[That Chen woman is infuriating! Little Fu Bao, bring me another gold leaf later!]

Zhao Cai poured out the few remaining blessings of the Chen family into Xiao Fu Bao's ancestral graves.

"But, baby is so sleepy!" Little Fu Bao said groggily, waking up Xiao Heng who was sleeping next to her.

"Why aren't you asleep yet? If you're sleepy, go to sleep!" Xiao Heng said. "Are there mosquitoes?" He got up and sat down to swat away the mosquitoes for Xiao Fubao.

[Xiao Heng, mind your own business! Do you think you're so great just because you're the reincarnation of the Purple Star Lord? Master, Zhao Cai is very hungry!]

Little Fu Bao is sleeping soundly.

The next day, the little girl woke up very early, before dawn. Little did she know that her older brother had spent the whole night chasing away mosquitoes for her and hadn't slept at all.

"Little Fu Bao, where are you going?" Xiao Heng asked.

She hasn't told Xiao Heng yet that she's raising a gold-devouring tree. What if other people find out? Would they think it's an evil tree?

The little feet hesitated, the left and right big toes fighting each other through the shoe. "Little brother, I need to pee!"

Xiao Heng lifted her up, placed her on the edge of the bed, and squatted down, saying:

You have to wear socks everywhere you go.

Little Fu Bao's little feet are white and tender.

"Wherever you go, I'll be with you," Xiao Heng said. The little girl thought she could keep it a secret perfectly, but in reality, anyone who paid a little attention would know that she went to the tree behind the mountain every day, and that a few boxes of osmanthus cakes were enough to bribe her fourth sister.

Little Fu Bao said shyly:

"Little brother, actually, I don't need to pee. Ever since I buried Zhaodi in the back mountain, a money tree called 'Lucky Tree' has grown there. It requires a gold coin or a gold leaf to grow in it every day. I want to secretly keep it, because I'm afraid you'll think it's an evil tree."

Xiao Heng patted Xiao Fu Bao's little pigtails and said, "It's not dawn yet, I'll go with you!"

Zhao Cai was only able to forgive Xiao Fu Bao for sleeping in the previous night after being fed two gold leaves.

The incense recipe that the little guy came up with became an instant hit when the business opened in the second month, and was loved by many rich girls, wives of officials, concubines and young ladies.

Ordinary women would occasionally buy a little.

Xiao Fubao counted money until her hands were sore. After paying Xiang'er and Cuizhu their wages, she exchanged most of her earnings for gold coins and gold leaves.

Xiang'er and Cuizhu are Grandma Xiang's eldest and second daughters-in-law, and they both have children. They used to help Chenyu cut vegetables.

Chopping vegetables is a craft, but it doesn't require much skill, so they naturally wanted to help manage the incense shop.

Osmanthus saplings, as the name suggests, are precious.

A single sapling costs two strings of cash.

Moreover, osmanthus trees have a slow growth cycle.

In the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, only one family, the imperial merchant Murong family, had dozens of acres of osmanthus trees. Other families might have some, but in smaller quantities and with fewer connections.

The Murong family practically monopolized the entire osmanthus industry.

Xiao Fubao's incense shop is currently supported by a variety of flowers. Every day, each child in the village picks more than ten kilograms of various flowers, and Xiao Fubao gives them one or two coins a day.

Xiang'er, Xiao Fubao, and Niu Meihua brewed incense at home, while Cuizhu, skilled in business, minded the shop.

When Shen Changzhu and the others saw that Xiao Fubao had actually bought twenty or thirty osmanthus trees with soil still attached, they were surprised to find that Xiao Fubao and Cuizhu had gone to nearly fifteen households that grew osmanthus trees, buying one or two saplings from each household.

She ran around for more than ten days straight.

The osmanthus tree in her family was hard-won.

Osmanthus trees have a slow growth cycle and cannot flower and bear fruit in a short period of time, so there will be no income.

Fortunately, Xiao Fubao is lucky. There are four or five trees that are as tall as an adult. They will probably flower and bear fruit in less than a year.

When she was buying saplings, the young lady of a family that had planted several acres of osmanthus trees kept telling her that she seemed to have seen her somewhere before.

It wasn't until after Xiao Fubao left that the young lady of the household remembered:

"Daddy, Mommy, I remember now! I really have seen her before. She's the lucky mascot from the New Year's picture."

The story of the Lucky Baby in New Year paintings dates back to when the Niu family first opened a restaurant, when she and Niu Baolan dressed up as children.

So much time has passed that even Xiao Fubao herself has forgotten about it.

After all, she's still so young, how could she possibly remember things from when she was one or two years old?

Perhaps some people found her and Niu Baolan's portrayal of the boy and girl very endearing, so some people made their likenesses into New Year's paintings of lucky dolls and framed them in front of their doors to pray for good luck in the coming year.

"Not only the Lucky Baby from the New Year's picture, but also Daddy and Mommy, I even dreamt yesterday that she brought money to our family. She's a money-giving fairy!"

That family's surname is Zhen.

As luck would have it, it was Niu Yong's former employer, whose daughter was the same age as Xiao Fubao.

Mr. Zhen and Mrs. Feng had been married for decades and were nearly forty-five years old. They had two concubines but no children. However, when Mr. Zhen was forty-five, his wife became pregnant again.

She gave birth to a precious baby girl.

Because Master Zhen had no sons, only daughters, he was called "Young Lady".

The reason why the Zhen family can grow several acres of osmanthus trees is because they are a branch of the Zhen family in the capital.

The Zhen family is related to the Murong family by marriage.

When Mr. Zhen heard what his daughter said, he also realized that the little girl looked remarkably like the lucky baby in the New Year's picture that his family had pasted up every year.

Through inquiries, he learned that the Niu family lived in Niushan Village and was related by marriage to the younger brother of Consort Ji. Moreover, the second brother of the Niu family had once been a disciple of his family.

Although his family wasn't exactly influential in the government, making more friends would always be beneficial for him.

He was extremely wealthy.

It's just that I'm getting old and my children are still young. If I were to pass away one day, I'd have these righteous relatives and friends, so I wouldn't be bullied.

Therefore, Mr. Zhen arrived early in the morning of April.

Niu Da and Shen Yu originally planned to go to town, but seeing that guests had arrived, they decided to stick to their family business, as the Niu family only owned one incense shop.

“We’re building a new house, so we apologize to Master Zhen,” Niu Da said.

"It's alright, it's alright. Your youngest daughter is quite clever despite her young age! I can't help but like her very much. Your youngest daughter is probably about the same age as mine, right? How old is she this year?"

"Four-year-old" Niu Dadao.

"What a coincidence, my daughter is also four years old," Master Zhen said with a smile.

Niu Da had some good tea served.

"I heard that your family intends to plant some osmanthus trees and has set up an incense shop?"

"That's just child's play; it's nothing special yet!" Niu Dadao said. "However, if Master Zhen is interested, we can buy all the osmanthus trees on your few acres of land."

Just then, they heard Xiao Fubao directing the two day laborers to unload the carp from the truck. "Why did you buy so many carp? What are they for?"

Niu Da laughed:

"They weren't bought; they're raised in the lake my family leased."

Master Zhen knew that the Niu family had many connections, but precisely because there were so many kinds, he hadn't inquired about them all. Upon hearing this, he immediately smiled and said:

"What a coincidence! My family just opened two new restaurants, and we're in high demand for carp! I wonder if you raise any other fish?"