Shi Qingluo saw that the Xiao family’s troublemakers had taken her advice, so she went home with Xiao Hanzheng.

After returning home, Shi Qingluo took out a few pieces of rock sugar and handed them to Xiao Erlang.

“Erlang, give these candies to your friends. Tell them to walk around the entrance of the old residence and see if anyone specially came to visit before dinner.

“If anyone gives you any useful information, give them another candy.”

Candies were very expensive these days.

The villagers were reluctant to buy sugar for cooking, let alone giving candies to children.

Most of the children in the village had never eaten candy since they were young.

Rock sugar wasn’t found in the Daliang dynasty yet.

She made them to sweeten the mouths of Xiao Baili and Xiao Erlang.

It was more convenient than eating white sugar.

She wanted the children to keep an eye on them so that she could find out who else in the village is related to the Wu family.

In the future, when she became rich, she would definitely not share her wealth with them.

Xiao Erlang looked at the rock sugar with some reluctance. “Sister-in-law, this is sugar. Are we really going to give it to them?”

Shi Qingluo smiled and rubbed Xiao Erlang’s head. “If you want someone to work for you, how can you do it well without giving others some benefits?

“Only by giving can you get something in return.

“You have to slowly learn to see further ahead.

“It’s not a problem if you can buy with money or if you can make something yourself. You don’t need to be reluctant about it.

“After you finish eating, I’ll make more.”

Xiao Erlang was very sensible and obedient, just that he didn’t think further enough.

In the future, she had to teach him to be more far-sighted.

Xiao Erlang nodded as if he didn’t quite understand. “I understand, sister-in-law. You have to use things to bribe people who work for me so that they will be more attentive.

“We should be generous when the situation permits. Don’t lose more because you can’t bear to lose something.”

Shi Qingluo smiled and nodded. “That’s right. Our Erlang is really smart.”

Xiao Erlang liked his sister-in-law’s praises. “It’s all because my sister-in-law taught me well. I’ll go look for my friends then.”

“Go.” Shi Qingluo waved her hand.

Xiao Hanzheng did not interfere with how his little wife taught his younger siblings.

He also didn’t want them to become easily fooled. His little wife had taught them well.

He looked at Shi Qingluo and asked, “What kind of house do you want to build? Do you have any ideas? I’ll draw it.”

Shi Qingluo replied, “I have a lot of ideas.

“Let’s go back to the room and draw it. I also want to change the structure of the house. I don’t want our current structure.”

She held Xiao Hanzheng’s hand and walked towards the room.

Xiao Hanzheng held it and entered the room together.

He took out a brush and paper and wrote down Shi Qingluo’s requirements and suggestions bit by bit.

After synthesising them, he picked up a brush and started drawing again.

On the other hand, an old woman from the village went to old Xiao’s house.

Her son was a waiter in the Wu family’s inn.

He had specially come home just now to ask her to entice Old Lady Xiao to stir trouble.

Here she came.

After coming, she kept mentioning that Xiao Hanzheng’s family had earned 600 taels of silver from the Wu family, with a tone full of envy and jealousy.

She was also implying that if they had a few hundred taels of silver, they could do many things they wanted, and buy many things after going to the capital.

Old Lady Xiao and the others seemed to look calm, but their hearts ached terribly.

They kept consoling themselves that there were countless 600 taels of silver waiting for them after they reached the capital.

In addition, they couldn’t trifle with Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng.

They had to rely on them for ideas, so they could only force themselves to hold back.

Not to mention, Shi Qingluo’s early suppression was very good, else the Wu family would have succeeded.

This old woman egged them on and left after she was almost done.

She knew the temperament of Old Lady Xiao and the rest.

Not saying anything did not mean that they would not cause trouble.

The Xiao family had 600 taels of silver, and the old Xiao family would never let it go.

She was waiting for the old Xiao family to cause trouble so that she could send her son to the Wu family to collect the reward.

But when the sky darkened, she didn’t see Old Lady Xiao going to the Xiao family to cause trouble.

She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed and wanted to wait until tomorrow.

She didn’t know that just as she left the old Xiao’s residence, two children from their village ran excitedly to find Xiao Erlang and “sold” her off.

When Xiao Erlang came back after receiving the news, Xiao Hanzheng immediately recalled.

“Her son should be a waiter in the county town. It seems like the Wu family owns the inn.”

His little wife was amazing. Everything was under her control.

Shi Qingluo said, “It’s highly likely that that waiter came back and got his mother to instigate the old lady.”

Now that this matter was confirmed, “From now on, we shouldn’t invite his family around no matter what we do.”

She was generous if needed, but she was also narrow-minded when she needed to.

As long as someone wanted to scheme against her or had already done so, she wouldn’t be merciful.

Xiao Hanzheng liked this part of her the most.

He raised his hand and smoothed the hair beside her ear. “Okay, we won’t invite them along.”

The two of them did not talk about this anymore.

They started discussing the overall appearance and characteristics of their new house and drew it out.

When she saw that her husband had already drawn out the house that she wanted, she realised that he was very good at drawing.

The key was that he was excellent in this.

He drew everything according to her wishes, such as building a separate toilet, washroom, shower area, and so on.

If she wanted to have a flush toilet and shower facilities, she had to arrange the pipes.

Iron was very expensive. The government also placed a quota on buying iron. It was impossible to use it to build pipes.

Thus, her young husband planned to go out and order pottery pipes.

It was cheap and there was no limit to the quantity they could buy.

When the time was right, they would install it outside and wrap it with straw.

It would also be easier to replace once it was broken.

After eating, Shi Qingluo dragged Xiao Hanzheng for a walk near the bamboo forest by the river.

Meanwhile, they discussed further based on the blueprints.

When the sky was almost dark, the two held hands and went back.

The next day, the chief asked his son to go to the county to ask about the price of the bamboo forest and the deed for that mountain.

When he returned in the morning, the chief asked someone to call Xiao Hanzheng over.

After fifteen minutes, Xiao Hanzheng returned home.

“My wife, you can buy that bamboo forest and the mountain. It will cost 35 taels of silver. You can go and get it now.

“Then the government will send someone to measure the land. I will go to town to get the deed.”

He realised that ever since Mo Qingling became the county magistrate, their county office became much more efficient.

If it were in the past, it would take a few days to complete this.

Furthermore, if the magistrate intentionally blocked the payment, they might not receive any news for the next one to two months.

Xiao Hanzheng had foreseen that if the previous county magistrate was still around, he would have to think of a way to pull him down.

Fortunately, Mo Qingling was here.

Shi Qingluo pointed at the small wooden box where the silver was placed. “Take the silver and go with the chief’s son.”

She did not hide the silver for herself.

Instead, she placed it in a small wooden box.

She and her young husband could take it themselves if they wanted to use it.

In ancient times, it was necessary for men in the family to go on a trip to the county town. It rarely involved women.

If there were no special circumstances, she would not deliberately go against these, so she did not plan to go along with him.

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “Alright, I’ll go and do it.”

As expected, Xiao Hanzheng obtained the mountain deed on that day.

He even hired craftsmen in the county to repair the house and take charge of the overall construction.

He also hired villagers to help refurnish the house.

Not only did they receive 10 wen every day, breakfast and lunch were also included.

Now that they were done with the farm work, many strong men in the village came to the Xiao family to help.

Shi Qingluo even asked Mother Xiao to invite a few women that she knew well and had good character to do the cooking.

The next day, the craftsmen came from the county town and started building the new house.

Those from the old Xiao residence felt stifled upon knowing this.

They were in a hurry to sell the old house and land one after another in order to leave as soon as possible.

In this way, the duo would be out of sight and out of mind.