Oh no! Seven kids at the start, all yellow and skinny.

Chapter 281 I Have Selfish Motives

“The New Year is almost here, I can’t stay here forever.” Yunyi turned to look at Zhou Jinghan. “What are your thoughts?”

“Yiyi, my second brother needs treatment, so he definitely can’t be too far from you. I’m thinking of sending him to the village. What do you think?” Zhou Jinghan asked tentatively. “To be honest, Feng Yang and Doctor Xue have been taking care of him these days, but two grown men…”

“Okay.” Yunyi nodded. “Anyway, you’ve given me enough money.”

After all, the original owner was quite familiar with Jinlu Pavilion. It was a high-end clothing store in ancient times, where the cheapest outfit cost ten or eight taels of silver, and the most expensive ones cost over a hundred taels. The embroiderers there were also top-notch, and many of them required pre-ordering.

Fang Yunduo, the original owner's adopted younger sister, would always show off her clothes to the original owner whenever she bought them at Jinlu Pavilion.

When Zhou Jinghan said he was making a fortune every day, it was no exaggeration.

Since they've given us so much money, we should at least provide corresponding services.

"Then I'll take some time in the next few days to send the person over."

Yun Yi agreed, and then took Yun Hong to Fengyun Pavilion.

Both Fengyun Pavilion and Fengyun Teahouse are the same; although they are business establishments, they are actually used to gather intelligence for Yunyi.

He Wei compiled the information he had gathered over the past few days and reported it to Yunyi.

Yunyi flipped through the information. Although it wasn't anything particularly important, it gave her a clear picture of the situation of some prominent families in Longxi City. For example, she learned about which family had how many daughters they had and what they looked like, which family had relatives in the capital, and what each family's shops sold. In short, although it was a jumbled mess and seemed useless, it was often this kind of information that could expose a lot of problems.

For example, the Tong family, who run a medicinal herb business in the east of the city, had a concubine's daughter who married into the Qian family, who run a rice and grain business in the south of the city, last month.

This wouldn't normally be a problem; marriage between people of similar social standing is quite normal. But if you look closer, you'll find something interesting.

For example, Huo Qingyuan's deputy was named Gu Tao.

Gu Tao was a native of Longxi City. The Gu family was considered a prominent family in Longxi City, with a martial arts champion among their ancestors. Later, the family opened a security escort agency.

The younger sister of the current head of the Qian family is Gu Tao's second aunt.

That's not all. It's said that the Qian family lost a son a long time ago. He only returned from beyond the Great Wall two years ago. It's said that he was sold to Beiliang. He only got the chance to come back with his wife and children two years ago.

After the return of this young master Qian, he facilitated the Qian family's entry into the border business.

Although the Great Zhou and the Northern Liang have not gone to war in the past two years, they have not officially opened a trade route either. Although trade between the two countries is possible, it is subject to strict restrictions.

This shows that this young master Qian is quite capable.

"Ah Hong." Yun Yi organized the information and handed it to Yun Hong. "Give these to Jing Han."

Yun Hong left with the message.

Yunyi then told He Wei and the others to close the gate and go back to the village for the New Year.

Since the house was guarded by servants, they packed their things and returned to Carp Town with Yunyi.

Zhou Jinghan said he would personally escort his second brother back to the village. To her surprise, he actually returned under the identity of Xia Tianyin.

This decision was clearly not discussed with Xia Songshi and the others, so their reactions upon meeting were entirely genuine, perfectly capturing their shock, joy, and inner turmoil.

The villagers heard about it and came one after another to offer their congratulations.

Yunyi watched all this speechlessly, wondering what this person was trying to do.

"Mother." Er Ya came over and sat down next to Yun Yi. "Father is back. Aren't you happy?"

"Where did you see that I was unhappy?" Yunyi rubbed her head.

“You don’t seem happy at all,” Er Ya said, rubbing her messy hair. “I can even sense that you’re angry.”

"You're mistaken," Yunyi scoffed. "I have a man now, I'm not a widow anymore, what do I have to be angry about?"

Er Ya scratched her head: "But..."

"Alright, you're just a little kid. Your main tasks are to eat, study, exercise, and enjoy every day, not to worry about adult matters." Yunyi pinched her cheek. "Not bad, you've gained weight."

"You woman..." Er Ya stood up angrily, "How can you be so ungrateful? I was just concerned about you."

"Thank you."

"Hmph." Er Ya snorted, "You're too infuriating, I don't want to talk to you for now." With that, she turned and left.

Yunyi chuckled. This little girl is definitely going to be a feisty one in the future. When she saw Da Bao standing not far away, she stopped smiling and waved to him.

"Mom, are you angry with Dad?" Da Bao came over.

Which father are you referring to?

"I..." Da Bao's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly lowered his head. "You knew everything?"

Am I some kind of stupid person?

"No," Da Bao shook his head, "It's just...it's just..."

"Stop just saying that." Yunyi sighed. "How old are you? Just like Er Ya, you're still a little kid. Don't involve yourself in adult matters. Go do what you're supposed to do."

Da Bao nodded, but stopped after taking two steps: "Then will you still be our mother?"

“Actually, you all have your own mothers, or perhaps I could be your older sister?” Yunyi stroked her chin.

Da Bao's lips twitched, but he quickly nodded: "Then, in private, I'll call you Sister Yun?"

"casual."

Da Bao left with a happy smile.

Yunyi was indeed a little annoyed, but only for a moment. After the two little ones made a fuss, her annoyance disappeared. She was about to go to the front to have some fun with everyone when she saw Zhou Jinghan suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"Did the three of you plan this out?" Yunyi asked, somewhat amused and exasperated.

“I didn’t discuss it with them. They were just afraid you’d be unhappy.” Zhou Jinghan walked over and looked down at Yun Yi somewhat because of his height. “I was also afraid you’d be unhappy.”

"Whether I'm happy or not, you've already done it all, haven't you?" Yun Yi rubbed her forehead, then pointed to the chair next to her, "Sit down and talk, it's tiring to look up like that."

Zhou Jinghan is at least 1.85 meters tall, more than 20 centimeters taller than this person. I hadn't noticed before because we weren't too close, but now that we're standing face to face, I finally feel the height difference.

In my previous life, I was 1.75 meters tall. Fortunately, I am only 14 years old in this body now. I hope I can grow taller, even if it means reaching 1.7 meters.

Zhou Jinghan couldn't help but laugh, then actually sat down, his expression somewhat restrained: "Yiyi, I have my own reasons for coming back like this."