Mu Yi'an checked his family's assets, including the red envelopes for his children during the New Year, and found that he still had more than 120 taels of silver.

More than half of it came from her previous family fortune, plus what Jiang Shuyun earned copying books. The hundred taels of silver she received after the family division bought a house and other belongings, leaving almost nothing. The extra few dozen taels were from her maternal family.

When the family divided their property, her parents gave her several dozen taels of silver, fearing she wouldn't have enough money after buying a house. They also gave the children a considerable amount of lucky money during the New Year, so all of it added up to this one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

Buying an ox, a cart frame, and a plow would cost more than ten taels of silver. Buying watermelon seeds was also a considerable expense, and she needed to set aside some money for emergencies, in case the watermelon planting failed.

However, plans can change quickly. Jiang Shuyun went to inquire about the five acres of dry land and brought back news that was neither good nor bad.

“Yi’an, the owner of those five acres of land doesn’t want to exchange the land; he wants to sell it.”

"Selling land?"

Mu Yi'an never expected this outcome. How much money would she get per acre for selling the land? Would she even have any money left?

"Yes, they wanted to buy paddy fields, and there happened to be a suitable one, so they planned to sell their dry land and buy paddy fields. They said the dry land was five taels of silver per mu, which is the price now."

The land price is reasonable, but she doesn't plan to buy land, so this expense isn't in her budget.

"What's wrong? Don't you have enough money?"

Jiang Shuyun had no idea how much money his family had. He gave all the money he earned from copying books to Yi'an, and would ask Yi'an for money whenever he needed it.

"It's not that it's not enough. I didn't plan to buy land, so this expense wasn't included in my plans. If I buy land, I won't have much emergency money left at home."

"It's alright, we don't have any major expenses. Once the watermelons are sold, we'll have the money."

Jiang Shuyun had no concept of saving money; he had never lacked money.

"You still have a lot of faith in me. What if the watermelon planting fails? What will we do then? You still have to take the entrance exam for Bailu Academy in the fall."

"I don't think we'll fail. We've come all this way from so far away. Even without your magic touch, we still need a bit of luck. Besides, things will work themselves out. Don't overthink it. If all else fails, we can always start over."

Mu Yi'an didn't have Jiang Shuyun's good mindset; she had always lived a frugal life. But, everyone has to be impulsive once in their life, right?

“You’re right. We’ll buy the land, which will make a total of thirty acres. If it goes through, we’ll change our current situation and won’t be short of money for a while.”

Mu Yi'an did the math and realized that buying the land would only reduce his reserve funds, which made him uneasy.

Having made her decision, Jiang Shuyun took the money to her third grandfather and asked him to act as an intermediary to buy the land. She also needed to find the village head to exchange the land for a red deed in town.

"Yi'an, this is the land deed. Keep it safe."

"Okay, is everything going smoothly?"

"Everything went smoothly. From now on, that entire piece of land will be yours."

"Alright, in this ancient era, we now have fixed assets. We have houses, shops, and land; we'll strive for even more in the future."

Mu Yi'an suddenly felt that she was also very wealthy; she now owned a house and a shop.

"Second Sister-in-law, Shuhe is asking you, are you coming over tomorrow or at dawn?"

Jiang Qi called out to Mu Yi'an from the courtyard. Jiang Shuhe had cleared the wasteland outside the courtyard in one day.

"Shuhe, do you know how to choose livestock?"

Mu Yi'an is now calling Jiang Shuhe's name along with Jiang Shuyun and the others, otherwise calling him "Brother Shuhe" would sound too awkward.

"Sister-in-law, I don't know how."

Jiang Shuhe arrived early today and, as Mu Yi'an requested, cleared the wasteland outside the west wall. He worked hard all day, and thankfully, the food he had eaten didn't go to waste; he cleared all the wasteland.

"Alright, come over tomorrow. I have some things to send to my parents' house. Take these things to my parents' house and let my older brother arrange for someone to take you to buy a cow, a cart, a plow, and so on."

Mu Yi'an figured her older brother should know how to choose, and even if he didn't, Uncle Wang would. Perfect timing; she'd compiled some methods and precautions for growing watermelons, so she'd take them over for her brother to study.

"Okay, sister-in-law, I'll go back now."

"Let's go back."

After Jiang Shuhe left, Mu Yi'an finally had a chance to go outside the courtyard and take a look at the wasteland.

"Second sister-in-law, Shuhe is quite capable. You can't tell at all that this used to be a wasteland."

"Hmm, well done, the ridges are all set up. The soil is good, we'll have enough vegetables for the family to eat from now on. Find some time and have Shuhe go to the woodland to cut some vines to fence off this plot of land."

Mu Yi'an thought that she would have to go and check on the twenty acres of woodland when she had time, to see what the situation was like and whether it was suitable for planting medicinal herbs. She felt that she had too many things to do, and she could only do them one at a time. Trying to do too much at once would be counterproductive, and she didn't have the time or enough money.

When Jiang Shuhe returned home, his family was waiting for him.

"Second brother, how's it going? Can you handle the work?"

"able."

Jiang Shuhe didn't say much. He knew his father was worried, but he pressed his fingerprint on the document. He couldn't tell anyone about the family's affairs.

"Are you full?"

Aunt Jiang knew that Jiang Shuyun and her husband were good people, but she wanted to confirm it again, otherwise she wouldn't feel at ease.

"I'm full. I ate the same food as Shuyun and the others. It was delicious."

Jiang Shuhe thought about today's meal, which was much better than what he had at home.

"That's good, that's good. Do a good job."

Aunt Jiang was relieved; she knew that Shuyun and her husband were a good couple.

“Shuhe, the money you earn as a farmhand, don’t take it from your family, save it for yourself, and use it to get married later. Your parents are incompetent and have held you back.”

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