The first day of the twelfth lunar month.

For the Liang family, today is an unprecedentedly great day.

My eldest daughter is getting married today!

Not only did the Liang family get up very early, but the Wan family, consisting of about ten people, also came to help before dawn.

In the rural areas of the Great Sheng Dynasty, unlike in modern rural areas, one could not find a local chef to prepare a feast.

Nowadays, to save money, the dishes for banquets are all made at home.

The Liang family is small; even including Meng Wenyuan, who can help, there are only seven people in total.

Aside from those who entertain guests, receive brides, or do odd jobs, the only ones who can stay in the kitchen all the time are Wan Shu and Er Ya, who have the best cooking skills.

Clearly, the two of them alone could not possibly prepare a feast for eighty or so villagers.

Fortunately, the Wan family came to help.

Especially Zhou and Liu, both of them were clearly skilled in the kitchen and worked very efficiently.

With the help of the two, Wan Shu and Er Ya successfully prepared all the food half an hour before the meal was to be served.

To avoid going too far, Wan Shu did not arrange a lavish meal today. Like other families in the village, the meal consisted mostly of vegetarian dishes.

In addition to the vegetarian dishes, they also added two homemade braised dishes.

It is neither ostentatious nor lacking in sincerity.

Many villagers beamed with joy upon seeing this and offered their congratulations.

"Congratulations, my dear wife! Today is truly a wonderful day for your family!"

"It's not just today that's a good day. Now, the wealthy wife is selling braised food and building a factory. I heard that the imperial court even sent a high-ranking official to reward you because of the plague. Isn't every day a good day?"

In the past ten days, two major events concerning Wan Shu have occurred in Qingshui Village.

The first thing is that the imperial court is going to send someone to reward her. I don't know where the rumor started, or whether it's true or not, but it's already spread like wildfire.

The second thing is Wan Shu's plan to build a factory.

The day after reaching an agreement with the young master of the Cao family, Wan Shu went to Wang Lizheng and bought several plots of land.

Then, just like before, they hired strong laborers from the village to help build the factory.

This time, the villagers were not envious of Wan Shu's actions at all, and instead fully supported him!

Because once the factory is established, it will definitely require a large number of workers.

As villagers of Qingshui Village, if they could take advantage of their proximity to the water source, they would never have to go to the county town to find work again.

This is a good thing that benefits the entire village.

Even the sharpest-tongued women in the village refrained from uttering any sarcastic remarks this time, instead offering their congratulations.

They only hoped that after the factory was built, Wan Shu would give priority to hiring them, or their men.

"The wealthy daughter-in-law has become more and more beautiful in the past six months. You can't tell at all that she's already a mother-in-law!"

"Rich wife is a big shot now, how could she not be beautiful! The whole village can now rely on Rich wife!"

"That's right, that's right! If we didn't have a wealthy wife, how could we live such a comfortable life!"

The compliments kept coming one after another.

If someone had little experience, they would probably be blown out of proportion by now.

However, Wan Shu had seen many such situations in modern times, and she remained composed and neither arrogant nor humble.

"What are you saying? It's just that everyone is willing to help me and support me. We're all from the same village, so there's nothing to rely on or not rely on."

Upon hearing Wan Shu's words, the faces of the women who had been flattering him immediately showed genuine smiles.

Emperor Hongxing, who had been watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but laugh.

Despite the praise from so many people, he remained humble and composed. It seems that Wan Shu is even more capable than he imagined.

"Thump—"

Suddenly, a small pebble flew from nowhere and hit the table in front of Emperor Hongxing.

A plum blossom mark was left on the desktop.

This was a code word used by his subordinates.

It seems his message by carrier pigeon successfully reached the capital, and his men have now arrived.

Emperor Hongxing left his seat without making a sound, walked to a deserted corner, and snapped his fingers.

Almost instantly, two dark figures descended from the sky and knelt before Emperor Hongxing.

"master!"

"Your subordinate is late! Please forgive me, Master!"

"This is the fastest you can do. What crime have you committed?" Emperor Hongxing raised his hand to them: "Get up and tell me what has happened in the palace recently."

Upon hearing this, the two shadowy figures immediately began to explain everything in great detail.

"My lord, please forgive our incompetence, we have not noticed anything unusual."

Emperor Hongxing sneered: "Don't even mention you, even I have no clue yet. The person behind this is really too cautious."

"I plan to stay in Qingshui Village for a while longer. You two can go back first. Just leave a team of men to protect me in the vicinity."

Shadow immediately agreed and turned to leave, but after taking only a couple of steps, he seemed to remember something and bowed his head to report.

"My lord, King Wen will be arriving in Sishui County soon. If you wish to remain here, would it be better for you to stay with him?"

Emperor Hongxing frowned slightly: "Why is he here?"

Shadow: "I heard it's a reward for a woman named Wan Shu."

Emperor Hongxing lowered his eyes, pondered for a moment, and finally shook his head.

"No, I will stay here. Also, remember not to tell him where I am."

He was the younger brother of Emperor Hongxing of the Wenwang clan, born of the same mother, and also his closest confidant.

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