Chapter 201: Recruit People
Lu Chengjing instead felt this was an advantage.
“There are two medical halls and one apothecary around that shop in the south of the city, they all should have regular customers. If we open our apothecary, we’ll be competing with them for business. The south of the city is a mixed bag, who knows what tactics they might use.”
Shang Wan understood Lu Chengjing’s meaning.
Compared to the south of the city, the shop in the north of the city had less intense competition. There was no issue of stealing customers between opening an apothecary and a restaurant; they might even cooperate and get along friendly.
But Shang Wan had another concern.
“Although the competition in the south of the city is fierce, those three shops are at least doing well and have customers. That small medical hall near the shop in the north of the city looks like it’s about to close down; might it not be suitable for medicinal business?”
Lu Chengjing said, “Perhaps we can first go to that medical hall to inquire a bit.”
Shang Wan also felt she had been hasty; she had been in a rush at the time and forgot to go in and ask.
She said, “We can also inquire around the south of the city. Tomorrow our family will enter the city together, split into two groups, inquire about the situations in the south and north of the city separately, and then decide.”
She felt Chen Cai probably wouldn’t cheat her; the shop itself shouldn’t have issues, but the neighbors might.
Anyway, she had only told Chen Cai she would go find him tomorrow, without specifying a time; it wasn’t too late to decide after inquiring.
Lu Chengjing also felt this plan was prudent.
Shang Wan suddenly remembered something and looked at the person opposite, “We need to recruit people to process medicinal herbs.”
They planned to produce and sell themselves, and with just the few at home, there definitely wouldn’t be enough manpower.
First of all, there needed to be someone managing the shop; Shang Wan would have to oversee it in the shop for a while, until the apothecary was on track before considering other things.
But she definitely couldn’t manage alone; Shi Tou and Xiao Huan would have to help in the shop. Once those two left, the two children couldn’t stay home; they would have to go to the apothecary.
To open an apothecary, they needed to stock common medicines; the spiritual field could grow them all, but most needed processing after growing. With such a huge workload, if they only relied on family, wouldn’t they work themselves to death?
They must recruit manpower!
Lu Chengjing lowered his gaze and thought for a moment, “What do you think about hiring villagers to do this?”
Shang Wan’s eyes lit up.
Right, there were so many people in the village, everyone knew each other well, they lived close and were easy to manage; wasn’t it more convenient than hiring outsiders?
As for the villagers not knowing how to process medicinal herbs, they could teach them. If they didn’t have time, they could ask Yuan Musheng for help.
Of course it wouldn’t be for free; they could pay monthly wages, like they were paying to hire a doctor from the village as a teacher.
Yuan Musheng had previously taught Lu Chengjing how to process herbs; it wasn’t teaching medical skill, so he probably wouldn’t refuse.
As for whether the villagers would go up the mountain to gather and process herbs to sell after learning, Shang Wan didn’t think it was a problem.
Everyone could make money; besides, their apothecary not only sold medicinal herbs but also bought them. As long as the prices were fair, she believed the villagers would prioritize their apothecary.
The more she thought, the more feasible it seemed; the two discussed it in detail and decided to inform the villagers after settling on the shop.
Shang Wan had stockpiled quite a few herb trees in her space; she could shake out a bunch of herbs anytime.
After discussing family matters, Lu Chengjing brought up Chu Xu’s father and elder brother.
It had been nearly half a month since receiving the reply, but the people coming to pick up Chu Xu still hadn’t arrived; who knew what change had happened on the road.
Shang Wan said, “How about writing another letter to ask?”
Speaking of writing letters, Shang Wan realized she hadn’t seen Chu Xu when she returned. Normally, the child would run out to greet her.
Lu Chengjing said, “A Nian is sleeping in the room.”
The sleeping potion had strong aftereffects; when Chu Xu woke up in the morning, he felt groggy, and Shang Wan secretly fed him a drop of spiritual spring water.
After drinking the spiritual spring water, Chu Xu’s head didn’t hurt anymore, but he was very sleepy; in the time it took to say one sentence, he yawned three or four times.
Lu Chengjing was worried and took out the spiritual spring water Shang Wan had left him, feeding another drop to the child.
Hopefully, after this nap, the sleeping potion’s aftereffects would pass.
“Did he ask about Yu Da and Yu Er?”
“He did.” Lu Chengjing nodded, “I said they ran away.”
Shang Wan: “…”
Is this how you brush off a child?
“Did he believe it?”
“Probably not.” Lu Chengjing felt Chu Xu was a very smart child, “But he didn’t press further.”
Shang Wan: “Then let’s assume he believed it.”
Lu Chengjing: “…”
·
Chu Xu slept for three hours this time, straight through to evening.
The child was starving and started calling for Xiao Huan from the room, shouting all the way to the kitchen.
“Aunt Xiao Huan, I’m so hungry.”
The child’s hair was messed up from sleep, black hair softly sticking to his face; his little face was two shades paler than usual, his cat-like eyes watery, looking quite pitiful.
Xiao Huan had prepared food for him long ago; she lifted the pot lid and brought the meal to him, telling him to take it out to eat.
Chu Xu couldn’t wait and stood by the cutting board stuffing two fried meatballs into his mouth first, cheeks bulging like a hamster.
“Awake?” Shang Wan carried Yuan Yuan over the threshold and reached out to ruffle the child’s head, “Does your head still hurt? Are you dizzy?”
Chu Xu had food in his mouth and couldn’t speak easily, so he just shook his head.
Yuan Yuan reached out her small hand and tugged at the almost-falling ponytail on Chu Xu’s head, feeling her own little ponytail was still better looking.
Chu Xu looked up at her and pointed at the fried meatballs with his chopsticks, silently asking if Yuan Yuan wanted any.
Yuan Yuan had already eaten, her little belly round and full; she had no interest in fried meatballs.
Seeing this, Chu Xu ate by himself.
Shang Wan took him to the main hall and only mentioned writing another letter to the border pass after the child had eaten his fill.
Chu Xu was stunned, “Why write another one?”
“Just in case.” Shang Wan pinched his little face without further explanation, only saying, “Don’t overthink it.”
How could Chu Xu not overthink?
His mind was now full of assassins, assassins, assassins, assassins…
The people his father and elder brother sent to pick him up should have arrived by now; since they hadn’t, they had likely met with misfortune.
The child’s good mood visibly dropped; if depression could take form, Shang Wan felt she could see a dark cloud over the child’s head, the kind raining.
She took Chu Xu’s small hand and headed to the study room.
“Let’s go write the letter first.”
·
The next day, Xiao Hui stayed home to watch the house; after Shang Wan’s group ate breakfast, they drove the ox cart into the city.
The ox cart first went to the north of the city to drop off Lu Chengjing and Xiao Huan.
“This is the shop.” Shang Wan pointed and said to the two, “Meet up at the restaurant across later.”
“Okay.”
“Sis, you be careful.”
Shang Wan agreed and drove the ox cart straight to the south of the city.
The ox cart stopped in a remote alley.
Shi Tou got off the ox cart first, then turned to carry the two children down.
Shang Wan took Yuan Yuan and said to Shi Tou, “You and A Nian go check those two medical halls over there; I’ll take Yuan Yuan to the apothecary. Remember to ask the neighbors about the shop’s situation.”
Shi Tou had no objections and led Chu Xu away.
After the two were out of sight, Shang Wan looked down at the baby in her arms: “Good child, you can call your friend over now.”
