Causing Trouble

Xie Wenjing looked coldly at Uncle Li. Whether to marry or not, Xie Wenjing would not force Uncle Li, especially when pointing out in front of all these people that this woman's background was unknown.

Xie Chengyu suddenly felt a bit saddened. Unable to bear it for a moment, he almost caused trouble for his daughter once again.

"Wenjing, you have the full authority to handle this! Juan'er, I will help you back. With our daughter taking care of things here, you can rest assured. Our daughter thinks things through very thoroughly, leaving it in her hands will not be a mistake."

After giving his daughter an apologetic look, Xie Chengyu supported his wife to return.

"Chengjin, thank goodness he wasn't the one who carried her back. Otherwise, if she insisted on clinging to you, I wouldn't want to live either!"

Third Aunt had initially thought this woman seemed decent, but seeing her throwing a hysterical tantrum now, could this really be a woman easy to get along with?

She actually had the audacity to declare in front of so many people that Uncle Li carried her back and demand that he take responsibility. Such a woman was simply ungrateful. They had saved her life, yet she turned around and tried to frame them?

After casting a lukewarm, provocative remark at the woman, Third Aunt turned to Wenjing: "Wenjing, you call the shots in this household. Arrange things however you see fit. Third Aunt gives her absolute approval."

Third Uncle felt a chill run down his spine. Glanced at by his wife, he broke out in a cold sweat. Didn't this matter stem from his own actions?

If he hadn't insisted on rescuing her, none of this would have happened, right? Thank goodness he had been cautious when it came to carrying her on his back; otherwise, the one being framed right now would be him!

Thinking about it, Third Uncle felt lingering fear. He cast an embarrassed look at Uncle Li: I am sorry! At least you are single and unattached, unlike me. You can take responsibility, but I simply cannot, right?

Uncle Li's mouth twitched violently. Third Master was truly skilled at setting people up!

"Brother Li, Brother Li, I am not a person of unknown background! My parents died when I was little, and I've begged for food everywhere since childhood. Sometimes I even did odd jobs for others. I can do everything; I can wash clothes, I can cook, and I will bear you sons. Please, just take me!

Sob, sob, sob! Brother Li! A helpless woman like me will surely die if I go back out there! The snow disaster is so severe this year, I couldn't find any work, nor could I beg for any food. I am willing to serve you for the rest of my life, sob, sob, sob!"

Cui'er suddenly realized that if she wanted to get close to the Xie family, the only person she could possibly grasp onto was a servant of the Xie family, Brother Li.

As long as she stubbornly clung to the claim that he had ruined her reputation and demanded that he take responsibility, she would definitely be able to gain access to the Xie family and avenge her deceased young mistress.

Uncle Li's brows were tightly knitted. He had never encountered such a situation before, and it was truly a difficult choice to make.

He had never wanted to marry a woman in his life, let alone someone of unknown origin as the eldest young mistress had said.

Yet if he refused to marry her, not only would she refuse to leave, but she would also throw hysterical tantrums, which would inevitably make the villagers question the Xie family. Moreover, deep down, he harbored a tiny shred of reluctance to watch her go seek death again.

You were perfectly fine just now, and the eldest young mistress even gave you travel money, why couldn't you just leave peacefully? Uncle Li had a splitting headache. He looked at the eldest young mistress for help: Please, help me out!

Xie Wenjing acted as if she didn't see Uncle Li's plea for help.

To be honest, Xie Wenjing only guessed that this woman had deep scheming intentions and wanted to exploit her debt of gratitude to stubbornly cling on here.

If she was willing to marry Uncle Li, giving him descendants and a home, Xie Wenjing wouldn't mind keeping her, but she would absolutely not allow her to live inside their own courtyard.

They would have to be moved out to live elsewhere. Only after she bore sons and daughters for Uncle Li, and after further observation, would she consider whether to accept her.

If Uncle Li had no intention of marrying her whatsoever, she would definitely be driven away by force. Their family already had an overwhelming mountain of affairs to manage and rack their brains over; she truly had no desire to burden herself with any more annoying troubles.

"Brother Li? Sob, sob! Brother Li!" Cui'er affectionately called out Uncle Li's name over and over again.

Uncle Li's heart finally softened. With a dark expression, he agreed to marry her.

Xie Wenjing instructed Mother Du to take Cui'er away and apply medicine to her; the blood on her forehead was still flowing!

"Uncle Li, since you've agreed to marry this woman, get her to bear you children as soon as possible.

In a few days, I will buy a small courtyard belonging to Grandpa Li in the village, clean it up for you, and use it as your bridal chamber. After all these years, you will finally have a home again, and my father will be happy as well."

Although Xie Wenjing could see that the woman was scheming, Uncle Li had been alone for many years. If he could establish a family because of this, she was quite willing. At most, she would instruct Mother Du to be slightly vigilant and keep a closer eye on her for observation.

The bridal chamber Xie Wenjing arranged for Uncle Li was a small courtyard with three tile-roofed rooms that she bought from Grandpa Li's family in the village.

Uncle Li did not decline. He knew that the eldest young mistress was unwilling to let Cui'er live in the Xie family and still harbored guard against her. Thinking of the eldest young mistress's instructions for Cui'er to bear children as soon as possible, Uncle Li fell into a tangle of conflicted thoughts.

Two months later, Xie Wenjing's soybeans had transformed into golden beans, while every single household in the village had managed to store away anywhere from a hundred catties to several hundred, or even a thousand catties of soybeans.

As a result, grain merchants and medicine merchants were now purchasing soybeans on a massive scale at the rate of one tael of silver per catty.

Throughout Hangzhou, and even across the entire Jiangnan region, apart from Lijiaci, ordinary farming households possessed virtually no soybeans at all.

Unless there were a handful of grain merchants holding onto microscopic amounts of soybeans, their reserves were simply incomparable to those of Lijiaci.

Lijiaci became famous. Because of this, Xie Wenjing earned a full seventy thousand taels of silver. Meanwhile, the villagers of Lijiaci earned anywhere from dozens of taels on the lower end, to several thousand taels on the higher end, with the majority of villagers netting hundreds of taels.

The reputation of Lijiaci suddenly soared into prominence. The entire Jiangnan region now knew of Lijiaci.

Especially the neighboring villages—back then, when they watched the villagers of Lijiaci set fire to their wheat fields, they had been too foolish to follow suit. Now, the people of Lijiaci had made an absolute fortune during a major disaster year. It was enough to make people burn with envy!

As for the villagers of Lijiaci, they were filled with endless emotional sighs. Some silently dedicated their inner devotion to Xie Wenjing, while others violently pinched their own thighs: back then when there was nothing to eat, how could they have been so heartless as to eat soybeans worth one tael of silver per catty?

Eating thousands of catties of soybeans meant they had literally consumed thousands of taels of silver! The heartache was unbearable!

Fortunately, fortunately, they had still managed to retain five hundred catties of soybeans that they hadn't gotten around to eating yet, earning themselves five hundred taels of silver in the process. Such a vast amount of silver was something they had never laid eyes on in their entire lives!

The Xie family was also beaming with joy by this point. Wenjing had seized the exact right moment for the golden beans, netting a full seventy thousand taels.

Amidst the enthusiastic urging of the entire Xie family, Grandfather had no choice but to accept the fifty-five thousand taels of silver notes handed over by Wenjing, using them to pay off the Qin family's debts first.

Originally, they owed the Qin family fifty thousand taels, with the remaining five thousand being interest. Thus, the maternal grandfather's family debts were completely wiped clean.

"Wenjing, what on earth were you thinking back then, insisting on planting soybeans to sell?"

First Aunt wore an expression of sheer disbelief. Goodness gracious, they had only planted a hundredmu of soybeans and actually reaped seventy thousand taels? It was a complete fairytale!

"Indeed, indeed, Wenjing, none of us ever expected that living in Lijiaci would actually lead us to farm alongside the villagers. What made you think of planting soybeans in the first place? When we harvested all those beans back then, my vision went dark just looking at them—how were we even supposed to dispose of them? Yet in the end, every single one of them turned into golden beans! Hehehe!"

Third Aunt was smiling from ear to ear as well. Earlier, when the family had harvested such a massive bumper crop of soybeans, she had asked Wenjing how they should sell them. Wenjing had simply replied with calm indifference: if they aren't worth much, we won't sell.

"Hehehe, First Aunt, Third Aunt, you don't need to ask me what I was thinking. I didn't have any grand master plan; I just wanted Father's health to recover properly.

I wanted to break free from the Xie family a little sooner, and wanted our family to have a place where we could settle down and make a living. That would have been enough for me. Who could have known that after buying a hundred mu of farmland, the soybeans we planted would turn into golden beans? No one could have possibly foreseen that!"

Xie Wenjing laughed lightly. She certainly wouldn't tell her family that she had known all along, as that would only frighten them.

"Elder Sister, you are truly amazing! You earned so much silver, could you also take me out to play for a few days so I can have some fun? Studying books every single day is killing me with exhaustion!"

Xie Wenbao looked at his eldest sister with undisguised admiration, trying to take advantage of her good mood to wrangle a few days of vacation and go play!

"Wenbao, you haven't memorized the *Classic of Filial Piety* yet. Father still needs to teach you more. Father said before, if you don't memorize it, you are not allowed to take a break to play."

Xie Chengyu did not agree. This household rested entirely on his daughter's shoulders alone, and his heart was filled with profound guilt toward her. The only way he could share her burdens was by ensuring that the males in their own family achieved scholarly honors of Juren rank or higher as soon as possible, thereby lightening his daughter's load.

These days, aside from his own modest reading, he had to supervise his son's studies without the slightest slack. His son had matured quite a bit, which made it all the more important not to indulge him again and let him revert to his former unruly ways. Without rigorous study, how could one ever achieve greatness?

"Exactly! If your cousin Wenfeng failed to memorize the *Classic of Filial Piety* the way you did, Third Uncle would have long since used the ruler on him. Do you think you'd be allowed to go out and play?"

Third Uncle shared the exact same sentiment. Their branch of the family basically relied on their niece for survival, and the best way they could repay her was by devoting themselves to their own studies while helping Wenjing discipline Wenbao properly.

Wenbao's tragic fate was sealed. The moment a tiny glimmer of a thought to go play popped into his head, it was shot down by both his father and Third Uncle. Needless to say, his eldest sister held the exact same attitude.

Xie Wenjing looked at her father, then at Third Uncle. These two elders had already designated scholarly honors as the ultimate goal for all the males in the family; what more could she say?

Even if she wanted to say something, she would at least have to wait until her two younger brothers found studying utterly impossible and reached adulthood before bringing it up.

Besides, this younger brother had been playful since childhood, and she wasn't truly treating him harshly now—his daily study time did not even exceed four hours.

Just think of Xu Yin: apart from eating, drinking, and sleeping, every single thing he did revolved entirely around studying. Nothing like her younger brother, who wasted portions of every day chatting idly with the family!

Lately, this younger brother of hers practically wanted to press his face right against their mother's belly to lecture their yet-unborn younger sibling! Father and Mother both smiled and let him lecture away.

"How can you two force a child to study every single day? Wenbao, why don't you follow your maternal grandfather back home? Your grandfather will let you join your several cousins to practice martial arts every day, pulling bows and shooting arrows—it's loads of fun!"

Maternal Grandfather looked at Wenbao with a smile. As long as this child agreed, he would take him home and train him rigorously. Who knows, he might turn out to be a great military general in the future! The child was exceptionally smart, Grandfather's eyes shone brightly.

"Great, great! I want to go to Maternal Grandfather's house! Grandfather said so, Father and Mother aren't allowed to say no, otherwise that would be unfilial, right?"

Wenbao didn't know what he was walking into and nodded his head vigorously. To ensure he could go, he even pulled out the concept of filial piety.

"Father, you? Will you go a bit easy on him when the time comes?" Du Juan's lips trembled a few times before she finally voiced this weak plea to her own father.

Back when her father used to train her two older brothers during their childhood, watching it had given her heart palpitations. The mere thought of her father putting her own son through that kind of training made Du Juan look with unbearable pity at her clueless son. When that time came, she hoped this child wouldn't end up fleeing back home in the middle of the night!

When Maternal Grandfather departed, he was exceptionally cheerful, having successfully abducted this clever maternal grandson to take home for rigorous training. After all, a man needed more than just book smarts; his physical prowess couldn't be too shabby either.

"Wenjing, we plan to visit Fanjing Temple tomorrow to see your grandmother. It's time to let her know the good news about your mother's pregnancy so she can share in our joy.

By the way, we'll also give her peace of mind by telling her that our family's soybeans magically turned into golden beans this year, earning a full seventy thousand taels of silver and paying off your grandfather's family debts. That way, she won't have to worry about us standing as guarantors anymore!"

After Maternal Grandfather's family happily departed with Xie Wenbao, Xie Chengyu voiced his thoughts.

That old woman had been staying there for quite a while now. Apart from that initial visit a few days ago when he brought Juan'er to pay their formal respects, he hadn't been back to see her.

Tomorrow was a good time to go see her. Since she could play the part of a good stepmother, they could certainly play the part of good, filial children! It was high time she learned just how wonderfully their family was living nowadays.

Part (1/3)

Part (2/3)

"Big Brother is right. We must share this wonderful family news with her; she'll undoubtedly be overjoyed upon hearing it!"

Third Uncle smiled and agreed with Big Brother's suggestion. That good stepmother was living a life of utter leisure at Fanjing Temple; telling her about the family's happy fortunes would practically choke her with anger.

"Wonderful, tomorrow I will personally brew a pot of fine medicine to properly show my filial respect to her. I'll let all the monks witness how devotedly our family cares for our elders!"

Ever since her grandmother took up residence at Fanjing Temple, Xie Wenjing had personally delivered a freshly brewed pot of fake medicine every few days. Yet the medicine always exuded a rich, pungent aroma of ginseng, leaving all the monks filled with boundless admiration.

Xie Wenjing knew that old woman wouldn't dare consume it anyway, and she didn't care whether she poured it out or drank it. Ultimately, she would just make good use of her to earn a sterling reputation of filial piety for her own family!

This fake medicine wasn't unique to Qingdao Lane in Yangzhou; similar counterfeit medicine trade existed in Hangzhou as well.

Xie Wenjing naturally knew how to procure it.

The family settled the matter: tomorrow, they would go to Fanjing Temple to share this joyous news with Grandmother.

Meanwhile, Master Kudeng of Fanjing Temple also held deep admiration for Xie Wenjing. To be able to cultivate soybeans in such a miraculous fashion and reap a fortune in silver could only be the protection of the Buddha!

That child possessed a heart of profound filial piety. Not only had she lit an everlasting lamp for her father, but she had also arranged for her grandmother to recuperate here. Wasn't such a filial daughter precisely the kind of devotee looked after by the Buddha?

The next time he met Xie Wenjing, he needed to have a proper chat with her. It would be best to share her story with all the believers; if he did that, the everlasting lamps and guest quarters at Fanjing Temple would surely become wildly popular!

It was only a pity that the soybeans Xie Wenjing had used to exchange for planting grain at Fanjing Temple had all been ground into tofu by the monks and long since eaten without a trace left behind.

Yet thanks precisely to that, the monks of Fanjing Temple had not contracted the dreaded leg-edema disease. Amitabha, my Buddha is truly merciful! The good deeds done by Xie Wenjing must be widely propagated to all believers.

Xie Wenjing had no idea that in the eyes of Master Kudeng of Fanjing Temple, she was practically a walking advertisement! Xie Wenjing believed in Buddhism, made offerings to the Buddha, and thus received karmic blessings!

Master Kudeng mused that this matter required a bit of embellishment. Thus, he personally lit another everlasting lamp for Xie Wenjing's grandmother—whose health had improved considerably of late, with her speech impediment having cleared up significantly as well. Amitabha, it was truly the protection of the Buddha!

The next day, when Master Kudeng heard that Xie Wenjing and the others had all come to visit the old matriarch in her guest room, he came over personally to accompany them.

"Mother, your complexion looks so much better today! Staying at Fanjing Temple is truly beneficial." Third Aunt said with a smiling, radiant expression.

"Mother, recovering to this state under the protection of the Buddha at Fanjing Temple is all because you are a devout believer with a benevolent heart, and the Buddha naturally grants his protection to you.

Oh right, Mother, I haven't told you the joyous news yet! Juan'er is pregnant again! The doctor has examined her and says the pregnancy is extremely stable."

Xie Chengyu happily held his wife's hand, speaking with a tone of proud boasting.

Du Juan coordinated the moment with a shy, modest smile.

"That's not even all! Mother, there is even more good news at home—a truly monumental piece of good news! Didn't our family go farming in Lijiaci? The soybeans our family planted earlier yielded a full seventy thousand catties!

We originally thought that if we sold them as horse feed, after deducting the principal, we'd at most earn a few dozen taels of silver for food.

Never could we have imagined that those soybeans would suddenly turn into golden beans! The soybeans we harvested sold for a full seventy thousand taels, which was just enough to pay off Wenjing's maternal grandfather's debts. Now, Mother, you absolutely do not need to worry about us standing as guarantors for Wenjing's grandfather's family anymore!"

Third Uncle also spoke with a smiling, boastful expression.

"Amitabha, well done, well done. All of this is the reward of good deeds! This young benefactor possesses an exceedingly kind heart, profound filial piety, and a single-minded devotion to Buddhism. Only because of this does the Buddha care for this young benefactor and grant her such bountiful returns."

Master Kudeng brought his palms together, his expression one of solemn, sacred dignity.

Old Madam Xie was so angry her teeth felt itchy and her chest felt unbearably constricted, yet she could only put her palms together and chant: "Amitabha, the Buddha protects us!"

"Grandmother, this time our family managed to earn a bit of silver through sheer fortune. Not only did we clear Grandfather's family debts, but we also bought quite a few precious medicinal herbs for you.

The doctor said that taking these herbs frequently will do you a world of good and help Grandmother get back on her feet sooner. Grandmother, from now on, I will personally brew the medicine and bring it over every day, alright? Grandmother, Wenjing brewed a pot of red ginseng for you today; the doctor said this red ginseng promotes blood circulation and replenishes blood! Let me feed it to you, Grandmother!"

Xie Wenjing also wore a joyful expression. As she spoke, she was already holding the medicinal jar, sweetly and stubbornly insisting on feeding the medicine from the jar to her grandmother, who was propped up against the bed, using a small spoon.

Old Madam Xie wasn't paying close attention for a second and accidentally swallowed a bit of the medicine Xie Wenjing fed her. Instantly, she gagged violently, vomiting even her morning meal, and a strange odor immediately filled the room.

"Grandmother, what's wrong with you? Has your illness worsened? I'll go find a doctor for you!"

Xie Wenjing anxiously wiped the corners of the old woman's mouth while speaking.

"Eldest Young Mistress, let old slave speak the honest truth. Old Madam has never liked taking medicine; whenever she takes medicine, her stomach turns and she vomits. When she fell ill in the past, she also stayed at Daiming Temple and prayed to the Buddha before getting better.

Now that she is staying at Fanjing Temple and praying to the Buddha, she has already improved greatly. Please don't force your grandmother to take medicine anymore! Old Madam is even more afraid of bitter medicine than a child! Every time you bring medicine over, old slave has no idea how much effort it takes just to coax Old Madam into consuming even a tiny bit."

Mother Du anxiously made excuses for her own elderly mistress. With so many people present, the granddaughter had lovingly fed medicine, only for the grandmother to vomit it all up after consuming just a tiny bit—that didn't look good at all! Besides, this medicine had been delivered for quite a few days now!

"Indeed, indeed! Eldest Cousin, Maternal Grandmother is afraid of bitterness! Even worse than me!" Pei Yehuo hurriedly chimed in to cover for her maternal grandmother.

At this moment, Pei Yehuo regarded the group of people before her entirely as enemies and adversaries. As Maternal Grandmother had said, they harbored no good intentions.

"Oh? Grandmother is actually afraid of taking medicine?" Xie Wenjing wore an expression of sudden realization, a sight that made Old Madam Xie's heart, liver, and lungs ache with fury.

"That's right! Thank goodness the Buddha is watching over her; otherwise, we truly wouldn't know how best to care for Mother!"

Xie Chengyun said with a lukewarm, mocking smile. You are all Mother's sons, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and granddaughters, yet all you ever do is drop by Fanjing Temple for a quick glance before leaving. Not a single one of you stays behind to care for Mother properly; truly, none of you can be relied upon.

In the past, she had thought they were more reliable than her own eldest brother, but looking at them now, where was any semblance of filial children or grandchildren?

Yet paradoxically, all the monks in the entire Fanjing Temple kept praising them for being filial! It was hateful! Most hateful of all was the fact that they still showed no intention of taking Mother back home; she had grown utterly sick of eating the vegetarian meals in this temple!

Yehuo was still at an age where she was growing; how could she manage without eating meat? They went around boasting about earning so much silver, yet not a single copper of it ended up on her person, with almost all of it being squandered on the Du family. What was the point of running over here to show off? If you've got the ability, pull out some silver and show filial piety to Mother!

"Benefactors need not worry. This young benefactor possesses a heart of profound filial piety. Half a year ago, she specifically lit an everlasting lamp for her father, and sure enough, not long after, her father's health improved tremendously.

This time, she has likewise lit an everlasting lamp for her grandmother. Presumably, the Old Madam has already felt the care of the Buddha, hasn't she? Amitabha, the young benefactor is benevolent of heart, filial to her parents and elders, and devoutly serves the Buddha. Naturally, she receives the blessings and protection of the Buddha!

Otherwise, everyone else plants soybeans year after year, only to earn a few taels of silver worth of horse feed. When it comes to the young benefactor's rare attempt at planting soybeans, they magically turn into golden beans.

Amitabha, good deeds bring good rewards!"

Master Kudeng's speech left Old Madam Xie so infuriated she wished she could faint away once more, yet on the surface, she was forced to plaster on a smiling expression.

"Wenjing is truly a filial daughter!"

Old Madam Xie squeezed out those words through clenched teeth, utter against her will. The doctor from Yangzhou had warned her long ago that her illness required peace of mind and quiet rest, and that she must neither grow anxious nor angry. Yet these people deliberately provoked her to anger and anxiety; clearly, these people were wishing for her early demise.

Well, I simply refuse to die!

Xie Wenjing glanced at Master Kudeng. Since when had she ever lit an everlasting lamp for this old woman? We'll talk about that later; it would undoubtedly cost her a bit more silver. Xie Wenjing felt a toothache coming on—spending even a single copper on this old woman made her teeth hurt. Unless it was to buy rat poison for her; that money she could gladly spend.

"Indeed, this young benefactor is renowned throughout Hangzhou as a filial daughter, and she is also a filial daughter cared for by the Buddha!" Master Kudeng lavished praise on Xie Wenjing with an expression of solemn, sacred dignity.

"Precisely, precisely. Master's words are spot on! My niece is not only the filial daughter of Hangzhou, but also the filial daughter of Yangzhou. Without my niece, my big brother would still be bedridden and unable to rise!"

Third Uncle chimed in to flatter Xie Wenjing.

Xie Wenjing's mouth twitched violently. Without paying attention, she had somehow ended up becoming the model filial daughter of both Yangzhou and Hangzhou? Such a reputation was acquired far too easily!

Old Madam Xie was so angry her heart and liver ached, but she still had to put on a smiling face to entertain these "filial children and grandchildren" for a while before putting on a weary posture of needing rest to chase these people away.

As Xie Wenjing was leaving, at the prompt of Master Kudeng, she lagged a dozen steps behind and softly exchanged a few words with the master.

"Master, may I ask how much silver one ought to offer for an everlasting lamp lit for my grandmother for a year?"

Xie Wenjing endured her toothache and asked Master Kudeng.

"Please listen as I explain, Benefactor. Ordinarily, lighting an everlasting lamp for grandparents requires an offering of two to three hundred taels of silver a year.

However, Benefactor's situation is different from most. Benefactor has already made generous offerings of soybeans to this humble temple, and the monks of Fanjing Temple consumed the soybeans you provided without a single person contracting the ailment of leg edema. That is an immeasurable meritorious virtue!

Moreover, with just a casual thought, the young benefactor led the farming households of Lijiaci to cultivate over a thousand mu of soybeans. Although they consumed much of it as grain substitutes when starvation struck, generally speaking, it was thanks to the soybeans your family cultivated that ordinary people were spared the torment of leg edema. For such a virtue, Fanjing Temple has decided to light an everlasting lamp not only for your grandmother, but for yourself as well, so that the Buddha may bless you with safety, peace, and soaring prosperity.

This is the will of the Buddha, so I hope the benefactor will not decline."

Master Kudeng's meaning was crystal clear: this time, the lamps were being lit for your family free of charge. No money would be discussed.

"Master, do I truly not need to contribute additional silver? I actually brought silver with me, you know? Truly not needed?"

Xie Wenjing softly pursued the question with an expression of disbelief. This monk was certainly no ordinary monk; he was quite adept at talking about money!

"Benefactor, it is truly not needed. As I said, the Buddha is watching over your family. However, would the benefactor mind if this humble temple uses you as an example to explain to the world that whoever acts with a kind heart, filial piety, and a Buddhist heart will have their deeds seen and remembered by the Buddha? When the time arrives, they will receive karmic blessings just as you have!"

Hearing Master Kudeng's words, Xie Wenjing's mouth twitched fiercely. Sure enough, this monk was no ordinary monk—he was exceptionally skilled at reaping profits!

She had employed this exact same trick in her past life: having her Yunjin Silk Shop tailor clothes for free for a few pretentious madams, letting them boast and spread the word to the world so that even more people would come to her silk shop to buy fabric and clothes. She had never expected that Master Kudeng was playing the exact same game.

Very well, this matter had benefits and no drawbacks for her; as for Fanjing Temple, the advantages were even more numerous.

Part (2/3)

Part (3/3)

"Master, please do as you see fit. Amitabha!" Xie Wenjing smiled and brought her palms together. After giving her consent, she hurried along to catch up with her family as they left Fanjing Temple.

Master Kudeng was overjoyed. Excellent! Now that he had a ready-made example, he needn't worry about ordinary people refusing to spend silver making offerings to the Buddha!

"Mother, would they really be so kind as to light an everlasting lamp for you for free? Back in Yangzhou's Daiming Temple, lighting a single everlasting lamp cost at least two hundred taels of silver a year! Unless you were from a wealthy, prominent household, nobody ever lit one!

Didn't they say they were so poor they couldn't even issue monthly wages? How on earth do they suddenly have the money to light an everlasting lamp for you?

Oh right, come to think of it, this Fanjing Temple is also dirt poor, with such wretched meals and so few incense patrons; both sides of our guest quarters are completely empty. I reckon lighting an everlasting lamp here probably costs at most a few taels of silver. They spend a few taels of silver, yet they manage to rake in a mountain of reputation, hmph!"

Xie Chengyun expressed utter disdain.

"For now, let them scheme however they please. As long as we do not step foot outside this Fanjing Temple, they can never harm us.

The meals are meager, so be it; just preserve your lives and wait for your second brother and the others to come pick us up. Remember this well, all of you: do not casually leave Fanjing Temple, lest you fall victim to their plots and die an obscure death without even knowing who killed you."

Old Madam Xie repeatedly admonished her daughter and granddaughter.

Sure enough, within a few days, Master Kudeng publicized Xie Wenjing's filial conduct to the vast assembly of believers and even invited them to view the everlasting lamps she had lit for her father and her grandmother.

Then, with an expression of solemn gravity, Master Kudeng warned the congregation:

Good deeds bring good rewards! The karmic blessings of young benefactor Xie Wenjing arrived with extraordinary speed; the one hundred mu of soybeans cultivated by her family miraculously transformed into golden beans in this year of great disaster. It was precisely because of the seventy thousand catties of soybeans cultivated by this benefactor that countless commoners were saved—an immeasurable, boundless merit!

She is fully worthy of being hailed as the number one filial daughter of Hangzhou.

In less than a month, Xie Wenjing's reputation as the number one filial daughter of Hangzhou spread far and wide, creating a massive uproar.

Upon learning of this, Xie Wenjing's parents, Third Uncle, and Third Aunt were overjoyed, all taking immense pride in Xie Wenjing.

Xie Wenjing merely smiled faintly. She had somehow managed to carve out a stellar reputation for herself; very well, so be it.

The incense offerings at Fanjing Temple suddenly flourished vigorously over the following days.

Master Kudeng not only lowered the price for offering everlasting lamps but also reduced the rental rates for the guest rooms. For a time, the flow of visitors at Fanjing Temple resembled a weaving shuttle.

And as Master Kudeng continued his publicity, Xie Wenjing's reputation as the number one filial daughter not only resounded throughout Hangzhou but even traveled all the way to Yangzhou.

"Little Sister, you've heard the news, haven't you? Xie Wenjing is no bad woman at all; she's actually the number one filial daughter of Hangzhou now! People in Yangzhou are even spreading the word that she's the filial daughter of Yangzhou!"

Xu Yin was in a fantastic mood. Earlier, when he had lingered around the gates of the Xie family residence to reminisce and gaze about, he had happened to overhear people standing right outside the Xie family's main entrance discussing Xie Wenjing's affairs.

Xu Yin was thrilled upon hearing it. Wenjing's father had recovered, and the soybeans Wenjing planted had become the life-saving golden beans of Jiangnan. Wonderful!

He had to hurry back and tell Little Sister the good news—Wenjing was not a woman of ill repute; she was now the number one filial daughter of Hangzhou!

"Elder Brother! What kind of person she is has not a single thing to do with us! You are you, and she is she. Wake up! If you spend all day obsessing over her and fail the Xiucai examination again next year, Father and Mother will be bitterly disappointed!"

Xu Cai gave her older brother a harsh, unsparing reality check. Aside from studying, her older brother had recently added a brand-new habit: wandering over to the entrance of the Xie mansion every few days to circle around. It made her so angry she could spit fire.

Look at him, returning full of manic excitement as if trying to prove something to her. What was the use? The better she lived and the bigger her reputation grew, the further removed she was from their family, understand?

Xu Cai glared at Xu Yin with a gaze that practically burned with frustration, her eyes flashing with tiny sparks of anger.

"Little Sister, next year I will definitely pass! You just have to believe me. The year after that, I'll take the Juren examination, and I should be able to pass that too. Then I'll take the palace examination and become the top scholar! By then, I will be fully worthy of marrying Wenjing!"

Xu Yin was filled with wonderful anticipation. His eyes shone brilliantly, his cheeks flushed slightly, looking every bit the lovestruck young man lost in blissful delusions.

Xu Cai's face turned livid with rage. She longed to grab a hammer and smash it down to wake up this older brother who had completely lost his mind over Xie Wenjing—the top scholar?

If you would just stop obsessing over Xie Wenjing, you might actually stand a chance of earning a Juren scholarly degree, and for that alone, I would thank the heavens!

Blazing with fury, Xu Cai spun around and stormed out of her brother's room. She marched straight to the woodshed, picked up a chopping axe, and savagely hacked away at the firewood.

With every single chop, she muttered fiercely through gritted teeth: "I'll hack your blockhead of a brain! I'll hack Xie Wenjing for bewitching my older brother! Take that, and that, and that!"

"Cai'er, who is trying to harm your older brother?"

Xu Yin's mother, whose vision was extremely poor, suddenly groped her way over. Catching only a vague, garbled fragment of what was said, she asked with deep worry.

"Mother, Little Sister is just talking nonsense! Let me handle the firewood chopping; Little Sister, hurry up and help Mother back outside. There's so much firewood here, it might trip Mother!"

Hearing his younger sister's fierce mutterings, Xu Yin hurried over with an amused smile just as their mother approached.

"Nonsense? You aren't just making things up to pacify Mother, are you?" Xu Yin's mother looked skeptical.

"Mother, it's nothing! I was just talking to the firewood! Elder Brother is doing just fine; nobody is trying to harm Elder Brother at all!"

Xu Cai hastily denied it. Although she was well aware of her brother's obsession with Xie Wenjing, as long as her brother was still willing to study diligently every single day, she refused to use this matter to agitate their mother.

"Oh! As long as that's not true, good! That's right, your older brother never goes out provoking people, so why would anyone want to harm him?

Yin'er, leave the firewood chopping to Cai'er—she does it well enough. You should go back and focus on your studies! All our family's hopes rest entirely on you. Only when you achieve success and bring honor to the family will your sister and I have something to lean on.

Hurry up and study, don't just stand around here! We'll call you when it's time to eat!"

Xu Yin's mother had always firmly believed that no matter how bitter things were for her and her daughter, it could never compare to the hardships of a son's studies. Moreover, the entire family depended exclusively on her son's academic success to drag themselves out of their plight. Thus, her son's studies were of paramount importance.

Seeing how his mother was, Xu Yin obediently gave an affirmative reply and returned to his room to read.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince, who was currently traveling across Jiangnan to tend to the disaster victims, had also been briefed on the exploits of Xie Wenjing, the number one filial daughter of Hangzhou.

"Your Highness, judging by the events surrounding Xie Wenjing, this young female clearly possesses a great aura of destiny. My subordinates have investigated; this twelve-year-old girl handles herself with exceptional poise and stability.

Her father was gravely ill for over two years, and now he is virtually cured—that is an absolute fact.

I'm told that precisely because her father's illness was critical, she kowtowed until her forehead bled to beg her grandfather's permission to bring the entire family to Fanjing Temple to pray for her father's recovery.

At that time, Xie Wenjing took her third uncle to Lijiaci Village down the mountain, where they purchased a residential courtyard and one hundred mu of paddy fields.

When the wheat was still nearly two months away from harvest, she instructed the villagers to help her set fire to the hundred mu of wheat fields she had just purchased, immediately replanting them with soybeans.

Influenced by her, the villagers of Lijiaci also hardened their hearts, burned their wheat fields, and replanted with soybeans, which led to the subsequent miracle.

I must say, this is destiny. From ancient times until now, soybeans have universally been recognized as mere horse feed. Yet solely this year, horse feed soybeans miraculously transformed into profitable golden beans during a major disaster year. It can only be the will of Heaven."

The Crown Prince's chief strategist, Yi Zhen, was well-versed in strategic planning and divination.

"And what if it is not the will of Heaven? I've heard that when Xie Wenjing departed from the Xie family residence in Yangzhou, she meticulously took every single valuable item she could carry.

Not long after, word came of the division of the Yangzhou Xie family estate. Xie Wenjing's third uncle essentially left the Xie family with empty hands, because when they accompanied Xie Wenjing's family to Hangzhou earlier, they hadn't brought anything of value with them.

Only Xie Wenjing packed away every single valuable asset belonging to her entire branch. For a mere twelve-year-old girl to harbor such deep scheming intentions—if she cannot be made mine, she must be destroyed!

I care not whether she truly enjoys the protection of the Buddha. The more cunning and scheming such a person is, the more obstructive she will become if she cannot be utilized by me.

I can hardly forget that I was just forced to hand over a full seventy thousand taels of silver to a twelve-year-old girl!"

A muscle twitched across the Crown Prince's urbane, jade-like face before vanishing instantly. This was the first time he had ever been relieved of his silver by a twelve-year-old female—and a staggering seventy thousand taels at that!

By exploiting the plunging grain prices during the Jiangnan snow disaster, he had accumulated massive stockpiles of rice and flour, intending to reap the silver of Jiangnan's wealthy elite in the years to come.

He also planned to use this as leverage to check his eldest brother's ambitions, watching to see how he would manage to provision the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command. Without rice and flour, even His Majesty, with all his silver alone, could not sustain such a vast military force.

He had never anticipated that this twelve-year-old girl would also stockpile several thousand mu worth of rice seed. When their rice crops were eventually harvested, they would inevitably exert some influence over the future prices of the rice and flour he had hoarded, and might even be requisitioned by His Majesty to support his eldest brother's troops.

Fortunately, they only possessed a few thousand mu of rice fields; even with a bumper harvest, the yield would only amount to several hundred thousand or a million catties—a negligible drop in the bucket compared to the tens of millions of catties of grain he held in his own hands, entirely incapable of altering the grand strategic picture.

Even if His Majesty sought to acquire their grain, the countless commoners across Jiangnan still needed rice to eat; the true bulk of the grain destined for the soldiers' stomachs would still remain firmly within his grasp.

However, if a female like this were to pull off a few more such stunts, her impact on him would remain considerable. The best outcome would be to bring her under his own control.

For a farming girl of her background, even becoming a concubine to him would be an extraordinary stretch, unless her second uncle—who had already entered official service—could secure a respectable official post.

Only then could he take her as a concubine without drawing objections from the Empress or the Grand Empress Dowager.

Xie Wenjing remained blissfully unaware that her soaring reputation had already captured the Crown Prince's attention.

"Your Highness, that Zhao Qingyi, exactly as Your Highness anticipated, had all the soybeans and crop seeds he was transporting sink straight into the Qiantang River. Who knows how he supervised the transport vessels to let them stray directly from the Grand Canal into the Qiantang River?

Those several boats were utterly destroyed in the Qiantang River, ruining countless life-saving soybeans and crop seeds along with them. According to the casualty statistics, including crew members and several escort officials, a total of thirty lives were lost. The value of the destroyed soybeans and seeds amounted to a full two hundred and fifty thousand taels.

Yet curiously, Zhao Qingyi, the official responsible for this fiasco, was rescued by a crew member renowned for exceptional swimming skills. However, the crew member who saved him testified that when Zhao Qingyi was pulled from the water, his breath reeked heavily of alcohol.

Ruining major affairs through intoxication—this Zhao Qingyi has committed a grave crime against the state! With such massive losses and so many lives snuffed out, to have it dismissed merely as an accident caused by drunken negligence is utterly heartbreaking.

Your Highness, Zhao Qingyi has already been brought here under guard. Such a criminal deserves ten thousand deaths!"