"Yes, it was given to me by the Emperor."

Zhang Hulan lifted up the tray in her arms and showed a corner to Zhang Hujun, "Brother, look..."

Zhang Hujun's heart skipped a beat, and he stammered, "Sister, this, this, is this gold?"

Zhang Hulan nodded with a smile, "It was also a reward from the emperor!"

Zhang Hulan also took out the imperial edict and gave it to Zhang Hujunlan, "Do you know what this is? This is the emperor's edict praising me."

"The Emperor praised your imperial edict?"

Zhang Hujun had a dry mouth and was breathing rapidly. Suddenly he shook the reins and made the donkey run faster.

Zhang Hulan staggered and almost dropped the gold in his arms.

When they arrived at the place where the fish pond was dug outside the village, Zhang Hujun shouted loudly: "Dad, come home quickly..."

When Old Man Zhang heard Zhang Hujun's shout and turned around, Zhang Hujun had already driven away on his donkey cart.

Old man Zhang thought something had happened and hurriedly drove his donkey cart back.

Zhang Hujun arrived at the door of Zhang Hulan's house. Before the donkey cart stopped, he jumped off and ran into the yard.

"Mom, hurry up and prepare the incense table. The emperor has issued an imperial decree to my eldest sister..."

"What did you say? What imperial edict?" Wang didn't quite hear clearly.

Zhang Hujun said loudly again: "It was the emperor. The emperor issued an imperial decree to my eldest sister. The emperor praised my eldest sister's imperial decree..."

"What?" Wang's heart was pounding.

Li and Xiang Chunhua also looked at Zhang Hujun in disbelief.

There are quite a few people in the yard, and the women who come to work every day will come and wait early.

When they heard Zhang Hujun say that the emperor had issued an imperial edict to Zhang Hulan, they all looked at Zhang Hujun in surprise.

Zhang Hulan walked into the yard holding a tray, and everyone turned their eyes to her.

Zhang Hulan said, "Mom, help me clear the table."

"Dahua, Xiaojun, go and help me move the things in."

"Ah? Okay..."

Wang immediately ran into the house and cleared the table.

Zhang Dahua and Zhang Xiaojun immediately ran outside, and Zhang Hujun also went out to help move things.

Xiang Chunhua, Li, and Zhou all went out to help, each carrying two rolls of cloth into the house.

Zhou touched the smooth fabric and exclaimed, "What kind of material is this? It feels so good, and the color is beautiful too."

Zhang Hujun smiled foolishly and said, "These are all given to my eldest sister by the emperor."

Inside the house, Zhang Hulan put the tray on the table and uncovered the red cloth, revealing the gold ingots and the imperial edict inside.

Everyone in the room breathed faster.

"Oh my god, gold..." Xiang Chunhua exclaimed.

Old man Zhang hurried back and asked as soon as he entered the yard: "What's the matter? What happened?"

When Zhang Hujun told the story, Old Man Zhang was excited and said, "Okay...Okay...Okay!"

The news spread quickly, and Zhao Guoliang also rushed over. He was somewhat curious about why the emperor issued an imperial edict praising Zhang Hulan. So he asked, "Hulan, what does the imperial edict say?"

Not only Zhao Guohao was curious, but everyone else was also very curious.

Zhang Hulan handed the imperial edict to Zhao Guoliang, "Uncle Lizheng, please take a look."

Zhao Guoliang had been educated and knew quite a few words, so he was appointed as the head of the village.

Zhao Guoliang took the imperial edict with trembling hands. After reading the contents, he was surprised and said, "Hulan, was it you who came up with the method of regenerating rice and composting?"

The others also looked at Zhang Hulan in surprise.

Zhang Hulan said, "The regenerated rice was developed by the imperial court. I just gave some suggestions. It was indeed me who told Magistrate Wu the method of composting."

"Okay! Okay!"

Zhao Guoliang also said yes repeatedly. A promising person appeared in the village, and he, as the head of the village, was proud of it.

The villagers who came to watch the fun filled Zhang Hulan's house. Looking at the bright and colorful cloths and the gold ingots on the table, they were all envious.

But no one dared to have any bad thoughts.

Zhang Hulan made a lot of money in business, and some people were jealous. But the emperor issued an order to reward Zhang Hulan, and they could only envy but not be jealous.

Zhao Guoliang patted Old Man Zhang on the shoulder and said, "Old Zhang, I just want to say that you are so lucky! You gave birth to such a promising daughter, which really brought honor to our village."

"Good! Good!" Old man Zhang laughed, and you can't tell how happy he was.

At this time, Zhang Hulan said, "Uncle Lizheng, I will probably need your help in a couple of days."

Zhao Guoliang asked, "What's the matter? Tell me."

"I have used all the money awarded by the emperor to buy land. Someone from the government will come to measure the land tomorrow. Please help me then."

Zhao Guoliang was surprised, "You bought all the land?"

Zhang Hulan nodded, "Yes, I bought them all. And they were all wasteland.

The Emperor also exempted me from taxes for three years, and since wasteland was also exempt from taxes for three years, I didn’t have to pay taxes for six years.

I need to reclaim the land I bought as soon as possible. I expect that people from other villages will come to help me with the reclamation in the next few days.

My father wants to help me with the fish pond digging, so I'll have to trouble you to help me with the land reclamation."

Zhao Guoliang hesitated for a moment and said, "Hulan, why don't you ask people from other villages to help you with the work? Winter wheat will be planted soon, and there will be many people in the village who will be idle..."

"Uncle Lizheng, I understand what you mean." Zhang Hulan said, "Uncle Lizheng, I have bought another 1,000 mu of wasteland. I need a lot of people. Anyone in the village who wants to work can go. But the wages will be less, only 20 cents a day."

Zhang Hulan paused for a moment, then continued, "Uncle Lizheng, the situation in our village is not bad, and we have some harvest of millet. I heard from Magistrate Wu that several villages have almost no harvest of grain, and the villagers in those villages need more work."

Zhao Guoliang was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I see. Hu Lan is broad-minded, it's me who is narrow-minded."

The onlookers dispersed, and Zhang Xinyao and others surrounded the gold ingots and looked at them, their little hands constantly stroking them.

Xiang Chunhua touched the cloths, her eyes full of envy.

Zhang Hulan said, "Mother, sister-in-law, Chunhua, each of you pick up a piece of cloth and take it back."

Xiang Chunhua's eyes lit up, "Sister, are you going to send us off?"

Zhang Hulan smiled and nodded, "Well, I'll give one horse to each of you. I'll keep the rest for Xinyao and the others as dowry."

Li was a little embarrassed to take it, "Big sister, this is a reward from the emperor, it's not right for you to give it to us, right?"

"What's wrong with that? I have quite a few here, each of you can pick one you like."

“Whether you use them to make clothes for yourself or give them away is up to you, but you cannot sell them for money.

It's fine to give away the things the emperor has awarded you, but if the emperor knew you were selling them for money, you might get beheaded."

"No, no, no..." Xiang Chunhua waved her hands quickly, "We definitely won't sell it."

She liked silver, but she was not stupid. How could she sell such a valuable thing? She couldn't give it away either. It was a reward from the emperor, and she wanted to keep it as a family heirloom.