Chapter 84: Chapter 50: Planning to Build a House and Buy Land

The lunch went on for a long time. As Juhua brought out one dish after another, everyone praised them endlessly.

Even so, when the most time-consuming dish, the braised large intestine, was finally served, it was still devoured by everyone in an instant. Chen Yu’s eyes, in particular, lit up with amazement.

They hadn’t made the pork stomach stuffed with chicken, of course—Juhua couldn’t bear to kill a chicken, and Manager Mao didn’t have the heart to ask her to. Besides, the dish wasn’t complicated, just time-consuming, and the chicken required for it was expensive.

Manager Mao sighed and said, “Miss Juhua, you are truly brilliant. I’ve really learned something today.”

Li Gengtian laughed. “Brother Changhe, you’ve raised your two children well. They’re both so promising. I can tell Qingmu will have an amazing future too. You just wait and enjoy your comfortable life!”

Zheng Changhe kept spouting modest words, but his face was blooming with a wide smile.

When Juhua had finished all her work, Chen Yu had Manager Mao pay the Zheng Family one hundred and eighty taels of silver.

Juhua saw there were also two silver notes. She took them and examined them closely; one was for one hundred taels and the other for fifty taels. She looked up and saw Chen Yu watching her with a smile, so she quickly tried to cover up. “Could we have it in silver instead? What are these things? We don’t know how to use them!”

’Of course,’ she thought. ’You have to go all the way to the Qinghui County seat to exchange them. My father has lived his whole life without ever going there. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?’

Chen Yu saw through her act but didn’t expose it. He simply smiled. “Very well. It’s just that we don’t have enough silver on us. How about I have Manager Mao deliver the rest tomorrow?”

Mrs. Yang, who was standing nearby, laughed. “I go to the market every day. Just give it to me. It’ll save the Shopkeeper a trip.”

So Manager Mao first paid the Zheng Family 80 taels in silver and arranged with Mrs. Yang to deliver the remaining balance at the Fuxi Grocery Store the next day.

Meanwhile, Chen Yu asked Juhua, “Miss Juhua, how do you plan to sell that spicy cabbage?”

Juhua thought for a moment. “It’s just pickled cabbage. Even if you like it, I’m sure you can’t be bothered to go through the trouble of pickling it yourselves. Why don’t we make it and sell it to you? My mother goes to the market every day anyway, so it wouldn’t be any trouble to drop it off.”

Chen Yu glanced at Manager Mao, who hurriedly said, “That’s an excellent idea! How much for a pound of this spicy cabbage?”

Juhua fell silent and looked at her mother, Mrs. Yang.

Having been in business for so long, Mrs. Yang had a feel for these things. She said to Manager Mao, “We grow the cabbage ourselves, so it isn’t worth much—you can buy two pounds for one cent. But pickling it uses up a lot of seasonings, and with the labor cost, how about you give us three cents a pound?”

’She couldn’t ask for much more; after all, it was a cheap product. But if you really did the math, selling this spicy cabbage was less profitable than selling pig heads and offal!’

Chen Yu seemed to have read her mind and smiled. “Manager Mao, why don’t you take some to the restaurant and see how it sells? If it does well, pay Auntie four cents a pound. I can see that while the ingredients are cheap, it’s a lot of work. I’m afraid Auntie might not even make as much as she does from selling pig offal.”

Seeing what a reasonable young man Mr. Chen was, Mrs. Yang smiled and nodded repeatedly. “But we can’t sell it for too high a price. It can’t be that much more expensive than pig offal. Country folk still prioritize eating meat.”

Chen Yu laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll try selling it in Qinghui County. If the customers like it, you can make more. If you sell a large volume, you’ll earn it all back.”

Manager Mao said, “In that case, pack up ten pounds for me to take today. In the future, if I need more, I’ll just leave a message with the shopkeeper at Fuxi Grocery Store.”

Mrs. Yang quickly agreed.

Another flurry of activity followed as she found some jars to pack the spicy cabbage. She also packed a jar for the Li brothers.

Li Changyu laughed. “I was just about to ask for some! Auntie, you packed it for me before I could even speak.”

Mrs. Yang chuckled. “Listen to this child. It’s nothing special.”

Li Gengtian shot his son a look. “He ate a whole bowl of spicy cabbage last night, drank a ton of water, and had to get up several times during the night.”

Everyone roared with laughter at this, and Li Changyu’s face turned red.

It wasn’t until the sun had set behind Little Qing Mountain that Chen Yu and his group finally left the Zheng Family’s home.

As he was about to leave, Chen Yu wanted to say something to Juhua, but he couldn’t figure out what. After a long pause, he smiled and said to her, “Miss Juhua, if you ever need help with anything, just find Manager Mao.”

Juhua smiled and nodded at him, not saying much, only a simple, “Take care.”

’She understood the young man’s intentions perfectly. It was nothing more than a bit of pity for her. It was just like when Li Changyu ran into her yesterday. He’d thought she was a beauty and couldn’t resist trying to strike up a conversation, but the moment she lifted her veil, he was so shocked he stumbled backward.’

Just as she was thinking this, Li Changyu came up to her, grinning. “Juhua, is there anything you want to buy? I can bring it back for you from Qinghui when I go for the New Year.”

Juhua was taken aback. ’What did she want to buy? There wasn’t really anything.’ So, she just shook her head at him.

Seeing she didn’t want anything, Li Changyu thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll buy you a couple of boxes of pastries from the Good House. I guarantee you’ll like them.”

’Well, free food is free food,’ Juhua thought. ’Besides, didn’t you eat my spicy cabbage?’ So she smiled and said, “Well, thank you in advance then.”

Li Changyu said happily, “I haven’t brought them back yet! Wait until I do, then you can thank me!”

After everyone had left, Juhua and her parents went back inside. They took out the 80 taels of silver and counted it again, their faces alight with joy. Zheng Changhe stared at a large ten-tael silver ingot, trembling with excitement—he had never seen such a large piece of silver in his life.

Mrs. Yang brought out an earthenware jar and began putting the silver inside. “We have to keep this safe. Losing it would be no joke. How many ladles of pig offal would we have to sell to earn this much back?”

Just as she was speaking, Qingmu returned. He stared blankly at the earthenware jar full of silver, then looked at Juhua, his heart a mixture of happiness and sorrow. He was happy that the family was no longer short on money; he could even afford a decent betrothal gift if he were to get married now. But he was heartsore because his younger sister was so much more capable than he was—he didn’t need to support his sister at all. In fact, she was supporting him.

Juhua knew what he was thinking. She took his arm and said, “Brother, you must study hard and learn as much as you can. In the future, our family will have to rely on you! Look at Mr. Chen today, wasn’t he managing his family’s business? And isn’t he a scholar too? Mother and I are unworldly and can only sell pig offal, but you, brother, are destined for great things!”

Seeing her trying to comfort him, Qingmu smiled. “Your brother is hardly a capable person. What great things could I possibly do?”

Juhua deliberately glanced outside, then whispered to him, “Have you forgotten about all the acorns covering the mountain?”

Qingmu’s eyes lit up. He laughed, “That’s just for feeding a few more pigs. How is that a great thing?”

Juhua gave him a sideways glance. “There are so many oak trees on the mountain. Our family can’t keep it to ourselves, and we couldn’t hide it even if we tried. We might as well be generous and tell the village head that acorns can be used to feed pigs and chickens, and let him distribute them. Then, everyone in the village will start raising pigs and chickens. With so many animals being raised, how could we sell them all just at Xiatang Market? We’ll have to sell them in faraway places. When that time comes, won’t we need someone with worldly knowledge to go out and manage the business?”

Qingmu had never imagined she had thought so far ahead. Thinking about it carefully, he realized she was right and was filled with admiration.

Hearing his daughter’s words, Zheng Changhe thought of the three pigs in their pen, and his face bloomed into a wide smile. “As soon as spring comes, I’ll go get three more piglets.”

Mrs. Yang, who was very calculating, said to Zheng Changhe, “We need to buy some farmland and a cow. I don’t feel right with all this money just sitting in the house. Land is something solid. Then next year, when we’ve saved enough, we’ll build a new house—this one is too old.”

Zheng Changhe rubbed his hands together and nodded vigorously. “Yes! We’ll buy land and a cow. But will there be enough money to build a house?”

Qingmu interjected, “Dad, let’s buy a little less land for now. I have to study for the next two years, and the family won’t be able to manage too much farmland. It’s better to build the house first. Most importantly, we need to build another row of pigpens. Next year, we’ll raise more pigs and continue the offal business. After I finish my two years of study and come home, we can buy more land. We won’t have to worry then.”

Seeing how reasonable her son’s plan was, Mrs. Yang nodded repeatedly. “Qingmu is right. Even if we bought a little more land, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to farm it all. No matter what, we can’t give up this pig offal business. I think even though it’s a bit troublesome and tiring, it’s more profitable than farming.”

She turned her head and saw Juhua, wide-eyed, looking first at her father, then at her brother. She smiled and patted her head. “Juhua, you should say something too—you’re the one who earned this money! Don’t you usually have plenty of ideas?”

Zheng Changhe laughed. “Oh! We forgot about Juhua. Juhua, what do you say? Is this a good plan?”

Juhua smiled, pressing her lips together. “Of course, it’s a good plan! I was thinking the same thing as Brother—we definitely have to build the house. It’s not about being extravagant now that we have money. It’s because if we’re going to raise more pigs and chickens next year, the yard and the house won’t be big enough. We need to plan it out properly.”

Qingmu smiled and nodded. That was exactly what he had been thinking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep