Han Mingjiang, accompanied by five or six bodyguards, escorted Li Lanzhen and her companions to the dock, watching them board the boat before returning home.
Han Yibo stood on the deck, waving goodbye to Han Mingjiang and shouting loudly.
"Father, take good care of Mother and Sister. I'll come to see you again when I have time."
You need to be careful too!
Han Mingjiang's eyes were slightly red. This brat had been nagging and giving instructions the whole way.
He raised his hand holding the riding crop high and responded loudly.
"Son, I know you need to study hard, take care of yourself, and look after Grandma!"
Li Lanzhen and Shui Wang stood on a slightly farther deck, watching the people on the dock get further and further away.
She then stepped forward and grasped Han Yibo's hand.
"Let's go, my good grandson. You haven't had a good rest these past few days traveling by carriage. Let's go and rest. Tomorrow, you can stand on the big boat and enjoy the scenery."
Li Lanzhen was not short of money and did not want to live in the dormitory on the first floor of the ship, so she booked three rooms on the second floor.
She stayed with Han Yibo and Shui Wangniu, while Xuan Shen and a few others stayed in the other two rooms.
Four days later, Li Lanzhen and her companions arrived in Youzhou City by carriage.
Xuan Shen and the others went to Sifang Restaurant. He told Li Lanzhen that they had been in Youzhou City for the past few days and had some business to attend to.
Li Lanzhen nodded to indicate that she understood, and then took Han Yibo and Shuiwang Niuniu to the furniture store.
Li Erhan's furniture store has a small courtyard behind it.
Li Lanzhen was thinking of looking around this street to see if she could buy a house for Li Erhan and Ye Shi's family to live in.
Unexpectedly, the owner of a courtyard behind the furniture store was going to another city and urgently needed to sell it. Li Guangyang found out about this and bought the courtyard.
It's a two-courtyard house, big enough for three generations of Li Erhan's family to live in.
Li Lanzhen wanted to rest here for a few days, check on her shops, and then return to Peach Blossom Spring with Han Yibo.
Li Lanzhen went directly to the second courtyard at the back.
When Ye saw her arrive, she happily took Li Lanzhen's hand and told her incessantly about the things that had happened at home recently.
They also inquired about the Han Mingjiang family in the southwestern border region.
Hearing that Xue Nizi had given birth to Tiantian, he smiled and his eyes crinkled with joy.
Upon seeing Shuiwang and Niuniu, he asked Li Lanzhen.
After learning about the two children's past, Mrs. Ye picked up Niu Niu and tenderly wiped her hands clean with a hot towel.
Lu Huahua was already heavily pregnant when she came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of small fried dough twists.
He greeted Li Lanzhen, Han Yibo, and the two children.
"Auntie's here! Come and sit down, have some water and eat some of these little twisted dough sticks."
Yibo, come and eat your favorite twisted dough sticks, they're sweet.
You two children should try some too.
Ye put Niu Niu on a chair, picked up Han Yibo, wiped his chubby hands clean with a hot towel handed to him by a maid, and offered him candy and fried dough twists.
Han Yibo picked up a small twisted dough stick and put it into Ye's mouth.
"My great-grandmother loved the little twisted dough sticks that my aunt made the most. They were crispy and crunchy, and so delicious."
Seeing that he liked the food, Mrs. Ye smiled and pushed the plate of fried dough twists closer to him.
"Your aunt knows you love this, so she made it for you this morning. Eat as much as you like."
Li Lanzhen wiped her hands with a hot towel and glanced at Lu Huahua's belly.
"How many months will Hua Hua be due?"
Madam Ye looked at Lu Huahua with affection, "She will be born by the end of April next year. Huahua is a good child, very diligent."
Lu Huahua and Li Guangyang fell in love on their own, but Tonghua eventually discovered their relationship.
After teaching Li Guangyang a lesson, he sent Liu Zhaodi to propose marriage.
Only then, after going through the proper matchmaking process, did they finally marry Lu Huahua into their family.
His father, Lu Changming, also came along to help out at the furniture store.
Li Lanzhen stayed in Youzhou City for two days, visiting all her shops.
She saw that everything was running smoothly, and the shopkeepers said that Han Minghai had just made an inspection tour and returned.
In another month, the ledgers will be handed over to Han Minghai for auditing and summarizing.
Seeing that there was nothing more for her to do, Li Lanzhen prepared to take Han Yibo and Shuiwang Niuniu back home.
Before leaving, I made a promise with Li Erhan and the others that we would all go back to Peach Blossom Spring to celebrate the New Year together.
After returning to Peach Blossom Spring, Li Lanzhen ate dinner, washed up, and went to bed.
Han Yibo had already started sleeping in his own room, and arranged for Shuiwang Niu Niu to stay in the east wing.
Only then did Li Lanzhen have time to go into her space to check on her sugarcane seedlings.
Once inside the space, she immediately went to the field where sugarcane was grown.
Unexpectedly, it gave her both a surprise and a shock.
She only dug up four sugarcanes at first. After returning to Han Mingjiang's house, she found some time, entered her spatial dimension, chopped all the sugarcanes into sections, planted them in the ground, and watered them with some spiritual spring water.
Now it has actually grown into a small sugarcane grove.
Moreover, these sugarcane stalks are as thick as my arm and over two meters tall.
The sugarcane stalks grow to a very uniform thickness, only becoming slightly thinner when there is less sugarcane.
The sugarcane was dark and slightly reddish in color. Li Lanzhen was overjoyed. She quickly cut the sugarcane down and then cut it into sections to plant in the ground.
When spring comes, she plans to plant a large area on the east and west mountains.
She left a few sections of sugarcane, peeled off the skin of one section, and saw the sugarcane flesh, which was full of moisture and had a light golden color.
One bite and your mouth is filled with sweet juice.
The sugar content is still very high, so if we plant it next spring, we should be able to harvest it in the fall and harvest it in the winter, and then we can start the process of pressing sugarcane juice to make sugar.
It's Chinese New Year, and this is the fifth year that Li Lanzhen and her group have celebrated in Youzhou City.
People in all the shops in Youzhou City have returned to Peach Blossom Spring.
On the same Lunar New Year's Eve, we ate our New Year's Eve dinner together in the large canteen.
We stayed up together in the dining room to celebrate the New Year, made dumplings, set off firecrackers, and ate dumplings before everyone went home to get some sleep.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Xuan Shen led a few people back to Peach Blossom Spring.
After returning to his own courtyard to wash up, he went to find Li Lanzhen.
Seeing his travel-worn appearance, Li Lanzhen knew something was wrong, and it must be something big.
"Auntie, I want to talk to you about something."
Li Lanzhen handed him a cup of brewed tea, but didn't reply.
Xuan Shen glanced at Li Lanzhen, picked up his teacup, took two sips, gently put it down, and continued speaking.
"Auntie, it's like this: In recent years, the emperor has been carrying out sweeping reforms of the court, punishing corrupt officials, and eliminating dissidents."
It stabilized the garrison troops stationed on the northwest and southwest borders.
After three years of imperial examinations, a group of young court officials were selected.
These were all paving the way for the crown prince.
The emperor planned to abdicate in two years, handing the throne to the crown prince.
Li Lanzhen never expected that Xuan Shen would tell her such a thing.
She glared at Xuan Shen and said, "You child, you're bringing up imperial family matters with an old woman like me? Do you even have the right to say that? I don't want to know so many things. I still want to live a few more years."
Xuan Shen wasn't worried when he saw Li Lanzhen was angry. He smiled and said, "Auntie, although it's a matter for the imperial family, it's related to you."
At this point, Li Lanzhen became a little confused.
"Tell me, what does this have to do with me, this old woman?"
"Auntie, after the Empress and the Emperor abdicated, they wanted to live in Peach Blossom Spring."
Li Lanzhen wasn't particularly shocked when she heard the news.
She stared at the student for a while.
"Are you serious? Oh, no, are the Emperor and Empress serious?"
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