for sale. At present, only the two shops that Mr. Lin is selling are on the market. And although this shop is indeed a little far, it has the advantage that not too far behind it there is a back entrance to the academy, which is very convenient if you have any family members studying there. And, of course, out front is the food alley that serves the academy, which is an undeniable plus. But most importantly, the price of this shop is relatively cheaper."

Zhang Zheng knew that Su Tang really wanted to buy, but these two shops were the only ones he had on hand at the moment, so if he wanted to make money he naturally had to talk them up a little.

Of course, truth be told, there really weren't many people who were willing to sell their shops on East Street in the first place. After all, instead of selling they could easily just rent instead, which was more profitable in the long run. It was rare for two of them to be selling at once, and if not for an emergency happening in the owner's family then it would definitely never happen.

"How much does it cost?" Secretly, Su Tang was actually quite satisfied. She didn't care for a noisy location like those bigger shops on the main part of East Street because she didn't like places that were too noisy. And the shop being a bit small and quiet was actually an advantage for her purposes. In the future, she would be able to limit the number of seats and sell her milk tea and desserts in a quieter atmosphere to create a sort of cafe, which should be a good place for students or housewives to sit down and chat in.

Also, it was close to one of the entrances to the academy, so it would be convenient for Su Nuo to attend classes there. Although the courtyard was a bit smaller than the one they were currently using, it could still be considered barely enough. After all, although there was a great demand for soap, it wasn't something that was affordable enough for everyone to use and the total number of people living in this country was nowhere close to the amount in her previous life, so there was probably no need to worry about lacking production capability because of the small size.

Zhang Cuilan and Baohe could already make more than 10,000 bars of soap a month, and they should be able to maintain that output indefinitely. In the first place, hadn't she never dared to put the recipe in Luo Xingxing's hands because the creation process for her soap was so simple? Just having two or three people working full-time would be enough to supply soap for the entire northern market. With the current market, no matter how big the soap orders became she would probably be able to fill them all with another two workers at most.

When Zhang Zheng heard her question, he said, "The price is seventy taels of silver."

"Hrm, is that so?" Su Tang's eyes narrowed. The price was acceptable, but she definitely needed to negotiate here.

Seeing her expression, Zhang Zheng tried to knock any such thoughts out of her head, "Miss Su, you've seen the shops now, so you should have an idea of its worth. To tell you the truth, there aren't many shops being sold on East Street in the first place, only the two that you've seen. And for a good location, the price is correspondingly a little higher. For instance, a few months ago there was a shop in this area that was about the same size as the one that was sold for a hundred taels. If you don't like the price that Mr. Lin has set then I'm afraid you'll just have to wait to find a different seller."

Zhang Zheng's words seemed a bit exaggerated, but in fact, they were more or less the truth. East Street could basically be considered the commercial center of Qinghe Town, so the shops there were naturally easy to sell at high prices.

"Mr. Lin's stated price is seventy silver taels. If you don't like the price we can try to discuss." Zhang Zheng truly wanted to close this deal, so he didn't tell any lies. After all, this was truly a good shop. Although he had talked it up a bit, it really was on East Street and was a good place to start a business so long as you had a little luck.

Su Tang could see that, if she really wanted a shop on East Street then she would have to buy one from this Mr. Lin. After all, If she decided she didn't like his shops and walked away now, who knew when the next time another shop would come up for sale.

"Sixty taels!" Su Tang really felt that this place was suitable for her needs and she liked it. If it was instead one of those noisy central shops, she probably wouldn't like it at all. And although the main room wasn't as good as the one she was living in now, in truth, her only requirement was 'having her own room' because that way she could go to rest in her space.

Inside the space, the weather was like spring all year round and it was very quiet and tranquil. Because of that, after moving to town, she had always been resting in her space anyway, so she felt it didn't really matter what kind of room she stayed in on the outside. After all, they were all pretty much the same to her now. However, she didn't just want to let Zhang Zheng set a price and stupidly nod her head to pay it.

Zhang Zheng heard Su Tang's counteroffer and his expression turned hesitant. However, he didn't want this deal to fall through, so he asked Su Tang to wait a moment and pulled Mr. Lin aside to talk to him in private.

Sixty taels was actually a little cheap, but it would be hard to find a buyer for this smaller shop. After Zhang Zheng explained everything to Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin eventually decided to agree on sixty taels because he was anxious to quickly get money for his son's treatment.

When Zhang Zheng saw him nod and agree, he quickly went back to Su Tang with a smile on his face. "Miss Su, it's settled, and the price is sixty silver. When should we go to finish all of the formalities?"

If you wanted to transfer ownership of land in Qinghe Town, it was necessary to go to the county seat and handle it through the county government. After all, Qinghe Town was under the jurisdiction of the larger Qinghe County, which had county magistrates and Yamen working to handle these matters.

"As soon as possible." Su Tang replied.

Zhang Zheng was happy to hear this answer, and he said: "Mr. Lin had the same intentions, so why don't we hire a carriage now and head directly to the county seat?"

"En!" Su Tang didn't want to waste any time on this matter. Anyway, she only had two shops to choose from in the first place, so it would be better to just solve everything in one go and not try to be picky.

After all, the sooner she could settle the transfer of ownership, the sooner she would be able to pack up and gather all the tools she needed, and the sooner she would be able to start her business.

The Spring Festival was coming up soon, so there would soon be many people who needed to give courtesy gifts to friends and relatives. The sweets she planned to sell would be a good choice for such gifts, so the sooner she could begin business, the better.

Zhang Zheng and Mr. Lin also said they were willing to go handle the formalities today. Mr. Lin, needed money quickly, so naturally he wasn't unwilling, and Zhang Zheng was being paid so he was the same. The decision made, Zhang Zheng went out and hired a carriage to take them all to the county seat.

Qinghe Town wasn't far from the county seat, and it took less than an hour to arrive there by carriage. Zhang Zheng often did the job of a middle man, so he was familiar with all of the necessary procedures. After they arrived in front of the building that housed the county government, he directly led Su Tang and Mr. Lin through all the steps and, before long, Su Tang had a shiny new deed for the shop.

Mr. Lin also received the silver from Su Tang, so Zhang Zheng announced the deal concluded and collected his fees from both Su Tang and Mr. Lin.

Su Tang felt a bit moved as she looked down at the deed in her hands with her own name clearly printed on it. This was the very first step in her long journey and, although it was only one small and remote shop for now, having this deed in her hands gave Su Tang a unique sense of satisfaction in her heart.

In her previous life, she hadn't even had the qualifications to work as a servant for those big shots in their big houses, but now after transmigrating over she was finally able to buy her own land for the first time, and she hadn't even needed to take out a loan. It was somehow a very good feeling.

When all of this was done with, it was already getting late, so Su Tang only took a cursory glance around at the scene in the county seat. It was indeed worthy to be called to the county seat, as it was a much more prosperous place than Qinghe Town.

But soon she was riding on the carriage back to Qinghe Town and, at a certain point on the road, Su Tang asked them to let her off the carriage. After getting down from the carriage she quickly walked over to the Song residence.

Of course, when he finally saw her, Song Yi naturally had a few words to say about her only showing up so late in the day. Su Tang couldn't stand his preaching, so she only studied for a little while before deciding to head back home.

But when Song Yi saw how late it was, he was worried Su Tang might be in danger alone, so he asked Pengmo send her back.

"Sister, you're back." Su Nuo called with a smile. The little guy had felt kind of lonely today. Even though Zhang Cuilan and Baohe we around, he had still felt a little unsettled and awkward after the move, so when he saw Su Tang coming back he happily went forward to greet her.

Su Tang smiled and patted him on the head while saying, "En, I'm back. Tonight we'll have to do some cleaning up, and then tomorrow your sister here will take you to have a look at our new home."

Su Nuo froze with surprise when he heard the words 'new home' but his surprise quickly gave way to happiness and he said: "New home? Sister, are we going to move?"

"We are, and this time it will be to our own home." Su Tang nodded.

Zhang Cuilan and Baohe were nearby, so they also heard this news and asked with surprise, "Young miss, did you buy a house?"

In fact, Zhang Cuilan knew that the courtyard they were staying in right now was rented, and that the rent was very expensive. Plus, although she and her daughter had been busy every day doing work for Su Tang, so far she had only seen the young miss spending money, but never making money. So it came as a surprise to hear the girl announce that she had bought a new courtyard.

"En. Since I've bought a shop, it wouldn't be appropriate if I didn't at least have my own house, right? Anyway, get ready. The new courtyard should be vacant after today, so tomorrow we'll go over and clean it up." Su Tang said.

"Understood. But do you want to leave all of this soap here, or do you want to move it over there too?" Zhang Cuilan asked again.

"There's no hurry about moving the soap. It needs to be redecorated over there, so let's handle that first." Su Tang replied.

She had bought the new courtyard not only to open a shop, but also to have a new place to live for the long term. That being the case, Su Tang didn't plan to handle things sloppily, and she fully intended to redecorate the place to make it livable and buy everything that needed to be bought. She still had forty taels in her hands, which she felt should be enough.

Zhang Cuilan naturally obeyed Su Tang's words, and the little guy Su Nuo was just excited to hear that they were going to have a new home, so there were no objections anywhere. Su Nuo even kept tugging on Su Tang's clothes and showering her with questions about what the new house was like, and how was it to buy it?

Su Tang carefully explained the entire process to him, not hiding anything, so there was a lively conversation that lasted well into the evening.

Later that night, after Su Nuo had gone to bed, Su Tang also retreated to her space. Once she was there, she sat at her desk and mentally recalled the appearance of the courtyard she bought. Then she began to draw out some simple designs for her ideas for the shop.

After much consideration, her plan was to open a dessert shop specifically targetting women. Of course, it wasn't like she would only sell to women, but she just felt that women would be more likely to want to eat desserts. The key point that her plan hinged around was that, while there were often students coming out of the academy to frequent East Street, they also often had relatives come to visit them.

And while there were many shops on East Street that provided food and the like, most of them specifically targetted the students themselves, so they weren't very convenient for the female relatives that came to visit. Of course, the main point was that Su Tang felt that having a big group of students always going in and out of her shop would be a big headache.

With these thoughts in mind, she designed the shop as a place for women to come inside to rest and chat, with a separate counter at the door for the unruly students. This way, if the students wanted to buy something to eat and take away, they could just pay at the door and then leave, which would keep the atmosphere more clean and quiet.

You could say that Su Tang was quite capricious when it came to business. Other people all wanted their shops to be more lively and would do anything to bring in more customers, but Su Tang disliked such noisy places and didn't want her shop to be too crowded.

Once she had sketched out the rough draft idea, Su Tang was satisfied and went to sleep herself. As she laid down and closed her eyes, the space automatically went into 'night mode', turning down the bright daylight until it was dim, and the orange cat curled up next to Su Tang's pillow to sleep beside her.

Early the next morning, Su Nuo was already up and bouncing around. Last night he had been so excited that he could hardly sleep, so now that it was finally morning he wanted nothing more than to go and see his new home. After all, his sister had told him he would be able to decorate his own room this time, so he was excited to go take a look and get started on decorating. He was burning with a desire to let his friends Huzi and Dongzi see what he could do.

Su Tang was happy to see him so excited, but also felt that it was a bit amusing. At the same time, Zhang Cuilan cooked up some porridge for all of them, and the masters and servants all quickly ate breakfast before all heading out to East Street together.

Mr. Lin and his family had originally lived in the courtyard behind the shop, but since the place had already been sold they had packed up all of their things the night before and moved to the courtyard behind their bigger shop. Of course, they had already been renting that space out but, fortunately, there were still some rooms available which they were able to squeeze into. Naturally, it wasn't as spacious here, but at least it was a place to stay.

And because the distance between the two shops wasn't far, the family was able to pack and move everything in a single night, leaving the old place empty for Su Tang. Speaking of Su Tang, she arrived just as the students of the academy were arriving for their morning classes. When the students saw the shop, which had been all boarded shut before, seemed to have opened again, they were all curious about what kind of new shop would be opening there now.

"Sister, which one is my room?" The little guy had spent a while marveling at the new shop and praising his sister for being so good, but then he had quickly moved to the courtyard behind the shop and asked which room would be his.

Su Tang suddenly recalled how, when they had first moved to town, Su Nuo hadn't been willing to leave her side at all, but now he was eagerly asking which room was his. In her heart, she felt a slight pang. Perhaps this was the feeling of loss parents experienced watching their children growing up?

"The east room is yours." Su Tang pointed the room in question out to him as she spoke.

The little guy happily headed over to his room to have a look, and Su Tang turned to Zhang Cuilan, "You and your daughter will live in the west room, and in the next few days I'll be buying two more people that will live there too. From now on, the room behind the east room will be dedicated to soap production, so clean it up and get it ready before the new people arrive."

When Zhang Cuilan heard that Su Tanged wanted to buy more people and also open a shop, she secretly felt surprised. The young miss had been investing more and more money these days, but she hadn't seemed to get any money back, and she still had the money to buy all this? However, Zhang Cuilan kept her doubts in her heart and didn't dare to say anything.

She only agreed firmly, "Understood! This servant will get everything ready swiftly."

"En!" Su Tang nodded and then turned to look back at Su Nuo, who was running around the courtyard full of excitement and smiles.

In fact, when they had first moved into town, Su Nuo had always known that the courtyard they were staying in was rented and he hadn't felt that same sense of security as when they had been living in Su Laochuan's old house.

Of course, there was no need to mention that the old Su Dani had been the same. After all, the brother and sister pair had grown up in such an environment, so it was normal for them to never have any sense of security. They had even been thrown into the Qing River and gone to 'the other side', so it was no wonder.

Because of these quiet fears in his heart, Su Nuo hadn't even dared to go and see the Qing River for a long while, and even until now he still didn't dare to get too close. Su Tang knew that these kinds of feelings of insecurity were impossible to cure all at once, and that she could only try to treat them little by little by changing the external environment around him.

But now that the little guy knew that this place had been bought by his sister and she really owned it, he felt it was safe to consider it as him and his sister's new home. It was different from a rented courtyard, it was something safe for him to like and be happy about.

Su Tang watched him run around for a while before calling out, "You've already run around so much, you're probably all sweaty now. Quickly go wipe yourself off, don't catch a cold. Also, think about what you need for your room, we'll go to the carpenter's shop to buy it after this."

When Mr. Lin and his family moved out, they basically took everything that wasn't bolted down as the left. Of course, their behavior was understandable. After all, furniture and the like all cost money, and Mr. Lin had just finished selling his shop at a low price, so he naturally didn't want to give up on any extra bit of money.

However, them doing that actually made things more convenient for Su Tang. Making the kinds of desserts she planned to make required a stove and various specialized tools, so because the place was completely empty she had free reign to rearrange everything exactly as she needed it. Although she would have to spend a bit more money, it was all debt anyway, so she wouldn't worry about having a bit more of it.*

She could always make more money and pay it back in the future, but if the environment was bad it would definitely affect her ability to make money in the first place, so this could be considered a necessary investment. She would just have to spend the next few years doing a good job and approaching the task seriously, and everything would work out.

When Su Nuo heard his sister say this, he nodded, "I've thought about it already, I want a shelf for books, the kind of shelf that Master Song has in his study. I also want a desk and chair here, a cabinet here, and then can I put a small table and some stools here? That way when Dongzi and Huzi come over, we'll be able to eat together."