Qi Tiansheng glared at the waiter, annoyed. "I don't have any relatives that pretty. This girl is here to deliver goods to our inn."

The man gave an awkward laugh and continued what he was doing.

Once inside, Qiu Yan introduced her sources of goods and sold them all to Qi Tiansheng at the same price as Xingyuelou.

Qi Tiansheng thought that if he couldn't finish eating all of this in a short time, he still had business in Huaiyuan.

After weighing the item and receiving the money, Qiu Yan counted it and calculated that she had earned five taels of silver, including principal and interest. It was worth the trip she made yesterday.

...A month passed in the blink of an eye, and no one dared to cause trouble at Qiu Yan's wonton stall anymore.

Over the past month, the wonton stall has added a few more tables, and business has been good, earning them a considerable amount of money.

Xingyuelou made a considerable profit, and Qiu Yan also received a share of it.

After living a frugal life for a while, Qiu Yan finally has enough money to build a house.

Although Xingyuelou's business was doing well, Shuangxilou, which was next door, was eyeing it covetously.

Recently, Shuangxilou, following the example of Xingyuelou, specially hired two pipa players from a music academy. Both of them have superb musical skills and have attracted many customers.

Therefore, Xingyuelou needs to proceed slowly and steadily at present, and it is impossible for it to crush its competitors all at once.

Zhou Zifang was already very satisfied with how well his business had developed.

Having money in hand gives you more confidence to do things.

Qiu Yan asked her second uncle to choose an auspicious day to build the house.

Even when doing business away from home, everyone should have their own roots, and a house is essential.

Knowing that Qiu Yan was going to build a new house, Qiu Yumei was excited all night, even happier than Qiu Yan and the others.

Thinking about the future, she was full of energy.

Qiu Dafu thought it over carefully and said that work could begin in the next two days.

Qiu Yan said she wanted to build a house with blue bricks and tiles, so Qiu Dafu went to a nearby brick and tile factory.

Zhao Shan had said he would find a team of craftsmen for Qiu Yan. Knowing that the team Qiu Dafu was originally in was not available, he went to ask other teams.

Thanks to his help, manpower was quickly in place.

Some of the workers live far from home, so their three meals a day need to be provided.

Every day when Qiu Yan returned to the village from Baiyang, she would bring some rice, flour, and vegetables. In addition to Wang Shi, Zhao Yuanyuan also helped with the cooking.

Qiu Yan also agreed to pay them the corresponding wages.

Ms. Ye wanted to help, but she was an elderly mother and in poor health, so Qiu Yan was afraid that she would tire herself out and didn't let her help.

Because Gu Qian left those silver notes, the houses of the Qiu and Li families started construction at the same time when Qiu Yan was building her house.

Gu Qian had told her about this before.

Before building the house, Qiu Yan drew a sketch of the house and went to show it to her second uncle and younger brother and sister-in-law.

My second uncle looked at it carefully. He had built houses for people for a long time, but he had never seen this style before.

He nodded to Qiu Yan, "Xiao Yan can make the decision."

My younger siblings didn't have any objections either.

After receiving confirmation from her second uncle and sister-in-law, Qiu Yan went to inquire with Madam Ye.

"Auntie, is this house style suitable?"

Ye was surprised that Qiu Yan would come to ask her if it was feasible to build a house herself.

However, she was also curious about what Qiu Yan's sketch looked like, so she took a closer look.

The house in the sketch looks quite novel.

The two large suites, facing south, each contain a hall and three small rooms, excluding the kitchen.

The two side rooms are divided into two sections: one side contains a kitchen and a woodshed, while the other side contains guest rooms.

The sketch drawn by Qiu Yan was exactly the same as the current style. Because the place she bought was not small, Qiu Yan planned to build two identical sets of houses, one for her second uncle and one for her three siblings.

Every detail was drawn perfectly, and Mr. Ye thought it was quite good.

"Yes, Auntie likes this style."

After asking Ye Shi, Qiu Yan looked at Li Zheng and asked for his opinion.

Li Zheng took a sip of the spring water in his blue-and-white porcelain teacup; it was bitter with a hint of sweetness. "As long as the house is comfortable, that's all that matters."

It means he's fine with anything, he doesn't have much of an opinion.

Like Ye, he had no idea why Qiu Yan had come to ask them.

With the couple's approval, Qiu Yan handed the sketch back to her second uncle, instructing him to direct the craftsmen to begin construction.

Qiu Dafu got involved and started working with the workers to build the house.

After returning from the brick and tile workshop, Li Zheng looked towards the craftsmen ahead and saw Qiu Dafu and the craftsmen starting to work. He couldn't help but go forward to help.

Once the bricks and tiles arrived, everyone quickly learned that Qiu Yan's family was going to build a house with blue bricks and tiles.

The villagers all looked on with envy.

The three families were in constant turmoil. Qian Shi was envious of Qiu Yan's house and kept pressuring Qiu Dayong to earn money so that he could build a new house.

My daughter is approaching marriageable age, so we have to maintain appearances; otherwise, she might not be able to find a good family.

Qiu Yan and her two companions went to the wonton stall as usual in the morning, which did not delay the construction of the house.

When the house was first built, Zhao Shan came to Qiu Yan's house.

Old Qiu's pension has arrived, totaling fifty taels of silver.

Not only Qiu Laoda, but Zhao Shan distributed compensation to every family member in the village who was killed or wounded in battle.

Zhao Shan handed the money directly to Qiu Yan. "The soldier said that our village's pension wasn't originally this much; it was their general who took the initiative to ask his superiors for it."

Qiu Yan: "He was a good general. He knew that these families of the fallen soldiers had no men to rely on and that they had a hard time."

Qiu Dafu and Qiu Xu remained silent for a long time.

The families who received the compensation either felt comfort, grief, or tears.

Only the three wives were filled with resentment and jealousy.

Qiu Yan began looking for a suitable storefront.

After spending half a day looking around the streets, around noon, I went directly to the brokerage.

Unexpectedly, the broker simply said they didn't have any.

This was because Master Zhang had instructed the brokers beforehand that if anyone wanted to open a shop selling wontons, they were strictly forbidden from doing business with them.

The Zhang family is large and powerful, with a very large business. To outsiders, they are an extremely powerful family with powerful backers, and no one dares to offend them.

Qiu Yan frowned; those brats were the most troublesome.

Things were a bit troublesome, but she always dealt with them as they came.

Doing business is never smooth sailing, and Qiu Yan simply viewed this as a trial on her road to success.

She stopped working with the broker and continued searching for shops to sublet on the street.

A few days later, when she went to a pastry shop to buy sugar cakes, she found the shopkeeper packing up his things.

Qiu Yan casually asked if the workshop was going to be sublet.

Judging by the size of this workshop, it would be perfect for opening a breakfast stall.

The shopkeeper shook his head, saying he only sells, not rents, and that he had a relative doing business in Huaiyuan, suggesting he open a shop there.

He made the decision in a bit of a hurry and hadn't even had time to hang the shop up at the brokerage firm yet.

Qiu Yan glanced across the street; it was another pastry shop.

Qiu Yan had made up her mind, so she asked the workshop owner about the price.

The workshop owner held up three fingers.

Qiu Yan made up her mind about the shop, but she still went back and called her aunt to come and take a look.