Yegou Village.

A few days later, the villagers of Yegou Village were arranged to go into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. Sure enough, there were not many herbs to collect in the outer areas, so they had to go deep into the mountains.

There were more than fifty young men from Yegou Village, plus men from several neighboring villages, making a total of more than two hundred people, along with a dozen or so officials. The large group set off into the deep mountains.

The guards from the Song family also took the opportunity to follow them into the deep mountains. There were many of them, all strong men, and they carried self-defense tools with them every day, so there was not much to worry about in terms of safety.

These days, Zhao Guihua goes into the mountains to pick some honeysuckle and chrysanthemums to dry in the sun whenever she has free time. She planted quite a lot of them at the beginning of the year, and they have all bloomed, but not many. If she wants to sell them, she has to go up the mountain to pick more.

Now, other people in Yegou Village also know that honeysuckle and chrysanthemums can be sold for money, and many people go into the mountains to pick them. It's not that Zhao Guihua told them, but their family often goes up the mountain to pick flowers, and no matter how secretly they do it, they will eventually be seen.

Last year, Zhou Laosan and Zhou Laosi secretly had several children follow the five brothers Fu to learn how to pick honeysuckle. Zhou Laosan and Zhou Laosi were also quick-witted; they took the honeysuckle to the town's pharmacy and managed to sell it.

So now almost everyone in Yegou Village goes into the mountains to pick honeysuckle and chrysanthemums. With so many people picking them, each family can only pick a limited amount. Luckily, Zhao Guihua's family doesn't rely on these flowers to make money anymore, otherwise they would be furious.

The reason she still went into the mountains to pick flowers was because she had a regular customer, the young master Wang from the town. That young master liked to eat fried food, so he often drank flower tea to cool down.

Drinking this flower tea too often can make you weak, so it should be brewed with ginseng slices. Ordinary people don't have that much spare money to afford it, but Young Master Wang is from a wealthy family, so he naturally doesn't care about money.

Zhao Guihua's flower tea was sold exclusively to Young Master Wang. She would send it to him three times a year, earning a total of about ten taels of silver. Once the season was over, it was gone.

The tavern in town had already opened. On the opening day, both Boss Zhou and Zhao Guihua were present. Business was quite good on the first day. Zhao Guizhi was a good cook, and all the food she made sold out, but not much bayberry wine was sold.

Because the price was not cheap, the porters didn't earn much a day; it was all hard-earned money, and few were willing to spend money on such expensive wine.

“It’s alright, let’s sell food first. My cooking skills are reliable, and Dafu has a lot of recipes on his bamboo slips. I’m trying them one by one. However, some ingredients are not available right now, so I can’t make it the best. But that’s not a problem, I’ll solve it soon.” Zhao Guizhi worked very hard.

Although not many people bought the bayberry wine, the food sold very well, and the daily income was good. Zhao Guizhi and Chen Shunping were very optimistic about the tavern's business.

When Zhao Guihua returned to town, ten jars of bayberry wine had been sold. This time, Boss Zhou didn't come; he was going into the mountains to continue digging for medicinal herbs.

Zhao Guihua said with a smile, "It's true that living in a wealthy family makes a difference. My brother-in-law is good at dealing with people, which is why he thought of promoting bayberry wine to 'Yuxianlou'."

Yuxianlou is the largest restaurant in Shanshui Town. The customers who come in and out are all wealthy people of high status, unlike this small tavern at the dock, which mainly serves porters. Occasionally, one or two distinguished customers will come, but they are just passing by on their boats and stopping for a rest.

"The manager of Yuxianlou has secured a supply of bayberry wine from us. Their customers are all wealthy gentlemen who can afford it, so it sells very well. Those rich people also love to drink exotic things, so our tavern doesn't need to deliberately promote bayberry wine to the porters. Yuxianlou alone can handle all the stock," Chen Shunping said with a smile.

The main problem is that it's the first year of making bayberry wine, and we weren't well-prepared. We were also worried that it wouldn't sell well, so we didn't make too much. What we have now is only enough to supply Yuxianlou, and there won't be much left over.

Once sales pick up, we can start preparing earlier next year and brew as much as possible.

"That puts my mind at ease. So, how is it? Are the Mo Tianzhu family efficient?" Zhao Guihua asked.

“They are all honest and hardworking people, and the children are also clever. Don’t worry, Shunping and I are not to be trifled with. Back in the Chen family, we were able to manage all the maids and servants. How could we not handle this family?” Zhao Guizhi reassured them.

Every morning, Mo Baolu combs Xingxing's hair first. After having breakfast at the house, she comes to the tavern with everyone. She is mainly responsible for washing and chopping vegetables in the backyard.

Mo Tianzhu, along with his eldest son Mo Baoshan and second son Mo Baodi, were in charge of running errands, while Chen Shunping collected money and settled accounts at the front desk. With so many people, they could manage for the time being, and even when things got a little chaotic, they could still handle it.

“I would like to come and help, but I can’t leave home. I have a lot of poultry and livestock, and I have to take care of the fields. I’m too busy to manage on my own.” Every time Zhou Laoda and the other villagers go into the deep mountains, they can only come back once every few days, leaving her alone at home.

"We must take care of things at home first, and food is the most important thing. We'll take care of things here," Zhao Guizhi reassured her sister, telling her not to worry about the tavern. "If we could raise more rabbits, chickens, and ducks at home, we wouldn't have to buy them from elsewhere."

When these items were delivered, Chen Shunping immediately settled the bill. These were all Zhou family's private belongings; wouldn't it create chaos if they were mixed with the tavern's accounts?

"We grow plenty of vegetables in our garden, so they can be delivered every day. But I'm afraid we can't supply rabbits for long; my husband and I are too busy to handle it all." Zhao Guihua has been working herself to the bone lately. If she were to expand production further, wouldn't she be exhausted?

Now, Mo Tianzhu goes to Yegou Village every three days to transport the rabbits, chickens, ducks, and vegetables from Zhao Guihua's home to the town, but the quantity is obviously limited and will soon be insufficient to meet the demand.

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