"Done quite well."

  Xie Wan sat on the kang, listened to Yu Fang's detailed account, smiled and nodded. "You go find Luo Guan Shi, I have something to say to him."

  Yu Fang turned around and found Luo Sheng. Xie Wan waved her hand to let Yu Fang leave, then pointed to a bowl of tea that had been brewed on the table for some time. "Luo Guan Shi, please sit down and have a cup of tea."

  Luo Xiangyi slightly lowered his head and bent down a bit more at the waist, but he didn't have any intention of taking a seat.

  Xie Wan nodded in satisfaction, this was exactly the kind of person who knew his place. However, since she was genuinely inviting him to have tea with her, she also spoke in a gentle tone: "Manager Luo doesn't need to be polite, there will be many more opportunities for you to follow the rules in front of me in the future, so it's not just today."

  Lu Sheng's body shook slightly as he heard this, and he raised his head.

  Xie Wan raised an eyebrow: "Why doesn't Luo Guan Shi agree?"

  Luó Shēng didn't know what the two words "not willing" meant, as they encompassed too broad a scope. Was it not being willing to follow rules, or not being willing to listen and sit down, or was it saying that she wasn't willing to stay and accept this "afterwards"?

  He gazed at the small figure on the kang, except for being a bit more beautiful than usual, she seemed no different from other eight-year-old girls, her lips curled up slightly, her eyebrows raised slightly, but what was different was that her eyes were sometimes as lively as a stream, and sometimes as calm as an ancient well, now when he saw her, he would always unconsciously think of a fairy.

  "Lu Guan, stay and help me."

  When he was in a trance, she on the kang spoke again, her tone low and sincere. "You are the most trusted assistant by Father's side. Now that the second house has suddenly encountered changes, this Xie Fu originally should be my home, but now we live in this mansion as if fighting for food in a tiger's mouth. We need to rely on it to become stronger, so we can't help but bear the risks of the future. Luo Guan Shi, stay and continue to help us manage our family property."

  In fact, Xie Wan didn't have full confidence that Luo Sheng wouldn't harbor any ulterior motives. After all, her understanding of this person was based on what others had told her, and she hadn't had much direct contact with him herself. Relying on him now was a risky move. But aside from this, could she find someone more suitable than him?

  The best way is to use it while looking for a more suitable person to open up new territory.

  So her sincerity is not pretended, but truly from the heart.

  Luo Xiang saw it, he may not understand to this day why San Gu Niang is so experienced, but the sincerity in her eyes he really saw, even if he still has doubts about her, but in the face of such sincerity, that little doubt becomes less important.

  He has never been close to her, how does he know that San Niang is not born so intelligent and powerful? How does he know that the Qi family did not teach her the way of managing the household from an early age? He has never traveled far, not even out of Hejian Prefecture, how does he know that there are no such people in the world who are naturally capable?

  Besides, most of the time she doesn't behave like a normal little girl who loves snacks and throwing tantrums.

  Luo Sheng felt relieved. The little girl in front of him was clever and brave, and now that he was old, he didn't want to run around for a living anymore. If he could stay in his hometown, then so be it! In case they were not capable enough, he would take on more responsibilities for them. At least he could help the late Xie Teng couple keep those few shops, and that way he would have fulfilled his duty as a servant.

  Having thought so, he let out a long sigh, clenched his fists and bowed deeply: "I originally meant to serve the young lady."

  "Get lost!"

  Xie Wan happily jumped down from the kang and said, "Thank you!"

  Luo Xiang looked at her with a faint smile and nodded slightly.

  Pang Fu led the people to clean up Yifengyuan in just three days. From the clean tables and chairs, and the peonies in the flower vases with dew on them, it can be seen that Pang Fu was meticulous.

  That evening, Xie Lang brought Xie Wan and moved in.

  The entire Yifengyuan is located on the east side of the mansion, with a small pavilion on the left and four small courtyards in the back. The back door of the small pavilion connects to the corridor leading to the rear garden. The skywell between the backyard and the pavilion was transformed into a small garden by Xie Ting, planted with banana trees, green bamboo, and jade hairpins, etc. Because these flowers and trees love water, a small pool was built with Taihu stone, and a winding stream runs through the entire skywell.

  The greenery in the garden reflects off the white walls, gray tiles and corridors with painted railings and pillars, which is quite elegant.

  Xie Wan had followed her father into Yi Feng Yuan before in her past life, and she had a deep impression of this place. As soon as she entered the door, she rushed in to take a look.

  "Wan Wan, don't you like to watch the stars? We can convert the pavilion into an open-air one, remove all the tables and chairs, put up a few large tapestries, so that even when lying on the ground, you can see the stars. When spring and summer come, we can push open the windows and directly admire the flowers and trees in the courtyard!"

  Xie Lang happily suggested.

  Xie Wan also thought so, but not to see the stars. She had more tasks of managing accounts, and in her daily life, she couldn't avoid seeing people who were under her, and it was inconvenient to receive guests in the backyard boudoir. If she went to the front yard, it would be too noticeable, but this pavilion was just right, adjacent to the backyard, and going out was the middle courtyard of the mansion, convenient for entering and exiting, spacious and open, without the atmosphere of rouge and powder, also making people feel a sense of openness.

  Of course, these cannot be told to Xie Liangming, only smiling and nodding, as if adopting the suggestion of looking at the stars. Wu Xing and Yin Suo were called over again, and Baoge was tossed about once more.

  All was collected and put in order here, it is already three days later.

  After breakfast in the morning, Xie Liang went to school. On Tuesday, Zhou's family brought over a few servant girls.

  "The yard of Yifeng Institute is large, not comparable to Danxiang Institute. It's obviously not enough for the young lady to have only a few people by her side. The madam ordered the slaves to follow the example of the young masters and misses in the mansion and sent over six maids and four nannies to serve the second young master and third young lady." After finishing, she immediately added: "It was agreed upon by the old master." As if Xie Zhu would drive them out without saying a word.

  Xie Wan didn't intend to drive people away.

  Chase everyone away, who will help her sweep the yard and wash clothes? She smiled, "Since it was sent by the mistress, then trouble Zhou Ayi to thank her on my behalf."

  On Tuesday, the family didn't expect her to be so quick to keep someone overnight, and they were stunned. But thinking that she was only an eight-year-old child, and Madam had specifically entrusted her to come over at this time, it was natural to assume that Xie Cang wasn't around, and she didn't have the guts to refute it.

  He glanced at those people who came with him and then walked away smiling.

  Xie Lang now lives in the main house of the front yard of Yifengyuan, while Luo Sheng and Wu Xing are locked up in a row of ear houses on the west side of the front yard. Since there are many rooms, each person has one room. The east wing is used as Xie Lang's resting place for reading and receiving guests.

  Xie Wan lived in the backyard, Wu Mama and Yu Xue lived in the west wing.

  Xie Wan sized up the ten people, asked their names, and assigned two women to be in charge of sweeping the courtyard of Yifengyuan every day. One was responsible for the front gate and one was responsible for the back gate. Those responsible for guarding the front and back gates also took care of the flowers and trees.

  Then four maids were selected and named after the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. They were assigned to the front yard to take care of household chores. The remaining two were renamed Nanping and Beixiang, and were placed in the backyard as rough servants, handed over to Wu Mama for supervision.

  The two maidservants of Yinghe and Dongrui looked up at her, pursed their lips for a moment, and then retreated with the others.

  Yu Xue sighed and said: "After all, I am still unwilling." She was talking about Wang Shi.

  Xie Wan didn't think much of it and said, "Tell Wu Xing and Yin Suo that brother's personal matters should not be interfered with by these people, and especially don't let them be alone with brother when no one is around. And also don't let the two from the backyard come into my bedroom." Then she said, "Let Luo Guan Shi and Wu Mama take care of it, keep an eye on things."

  Wu's mother was just beside her and said, "This is natural."

  It's impossible for the Wang family not to have anyone planted in Yifengyuan, and even if Xie Wan blocked one group, another would still come. Since that's the case, she might as well sell her cleverness and stay behind. Rather than wasting time fighting these petty minds, it's better to do something more meaningful. As for whether they can create an opportunity to stir up Yifengyuan, it depends on their ability.

  After all, Wang was just a rural woman with limited vision and no education. Even if she had more patience and skills, it would only be a few tricks. Xie Wan's past life as a female teacher had seen what real inner courtyard struggles were like. Those people were clean on the surface but killed people without seeing blood. Wang was truly inferior to them.

  If she hadn't already lost all her advantages when she learned these things, why would the people of Xie's family in her past life have been completely helpless?

  Life is starting to get back on track.

  Although the Xie family is considered a high-ranking household in Qinghe County, it does not have the strict rules of those truly powerful and noble families in the capital. There was no need to go to the main house every morning and evening for daily greetings, so Xie Wan had a lot of free time and began to take over the accounts of the second house.

  Yang left behind a 300-acre estate in Nanyi Village, with an average annual income of 600 taels of silver over the past decade. There were also three shops, one located within Qingyuan Prefecture and two in Qinghe County Town. Due to Xie Teng's poor management skills, they have all been rented out; the shop in the prefecture brings in over a hundred taels of silver each year, while the two in the county town together bring in 150 taels of silver.

  The Qi family also had a small farm of about 50 mu, which was only ten miles away from the Nan Ya Zhuang farm. Nowadays, it is used for growing vegetables and yields around 200 taels of silver per year. There is also a shop in Qinghe County Town that deals with silk fabrics, with Luo Sheng as the head storekeeper. Now, people are hired to manage it, and the annual income has been around 300 taels for three years.

  Calculated in this way, the annual income of the second house is approximately around 1,300 to 1,400 taels. After deducting Xie Liang's annual stationery expenses, clothing and food for the family, socializing with relatives and friends, as well as the monthly wages of hired workers, at least 700 to 800 taels of silver can be saved each year.

  Eight hundred taels of silver may not seem like a lot, but this was the surplus from when they used to live in Huangshi Town. Now that they lived in the Xie Manor, the monthly expenses for the servants were all taken care of by the manor. The brothers' and sisters' food, clothing, and all other expenses were paid for out of the common funds. Even if Zhu Xi had his own personal expenses, such as gifts for relatives and friends, he would still have a surplus of over a thousand taels.