Wei Lang was the only son of Wei Lang's parents, with three older sisters. Wei Lang was their late-life child, and his three sisters were much older than him. Wei Lang was raised by his three sisters from a young age. This time, when he partnered with the Xu family to open a hot pot restaurant, Wei Lang insisted on giving half of his share of the profits from the hot pot restaurant to his three sisters, as a gift for their cosmetics.

Since they were all their own children, Marquis Jingbei and his wife naturally had no objections. When they discussed it with the other people in the mansion, everyone felt that it was just opening a small restaurant, and they could only make a few dollars a year, so they didn't take it to heart. Wei Lang had his family members sign and seal the document, insisting on having a written record as a witness.

Wei Lang's family thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill and didn't take it seriously. However, when the small restaurant called Zhenwei Hot Pot spread throughout Daliang and even to the neighboring country to the south, bringing in a lot of money, the Wei family regretted it. But it was written in black and white, so what could they do if they were envious?

A letter arrived from Beijing: the renovation of the hot pot restaurant is nearing completion; the next steps are to prepare the broth and train the staff.

When it came to making hot pot broth, Xu Di wanted to train a few loyal and reliable employees. After discussing it with Wei Lang, Wei Lang helped him find a few veterans who had retired from the army due to injuries or illnesses. Xu Di signed a confidentiality agreement with them and then began training them.

Everyone knows that a few thin sheets of paper are hard to control others, so Xu Di thought of controlling the raw materials. He didn't want to promote the planting of chili peppers. If you want chili peppers, you can buy the finished product. Xu Di can make hot pot base or chili sauce from his own chili peppers, but you can't buy mature chili peppers with seeds.

This is Xu Di's insistence. Chili peppers will continue to be grown on the estate. He has already considered what might happen in the future. Xu Di feels that he will persist for as long as he can. Until he has made enough money, he will only focus on how long his family can monopolize the chili pepper planting.

The weather gets cold early in Hexi, so every household heats up their kang (heated brick bed) early, and the Xu family is no exception.

As usual, Xu Rao was so busy that he barely had time to rest. Sometimes when he came back at night, Xu Zhi was already asleep. Zhang Zhaoci would wait for Xu Rao to come back, and then use the small mud stove in the house to cook a bowl of hot soup noodles for Xu Rao. After eating the hot soup, he would soak his feet in hot water. It was too cold, and the county government building could not be easily modified, so he could not take a bath every day.

After Xu Di finished settling things at the estate, he returned home with more than a dozen sacks of dried chili peppers. That evening, he used scissors to cut the peppers open and pull out the seeds.

Xu Di rummaged through the chili peppers, his hands burning with heat, slurping them as he cut them with scissors.

Xu Rao said, "Can't you ask someone else for help? You have to do everything yourself, big and small. Can you manage it all?"

Xu Di said, "We'll keep doing this for as long as we can. Let me tell you, chili peppers are our family's biggest weapon right now. We'll let them stay in our hands for as long as possible. At the very least, I need to master the planting method. Once I master this, I'll master the money. I've already thought it through. Besides making base sauce for hot pot restaurants, I'll also make some chili meat sauce, beef sauce, and pork sauce. At least it'll be convenient for us to eat ourselves."

Zhang Zhaoci said, "How come I never thought you were so greedy? Look at you now, you're still such a little kid, and you're already scheming about how to make money all the time."

Xu Di waved his hand at Zhang Zhaoci and said, "Wrong, Mother. I've always been this greedy for money. It wasn't obvious before because I hadn't graduated from school yet. Didn't you see how hard I was studying? What was I studying so hard for? It was to learn the skills so I could find a high-paying job after graduation. It's just a pity that I was only just talking to a company when I came here. Do you think I'm losing out? You all saw how hard I studied all those years."

The more Xu Di talked, the more aggrieved he felt. His pitiful little face made Zhang Zhaoci adorable. She suddenly pinched Xu Di's cheek and said with a smile, "Hahaha, I finally did something I've wanted to do for a long time but haven't been able to."

Xu Di covered his cheek, turned around and tickled Zhang Zhaoci, who laughed and fell onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

Xu Rao watched the mother and daughter bicker for a while and said with a smile, "Alright, alright, it's getting late. If you keep making a fuss like this, you won't be able to sleep later."

Xu Di sighed, sat down at the kang table, propped his face up with his hand, and said, "I wish I could have a rich and colorful nightlife, but look at it now, you can't even go out at night. Some people turn off the lights and go to sleep as soon as it gets dark to save on gas money. I really miss those days."

Zhang Zhaoci said, "I think this is good. It's good for health. Going to bed early and getting up early is good for your health."

Xu Di thought for a moment and said, "Father, what do you think of the situation this year?"

Xu Rao sighed and said, "Those small tribes aren't much, but the Northern Di are hard to describe. I heard the old emperor is in poor health and has several sons. They're all vying for the throne, and I'm afraid someone might try to show off and cause trouble here. Prince Wei has already discussed with the garrison commanders of several passes over there to strengthen border patrols and light beacon fires if there's any enemy activity. That's the current situation, and there's no other way to think of."

Xu Di said, "I really hope they don't invade us this time, but I think I still need to make some chili powder. If that really happens, it can be considered a secret biological weapon, right?"

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