It was already dark when Zhou Quan and the others got home. During dinner, Zhou Quan and Li Mai discussed their plans for tomorrow.

Zhou Tao and Zhuzhu were the happiest when they heard this.

Zhao nodded, "Okay, then before I leave tomorrow morning, I'll feed the chickens and rabbits extra, we need to hold out for a day!"

“Okay!” Li Mai replied.

Zhou Quan went to see Shi Zhou again to ask him about the matter of buying a piece of land in the old village and the reactions of the other families.

Shi Zhou said, "They said they didn't want it there anyway, so you can use it however you want."

Zhou Quan thought for a moment and shook his head. "Let's give each family one tael of silver. Anyway, the houses are all unusable. They've already dug up the rest, leaving only some earthen walls. We'll level them as foundations."

Shi Zhou nodded, "That's fine. That way, even if they want to say something later, they won't have a reason. I'll have them sign a contract to sell it to you, to avoid trouble later."

Zhou Quan nodded and hummed in agreement.

They can afford to pay a few taels of silver, but to avoid future trouble, this step is necessary.

In the following days, the Zhou family left home in the morning and returned in the evening.

Some people heard that no one was home during the day, so they thought they would sneak over to his house to see if they could find any silver.

Of course, one of the habitual thieves who later had this idea was the one who did it.

However, when he got to the vicinity of the Zhou family's gate, he couldn't touch the gate no matter what he did, let alone climb the courtyard wall.

He couldn't get close at all. Every time he tried to get closer, he always felt that no matter how many steps he took, the courtyard wall was always just a few steps away from him.

After several attempts, the man broke out in a cold sweat. Could this be some kind of evil thing?

The man was so frightened that he quickly ran back inside, as if he was afraid that Zhou Quan would suddenly run out from inside and grab him.

When Zhou Quan and Li Mai returned that evening, they exchanged a glance as they approached the gate. "There's still someone with ulterior motives?"

Some people in this village really don't deserve our help, whether it's money or effort.

But on the other hand, most of the villagers are still good people; most of them know how to be grateful and appreciate what they have.

We can't judge everything as trash just because of one bad apple.

...

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhou Quan and Li Mai did not go out. They returned to the old village, where the dye house was to be officially opened today.

Shi Zhou led a dozen or so people who wanted to do something to them and came before them.

Zhou Quan said that in the first few days, he cleared out the area he had marked out, piling up miscellaneous items on one side and smashing them as much as possible, which would later be used to fill the foundation.

Then the foundation is leveled. After the stones, sand, red clay, lime and other materials are brought back, the foundation is built around it first. Finally, the pond is dug. The pond walls must also be built with bluestone to prevent water seepage.

After making the arrangements here, Li Mai went back, leaving the rest to the men.

In the past few days, Li Mai has also drawn up his design drawings and given them to Zhou Quan. He explained them in detail to Old Man Zhou, and now the drawings are in Old Man Zhou's hands.

Li Mai clearly wrote down on the blueprints which location to build a pond, which location to have several workshops, and which area to build a row of houses.

But Li Mai had more important things to do when she returned home.

She had arranged to meet several aunties and young wives in the village who were good at needlework, and today she wanted to see their skills.

So she invited them to her home to each make a dress, wanting to see their craftsmanship.

Looking at the nine women in front of her, some young and some older, she recognized them all.

After all, during the time the houses were being built, these women were all under Li Mai's management.

At this moment, they also looked at Li Mai nervously.

"Wheat, you tell us your requirements and how you want us to do it."

Li Mai smiled and said, "You are the nine I selected from all the people I could find to work. However, I want to open a clothing shop, so I need people with excellent craftsmanship who can also embroider."

"Moreover, at the beginning, I only need to keep five people, so I will select the five best among you. So, next, I hope you can use all the skills you have learned in your life to embroider any kind of flowers or patterns you can."

"Of course, once you stay, I will set the pattern for making clothes, and I won't let you improvise. Also, those who weren't selected shouldn't be discouraged. The four of you are reserve staff. If business is good in my shop, I will come back to you, and you can come and work there too."

"Aunties and sisters-in-law, is this alright?" Li Mai asked.

“Sure, sure. We’ll do whatever work comes up, and if there’s no work, we’ll do housework. It won’t be a problem.” All nine people nodded in unison.

Li Mai smiled and started having Zhou Tao assign tasks.

Of course, her mother-in-law and Xiao Tao helped her cut these clothes, and she learned how to do it carefully.

However, she decided to train Zhou Tao to be the best scissors in her shop, so she had Zhou Tao learn to tailor clothes seriously from her mother-in-law.

Xiao Tao likes this activity, so she studies it very diligently.

She just can't learn to embroider.

After receiving their tasks, everyone sat down and began working diligently.

Li Mai specially prepared two rooms in the east wing, heated the kang (a traditional heated platform bed), and let everyone sit on it to do their work.

Nine people were divided into two rooms.

Zhou Tao stayed with them, and she would get them whatever they needed, whether it was thread or anything else.

Li Mai used her free time to continue with other planned matters at the clothing shop.

Zhao was cooking for her family in their courtyard and didn't come over.

Zhou Lin followed Zhou Quan to the dyeing workshop construction site, while Zhou Lei had already gone to school.

On the tenth day, Zhou Quan found a bookstore on East Street called Hefeng Bookstore.

After talking with the owner in person, Zhou Quan felt that the owner was quite good. He was actually a great Confucian scholar from the capital. The Fengshu Academy had more than 30 students, divided into three classes: A, B, and C.

It is divided according to age groups, not according to academic performance or wealth.

There were two other teachers in the hall, and the hall master and the three of them taught these thirty-odd children.

Zhou Lei was eleven years old and went to Class C.

Class C consists of students aged ten to thirteen.

Class D consists of students aged fourteen to sixteen.

Class A is for students aged sixteen and above.

Starting today, after Class 3, the teacher will recommend them to participate in the preliminary examinations.

Their library does not accept children in their early childhood development stage.

According to Li Mai and Zhou Quan, this library should be like a secondary school.

Zhou Lei now lives in the town's house with a few people that Zhou Quan bought back.

The people Zhou Quan selected all signed ten-year indenture contracts. Li Mai had seen the people Zhou Quan chose, and they were all honest people who had signed indenture contracts, so there was no need to worry about them doing anything.

The houses in the town have already been adorned with the plaque of the Li family mansion, which is affixed directly to the wall outside the mansion gate.

It blatantly tells others that this is the residence of someone surnamed Li.

Many people wondered who this person surnamed Li was when they saw it. When Lu Qian saw the brightly lit characters "Li Mansion," he laughed and said, "As expected of Miss Li, she doesn't hang the Zhou Mansion, but directly hangs the Li Mansion. Impressive!"

This girl is indeed as extraordinary as her father said.

In order not to disturb them, he did not go to see them these past few days.