Everything about the ancestral home had nothing to do with Hua Qiong.

She had no energy to pay attention to the old house; her entire focus was on the pigsty.

A few more pigs were sold from the pigsty.

The remaining pigs were basically all pre-booked by the butcher shops.

A few days ago, when Pandie was feeding the pigs, he noticed that one of the pigs in the pigsty wasn’t in good condition.

Hua Qiong’s heart pounded fearfully, afraid it was swine fever.

If that were the case, wouldn’t the sold pigs harm people?

If a citywide epidemic were to break out, not to mention the ruined reputation of her family’s pork, she, as the Sui Feng Village Lady, might become a sinner noted in history books.

Hua Qiong didn’t want to "leave her name in history" in such a way.

For the past two days, Hua Qiong and Pandie stayed up watching over the pigs day and night, and she delved into numerous livestock-breeding books in her space.

Luckily, it was a false alarm.

The pig was just lethargic from overeating.

After the false alarm, Hua Qiong did not dare to be careless.

The greatest fear in raising livestock is an epidemic.

An epidemic would not only sweep away profits but would likely also impact all the livestock and people in the village.

When she chose the ruined temple as a pig farm, Hua Qiong focused on its location at the village’s edge, ensuring it wouldn’t contaminate the village’s water source.

The scare further convinced Hua Qiong that the pig farm must not have any issues, personally leading Pandie, Mrs. Cao, Da Han, and others to meticulously check every corner of the pigsty.

Every day, she had Mrs. Cao sprinkle quicklime for disinfection in areas prone to contamination.

The pigsty was washed spotless daily, and pig manure was promptly cleared out.

"Separate these newly arrived piglets from the older ones for seven days. Confirm there’s no problem, then raise them together. In the future, use this method for all new arrivals."

"These seven piglets are from Fengle Building."

Gu Dahuan had acquired another batch of piglets from a neighboring village, and upon unloading them, Hua Qiong instructed Pandie, the pig farming trainee.

"Don’t worry, Auntie," Pandie replied, jotting down something on paper.

Pandie was learning to read with Chen Sufen and Liu Yueer, working diligently with extra practice each day, seeking help from Mr. Su, who frequently visited the village. Now she could write quite a few words.

Under Hua Qiong’s guidance, Pandie developed a scientific mindset for breeding, documenting various issues encountered at the pig farm on paper.

As Hua Qiong called it, this was the pig farming journal.

"Aunt," Gu Ruinian entered the pig farm.

Hua Qiong frowned slightly.

Instinctively, she didn’t like Gu Ruinian.

"What are you doing here?" Hua Qiong asked coolly.

"I was passing by and came in to have a look," Gu Ruinian said, his eyes constantly sizing up the pigs in the pen.

Hua Qiong said, "What’s there to see about pig farming? It’s dirty and smelly."

Gu Ruinian said, "Aunt, your pigsty is so clean; I couldn’t even smell the piggery as I passed by outside. How do you do it?"

Seemingly casual, he was actually fishing for information.

Hua Qiong smiled but stayed silent.

Pandie said, "How do we do it? Through hard work; we clean this pigsty umpteen times a day."

So it relied on manual labor.

Gu Ruinian felt a flicker of disdain.

He always wanted to explore Hua Qiong’s background. How could a rural widow open a shop, run a pig farm, and make big money?

He, a high-achiever in modern times, only encountered failures.

Though he hadn’t had a chance to visit the town’s pastry shop, he decided to first explore Widow Tong’s pig farm in the village.

Gu Ruinian, sticking close to Hua Qiong, kept addressing her intimately as "aunt."

"Where’s Brother Jingzhe? I just passed by your house wanting to ask him something, but he wasn’t home," Gu Ruinian said.

In reality, he hadn’t even knocked on their door.

Hua Qiong said, "He went to the town’s private school. You said you were going to attend the private school, why aren’t you there?"

Gu Ruinian put away his smile and said, "I believe that learning doesn’t depend on the classroom, but on oneself. I plan to review at home first and then go to the private school in a few days."

What he didn’t mention was that his family couldn’t afford the tuition, and he was trying to come up with a solution.

In the past few days wandering around the village, he discovered there was also a private school here, taught by the large household’s coachman instructing a group of children.

Listening from outside the window, he felt concerned about the quality of education and student generation of this era.

He figured the private school in town could not be much better.

Poor students meant that even the best teachers were useless.

He originally wanted to attend the town’s private school to develop some enthusiastic scholars as followers. Now it seemed unnecessary to waste that effort; winning over Gu Jingzhe as a loyal follower would suffice. Moreover, he had learned that Wanliu Academy existed in Ning City, from which half of this dynasty’s jinshi hailed.

He planned to go to Wanliu Academy to develop followers after becoming a scholar.

Hua Qiong didn’t care about Gu Ruinian’s plans; she went to look at an older sow about to give birth.

Gu Ruinian quickly caught up, asking questions left and right.

Hua Qiong understood; this nephew was here to probe into her identity.

For other people, Hua Qiong might reveal her origins.

But this Gu Ruinian obviously had ulterior motives, trying to coax her secrets...

Hua Qiong was also thinking about uncovering his background without making a move...

"Aunt, why did you decide to raise pigs instead of sheep? Pork isn’t as tasty as lamb," Gu Ruinian asked.

In this era, pork was so pungent, what noble family would want to eat it?

Hua Qiong said, "We couldn’t bear to sell a dozen piglets from one of our sows, so we raised them."

Gu Ruinian asked, "To whom do you sell the pigs?"

Hua Qiong said, "The meat traders come to collect the pigs. Who knows whom they sell the meat to?"

Gu Ruinian couldn’t hide his disappointment.

The aunt’s business acumen wasn’t as high-level as he’d imagined; it was too plain.

"Aunt, don’t you find pork unappetizing with its gamy smell?"

"For ordinary families, who eats meat every day? Who can afford mutton or beef? Having pork to eat is already good enough."

"Aunt, would you like to make pork taste better, without the gaminess?"

"How can it be made tastier? Do you have a method?"

"I don’t know either, just asking if you knew."

"Then I don’t know."

Gu Ruinian tried probing Hua Qiong many times without extracting the information he wanted, leaving him unsatisfied.

Suddenly, he remembered an important piece of information. On his first day in Qinghe Bay, he overheard the Clan Leader mention that his aunt had developed a pesticide to remove some corn disease, leading to a bumper harvest in Ning City and earning her an Imperial Decree from the Shengjing Emperor, conferring her the title of Village Lady.

At the time, he suspected, how could a simple farmwoman, who spent most of her life in Qinghe Bay, create a pesticide?

She must have a secret, likely similar to himself, coming from the modern era and utilizing knowledge gaps to develop pesticides.

She was just luckier and succeeded.

Thinking this, Gu Ruinian casually discussed crops in the fields with Hua Qiong.

After some discussion, he discreetly asked, "Aunt, I heard you were granted the title of Village Lady for creating a corn pesticide; how did you do it?"

Hua Qiong thought to herself, this is just a different way to probe her origins.