Sun Yannan followed Nanny Zhao to Old Madam Shi's courtyard. After entering, Old Madam Shi asked her to sit down, which meant that she didn't have to stand in the proper manner and that she planned to have a long talk with her.

After serving tea, Madam Zhao left and stood guard outside the door. Seeing this, Sun Yannan felt that they were going to discuss something important.

The old lady asked, "Why do you think I came to you?"

Sun Yannan said, "You and the old lady of the Rong family are close friends, almost a lifetime of friendship. I think you probably feel that I have damaged the harmony and reputation of the two families, and you want to scold me.

But now that I'm here with you, I don't think so. I don't think you, old lady, look like you're going to scold me."

Mrs. Shi laughed and said, "You are a smart girl. Although Mrs. Rong and I have been friends for almost a lifetime, that is a matter between her and me."

It doesn't make sense that just because I have a good relationship with someone, I shouldn't expect them to endure unfair things for me.

If there is anything between her and me, I can give in, but that is my own concession, and I can't implicate others. Although I am old, I am not senile.

What the Rong family did, to put it mildly, was a conspiracy between young girls. To put it more seriously, if they succeeded, it would hurt the reputation of our Master's family.

I think you did a great job, kid. You organized the family dinner very well. There's nothing wrong with exposing this matter.

You are a young new daughter-in-law, full of energy and determination. There is nothing wrong with that.

But Yue'er's words were very appropriate. If you and your wife are of one mind, then things on this side will complement each other.

I asked you to come here today not to say that you did something wrong, but because I know my grandson well, he would probably drag you to the Rong family to apologize. I want to ask, if Yue'er really asked you to apologize, would you go or not?

Sun Yannan lowered his head and said, "I've already made this matter clear in front of the three men from other families. I won't turn around and say I did something wrong."

After a pause, he continued, "Today, the old lady of the Rong family also said that her family would come to apologize. In my opinion, if she really lets her younger generation come, your friendship with her will be worth it.

If the Rong family's old lady is just waiting for my husband and me to come, then we don't need this friendship anymore."

The old lady asked, "Do you know what our family's main business is?"

Sun Yannan asked, "Is it rice?"

Mrs. Shi nodded and said, "Although our family has a few shops and farms, our main business is the fertile land and rice. We don't have thousands of acres of fertile land, but we do have thousands of acres of fertile land."

Every year, all the rice produced in our fields is supplied to the Rong family’s granary and rice shop.

For so many years, our Shi family and the Rong family have been in such a relationship of mutual dependence and survival. My family has land and grain, but no channels to sell them.

The Rong family had countless rice shops and granaries of all sizes throughout the county, and even had a transport horse team specifically for their own needs, but the Rong family had no land and no food.

For many years, our two companies have been mutually restrained and interdependent, and all business contracts have the same business requirements for each other.

If we lose the Rong family, no rice shop will be able to handle such a large amount of our rice at once, and our rice will rot in the fields.

If the Rong family lost our family, they would have no rice to sell. Each rice shop almost always had its own fixed supply, and it would be impossible for the Rong family to regain a stable supply that could satisfy all of their rice shops in a short period of time.

But things have suddenly changed recently. The fiefdom of King Guanghuai, which is close to us, has not suffered from floods for several years because of the water conservancy project of Lord Jiang in Jiangyan. The continuous bumper harvests have allowed King Guanghuai to build many granaries to store grain. Originally, he was ambitious and used 8,000 ghost soldiers to quietly expand the area of ​​his fiefdom.

However, the eight thousand ghost soldiers have now dispersed, and there is more food stored in King Guanghuai's fiefdom. The food that was originally stored for war is no longer needed.

Grain cannot be stored for a long time, so the grain from Prince Guanghuai's fiefdom began to flow to our county government.

It was circulated in the market in the form of private transactions. Because the price was relatively low, many granaries and grain shops took up the excess grain in King Guanghuai's fiefdom.

The current situation is that even if the Rong family leaves our family, they can still purchase food from King Guanghuai's fiefdom, but our Shi family has no other choice.

If all the grain from Prince Guanghuai's fiefdom were circulated on the market, the sales of various grain stores, including the Rong family's, would be stable for several years.

If we fall out now, the Rong family will have a few years to find a new source of supply, but our Shi family will be cut off immediately.

Therefore, I will not fall out with the Rong family for now. Not only do I have a good personal relationship with the old lady of the Rong family, but my family's livelihood now depends on the Rong family.

I'm giving you this secret because, firstly, I hope you can remain patient in the short term, and secondly, in the long term, I hope you can find a way out of this predicament and find a long-term, safe and secure place for the Master's family's food."

Sun Yannan said, "Why me?" In her mind, such matters would naturally be taken care of by her mother-in-law and husband first, so why would the old lady think of herself first?

Mrs. Shi said, “Originally, I was thinking about this matter by myself, but today, seeing you running back and forth to organize the family banquet, I felt that it was time to find someone to join me.

Your mother-in-law is a good person. After she came into the family, I planned to enjoy my old age and hand over all these things to her.

However, she made a big mistake when she was young, which lost the hearts of me and my son. Therefore, she and I both knew that whether it was the power to manage the family or the real control of the family's actual livelihood, I would hand it over to my grandchildren and granddaughters-in-law, and would pass it over to her.

In our family, it has always been the path for men to go to school and become officials, while the management of grain, land, and shops is the responsibility of the mistress of the house and the daughter-in-law.

Sun Yannan asked, "So you want my wife to go and apologize?"

Mrs. Shi said, "That's not the case."

Sun Yannan said, "I, your wife, would like to ask you a question. If this batch of grain had already been released to the market, and the Shi family had no way to break the impasse, would you still marry Rong Li even if you and your mother-in-law were dissatisfied with Fourth Miss Rong?"

Old Madam Shi nodded and said, "It is indeed possible. Only when the two sides are evenly matched can one have the freedom to choose. If the situation had become like this earlier, I might have relented and allowed my grandson to marry Rong Li.

But I am an old man, and I have already experienced the disappointment of my daughter-in-law. If I marry a sickly granddaughter-in-law, when will I be able to hand over the burden on my shoulders?

After marrying the girl, did he take a concubine, or was he secretly expecting the child from the Rong family to die and for his grandson to remarry?

This kind of thing goes against my old woman's will. Perhaps it's against the ancestral teachings, so letting my grandson take over is also an option.

But fortunately, things didn't come to that. Yue'er is a lucky person to have met you."