Chapter 231: Holding A Grudge
Lu Chengjing quietly let her pinch, even silently adjusting the angle a bit.
Shang Wan held back a laugh, and after getting her fill of groping, she continued with business: “Boss Zhong has sent letters urging me, asking when Qionghua Restaurant will go bankrupt.”
“When do you want it?”
“In the next couple of days. Can’t leave it open through New Year.” Shang Wan leaned on his shoulder, lazily closing her eyelids. “That guy Zhong Li really holds a grudge. Qiao Yu Gui got drunk and broke one of his cups at the banquet, and he remembered it.”
Shang Wan had bought this news from Chen Cai for money.
Not long after buying the news, Qiao Yu Gui pulled a dirty trick on Spiritual Medicine Pavilion for the second time. If Lu Chengjing hadn’t noticed something wrong, Spiritual Medicine Pavilion’s medicinal herbs really would have killed people.
Faced with such a big gift, Shang Wan naturally had to return the favor properly.
Heaven knows how big the psychological trauma was for those restaurant guests who fished a dead mouse out of their soup while ladling it.
Good news doesn’t travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles.
From then on, Qionghua Restaurant’s business plummeted. Even with discounted dishes, it couldn’t attract many customers.
At that moment, Bao Yue Zhai rose abruptly with more exquisite and delicious dishes, lower prices, and daily special deals, instantly stealing Qionghua Restaurant’s customers, who never came back.
To this day, no one knows who the owner of Bao Yue Zhai is, but in just two short months, Bao Yue Zhai has become the most popular restaurant in the city.
In contrast is the desolate sight of Qionghua Restaurant with barely any visitors.
Logically, with no customers, Qionghua Restaurant should have closed long ago, but whether Qiao Yu Gui wanted to disgust Zhong Li or Shang Wan, he kept it open at a loss, serving just a few cats and dogs every day.
Moreover, he kept making small moves openly and covertly, but never left any fatal evidence.
If he wants to keep burning money on an empty shell, Shang Wan really has no good way. She can’t just smash the restaurant or kill Qiao Yu Gui, right?
Shopkeeper Shang is a proper businesswoman and can’t do such violent things.
But Boss Zhong is very dissatisfied with this.
The cup was broken at Qionghua Restaurant. As long as it doesn’t go bankrupt, he can’t let go of his anger.
To appease the God of Wealth, Shang Wan can only bring out her trump card.
·
The manor is at the foot of the mountain, with three hundred mu of land, all planted with herbs.
Shang Wan bought these to cover for the spiritual field, nearly emptying her savings at the time.
Unlike reclaimed wasteland, as long as the manor is well managed, it’s easy to sell when the time comes.
The people in the manor are ready-made. After weeding out those slacking off and not doing real work, Shang Wan kept the rest.
Shang Wan spent a lot to hire specialists to train the manor’s people on herb planting knowledge, and only gradually replaced all the manor’s fields with herbs once they were ready.
Ordinary fields aren’t like spiritual fields; they can’t produce in just two or three days. For this, Shang Wan specially bought a batch of decent medicinal herbs from out of town to cover for her spiritual field.
These medicinal herbs were made into various ointments and medicinal powders. Paired with spiritual spring water, the effects weren’t much different.
Though it cost a lot, it at least obscured the source of the medicinal herbs.
Once the manor started producing herbs, Shang Wan no longer needed to buy large quantities of medicinal herbs from out of town, nor watch her hard-earned silver flow into others’ pockets.
“Shopkeeper, we’re here.”
With those words, the carriage stopped.
Shang Wan opened her eyes from Lu Chengjing’s arms and covered her mouth with a yawn.
Winter is cold, and if not necessary, she really didn’t want to move.
Lu Chengjing reached out to straighten her cape for her, then stuffed the hand warmer into her hands, asking gently, “Should I carry you in?”
“No.” Shang Wan hugged the hand warmer and got up to walk out of the carriage.
Last time Lu Chengjing did that, goodness, the entire manor’s people didn’t know what they imagined, coming up one by one to congratulate her.
Only upon asking did she learn everyone thought she was pregnant.
It had only been a few days since consummation. Treating it like sprouting beans?
Shang Wan was thunderstruck and refused to let anyone misunderstand again.
Today it was snowing heavily, so no work could be done. The people in the manor were resting indoors. Hearing Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing had arrived, Steward Dai hurriedly brought two people out to greet them.
“Owner, it’s snowing heavily. Why come at this time? Be careful not to freeze.”
Steward Dai held an umbrella over Shang Wan’s head. Lu Chengjing reached out to take it. “I’ll do it.”
Steward Dai glanced at him and silently let go.
Shang Wan nodded lightly to the others as a greeting.
“Is the manor alright?”
“Everything is fine.” Steward Dai clasped his hands. “All the herbs that could be harvested from the field were rushed in before the snow. I worried the heavy snow would collapse the roofs, so last night I led people to clear them once. The manor has plenty of charcoal for boiling water, cooking, and heating.”
Shang Wan glanced at the roofs ahead; there really wasn’t much snow accumulated.
She looked at Steward Dai. “Everyone’s worked hard these days. Tell the accountant’s office to issue double monthly salary this month, make an extra set of winter clothes for the manor people, double the New Year reward money, slaughter a few pigs and sheep, and distribute them based on usual performance so everyone has a good New Year.”
Steward Dai beamed with joy and cupped his hands. “On behalf of everyone, thank you for the reward, Owner.”
The others also bowed. “Thank you for the reward, Owner.”
Shang Wan waved for everyone to rise and asked, “Where is Mister Duanmu?”
“The master is in the garden pavilion admiring the snow.” After speaking, Steward Dai added, “Miss wants hot pot, and the kitchen is preparing it.”
Mentioning hot pot, Shang Wan felt such a winter day was indeed perfect for it.
She smiled. “Tell the kitchen to prepare more. Clean the mutton well, slice it thin for easy pot cooking, and warm a pot of pear blossom white.”
“For the offal, stew it the way Xiao Huan taught, add some radish. Eating radish in winter is good.”
Steward Dai acknowledged each instruction and personally ran to the kitchen to relay them.
The snow on the path had been cleared, sprinkled with pebbles to prevent slipping. Boots crunching on them made squeaking sounds.
Shang Wan and the two headed to the garden. Snowflakes piled on the red umbrella, tilting to the side to shake them off in clusters.
Shang Wan reached out to touch an icicle hanging under the eaves, snapped it off and played with it a few tricks. Even through her gloves, it felt freezing, so she quickly tossed it into the bushes.
Lu Chengjing smiled helplessly and handed over the hand warmer.
Shang Wan held the hand warmer with both hands, exhaling white breath as she spoke. “After New Year, let’s hire a master to start Yuan Yuan’s enlightenment.”
The little one was getting more mischievous, with guts as big as they come. Shang Wan felt it was time for the little baby girl to experience the charm of schooling.
Lu Chengjing hesitated. “Isn’t it too early?”
“She’ll be two after New Year. Weren’t you enlightened at two?” Shang Wan turned to look at him. “You’d be perfect to enlighten Yuan Yuan, but you need to prepare for next year’s provincial examination and don’t have the kung fu.”
If not for that, Shang Wan wouldn’t think of hiring a master.
Lu Chengjing was worried. His daughter was different from ordinary people, and so young. If she let something slip to others, it would be bad.
He said, “What can a two-year-old doll learn? The master can’t watch her every moment. I can teach her without delaying my kung fu.”
