Pretend

  "In the back of my mind, I already have a plan, but for now, I won't elaborate. What we need to do now is figure out how to quickly and safely earn our first fortune, so that our subsequent plans can be implemented."

  "Alright, Cousin Jinyu, I'll listen to you."

  Bai Ping looked at An Yan's gaze with a strange light, feeling that as long as he followed this woman, all his heart's desires would be fulfilled.

  An Yan suddenly felt like an orator, quietly bewitching people's hearts.

  An Yan's eyes flickered slightly as she listened to Bai Ping's words, then shifted her gaze to others. She needed absolute trust and support, so that later on, things would go smoothly. The current situation of the Bai family was like walking on a tightrope, and any slight mistake could lead to another disaster. Therefore, under such circumstances, she needed absolute control, not allowing even the slightest error to occur.

  Her aunt, Wang, looked at her niece for a long time, her eyes changing from doubt to determination, and finally, the oldest member of the family nodded heavily in agreement.

  With a nod from Auntie, everything that follows is guaranteed.

  Liu and Xiuniang also nodded in agreement at this time, their eyes shining as they looked at An Yan.

  It was Bai Shi, the mother of this body, who gazed at An Yan with a flickering gaze, and there was a kind of conjecture that made An Yan's heart skip a beat.

  It's clear that Bai Shi, the birth mother of this body, will eventually discover that she isn't the real Tang Jingyun. And now, Bai Shi has become suspicious again?

  It's not worth thinking about now. Some things have become a foregone conclusion, and it's beyond human power to change them. She never thought of harming others, nor did she want such consequences. The harm has been done, but she will try her best to make amends, also grateful for this second chance at life.

  She shifted her gaze to the crowd and said in a cold voice, "Alright, I'll say it first. According to my plan, I have 10% confidence that we can make the White family gradually become rich and powerful, and slowly gain the strength to deal with our enemies. However, everyone should know that this path is bound to be arduous and perilous, so we must be cautious. Because if there's even a slight leak of information, neither Qingfeng Wine House nor Mingyue Wine House will let us off. Since they can do something as despicable as stealing our secret formula, doing it once or twice makes no difference to them. Therefore, I need everyone's trust, absolute trust and cooperation. Otherwise, if there's even a slight mistake in the middle, and we attract their attention again, we might not be able to escape this time, and perhaps no one will be able to save us."

  Although Mr. Shang Zhu is a kind and righteous person, he cannot help with everything. This matter involves Bai An and the reputation of Xin Zhu Academy, so Mr. Shang Zhu will lend a hand. What about next time? Due to disputes over interests, will Mr. Shang Zhu intervene again? Even if Mr. Shang Zhu intervenes, after this lesson, will those people give them another chance to seek help from Mr. Shang Zhu?

  It's probably impossible now.

  Everyone listened, and deep wrinkles appeared between their eyebrows, also understanding the danger in between. They all nodded solemnly to An Yan's words with serious faces.

  An Yan saw that everyone had a united front, and he couldn't help but smile with relief. In an instant, it was as if spring had arrived, flowers were blooming, and the warm breeze was gentle.

  "Alright, my idea is to sell the whips. However, we can't do it ourselves, we need to find a reliable person to do it for us and then split the earnings between our two families. So, does anyone have a suitable candidate in mind?"

  White Ping thought for a moment and said, "I have several good brothers in the village. After careful consideration, I think Zhang Tiejiang from the village head is the most suitable. Firstly, he is a trustworthy person who is loyal and honest. Secondly, as an ironworker, he has some connections with shops in the county, so he should be able to pick up business quickly."

  Zhang Tiejiang, An Yan quickly filtered this name in her mind, and soon a gentle and kind face appeared in her mind.

  Spring Maiden! It was actually him, and he's Spring Maiden's husband. This is a good thing, she has a good impression of Spring Maiden too. If they really do cooperate with Zhang the blacksmith, it should be quite enjoyable. However, she didn't immediately make up her mind, after all, she only thought it was feasible based on first impressions. How they are as people still needs to be evaluated by Aunt Wang and the two sisters-in-law. She's an outsider who has just arrived in the village, and doesn't understand the character of the villagers yet.

  "Zhang Tiejiang is indeed a good person, he is kind and generous."

  "Hmm, Zhang Tie's wife Chunniang is also good, she is careful and meticulous in her dealings."

  "Uh, their family is pretty good too."

  Everyone spoke highly of this family, it seems that this blacksmith's family has indeed won the hearts of many.

  "Alright, let's settle on Zhang Tiejiang and his family as our partners then. Next, we need to quietly get in touch with the Zhang Tiejiang family without arousing suspicion. Let Big Brother take care of this."

  "Okay, we'll go later."

  Bai Ping immediately had a eager look on his face, wanting to go right away.

  "Are you going directly to Zhang's house to discuss selling the bamboo shoots? Isn't that going to draw a lot of attention?"

  Bai Ping was taken aback by the question. He thought that as long as it wasn't the Bai family who sold the dried radish, everything would be fine. He didn't expect that even discussing cooperation would require such caution.

  "Our Bai family is now struggling to make a living, and we have no choice but to go hunting in the mountains. Shouldn't that be normal? If we're going to hunt, don't we need tools? And if we need them, shouldn't we go to Zhang the blacksmith's place to get them made?"

  An Yan was asked a series of questions by Bai Ping, which left him somewhat bewildered and unable to respond immediately. On the other hand, Wang Shi turned around and looked at An Yan with eyes full of praise and admiration for this method.

  "Does 'cousin' mean that she will use hunting as an excuse to enter the Zhang's house and then discuss selling the whip?"

  "Not bad."

  A gentle word and a quiet smile were all it took to show agreement.

  "So I have to go hunting every day from now on?"

  Bai Ping hesitated for a moment before saying something that almost made An Yan bite his own tongue.

  It seems that people in ancient times were more honest, she needs to learn to understand and take these factors into consideration. After making a good construction in her heart, An Yan said to everyone: "I said going hunting is just for outsiders to make an appearance, but in fact, as long as the eldest brother goes for two or three days and pretends to be injured, he won't have to go again later."

  When he heard this, Bai Ping's eyebrows furrowed. He had always been a straightforward person, and now that he was doing something deceitful, for a moment he couldn't accept it. The expressions of the others also became somewhat stiff, obviously they didn't feel good about deceiving people either.

  "Softly, he said: 'Don't deceive people. It's because we're afraid of hurting innocent people. But now we're deceiving people, and we haven't hurt any innocent people. We're just protecting ourselves. So even if the heavens know, they will surely forgive us.'"

  Her face had a faint smile, and her eyes were filled with confident light, making everyone involuntarily convinced.