Zhen Niang’s words left Madam Fang quite disgruntled. She pursed her lips and said, “It’s not that we can’t bear this responsibility. What pains me is watching the foundation that Hua’er’s father and I worked so hard to build being squandered away by you. How can I possibly be at ease? Miss Zhen, I must say, you’re being too rash about this.”

“Thank you for your guidance, Aunt Jingming, but I have confidence in what I’m doing,” Zhen Niang smiled. As for why she was confident, she naturally couldn’t explain to Madam Fang, nor could she share the analysis she had discussed with First Uncle, especially since Madam Fang was connected to Ge Xunlan.

Who knew what other messy affairs might surface? Besides, even if she explained, Madam Fang wouldn’t believe her and would think she was being presumptuous. Nevertheless, Zhen Niang added, “I do have some ideas. If Aunt Jingming wants to save for Hua’er’s dowry, why not take advantage of the current low land prices to acquire some fields? There might be surprises later.”

“Hmph, that’s just a daydream. What surprises? Everyone’s saying that Official Hai is strictly impartial and particularly goes after the wealthy. Once he arrives in Nanjing, all the land we previously bought might be seized by the government. We’d be fortunate just to avoid prosecution,” Madam Fang said, mimicking the words of some old scholars outside.

“It’s just a suggestion. Whether to listen or not is entirely up to you, Aunt,” Zhen Niang replied, pressing her lips together. She had said what needed to be said; the outcome wasn’t something she would dwell on.

After all, whether one could make money or not was somewhat predetermined by fate.

With that, she led Xiaohua toward the small building in the second courtyard.

“Cousin, cousin, wait for me!” Just as they entered the second courtyard, Hua’er came running with a purse in her hands. Zhen Niang turned to look at her: “Hua’er, what is it?”

“Well…” Hua’er hesitated before pushing the purse into Zhen Niang’s arms.

Zhen Niang curiously accepted it and looked inside to find several pieces of silver. “What’s this…?”

“Cousin said we could make money, so it must be true. I don’t understand about buying land, but this is all my savings. I’d rather let cousin and cousin-in-law handle it for me,” Hua’er said, her face flushed red.

“Oh my, Hua’er is saving for her dowry,” teased Xiaohua, who got along well with Hua’er.

“You little devil, I’ll teach you a lesson…” Embarrassed and annoyed, Hua’er chased after Xiaohua. The two ended up circling Zhen Niang.

“Alright, stop fooling around.” Feeling dizzy from their circling, Zhen Niang spoke with slight irritation. The two girls immediately drew back their necks and stopped.

“Fine, I’ll take care of this silver.” Zhen Niang didn’t say much more or make any promises. In such matters, results spoke louder than words – making money would prove more convincing than any assurance.

“Mm.” Hua’er nodded firmly before running back to the front courtyard.

In the second courtyard’s room, Madam Huang heard that everything had gone smoothly and breathed a great sigh of relief.

From then on, Zhen Niang had little to do with the land purchasing matters, as Han Yigui was handling everything. She focused entirely on the ink workshop in her backyard.

By now, the large ink workshop in the back courtyard had been properly arranged. In these past few days, Sister Ma’s husband had taken Er’gou out to recruit workers. Additionally, Zhen Niang had written letters back to Huizhou, asking them to send over some masters to train the workers.

As for the shop, the two units had been merged into one, with the original counter now reaching just above waist height, making it comfortable for customer interactions. Besides the wall behind the counter that displayed ink samples and products, Zhen Niang had also set up a high-end ink product exhibition area. The space was furnished with elegant seating and decorated with plum, peach, and orchid bonsai arrangements. The four treasures of the study were laid out on tea tables, creating an exceptionally refined atmosphere for customers to test the ink.

Thus, the overall layout of the ink shop was set. Of course, everything remained behind closed doors, waiting to be revealed on opening day.

Currently, neighboring shop owners were curious about what kind of establishment the Li family would create, and this curiosity was exactly what Zhen Niang had hoped to achieve.

During these days, the news of the Han family buying land had also caused quite a stir.

Madam Yao had been in particularly high spirits these past few days. Today, she specially bought some meat to make braised pork.

“Madam Yao, you’re in a good mood today,” said a clerk from the neighboring medicine shop as he swept the ground.

“Of course I am,” Madam Yao replied.

“What’s got you so happy? Just a few days ago you were in despair,” the clerk asked curiously.

“Bah, you little devil, you want to see me in despair again?” Madam Yao responded irritably. At this moment, the medicine shop’s proprietor Gong Quanyou came out with his sleeves gathered, giving the clerk a stern look that made him quickly lower his head and return to his work.

“Madam Yao, did you sell your land? I heard the Han family is buying up large quantities of land,” Gong Quanyou asked.

“Indeed, you’ve guessed right. Fortunately, with the Han family buying land, I didn’t lose everything on my holdings, though I still lost over five taels of silver,” Madam Yao complained, yet her face beamed with joy.

People were strange that way – previously they’d wear a bitter expression if they made slightly less profit, but now they could be overjoyed about minimizing their losses.

“What’s going on with the Han family? Do they have too much money to burn? They’re asking for trouble, buying so much land at this time. Once Official Hai arrives, aren’t they just putting themselves in the line of fire?” Yao Zhong, the fabric shop owner, joined in.

“Pah, what nonsense are you talking about? We should be grateful the Han family is buying land, or I’d be worried sick,” Madam Yao glared at her husband.

“Well, that’s a separate matter,” Yao Zhong waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s not that simple,” said the medicine shop owner Gong Quanyou, stroking his goatee. “There’s an ancient principle in business: take what others abandon, give what others desire. Now that everyone is abandoning their land, the Han family’s decision to acquire what others are discarding follows the way of commerce.”

“So you’re saying the Han family made the right choice in buying land?” Madam Yao asked.

“That I cannot say, as the ways of the world can change in an instant,” Gong Quanyou replied.

This left Madam Yao feeling uncertain once again.

“Enough already, haven’t you learned your lesson from your recent despair?” Yao Zhong said. As a fabric merchant, he focused solely on selling fabric and was annoyed by his wife’s habit of dabbling in various ventures.

“Alright, I was just saying,” Madam Yao waved her hand, still shuddering at the memory of her recent anxiety. Even if land became profitable again, she wouldn’t dare touch it anymore.

Zhen Niang stood at her shop’s entrance, listening to all this with complete composure.

Meanwhile, at the Xu residence…

“Second Brother, what’s going on? Who are these unexpected players? How dare the Han family still buy land at this time? Don’t they already have plenty of land stored away? I was waiting for them to sell at rock-bottom prices, but where did they find the courage to continue buying land so recklessly? You didn’t leak anything, did you?” Xu Da paced back and forth in his study, his eyes fixed on Xu Er.

This entire situation in Nanjing had been orchestrated by them and others, but just as they were about to succeed, this unexpected variable emerged, thoroughly disrupting their well-laid plans.

“I’m also unclear about this. Although my wife occasionally socializes with Madam Han, I haven’t leaked even a hint of this matter to my wife, so there’s no way she could have leaked anything to the Han family,” Xu Er said.

“Why don’t we invite Second Sister-in-law over to ask her?” suggested Xu San, who was sitting to the side.

Usually, Xu Er stayed in Nanjing, while Xu Da and Xu San were based in Songjiang. They had only gathered together recently because of this land situation.

Xu Er nodded and opened the door, asking a maid to summon his wife.

Soon after, Xu Er’s wife, Madam Zhou, arrived.

“My dear, what did you tell Madam Han about buying land?” Xu Er asked.

“I didn’t say much at all. Just that when we were converting rice paddies to mulberry fields since the Han family was in the raw silk business, they wanted to buy some land for mulberry cultivation. Several other ladies and I decided to invest as well, so we bought some land at that time. Later, as land prices kept rising, Madam Han felt that buying land was quite profitable, so they purchased more in bulk. Who knew that once news of Hai Rui’s arrival spread, land prices would suddenly plummet? That’s how things stand now, and I don’t know anything else, especially about why the Han family is suddenly buying land again,” Madam Zhou explained.

“In that case, find an opportunity to meet with Madam Han in the next few days and ask her about it,” Xu Er said.

“Mm, it’s the season for spring outings. How about I invite several ladies, including Madam Han, to visit Chengren Temple? I can ask her then – that would be more natural,” Madam Zhou suggested.

“Good, let’s do that,” Xu Da nodded.

. . . . . .

On a sunny morning, Zhen Niang was pulled away from her ink workshop by Madam Huang to visit the Han residence.

It wasn’t proper for a young lady to spend all day in the smoky incense stick workshop, getting all covered in smoke.

“Zhen Niang, don’t blame your First Aunt. I misunderstood you before,” Madam Han Li held Zhen Niang’s hand in the small pavilion of the Han residence, her face full of gratitude. Regardless of whether this matter would succeed, she understood the significance of Zhen Niang using the Li family ink workshop as collateral to help her out of trouble.

“First Aunt, what are you saying? Aren’t we family?” Zhen Niang helped Madam Han Li sit down, smiling cheerfully.

“Yes, we’re family. In matters like this, who else but the family would extend a helping hand?” Madam Han Li remarked thoughtfully. The recent experiences of human relationships had truly taught her a lesson.

As she spoke, Madam Han Li pulled Zhen Niang to sit beside her. Previously, she had found everything about Zhen Niang disagreeable, but now everything about her seemed pleasant. Looking at her demeanor, she did seem well-matched with Bai’er.

Zhen Niang was unaware of Madam Han Li’s thoughts and simply sat beside her, smiling and chatting with First Aunt and Second Aunt.