Seeing that their husbands were so impatient, as if they wanted to settle everything today, Madam Zhou and Madam Qin couldn't help but interject.

After all, today was New Year's Eve and the first day of Spring Festival. Plus, this matter wasn't something that needed to be settled right away, so it would be better to talk about it slowly after the holiday was done.

Su Yongqiang and Su Yongshun were shocked back to reality by the words from their wives, and they sheepishly agreed to finish discussing the matter at a later time. After that, Su Yongshun and Madam Qin went home.

Not too long after the two of them also left, Madam Lu came out with an uncertain face, "Mom, dad, the things Aunt Tang and Uncle Nuo sent are a little…"

Originally, Madam Lu and Madam Luo had thought that the tribute offering Su Tang and her brother had brought over were mostly meats like chicken and duck that the siblings couldn't eat anyway, so they accepted them without too much thought. At most, they just thought that they could repay the favor after the new year when Su Tang was rebuilding her house by helping out a little more.

However, when Madam Lu opened the box and looked at what was inside carefully, she discovered there weren't just a few different kinds of meats, but also candies and cakes. As soon as they saw this, Madam Luo and Madam Lu were both a bit worried. It seemed they had received quite a weighty gift.

Thus, the two of them hastened to head out to tell Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou about the situation. When Madam Zhou heard that there were toffees and cakes inside, she picked up a piece of toffee and asked curiously: "Is this toffee?"

In fact, Su Laiwang had gone into town to work and make some money recently, so he had also heard that there was a new candy that seemed to be popular in town right now. Of course, after asking around a bit he found out that these new delicacies were expensive and even the cheapest toffee cost five copper coins a piece. But, in the end, he was ruthless to his own wallet and bought a few pieces to bring back for the children to try, and even until now they all still remembered the milky-sweet taste.

"Yes, these are the toffees sold by a shop called Dessert Cafe in town, and this is a cheesecake, which costs fifteen copper coins for one." When Madam Lu had seen these snacks, she found Su Laiwang to take a look and he had confirmed that the things in the box were the very expensive snacks from the Dessert Cafe at a glance.

Of course, although it was true that the villagers of Sujia Village would send things back and forth as gifts during the holidays, most of the time they would just be simple things that their own families produced and they wouldn't be worth very much. For instance, even though the fish Su Tang had sent them as a gift last time could be considered too expensive to accept as a gift, they were also things she had fished up herself from the Qing River. What was more, fish only cost around three copper coins per jin, so what Su Tang had sent them back then was only worth around ten copper coins at most, which was within the acceptable range for a gift.

But today Su Tang gave them a lot more than that. There were eight pieces of toffee on a small plate and also three pieces of cheesecake. That was to say, not even mentioning the chicken, fish, and duck, just the sweets alone were already worth nearly a hundred copper coins.

Su Tang had delivered it so casually, so they hadn't thought much at all, but now that they had discovered it was actually such a weighty gift, how were they supposed to reply?

Madam Zhou remembered that Su Laiwang had bought these toffees only one single time before he had declared that they were just too expensive. After all, to only get one small piece of candy for five copper coins, there was no way he could afford it no matter how delicious it was.

So when she saw the three cakes in the box in front of her and heard Madam Lu say 'fifteen copper coins for one', she couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. She murmured, "What kind of snacks are so expensive!"

Su Laiwang hastened to explain, "Niang, I also don't know. It seems that some time ago a place called Dessert Cafe opened up on East Street in the town. People say that all of the products made by Dessert Cafe are created using milk, which is why they are all very expensive. Moreover, there is a strange rule that only female guests can eat inside the cafe itself. When I heard about it, I was curious so I went over to take a look and ended up buying a few pieces of candy."

Even Su Tang, the boss of the shop, didn't know that her Dessert Cafe was already the object of heated discussion inside the town. The food was very delicious, but also very expensive. And even though Su Tang never said anything too explicitly to the customers, her attitude was clear for all to see: This was a high-end shop and not a place that poor families could think of frequenting.

Because of that, the people of the town were already starting to use gifts from the Dessert Cafe as a sort of status symbol. After all, if you could afford to give one of their cakes away, that also meant that you could afford to buy the cake in the first place.

Su Laiwang continued: "Aunt Tang was really generous this time. This thing should cost at least a hundred copper coins. According to what I've heard, ever since the Spring Festival started to approach a few days ago, all of the gift boxes from the Dessert Cafe have been in short supply. Thanks to that, even the cheapest ones cost a hundred copper coins."

After he finished speaking, Su Laiwang sighed. He wasn't aware of how Su Tang had been speaking to his father about a business worth hundreds of taels just moments ago, so after seeing such expensive gifts he really couldn't help but sigh.

If it were half a year ago, or even three months ago, no one would have believed it if you told them the way those two siblings were living now!

However, as Su Yongqiang listened to his son's explanation, he recognized some familiar words, so he asked, "Wait, what store did you say this thing is from?"

Madam Zhou also caught the key word and piped in: "Dessert Cafe?"

"Yes, that's right. As expected, you two also think the name of that shop is strange? But it's really called Dessert Cafe. It's rumored that at that shop only female guests can enter inside, and inside there are other desserts which aren't for sale outside, such as a thing called 'pearl milk tea'. They make their desserts fresh everyday, and by now all the rich families in town have already gone to eat there."

Su Laiwang quickly told his parents everything he knew. Of course, he usually wouldn't pay attention to a new shop opening up, but this shop was currently at the center of a lot of gossip because of its strange rules and exotic products, so even he had heard a bit about it.

When they heard their son's words, Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou exchanged glances, and they could both see shock in each other's eyes. After all, they had also heard the name of this shop just before now, hadn't they? Su Tang had told them that if anyone had any doubts they could send a message to Dessert Cafe to clarify. Thus, this Dessert Cafe should probably belong to that big businessman Su Tang was working with, right?

"Now that you've already accepted it, just keep it. Anyway, tomorrow is Sister Tang's birthday and while it's not convenient for her to do anything big thanks to the mourning peroid, we can at least give her a gift in private." Su Yongqiang finally said.

When Madam Luo and Madam Lu realized how expensive the gift they received this time was, they didn't dare to make any decisions, but now that their father-in-law told them to accept the gift they agreed without any objections.

Madam Zhou also had her own thoughts. After all, since Su Tang had told them to send a message to the Dessert Cafe to find her, it was obvious that she had something to do with the shop and was able to earn well. Meanwhile, her own family was very large and had many households, and soon they would be earning seedlings and earning even more, so did they need to be stingy with money? Could they not even afford a return gift?

"Yes, just keep it. It's just in time for the Spring Festival, so everyone will enjoy having a taste. Go ahead and put it all away until dinner." Madam Zhou added.

Then Su Yongqiang's tone turned serious and he said: "Laiwang, go and get Xiao Xue, your eldest brother, and your second brother, and come to the main hall with them. I have something serious to say to all of you."

Seeing that there was still some time before dinner, Su Yongqiang brought the whole family together and told his sons and his daughter about the news Su Tang had delivered earlier.

"Brother Shun's family can already raise 30,000 seedlings, but our family has more members than his, and we have more space too, so I'm sure we can raise 40,000 seedlings or more. If it's really five seedling for one copper coin, that's already eight taels of silver…" After hearing the news, the three brothers look at eachother and began to exchange thoughts, their voices trembling with excitement.

Su Yongqiang cut into their discussion solemnly, "Yes, this is a rare opportunity. But there are some risks, so we can't make any mistakes. We have to choose which fifteen families to bring onboard carefully. After all, according to Aunt Tang, if there is an accident they might find us for a hundredfold in compensation."

"Of course, some of the younger members of the family are always spying and gossiping. For these naughty ones who like to play around and talk nonsense, there's no way we can bring them in!"

"But we have more than 60 families surnamed Su in Sujia Village, I'm sure we'll be able to find 15 reliable ones."

"As for your own families, because your Aunt Tang said that these seedlings will grow according to the temperature and the space, you will have to depend on your own abilities to raise them properly."

"None of your families have separated yet, but even so I will only ask you to send 70% of the money your earn home. These will be the rules. Xiao Xue, you can participate as well, and how much dowry you can earn will depend on your own ability. "

The rules laid down by the ancestors were that children should not separate from their parents, and it was shameful to do so. Accordingly, none of Su Yongqiang's sons had separated to establish their own branches of the family yet. Therefore, by the rules, all the money that all four families earn would typically go to Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou. However, Su Yongqiang didn't believe in being so controlling and would usually let each family have some of their own private funds.

Of course, as parents, they needed to be aware of their children's income so that the income could be brought into the family funds. However, by setting the rule like this the children would be able to earn in an approved way that wouldn't be considered stealing money by not turning it into the family funds.

Also, by using this method, each family would be able to gain advantages for themselves, so all of them would be motivated to contribute and work hard. Meanwhile, Su Yongqiang would merely keep the money they turned in and save it for when there was something important at home that could be handled with money.

Su Yongqiang had also finished thinking it through and decided that he could afford to select the candidates after the new year. However, his own family were of course going to be included, so he had brought them over in advance and explained everything to them and informed them of what would be expected of them, such as signing the contract and so on.

"Alright, we'll all listen to you father." When the three brothers heard their father's arrangements, they were all jubilant and there were no signs of dissatisfaction.

"A hundredfold compensation though? It seems that Aunt Tang isn't looking to grow anything ordinary this time. When we're choosing people, we definitely need to choose the ones who are trustworthy and won't blab their mouths everywhere, or else we'll be in trouble." Su Laifu expressed his thoughts.

"You're right. But since we're making so much money in just two months, this kind of risk is expected. I think it's worth it." Su Laixi added.

Farmers worked their fields all year long, but how much money did they ever have to show for once the year was done? Here in Sujia Village a farmer probably wouldn't be able to earn eight or ten taels of silver even working hard all year round, but this job was going to earn them that much in just two months, so it was normal for the job to have risks.

"En. Also we need to remember that if it weren't for Aunt Tang then it would never have been our turn to receive such a good job. Father, you can rest assured that we will help you choose reliable people and not let her down." Su Laiwang nodded along and added his own thoughts.

When Su Xue heard that she could earn money for her dowry her face turned very red, but there was also a shine of hope in her eyes. After all, if her dowry could be a little bigger before she married over then she would definitely be able to secure a better place for herself in her mother-in-law's family.

From there, Su Yongqiang and his family all discussed about how to select people, what needed to be paid attention to, what needed to be done to keep it a secret, and so on. Their discussion even continued as they sat down for their meal.

Later on, after they tried the toffees and cheesecake that Su Tang had sent over, they were all immediately conquered by the taste. They all agreed that these foods were really delicious and even felt that it was no wonder they were so expensive.

Of course, while Su Yongqiang and his family were having a meeting, Su Yongshun and his family were also having a meeting of their own which had started shortly after he arrived home. Su Yongshun's family had received the same gifts from Su Tang, but no one in his family had heard of Dessert Cafe before so they had no idea about how expensive the sweets were, they just felt they were very delicious. Of course, Su Yongshun still found his children and told them that soon they would be part of the effort to raise hundreds of thousands of seedlings, as well as what would be expected of them.

Of course, his whole family was only looking forward to this job. They all knew that this was an excellent opportunity, and they were determined to seize it and make as much money as they could.

While the two families were busy holding meetings to discuss the work and the steps needed to maintain secrecy, Su Tang herself was walking hand-in-hand with Su Nuo down the road toward toward Qinghe Town.

Because it was already New Year's Eve, there was basically no one else on the road. Thanks to that, it was very obvious when they reached about halfway and found that Pengmo was waiting for them on the road with a carriage. Without any complaints, the two siblings climbed up into the carriage and then rode directly to the Song residence.

Today, Su Tang was planning to celebrate the Spring Festival with Song Yi, so she wouldn't be returning until the next day, Of course, she had already explained this matter to Zhang Cuilan before they left, so the servants at home were all able to relax a little and enjoy the new year.

That night, Su Tang made a lively New Year's Eve feast at the Song residence which included cakes and milk tea, and then accompanied Song Yi to play chess as they waited for the new year to arrive. Before long, Su Tang welcomed her very first new year in this time and space.

The next day, on the first day of the Lunar New year, Su Tang woke up from her kang bed in the Song residence, and when she opened her eyes she saw the large face of the orange cat hovering in front of her. The orange cat seemed to have fashioned a simple wreath of pink flowers and wore it on his head, and floating above were the words 'Happy Birthday, Master!'

This scene was originally very cute, and it was all the more impactful seeing it first thing in the morning like this. Su Tang couldn't help but reach out and pat the big fluffy head and say, 'Thank you, my Divine Beast!'

Immediately, the 'Divine Beast' turned arrogant, 'Hmph, meow!'

It was quite the rare day where Su Tang was willing to call him a Divine Beast, so when he heard it he immediately puffed up and became arrogant. Meanwhile, Su Tang just felt that it was both her birthday and the start of the Spring Festival, so there was no need to argue with this silly cat.

In fact, the birthdays of the Su Dani of this world and the Su Tang from the previous world happened to fall on the same day – both on the first day of the Lunar New Year. However, neither of them had ever experienced any sort of big birthday celebration. Su Dani went without saying, and Su Tang had always lived alone, so she was more used to just not celebrating her birthday at all.

But when she saw the orange cat acting cutely and wishing her a happy birthday first thing in the morning, a part of Su Tang was touched and her mood immediately improved. Su Tang quickly clambered out of bed, and she happened to see that there was a fresh set of clothes sitting there.

"This is?" She murmured.

The Grand Divine Beast smugly replied, 'Master Song personally sent it over earlier this morning.'

Although Su Tang was still a loli, she was a girl after all, so it was inconvenient for male servants to tend to her. Thus, Song Yi had personally sent the clothes over.

Su Tang reached out and picked up the clothes. There was a light gray blouse and a black waist skirt, along with a pair of thick cotton trousers to be worn underneath. Although it was all still made of cotton, the workmanship was exquisite. There was also a finely woven grey belt, and a large white cloak to go over everything. The neck of the cloak was lined with soft fox fur, and there was also a fur-lined hat and a pair of fur-lined gloves.

In addition to all this, there was also a small pair of finely crafted white flowers made from flannelette, and a pair of gray cotton-padded shoes. It was all neatly placed on the pillow, clearly representing Song Yi's careful care for his disciple.

Su Tang was still in a mourning period, and there were strict requirements for what kinds of clothes she could wear. As for jewelry, don't even mention it, she absolutely couldn't wear it, and any clothes she wore could only be made from cotton or from coarse cloth, and they could only come in either black, gray, or white. In addition, none of her clothes could be adorned or extravagantly embroidered.

Moreover, she also needed to always wear white flowers in her hair, either real or crafted. This was to clearly express her situation to outsiders and to prevent anyone from saying anything inappropriate because they didn't know she was in a mourning period, which would just make things awkward for everyone.

Most peasant farmers didn't have to worry about any of these rules because they didn't have the money for fine clothes, jewelry, or adornments anyway. However, Su Tang was different. Though she already had money now she still couldn't dress up and could only wear simple clothes, even though she was already a proper young lady in the eyes of society.

After all, when she was younger it was fine for her to run around in her thick-cotton padded clothes, but it was a bit different now.

That was because, from today, Su Tang would already be nine years old, and a girl that old would already be considered a young lady in the capital. Typically, her mother would already be teaching her etiquette and how to manage a household at this age.

It made sense if you thought about it. Most girls in the capital would already be talking about marriage before the age of 16, so they would start learning from the age of nine. If they started any later, then there wouldn't be enough time to teach them everything they needed to know before it came time for them to marry out, and they would disgrace their families in front of their new in-laws.

Back then Song Yi's daughter had died she had been 13 years old so, although Song Yi wasn't as good as his wife at raising a daughter, he still knew some of the rules. He was aware that for girls, their ninth and fifteenth birthdays were both especially important.

Of course, because she was in her mourning period, Su Tang couldn't have any sort of big birthday celebration, and because she was a peasant girl and not a girl from the capital she might not even be aware of these things, but Song Yi still wanted to do right by her. Thus, he had sent Pengmo out to find the most experienced embroidery house in Qinghe Town and ordered a set of clothes for her. Incidentally, he knew that Su Tang was currently doing business outside, so it would also be good for her to have some more presentable clothes.

Su Tang understood Song Yi's kind intentions so, after she got up and washed, she picked up all the clothes and put them on carefully. She found that they fit very well. Although there was a skirt, there was still a pair of thin cotton pants to be worn underneath, so the outfit was both good-looking and warm.

She put her hair up into the usual simple double bun and then added the two flannelette flowers to either side. Like this, her clothes were still plain, but she was beautiful in a simple sort of way. Happy with the look, she draped the cloak over her shoulders and then opened the door to step outside.

As it happened, Su Nuo was also getting up and coming out of his room at just the same moment. When he spotted his sister also coming out of her room, his eyes lit up happily and he greeted: "Sister, happy birthday! Happy new year! You look really beautiful today!"

Back before Su Tang had arrived the two siblings never had enough to eat and, naturally, they were malnourished and lacked nutrition. However, recently, although they couldn't eat meat, they finally always had enough food on their plates.

And, because they were children, the effects of having proper nutrition had begun to show immediately. Thanks to that both Su Tang and Su Nuo had grown a lot in the past four months since she came to this era. Nowadays, if Su Tang deliberately wore a skirt and acted more her mental age, she could already show some of the grace of a proper young lady.

A certain Divine Beast: Of course, in fact, it was still a dark loli inside.

With his mouth, it was no wonder he never received any respect as a Divine Beast, right?

When Su Tang heard the little guy excitedly giving her three consecutive greetings, she couldn't help but laugh and reply, "Happy new year to you too. Thank you, Xiao Nuo!"

When he heard his big sister's thanks, the little guy blushed and went to her side. He wanted to hold her hand but, look at her brand new spotless white cloak, he didn't quite dare to. Seeing through all this, Su Tang took the initiative to reach out and pull him to her side.

"Let's go and wish my master a happy new year!"

Feeling his sister's hand wrap around his own, the little guy smiled, but hearing her words, his brow slightly creased. He was still a bit afraid of Mr. Song and didn't quite dare to go greet him.

Su Tang pulled her younger brother along into the main hall, where they found Song Yi sitting in the main seat and drinking tea. She quickly pulled her brother down with her and said, "This disciple congratulates master on another New Year, wishing you good health and happiness!"

As soon as Su Tang entered the door, Song Yi looked up to take a look at his little disciple. He saw that the new clothes he had specially prepared for her were clean and beautiful, and when she wore them she looked like a proper young lady. Looking at her, he felt a faint sense of pride, almost the same kind of feeling from raising a daughter.

Seeing that the little fox he was taking care of had grown into a plump and smooth-skinned little fox, Song Yi suddenly wondered what kind of boy this little fox would trick home. However, he quickly banished the thought. Whatever the case, this little fox would never eat a loss, so he could just let her trick back whoever she wanted. It would be fine!

After pulling her brother down to kowtow to Song Yi, Su Tang looked up with a dimpled smile. Today's expression was particularly cute, but unfortunately, her eyes gave her away and Song Yi could immediately see through her intentions to play tricks.

"Congratulations on your good fortune this year! Where's the red packet!" Su Tang quickly pulled Su Nuo's arms until his two palms were outstretched, and then stretched her palms out as well.

"Ahem!" On the side, Pengmo forced a cough to hold back his laughter.

If it hadn't been the first day of the new year, Song Yi might really have thrown his teacup over out of anger! This little fox, was there anything else in her eyes?

"Can't you ask for anything else?" He sighed. Although Song Yi knew that Su Tang wasn't really obsessed with money, whenever he saw his precious disciple acting like a little money grubber it left a kind of sour taste in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Su Nuo, who had been pulled into the situation by his sister, merely continued to kneel down and didn't dare to speak. After all, although Song Yi had never been particularly unkind to him, he was never kind to him either, so Su Nuo was still really afraid of Song Yi. He felt that his sister's distant master was very scary and powerful.

Therefore, Su Nuo felt even more impressed with his sister when he saw the way that she could still joke around and talk in such a casual tone with Master Song.

Song Yi didn't pay much attention to Su Nuo though, because his attention was focused on his unworthy disciple. Of course, when Su Tang heard his question, she blinked her big eyes, tilted her head, and replied: "Can the red packet be bigger?"

Song Yi gritted his teeth. "If it's too big, aren't you afraid of your fingers getting smashed?"

"It's alright, your disciple is not afraid. Please smash my fingers with silver." Su Tang shot back cheekily.

Song Yi growled, "Unworthy disciple!"

"Dearest master!" Su Tang smiled.

It was the first day of the Spring Festival, and the first thing that happened to Song Yi was his disciple finding him and asking after a red packet, which was a unique experience, even for him. In the end, he took two small red pouches from his sleeves and gave one Su Tang and Su Nuo respectively. Then he said sternly, "Work hard during the new year!"

Su Nuo never expected that he would get a red packet, and he didn't dare to reach out his hand to accept it. Meanwhile, Su Tang just smiled and took the packet over casually while saying, "Thank you, Master Song."

Song Yi only had a faint impression of Su Nuo, not really seeing him as particularly clever or clumsy. Over the years Song Yi had taught many male disciples, and Su Nuo didn't stand out to him among them, especially with Su Tang, his genius sister, for comparison.

However, he was still the younger brother of his disciple, so Song Yi would show him at least a bare minimum amount of care when it was appropriate. Of course, there would be a difference between the incidental concern he would show for his disciple's brother and the heartfelt concern he had for his disciple.

And it wasn't like Su Tang didn't have eyes. Sometimes whether two people could get along together or not was something that depended on fate. It was this sort of fate that had caused Song Yi to find her so pleasing to the eye and want to accept her as his disciple in the first place.

Because of this, even if Su Tang was playing small tricks on him every day, he was still very happy to see her. Then, compare Suo Nuo, who was always showing a very clever and sensible side, but who Song Yi didn't have any particular good feelings for.

But since the two of them didn't seem to get along, Su Tang had no intentions of trying to force anything. Anyway, she alone was enough to take good care of Su Nuo.

After accepting the small red packet, Su Tang opened it and found that there was an exquisite little golden pig inside. Meanwhile, Su Nuo's was a small golden ox. The two animals correspond to their birth signs.

Then, right in front of Song Yi, Su Tang carefully weighed it with her hand. After determining that it should be worth of or two gold taels, she looked up at Song Yi and said, "This disciple thanks master."

"Ridiculous!" Song Yi looked at his little disciple and scolded her with a smile.

Of course, for Su Nuo, this was the first time he had ever seen gold, and he didn't even know what to do with it. But before he could worry for long Su Tang quickly pulled him up and said to Song Yi, "Anyway, this disciple won't keep master waiting any longer and will go to make breakfast now."

With those words, she dragged Su Nuo along to run away, leaving Song Yi to blink at the now empty doorway they had just disappeared through. He snorted and said, "This wild girl."

"Master, don't you like the young miss better like this?" Pengmo heard his grumbling and couldn't help but speak up.

After all, if Su Tang didn't have such a lively temperament it was likely that Song Yi wouldn't be so fond of her. Pengmo could see this clearly from the way his master spoiled the young miss.

When Song Yi heard that, he glanced over at Pengmo and then pushed a red packet into his hands before saying: "What are you doing chattering here? Not going to the kitchen to help with the fire? You know that girl can't light a fire properly, don't let her burn the kitchen down again."

Pengmo immediately knelt down when his master passed him the red packet, and when he heard Song Yi's words he hurriedly stood up to head to the kitchen. In fact, Su Tang really couldn't properly make a fire using these ancient people's stoves. How could there be such strange earthen stoves in modern times, right? However, fortunately, Su Dani used to do a lot of housework and Su Tang had inherited some of her memories, so she wasn't completely clueless.

But, after all, Su Dani had been young and not very skilled, so last time when Su Tang had tried to light the stove, she had accidentally burned herself. After that, Song Yi would always have Pengmo help her so that she wouldn't be hurt again.

He would show this kind of concern for any disciple, since it would be terrible for one of his students if their writing hand were to be injured, but it was also out of consideration for the fact that Su Tang was a girl and it wouldn't be good if she were to get a scar. As for Pengmo, while it was true he had no talent for cooking, he could at least light a fire.

Pengmo swiftly left the room to go help Su Tang, and Song Yi stood up and walked over to the window. Looking outside, he could see the heavy snow from the previous year was still accumulated on the wall and being buffeted around by the cold winds. However, in just the twinkling of an eye, another year had already arrived. The Spring Festival had begun, and spring was on its way.

This was perhaps the most simple year Song Yi had ever lived, way out here in the tiny Qinghe Town, and it hadn't been as lively without his children and grandchildren around. However, fortunately, it hadn't been a lonely or cold year.

As he thought to this point, Song Yi couldn't help dazedly looking off in the direction of the distant capital for a while. He didn't know what was going on in the capital, and he didn't know when it would all get better. The prince, ah, the prince…

"Hoh…" Song Yi sighed heavily and put away all his thoughts. What would be, would be.

A while later Su Tang finished making breakfast and led Pengmo to serve it. At the same time, she pulled out a small gray pouch with no embroidery, recognizable as one of the cheapest kinds of pouches sold by the shops outside, and handed it to Pengmo.

"Happy new year Pengmo, please continue giving me pointers next year as well!"

After all, Song Yi only decided to take Su Tang as his disciple because Pengmo had brought her to see him that. Although Pengmo had only brought her over to sew clothes, by introducing them he had certainly done her a favor. It had given her a chance she otherwise wouldn't have had.

And after that when she and her brother started coming over to the Song residence, Pengmo had often taken good care of them, especially during the afternoons when Su Tang was studying with Song Yi and Su Nuo had no other place to go, on those days Pengmo had been the one to play with Su Nuo.

Therefore, although he was a servant, Pengmo had helped her a lot, and Su Tang had always kept it in mind. Thus, for the Spring Festival, she had specially prepared a small gift for him.

Pengmo didn't expect that Su Tang would give him a gift at all. He hurriedly put down the plates in his hands and said in a slightly embarrassed tone, "Young miss, you're too polite, there's no need for thanks. It's all just what this small one should have done."

Back then Song Yi had left the capital with only Pengmo in tow, not just because Pengmo was a reliable worker but, more importantly, because even though Pengmo looked a little dull, he was loyal and knew what he should and shouldn't do.

Pengmo had worked besides Song Yi ever since he was a child, and Song Yi had always been a person in a high position with a lot of power, so naturally, there were many people eager to please and flatter him. Of course, as his close servant, people had also been eager to get close to Pengmo as well, but Pengmo was an upright person who wasn't greedy benefits and who always recognized his own identity.

He was only a servant, but he was able to recognize that these people who tried to please and get close to him were actually targeting his master behind him, and their shows of generosity or respect actually had nothing to do with him.

Song Yi's residence in the capital had many servants, and many of them had an inflated sense of self-importance. The treatment they would receive from outsiders went to their heads, and they began to feel that being the servant of a great man made them great as well.

For those servants, if they had encountered this sort of show of gratitude from Su Tang, even if they were aware she was their master's disciple, they would still look down on the gift, and on her for giving it. After all, they would only see her as a small peasant girl from a remote place who had no knowledge of the world.

However, Pengmo was different.

He was well aware that he was only a slave. Thanks to that, even before Su Tang had become his master's disciple he was still very polite to her and didn't act superior. After all, Pengmo knew that if were ever to have a son of his own, that son could also only be a slave, even if his master was the Imperial Preceptor.

And, although Su Tang was 'just' a poor peasant girl from a remote area, she was a free citizen, which meant she had a higher status than a slave like him.

Of course, many people looked at his master, the Imperial Preceptor who only had a few people in the whole kingdom who could tell him what to do, and they would forget that simple distinction in status. They would feel that becoming part of his residence, even as a slave or a concubine, would lead to a rich and happy life where they would receive respect that they rightly deserved.

But in reality, this wasn't the case at all. Once a person became a slave, their life became cheap. They had no status and no protection, and they were barely better than cattle, able to be bought and sold at will.

Therefore, Pengmo had always been very polite to Su Tang because he understood his identity. Later, when Su Tang became Song Yi's disciple, he treated her even more respectfully as a young miss of the house and never overstepped his bounds, however, at the same time he was able to maintain his personality and joke around a bit from time to time.

After all, before Su Tang had arrived it had always fallen to Pengmo to coax Song Yi into better moods, so he was used to this kind of interaction. And whenever Su Tang saw this side of him, she felt impressed since a good servant like this was very rare.

Thus, when Pengmo heard Su Tang ask him for pointers, he shook his head and replied: "This small one is just a servant, how could I be qualified to teach the young miss? Rather, this small one would like to ask the young miss for advice."

Su Tang replied with a smile, "No matter who instructs whom, we'll have to wait for next year anyway!"

Pengmo bowed and said: "En, you're right. Then thanking the young miss for this reward!"

After he spoke he accepted the pouch Su Tang was offering, nodded, and then picked the plates back up to bring breakfast to the table. After all the food was served and Pengmo had gone to eat his own meal, he opened the pouch and found that there were five silver taels inside.

Pengmo's monthly stipend was two taels of silver, and now Su Tang had given him five all at once. Seeing that she had been willing to give him so much money, Pengmo smiled happily. Although Su Tang always acted like she loved money more than life, in reality, she was actually quite generous with her money, even though she didn't have much money to begin with. Pengmo happily put away the five taels of silver and began to eat his meal.

The first day of the Lunar New year was usually when people would go and visit relatives, so there were already many people walking around on the roads outside heading to visit their families. Because Su Tang still had the servants back at her house to think of, she took Su Nuo and left together with him a bit after breakfast.

Seeing the two of them coming back, Zhang Cuilan, Yu Caihe, and the girls hurriedly went forward to welcome them. As soon as the two siblings stepped inside, they kneeled and saluted together. "Happy new year, young miss, young master!"

Su Tang smile and told them, "Alright, stand up!"

Then she handed out a pouch to each of them, "This is my brother and I's gift to you. Continue to work hard in the new year!"

"This servant thanks the young miss for this reward!" The four people chorused as they accepted the pouched, and then they saluted again.

Baohe was still very young, so she couldn't contain herself when she heard the jingle of copper inside her pouch and couldn't wait to open it. She immediately ran off to open it up and count out what was inside, leaving a speechless Zhang Cuilan apologizing to Su Tang.

Su Tang didn't make a fuss over it, after all, Baohe was still a child, so it was understandable.

Then she announced some good news: "Starting from the beginning of this year, everyone will now begin to receive monthly stipends. Every person will receive a hundred copper coins each month, and if you perform well, there will be other rewards. Everyone, continue to do a good job during the new year!"

Back when Su Tang had bought all of her servants she still didn't really have any money in her hands, so she had never provided a monthly stipend at all. However, even slaves who were owned according to a slave contract should still receive some sort of stipend, no matter how little.

Thus, now that Su Tang finally had a bit more money coming in, she finally settled this matter of their monthly stipends.

When Yu Caihe and the rest all heard this they rushed to salute and give thanks again. After all, although they had already been sold, they were still women! With a fixed income they would finally be able to buy the things they needed to maintain themselves, like simple fabrics, perfumes, powders, and so on.

Of course, probably they still wouldn't be able to change anything in the near future since their masters, the two siblings, were still in their mourning period and always wearing plain clothes. That being the case, it certainly wouldn't be appropriate for them, the servants, to dress themselves up flamboyantly.

Looking at their happy faces, Su Tang nodded with satisfaction. After a moment, she asked them to make tea while she dragged Su Nuo off to the main room. Once they were there, she produced another small pouch, this one for Su Nuo.

"Sister?" The little guy had been watching his sister handing out red packets to all the servants and feeling a little torn. After all, he was also one of the masters in the family, so he felt that maybe he should have prepared something too. But now, unexpectedly, his sister had something for him as well?

This pouch was also gray, but there was a finely embroidered stalk of black bamboo on one side and it seemed a little more decorated than the ones Su Tang had been handing out earlier. Still, the little guy is a little confused why his sister was giving it to him.

"It's good luck money. Today marks the start of the first new year that we two sister and brother will spend together with only the two of us. From now on, whether it's our home, our relationship, all of it… it's a new beginning for everything. Your sister here will be by your side for many years to come, so don't worry and don't be afraid. We'll work hard together and continue making our lives better and better, okay?"

Su Tang pinched the little guy's face.

Su Tang knew that the little guy was still feeling uneasy these days, which was why he still always thought of clinging to his sister.

However, although he was young, he was already sensible. He knew that she was busy every day trying to make money, so he didn't follow his impulse to cling to her, instead, he was always diligently practicing his reading and writing alone.

Of course, Su Tang understood that the experiences he had in the past would inevitably leave certain scars on Su Nuo's heart, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. It wasn't like she could stay by his side every hour of the day. Thus, she said those words in the hopes that the little guy could understand that his sister definitely won't leave him, and that the two of them would spend many years together, relying on each other as each other's only family.

Su Nuo's eyes turned red and he rushed forward to hug Su Tang, "Sister, you are protecting me, but one day I will also protect you, and we'll always be together."

Su Tang touched his head. "Foolish little guy, we can't always be together. One day you will find a wife, and then you won't think about your sister here anymore."

"No, if I find a wife, then she must respect you as her elder sister and be kind to you as well, otherwise I will never marry her." The little guy's face was very serious, with traces of stubbornness.

Seeing him like this, Su Tang couldn't help but laugh and say, "Well, I hope you'll remember this promise in the future!"

Inside, she sighed. It was normal for children to make these sorts of naive and straightforward promises, but inevitably as they grew older the childish promises would be forgotten.

"I won't forget. I won't forget anything that has to do with my sister." The little guy responded in a deadly serious tone.

Su Tang saw how serious he was and didn't tease him any further, just replying: "En, good!"

Then she put the pouch in the palm of the little guy's hand. Finally, he accepted it and then opened it up. Inside, there were five taels of silver. His eyes widened and he looked up at Su Tang, "Ah?"

Just now he had gotten a golden ox from Song Yi, and now his sister gave him five taels? The little guy felt as if he had suddenly become rich overnight. Su Tang saw his shocked expression and said to him: "Anyway, it's yours now so put it away. Later on you can use it for yourself as you like."

Su Tang wanted to cultivate his financial management ability, so that she could rest assured when leaving money in his hands. She wanted him to learn that managing his finances was just as important of a skill as saving money.

The little guy nodded a bit uncertainly, "Alright…"

Su Tang patted his head with a smile and just then Pu Wei arrived with tea, breaking off their conversation.

Because the two siblings were in their mourning period it wasn't appropriate for them to go out and visit their relatives, so they had nothing to do and could only stay at home.

Thus, over the next few days, whenever Su Tang was free she would lead her brother and the four servants to play around, making many snowmen of various sizes and other such winter games.

Of course, other than playing, Su Tang was also still going to the Song residence every day to study as usual and, although the little guy still had some shaodws in his heart, he was also very sensible and resumed his own studies as well.

For the hard working peasants of Qihuang Kingdom, the fifth was pretty much equivalent to the end of the new year celebrations. By then most all of the people who had returned to their hometowns for the Spring Festival had already come back, and the shops in town all began to open up again.

Su Tang's Dessert Cafe was no exception, and on the sixth day of the first lunar month, she reopened it for business. At the same time, Su Tang got up early that morning and took Su Nuo, along with the various supplies she had prepared for him, and headed over to the academy.

The academy was also resuming its operations on the sixth day of the first lunar month. In this ancient era education was handled very differently compared to in modern times where great attention was paid to the quality of education, here they were more focused on quantity. In modern times, class hours were kept short and there were scheduled days off as well as winter and summer vacations, but in the ancient era things were more strict. Except for certain big holidays and during the harvest season, children were expected to devote all the rest of their time to coming to the academy to study and learn.

Of course, ever since near the end of the previous year, Su Tang had been worried that she would be too busy managing the plots of land and setting up the factories to continue teaching Su Nuo, so she had decided to send him over to the academy to continue his studies once it reopened. This way he would be able to continue his education and also maybe make some friends his own age.

The academy in Qinghe Town wasn't very big. Su Tang estimated that there were probably less than 200 students, and they were all divided into four classes, Class A, B, C, and D. Of course, these classes were divided according to the level of the students who attended them.

Once a student felt that their academic level was beyond what their current class was teaching, they could take an examination to try to enter a higher class. Class A was the best class in the academy and the students who could pass its exams were considered qualified to take the official child student exam.

When Su Tang took Su Nuo to the academy, she saw there were other people with their children there who had formed a line waiting to sign up. After waiting through the line, the children would be greeted by a young teacher at a desk who would ask them a few questions to decide their placement. Of course, because most of them were children from nearby farming villages, being able to recognize one's own written name was already considered to have a foundation.

Su Tang watched how the people in front of them were sorted carefully. It seemed that those who couldn't recognize many kanji were all assigned to Class D. Meanwhile, the young teacher in charge of the exams would sigh occasionally, seemingly disappointed in the level of the students this time.

Then it was Su Nuo's turn. As the students all went to talk to the man by themselves, Su Tang could only let go of his hand and usher the little guy to go forward by himself.

Although he was nervous and perturbed, the little guy still puffed out his chest and went forward to the examiner. Most of the other children only had to answer a few questions before being sorted, but Su Nuo was held back and questioned for a comparatively long time, so it was a little while before Su Tang saw the little guy coming back out. When he finally did come out, his face was flushed red with happiness and he was carrying his new student token. He called, "Sister, it seems I will be in Class B!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several of the other parents and children who had been assigned to Class D looked over out of curiosity. When they saw that this new fellow who had gotten into Class B was a small child with a slightly bigger sister there, with both of them wearing white mourning clothes and apparently having no parents or other adults around, they couldn't help but stagger with disbelief.

On the contrary, when Su Tang heard the little guy had been directly placed into Class B even with his level, she couldn't help but sigh at this academy's standards. She had known it couldn't be very good, but she hadn't expected it to be so bad. It seemed that this wouldn't be any sort of long-term solution. She would still have to look for a reliable and high-level teacher for her brother to acknowledge.

She decided that, after a few days, she would go over to the county seat and have a look. After all, she still hadn't really spent any time in the county seat and didn't know what sort of standards the schools over there had.

"Well done, this shows that all of your efforts until now have not been in vain. In the future, you'll need to continue working hard so you can continue moving forward on this path Xiao Nuo!" Although she didn't have anything nice to say about the teaching level of Qinghe Academy, Su Tang still smiled and encouraged her younger brother.

The little guy, who had just gotten a good result from the academy and was also then praised by his sister, was so happy he was practically on cloud nine. He said happily, "En, I will certainly keep working hard."

Seeing that the teachers were still working on dividing the students into their classes, Su Tang was about to take her brother aside to wait until the teacher from Class B arrived to take him in. However, before waiting even a moment, she saw a young teacher coming out of the examination room. He looked around and quickly spotted Su Nuo and Su Tang and then walked over.

"Are you Su Yongnuo's sister?" He asked.

In fact, this young man was actually the youngest teacher in the academy. He had already managed to pass the child student exam at the young age of 18, and he could be regarded as an excellent seedling from Qinghe Town's younger generation.

When Zheng Zhong had been examining Su Nuo just now, he had discovered that the child actually had a quick mind and a solid foundation, so he had asked who his teacher was. Being asked by a teacher from the academy, Su Nuo immediately responded honestly and told him that his sister had taught him.

This answer was also a bit of surprise to Zheng Zhong, so the young teacher became a bit curious about Su Nuo's sister. He had thought she would probably be a scholarly young lady, but he had never expected she would actually be a little girl.

Su Tang realized he was talking to her, so she looked up at him and replied, "I am. Is something wrong with Xiao Nuo?"

Zheng Zhong had only been a bit curious, so when he heard the little girl's question he smiled reassuringly and replied: "No, there's no issue. Su Yongnuo has a good foundation, he should be able to enter Class A very soon, after he has studied in Class B for a while. I was just curious about who his teacher was, if my actions were too abrupt, I hope the young lady will forgive me."

In fact, although he had only asked Su Nuo about some simple fundamental knowledge, his responses had surprised Zheng Zhong and made the latter sense that there was some deeper understanding in the child's words. However, he couldn't say that, so in response to Su Tang's question, he could only deflect away and blame his approach on his own curiosity.