When Su Tang asked them about what was the matter, Su Yongshun and Madam Qin exchanged glances before saying slowly: "It's nothing much, it's just that Chen Xiuxiu has been making trouble this whole time. She's been saying that you lied to her or something, and Sun Tiezhu even brought her to town with her to look for you one time, but in the end, they couldn't find you. Because of that, she has been coming to our Su family to make trouble."

Speaking to this point, both Su Yonshun and Madam Qin felt a little embarrassed. After all, anyone could see that Chen Xiuxiu was just deliberately being unreasonable. In the first place, she should be finding the village chief to settle things for this kind of issue, not looking for the Su family. However, because of what had happened last time, Su Tang had thoroughly offended the village chief Wang Changhe, so he certainly had no plans to step out and help the situation.

Rather, he just told Chen Xiuxiu to discuss the problem with the siblings or their relatives directly, after all, wasn't Su Tang very capable? She should be able to handle things without him interfering.

It was needless to say what kind of people Chen Xiuxiu and Sun Tiezhu were, so with that 'blessing' they had continuously come around to find trouble with the Su family.

Su Tang had thought that perhaps something serious had happened, but unexpectedly this was the problem. When she had first came to town she had been very busy with her own affairs, making soap, opening her shop, and so on, so she had almost completely forgotten about Chen Xiuxiu.

"She dares to say that I lied to her? Just how many people were watching back then? How could I have lied? Heh, I even opened my mouth and let her escape being labeled with the reputation of a thief back then, but she dares to make trouble now?" Su Tang snorted.

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin nodded along. The main point was that Sun Tiezhu and Chen Xiuxiu were just acting unreasonable.

Obviously, everyone had watched Chen Xiuxiu give Su Tang her silver bracelets and then take Su Tang's two cloth bags in exchange. However, after that Chen Xiuxiu started claiming that when she went to town to sell the bags the satin was already gone! She told everyone that Su Tang had cheated her and that she wanted to demand compensation.

Of course, Su Tang had somewhat expected Chen Xiuxiu's reaction. After all, it wasn't like she had known her house was going to collapse, so there was no way she would have really sewn satin into those two bags of grain in advance, right?

Back then, after thinking quickly, she had just decided to have the orange cat play this little trick, and he had done so splendidly. She really had to say that although the little orange guy had seemed quite useless at first, he finally began to show hints of being a Divine Beast after she had upgraded her space a few times. Of course, it was still meowing and acting like a cat all the time, which somewhat undercut that image.

The orange cat seemed to somehow feel her contemptuous evaluation, and his eyes turned to glare at her before he viciously exploded with: Meow…

Su Tang ignored the orange cat's antics. Anyway, back then Su Tang had asked Chen Xiuxiu if she really needed to be greedy for her little bit of food, but Chen Xiuxiu had remained stubborn, so Su Tang had decided to teach her a small lesson.

After all, Su Tang knew that Chen Xiuxiu's eyes would be blinded by greed after she saw those two pieces of satin. Although they were only two small pieces, they were still satin, which was very valuable.

However, Su Tang happened to know that Qinghe Town was the only place nearby that would be able to buy this satin, and on top of that, the satin would probably end up in front of Mrs. Wang, the shopkeeper that Su Tang had worked with before. Su Tang still vividly remembered how that Mrs. Wang had tried to swallow up a large part of the profits from Su Tang's work back then, so she had some understanding of the woman's character.

And although this dark loli usually looked breezy and indifferent, in reality, she was one to hold long grudges. Thus, she had thought rapidly and decided to dig a pit for both Mrs. Wang and Chen Xiuxiu.

And, as expected, it wasn't long before Chen Xiuxiu really brought the two old cloth bags lined with satin to Mrs. Wang to sell. But as soon as Mrs. Wang saw what Chen Xiuxiu had brought in, she knew it was a good thing and wanted it for herself, so she played a trick. First, she gave Chen Xiuxiu the money and everything seemed fine, but unfortunately, the moment Chen Xiuxiu turned around the two cloth bags, which were originally lined with satin, "mysteriously" turned into just ordinary old coarse cloth bags.

Mrs. Wang quickly declared that she had been fooled and denounced Chen Xiuxiu for tricking her. Chen Xiuxiu had turned back and immediately began arguing with Mrs. Wang, and of course neither woman had been willing to give any ground.

The two had a fierce fight, but in the end, Mrs. Wang was someone who was able to open a shop in Qinghe Town, so she wasn't someone to be trifled with. They argued for a while and Chen Xiuxiu managed to scold Mrs. Wang quite thoroughly, but soon after that Mrs. Wang's men found her and beat her up so badly that even her parents wouldn't recognize her.

Chen Xiuxiu knew that she had failed to make any profit with the satin, so Sun Tiezhu would definitely be very unhappy with her. Not wanting to deal with him, she had decided to go find her lover instead, only to be found by his wife! After that, she was chased halfway around town and beaten up again, this time by her lover's wife. But, for better or worse, because her face had already been beaten black and blue just before, so her lover's wife hadn't been able to recognize her at all even when she was hitting her.

Thus, in the end, Chen Xiuxiu didn't manage to get any money at all from the sale of the satin. Of course, Mrs. Wang righteously declared that there had never been any satin in the first place, so it wasn't even really considered a sale. After that, Chen Xiuxiu reluctantly decided to go back, mainly because she realized she didn't have the ability to make trouble with Mrs. Wang. That being the case, she decided to try to find a softer target to make trouble for, which was how she came to start parading around the village and telling everyone about how Su Tang had tricked her.

She had wanted to get benefits for nothing but just ended up jumping directly into the pit Su Tang had dug for her, so Su Tang felt that she had gotten her vengeance properly. The only unexpected variable was how Chen Xiuxiu didn't seem to dare to find Mrs. Wang for trouble and only knew to come back to the village and target Su Tang.

In fact, Su Tang had thought this matter had already passed, since she had played her small trick and Chen Xiuxiu had managed to avoid being labeled a thief by the villagers. However, Chen Xiuxiu was very narrow-minded and always felt very distressed by the silver bracelet that she had lost to Su Tang, which was why she was still causing trouble even now.

As for that bracelet, Su Tang had tossed it into her space back then and not even thought about it since.

When Su Tang heard Su Yongshun and Madam Qin explain how Chen Xiuxiu was causing trouble for the Su family, she shook her head and asked, "Doesn't the village chief care?"

"Hmph, that's just the kind of person he is. After all, he used despicable tricks to snatch the position of village chief back then, and this definitely isn't the first time he's picked on our family because of his private interests these years." Su Fuhua replied in an unhappy tone.

In fact, the Su family's current situation was very suffocating, but for now, they could only bear it. After all, who asked Wang Changhe to have such a good son that could even study and learn? People were even saying that Wang Xiaotian would be going to the county seat to take the child exam some time after the new year. And if he really passed that exam then things would only get more difficult for the Su family afterward.

Of course, all the men of the Su family knew this matter in their hearts. However, Su Yongshun and Su Fu'an were a bit older, so they were calmer and wouldn't say it out like that, unlike Su Fuhua who was still younger and more rash.

"Really? What's the point of having a village chief that can't even make decisions for the villagers?" Su Tang murmured casually.

Hearing those words, Su Yongshun and Madam Qin's eyes snapped up and looked at her with slight shock, "Tang girl, what do you mean by that?"

When Su Tang saw their jumpy reactions, she just laughed and brushed it off, "There's no hurry, don't worry about this for now. Anyway, Chen Xiuxiu is causing all of this trouble because of me, so I ought to solve it. However, it's still not convenient for me and Xiao Nuo to go back yet, so let's do it like this!"

Su Tang looked at Madam Wen and Madam Tong, "I'll need to trouble you two wives of my nephews to send a message."

Suddenly being the focus of the conversation, Madam Wen and Madam Tong straightened up and listened attentively. On the side, Su Yongshun and Madam Qin were also curious about what Su Tang wanted to say. The family didn't have to wait long because Su Tang rapidly tossed out, "Tell her this: After seeing how well Wang Xiaotian and Sun Guihua were getting along that day in the snow, we, the Su family, can only submit. We don't dare to offend the future in-laws of the village chief."

"Hiss…" Ignoring how Madam Wen and Madam Tong reacted, even Madam Qin sucked in an air of cold breath directly. If they really said this, it would create a lot of stir in the village.

Su Yungshun's eyes flickered. He hadn't expected Su Tang to come up with such an idea. However, Madam Qin thought about it for a moment before saying, "I think that Tang girl's idea can work. Wang Changhe doesn't want to care about whatever Chen Xiuxiu is doing, right? But if this comes out then I don't think he'll be able to keep pretending to be indifferent."

Wang Changhe wanted to shirk his responsibility as the village chief, so Su Tang suggested directly dragging Wang Xiaotian into the mess. Thus, even if only for the sake of his son, there was no way Wang Changhe would stay silent anymore. And if Chen Xiuxiu were to be suppressed by the village chief, then there was no way she could come out and make any more trouble for the Su family, at least for a while.

Of course, by doing this it would mean that the Su family and Wang Changhe would be more or less tearing off all pretense of politeness. After all, Wang Xiaotian was Wang Changhe's most valued son, and his whole family had pinned all their hopes on him. Thus, if some scandal between their most promising son and Sun Guihua appeared, it would definitely make the whole Wang family unhappy.

"But if we do things this way, won't Brother Tian…" Su Yongshun was a bit hesitant. After all, Wang Xiaotian was still a good boy, but they all knew what kind of person Sun Guihua was. If they really did things like this and Wang Xiaotian and Sun Guihua were tied together, it would definitely hurt his future.

Su Tang sighed when she saw Su Yongshun's reaction. It was really no wonder that the Su family was bullied by that man surnamed Wang. It seemed they were all too pure and honest for their own good like Su Yongshun, or else they were like Su Yonggui.

However, it was also thanks to this pure and honest character that Su Yongshun was willing to help the two siblings all this time. Su Tang thought about it for a moment and tried to persuade, "Brother Shun, you're thinking about this the wrong way. Even we outsiders all know that Sun Guihua is not worthy of Wang Xiaotian, so how could Wang Changhe not know?"

Fortunately, Su Tang was good at deceiving people. She quickly began to spin the situation, "Anyway, even back when our house collapsed Wang Changhe already had the intention to take the opportunity and make the Sun family stop dreaming."

"It was just that I didn't like his attitude of using me like a tool and then acting like I should feel grateful to him, so I didn't play along and ended up offending him. Brother Shun, sister-in-law, you were both present at that time, so you should understand what I mean."

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin nodded together. That was definitely what had happened that day.

"Because of that Wang Changhe lost a perfect opportunity to cut off this relationship, so naturally he resents me and the Su family by extension, which explains his recent actions."

"However, from the start, Wang Xiaotian and Sun Guihua were never a good match. So by doing this we are actually just giving Wang Changhe the reason and excuse that he desperately wants."

"After all, no matter what kind of person Wang Changhe is, and no matter what kind of tricks the Sun family might play, in the end, they are just evil-hearted people and it's impossible for them to really marry into the Wang family."

"It would be best for all parties involved if they could just break this whole thing off as quickly as possible so that neither parties' marriage ends up delayed. So what's wrong with us giving a little push? If you ask me, Wang Changhe would probably like to thank us for giving him an excuse to break things off cleanly."

This torrent of words caused the eyes of Su Yongshun and his family to swim and for question marks to appear over their heads. Eventually, one person muttered, "Is it really like how Aunt Tang said?"

The orange cat flicked his tail and looked at the Su family members with pity in his eyes. 'Poor, stupid two-legged beasts!'

Su Tang glanced at the proud four-legged beast. "Heh, if they are stupid two-legged beasts, what about me, your master?"

The orange cat instantly cowered, 'You are great! Smart, beautiful, lovely, kind! Truly the most beautiful master in the world, completely different from other two-legged beasts.'

While spewing flattery, the orange cat almost wanted to burst into tears. It really wondered what era this was, that Divine Beasts had been reduced to such a state…

After that, Su Tang didn't bother with the orange cat anymore. However, Su Fuhua caught Su Tang's last few words and retorted sarcastically, "Wang Chenghe would never feel grateful to the Su family. My father is just too kind. You should know that if it weren't for Wang Xiaotian, our Su family wouldn't have been afraid to speak up to Wang Changhe."

Wang Xiaotian was someone that the people of the village all evaluated highly and who they all felt had a high chance of becoming an official, which was why many people didn't dare to offend him or his family. The high impression people had of him was mostly because of the Qihuang Kingdom, which really attached great importance to education. The importance of education in the eyes of the kingdom could be clearly seen from how even a remote place like Qinghe Town had an academy that was set up by the kingdom.

There were also various teachers who were specially invited from the surrounding area to staff such academies. And, although the level of education these academies could provide was questionable, Su Tang truly felt that the founding emperor of Qihuang could be said to be quite far-sighted.

Unfortunately, the costs to study were really just too high. Even if there were academies and teachers, the kingdom couldn't pay money to maintain them all forever, thus the local academies were all self-financing. Thanks to that, the more remote a place was, the more expensive it was to get an education.

The reason was very simple. With fewer students, it meant that each student naturally had a higher average tuition to maintain the school. On the contrary, in large central areas with many students, each student could chip in less money but have the overall amount of money be much greater, and the quality of the teachers would naturally be higher as well.

And so, with the background and educational level of ordinary villagers, coupled with the high status of scholars, children who accumulate a little bit of fame for their talent would suddenly become 'different' in the eyes of their surroundings. Of course, in a small place like Sujia Village or the other nearby villages, hardly any children could even pass the child exam, and there was no need to even think about the student member exam.

There wasn't anyone who had passed the student member exam in Qinghe Town, and those who had some hope of doing so would all go on to Qingyuan County. Most of the students in the academy were not even at the level of child students. And now there were rumors going around the village that Wang Xiaotian had a chance to pass the child exam and be admitted as a child student. Of course, Wang Changhe, the Su family, and most of the villagers were all completely convinced by those rumors.

However, Su Tang was not so convinced. After all, she knew that the examination wasn't so simple. To become a child student he would need to take three exams and perform well on all of them. On top of that, Wang Xiaotian had done his studies at the Qinghe Town Academy, which meant that his level of education could only at best be what that academy could teach him. And, being honest, whatever the Qinghe Town Academy could teach might not actually be very good.

There had been many people who seemed outstanding in Qinghe town, but that ended up not being much when they went to the county seat. And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that Su Tang hadn't heard anything about Wang Xiaotian through her own channels. After all, she was currently living quite close to the academy and many of her customers were students of the academy, so if Wang Xiaotian were actually considered a top-notch student in the academy she probably would have heard about it, right?

However, she couldn't say all this to Su Yongshun to comfort him. After all, because of the Su family's deeply ingrained respect for scholars they all naturally felt inferior in front of 'someone who was studying', and their hearts were all full of fear that Wang Xiaotian would really manage to rise up and then come back to retaliate even further against the Su family.

Even Su Yongqiang thought this way, which was why he had been working hard to let his eldest grandson study and learn. After all, he also wanted his little grandson to find a road to success through studying so that the whole Su family could rely on him.

But Su Tang wasn't a person who could be satisfied with such passive methods. Rather, if someone was blocking her way, she was the type who would flatten the person together with the road before moving on. But she also wasn't in a hurry. She was content to take things one step at a time.

"Well, as to what Fuhua said, whether or not Wang Changhe will be grateful is his business, but what move our Su family makes next is our business. You should all rest assured that by doing things this way, Wang Changhe will finally have an excuse to completely cut off the Sun family's impossible dreams, which is actually a good thing for everyone."

Su Tang said a few random words and changed things around until the event was actually a good thing for everyone. Su Yongshun was still uncertain and felt that something was off, but Madam Qin and Madam Wen were both convinced and felt that Su Tang's logic contained a certain degree of truth to it.

Moreover, they were all women, so they clearly understood the little tricks Chen Xiuxiu was trying to pull. The woman obviously had a motive for coming to entangle with them again and again. On top of that, many people had recently been saying that the Su family was acting too cowardly. After all, they had all watched Chen Xiuxiu come and take away those pieces of satin last time, and now she was back and fearlessly bullying the Su family again.

Of course, people could live while a little short of breath, but who would be willing to suffocate? Madam Qin quickly interjected to agree, "Tang girl is right. Let's do it that way when we go back. We won't ask anyone to be grateful to us, but we also can't just let ourselves be bullied casually like this."

Su Tang smiled. "Sister-in-law, your thinking is right. After all, Sujia Village is named so because of our Su family, but too many people have forgotten that fact. But even if others forget we, the Su family, can't forget it ourselves."

Su Yongshun saw that his wife seemed to agree with Su Tang's thinking and glanced at his eldest son. Su Fu'an was smarter and calmer compared to his brother, but even he was nodding along in agreement. Su Yongshun realized that he seemed to be the only one who had doubts, so he didn't say anything further.

As for Su Fu'an, even if the matter was a little unclear to him, he would still agree with Su Tang's suggestions. This was because he had noticed that ever since Su Tang and her brother had been pulled out of the river back then there was something different about them.

Moreover, people said that Su Tang and her brother had an adverse fate, but reality showed that their days were only getting better and better. Thus, Su Fu'an had larger considerations in mind than these small conflicts with Chen Xiuxiu.

"Aunt Tang, you said you have something to talk with my parents about, right? What did you need to say?" Su Fu'an was keenly aware that whatever matter Su Tang had, it might be an opportunity for his family.

Seeing that Su Fu'an had opened his mouth to ask about this, Su Tang sent him a brief look. She suddenly recalled that back when she and her brother had been sacrificed to the River God, it was Su Fu'an who had come up with the idea to let them be adopted into Su Laochaun's household. This 'nephew' of hers had really been helping them all along.

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tl begging corner:

tl note: Here's a brief overview of the student hierarchy in ancient china, per wikapedia:

Child student (Tongsheng) Exam Taken: At County/Prefectural level; Annually (February/April)

Student member (Shengyuan) Exam Taken: At local school; Triennial (once every three years)

-Granary student (1st class)

-Expanded student (2nd class)

-Attached student (3rd class)

Recommended man (Juren) Exam Taken: Province Level; Triennial

-Top escorted examinee (1st rank)

Tribute scholar (Gongshi) Exam Taken: In Metropolitan Area; Triennial

-Top conference examinee (1st rank)

Advanced scholar (Jinshi) Exam Taken: At the Palace; Triennial

-Top thesis author (1st rank)

-Eyes positioned alongside (2nd rank)

-Flower snatcher (3rd rank)

Back then she had thought that Su Fu'an was both kind and quickwitted, considering he had been able to so quickly come up with a reliable idea. Since then she had felt that Su Fu'an was a clever one, and was good raw material for a businessman. And now her impression of him was reaffirmed, after all, she had only mentioned this matter casually as they had stepped inside, but he had remembered it clearly even brought it up on his own initiative.

Because of these reasons, Su Tang was quite optimistic about Su Fu'an, so seeing that he had asked she decided to just reply directly.

"Originally, I wanted to tell this matter to Brother Qiang when I went back to visit my parents' grave, but since I've met you all today I'll just mention it now."

"This is actually a good matter for everyone. You see, I've contacted a big businessman and entered a cooperation agreement regarding two new kinds of crop. He has contracted me to raise seedlings for him."

"Brother Shun, sister-in-law, you should know the situation here for my brother and I. We are just two people and we don't even have a field."

"Thus, I was planning to spend the Spring Festival as usual, but afterward I was going to find someone to help us raise the seedlings together. The price offered is one copper coin for every five seedlings."

"Although the price isn't very high, one person should be able to raise hundreds or maybe even thousands of seedlings alone without too much issue, and it shouldn't delay the spring sowing at all. At any rate, the other party is wanting as many seedlings as possible, so I wanted to find the Su family to join in on this business."

Su Tang stated her purpose clearly. It turned out that Luo Xingchen was very efficient, and she had already found a way to turn all of the plots of land in her hands into gold, which she had already sent over to Su Tang. Thus, Su Tang presently had a lot of gold stored away in her space.

The five pieces of land had earned a total of 500 taels of gold, however, because of the upcoming Spring Festival it was currently inconvenient to buy farmland. Fortunately, tomatoes and chili peppers didn't need to be planted until April, so Su Tang wasn't in too much of a hurry.

But, in the end, she still needed to buy the land and also arrange enough manpower to prepare for the sauce factory. Thus, she currently had so many things to do that she had no time to manage the seedling nursery herself.

Of course, chili peppers and tomatoes could also be sown like any other crop, but transplanting seedlings was a much more efficient method. At the same time, Su Tang knew that because of their 'adverse fate' she and her brother didn't have much say in the Su family. Although she knew that Su Yongqiang was on their side, she was still a bit worried that other people in the family might still try to take advantage of them just because of their young ages.

However, since she would be tied to the Su family for the rest of her life no matter what, she had concluded that it would be better to focus on trying to raise the Su family up and make it better while also firmly establishing a position for herself within the family, instead of just focusing on getting vengeance on Su Yonggui and his members.

Of course, as a dark loli, a certain amount of vindictiveness was still called for. Thus, in Su Tang's original plan she would talk to Su Yongqiang and ask him to connect her to Su Yongshun's family for this job, completely excluding Su Yonggui and his lot, but talking to Su Yongshun worked just as well.

Hearing Su Tang's explanation, Su Fu'an's eyes drifted over to the wooden box on the kang bed that he had noticed before. He asked, "Are those the seedlings you mentioned?"

Since Su Tang had brought them here she clearly had no intention to hide anything, so she nodded and confirmed: "That's right. As you can see, I've already begun and managed to breed a few of these so far. But there are several plots of farmland that need to be planted, so we will need a lot more seedlings in the end. If you're interested you can take some back and raise them as well, and then later someone will come and buy them from you."

Obviously, the topic of making money was much more important than Chen Xiuxiu's matter, so when they heard Su Tang's explanation Su Yongshun and Madam Qin all went over to take a look themselves. They saw there was a large box on the kang bed, and the inside of the box was divided into many small square lattices. Each of these squares was filled with soil and, despite the cold winter weather, there was also a small green bud inside each one. For farmers like the members of the Su family, seeing these green buds in winter was somehow very gratifying.

"But how much wood does this take?" Although it was really gratifying to see a touch of green in winter, Madam Qin couldn't help but sigh after thinking for a bit.

All farmers that spent their days plowing in the fields knew the reason why there were no fresh vegetables in winter. In short, it was just because of the cold. If the temperatures were warmer, they could obviously grow more vegetables. Thus, just looking at Su Tang's setup here, they could imagine how much it must cost to constantly control the temperature.

"En, it's still too cold at this time of year. To be honest, I have to keep a fire lit twelve hours a day to keep the room warm enough for them to grow. However, once spring begins it won't be necessary to burn so much wood anymore. I was only experimenting a bit with this batch." Hearing Madam Qin's sigh, Su Tang immediately understood and explained.

Madam Wen and Madam Tong examined the small green buds carefully. Indeed, once the weather warmed up a bit in spring there wouldn't be a need to burn so much firewood anymore. From looking at it, it seemed that it wouldn't take much effort to raise these seedlings, and even the two of them could do it at home. And five seedlings were worth a copper coin. That didn't sound like much, but if the two of them put in a bit of effort and produced ten thousand seedlings, wouldn't that be a whole two taels of silver?

Thinking to this point, they looked back at their husbands and their eyes changed slightly. Su Fuhua and Su Fu'an didn't do many calculations usually and didn't really think about the money at home, but their wives were different. In Sujia Village, how many people worked hard all year long in the fields but barely had anything to show for it? Most people couldn't even earn a few extra copper coins, much less extra teals of silver. When all the expenses were accounted for, there was basically nothing left at the end of each year.

Thus, for an opportunity to earn a whole extra tael of silver or even more, there was no kind of work that they wouldn't be willing to do. Su Yongshun and Madam Qin also realized just how profitable this business could be, and they looked at Su Tang doubtfully, "Is it really a copper coin for five seedlings?"

"Yes, it is. The exact number of plots of farmland hasn't been decided yet so I'm not sure how many seedlings we will need in total, but the price will certainly remain the same. We'll have to see how much each plot of land requires, but I estimate that it won't be less than 50,000 seedlings in total."

As a matter of fact, there was no complicated process behind raising seedlings. Basically, you can just had to pay a bit of attention to them and they would be fine. Of course, the most important factor was that the work would be done within a couple of months, and it wouldn't delay spring plowing at all. In short, as long as they worked hard, it would be easy for them to earn an extra tael or two of silver, or maybe even more.

Who wouldn't be willing to do such a good thing? Su Yongshun and Madam Qin immediately understood that this was an opportunity that Su Tang was passing to them, and they were moved when they heard that she needed so many seedlings in total. "Tang girl, thanks for thinking about us after you found this job. Of course, we are certainly willing to do it. However, we've never done this kind of work before, so we're not sure if we will be able to do it."

Su Tang led them to sit back down in the main room and said, "Don't worry, there's no hurry. I'll give you the seeds here to start with. Also, no need to be so modest. Even I, who have never worked a field in my life, was able to raise these seedlings. For my big brother who has always been growing crops, how could you not be able to do this well?"

When Su Yongshun and Madam Qin heard Su Tang's praise, they smiled sheepishly. In fact, when it came to farming, Su Yongshun really didn't have to be modest.

"However, brother, sister-in-law, in addition to you guys we will probably need to pull several other families in as well. Of course, since it needs to be a little warmer before these things can be grown I didn't plan to mention it so soon. I was going to bring it up when I talked to Brother Qiang when I went back to pay my respects to my father's grave after the new year."

"However, since I met Brother Shun and sister-in-law today, I went ahead and told you both first. It's fine that you know about this, but don't tell anyone else when you go back. Once I talk to Brother Qiang, he can help me decide how many families will come to work with us."

"Of course, brother, sister-in-law, you both know what kind of life we were living in our old home. Although we were still members of the Su family, we were young and well…"

Because she was providing benefits for the family, Su Tang naturally wanted to use the opportunity to put in a good word for herself and establish her presence within the family. When she happened to meet Su Yongshun's family today, she had decided to talk to them because of that and a couple of other considerations. On the one hand, there was the matter of raising seedlings that she wanted to discuss with them, and on the other hand, she could also see that they seemed to have something to say.

Su Yongshun and his family had all been very kind to her and her brother and, although she usually acted a bit cold and indifferent, she was good to those who were good to her. So now that she was bringing benefits to the Su family, while she was happy to pass those benefits to them first, she also wanted to fight to make her existence known and to earn status in the family so that she could have more of a say.

After all, in this era she knew that it would be impossible for her to separate herself from her family, thus, couldn't she just become the one who controlled the family? That way, her fate would be in her own hands.

And that was the reason why Su Tang said all of this to Su Yongshun. Of course, when the Su family members heard Su Tang mention 'what kind of life they had been living at their old home', they all nodded along. They obviously knew what kind of life they had been living.

"En, we all understand what you mean Aunt Tang, we know what kind of life you two had." Su Yongshun said solemnly. In the past, he had never said anything about this matter because, as an outsider to Su Yonggui's family, he wasn't really qualified to comment. However, now that Su Tang and her brother had already left that family he no longer had to be so restricted.

Su Tang nodded along. "Anyway, because of everything that happened before I'm still not too familiar with the other members of the Su family. Of course, I've spent a lot of time with Brother Qiang and Brother Shun since then, so I trust you all. If Brother Shun or sister-in-law have anyone they want to recommend for this job, please feel free."

"For the time being, we're planning to give the job to around five families total, so we'll need that many people. Of course, it's also fine if they don't want to take the job, after all, Xiao Nuo and I both have an adverse fate, to the point that even the River God would not accept us, so if anyone is worried about being affected, there's no need for them to force themselves."

Su Tang really wasn't that familiar with the people of the Su family but she intended to use them for this job anyway. However, she also wanted to firmly make her attitude clear with them. She wasn't interested in hiring a bunch of people who would come and happily eat from her bowl, but who would then put down their chopsticks and start cursing her behind her back. She wasn't that much of a pushover, okay?

Since Su Tang was giving these people a way to make money, they should at least be able to give her a sincere thank you. She didn't want for it to become them all thinking that she owed them something, she wasn't that kind.

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin were overjoyed to hear that Su Tang wanted them to help her select which people to hire. After all, it was a good thing to pass favors to their own people, they were all family anyway. Plus, many of the Su family members had their homes nearby and often helped each other, the same way Su Yongshun and Su Tang had been close neighbors before.

Hearing all this, Su Yongshun and Madam Qin exchanged glances before looking back at the little girl who was sitting in the head seat of the main room. She was obviously a bit taller and healthier-looking compared with the time she had temporarily stayed in their house, and she was wearing a simple and neat white cotton-padded coat with her hair up in a double-ring bun. Despite the quality of her clothes improving, she was still clearly adhering to the rules of her mourning period.

However, with her bearing and temperament, she no longer had much resemblance to the little Dani that they had known back in Sujia Village. Just how much ability did she have for her to talk about such a big business with a big businessman despite her small age, ah?

Naturally, Su Tang could see the silent communication going on between the two, but she didn't mind it. She never cared what other people thought of her. In fact, she had always been strong ever since she had arrived in this era, but back when she was living in Sujia Village she had spent most of her time inside and basically didn't go out, so most other people only had the impression of her as a pitiful girl who had been sent as a sacrifice to the River God.

"We understand what you're saying. With such a good money-making business, it's good of you to still think of our people in the Su family, even though some people in the Su family have acted unprincipled and mistreated you before." Su Yongshun said.

Su Tang nodded, "I know that Brother Shun and Brother Qiang are not such people, and I believe in you. Thus, I will also believe in the people you recommend. Of course, this matter still won't start until next spring, so there's no hurry!"

Hearing Su Tang say that she believed in him and his family, Su Yongshun nodded with a smile. After all, they definitely weren't the same kind as Su Yonggui.

Thus, Su Tang casually managed to solve the matter with Chen Xiuxiu and dump it onto Wang Changhe's head, and sold it all to Su Yonghun's family as a good thing.

On one side, the orange cat trembled. 'What a terrible two-legged beast master is!'

For this Divine Beast who was suddenly complaining about his master, or put another way, who was seeking death, Su Tang was too lazy to care about him.

"Anyway, I'll be heading back to Sujia Village after the new year to talk carefully with Brother Qiang about this matter, so please try to pick some reliable families before then and let us know." Su Tang ended the topic there. After all, this was all still distant stuff so there was no need to worry too much about it right now.

"Good, then we'll go back and find some reliable people." Since they had already spoken to this point, Su Yongshun of course agreed.

At the same time, Su Nuo, who had been quiet until now suddenly blurted out, "Then, Brother Shun, sister-in-law, happy cooperation!"

The little guy had seen Su Tang talking business a few times before, thus he had seen his sister and Luo Xingchen exchange those words many times after settling things. Thus, at this moment he felt that they were the right words to say. Su Tang giggled and praised him, "You are a quick learner!"

Su Yongshun and Madam Qin had originally been focused on Su Tang since Su Nuo had just been sitting there quietly after he had handed over the tanghulu to their children. But now that he suddenly spoke up, they took another look at him and saw that, like Su Tang, his clothes were better and his face looked healthier, and it seemed he was living a good life.

And now that he suddenly butted into the conversation with such words, they also laughed along, "Big Brother Nuo seems much more lively than before. Once your studies are done we will probably have another successful person in the Su family."

In fact, they all felt that Su Nuo was very smart. After all, Su Tang seemed to be teaching him well and they also heard that he had found a master who lived in town, so Su Yongshun praised him unreservedly.

Of course, they didn't know that Su Nuo was currently only being taught by Su Tang alone and that there wasn't a master at all. But that wasn't important, after being praised Su Nuo puffed up proudly and replied, "I made a deal with my sister. She will work hard and make money to support me now, and I will study hard to become a high-ranking official and support her later."

"So promising!" Madam Qin praised him with a smile. However, she didn't really take a child's words seriously then. Only many years later, when she saw Su Tang and her brother really walk that road to the end, did she realize that Su Nuo had been serious back then and that his words would really come true.

Because the rented courtyard was empty these days, Su Tang only used it to raise these seedlings. Unfortunately, that meant that there really wasn't anything else there, so it wasn't a good place to host guests. Of course, Su Yongshun and his family had also come to town with their own goals in mind, so now that they were all done talking they decided to leave.

Seeing they were ready to go, Su Tang sent Su Yongshun and his family off. Of course, compared to when they came in, Su Yongshun's family all left with big smiles after talking about such a good opportunity to make money. Although they couldn't tell anyone about it for now, they were all looking forward to the weather warming up so they could start earning some money.

'Someone is watching you!' As she was watching the family's backs disappear, Su Tang was startled when the orange cat suddenly gave her a warning.

Su Tang frowned. 'It's that guy again?'

'Yes.' The orange cat immediately affirmed.

This was actually not the first or even the second time the orange cat had reported this stalker. Su Tang's brows furrowed, and eventually, she turned to the orange cat, "Find who this person is for me. I will make you your favorite food."

'I want grilled fish, also milk tea, and cake, and also some wrapped fish balls!' The orange cat immediately demanded.

'Why is a so-called 'Divine Beast' such a foodie?' Su Tang rolled her eyes. But she still replied, 'Okay!'

The orange quickly ran off to chase the person. As he left, he shot back, 'If a Divine Beast can be used as a thermometer or ordered around by someone like you, why can't they be a foodie?"

Shocked that the orange cat dared to retort, Su Tang glared at his furry butt even as he disappeared from sight.

"Sister?" Su Nuo saw his sister standing there silently and glaring, he pulled her sleeve uncertainly.

Su Tang quickly came back to herself and responded with a smile, "Well, let's continue to buy our things for the new year!"

The little guy immediately smiled happily, "Yes!" Since so much had happened, he had been afraid that his sister wouldn't have time to go shopping anymore, but unexpectedly it seemed she still had time, so he was very happy.

Since the orange cat had already been sent to check where that person had come from, Su Tang took Su Nuo to stroll around town with peace of mind. Maybe it had been too long since the last time the little guy had come out, because whenever he saw something delicious or fun, he would eagerly run over to try it out. Su Tang currently had some money in her hands, so she was stingy and bought whatever he wanted for him. Being coaxed this way, the little guy seemed to blossom, and his grin stretched to his ears. couldn't stop.

Su Tang wanted to make sure he had a good time because she knew that she wouldn't have time to go out with him again after today. After all, the new year was approaching, so her cafe's business was picking up every day as more and more people came to buy gift boxes or candy as new year gifts, so she was incredibly busy.

Business was good, so Baohe and Pu Wei were so busy tending the shop every day that their feet barely touched the ground. At the same time, after Su Yongshun and his family returned to Sujia Village, they really began to spread the story of how 'Wang Xiaotian and Sun Guihua had been seen going around together'.

Of course, when this strange new rumor reached Wang Changhe's ears, he was very angry. And when Sun Tiezhu and Chen Xiuxiu heard it, they quickly stopped wasting time trying to cause trouble for the Su family and shifted their attention to this matter. After all, the matter with the Su family was only worth a tael or two of silver, but if they could really marry their daughter into the Wang family then they wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of their lives!

Thus, the Sun family quickly jumped out and declared that Wang Changhe's son had tarnished their daughter's reputation and demanded an explanation. Meanwhile, just hearing about his son being associated with that girl from the Sun family made Wang Changhe feel disgusted, so how could he be willing to play along or offer any sort of explanation? And like that, the two families ended up tangling with each other again and again.

As a result, the Su family was finally free of the Sun families' hounding. In part because the Sun families' energies were now directed toward the Wang family, and in part because, as the Spring Festival approached, the weather was getting colder and colder and everyone was reluctant to go outside.

And so in the recent days, all of the villagers were distracted with discussing the legal exchanges happening between Wang Changhe and Sun Tiezhu, and the whole village was very lively.

When New Year's Eve Day finally arrived, Su Tang got up early in the morning and brought Su Nuo back to Sujia Village. Of course, Song Yi had said that it was too cold for two children to walk all the way out to a village alone and ordered Pengmo to drive them there with the carriage, but in the end, Su Tang refused.

In her mind, it only took half an hour or so to walk there, and it would probably be healthy for them to do a bit of walking, as exercise if nothing else. Especially for Su Nuo. After all, when he had been living in the village he used to roam all over the mountainside with his friends, but nowadays he basically didn't do anything but stay inside and study. Plus, since the weather was so cold these days, he went out even less.

But how could that be okay? Being a scholar also required a certain degree of physical strength, right? And so Su Tang had been struggling to find ways to get him to exercise a little more these days. Plus, in her mind, it wasn't like they were in any great hurry and walking would only cost them an extra half an hour or so.

Thus, Su Tang and her brother set off early that morning together. Of course, the day before, they had both prepared all of the items required to pay their respects at their parents' graves, so they headed to Sujia Village carrying all those things in their hands.

As they approached the village, instead of going inside, they turned off the main path and headed to the nearby graveyard. Because of the holiday, there were many other people from all the nearby villages who had also come to the graveyard to pay respects. The other people also spotted Su Tang and her brother, but they would only feel a bit surprised to see two small children wearing such nice cotton-padded clothes and carrying big boxes.

In the past, many people had speculated that it would be very difficult for two little children to live on their own in town and assumed that they would need a lot of support from the Su family. In the end, outsiders didn't know how much support the siblings had gotten from the Su family but, just by looking at them, it seemed that these siblings were living a much better life than many normal families in the village.

Su Tang was indifferent to the strange looks of the villagers. After all, no matter what era you were in, there would always be good and bad people. In the past, many people had assumed that she and her brother were easy to bully, but after word of her two confrontations with Su Yonggui's family had gotten around that both ended with the other party being beaten by boards, people became warier of them.

In addition, Su Tang had also led her brother around to smash a few people who had been bullying them with stones, so the other villagers had all gotten the impression that these siblings weren't easy to mess with. Thus, in the end, aside from some curious mutterings exchanged among one another, none of the villagers dared to say anything to or about Su Tang.

Su Laochuan's family grave was located in a relatively high place. After all, the Su family had been the first family to settle in this area, so they had especially used a plot of land that was said to have good feng shui as the family's graveyard, and this plot was where all members of the Su family were buried after their death.

Originally, the little guy was a little timid when he felt all the strange gazes from the villagers around him, but when he saw his sister's calm and indifferent expression, he quickly tried to mimic her. He puffed out his chest, straightened his back, and ignored the people all around.

However, as they approached the graves, they happened to see a line of people coming from the opposite direction, and they were all "acquaintances". When Su Nuo saw this group of people, he grabbed his sister's hand tightly and said, "Sister!"

"Hmph." Su Tang responded softly.

When Su Nuo heard his sister's light response, he looked up at her and saw her expression was still indifferent. Seeing that she wasn't afraid, he took a deep breath and then moved forward alongside his sister, determined to face the people opposite with the same uncaring attitude.

"What are you two doing here?" When Madam Zhao saw Su Tang and her brother approaching in the distance, her face suddenly sank and turned darker than the bottom of the pot.

Madam Zhao didn't wait for the siblings to get any closer before she started shooting off her mouth: "Hmph, I thought they finally realized that they had an adverse fate and grew a bit of conscience, which was why they have been hiding away. But why are they coming to the graveyard now when they know everyone else will be here too? Killing their own mother isn't enough for them ah, now they also want to kill the whole Su family? Do you brats even have a conscience?"

Madam Zhao was immediately furious when she saw Su Tang and her brother. After all, even she herself had been beaten by boards because of these two brats and, as if that wasn't enough, even her precious third son was beaten too. Plus, nowadays their whole family could barely raise their heads in Sujia Village thanks to that. In her mind, it was all because of these two brats.

As she thought of everything that had happened until now, Madam Zhao really wanted to bite these two brats to death, so she instantly began to shoot her mouth off with no regard for the surroundings.

"Sister-in-law, what are you saying? Are you the one who built this road? Only you can walk on it, but we can't? You can go and burn incense in front of your ancestor's graves, but we can't?"

"Or are you trying to say that your aunt and uncle, that is to say, our parents, should just watch on as other families' children and grandchildren burn incense for them, but they themselves don't get a single stick?"

"Ah, could it be that Brother Yonggui also feels the same way? Do you two even have a conscience? Our parents never offended you when they were alive, did they?"

Inside her mind, Su Tang sneered. Such a stupid person like Madam Zhao really shouldn't be coming outside to lose face. This Madam Zhao still thought that she was still the same little girl from before that didn't even know how to resist when she was being bullied, the girl that could only cowardly hit the wall and commit suicide in the face of her abuse. It seemed that because of that misperception, Madam Zhao would just keep sending herself to Su Tang's door.

But, since Madam Zhao didn't want to have a peaceful new years, Su Tang was more than happy to fulfill her wishes.

Su Yonggui's face quickly turned black, and his old wife was simply speechless. SU Yonggui wanted to curse. Weren't the losses his family had suffered on the previous two occasions enough for these two brats? He had really seen for himself what was a 'wolf's heart and a dog's lungs' today. This brat simply wouldn't be satisfied until she had shamed and humiliated them!

At the same time, Su Yonggui sent a glare over at his wife, as if to ask why she still wanted to send herself to Su Tang's door? Hadn't she already lost them enough face?

But, since Su Tang had addressed him directly, Su Yonggui had no choice but to look over at the girl and respond: "If I really didn't want Uncle Chuan to have anyone to burn incense for him, you two siblings wouldn't be able to talk to me like this right now, right?!"

His meaning being, that if he hadn't let the two of them be adopted back then, then there was no way Su Tang and her brother would have become part of Su Laochaun's family, and then Su Tang wouldn't be able to take this kind of tone with him, and Su Laochuan wouldn't have anyone to burn incense for him anyway.

Of course, Su Tang felt it was ridiculous for him to talk like he was the one who had taken the initiative to adopt her and her brother in Su Laochaun's family.

"What do you mean by that Yonggui? Why do I remember that I was the one who oversaw Sister Tang and Brother Nuo being adopted by Uncle Chuan? Do you have any dissatisfaction? If so, why didn't you mention anything back then?" A new voice suddenly cut in.

Of course, Su Yonggui was really being shameless by saying what he said. After all, back then, he and his family had disliked the siblings because of their adverse fate, and it had been them that had personally pushed Su Tang and her brother into the Qing River. If Su Fuhua hadn't gotten some people together to fish them out, then the Su Dani from back then would probably never have become the Su Tang of today.

After all, if Su Fuhua and his friends hadn't fished them up, then these two children would have already been reincarnated a long time ago. What's more, this matter had already spread out since a long time ago so, not even mentioning the people in Sujia Village, even outsiders from the town and other nearby villages basically knew the whole sequence of events.

Thus, for Su Yonggui to say something like this to Su Tang, anyone would find it ridiculous. And today was New Year's Eve Day, so many people were coming to pay their respects, and that naturally included Su Yongqiang and his family. Thus, when Su Yongqiang heard Su Yonggui's words, how could he just let him spout nonsense?

Su Yonggui never expected that his words would be overheard by the family patriarch. His lips moved as if to speak, but in the end, he swallowed back his words. However, Madam Zhao at his side had no such compunctions, and blurted out: "This is all in the past anyway, why don't you just let it go?"

On the side, Su Tang nodded to herself silently. As expected, that old woman was extremely shameless!

Since Madam Zhao had suddenly cut in, it wasn't really appropriate for Su Yongqiang to say any more to argue with her, since he was a man and she was a woman. In the end, he could only fall silent. However, his wife, Madam Zhou, wasn't nearly so good-tempered. She directly retorted:

"I think you're spouting some bullshit. Maybe you're too stupid so you already forgot, so let me say a few words and remind you."

"Back then, your family wanted to send your good grandchildren to the River God for Su Sanshou's sake. My husband told you that this wasn't reasonable behavior and that you shouldn't do it, but what did you say back? You said that this was your family's business and that no one else should try to interfere, do you remember now?!"