Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

With land, the speed at which money is invested can be accelerated.

Hiring people to clear the land, build houses, and create landscaping... these are all huge expenses.

Gu Mingyue closed the account book, leaned back in the carriage, and closed her eyes for a while.

Investing money is not difficult.

But the most important thing is to ensure long-term stable operation and prevent chaos among the merchants and residents here.

Therefore, she needs someone with strong organizational and coordination skills to manage this commercial street.

That person must be someone who can deal with local gentry, clink glasses with government officials, chat with ordinary people, and manage all the relationships between superiors and subordinates.

To put it bluntly, she's a shrewd and worldly-wise all-rounder.

Where are these kinds of people?

The carriage bumped and jolted as it made its way back.

Yi Wu remained outside the carriage, sitting upright on the carriage shaft with his arms crossed.

As Gu Mingyue passed by the entrance of Liuqiao County, she heard a noisy commotion coming from the alley on her left.

She lifted the curtain and took a peek.

A crowd of people had gathered at the entrance of the alley, three or four deep, as if they were watching a play.

A man's gentle voice rang out from the crowd, neither too loud nor too soft, neither hurried nor impatient, with appropriate expression and an attractive rhythm in his tone.

Like a storyteller.

"Uncle Zhang, please calm down. Sister-in-law Li didn't mean to trample on your vegetable patch."

"Think about it, her donkey has been tied up at the door for more than a day or two. This time it broke free and ran out. Don't know the way, how would it know which row your radishes are growing in?"

An older man across from them was shouting, his face flushed.

"That damn donkey of hers ruined almost half of my radish patch! My radishes would have been ready to harvest in another two weeks!"

"Yes, yes, let's settle the matter of the radishes properly. Half a plot of radishes weighs about thirty catties, which is seven copper coins per catty at market price. Sister-in-law Li, what do you think, should we compensate with two hundred copper coins, or wait until your radishes are ripe and give Uncle Zhang thirty catties?"

A woman in the crowd shouted back.

"Fine! Give him thirty catties! That's all I can give him! I didn't drive that donkey there myself!"

"Okay, Uncle Zhang, is that alright?"

The old man snorted, hesitated, and finally nodded reluctantly.

"I'm only letting it slide because of Scholar Wen."

Gu Mingyue's gaze pierced through the gaps in the crowd and landed on the man who was mediating.

He looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a slender build, and wore a faded blue cotton long gown with mud spots on the hem.

Her hair was neatly tied up and held in place with an old wooden hairpin.

His face wasn't particularly handsome, but he was clean and tidy, with a gentle, scholarly air about him.

What caught Gu Mingyue's attention the most was the way he spoke.

They were impartial, giving Uncle Zhang a way out without letting Sister-in-law Li suffer any loss.

With just a few words, a neighborhood dispute that was about to escalate into a fight was resolved without a trace.

Moreover, what he said wasn't just empty talk; he actually did the math and came up with a plan.

This guy is interesting.

"Gong Huo, stop for a moment."

The carriage stopped at the entrance of the alley.

Gu Mingyue didn't get out of the car; she just lifted the curtain and continued watching.

"The matter of Uncle Zhang and Sister-in-law Li is settled. But what about the ditch in the next alley?" someone in the crowd asked again.

Wen Yanzhi was not led astray.

He slowly pulled a very thin booklet from his waist, opened a page, and pointed it out to everyone.

"I measured the ditch yesterday. It's seventeen zhang long from the base of the Zhao family's wall to the alley entrance. There are three places blocked by silt, the deepest part reaching knee-deep."

"My suggestion is that each of the four households along the river should send one person to dig for half a day and it will be cleared. The silt that is dug out can be used to fill the collapsed foundation on the west side."

"Uncle Zhao, don't frown. The bricks at the base of your wall are loose. If you fill it with silt and tamp it down, it will be more solid than if you hired a bricklayer."

Uncle Zhao, whose name was mentioned, frowned, hesitated for a moment, and reluctantly nodded.

"Alright. I'll do as you say, Scholar Wen."

The crowd dispersed.

Wen Yanzhi closed the booklet, turned to leave, and caught a glimpse of the carriage parked at the alley entrance.

His gaze met Gu Mingyue's briefly from a distance of about ten steps.

Without pausing, he withdrew his gaze and walked directly in the opposite direction.

Gu Mingyue raised an eyebrow.

The man glanced at her once and then looked away.

There was no curiosity, no attempt to curry favor, and no one came up to strike up a conversation.

interesting.

"Gong Huo, follow that person. Don't get too close."

"Yes."

Gong Huo led the carriage, following at a distance.

Yi Wu stood with his arms crossed beside the carriage, his gaze lingering on Wen Yanzhi's back for a few moments before turning back to Gu Mingyue.

He silently made a note of it in his mind.

Miss Gu took a liking to a man on the street.

The young lady left with the man.

Yi Wu frowned slightly.

He was familiar with this situation.

When I was serving by the Prince's side, the concubines in the palace used the same methods to seek out the Prince.

First observe from a distance, then send someone to find out the details.

……

Wen Yanzhi did not walk fast.

He walked north along the dilapidated main street of Liuqiao County, passed a teahouse with half of its wall collapsed, and turned into a narrower alley next to it.

At the end of the alley was a low house with a makeshift shed made of straw and tarpaulin on the roof.

A half-drawn bamboo curtain hung at the entrance, and a muffled cough came from behind it.

Wen Yanzhi lifted the curtain and went in.

"Father, is the medicine ready?"

A voice responded from inside the house. The voice was weak.

Gu Mingyue stopped at the entrance of the alley.

She didn't go inside, but instead turned her head to look at the surroundings of the low house.

Three bundles of chopped firewood, of uniform thickness, were stacked neatly at the entrance.

Although the steps were made of adobe, they were swept very clean, and there wasn't even a fallen leaf in the corner.

Two strings of dried chili peppers and a bunch of garlic hung under the eaves, and a bamboo basket with a few eggs inside, lined with straw.

Despite their impoverished circumstances, they kept everything in perfect order.

"Peach branch".

"exist."

"Go and find out more about this person."

Taozhi responded and ran off to the nearby general store with quick, light steps.

The shopkeeper was a hunched old man, half-deaf, who spoke as if he were arguing.

Tao Zhi only asked one question, "Who is that at the end of the alley?" and the old man started talking non-stop.

"Wen Xiucai! Who doesn't know him!"

"He's a proper Jiangzhou native. His father was originally an instructor at the Jiangzhou Prefectural School, so they came from a scholarly family. Three years ago, they suffered a flood, and their entire fortune was wiped out."

"His ancestral property was swindled and sold by his uncles, leaving him with a mountain of debt. He fled with his parents all the way to Liuqiao County."

"He's had a tough life. His father is sick, and his mother has poor eyesight. He barely makes ends meet by doing odd jobs, keeping accounts, and writing letters."

The old man lowered his voice suddenly, looking mysterious.

"But this young man is capable."

"In our neighborhood, any disputes, whether they involve arguing or fighting, can be resolved by him. People in Liuqiao County no longer go to the yamen when they have problems; they all come to Scholar Wen."

"Last month, two groups of porters at the dock fought over work, resulting in bloodshed. The county yamen's bailiffs went to stop them but couldn't. The bailiffs then invited Scholar Wen, who settled the matter with just three sentences."

"He stood in the middle, impartial and unbiased, and settled the accounts on both sides one by one."

"They remember every little detail, from who did extra work and how much extra money they got, to whose wife borrowed three pounds of rice from the neighbor last month and still hasn't paid it back."

"The two groups shook hands and made peace on the spot. When they left, they insisted on treating him to drinks, but Wen Xiucai didn't go, saying that his father was waiting for him to brew medicine at home."

Taozhi ran back and recounted everything she had found out.