Gu Ruinian originally planned to let Gu Honglian go back first while he continued to stroll around town.

He wanted to find out which family in town was wealthy and powerful, pinpoint a target, and then accidentally meet their daughter to capture her heart.

Then, he could seize the opportunity to use those resources for his own advantage.

After all, aren’t those time-traveling live-in sons-in-law always leveraging their wives’ resources to ascend?

Although he looked down on Yan Guan Town, if possible, he would prefer to go to Shengjing to capture a wealthy noblewoman.

But it was more important to solve the current problem first.

If he encountered a noblewoman from a better family in the future, he could marry again.

Anyway, in this era, having three wives and four concubines is legal, and he has the ability to make them live harmoniously.

However, Gu Honglian was unwilling to go back first.

She was afraid that Gu Ruinian would have silver in hand and secretly indulge himself, leaving her at a disadvantage.

Seeing that he couldn’t convince Gu Honglian, Gu Ruinian inquired, "Aunt, do you know which family in our town is the wealthiest?"

Gu Honglian had been attending banquets with Grandma Gu since she was a child and was very familiar with the situation of each family in town, so she said, "It’s definitely the Huang family living at the east end of the town."

Gu Ruinian’s eyes lit up and he asked, "Does the Huang family have a daughter?"

Gu Honglian nodded and said, "Yes. Her name is Huang Jingshan. I’ve seen her before; she doesn’t look good."

What a pity, Gu Ruinian thought. But as long as she could help him, her looks didn’t really matter, since he planned to marry a noblewoman in Shengjing later.

"How old is she?" Gu Ruinian asked.

"I guess she’s eighteen this year," Gu Honglian replied. "I don’t know if she’s engaged. Anyway, when big brother died and I came back for his funeral, I overheard people lamenting that the Huang family, being merchants, wanted Huang Jingshan to marry a scholar, but since she isn’t pretty, no scholar liked her, so the marriage negotiations never succeeded."

Gu Ruinian was absolutely delighted.

He knew his luck couldn’t be that bad; here was a great opportunity waiting for him in Yan Guan Town.

No matter her looks, he could just hook up with her first.

He was a child student about to take the scholar exam, and he wasn’t bad-looking. Coupled with the title of being the Sui Feng Village Lady’s nephew, marrying the daughter of the wealthiest merchant in town would be a boon for the other party.

Gu Ruinian wished he could go home immediately and ask his parents to propose to the Huang family.

"What are you thinking? Saying that the Huang family’s daughter isn’t married yet? Don’t think you can match Miss Huang just because you wear a scholar’s hat."

A mocking voice rang out, and Gu Ruinian turned to see an older, scholarly dressed man sneering at him.

"May I ask who you are?" Gu Ruinian felt very uncomfortable.

The man shook his fan and said, "Don’t you even know me? I’m the only scholar in the Yan Guan Town private school."

Gu Ruinian had an indifferent look on his face.

So what if he was the first scholar? Next month he would not only become a scholar but also take the top spot.

Seeing the sour look of the scholar, could it be he was also eyeing Miss Huang?

"Aunt, do you know who the only scholar in town is?"

Gu Ruinian had already regarded Fan Tong as a competitor for the Huang family’s son-in-law position, so he deliberately asked Gu Honglian to show his contempt for the person in front of him.

Gu Honglian’s eyes lit up when she saw Fan Tong. Wasn’t this the Fan Tong that Gu Taohua mentioned before?

"Mr. Fan," Gu Honglian said with a joyful face, "I didn’t expect you to become a scholar in just a few years."

Fan Tong muttered, who is this?

This Scholar Fan, dressed in ordinary clothes, had a mouth full of sourness. Only in Aunt’s village eyes did he hold any filter.

Gu Ruinian didn’t plan to continue pestering Fan Tong and was about to leave.

He had more important things to do.

Fan Tong blocked Gu Ruinian and mocked, "I just heard you mention Miss Huang and inquire if she is engaged. Do you really think you can become the Huang family’s ideal son-in-law? Don’t you know Miss Huang is already married? She married Mr. Lu from Wanliu Academy in the city."

Gu Ruinian’s heart sank, but he calmly said, "Mr. Fan, you misunderstood. My aunt and I were just chatting. But why do I feel that you are the one upset about Miss Fan marrying Mr. Lu?"

Fan Tong snorted and left.

Though Gu Ruinian hadn’t met Miss Huang, he was just frustrated to have missed out on such a good marriage opportunity.

Losing interest in strolling, Gu Ruinian took Gu Honglian on Mr. Xu’s ox cart back to Qinghe Bay.

The Gu family’s old house was packed with people.

Mr. Gu had asked the clan leader to call the family members who rented land from him to negotiate returning it.

After a long discussion, no consensus was reached.

Mr. Gu wanted the land returned quickly, but the other party wanted to wait until after the wheat harvest.

"...Granduncle, when I rented your land, it was agreed for ten years, and I’ve already paid you ten years’ worth of silver. You can’t go back on your word now." The person renting Mr. Gu’s land was Gu Daqiang, who was the clan leader’s own nephew.

At the time, Mr. Gu thought he would enjoy life in the south with his second son and wouldn’t farm anymore, so he leased the land to Gu Daqiang for ten years.

There was no written contract, only a verbal agreement, but the other party did pay him ten years’ rent.

The clan witnessed it back then; he wouldn’t stand a chance even if he took it to court.

Besides, now that his second son went bankrupt and returned home, his foundation was shaky, and he couldn’t afford to fall out with Gu Daqiang.

But without recovering the land, it wouldn’t work.

Mr. Gu said, "Daqiang, when I rented you the land for ten years, I charged rent lower than the market rate. Everyone has hard times. If our business hadn’t failed, I wouldn’t ask you to return the land."

Hearing about their business failure, Gu Youtian was all unhappy, feeling Mr. Gu exposed his bottom line.

Mr. Gu repeated himself over and over, and Gu Daqiang was fed up, sticking to his stance: "The lower market rate wasn’t me taking advantage, but because only I was willing to pay the ten years’ rent at once. My wheat is growing well this year, and it’s set to be a good harvest. You now want to take it back; that doesn’t make sense. I also said earlier that you can take back the land, but the ten-year rent and the wheat harvest are mine."

Gu Daqiang had already compromised a lot.

Mr. Gu remained silent.

First, he didn’t have that much silver in hand, as the remaining silver was for daily expenses and Gu Ruinian’s city exams fees.

Second, he wanted the current season’s wheat.

Otherwise, the whole family would go hungry.

The clan leader, after mediating all afternoon, was also getting a headache. He was the one who had persuaded Mr. Gu to return but didn’t want to offend his own nephew, Gu Daqiang, either.

"How about this? Deduct the rent of the first four years from the ten years; what remains are six years. So, return six years’ rent to Daqiang, and the yield of the field will belong to Daqiang." The clan leader deemed this solution relatively fair.

Mr. Gu, however, said, "Brother, you have a point. I will return six years’ rent, leaving this season’s wheat harvest to me, and I’ll pay Daqiang according to market price. But you know my current situation. I don’t have the silver now, so I’ll owe the six years’ rent and the wheat to him, and I’ll repay when I have enough silver."

Gu Daqiang was stunned.

He didn’t expect Mr. Gu to be so shameless.