How could Qiu Sanniang sleep in the carriage? Lying down only made her feel stifled. A piece of land that looked so large yet wasn’t valuable—no matter who you talked to about it, it didn’t make sense. But lying down feeling stifled, sitting up fiddling with the abacus was also pointless. She couldn’t really blame her father, so she could only push all the responsibility onto Zhang Shi, thinking to herself that if she hadn’t held onto the silk shops in the capital refusing to give them up, her father wouldn’t have used this land deed to make up the numbers.

Her heart was restless and irritable, completely losing patience. She asked Xiao Yi outside several times whether the person had returned yet.

After several negative answers, she pulled back the window curtain and said to Xiao Yi, “She said I’d take a nap, and before I fell asleep she’d be back. But I’ve already finished my dream—where is she?”

Xiao Yi looked at Qiu Sanniang innocently, not saying a word. What could she say? Should she say, “Miss, you’re lying. I heard you lying down one moment and getting up the next—you didn’t sleep at all”?

Therefore, silence was best.

“How long has she been gone?” No one responding didn’t mean Qiu Sanniang had no more questions.

This one she could answer. Xiao Yi looked up at the sun’s position, estimated, and answered, “Half an hour.”

“I suppose she’s planning to eat lunch before coming back?” By the time Qiu Sanniang said this, she started feeling hungry and immediately had no strength to continue her denouncement. She pulled over Mo Zi’s backpack, took out two boxes of pastries. “Xiao Yi, come up here and eat something.”

Xiao Yi got in the carriage. Qiu Sanniang divided the pastries into two portions and gave one to her, but she didn’t take it.

“What? Don’t you love sweets?” Qiu Sanniang found it strange.

“Mo Zi has nowhere to eat lunch.” That was Xiao Yi’s answer.

Qiu Sanniang pouted. “Who knows? With her great abilities, maybe she caught a rabbit in the grass pile and immediately roasted it to eat. If you feel sorry for her, keep your portion for her.”

Xiao Yi clearly understood that her young miss would speak carelessly when hungry, so she silently divided her portion in half and put it away.

Qiu Sanniang watched Xiao Yi’s movements, put sesame shortbread in her mouth, and didn’t say anything more.

When the two had eaten most of it, Xiao Yi said “She’s back” and darted out. After a moment, Mo Zi’s soft voice could be heard sending the driver to wait in the village.

Qiu Sanniang thought to herself—why send the driver away? Could she really have found treasure? She raised her hand, bent down and came out of the carriage, this time with her feet touching the ground. Turning to look, besides Mo Zi, there were also one old and one young person. So Hongyu Hollow did have residents after all.

Seeing the driver had gone far, Mo Zi said to Qiu Dadong, “Uncle Dong, this is Hongyu Hollow’s current owner.” The question of Qiu Sanniang’s gender was for Qiu Sanniang herself to choose whether to reveal or not. She didn’t want to speak out of turn.

Qiu Dadong quickly put down Niuniu and together with the child kowtowed deeply to Qiu Sanniang.

“What’s going on?” Qiu Sanniang didn’t understand.

“This old uncle was left behind by the Qiu family ancestors to guard Hongyu Hollow—he’s a descendant of the household servants. His name is Qiu Dadong. This is Uncle Dong’s granddaughter, nicknamed Niuniu. The two of them now live in the stone house in the hollow.” Mo Zi stood to the side answering.

“Is it just you two, grandfather and granddaughter, in this Hongyu Hollow? Where are your son and daughter-in-law?” Qiu Sanniang hadn’t expected that the old ancestors had left household servants in this wasteland. However, this was good—she could ask clearly and understand everything.

“Well—” Qiu Dadong was somewhat hesitant, his gaze falling on Niuniu.

Mo Zi happened to notice this and understood the old man didn’t want his granddaughter to hear about her parents. She had Xiao Yi take Niuniu to find pastries to eat, leading the child away.

“In answer to Young Master, Niuniu isn’t my biological granddaughter. A few years ago someone abandoned her on the road and I picked her up.” Qiu Dadong was still kneeling. “I dare not deceive the master—I was also adopted by my parents.”

Yet he had guarded this ancestral property in the hollow for half a lifetime for a master he might never see in his whole life, or rather could be said wasn’t even his master at all!

Mo Zi didn’t know there were really such honest and kind people in this world who, because of words passed down by parents and grandparents, would execute them meticulously to the end, never thinking their lives could have been different.

“Uncle Dong, please rise.” Even the very practical and shrewd Qiu Sanniang couldn’t help but sigh at this old man’s filial righteousness. She had originally been somewhat doubtful about the authenticity of his identity, but now no longer had any doubts. She personally helped him up.

Who would willingly be a servant?

Qiu Dadong had never imagined such a day could come. His weathered eyes became moist. He wiped them with his sleeve and said chokingly, “Since my ancestor’s time, no one in Hongyu Hollow has ever seen the master’s face. Now that I’ve seen you, I imagine they’re also happy in the Yellow Springs below. I wonder if Young Master is staying long in the capital this time, or will be leaving soon?”

“Uncle Dong, you also shouldn’t call me Young Master anymore.” Qiu Sanniang glanced at Mo Zi. Sending the driver away was so she could reveal her daughter identity, right?

Mo Zi met Qiu Sanniang’s glance and smiled sweetly.

“Then… then what should I call you?” Qiu Dadong was puzzled.

“The land deed for this Hongyu Hollow has already been transferred by my father to me as a dowry. You can call me Miss.” Qiu Sanniang withdrew her gaze and smiled at Qiu Dadong.

“Miss… Miss?” Qiu Dadong stuttered directly. “But… but this is ancestral property!”

Since ancient times, ancestral property was passed to sons, not daughters.

“It used to be ancestral property, now it’s a dowry.” Mo Zi dutifully supplemented. “Uncle Dong, you and your granddaughter are now also part of our Miss’s marriage trousseau. However, since Miss is marrying into the capital, you can be said to have backing now.” Since the person had no intention of seeking freedom, they might as well follow Qiu Sanniang to make a living.

“You keep saying ancestral property, ancestral property, but all I see is land, I don’t see any business. Uncle Dong, what was this Hongyu Hollow originally used for? An estate or fishing?” Qiu Sanniang asked a question that both she and Mo Zi were very interested in.

In his bones, Qiu Dadong was someone for whom whatever the master said was what it was. The ancestral property had become the young miss’s dowry, so he could only follow the ancestral property and become the young miss’s dowry servant. This ideological shift was quite quick. Hearing Qiu Sanniang’s question, he was actually startled.

“Miss doesn’t know? Hongyu Hollow doesn’t produce crops. The river is swift, also difficult for fishing. Your great-great-great…” No one could figure out which generation it was, plus Qiu Dadong was illiterate. “Grandfather, I suppose—back then he opened a small boat yard here, specially building small fishing boats for people and those little sampans for one or two people to sit in. Because the work was meticulous and the boats produced were both stable and fast, he made some money. Later when the capital became chaotic, he took the whole family south. Afterward he sent word saying the descendants didn’t want to take over the boat yard business, and told my ancestor to watch over the land, fearing that if the Qiu clan encountered any disaster or difficulty in the future, they might still need to return to the old trade.”

Mo Zi listened, her face calm but her heart surging like waves.

A boat yard? Hongyu Hollow! That’s right—that outward-bulging, inward-concave large fish-belly terrain, the broad river surface, the pouch-like river section, the nearby main river—forget about building small boats and vessels, even river boats with thousand-stone capacity could be built and sailed out.

This hollow was simply the perfect boat yard location. She hadn’t thought of it at first.