Chapter 66: Celebrating Making Money
The Yueyang Preserved Egg and Salted Egg Business, jointly opened by the Li family and Sister-in-law Yin, held its first inventory after one month of operation, filled with joy.
There was no need for an inventory to know that the business over the past month had been excellent.
Their preserved eggs and salted eggs from the Yueyang Business were indeed delicious. In Sister-in-law Yin’s words: “In Pingjiang City, there are a few places whose preserved eggs and salted eggs are comparable to ours in taste and texture, but none are better!”
With delicious preserved eggs and salted eggs, there was no worry about selling them.
Furthermore, on the opening day, the Prince’s Estate placed an order for preserved eggs and salted eggs. This matter, under Sister-in-law Yin’s tireless and public promotion, became widely known within half a month.
Including the Pingjiang Prefecture’s yamen, at least half of the prominent families in Pingjiang City had ordered preserved eggs and salted eggs from the Yueyang Business.
This segment accounted for at least half of the Yueyang Business’s sales.
These sales were beyond Sister-in-law Yin’s expectations. Fortunately, Sister-in-law Yin was quick to react, and Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu were both capable and hardworking. The Zhang family also strongly supported Sister-in-law Yin’s business.
Zhang Da, Old Man Zhang, and Li Wenliang were so busy they couldn’t stop, helping to hire people, buy materials, and find another workshop. They finally managed to expand the workshop in time and didn’t miss any sales.
The profits from the inventory had already been reinvested into expanding the workshop. None of them had seen a single large coin, only looking at the figures on the ledger, unable to get enough of it.
Sister-in-law Yin suggested going to a restaurant for a celebratory feast.
Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu calculated how much copper coins it would cost to buy chicken and fish and make it themselves versus how much it would cost to go to a restaurant. The difference was too great, so Li Jinzhu and Sister-in-law Yin suggested: “Let’s make it ourselves.”
Sister-in-law Yin laughed and nodded.
When it came to managing household finances, she admired the Li sisters immensely.
This celebratory feast was held at the Li family’s home. Sister-in-law Yin changed her clothes, brought her son Da Bao, and a five-jin jar of Nu’er Hong wine to the Li family’s home.
Sister-in-law Yin was thoughtful. Thinking that the Li family likely didn’t have wine pots or cups, she brought a small charcoal stove for warming wine and charcoal in a basket, letting Da Bao carry it over.
Li Xuedong, with Da Bao, took the charcoal stove to the kitchen to heat charcoal and put it into the small stove. Li Xiaonan helped Sister-in-law Yin break the seal on the wine jar, poured the wine into the wine pot, and placed it on the charcoal stove to warm.
Li Jinzhu was the head chef, Li Yuzhu assisted, and Li Yin Zhu tended the fire. The dishes were soon ready, and the table was set in the main hall.
Stir-fried chicken, steamed fish, freshly bought braised duck, braised pork, their own preserved eggs, and vegetables grown in the backyard – a table full of dishes.
The Li siblings insisted that Sister-in-law Yin take the head seat. After a few polite refusals, Sister-in-law Yin accepted.
There were seven people at the table, and she was the oldest, so it was appropriate for her to sit at the head.
Sister-in-law Yin’s son, Da Bao, sat at the last seat.
Li Xiaonan placed the cups and picked up the pot to pour wine.
Li Yin Zhu was the first to pick up a cup, carefully sniffed it, and then licked it with her tongue.
It was her first time drinking alcohol.
“How does it taste?” Sister-in-law Yin asked with a smile.
“Strange,” Li Yin Zhu pursed her lips.
“Xiucai Scholar, please try,” Sister-in-law Yin said to Li Xuedong with a smile.
Li Xuedong had been a Xiucai Scholar for nearly half a year and had attended many banquets and social gatherings. He had drunk quite a bit of wine. He picked up the cup, took a sip, tasted it, and nodded, saying, “This wine is good. It must be many years old, right?”
“Our Xiucai Scholar is a connoisseur,” Sister-in-law Yin smiled. “This is Nu’er Hong from my dowry, over thirty years old.”
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaonan quickly picked up her cup and took a sip.
“How is it?” Sister-in-law Yin looked at Li Xiaonan and asked with a smile.
“Mmm, it’s really good!” Li Xiaonan took another sip.
“Drink slowly, eat the dishes first. This wine is strong,” Sister-in-law Yin said with a smile.
Li Yin Zhu, imitating Li Xiaonan, took a sip, inhaled, and quickly grabbed a piece of braised pork.
Sister-in-law Yin’s alcohol tolerance seemed quite good. Holding her cup, she went around offering drinks to the five Li siblings.
The dishes on the table were mostly eaten, and the jar of wine was almost finished.
Li Yuzhu, swaying unsteadily, began to clear the bowls and plates. Li Xuedong pulled Da Bao into the courtyard, intending to test him on the verses he was supposed to have memorized the day before yesterday.
Li Yin Zhu was drunk and held onto Li Jinzhu’s arm, calling out “Eldest Sister” repeatedly.
Li Xiaonan didn’t expect her alcohol tolerance to be quite good; she only felt a slight dizziness. She stood up, thought for a moment, and took the tea leaves and teapot to the kitchen to boil water for tea. Strong tea could help sober one up.
Sister-in-law Yin had drunk the most. She dragged a chair over to Li Jinzhu and kept talking to her, patting her shoulder.
The heat for boiling water didn’t matter. Li Xiaonan boiled the water, brewed the tea, and brought it into the main hall.
“…Sister, I’m telling you, in my heart, there’s a pent-up anger! Pent-up for over ten years, finally!”
Sister-in-law Yin giggled charmingly.
“Sister, I’m telling you, I feel like I can finally let this anger out, no need to hold back anymore!”
Li Xiaonan poured a few cups of tea to cool, pulled over a chair, and sat between Sister-in-law Yin and Eldest Sister, resting her chin on her hand and listening.
“Sister, do you know why I named our preserved egg business Yueyang?”
Sister-in-law Yin leaned forward, moving closer to Li Jinzhu. Before Li Jinzhu could speak, Sister-in-law Yin leaned back and giggled.
“Do you know what my maternal family’s preserved egg business is called?”
“Yin Family Old Brand?” Li Jinzhu finally replied.
“No! That’s what people call it because they know my maternal family’s surname is Yin. The Yin Family Old Brand is called Xingyang Old Brand. So I named our preserved egg business Yueyang Hao!”
Sister-in-law Yin gritted her teeth, patting Li Jinzhu’s shoulder repeatedly.
“Do you want to surpass Xingyang Old Brand?” Li Xiaonan asked, peeking her head over.
“Look, our A Nan is so smart! I love this child! I love smart Nannan! What’s wrong with Nannan! Look at our Nannan, how good she is! How is she inferior to any boy! Tell me! How is she inferior to any boy!”
Sister-in-law Yin gritted her teeth again towards the end.
“Sister has a younger brother?” Li Xiaonan asked with some understanding.
“I’m an only child, how could I have a brother! Bah!” Sister-in-law Yin spat.
Li Jinzhu looked astonished.
Sister-in-law Yin clearly had a younger brother…
“I was an only child for seventeen years. From the age of three or four, I learned to make preserved eggs and salted eggs with my father. By seven or eight, I was in the shop learning to manage accounts and do business. My father always said that although his daughter was a girl, she made better preserved eggs and did better business than his son.”
Sister-in-law Yin paused, stared blankly for a while, and then sighed deeply.
“Then why did you adopt a son?” Li Xiaonan asked.
“Look at our Nannan, so smart,” Sister-in-law Yin pinched Li Xiaonan’s cheek.
“Sister’s parents?” Li Jinzhu hesitated, not daring to ask.
Sister-in-law Yin, like them, probably had no parents and could only be bullied.
“They’re perfectly fine!” Sister-in-law Yin snorted, speaking with a hint of sarcasm. “For the past decade or so, they were blinded by lard and acted foolishly. Later, they came to their senses. A fake son is still a son, but a real daughter is still a daughter.”
“When our business grows bigger, let’s go to Gaoyou and buy Xingyang Old Brand,” Li Xiaonan said to Sister-in-law Yin with a smile.
Sister-in-law Yin burst out laughing, patted Li Xiaonan on the head, and then placed her hand on Li Xiaonan’s shoulder, standing up unsteadily.
“Alright, I should go back. I have to get up early tomorrow. We need to hurry and buy more eggs. After entering the twelfth lunar month, eggs will get more expensive every day.”
“If our little A Nan wants to buy Xingyang Old Brand, then we need to be meticulous and earn more silver!”
