Chen Xiaomai pattered as she quickly walked into Lu Lin's study.

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomai and said cheerfully, "Xiaomai's here, what's up?"

"Brother Lin, our mule is missing!" Xiaomai shouted.

"Oh, the mule? We didn't have enough meat lately, so we killed it and ate it," Lu Lin said casually.

Chen Xiaomai said excitedly, "I didn't get to eat any meat!"

Chen Xiaomai was probably too excited; her voice sounded like a scream, which startled Lu Lin.

The supplies in Shaxian County are somewhat scarce. Even though Lu Lin has money to buy meat, there is no one to sell it. Xiaomai hasn't had any meat for several days.

Ji Yun'an followed Chen Xiaomai in and heard Lu Lin talking nonsense to Chen Xiaomai. He couldn't help but think that Lu Lin was going too far and lying to a child.

“Xiaomai, the adult is lying to you.” Ji Yun’an looked at Lu Lin and thought Lu Lin was really too boring, so boring that he lied to a child. He didn’t seem like a composed official at all.

"You're kidding me."

Chen Xiaomai glared at Lu Lin, her eyes wide with anger.

"The mule has been borrowed." Lu Lin said sheepishly, feeling a little guilty after being glared at by Xiaomai.

Chen Xiaomai asked with some suspicion, "Did you borrow it?"

Lu Lin nodded. "I'll return it in a few days."

Livestock are very valuable here, even more valuable than people. A mule weighs seven or eight ounces, which is about the same price as a person.

Chen Xiaomai puffed out her cheeks and said, "How come it was borrowed?"

Lu Lin rubbed Chen Xiaomai's head and said, "These animals are troublesome to raise. Isn't it good to have someone help raise them? Besides, if we lend out this mule, these people will come and work for me for free in the future."

Chen Xiaomai tilted her head and nodded as if she understood. "Brother Lin, you're really smart."

"No problem, no problem."

Ji Yun'an looked at Lu Lin and thought to himself: "The magistrate is really cunning. He's always trying to trick people into doing the work. However, the villagers voluntarily borrowed the mules and farm tools. There was no forced buying or selling involved. Ji Yun'an didn't know whether to think Lu Lin was clever or cunning."

The name of the curved plow quickly spread throughout the village. Chen Xiaocai saw that too many people wanted to borrow it and couldn't keep up. So he asked the village heads of the four villages in Shaxian County to give each village six curved plows. If anyone needed one, they could go to the village head's house to get it. After borrowing, they had to register. Anyone who had borrowed something owed Chen Xiaocai a debt and had to work to pay it off. The final results were collected by the village head and reported to Chen Xiaocai.

Many villagers were still afraid to deal with officials, but once this document was distributed to the village head, everyone dared to go.

For a time, villagers could be seen everywhere in the village, busy pushing curved plows.

Chen Xiaocai was minding the tofu shop when a village headman came looking for her, accompanied by a somewhat apprehensive villager.

Chen Xiaocai glanced at the newcomer and asked, "Zhang Lizheng, what happened?"

Zhang Lizheng said somewhat awkwardly, "Young Master Chen, the handcart you borrowed is broken."

Chen Xiaocai looked up and glanced at the man next to Zhang Lizheng. He guessed that the curved plow had been broken in this man's hands. The man's face was a little ugly, and he seemed a little nervous.

Did you bring the broken handcart?

"I brought it, I brought it."

"show me."

Chen Xiaocai glanced at the curved plow that the village head had brought, nodded, and said, "It's alright, not serious. Leave this here to be repaired, and you can go to the storeroom to get another one."

Zhang Lizheng glanced at Chen Xiaocai and said, "Young Master Chen, aren't you angry?"

Chen Xiaocai said calmly, "There are always unexpected things that happen." Chen Xiaocai glanced at the man next to her and said, "You're the one who broke it."

The man said somewhat anxiously, "I don't know how it broke; it just broke naturally."

Chen Xiaocai nodded and said, "Although I know you didn't do it on purpose, the item got damaged while you were handling it, so I can't just pretend nothing happened."

Zhang Lizheng looked at Chen Xiaocai and said, "Young Master Chen, look at this Ahe, he's had a tough time too, and..."

"Give him two more days' worth of work to do."

Zhang Lizheng was delighted and said, "Just remember it for two more days?"

Chen Xiaocai nodded and hummed in agreement.

Zhang Lizheng quickly said, "Thank you very much, Young Master Chen."

Zhang Lizheng led Song He away, saying, "He's gone! Luckily, the young master is easy to talk to, otherwise, you would have been in real trouble this time!"

Song He scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly. "Yes! Yes! The county magistrate's brother-in-law. He doesn't look very old, but he has a lot of authority! Unlike ordinary people." Let alone a handcart, which is such a complex and intricate farm tool, it's a real hassle when ordinary farm tools break. Buying a new one is expensive, and if you want to repair it, you're likely to be overcharged. But I don't have the skills to repair it myself.

Zhang Lizheng nodded and said, "That's right. It's said that the county magistrate's brother-in-law is quite the businessman."

Song He followed behind Zhang Lizheng with light steps. Zhang had broken official property, and Song He hadn't slept all night after the damage. Now that the matter was resolved, Song He finally felt a little relieved.

Ji Yun'an was reading a book in his room, occasionally lost in thought.

After his identity was exposed, Lu Lin stopped paying much attention to Ji Yun'an, giving Ji Yun'an plenty of free time. Ji Yun'an discovered that the magistrate was very talented, but most of his talents were in cooking.

Food is the most important thing for people, and Lu Lin's culinary skills impressed Ji Yun'an.

Chen Xiaomai came running in, her face showing a hint of panic. "Oh no, oh no, what happened?!" Ji Yun'an asked.

Chen Xiaomai showed the paper in her hand to Ji Yun'an, saying, "It's dirty, it's dirty."

Ji Yun'an frowned as he looked at the greasy paper Chen Xiaomai had taken out and said, "You went to the adults' study?"

Chen Xiaomai nodded and said, "Yes!"

Ji Yun'an asked, puzzled, "What were you doing in the master's study?"

Lu Lin's study was filled with books. Xiao Mai disliked books the most; she would fall asleep as soon as she opened one.

"I gave Brother Lin a turtle, but he doesn't eat it. He keeps it in his study. I went to feed the turtle, and I accidentally fell asleep there," Chen Xiaomai said, rolling her eyes.

Ji Yun'an also knew about the turtle Chen Xiaomai mentioned; it had been caught by chance by some villagers a few days ago.

Because Lu Lin had previously hired someone to repair kang beds for the poor families in the village, and recently lent mules and farm tools to the villagers, the villagers had a good impression of Lu Lin. When they caught a turtle, they brought it to Lu Lin. Lu Lin couldn't refuse, and it wouldn't be good to give the villagers money, so in the end he could only let the people who came take some tofu back with them.

Ji Yun'an looked at Chen Xiaomai and thought to himself: Chen Xiaomai really went to feed the turtles, not to check when the turtles were ready to eat. Ji Yun'an sighed and thought to himself: The food at home is not bad, so why is Chen Xiaomai so greedy for meat? Doesn't she care about getting fat if she likes to eat so much?

Chen Xiaomai said somewhat dejectedly, "What should we do?"

Ji Yun'an smiled and said, "It's nothing, I'll just copy it for you again."

Ji Yun'an secretly felt that the words on it were messy and probably not important, but seeing Chen Xiaomai's anxiety, he still gave her an idea.

Chen Xiaomai asked in surprise, "You can read?"

Ji Yun'an: "..."

Of course he could read. Did Chen Xiaomai always think he was an illiterate fool? Ji Yun'an's father was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), and his family had a long history of scholarship. Not long after he was born, Ji Yun'an began his studies. Ji Yun'an didn't like reading much, but under the influence of his father, who believed that all other pursuits were inferior and only studying was superior, he still became well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics.

When he was a child, Ji Yun'an was often spanked by his father for being naughty.

The Ji family was a family of military generals, but they also placed great importance on education.

After entering the Ji family, Ji Yun'an read many military books, and Ji Chengkang was very strict with Ji Yun'an's education.

“Of course I can read,” Ji Yun’an said with a dark face. “I’ll be able to take the imperial examination for a degree in the lowest level of the imperial examinations soon.”

“Bragging,” Chen Xiaomai said casually.

Ji Yun'an: "..." This brat is so snobbish.

Chen Xiaomai blinked and said, "Second brother, you can write too."

Ji Yun'an nodded, thinking to himself: Chen Xiaocai's scrawled handwriting is in the same style as the county magistrate's. If someone takes the imperial examination with this kind of handwriting, they will not make a good impression on the examiners, and they will probably have no hope of passing.

Ji Yun'an copied the words on the paper and placed it in his study.

Chen Xiaomai looked at the greasy paper, then at what Ji Yun'an had written, frowned, and said, "It seems a little different!"

Ji Yun'an smiled and said, "The characters are all the same."

Chen Xiaomai tilted her head and said, "Brother Lin writes well."

Ji Yun'an: "..." What kind of taste does Chen Xiaomai have? Chen Xiaocai's handwriting is so terrible, how can it compare to his? His handwriting has even been praised by the teacher, who said it has the style of a master. Although Ji Yun'an felt that the other party was exaggerating a bit, compared to Chen Xiaocai, Ji Yun'an was still very confident.

Chen Xiaocai's handwriting isn't great, but his arithmetic is exceptional, as is Chen Chi's. Ji Yun'an has seen both of them do arithmetic, and they are truly remarkable, seemingly using a very magical algorithm.

"Yes, yes, your second brother writes well." Ji Yun'an didn't argue with Chen Xiaomai, knowing full well that arguing with Chen Xiaomai wouldn't yield any results.

Over the course of winter, Ji Yun'an and the Chen brothers grew to get along better and better.

After the start of spring, farmers gradually got busy, and all the dozens of curved plows in their inventory were rented out.

The curved plow is very convenient to use, greatly reducing the difficulty of farmers' work.

The Ministry of Works made a lot of money by selling curved plows, which pleased the emperor greatly. He even issued a commendation order to Lu Lin, but the order was sent to the Lu family. The emperor praised Lu Lin for his contributions to the country.

The emperor was busy with countless affairs of state, and the court officials were also very busy. All the officials knew that Lu Lin's official position was bought, but they did not know that Lu Lin was actually a son-in-law who had already left the Lu family.

If high-ranking officials in the court didn't know, then the emperor certainly couldn't have known.

When the commendation order reached Dashi Village, it caused a great uproar.

"Lu Lin is really amazing. He has even won the emperor's favor in his official career."

"I never expected Lu to be so capable."

"Yes, I've heard that Shaxian is not a good place, and county officials who go there often meet with bad luck. I didn't expect Lu Lin to do such a good job and even receive the emperor's commendation."

What on earth did that brat Lu do to alarm the Emperor?

It will take time for the news about the curved plow to spread. This agricultural tool has already been mass-produced and put into use near Kyoto, but the news has not yet reached Oishi Village.

"Young Lu has really made a name for himself!"

"Grandma Shen really knows how to judge people. She found such a good son-in-law for her Shuang'er in no time."

"Yes! It's a pity the old lady was in poor health and passed away so early, otherwise she would be enjoying her life now."

There's a saying in the countryside: it's better to marry well than to work hard. Shen Chi is undoubtedly the best-married person in the eyes of many villagers. Many girls in the village, after hearing about Shen Chi and Chen Xiaocai's story, wish they could take his place.