At the sight of that note, Lu Huan instantly remembered his own embarrassing words and hurried over to the desk, ears burning red as he quickly burned the paper. Then his gaze fell upon the blueprint.
It appeared to depict the structural principles of some kind of building. Picking it up, Lu Huan studied it closely, his brows furrowing as his astonishment deepened the more he looked.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that the underworld this ghostly deity came from was already thousands of years more advanced than his current era.
Whenever she handed him something, its principles could be understood after careful thought—but had she not given them, no one in this dynasty could ever have imagined such things. Everything she provided brimmed with novelty and ingenious design.
Just like the previous cold-proof shelter, this new structure would surely prove effective as well.
Considering that the Yan Kingdom was currently suffering from nationwide frost and famine, with grain supplies nearly exhausted, and since the ghostly deity was not present, Lu Huan decided to make good use of the time and visit the manor farm.
He donned his traveling cloak and set out.
Since his last set of arrangements, the manor farm had been running smoothly under the direction of Master Ding and the other three supervisors.
The chicken coops had all been completed. Taking advantage of the low winter market prices, they had bought up many hens from other farms—hens that could no longer lay eggs or produced only a few—at extremely cheap rates.
By now, the manor’s flock had grown to nearly a thousand chickens, so additional coops had been built beyond the original plan, each still designed to hold sixty birds.
Other farms producing eggs were barely yielding any at this point. Yet the nobles, even in winter, required eggs for their dishes—some even added them to soups.
As a result, nearly all the eggs circulating in the market these past days had come from Lu Huan’s farm, effectively allowing him to monopolize the winter market.
He had deliberately instructed Master Ding to assign the workers to sell under different merchants’ names, so no one in the market would suspect the eggs all came from the same source.
In addition, the eggs were divided into three grades—superior, medium, and ordinary. The wealthy and noble cared little about silver and possessed great vanity; once they saw the eggs categorized by quality, they would, of course, spend more to buy the best ones.
In truth, the “superior” eggs were merely those polished a little smoother by the workers and wrapped in some cheap silk or placed in small boxes—yet they sold for ten times the price of regular eggs.
After earning the nobles’ silver, Lu Huan did not overcharge the common folk. Some eggs were smeared with a layer of mud and sold at the original price.
And as for the leftover eggs each day, he had the servant Wu distribute them among the refugees—especially those who were pregnant or had children.
In this way, the poultry farm ran in perfect order, and the banknotes in Lu Huan’s possession grew like a snowball rolling downhill—larger and larger. In just a few short weeks, adding to his original two hundred fifty taels and deducting expenses, he now had over five hundred taels of silver in hand.
That day, Lu Huan came to the manor to give instructions regarding the installation of the new type of shed over the workers’ crops.
The laborer Wu, who had built the previous cold-proof shelters, had been rather dejected lately—partly because his benefactor hadn’t visited for quite some time, and partly because, being a carpenter by trade, there wasn’t much else he could do besides helping the other workers till the soil.
But now—though he didn’t understand what use this new kind of shed would have—his trust in his benefactor was absolute. Whatever Lu Huan asked him to do, he did without hesitation. So, the moment he received the order, he became animated as if entrusted with a grand mission and immediately began sawing wood again, enthusiastically preparing to build the new shelters.
After giving these instructions, Lu Huan left the small house where Wu was stationed at the manor.
He had come wearing a black cloak and left the same way. Most of the workers at the manor never even saw him. Those who did had no idea who he was, only that the mysterious master behind the estate seemed unfathomably enigmatic.
Meanwhile, rumors in the capital began to spread like wildfire—saying that the young miracle physician who had saved thousands at Yong’an Temple was now secretly aiding the refugees. Some poor families even found eggs left at their doorsteps.
But verifying such rumors was not an easy matter.
───♡───
When Lu Huan returned from the manor and took off his cloak, the guards he had stationed outside the courtyard came to report.
They told him that the old madam’s rheumatism had greatly improved, and she was now able to get out of bed and walk again.
That very evening, she had arranged a banquet at Mei’an Courtyard to celebrate his victorious return from the Qiuyan Mountain hunt and had sent for him to attend.
As the guards delivered this news, the servants beside them bowed their heads, secretly astonished.
Ordinarily, an illegitimate son would not be allowed to sit at the old madam’s table—just as concubines were not permitted to do so. Yet now, the old madam didn’t seem to care about such distinctions at all and had even instructed them to invite him repeatedly and insistently.
Could it be that after all that had happened, the old madam now regarded the third young master as her legitimate grandson?
Fortunately, though the third young master was known for his cold and distant manner, he didn’t seem to be a vindictive man. Over the past ten days, though he had gained considerable favor, he had not retaliated against the servants who had once looked down on him.
Of course, it might also be that he simply didn’t bother to notice them—too indifferent to waste effort on petty revenge…
Still, those who had once slighted him now lived in constant unease, careful with every word and action.
Some, however, were already stirring with thoughts of flattery and ingratiation.
───♡───
At the old madam’s banquet, Princess Ning and Lu Yuan and Lu Wenxiu, the two elder brothers, were naturally present as well. Lu Huan didn’t particularly enjoy such occasions, but he could easily guess the old madam’s intentions. Previously, Lu Wenxiu and Lu Yuan had gone out of their way to make trouble for him; the old madam had witnessed it all. Holding this banquet today was her way of warning those brothers—not to stand in his way again.
Of course, Lu Huan understood perfectly well. Was the old madam suddenly moved by grandmotherly affection? Had she grown genuinely concerned for him?
No. That was impossible.
After the incident at the Qiuyan Mountain hunt, she had simply shifted her bets—placing her stake on him.
She wanted him to focus on entering the imperial court and thus had no wish to see him distracted by the stupidity of his legitimate brothers.
In other words, the old madam merely assumed that she and he were now on the same rope, and was doing her part to clear a few obstacles for him—for her own benefit as much as his.
Lu Huan’s expression was cool. He said little, changed his clothes, and followed the servant to Mei’an Courtyard.
───♡───
While a full day and night passed on Lu Huan’s side, Su Xi had just woken up.
It was the weekend, sunlight streaming through the window. Half-asleep, she groped for her phone, only to hear a new notification pop up:
System: 【Please accept Main Quest 7: During tomorrow’s banquet at the imperial palace, held to celebrate the Qiuyan Mountain hunt, assist the protagonist in resolving General Zhenyuan’s provocation. Subsequently, help the protagonist improve his martial skills, military strategy, and stamina, ultimately earning General Zhenyuan’s covert support.】
【Mission Difficulty: Nine Stars. Reward: 500 gold coins, 10 points.】
The moment Su Xi saw that, she instantly woke up, sitting upright in bed and instinctively opening the game.
Obtain General Zhenyuan’s support—?
She quickly analyzed the situation. General Zhenyuan was known to be a strict, exacting man, harsh toward the soldiers under his command. Yet precisely because of that, he had earned a reputation for unmatched valor and ferocity. Now nearly seventy, he lived alone, with no heirs or successors.
The old madam of Prince Ning’s manor was a distant relative of his. In theory, that meant he should have shown some favor or guidance toward Prince Ning’s household.
But apparently, he looked down greatly on Prince Ning’s incompetence—“a wall of mud that could never be plastered”—and, by association, held no regard for the rest of the Ning royal family, including Lu Yuan and the others.
Since Zai Zai’s true identity had yet to be revealed, he was still seen as a concubine’s son of Prince Ning’s manor, and thus all the more despised by General Zhenyuan.
…No one could tell yet how that general would choose to make things difficult for him tomorrow. It seemed the next day’s mission would be a critical one.
Still, there was no need to rush today. Thinking this, Su Xi switched her game interface to Zai Zai’s current location.
He was walking toward Mei’an Courtyard.
Previously, Su Xi had been unable to unlock that area, so she had never seen what it looked like inside. But during the last Qiuyan Mountain hunting event, she had completed the side quest to save the Second Prince, earning two points—enough to unlock one new location.
Naturally, she chose Mei’an Courtyard.
Mei’an Courtyard was where the old madam resided, and its scenery was more elegant and refined than any other part of the Ning manor. The previous night’s final snowfall had just ended; now, countless plum trees in the courtyard bore branches heavy with crystalline white snow. From a distance, it looked like a sea of plum blossoms blanketed in snow.
Zai Zai wore a long white cloak, walking along the bluestone path with several servants following behind him. There was already a faint air of nobility about him.
Yet his brows were slightly furrowed, as though something weighed on his mind.
Su Xi searched for a while but couldn’t find any pear blossom trees in the scene. So she quickly switched the view to Qiuyan Mountain, plucked a single pear blossom petal from the tree where their “meeting” had once taken place—
Sigh, can’t plum blossoms do? Must it really be pear blossoms?
But well, Zai Zai’s sense of ceremony had to be respected.
Then she switched the interface back.
Inside the screen, Lu Huan suddenly felt a faint breeze brush past him. He froze slightly, heart skipping a beat. Instinctively, he lifted his gaze—
In the next second, his slightly curled fingers were gently opened by the wind, and a pear blossom petal, carried by that invisible current, landed softly in his palm.
“You’re here,” Lu Huan murmured softly.
The frown that had just shadowed his brow smoothed away. Within those dark, ink-deep eyes, a subtle and tender smile bloomed.
It was as if, suddenly, like a night of spring breeze, thousands upon thousands of pear trees had blossomed.
