Wan Shu had previously thought that Mu Ye's condescending attitude was just much more serious than Meng Wenyuan's.

But now it seems that Mu Ye and Meng Wenyuan are not even in the same league.

No matter what, Meng Wenyuan only had some harmless little quirks typical of rich kids, but Mu Ye seemed to treat people as if they weren't even human.

It was as if he and everyone else were two different species.

He is God, and everyone else is his servant.

Wan Shu was furious and wanted to get Mu Ye out of the car right now and stop ordering her brat around.

But she held back the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

She had already promised Makino that he could stay in Qingshui Village for a while, which meant that Makino would not leave Qingshui Village or her home for a short period of time.

Arguing alone is not enough to mend their relationship.

With so much time ahead, we can't continue this oppressive antagonism forever.

Rather than confronting them, it would be better to tame Makino.

Since Meng Wenyuan has already been tamed, Mu Ye, though somewhat difficult, is not impossible, Wan Shu believes.

So Wan Shu didn't kick them out in the end, she just gave a curt retort.

"This is a country road. No matter how smoothly you drive, it will still be bumpy. If you can't stand it, you can get out of the carriage and walk."

When Muye returned by carriage yesterday, he calculated the distance from Sishui County to Qingshui Village. It was an hour's journey, so how could he possibly walk back and forth?

He also sensed the displeasure in Wan Shu's words, so he remained silent.

Horse-drawn carriages are lighter and faster than oxcarts.

Even though it was Dazhu's first time driving a horse, the time it took to reach Sishui County was still a quarter of an hour faster than when he usually rode in Uncle Erniu's oxcart.

After delivering the braised food to Jinzunlou, Wan Shu went to the butcher shop to buy the lard she had been longing for.

Various kinds of raw meat, raw blood, and bones were haphazardly arranged on the wooden board.

Occasionally, one or two flies will get stuck on the meat.

Although the butcher would shoo away the flies every time he saw them, the sight still disgusted Emperor Hongxing, who had never been to a kitchen before.

He turned his head away in disgust and asked Wan Shu, "Madam Wan, I'd like to buy some books, but I'm penniless right now. I wonder if you could..."

This was the first time in his life that Emperor Hongxing had ever asked someone for money.

He was so ashamed that he couldn't even bring himself to ask for money.

Fortunately, Wan Shu was a smart person. She not only immediately understood what he meant, but also laughed heartily.

"Didn't I tell you before, you can just call me Wan Shu? And just tell me how much money you want, there's no need to be so polite."

Emperor Hongxing believed that when he went out of the palace to buy things, he would definitely have no less than one hundred taels of silver on him.

He spoke up, wanting that amount, but then he remembered Wan Shu's family. They were just small farmers who farmed the land and did business; they probably couldn't even earn a hundred taels a year.

He thought about the prices he had heard when buying books in Sishui County, and after a moment's thought, he considerately changed his answer.

"I don't need much, just give me two taels of silver."

Two taels of silver wasn't much to buy books, and Wan Shu, true to his word, immediately and generously took out two taels of silver to give it to him.

Emperor Hongxing then parted ways with them, went to a bookstore and casually bought two books he often read. He also spent some money to borrow the bookstore's writing materials and wrote a secret letter to his subordinates in the capital.

Meanwhile, Wan Shu was making large-scale purchases of lard.

That was quite a big purchase; she bought all the leftover lard from every butcher shop, totaling over 120 jin (approximately 60 kg).

Dazhu was strong, and Wanshu would also help with the load, so the 120-plus jin of lard wasn't a big burden for him.

However, Dazhu was quite curious about Wanshu's purchase of so much lard.

"Mother, why are you buying so much lard? The lard jars at home can't hold all of it."

Wan Shu looked at the large basket of lard and was in a good mood: "Some of the lard will be used for eating, and the rest, Mother has other clever uses for it."

Thinking of Wan Shu's previous actions, Da Zhu guessed, "Is it going to be used to make some other kind of delicious food?"

"No," Wan Shu denied. "It's not food, it's something else, something you've never seen before."

Wan Shu's words made Da Zhu even more curious, and he wanted to ask more questions, but Wan Shu had already walked towards another street.

"We need to buy some more flowers; only with flowers can we get a good price!"

"Oh, right! And milk! A lot of people like the taste of milk!"

Milk flavor? But isn't this still food? What is Mother trying to make?!

Dazhu became more and more confused as he listened, but since he was carrying so much lard, it wouldn't be convenient for him to go with them to buy flowers, so he returned to the carriage first.

The people of Sishui County, who were still struggling to make ends meet, did not have the leisure to arrange or give flowers like modern people do.

There were no flowers for sale at the market.

Wan Shu searched for a long time before finally finding a small vendor selling gardenias in a secluded corner.

Gardenias may not look very pretty, but they have a strong fragrance.

Many women like to use gardenias as incense in their rooms, so they are not cheap.

Wan Shu spent a full three coins to buy just two small bamboo baskets.

When Wan Shu returned to the carriage at the city gate with the gardenias she had bought at great expense, Emperor Hongxing had also returned after delivering the letter.

The horse-drawn carriage swayed and rattled along the road.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!