As expected, Lu Baichuan came home for dinner that evening, and even brought back a braised pig's trotter from the city. The family sat in the kitchen, eating and sharing what had happened on their side.

Lu Baichuan briefly recounted the story of the bandits before offering his own opinion.

“That bandit leader is quite stubborn. I’ve interrogated him for a long time, but he won’t say anything. I’ll go again tomorrow and pry his mouth open. Even if he’s silenced afterward, we can still leave behind some useful information.”

Lu Baichuan felt that the bandit leader would not live long, especially after he sent the news to the capital. People there would definitely be alerted and would have to kill the bandit leader before the court sent anyone to come.

Jiang Jiuniang couldn't help but say, "I'm good at interrogating people! Take me with you tomorrow! I've been staying at home for a few days and I'm getting a little bored."

The dog raised its hand and said, "Me too!"

Seeing the expectant looks on their faces, Lu Baichuan couldn't bear to refuse and readily agreed.

Anyway, they plan to give birth to the baby here and need to stay for a while. It's not good to keep his wife cooped up at home, so it's better to go out and do something interesting.

Jiang Jiuniang wanted to go out because she couldn't stay idle. She had been in contact with more women in the village these past two days and knew that life in Changzhou was still difficult. Moreover, the shops in Changzhou did not have a large demand for female workers like those in Jingzhou and the capital. There were more young men than female workers.

More importantly, these weren't ordinary young men; only families with connections to the employer or manager could send their children out to work. Children from ordinary families simply didn't have that opportunity.

The reason why Zhang's daughter was able to become an apprentice of an accountant was because Zhang Youwei had once helped him by chance. The accountant was grateful to the Zhang family and was therefore willing to take Zhang's daughter as his apprentice.

For the villagers, finding a job in the city for their children is an incredibly difficult task.

So she discussed with Lu Baichuan, "We're going to do business anyway, so why can't we do it here in Changzhou? Although the development here isn't very good and we probably won't make much money, we can hire more female workers in our shop to set an example for other shops here, so that people can see the value of girls and be more tolerant of the women in their families. That would be a good thing."

The original owner had deep feelings for Changzhou, which was the only place that gave her a sense of security, and naturally hoped that Changzhou would get better.

If Jiang Jiuniang can travel to a difficult city like Qianzhou to do business, why can't she do business in Changzhou? It would be a way to help her hometown and promote its development.

Lu Baichuan knew she was kind-hearted and hoped to use her own strength to help more women of this era. Moreover, Changzhou was the place where he was born and raised. Although the cemetery had been moved to Jingzhou, the ancestral hall set up by the ancestors still remained in Changzhou. The Lu family would come back to worship every year or two, which would also help promote the development of the area.

"Okay, once things have calmed down completely, let's go for a walk around the streets and see if there are any suitable shops."

Lu Baichuan readily agreed, promising to handle anything his wife wanted to do.

“Okay! Let’s set up the workshop in the village again this time. I think there are still many good people in the village. They have a hard life, but they still help us clean the house. I am willing to do something for them.”

Since we're going to open a shop, we can't just rely on supplies from Jingzhou; we also need to set up our own workshop.

It would be better for the workshop to benefit its own people, just like Anping Village in Jingzhou. This way, it can not only help the villagers but also develop its own industry, which is not a bad thing.

The worst outcome is that we won't earn as much as we would elsewhere, but that's okay. With the mines in Qianzhou protecting us, the losses in Changzhou won't have a significant impact.

Besides, no matter how poor a place is, it still has plenty of rich people. Changzhou has many families with a rich history and tradition, so they can still make money from the wealthy. Therefore, Jiang Jiuniang was not worried at all and treated it as a good deed and a donation to charity.

After finalizing the matter, Jiang Jiuniang wrote a letter to the Lu family in the capital that very night, explaining that she was in Changzhou and had decided to stay there for a while until her child was born and she finished her postpartum confinement before setting off again. She also wanted to help develop the economy in her hometown.

However, the situation in Changzhou is not very optimistic, and it is estimated that she will not make much money, so she will not ask her family to invest together; she will pay for it herself.

The main reason is that she has many ways to make money, such as the gold she received when she met Lu Baichuan, as well as the rewards from the emperor and empress over the years. She has also made a lot of money from wool and milk powder. However, her family members have relatively fewer ways to make money, and they can't always follow her and do whatever they want. So there's no need to bring them along.

We're all family, so we should make money together. But if you know a business won't make money, don't involve them. That's just adding to the burden on your family.

Despite saying that, Jiang Jiuniang still asked Lianhua to train a group of trustworthy and reliable people as soon as possible, while she went to check on the shop whenever she had free time.

After writing the letter, Jiang Jiuniang began to plan for the future. She excitedly told Lu Baichuan, "The workshop will be set up in the village. I want Zhang Saozi to be in charge of the workshop. Zhang Saozi is a person with her own opinions and can make decisions when it matters. I will feel at ease with her support when we are not around."

Lu Baichuan knew that in his wife's heart, Zhang's sister-in-law was probably like a sister-in-law. During this time, Zhang's sister-in-law had been genuinely good to their family, and he had no objections. However, he still instructed, "Things haven't been settled yet, so don't mention it to the villagers for the time being. We'll tell them after Lianhua replies to us."

Starting a business is so easy these days; you can just buy a shop. The real challenge is finding reliable managers. If Lianhua can't train that many people in a short time, their plans will have to be postponed.

After all, a large group of people had just been sent to Qianzhou not long ago, and now another group was needed so soon. Lianhua was extremely busy.

Jiang Jiuniang nodded in agreement, saying that she would tell them after things were confirmed, and that would be the real good news.

When Jiang Jiuniang's letter arrived in the capital, the couple had already used inhuman methods to interrogate the bandit leader thoroughly, making him reveal everything he could and couldn't say. The bandit leader was tortured to the point of being crippled and unable to live or die. When he saw an assassin about to kill him, he even begged the assassin to do it as soon as possible.

As a result, the assassin not only failed to succeed, but also lost his own life.

As an assassin, he should have committed suicide immediately, but he didn't expect Lu Baichuan to be waiting for him in the cell. He was subdued before he could even react, and the poison in his teeth was forcibly removed. He was then subjected to the same kind of interrogation.

But the Lu family, far away in the capital, were unaware of all this. At that moment, Ms. Sun was listening to Lei Zi read Jiang Jiu Niang's thick letter, and she was so angry that she gritted her teeth.