Jiang's mother genuinely dislikes her eldest daughter-in-law, but doesn't know what to do with her. She's pregnant, so she can't scold or beat her; besides, she's incapable of doing anything to her daughter-in-law.

Seeing his wife's troubled expression, Jiang's father went out and spoke to Jiang Shuheng, telling him to control his wife. If she couldn't, he would let them live separately.

"I understand, Dad. I'll talk to Wanru. I'm sorry for making you and Mom worry."

Jiang Shuheng looked ashamed; he felt he had accomplished nothing. He hadn't understood his studies, nor had he raised his wife and children well.

"Think about it carefully yourself. I'm serious."

Jiang's father looked at his eldest son, said nothing more, and turned back to his study.

"What does your father want with you?"

Jiang's sister-in-law noticed that Jiang Shuheng's expression wasn't good and wondered what had happened.

"Wanru, is there something you're unhappy with about me?"

No, why do you say that?

"Because I don't understand why you've changed. You're always at odds with your second brother's wife and your eldest sister. Didn't you all get along quite well before?"

Jiang Shuheng couldn't understand when his wife had changed so much that he no longer recognized her.

"I didn't do that. I was just trying to set Jiang Qi up with someone for her own good. You've met my cousin; he's a pretty good catch."

"Jiang Qi is currently living with my second brother, and her household registration is under his name. Our parents can't interfere much in her affairs these days, so why are you trying to arrange a marriage for her?"

The previous incident caused such an unpleasant situation; you and Jiang Lan almost drove your younger sister to a nunnery. How could she possibly care about what you're talking about? Don't you understand that? And yet you keep stirring up trouble again and again.

Dad just said that if something like this happens again, he'll move us out and make us live on our own. If that happens, I'll be completely disgraced in Jiangjia Village; everyone will talk about me behind my back, and our children will be gossiped about too.

After saying these words, Jiang Shuheng didn't look at Lin Wanru and went straight to his study to read. There were less than six months left before the prefectural examination.

Lin Wanru was shocked by Jiang Shuheng's words.

She never expected her father-in-law to say such a thing, separating their eldest son from their parents. It was tantamount to announcing to the world that she and Jiang Shuheng were unfilial. After that, their family was finished.

Lin Wanru broke out in a cold sweat. The reason she wanted to introduce Jiang Qi to his cousin was at the request of her mother and aunt.

A while ago, her father-in-law persuaded her nephew to leave the family, which made her parents very unhappy, as they felt that her father-in-law looked down on the Lin family. She was also angry. After all, she was the eldest daughter-in-law of the Jiang family, so how could he be so inconsiderate of her feelings? That's why she took the opportunity to make things difficult for Jiang Qi, but she didn't expect her father-in-law to react so strongly.

Jiang's sister-in-law was scared. She knew that if she really angered her father-in-law, Jiang Shuheng would definitely divorce her.

Jiang's wife calmed down and stopped supporting her back with her hands. She went about her business as usual, and her pain and itching subsided.

This is what Li Qiuniang told Mu Yi'an. She was very pleased to see Jiang Dasao getting the short end of the stick.

Mu Yi'an wasn't interested in these things; she was busy cultivating seedlings.

Brother Mu has already set off for the capital city to buy watermelon seeds, while Mu Yi'an is at home preparing paper tubes for seedling cultivation.

There were no ready-made seedling trays at that time, so Mu Yi'an ordered some wooden pallets from the village carpenter.

He then asked Jiang Shuyun to go to the bookstore and ask Manager He if they had any flawed cardboard. Nowadays, most people use Xuan paper for practicing calligraphy, and it's not cheap.

Perhaps it was a bit of luck, but Manager He had quite a lot of paper, which was rather stiff and not suitable for writing, and more importantly, it had been rained on.

When the goods arrived, it was a rainy day, and the outermost batch of cardboard got wet and dirty.

“Scholar Jiang, this batch of paper is unusable for writing. It’s too stiff and it’s been rained on. If you really need it, take it with you. It will just be disposed of in the warehouse anyway.”

"Thank you so much, Manager He. You've been a great help."

Jiang Shuyun kept this kindness in mind and planned to thank Manager He properly when she had the chance.

Jiang Shuyun asked Shuhe to transport the paper back to the village and give it to Yi'an. He also wanted to go to the county school to visit Master Wei.

Master Wei had gone back to his hometown and only returned a few days ago. He sent a message asking Jiang Shuyun to go to the county school.

Jiang Shuhe drove the oxcart back to Jiangjia Village, delivered the things to Mu Yi'an, and then drove the oxen and led the sheep to graze.

Mu Yi'an looked at the large batch of paper, touched it, and found it to be quite good, stiffer than the newspapers from her previous life. Although it had been rained on, with many watermarks and some dirt, it didn't affect its usability.

Mu Yi'an asked Jiang Qi to make a basin of paste. She took some paper, cut it into rectangular strips, rolled it into a cylinder, and glued the opening with paste. She placed the two-layered paper cylinders one after another in the wooden tray she had made earlier, and then put soil on them. When the time came, she would bury Cui Wanya's seeds in the soil in the paper cylinders.

Mu Yi'an plans to plant 800 to 900 watermelon seedlings per acre. For 30 acres, he needs to prepare at least 30,000 paper tubes. Mu Yi'an made wooden trays, each capable of holding 200 paper tubes.

Such a large project is beyond the capacity of both her and Jiang Qi.

Mu Yi'an went to Uncle Jiang's house and found his aunt, daughter, and youngest son—five people in total. She also invited her cousin's wife, two cousins-in-law, and her cousin from next door to help. They agreed that she would be paid two coins for every hundred pasted. Including her brother's family, they needed a total of 60,000 pastries, which would cost six hundred coins. This way, when her brother returned, they could take them home and use them immediately.

At first, Aunt Jiang and her cousin's wife didn't want any money. Mu Yi'an said that if she needed their help again in the future, she would feel embarrassed to ask them for money if they didn't ask for it.

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