Lin Ruhai was very attentive to the education of the younger generation in his household.

This could be seen from prenatal education.

Now the children could not even speak yet. He would not be so insanely obsessed as to make the children hold a writing brush, but he did plenty of things like “subtle influence through constant exposure.”

Providing the children with the best he could provide was not surprising either.

Lin Ruhai held his daughter and would not let go. His favorite to hold was Luo Yu: “By the way, the teacher’s family members will arrive in the near future. Some of the children are about the same age as Yu’er and the others. Perhaps they could become friends at that time.”

Yun Shuyao absorbed this statement for three seconds.

She thought of herself.

Indeed, without friends to communicate with, Yun Shuyao would sometimes feel lonely. In modern times, not having friends was not a big problem—everything was available on the internet. Here, even if she wanted to make friends, finding a like-minded friend was very difficult.

Their thoughts were not on the same wavelength.

The most typical example was that she did not have sufficient reverence for the imperial family, nobility, and high officials.

She would not feel from the bottom of her heart that they had the right to determine her life and death.

She also knew about this problem of hers. When occasionally discussing related topics with Lin Ruhai, she tried to speak less and discuss her own thoughts less.

Therefore, she did not hold much expectation.

Loneliness only occupied a small corner of her life.

If this destiny truly existed, that would naturally be good. If not, she would not be disappointed either.

When the Lin clan family members arrived, settled down, and she met a certain person, Yun Shuyao’s “heart skipped a beat.”

Ever since Lin Ruhai wrote the letter and thawed relations with the clan, there were altogether four Lin clan members who stayed.

Two of them wanted to continue participating in the civil examinations—one had xiucai credentials, one had juren credentials.

The other two people came for future prospects—one with xiucai credentials, one with juren credentials.

Among these people, the one Lin Ruhai valued most was the person with only xiucai credentials who came to recommend himself.

He was called Lin Hao, in his thirties, and especially skilled in mathematics.

He was a typical person with unbalanced talents.

With him around, Lin Ruhai relaxed considerably.

Lady Wen was his wife. When she brought her little daughter, who was a bit over one year old, to meet them, she gave the twins a pair of little dog dolls. Those two little dogs had bell-shaped decorations hanging on their necks, seemingly jade of not-high purity. On one of the bells, when Yun Shuyao approached, she actually felt that the spirit mirror that had never reacted before showed unusual activity.

It was said that spiritual treasures with spiritual nature would have a response when encountering heavenly materials and earthly treasures that matched their compatibility.

Now Yun Shuyao knew this was true.

The spirit mirror was transmitting to her through intent: want it.

After Yun Shuyao detected the spirit mirror’s need, her face remained composed as she exchanged gifts with the other party. After they left, Yun Shuyao immediately took out the spirit mirror.

This mirror looked like a small ancient copper coin. What did ancient copper coins look like?

Somewhat worn, somewhat damaged, appearing to have been ground down by the passage of years—it could not be associated with an imagined treasure.

Because it had already been severely damaged, Yun Shuyao had never obtained any definite words from it, but she also had a feeling that if she were to die again this time, she would not be so lucky as to wake up once more.

How to help it recover?

Yun Shuyao did not know.

Now this was an unexpected pleasant surprise.

After there were no people around, she put them together. Right under her eyelids, the spirit mirror swallowed this bell.

Then there was nothing more—no changes whatsoever.

Yun Shuyao could only put it away for now.

Because of this unexpected pleasant surprise, Yun Shuyao’s favorable impression of Lady Wen instantly soared.

The favorable impression between unfamiliar adults was this direct.

Her little daughter was not far off in age from the twins. When Yun Shuyao prepared toys, food, and so on for the twins, she would also prepare a portion for her.

These things were still presentable.

After having the twins, she had frequently ordered dishes from the kitchen to satisfy herself.

The Old Madam had already given her this allowance. Not using it would be wasteful.

Moreover, after her whimsical ideas became reality through the kitchen’s skillful hands, she was not the only one who could taste more delicious food.

Now the Lin residence had many new dishes, with quite a few dairy products.

Milk tea, yogurt, double-skin milk, and also cake.

The launch of this cake was at the Old Madam’s birthday.

The Old Madam did not want a grand celebration. The family eating a meal together and presenting some congratulatory gifts to express their sentiments was sufficient.

Yun Shuyao had the kitchen make this through them.

The Old Madam indeed liked it very much—soft, sweet, and fragrant with endless aftertaste.

She even gave it the name Songyu Cake.

From time to time, she would order one.

It was just that the kitchen woman would find it somewhat troublesome. Now there was no whipping machine—it could only rely on manual labor.

When receiving the cake, Lady Wen widened her eyes and carefully savored the soft sweetness in her mouth: “What is this thing called? It’s too delicious!”

“It’s called Songyu Cake.”

“This truly broadens one’s horizons! There’s such delicious pastry, I’ve never heard of it before…”

After chatting more, Yun Shuyao discovered they got along quite well.

The other party was just a xiucai’s wife. She did not appear to have much status, and moreover, her background was not good either.

Lady Wen was the daughter of a hunter’s family.

She was able to marry Lin Hao as his wife because Lin Hao had an accident in the mountains and was rescued by Father Wen.

In the Lin family, quite a few people felt Lady Wen was not worthy of Lin Hao. She only gradually learned to read characters after marrying Lin Hao, and her speech was always plain language.

Combined with her somewhat direct manner of speaking, her personal relations were not good.

After coming to the Lin residence, she interacted with the female members of the Prefect’s household. The first to interact with was naturally the Prefect’s wife, but she and Jia Min’s auras did not match.

It was not that Jia Min was particularly arrogant, but rather that a young lady full of poetry and literature and a person who needed to expend effort to understand idioms and who did not know how to be tactful but was straightforward—their communication was not very smooth.

Going to Bitao Courtyard, besides greetings and question-and-answer exchanges expressing concern, there was nothing else to say. Lady Wen going to Meixiang Courtyard also did not get along pleasantly.

Lady Wen was puzzled. The Prefect’s legitimate wife was also polite and courteous to me. How could a concubine always make her look at her chin?

Originally, Lady Wen had not held much hope for the last female family member either. As a result, after going back and forth a few times, she discovered they could talk!

Moreover, when she exposed her true nature and said things that did not conform to great family rules, the other party also did not find it strange!

Lady Wen was an open-minded person.

Many people looked down on her, but she managed her own family very well.

Lin Hao had only her as his wife. Under her care were two sons and one daughter, all raised to be well-mannered good children.

Yun Shuyao exchanged child-rearing experiences with her, listened to her talk about her experiences in the mountains before marriage… and so they became friends.

Occasionally meeting, chatting, sitting together drinking tea and eating snacks.

At year’s end, Yun Shuyao’s ability rose to level four.

She immediately began rubbing her fists and wiping her palms in anticipation.

Why say that wood-type ability users in the early stages were like a chicken’s ribs?

This was not without reason. At level one and level two, their abilities were too small. It was equivalent to a plant—its growth period was thirty days, and you could help it shorten the growth cycle by thirty seconds.

Was this function heaven-defying?

Heaven-defying, but it could hardly play any role.

At level three there was improvement—you could make this plant mature two minutes earlier.

The effect was similarly minuscule, but after reaching level four there was qualitative change.

Yun Shuyao could not use the accelerated growth function now, but she could make plants healthier, reduce pests and diseases, and when encountering mutations, increase survival probability.

This was already a very practical function. Combined with the specimens the eldest uncle sent that were also specially selected robust plants.

With her here, this entire courtyard was full of green. At first glance, it appeared flourishing and vibrant—just looking at it brought joy.

So the two children very much liked staying in the small garden in their courtyard.

Their senses were keen.

They were not ability users, but their healthy appearance led Yun Shuyao to believe subtle influence had an effect. So they rarely got sick.

Forming a stark contrast was a colleague’s child.

Hers was congenitally deficient. This did not mean she would face life-threatening danger at every turn—Physician Zhou’s efforts were not in vain—but minor ailments were inevitable.

Every time she got sick, Meixiang Courtyard would be thrown into chaos, because a child this small, when uncomfortable somewhere, could not express it and would only cry and fuss, crying until hoarse and exhausted, making people’s hearts, livers, and lungs all ache together.

Moreover, what small child liked drinking medicine? She could not understand words of persuasion.

Every time she drank medicine it was a tug-of-war.

So sometimes Concubine Mei inevitably felt it was unfair, but she also felt somewhat guilty. After all, she still knew that Ying Yu was obtained by her taking medicine and forcing it.

Combined with her poor condition during pregnancy, unable to eat much, now looking at her daughter’s thin and small appearance, she could only feel heartache.

But this was also something she did not regret. She did not regret at all taking medicine and having this child.

Especially under the circumstances that not long after, Concubine Yun also became pregnant.

Concubine Mei felt that if she herself did not have this child, she might have gone mad.

So sometimes Concubine Mei would also greatly admire Jia Min. How had she passed these many years of life without a son?

If it were herself, she could not imagine it.

Moreover, Concubine Mei felt that if she were standing in Jia Min’s position, she probably would have already had maids bear children, then held the children to her side to block the murmuring voices.

At this time, she was especially grateful for what happened before.

She could personally raise her own daughter.

…

In the blink of an eye, three years had passed since Yun Shuyao came to this world.

For small children, time always manifested especially obviously.

They went from tiny beings who could not even see the world clearly, to being able to sit and crawl, then evolved to walking on two little short legs.

Now they had become clever rascals that gave the many servants of Lanxin Courtyard headaches.

They ran too fast. When being mischievous, with a long string of tails pursuing, intercepting, and blocking behind them, they could still drill out from the gaps, slippery as loaches.

However, one place where everyone greatly admired was that every time they were mischievous and troublesome, when they could not catch Second Young Miss and the eldest Young Master, once Concubine Yun made a move, the two little ones could not escape from her palm.

Clearly, Concubine Yun should not be faster in hand and foot than them by reason.

Moreover, Concubine Yun’s strength was great—one in each hand was not a problem.

The flesh on these two children was very solid. When they struggled, the women could barely hold them with two hands.

In this aspect, Lin Ruhai was somewhat worried. His own son was fine—normal appetite. But his daughter, from childhood, had displayed her good appetite and grown remarkably sturdy.

Now the son and daughter differed by a small half a head, and he was also a size smaller.

Being healthy was not a bad thing, but Lin Ruhai could not help but associate this with: if the second daughter continued this way, after growing up and marrying in the future, what if she did not gain her husband’s favor?

They said marrying a wife meant marrying virtue, not emphasizing appearance. Actually everyone understood.

Every time he associated this thought, Lin Ruhai would worry, thinking that when finding a second son-in-law in the future, he should relax the conditions a bit—background was not important.

At that time, with him as backing, even if they had disdain, people would not dare show it.

Occasionally hearing him mention this, Yun Shuyao: “…”

The child was only this small and he was already thinking about marriage?

However, one truly should consider early. Moreover, there was a matter she could take this opportunity to bring up: “Master, how about when the children are a bit older, we quietly hire a martial arts master for them? Some people may seem good at first, but in the future may not necessarily remain good. Better to plan early. If they learn martial arts, who can bully her?”

Lin Ruhai laughed: “Aren’t you afraid she’ll bully others?”

Yun Shuyao was indifferent: “Bullying others is always better than being bullied by others. Moreover, if the child is taught well, she won’t grow into someone who cannot distinguish right from wrong.”

Lin Ruhai: “…”

Mm, very reasonable.

He looked at his daughter’s solid appearance. The child had not yet had her growth spurt. Practicing martial arts would also help shape her physique.

This matter was not continued further. But Yun Shuyao knew Lin Ruhai had taken it to heart.

Taking it to heart was good.

Having walked through the apocalypse, Yun Shuyao understood too well the importance of martial strength.

When there were no problems, it seemed unimportant. But if something truly happened, it could save lives.

—

Two years’ time could see many events occur. For Yun Shuyao, besides the children’s growth, the greatest change was her maternal family.

Her father went to participate in the provincial examination and passed as a juren.

Her eldest younger brother obtained xiucai credentials. Her second younger brother was already a tongsheng.

Her eldest uncle’s family’s cousin also became a xiucai.

Another good harvest was the flowers and plants of Lanxin Courtyard.

The flowers and plants she raised had already become an industry chain.

At intervals, a batch of flowers and plants would be transported in, and a batch of flowers and plants would be transported out.

What came in were seedlings. What went out were mature specimens about to bloom.

These would be repackaged and sent to shops to become fine products.

At the beginning, she took back the shop and changed it to sell potted plants. What was sold was ordinary-grade flowers and plants.

After opening, business was not bad. Some people knew who the owner behind this shop was. Having this need, buying from anyone was buying.

If they could make people from the Prefect’s household remember them, they would be willing to pay extra money, much less that the flowers and plants here, just looking at them, were clearly very vigorous.

Later, they could occasionally see fine and precious products here.

These would quickly be bought and taken to give as gifts.

As long as one liked this type of thing, there was no one who would not like them.

Yun Shuyao also had targeted focus—the varieties sold were relatively concentrated.

Orchids were the most numerous.

To people in the residence, Yun Shuyao had also given flowers and plants.

Lin Ruhai had even placed orders with her.

He was also a big buyer of flowers and plants.

He did not oppose Yun Shuyao earning some private money.

Jia Min also had shops. He never said anything about it either.

This point did not surprise Yun Shuyao either.

Moreover, in everyone’s eyes, what she actually did was not much—she did not do it personally.

She always had maids and women water and fertilize.

Clear weeds, manage pest problems.

She was just more meticulous.

Furthermore, the quantity was also not much.

The area of Lanxin Courtyard was limited. The growth of flowers and plants also required time.

Combined with the rarity increasing value, Yun Shuyao had no intention of expanding production.

As for what changes the spirit mirror that swallowed the bell had…

One could only say it looked a bit more lustrous.

No other changes at all.

She also wanted to find other things to “nourish” the spirit mirror, but unfortunately, what came from Lady Wen’s side was also by chance. Yun Shuyao had tried quite a few other jade stones and had not encountered a second time.

—

The Prefect’s term of office was three years per term. Lin Ruhai, as expected, was reappointed.

For this, many people in Xingtai Prefecture were happy.

Three years’ time—Lin Ruhai had already left his reputation in this place and made everyone reluctant to see him leave.

Yun Shuyao was also happy about not leaving.

This was her hometown.

She knew Lin Ruhai would not stay here very long and would leave sooner or later, but being able to stay three more years was already very good.

After three years, who could say for certain?

Her father planned to participate in the next metropolitan examination. If he could pass, even as a tongji scholar, he could naturally become an official.

After that, no one could say for certain.

Knowing about her father passing the juren examination, Lin Ruhai also smiled and sorted out some of his own books from when he took the civil examinations to send to him.

Jia Min subsequently also learned this news and smiled slightly: “So that’s how it is. Then congratulations are in order for Concubine Yun.”

When paying respects the next day, Concubine Mei looked at Yun Shuyao leading the two children, then thought of her maternal family, and could not help but sourly recite: “I heard Younger Sister Yun, your father passed. Truly good fortune. However, this ranking… I wonder if the jinshi examination can continue having such good fortune.”

Juren would not be assigned official positions, but with connections and money, one could become an official. Once becoming an official, that status would be different.

Yun Shuyao smiled: “Thank you, Elder Sister Mei. Although we occupied some lucky fate and could fortunately pass, my parents are already extremely delighted.”

Concubine Mei curled her lips. Truly unambitious.

Delighted over just a juren?

Yun Shuyao smiled in response. I know you’re envious. No need to be stubborn.

She glanced at Jia Min seated above. She was watching them communicate, but her gaze was placed on the children.

For her, even if Father Yun passed the jinshi examination and became an official, it was nothing important.

Just a seventh-rank official.

What she valued most was still seeking a son.

Not long after Father Yun passed the juren examination, the Lin residence also had a major event.

The young ladies and young masters of the residence were three years old. Time for enlightenment education.

Of course, they would not have children hold brushes so early, but recognizing characters, reading, and memorizing books could slowly be arranged.

Jia Min cleared out Tingyu Pavilion and made this the place for the children’s teaching.

The tutor also quickly took up his post—it was Lin Hu.

He had juren credentials and was also one of Lin Ruhai’s aides.

Now every morning, Yun Shuyao would lead the two children to Bitao Courtyard to pay respects. Then Yun Shuyao would return to the courtyard. The twins would follow Jia Min together to Songbai Courtyard, pay respects, have breakfast, and afterward they would go directly to Tingyu Pavilion for class.

Now the three of them attended class together regardless of gender.

Lin Ruhai’s doting on the three children was doting, but his requirements were also extremely strict.

If unable to meet them, punishment would be given as deserved.

However, because the eldest daughter was physically weak, he would not adopt any corporal punishment toward her.

But for the healthy second daughter and youngest son, looking at their degree of inattentiveness, whatever punishment was decided would be carried out.

He himself had not avoided having his palms struck when he was young.

Learning was something that required patience.

The one with the best patience was Ying Yu, then Chen Yu, and worst was Luo Yu.

When the time was short it was fine. When time grew long, Luo Yu could not sit still—her bottom was like it had nails under it.

Once she moved, the other two children would also move along with her.

Luo Yu became the one most frequently punished.

Punished to stand in the corner, punished with palm strikes, and also punished by not being allowed to eat pastries.

The first two were neither painful nor itchy to her, but the last one was what Luo Yu could not bear.

The tutor discovered there was a method that could control her and frequently used this move.

The method did not need to be new—as long as it was effective, it worked.

Luo Yu was not unintelligent. Her memory was the best. She just could not sit still.

At first, Luo Yu very much disliked going to class. Later, after the curriculum added painting and music, she became so happy she forgot to return.

She liked to play.

The tutor added playful courses for her.

After finding the correct method, Lin Hu’s work as tutor became increasingly smooth and successful.

He had originally planned to work part-time for a year or two, then resign once the master’s family found a suitable candidate.

But he served as tutor for one year, two years, three years. Until the master’s family completed their six-year Prefect term and received transfer orders to come to Guangzhou, he still had not resigned. Looking at the three turnip heads who had started their growth spurt and were learned and well-mannered, standing in a row before him, Lin Hu was full of a sense of accomplishment.

But suddenly hearing the good news about the master’s family’s wife, that the Lin residence would welcome legitimate sons and daughters, Lin Hu could not help but worry for these three students of his.

They were all children of concubines. When there was no legitimate son, one could say they enjoyed almost the treatment of legitimate sons and daughters. But from now on, it was different. Their future—where would it lie?