Xiao Youran's eyes darkened. "No need to investigate. I know who it is."

Who else but that scumbag father would hire someone to kill her and her mother?

Reborn into this world, all I wanted was to protect my mother and live a simple, ordinary life.

Is this forcing her to start a revenge-taking spree against the scumbags?

She thought for a moment, "Commander, I have two suspects. I wonder if you could spare a few people to keep an eye on them?"

Yu Shier nodded. "Which residence?"

She said, word by word, "The Jiang family of the Marquis of Yong'an, and the residence of Princess Qingping!"

...

The Yuran Restaurant is located in the Shimoma-dori area of ​​Kyoto's Nishishi district.

The street is called Xiamajie (meaning "Dismount Street") because it is close to the bustling West Market. Over time, the road has become extremely dilapidated and in a terrible state, making it impassable even for horse-drawn carriages. Riding a horse would be very bumpy and could easily injure the horse's legs. Therefore, to cross this street, one must dismount from a carriage or horse and walk.

The two blocks that Xiaoyou Ran had the Su family buy were located to the north and south of Xiama Street, sandwiching Xiama Street in the middle.

Xiao Youran's proposed solution for the Su family was a demolition compensation plan similar to those of later generations. Of course, the compensation in this era wasn't high; it was simply a purchase at the current market price of nearby houses. The relocation was quick. It must be said that commoners in ancient times were very obedient. Who wouldn't be happy to hear that someone was willing to pay to buy their house and give them a new place to live?

So they all cooperated and moved out quickly.

By June, the entire area had begun renovations according to Xiaoyouran's blueprints.

This time, the Jingzhao Prefecture invested in the project.

The mother and daughter suggested to Lu Ning that he work with them to build this comprehensive trade market.

It's essentially a large commercial center, modeled after the wholesale markets of later generations. The entire commercial center is divided into several large areas, and each area is further divided into smaller cubicles, which are then rented out to individuals through private contracts.

Xiao Youran thought that there might not be much foot traffic in the first two years, and no one might even rent it, but she had space and a little notebook! At worst, she could hire a few people to watch the shop, and the rice, flour, and cooking oil would be sold by the ton, just taken out of the little notebook. It was a business with no capital! As for daily necessities and food, she wondered if they could be sold by the truckload, or only by the box?

The newly appointed Prefect of Jingzhao, Lu Ning, finally managed to handle the resettlement of disaster victims and the distribution of relief grain and silver in the capital and its twenty-two subordinate counties. He was finally free from the daily petitions from those twenty-odd county magistrates demanding money and grain, and he no longer had to adopt the attitude of "I'd rather die than give you money."

Finally, things can calm down for a while!

But when he turned back to take out the remaining silver to invest in the comprehensive trade market that Huihe Yiren and Fengle County Magistrate had mentioned, he discovered that of the 100,000 taels of silver raised by the court, only about 10,000 taels remained!

He immediately broke out in a cold sweat and rushed to the county magistrate's mansion.

He had initially agreed with the Su family that the Jingzhao Prefecture would provide 50,000 taels of silver, but now only 10,000 remained. How could he explain this to the mother and daughter?

Most importantly, the original plan was that the Jingzhao Prefecture would invest 50,000 taels of silver, and by next year at least 120,000 taels of silver would be returned, which would be enough to pay off the debt raised by the prefecture this year, including interest.

Now I only have 10,000 left. What can I do with that? It won't even cover the interest payments.

When they arrived at the county magistrate's mansion, the guards at the gate told them that they had gone to Xiama Street.

So he hurried off to Xiama Street.

When he arrived at Xiama Street, he was stunned by the sight before him.

He rose through the ranks from an ordinary soldier in the Five Cities Garrison. He was most familiar with Xiama Street next to the West Market because it was a place where all sorts of people mingled and the population was highly mobile. The officers and soldiers always kept a close eye on this place.

Whenever there are suspicious individuals or unsolved cases, the first place they think of to hide is within a three-mile radius of Xiama Street.

Therefore, Xiamajie is one of the slums they frequently search.

In just over a month, the chaotic, barren, dark, crooked wooden house cluster that often didn't even have a door disappeared.

Instead, rows of neat brown bedrock cleaved the foundations of each house in an orderly fashion.

Inside, the people were working enthusiastically. Some were pushing handcarts to transport stones, some were carrying timber with two people working hard, and others were carrying two baskets of bricks on shoulder poles. Next to them, a man was swinging a hammer at a stone, sparks flying everywhere, but the man did not flinch, his face beaming with a bright smile.

This scene is both so familiar and so strange.

Lu Ning's gaze swept across the group, trying to find one or two people who looked like supervisors with whips, but after looking for a long time, he couldn't find a single idle person.

The reason I am familiar with this is that every two years the government conscripts Yao laborers to repair the river, and the conscripted laborers work with great enthusiasm.

Yet, it felt unfamiliar because the laborers, when repairing the river, always wore gloomy expressions, avoiding work whenever possible and doing as little as possible. They were all emaciated, looking as if they had shed a layer of skin by the end; it was a miracle no one died. He had never seen anyone do such arduous work with such satisfaction and radiant smiles.

And there wasn't a single supervisor at all, how did they manage that?

He walked up to the villagers who were breaking stones and asked curiously, "Brother, isn't this work hard and tiring? Why are you so happy?"

The commoner grinned at him, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Sir, you must be just passing through. This work is tiring, but we get three meals of white rice a day! We eat our fill! We also get thirty coins a day! That's enough to buy two bushels of rice for my wife and kids! The owner even said that if we don't want the money, he can just give us three bushels of white rice! Even if it's a natural disaster, we couldn't ask for such a good employer!"

A man in his thirties who was carrying two baskets nearby stopped to rest. Hearing this, he chuckled and said, "Of course! My family of seven or eight fled from the north during a famine. We couldn't get into the city when we arrived, and we were so hungry that we almost had to sell our children to survive. Luckily, this young owner is kind-hearted and took us in!"

Lu Ning was even more shocked, "What?! Your whole family is here?"

The man chuckled, “Of course! My wife helps out at this construction site, cooking for everyone, and she earns twenty coins a day. Even my ten-year-old daughter can do laundry for others, earning ten coins a day! They provide food and lodging, and the three younger ones are all here too. Not only are they fed well, but we can see them every now and then, so we feel at ease! Our whole family is so grateful to this living bodhisattva!”