CHAPTER 198: CHAPTER 196: PROPER TRAINING (2)

"Stop messing around and go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow. We’ve started plowing our fields late, the crops have already missed the hour, we can’t delay any longer, if we do, there’ll be no harvest this year. Without a harvest, how will we pay taxes?"

Farming, farming, always farming!

Xue Family had had enough of this, "Are you willing to be a farmer here for a lifetime?"

The Princely Heir thought about the peaceful life here and said, "That’s not necessarily a bad thing."

Useless man!

Xue Family sneered, she didn’t want to talk anymore, turned away and sat in a huff.

The Princely Heir called her to bathe and sleep.

Xue Family ignored him.

The Princely Heir was too tired, calling her twice without a response, he stopped calling, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Xue Family sat for a long time, realizing the Princely Heir was no longer calling her, she became even angrier.

Fine, fine, if you want to ignore me, then ignore me!

...

With a helper at hand and the shop already organized, the Second Princess was very excited and got up early.

She called Liu Si Ni to get up, and ran to call the Second Young Master.

"Second Brother, the rooster has crowed the first time, get up quickly!" The Second Princess stood by the window in front of Second Young Master’s room, shouting loudly.

"Coming, coming, you go wash up first, I’ll be right there."

"Hurry up, Second Brother." The Second Princess happily ran back to wash up.

"I know, I know." Inside, Second Young Master yawned and sat up from bed.

At the same time, he kicked Li Xing’an, who was on the other end of the bed.

Li Xing’an said angrily, "It’s not even light yet, why are you kicking me? I’m not going to the market."

Second Young Master said cheerfully, "Second Sister said, if I take her to the shop every day and help her manage the business, we’ll split the earnings fifty-fifty."

Li Xing’an was suddenly wide awake.

He sat up suddenly, "Is that true?"

"Of course, Second Sister is an honest person, never lies." The Second Young Master got out of bed, proudly shook his sleeves, walked to the wardrobe, and looked for outer garments to wear.

Li Xing’an couldn’t sleep anymore and got up from bed too.

He had seen the Second Princess selling pancakes, the business was booming, with daily earnings of hundreds, that’s easily earned money.

Now they’ve rented a shop, the business could only grow, even double in revenue.

Looking at it this way, the two of them could easily earn five or six taels of silver in a month.

Split evenly, each one could get two to three taels.

Meanwhile, looking at his aquatic business, catching five hundred to eight hundred pounds a month to send to the tavern at the market, he could make at most barely one tael of silver a month, sometimes even less.

And if Second Young Master gets rich, wouldn’t he mock him every day, flaunt his wealth every day?

How could he endure that?

Li Xing’an couldn’t stand his most hated person making more money than him!

He got up, dressed, and washed as quickly as possible.

Second Young Master was dumbfounded, "Old Third, are you coming to the market to look after the shop with me?"

"In your dreams!" Li Xing’an stormed out of the room.

"Unbelievable!" The Second Young Master shrugged his shoulders.

The Princely Heir also got up early.

The Princely Heir seemed not to have slept well, with dark circles under his eyes and a tired expression.

When he walked into the kitchen, his younger brothers and sisters greeted him, but his smile was always forced.

"Big Brother, didn’t you sleep well? Why are your eyes all dark?" Li Yuzhu reached into her cloth backpack, took out a small porcelain bottle about half an inch high, and handed it to the Princely Heir, "Calming pill, helps with sleep, take one in the morning and one in the evening."

The Princely Heir smiled faintly, "The weather gets hotter each day, but the fields at home haven’t been properly done. I’m worried about that, which is why I didn’t sleep well."

Li Yuzhu comforted him, "Big Brother, don’t worry. I asked the village chief, where Zhen An Prefecture is located, many crops are planted in two seasons. We missed the spring planting and summer harvest, we can catch the summer planting and autumn harvest. I heard from the village chief that even after the fifteenth of August, people in the village still wear thin clothes when they travel, the weather is much hotter than in the Capital."

The Princely Heir, now focused on farming, had already inquired about such common knowledge.

He didn’t sleep well last night, not because he was worried about the crops but because he had a fight with Xue Family.

Xue Family cried and made a fuss, scolded him for being cold and heartless at one moment, and demanded a divorce at the next.

He was so angry at the time that he really got up to get pen and paper.

Then she climbed onto the table to hang herself.

The tirade went on endlessly until now.

She exhausted herself and fell asleep, but he couldn’t sleep anymore.

When the roosters from distant houses crowed for the first time, it was time to get up and go to the fields, he didn’t sleep any further, rubbed his face, and reluctantly got out of bed.

When Third Sister asked him about not sleeping well, how could he say the truth and worry his sister?

He found an excuse and glossed over it.

"Third Sister’s words just reminded me, we can indeed plant two crops here." The Princely Heir said with a smile.

"Yes, so big brother, don’t worry." Li Yuzhu said.

"Alright, I won’t worry anymore." The Princely Heir ruffled Li Yuzhu’s hair, "Hurry up and wash up."

The siblings washed up and started making breakfast together.

After Li Yuzhu’s reminder yesterday, Liu Si Ni knew to look for things to do proactively this time.

She cleaned the chives thoroughly, washed them spotlessly, and placed them on the table for those cooking to use, then found a rag to wipe the water spots off the table.

When the Second Princess was making chive dumplings, she ran to the stove to watch the firewood.

Everyone saw her small size, quick actions, sometimes busy with this and that, and praised her for being diligent.

That made her very happy, and she kept smiling.

.

After breakfast, the Li Family’s siblings went about their tasks.

Li Xing’an, holding a torch, went to the ditch to check on the fish and shrimp in the nets.

The Princely Heir, carrying a lantern, went to the fields.

Li Yuzhu, the Second Young Master, the Second Princess, and Liu Si Ni lifted torches and headed to the market.

Though Liu Si Ni was small, she never complained about being tired.

But because she was small, she would walk for a while and run for a while.

Li Yuzhu couldn’t help but ask her, "Si Ni, are you tired? Do you want to rest for a bit?"

Liu Si Ni shook her head, "Not tired, not tired."

With her small red face, breathing heavily, she insisted she wasn’t tired!

Li Yuzhu chuckled to herself and said she was tired and needed a rest, and the Second Young Master and Second Princess quickly attended to her, saying, "Alright, alright, let’s rest a bit before moving on."

So, they sat on the edge of the field by the side of the road to rest.

Liu Si Ni exhaled and sat down to rest too.

Once they were rested, Li Yuzhu urged everyone to continue walking.

In this way, walking a bit and Li Yuzhu complaining of being tired so resting a bit, the ten-mile journey felt long, but no one felt fatigued, and Liu Si Ni didn’t walk herself to exhaustion.

Upon reaching the market, Liu Si Ni looked around excitedly.

Li Yuzhu asked, "Si Ni, have you ever been to a market?"

Liu Si Ni nodded, "I’ve come with my mom to sell vegetables, but only once."

She was embarrassed to say she almost got lost, and the family never dared to bring her to the market again.

Li Yuzhu said, "That means you’re not familiar with the roads here, so don’t run around carelessly, or you might get lost."

Liu Si Ni dared not run around, she nodded seriously, "Got it, Sister Yuzhu."

Today was not a market day, so there weren’t many pedestrians.

Moreover, the sun had just risen, and it was still early.

The Second Young Master’s cart moved quickly down the empty street.

Everyone followed him excitedly.

Soon, they arrived at the shop.

Thinking they could start earning money from here, the Second Princess and Liu Si Ni were both delighted, urging the Second Young Master to quickly open the shop.

Under normal circumstances, with few people on the street, a horse-drawn carriage should have moved unimpeded.

However, as Li Yuzhu and the others stood by the road waiting for the Second Young Master to open the door, a carriage arrogantly rushed past them.

The driver’s whip nearly lashed Liu Si Ni’s face.

Li Yuzhu quickly pulled her away, avoiding a mishap, leaving the young girl’s face pale with fright.

The driver cursed, "Get out of the way, you rabble!"

Li Yuzhu’s eyes flickered, a person with a Capital accent?

The Second Young Master suddenly glanced back at the departing carriage, his eyes narrowing, "Huh? That voice sounds familiar."

The Second Princess, full of excitement and eager to open the shop to knead dough and make pancakes, urged the Second Young Master, "What’s there to ’huh’ about? How could there be familiar voices here? You must have misheard. Come on, open the door, Second Brother."

The Second Young Master, puzzled, pushed open the shop door.

The Second Princess happily beckoned to Liu Si Ni, "Si Ni, come on in."

The two young girls excitedly ran into the shop.

"Si Ni, this is the stove, and this is the firewood. Let’s light the stove—no, you light the stove, and I’ll knead the dough." The Second Princess instructed Liu Si Ni.

"Okay, Second Sister Li." The young girl found the fire stone and lit the stove.

This kind of baking stove was much larger than the small home stove used for porridge, about waist-high.

Smaller pancakes could bake thirty at a time, larger ones about twenty or so.

In the time it took to drink half a bowl of tea, they could bake a batch.

While the two were busy inside, the Second Young Master and Li Yuzhu stood outside the shop, both looking toward the distant carriage.