Chapter 387: Over the wall

When Lian Fang Zhou first came to the Su manor to borrow money, Master Su had known about it. However, his son and daughter-in-law had used their private funds, so he hadn’t bothered to pay attention.

The old couple was very satisfied with their daughter-in-law but didn’t pay much attention to her relatives, which naturally included Lian Fang Zhou.

Although Fang Qing figured out long ago that Lian Fang Zhou was different than those people, this was not an easy subject to bring up in front of her in-laws. In any case, this was a matter between her and husband.

Like this, Lian Fang Zhou had visited the Su manor many times but had never met Master Su and Madam Su and the Su family servants only referred to her as ‘Miss Lian’ instead of ‘Biao* Miss’.

Fang Qing was naturally overjoyed to hear her father-in-law say this, quickly agreeing with a smile. Cheerful, she said: “When I welcome Fang Zhou next time, I will bring her to greet my parents!”

Unfortunately, it could not be this visit. Otherwise, it would seem that the Su family had taken advantage of her and forced her to make such a journey, which was somewhat awkward.

“Very good.” Master Su nodded; his expression pleased. This daughter-in-law had always been very talented.

She smiled again: “Tomorrow, my husband and I want to visit Dafang village in person. If would be best if we could bring back some skilled workers. I also want to go and see the cotton in the fields!”

Master Su smiled, nodding: “Regarding the workers, the storage space, and the tools, don’t worry, I will make arrangements in advanced. However, ask your cousin and bring back some cotton seeds for our family.”

We can plant it ourselves next year!

Fang Qing slapped her forehead and laughed: “As expected of me, I have forgotten such an important matter!” Since this cotton was such a good thing, of course they had to plant some next year as well. And where would they buy seeds, other than Lian Fang Zhou?

“That reminds me,” Fang Qing said deliberately, “although cotton is a crop, after all, we have never planted it before. I think there must be something unique about it compared to other crops…”

Master Su knew her meaning even without Fang Qing’s hint and immediately nodded. Together, they discussed how much Lian Fang Zhou would find suitable for sharing the planting techniques.

After a long discussion, Fang Qing finally smiled and called Su Jing He, who had been sitting idle and drinking tea.

Her husband stood up slowly and smiled brilliantly: “Ready?” Fang Qing nodded. Together they saluted Master Su and retired.

Su Jing He had formed this habit long ago and felt there was nothing wrong with leaving these kinds of matters to his wife.

Who would dare to call him a joke? He was living a great life! And hadn’t Ah Jian been the same? Today, when the women discussed things, he had sat there drinking tea from start to finish without even tilting the corner of his eyes at them.

And anyways, Su Jing He was the young master of the Su family, and the finances of the Su family were under this control, so what did Ah Jian have? Since he can rely on his wife for food, isn’t he, Young Master Su, much better in comparison?

Ah Jian didn’t know that Su Jing He was looking down on him in his heart but even if he did, he wouldn’t care.

He only cared about what he cared about.

And now, what he cared about the most was how to woo his beloved woman.

Thinking that they would be invaded by Fang Qing and Su Jing He tomorrow, Ah Jian was irritated in his heart.

Obviously, the plan had been made and the prospects had been so beautiful! The feeling of being completely disrupted for no reason was extremely annoying.

However, Ah Jian understood that the cotton was the most important matter. Still, this did not stop his feelings. That night, after everyone had retired to their rooms, the desire to see Lian Fang Zhou and talk alone with her only grew stronger and stronger.

It was like trying to force down a wooden board in water!

After tossing and turning, Ah Jian finally sat up and made a decisive decision: No more! Let it float!

Dressing quickly, he snuck silently over the wall and into the Su family’s inner courtyard, following his memory to the guest room where he had dropped Lian Fang Zhou off before.

Looking up, he could see the dim light coming from the windowpanes, reflecting the shadow of a swaying figure. He recognized Lian Fang Zhou at a glance.

Ah Jian couldn’t help but grin. Quickly, he knocked on the door; since the light was on, who could say this was not heaven’s will?

Lian Fang Zhou opened the door immediately, looking startled. She stared at him in surprise, instinctively looking around to check that there was no one around.

As soon as she knew they were alone, she quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, whispering: “Come in!”

Ah Jian beamed, very happy: “Fang Zhou, were you waiting for me? How did you know I would come?”

“Where did I know!” Lian Fang Zhou cried, torn between laughter and anger, “Don’t you know what kind of place this is, but you came anyways! If someone caught you as a thief, it would change how people see you in the future!”

Ah Jian smiled at her: “Don’t worry about me,” he full of confidence, “how can I be discovered by others!”

“…” Lian Fang Zhou was speechless. Was this the point?

Besides, who said she was worried?

Glancing at him, she couldn’t help but smile. Softly, she said: “Sit down for a while and then go back to sleep, we will be very busy tomorrow!”

He laughed, “I won’t be tired, even if I don’t sleep all night. But I will leave after sitting for a while. You should sleep well.”

Heart softening, Lian Fang Zhou smiled lightly and hummed. Her eyes were very gentle.

~

The next day, Fang Qing told Lian Fang Zhou the results of her discussion with Master Su. They would purchase the cotton for five taels of silver per catty and the cotton quilts would be sold according to the middle estimate. For her share of the cotton quilts, the Su family would pay her thirty-five thousand taels of silver. They also wanted to reserve some of her seeds for next year and they could discuss the price later.

From Lian Fang Zhou, Fang Qing wanted to know how many seeds were needed to plant 5,000 mu of land and if she would be willing to sell them the planting techniques and tools for another ten thousand taels of silver.

Lian Fang Zhou agreed without hesitation. It was at this moment that she suddenly realized she had another avenue of revenue: selling seeds!

She was too negligent before!

Just from this, she could make a lot of money.

The 45,000 taels of silver was enough for Lian Fang Zhou’s investment in Xiuyuan, falling only 5,000 taels short. In any case, Xiuyuan was already making money for her.

As for the cotton, Lian Fang Zhou sold the Su family 150,000 catties, which was 750,000 taels of silver!

This amount was huge!

The Su family paid her a deposit of 50,000 taels, which Lian Fang Zhou accepted happily.

Finished discussing the details, the four of them traveled back to Dafang Village, where Lian Fang Zhou showed her cousin and cousin-in-law the cotton fields and processing.

Naturally, they were amazed.

TN: *Biao means maternal cousin, coming from biǎo gūniáng, which directly translates to ‘cousin girl’. As I’ve been translating guniang to miss, I couldn’t find a way to phrase this without it sounding really weird. No one in English would say Miss Cousin, so I just left it in Chinese.