Removing the Bandages

All of Lily Evans's protests were silenced by Lucky's pitiful gaze. She could only ask Belle to bring in hot water and then took a cloth to wipe him down herself.

After wiping his upper body, Lily tossed the cloth to Lucky. "You can reach down there yourself. You do it."

"No, I want you to do it, wife." Lucky shoved the cloth back into Lily's hand, blinking at her with a pitiful look. "Are you annoyed that I'm troublesome now...?"

"Me, me? How could I ever be annoyed with you..." Lily sighed, resigning herself. Lucky was only in this state because he saved her, so she might as well help.

"Take off your pants..." Lily tried to stay calm, her face serious.

Lucky took off his pants with lightning speed—completely and thoroughly.

"Why did you take off your underwear too!" Lily sighed and found herself staring directly at Lucky’s... well, you know.

"Wife, do you think I'm stupid now..." Her silly husband gazed at her with teary eyes.

Lily gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. "No, it's not like that... This is how you take them off..."

Fine, fine, fine—just pretend I’m wiping a sausage! With a deadpan face, Lily wiped Lucky down, feeling like she was going to get a stye from the whole ordeal.

After finally finishing wiping Lucky down, Lily was drenched in sweat herself. She told Belle to heat water so she could bathe in the next room. Halfway through her bath, a certain man barged in: "Wife, help me wipe my back! I want to help you wipe yours too!"

Lily quickly sank into the water, covering herself with a cloth, and slapped Lucky on the forehead. "Get out!"

"Oh..." Lucky drooped his head and left. Watching his retreating back, Lily took a deep breath, suddenly feeling that life was getting a bit overwhelming.

Early the next morning, Lily discussed buying the Leo Family Farmland with Uncle Warren.

Since Lily couldn't deal directly with the Leo Family, Uncle Warren took charge. He had Mr. Warren Sr. pose as a wealthy merchant to buy the land.

Howard Liu had become the laughingstock of his clan because of the houses built on the farmland. Every time someone mentioned those thousand mu, he felt utterly humiliated. So when Mr. Warren Sr. came to buy the land, Howard agreed readily. Mr. Warren Sr. then pressured the price, claiming it would cost money to tear down the houses.

All Howard wanted was to get rid of the land quickly and get some cash for turnover. After haggling, Mr. Warren Sr. bought the Leo Family Farmland at a price twenty percent below market value.

After sending Mr. Warren Sr. off, Howard breathed a sigh of relief and hurried off to brag to his father.

With the land successfully purchased, Uncle Warren had Mr. Warren Sr. help hire five hundred reliable laborers.

Lily was grinning from ear to ear. Since Uncle Warren had done so much, she once again suggested he take a share—her family would hold seventy percent, and Uncle Warren's family thirty percent.

Arthur Evans knew exactly how valuable these vegetables were—they were going to make a fortune. He thought Lily was generous and suggested his family only take a twenty percent share, letting Lily’s family have eighty percent.

With the deal settled, Lily called Old Joe Zhou, the foreman from Haizi Village, to choose trustworthy workers from the new hires to act as team leaders and train the newcomers.

Seeing that good work at Evans Manor could lead to a promotion to team leader, the laborers became even more motivated. They worked their hardest, hoping the business would grow so they could one day become stewards themselves.

After just seven or eight days of hard work, production began on the newly purchased thousand mu of farmland. A new batch of seeds was sown, and Lily estimated that the vegetables would be ready for harvest before the Spring Festival. Roughly calculated, this land could bring her nearly a hundred thousand taels of silver this winter.

At this rate, Lily would surpass the Zhang Bin Family in just a few years and become the richest person in Qingmiao City!

But just then, a piece of news spread through Haizi Village and caused an uproar.

Su Daqi was reunited with a scholar he had saved in his youth. That scholar was now a high-ranking official and had just been transferred to Qingmiao City.

The whole Su Daqi family suddenly rose to prominence—even Su Meixiang was released and sent home without charge!