Chapter 114: Rain Stops
The next day when the rain stopped, Zhang Pandi smiled and said, “Our Yaoguang’s little mouth must have been blessed. She said she hoped the rain would stop, and it really did.”
Jia Chunni asked from the side, “Now that the rain has stopped, we don’t have to worry about the price of grain rising, right?”
“Not necessarily.” Wang Huanzhi looked at the sky outside. “Look at the sky. I’m afraid this rain has only stopped temporarily, and there will be more later. For now, we can only take it one step at a time.”
Su Yaoguang led the artisan inside.
“Second aunt, third aunt, this is Master Tang. I asked Master Tang to help me expand a few rooms into a storeroom and also renovate all our rooms. Please keep an eye on it for me. If Master Tang needs anything or needs your help, please lend a hand.”
“Alright, Master Tang, just tell us if you need anything.” Zhang Pandi led the artisan master to the backyard. “This way, please.”
Master Tang said, “The young owner has already told me her requirements, and I know how to do it. I’ll take a look now first, and this afternoon I’ll bring my apprentices over to start work.”
“We’re doing business in the front yard, so please enter through the back door.”
“Of course.”
Zhang Yingdi asked Su Yaoguang, “Yaoguang, this house of ours is rented after all. With all this renovating and expanding, making the house so nice, what if the landlord doesn’t rent it to us anymore? We wouldn’t be able to move out, and it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“Don’t worry, maternal aunt. I’ve already thought of that, so I bought the house.” Su Yaoguang took out the deed from her bosom. “Before starting the work, I found the landlord and changed the deed.”
“That’s great.” Jia Chunni said happily, “This is now aunt’s and cousin’s house. We don’t have to worry about having no roots anymore.”
“I’ll go see how Jing’er is doing.” Su Yaoguang put away the deed and entered the medicinal bath room inside.
At this time, Jiang Jing was telling Wang Chunhua about precautions and also said, “From your pulse, the dampness in your body has improved a lot. Have you felt that your sleep has gotten better recently?”
“Exactly. Divine doctor sister. Not only do I sleep well now, I don’t gasp for breath after walking a few steps anymore. And look at my skin—feel it, it’s really like it’s made of tofu. My aunt even said this money was well spent and told me to bring my female cousin tomorrow. My female cousin doesn’t need to lose weight, but her skin is rough and needs proper care to find a good family next year.” Wang Chunhua said excitedly.
“How much has she lost?” Su Yaoguang asked Jiang Jing.
“Eight jin so far.” Jiang Jing said, “These past few days, I changed her prescription to focus on conditioning, so she’ll lose weight more slowly during this period.”
“Sister Chunhua, are you satisfied?” Su Yaoguang asked Wang Chunhua.
“Satisfied, very satisfied. My family saw my changes and they’re all very happy.” Wang Chunhua said, “Tomorrow I’m bringing two female cousins over. Save spots for me.”
“Tomorrow I have to visit a customer at their home. Everyone else will be in the shop. Don’t worry, everyone here has such good skills.”
Su Yaoguang chatted with Wang Chunhua for a while. When Zhang Yingdi came in to take over Jiang Jing for Wang Chunhua’s massage, Su Yaoguang went out to take charge.
Wang Chunhua this live advertisement worked well. Today the rain stopped too, and customers came to the shop one after another. Looking at the opposite side, ever since the rat incident, their business had plummeted.
Of course, Zhong Lanhua wasn’t idle either. She took the opportunity to renovate the shop front again. These past few days she’d been busy with it, looking like she planned to go all out.
“Maternal uncle, where’s my mother?” Su Yaoguang asked.
“She went out to buy things.” Wang Huanzhi said, “With the continuous rain recently, she wanted to buy some thicker clothes to have on hand.”
“Right, right. Why didn’t I think of that? My mother is so thoughtful.”
Zhang Zhaodi walked into the shop door cursing under her breath.
Su Yaoguang saw her return and strode up to meet her. “Mother, what happened?”
“I just ran into a thief who snatched my money bag. I chased him all the way and finally caught up, but there were several of them. Luckily, an elder brother passing by couldn’t stand by and helped me, so I didn’t suffer a loss.” Zhang Zhaodi said, “These thieves nowadays are so brazen. It makes me furious.”
“You weren’t hurt, were you?”
“I’m not,” Zhang Zhaodi said, “but that elder brother got injured helping me. I took him to the clinic to bandage his wound.”
“We should thank that benefactor.” Zhang Yingdi said, “How about sending some thank-you gifts over?”
“No need. I wanted to give thank-you gifts, but he wouldn’t accept.” Zhang Zhaodi said, “That elder brother is quite enthusiastic and didn’t help me for these things.”
In the following days, construction started urgently in the backyard of Peach Blossom Workshop, while the front yard was busy serving customers. To give customers a better experience, they made earplugs from cotton and plugged the customers’ ears. Though it couldn’t completely block sound, with sleep-aid incense lit in the room, the customers could lie there enjoying skincare services while getting a good sleep.
To speed up progress, Su Yaoguang had Master Tang find more artisans to come over, determined to finish as quickly as possible. After all, no one knew when the next rain would come, and they were doing business—continued construction would affect business, so finishing the project early would allow things to quiet down.
Zhang Zhaodi had been going out frequently lately. Su Yaoguang sensed something was off and when she asked, she said she’d made a new good sister friend and they got along so well that she often went to visit her.
“Mother, why not invite this aunt to our home as a guest? Introduce your new friend to us. If she comes to our shop in the future, we’ll give her a discount.”
Jia Chunni nodded repeatedly. “Yes, aunt.”
“Her family is poor and life is hard for her. How could she spend this money? But I’ll ask her. If she’s free, I’ll invite her to our home.”
Jiang Jing came in carrying large and small packages of medicinal herbs and said to Su Yaoguang, “Someone went to propose marriage across the street—a big procession, with a matchmaker and betrothal gifts.”
When Su Yaoguang heard there was commotion across the street, she got interested. She went to the door and saw a decent-looking young man leading the matchmaker to enter Fenghua Pavilion.
“Oh my, Young Master Qian, how come you’re here?”
Qian Yongqiang pointed to the procession behind him. “I said I would come to propose marriage to sister Yihuan. Auntie, where’s sister Yihuan?”
Jiang Yihuan was just walking back from outside with Xiao Yanci.
“Yihuan, I’m here to propose marriage to you.” Qian Yongqiang looked at Jiang Yihuan intently.
Jiang Yihuan’s face changed drastically. She pulled Qian Yongqiang to the corner, her eyes red as she said, “Brother Qian, why didn’t you discuss it with me first?”
She would be a fool to get married at a time like this.
Once a woman gets married, will other men still value her?
The reason she was precious now was because those men couldn’t have her. Once they did, she would just be a decoration for men to toss in the backyard.
