Ning Qiong didn't say it explicitly, but simply said, "You few will go to serve the young mistress in her courtyard from now on. I'm sure your previous master also said that the young mistress is now more than eight months pregnant and will give birth in less than two months. You must take good care of her!"

The group replied in unison, "Yes, we understand!"

Ning Yao instructed the maid beside her, "Take them to Qizi Garden and tell them that the Prince sent them to serve the young mistress."

"This servant understands!"

The people from Prince Duan's residence followed them to Qizi Garden.

Ning Qiong then looked through the remaining letters, and her expression changed immediately.

The hand holding the letter trembled uncontrollably; it was written by Shen Ce.

Ning Qiong's first reaction was to tear up the letter, but for some reason she held back.

The letter was unfolded, revealing familiar handwriting.

Ning Qiong's heart trembled as she read on, word by word.

After watching it, Ning Qiong sat alone for a long time.

In his letter, Shen Ce said nothing else but clearly explained the fates of the Zhang and Lin families.

And what kind of identities the slaves sent this time were.

The letter used precise and proper language, without any transgression of boundaries.

A faint sense of melancholy arose in Ning Qiong's heart; she didn't know what was wrong with her.

Finally, he shook his head, clearing his mind of all the jumbled thoughts, and began to arrange things for the others.

Soon, manpower was added to several master courtyards, and the rest were assigned to other courtyards.

The Ning family manor finally looked more lively.

However, for a thousand-acre estate, a hundred or so servants are still not enough.

At the very least, there needs to be enough manpower to manage the daily affairs of the manor.

Ning Qiong wrote down all the manpower needed for the manor and handed it over to the slave trader.

He was also instructed to send it over if a suitable person was found.

Ning Yao took Zhi Lan to Xiao Liangshan, which is no longer as desolate as it used to be.

While preserving the original ecology to the greatest extent possible, Ningyao had people carry out a second round of renovations.

Today, Xiaoliangshan resembles a private mountain resort.

The bluestone steps lead from the foot of the mountain all the way to the top, and all kinds of fruit trees and precious trees have been planted.

There are pavilions every few hundred meters, providing places to rest, making it a great place for daily outings and spring excursions.

The workers' work is not yet finished; Ning Yao had previously requested that the entire Xiaoliangshan area and tens of thousands of acres of fertile land be fenced off.

So far, only half of it has been completed. The part in Xiaoliangshan has been finished, and what remains is the construction of tens of thousands of acres of fertile land.

Ning Yao handed the whole matter over to Ning Lang, and she only needed to listen to the progress once a month.

That day, Ning Yao refined some pills in the secret realm, this time focusing on pills needed by women.

These pills are different from elixirs; they are just ordinary pills used to treat illnesses.

However, because it concentrates the essence of the medicinal herbs, it is more effective than regular decoctions.

She planned to send someone to deliver it to the shop as usual, but since it wasn't a fixed schedule, she suddenly wanted to go and check it out herself.

The Ning family also owns a pharmacy in Licheng, which opened long before Pinglanlou opened.

In addition to the shop in front, the pharmacy also has a sizable courtyard where a lot of medicinal herbs are stored.

Since medicinal herbs cannot be eaten as food, they safely survived the drought.

Previously, opening a shop for some medicinal herbs wasn't so troublesome.

They hired two doctors to practice medicine, four pharmacy assistants, two medicine-organizing assistants, and two assistants to handle daily cleaning.

Ning Yao would occasionally send over some ready-made pills, which were said to sell extremely well.

The weather in August was extremely hot, and the pharmacy was much busier, with long queues extending outside the shop.

When Ning Yao arrived, she saw this scene and frowned as she walked into the store.

One of the pharmacy workers spotted Zhilan beside her and quickly ushered the two of them into the backyard.

Zhilan waved her hand: "You go ahead with your work, let's go inside."

Ning Yao turned around and instructed, "Set up a shed at the entrance, brew some herbal soup to relieve the heat, and give a bowl to everyone, whether they come to get medicine or are just passing by."

"If we don't have enough manpower, we'll hire a few short-term workers. Once we finish these few months and the weather gets cooler, we can take down the shed."

The waiter nodded repeatedly: "I understand, I'll go find someone right away."

Ning Yao led Zhi Lan into the backyard.

"Dr. Lou, Miss is here."

An elderly man with white hair and beard walked out of the medicine warehouse.

"Greetings, Miss. May I ask what brings you here today?"

The pharmacy claims to have two doctors on duty, but in reality, there's only one.

When Ning Yao was looking for a doctor, it just so happened that the old doctor in the building had taken up the list with his only granddaughter.

After careful consideration, Ning Yao decided on the two of them.

Dr. Lou was a highly skilled physician, but he was getting on in years and it was not appropriate for him to sit in the clinic for long periods of time. So Ning Yao appointed him as the manager of the pharmacy.

The practice of seeing patients is to be done by his granddaughter, Dr. Xiaolou. Only if there are difficult or complicated cases, or if Dr. Xiaolou cannot handle the case, will he be asked to take over.

Ning Yao smiled and said, "It's nothing. It's time to deliver the pills, so I just came to check on things."

"Miss, you can just send someone over. It's too much trouble for you to make this trip."

"It's alright. When I came in just now, there was no one at the front of the clinic. Was Doctor Lou out on a house call?"

Lou Shanjing replied, "An old lady in the south alley hasn't been feeling well lately. Yangyang has been there several times already, and she went again today."

"Oh? Is that so? Do you know what the symptoms are?"

"It's not a very serious problem. I've seen Yangyang's medical records; it's just that it's hot and she has some heatstroke."

Zhilan frowned: "Why not just prescribe some medicine for heatstroke? Why keep calling Doctor Xiaolou around like this? They're completely ignoring the pharmacy."

“Who says otherwise? But the old lady always makes a trip there every time. Fortunately, South Alley isn’t far, so she only has to make one trip and usually comes back in no more than an hour.”

Lou Shanjing glanced at the sun and continued, "Judging by the time, she's been gone for about an hour now, she should be back soon."

Ning Yao nodded. That's how it is in medicine. If a patient needs help, it's no trouble to make a trip.

"Dr. Lou, I have something to tell you. I just had the shop assistants set up a shed at the entrance to brew some medicine to relieve the heat and distribute it to passersby for free. Could you keep an eye on things for me?"

Lou Shanjing's eyes lit up: "Oh my, Miss, we're thinking the same thing! I'm just looking for some suitable medicinal herbs in the warehouse, and I plan to have them made once I find them!"

"It's so hot these days, almost as hot as last year. Our pharmacy has been doing very well. Some time ago, I noticed that some of the herbs in the warehouse were no longer good. It's not good to sell them, but it would be too wasteful to throw them away. Why not give away some free herbal decoctions? This way, we won't waste any herbs, we can improve the reputation of the pharmacy, and we can help others!"