Originally, the rejection letter was canceled, and after passing the entrance exam, Lin Wu could have continued his studies in advanced learning and then university. However, he had long been determined to help his parents with their business once he passed the exam and achieved success. So, three years ago, after passing, he refused to continue his studies no matter how much his family tried to persuade him, and they had no choice but to let him have his way.
Now, Lin Wu not only manages his own clay field but has also gradually taken over the entire Lin family’s business operations. It must be admitted that his business acumen far surpasses that of his father, Lin Dalang, who feels no qualms about handing the reins to his son.
Two years ago, Lin Town built a new government office. The Lin family’s previously requisitioned inns, theaters, and various shops, which had been temporarily used to house disaster victims, were all vacated as the displaced residents settled into stable lives. Business operations have since normalized, and Lin Wu starts his day early, personally inspecting the family’s enterprises.
The nearly thousand acres of wasteland purchased by Tong Shi, aside from a hundred acres dedicated to grain, were all planted with medicinal herbs. Lin Meng passed the military exams and joined the army, while Lin Juan and Lin Xia have married. Although Lin Erlang could assist Lin Wu, he had no interest in managing the business full-time, preferring instead to focus on his blacksmithing and running his own ironworks shop. Li Cuihong was solely devoted to the family’s restaurants, and Lin Zhongsi, never fond of business matters, left the medicinal herb sales entirely to Lin Wu after Tong Shi opened a clinic and shirked such responsibilities.
Lin Liulang purchased only three hundred acres of land, reserving fifty for grain and the rest for cotton. Following the family’s example, he also entrusted the cotton sales to Lin Wu.
Many in Lin Town grew medicinal herbs and cotton, and seeing that Lin Wu secured better prices, they willingly consigned their produce to him. Today, Lin Wu is the town’s largest trader in medicinal herbs and cotton.
The Lin family fishery also expanded, though with more competitors now, Lin Wu didn’t devote much effort to it, ensuring only enough fish for their restaurants. Lin Fang’s sheep farm, however, shrank rather than grew. The Lin family’s Cui Ji workshops (clothing, knitting, and woolen garment production) are now the largest suppliers in the dynasty, with stable sources of wool, eliminating the need for extensive sheep farming. Moreover, as nearby wastelands were claimed over the years, grazing land diminished, making large-scale sheep farming impractical due to feed shortages.
The Lin family has seen significant changes in recent years. Lin Wen now serves as a military strategist under Qi Biao and married the sister of a colleague last year. His wife, though plain in appearance, is spirited and skilled in martial arts—a true heroine. After their wedding, the couple only stayed home for the honeymoon period. Unlike traditional mothers-in-law who insist on a year of obedience, Li Cuimei allowed the newlyweds to return to the capital together.
Lin Meng also serves under Qi Biao. Together with Lin Wen, one excelling in strategy and the other in combat, they form a formidable duo, greatly aiding Qi Biao.
During his studies in Shengcheng, Lin Meng traveled with classmates and met a petite woman in the south. This spring, she arrived in Lin Town, seeking out the Lin residence, claiming Lin Meng had promised to marry her once he passed the military exams. Seeing his name on the list but no proposal forthcoming, and facing family pressure and neighborhood ridicule at her age of over twenty, she could wait no longer and tracked him down to ask if his promise still stood.
Tong Shi wrote to Lin Meng, who admitted the truth and his lingering feelings for her. However, he had feared confessing the private betrothal to his family, hence the delay. His lack of responsibility angered Tong Shi, who planned to reprimand him in the capital. Before she could act, Qi Biao sent Lin Meng back under escort, granting him twenty days’ leave, including travel time, to marry—willing or not. After the wedding, Tong Shi sent the bride back to the capital with Lin Meng.
Sun Jiawang kept his word. The year after the flood, once the weather warmed, he and his father went ahead to Jiahe Town to clear land and build a home. Once settled, they brought his grandparents and mother to their new residence, effectively relocating there. When Lin Juan turned eighteen, the Sun family came to marry her, and they now have two children. Upon entering the Sun household, her mother-in-law handed her the household reins. Besides running their traditional medicine shop, Lin Juan opened an embroidery workshop, accepting orders from small pouches to large screens.
Lin Xia married closest to home—to Zhong Shuchen, the Lin family’s former guard captain, a man nearly ten years her senior. He dotes on her like a child, treating her more as a daughter than a wife.
Zhong Shuchen, once a lone figure, built a small courtyard in Lin Town. As a Lin son-in-law, he could no longer serve as the family guard and instead opened a martial arts school, now with thirty to forty students. After marriage, Lin Xia continued assisting Tong Shi in the clinic, spending her days there as if nothing had changed.
Amusingly, since Zhong Shuchen’s school opened, Lin Zhongsi found a new pastime, treating it like his playground and often offering unsolicited advice. Everyone humored his childlike antics, even learning a trick or two from him, though he jokingly demanded his son-in-law pay him a salary.
Lin Dalang’s aunt, Lin Shuzhen, and her husband, recovered from illness, insisted on moving out, claiming they could still farm and support themselves. Despite the family’s protests, the couple held firm. Eventually, Li Cuimei had their old courtyard refurbished and assigned them a few nearby acres, granting their wish.
In truth, the Lin family understood: though resentful of their son Zhou Xiaosuo’s failures, the elderly couple still hoped he might one day return for a reunion and peaceful life together.
The old Lin residence, once a girls’ school before the refugee influx, now stands vacant, occasionally rented when the inns are full.
Inspired by Lin Shuzhen’s independence, Yuan Li’s parents also stirred. Originally pickle merchants, they wished to reopen a shop. The more they were dissuaded, the more determined they grew. Eventually, Lin Liulang and his wife relented, moving the elderly couple to a shop with a courtyard in town—another of Lin Dalang’s properties.
The Liulang couple ensured the elders didn’t overwork, hiring help to make pickles their way while managing the growing business themselves. Liulang’s furniture workshop also gained renown, attracting distant customers. However, each sale included a commission for Lin Fang, whose designs he used.
Lin Fang’s personal coffers swelled as she playfully demanded cuts from every family venture—Lin Wu’s clay field, the restaurants, Cui Ji workshops, theaters, inns, clinics, Erlang’s ironworks, Liulang’s furniture, and other sundry shops. Earning titles like “Little Schemer” and “Little Miser,” she even profited most from Sima Rusu’s official mushroom farms.
When Qi Biao petitioned the court to designate Lin Town as a black fungus cultivation site, he credited the Lin family for offering their secret techniques. The court, unwilling to seize private assets, instead appointed Lin Town as the imperial supplier, providing resources to expand production—incidentally solving Lin Dalang’s refugee resettlement issues.
Sima Rusu was appointed cultivation officer because Qi Biao recognized Lin Fang’s frailty left her unable to manage the farms. The appointment also secured the Lin family’s interests under imperial representation and reassured Sima Rusu, whom Qi Biao never underestimated despite her youth.
The profits from black fungus farming, originally Lin Fang’s experiment, were reserved as her personal income, much like Lin Wu’s clay field earnings.
Amid all changes, the Lin family remained united, never squabbling over money but collaborating freely—except for Lin Fang’s playful commissions, which everyone indulged as mere whimsy.
Nominally, Lin Zhongsi heads the household, but Tong Shi oversees operations with his counsel. Lin Dalang, though busy with official duties, delegates domestic management to Li Cuimei.
Erlang manages inns and theaters; Li Cuihong oversees restaurants and grain shops across counties; Liulang and Yuan Li handle sundry shops; Li Cuimei directs the three workshops and clothing stores; Lin Wu coordinates all business, with Lin Fang as the self-styled “strategist.”
No matter how busy, Lin Wu always breakfasts with his parents if in town, returning by evening. Today, however, he came back early, excitedly presenting Lin Fang with a black pearl after lunch.
“Since when does Fifth Brother remember me with treasures?” Lin Fang teased. “Shouldn’t this go to Sima Rusu to win her favor?”
The thumb-sized, lustrous pearl was clearly extraordinary. “Where did you get this? Such a rarity belongs to your future bride.”
Lin Wu deflated at her words. “What bride? She won’t have me.”
“Really?” Lin Fang feigned surprise. “Didn’t you know? Mother settled your match with Sima Rusu today. Second Grandmother took your birth charts to the temple for an auspicious date.”
Lin Wu scoffed. “Don’t toy with me. She’d never agree so easily.”
“Believe what you will. Ask Auntie if you doubt me.” Dismissing him, Lin Fang admired the pearl, struck by its strange familiarity.
“Auntie’s here? Good—she wouldn’t lie.” With that, he vanished.
Lin Fang chuckled. Her love-struck brother had forgotten how often their aunt teased him before marriage.
Returning to the pearl, she grew increasingly puzzled. Why did it seem so familiar?
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