The traveling merchant didn’t expect that there would be a woman in this small town who would buy so much.

Seeing her as a big customer, he became even more enthusiastic: “The pink ones are five hundred wen each, the gold ones are two taels of silver each, and the white ones are also two taels of silver each, making a total of… eighty-five taels.”

Yang Haiyan had quite a few pearl necklaces in modern times.

For this pink flower pearl, a string like this would cost around six to eight thousand, whereas here it’s twenty-five taels of silver.

Though it seems like only twenty-five taels, each tael is equivalent to fifty grams.

Calculating at modern rates of five yuan per gram of silver, it amounts to over six thousand, so the pearl prices are quite similar to modern ones.

However, she was not buying pearls for trading but for herself.

Yang Haiyan negotiated with the merchant, “I’ll take all of these, and you can throw in that small one for me—fifty pieces.”

She pointed to the small white pearls, which were about 5mm in size.

The price of pearls varies greatly with size.

The merchant quickly said, “No, no, this one is a hundred wen each; fifty pieces would cost five taels of silver.”

Yang Haiyan replied, “Then forget it.” With that, she stood up.

The merchant hurriedly called out to her, “Madam… this Madam…”

Yang Haiyan turned back, “I’m a straightforward person. If you sell, I buy; if you don’t sell, don’t call me. I dislike dragging things out.”

In truth, she felt the price could be negotiated down a bit more, but to her, the asking price was fair enough, so she didn’t bother haggling too much.

This was the merchant’s first transaction, and for a good start, he could only concede: “Alright, alright, I’ll give it to you. You really are tough on prices, young lady.”

Yang Haiyan smiled, “I wish you prosperous business.”

Hearing this, the merchant was delighted and said, “You truly know how to speak. Young lady, don’t you like these jade stones?”

Yang Haiyan shook her head; she didn’t like gambling or taking risks and preferred not to try.

After receiving the pearls, Yang Haiyan felt quite pleased.

Besides what she had picked for herself, the fifty pearls gifted by the merchant could be used for rewards or gifts.

Next, she bought some seeds from other merchants, including flower seeds.

The reason for purchasing them was not that she intended to plant flowers, but rather to use the bags of flower seeds to store the fruits and vegetable seeds she bought from the platform.

In addition to the seeds, she also bought some saplings.

According to the merchant, these were fruit tree saplings; regardless, she planned to mix them with the fruit tree saplings she bought from the platform.

After purchasing these items, she visited the back courtyard of the snack shop and placed the fruit tree saplings and vegetable seeds from the platform into a basket before looking for Sister Lu.

This arrangement was perfect, ensuring no one would notice anything unusual.

Sister Lu bought a few pieces of leather and some other odds and ends.

Upon seeing Yang Haiyan’s basket, she was taken aback: “What did you buy? What is all this?”

Yang Haiyan smiled and explained, “There are flower seeds, vegetable seeds, fruit seeds, and fruit tree saplings. I found it all interesting, so I bought a few. I plan to plant them in the courtyard tomorrow; it’ll be fun since no one knows what will grow.”

Sister Lu didn’t know what to say.

She couldn’t criticize Yang Haiyan, especially since Haiyan had money, and their lifestyles were different.

The two women finished their shopping and returned to their quarters.

As soon as Yang Haiyan entered the door, she saw Qin Siya pacing at the entrance. Upon spotting her return, Qin Siyah joyfully ran out, calling, “Sister-in-law!”

Seeing her excitement, Yang Haiyan could guess what was going on: “How did you do with your characters today?”

Qin Siyah opened the book in her hands: “Today, Granny Lian taught me ten characters, and I remembered them all. Besides the characters, she also taught me arithmetic.”

The arithmetic Granny Lian taught was the simplest kind from the Qi Kingdom, involving basic numbers and eventually addition and subtraction.

Yang Haiyan felt that this was sufficient for Qin Siya.

She wouldn’t teach anything beyond what was appropriate for this era, just as she wouldn’t teach any modern phonetics.

After finishing, Qin Siya looked at Yang Haiyan with eager anticipation.

Yang Haiyan naturally understood her thoughts: “Sister-in-law promised you that as long as you remembered ten characters, you would be rewarded with one copper coin, right?”

Qin Siya nodded eagerly. “Yes! With money, I can save it up little by little and buy things I like. Like Hualing in the village, she has a beautiful bracelet that I really like, but her family doesn’t have money.”

Hualing was the daughter of a hunter in the village.

Yang Haiyan asked, “Now that I’ve asked you, do you remember the ten characters you learned? Will you remember them tomorrow? What about the day after? Can you guarantee that you’ll remember these ten characters for a long time?”

At just nine years old, with three older sisters and four older brothers, Qin Siya, the youngest girl in the family, didn’t have to do much despite the Qin family’s struggles.

This had made her somewhat lively and innocent.

A child raised without worries was bound to be naive.

She didn’t fully grasp what Yang Haiyan meant about tomorrow and the day after.

Yang Haiyan continued, “If you remember ten characters now and I reward you with a coin, but then forget them tomorrow or the day after, does that mean you really remembered them?”

Qin Siya thought for a moment.

If she forgot them, then it wouldn’t count as remembering.

That seemed reasonable.

Yang Haiyan pressed on, “If it doesn’t count as remembering, then should I even reward you with a coin?”

Qin Siya looked like she might cry, realizing that made sense. “Then… what should I do?”

Yang Haiyan smiled. “How about we make a deal? We can test you every three days.”

Qin Siya looked puzzled. “What does testing every three days mean?”

Yang Haiyan explained, “After three days, we’ll see if you still remember the characters you learned. If you do, then that counts as remembering. You’ll learn ten characters a day, which means thirty characters in three days. If you remember all of them, I’ll reward you with three coins.”

Qin Siya’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Yang Haiyan affirmed, “Of course! So you must work hard and not forget them in three days!”

Qin Siya hugged her book excitedly. “I will work hard!”

At noon, Qin Shoucheng came home from school with Kun Daying.

Seeing him back, Yang Haiyan instructed Granny Lian to start lunch. “Shoucheng, how did you do in the private school this morning?”

Qin Shoucheng respectfully replied, “There are ten students in our class, and the teacher taught us… He also assigned homework that we need to submit tomorrow.”

Yang Haiyan nodded. “After lunch, take a half-hour nap, then do your homework. After that, you’ll have free time. Your brother took the private guards hunting today, so you don’t have to practice martial arts this afternoon.”

Qin Shoucheng replied, “Yes.”

He felt grateful to his elder sister-in-law for giving him the chance to continue his studies, so he respected her immensely, even more than he did his older brother.

Afterward, Qin Shoucheng and Qin Siya returned to the eastern wing of the house.

Yang Haiyan summoned Uncle Hong. “How is the land acquisition going?”

Uncle Hong replied, “So far, we’ve only bought five acres. Madam wanted ten acres all together, but the landlord next to those five acres doesn’t want to sell.”

Yang Haiyan wanted the ten acres to be contiguous for easier management.

Once they were all enclosed, no outsiders could enter.

However, buying ten acres together was indeed difficult, as land was vital to the common people, and many were reluctant to sell.

Yang Haiyan pondered. “Then let’s settle the five acres first. Is the house next to the land being built?”

Uncle Hong responded, “I just returned from the fields. There are villagers available to build, so it should be done in a few days. As per your instructions, we’ll build two courtyards like the servant quarters.” Each courtyard would cost about ten taels of silver.

Yang Haiyan nodded. “You should also hire people to plant the land. Here are the vegetable seeds and fruit saplings. These seeds and saplings are not cheap, so ensure they’re planted carefully.

Each bag is labeled with a number; seeds with the same number should be planted together. The fruit saplings are tied with cloth; those with the same color cloth are the same type.

The fruit and vegetable seeds need to be planted separately, and you can find some experienced farmers for guidance, as I don’t know how to do it myself.”

Uncle Hong picked up the basket. “Understood.”

The basket was filled with numerous seeds and saplings.

In fact, after arriving home, Yang Haiyan secretly added quite a few more saplings, as she couldn’t carry too many while at the market.

However, the saplings she bought were quite small, about as thick as two fingers. If they were larger, even one would not fit in the basket.

She had prepared apple and pear saplings, along with seeds for cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, and watermelons.

When the county town market opened in early April, she planned to visit again and “buy” more seeds to store away.

If this batch didn’t survive, she would have a backup.

After all, she wanted enough seeds for the farmers to cultivate.

As Uncle Hong left the main courtyard with the heavy basket, it was a relief that he was a local.

He moved quickly in buying land and hiring people, and with his backing from Qianfu, things were even more convenient.

It must be said that buying Uncle Hong was a wise decision.

Qin Fang returned with five private guards, having hunted two wild boars.

When they dragged the big boars into the family quarters, many people noticed.

“Captain Qin is really impressive! He hunted two wild boars today and caught some earlier this week. Mrs. Qin must be very lucky.”

“Honestly, it’s a shame that Captain Qin is with Mrs. Qin; she’s quite the spendthrift and knows how to spend money.”

“Who are you trying to criticize? Mrs. Qin’s pastry shop is doing exceptionally well; she spends money, but it’s her own earned money.”

“What? Since she married Captain Qin, isn’t her money also part of the Qin family’s?”

Sister Lu, who had gone out to fetch water, overheard the women gossiping.