Aunt Wang glanced at her sideways and said, "I just don't understand. Didn't you say that the three hundred taels were free and that we should save this ten thousand taels carefully?"

How did it suddenly become a free 10,000 taels of silver?

Wang Yan chuckled, "That's not what I meant. I just found it a bit strange to suddenly hear that our family is going to buy a boat."

And why not buy a house on Xilou Street? It's close to the government office, so it would be great if my brother could just stay there after taking the exam.

Moreover, although the houses on Xilou Street are small, they are never short of renters. There are so many candidates taking the imperial examinations every year, so there will definitely be people willing to rent there.

The houses there are incredibly sought-after; I felt something was off about your refusal the other day.

Aunt Wang sighed. This child is still young and his brain is not fully developed. She needs to teach him properly when she has time. He doesn't think things through at all.

"How could I not know that the house prices there are reasonable, and buying one would be a sure profit?"

As you said, that place is extremely popular, and we are just ordinary people with a little money but no connections or abilities.

Believe it or not, if we buy now, and after a while a wealthy person takes a fancy to a house there, you'll have to quickly vacate it for them.

I don't need to go through that trouble. Other places are fine, but Xilou Street... well, let's just say it's a different story!

You stayed there for a month during the Chinese New Year holiday. Which of those houses were inhabited by ordinary people?

Is that middleman just trying to scam us? He wants to make extra money off the middleman's fee.

It won't be long before that house is bought by someone with connections.

And I dare say that if we had bought this house a few days ago, when new people came to snatch it up, it would still be this middleman who came to buy it!

Wang Yan felt a little upset upon hearing this. Sigh, things are so different now. Back then, if you had money, you could buy whatever location you wanted.

Even in the capital, as long as you meet the requirements, you can buy a courtyard house and no one will say anything.

But now, even if you can afford to buy a house in Xilou Street, you can't touch it because you don't have legal status.

Even if it's just a small house with only one room and one kitchen, and the yard is negligible.

Listen carefully to what she's saying; what Wang Da Niang is implying is that even if the house is for investment purposes, it's not their place to invest there.

Seeing her dejected expression, Aunt Wang assumed it was because she hadn't been able to buy a house.

"Oh, my son. Let me tell you, stop looking so timid here, okay? We have money, what are you afraid of?"

The reason you can't find a suitable house now is because it's just after the Chinese New Year, isn't it?

We only received our money during the Chinese New Year, right? Who's going to help you find a place to live during the holidays? We've only been back at work for a few days! Naturally, we need to look for a place for a while. Think about it!

She's getting increasingly impatient every day; the slightest thing can make her sulk.

Wang Yan chuckled, "Okay, okay!"

Seeing that she still wouldn't talk about buying a boat, Aunt Wang got anxious again, "So, little darling, can we go buy a boat now?"

Your dad and I are still waiting here! Like gatekeepers, sitting by the door and not letting anyone in.

"Buy it! Buy it! Let's go!"

Wang Yan's purpose in stopping them wasn't actually to prevent them from buying the boat.

The idea was to take this opportunity to try and get Aunt Wang to buy the house on Xilou Street as well; it was indeed a great opportunity.

Now that Wang Da Niang has said this, Wang Yan feels that there is some truth to it, and naturally agrees to buy a boat for the family.

Wang Pangzi rows out this boat for half a day each day, and he can rent it out for the other half, even if it's only for a dozen or so coins, it's still income, isn't it?

Soon, Fatty Wang and Aunt Wang returned, in about half an hour. The family's assets had increased by another item.

"A thousand coins buy a boat, a hundred coins buy oars." This means that a small boat can be bought for just 1,000 coins, or one tael of silver.

But such a small boat is too small; it can only seat one person at most, and more importantly, it can't hold anything.

Fatty Wang also needed to load two large buckets of goods onto the boat and haul them out to sell. So the two of them bought the small boat directly.

The boat cost about ten taels of silver, which was not as good as the passenger boat that Wang Yan and her friends had made before the New Year. It was a small boat that could seat two or three people and transport some goods.

The price was right for such a boat, and that afternoon, Fatty Wang took the Wang sisters to the Bianhe Wharf.

In the past, I would take other people's boats to go out for fun, and I would be paid a few coins each time.

They were both incredibly excited to be able to ride on their own boat this time, and they discussed how to decorate it.

Fatty Wang listened to the two women's discussion while rowing the boat with a smile.

Wang Yan excitedly told her sister, "I think we should paint some pictures on our ship, just like the ones we saw in Lin'an."

We won't draw flowers or anything like that, we'll just draw food. We'll draw braised pork and add some color, so people from a distance will know our boat sells food.

Wang Ying nodded, "We should also tidy up the cabin. When we get back, we should put a cloth on Father's two stools and wrap them with soft cotton."

This way, when Dad gets tired from rowing or while selling food, he can sit comfortably on this stool.

"You can also find a carpenter to make the stool with a backrest, so it will be more comfortable to sit on."

Fatty Wang chuckled, "Why go to all that trouble? The Bian River isn't far from our Wei River. I can row over in a quarter of an hour."

Even if selling chicken strips takes some time, sitting on a hard stool is fine.

The two sisters ignored his interruptions and discussed what kind of cloth to wrap around the stool.

Wang Yan suggested, "It should definitely be cotton. Although it's a bit more expensive, cotton is the most comfortable material."

Wang Ying agreed, so it was decided that the upholstered stools would be filled with cotton inside and covered with cotton cloth outside.

…………………………………………………………

That day, Fatty Wang came back excitedly, threw the bucket outside the door, and then ran quickly to Wang Yan, stretching out his hand.

Wang Yan looked up and saw a ten-tael silver ingot in Wang Pangzi's palm.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, what's going on?!"

"Over across the Bian River, your Uncle Jiang's son is looking for a wife. They want to take it seriously. I heard the woman's family likes spicy food, so they even came to our house to buy fried chicken strips."

They gave me ten taels of silver to prepare two tables, and they ate at our house that day because they were looking at each other for the first time.

This is truly a pleasant surprise. The fact that they are willing to host a five-tael banquet at their home shows that they are now quite well-known and have gained recognition from others.

Wang Yan jumped up immediately, and then she and Fatty Wang excitedly dragged a stool each to the shore to discuss what delicious food they would make.

A meal costing five taels of silver consists of ten dishes, one soup, one staple food, and one snack.

However, the dishes cannot be as simple as those costing one or two taels of silver; they need to be more varied and distinctive.

Since both sides enjoy spicy food, in addition to a few cold dishes served first, more spicy dishes were arranged.

Ginger and fermented black bean jelly, sweet and sour perilla eggplant, boiled sliced ​​pork, spicy chicken, wine-marinated shrimp, boiled fish, fresh chili pork knuckle, mapo tofu, ham and bamboo shoot soup, and good things lotus.

For the soup, we chose lily bulb sweet soup, and for the dessert, we chose almond tofu. Girls will definitely love this; it's both pretty and delicious.

As for the staple food, it's fried noodles! Sure enough, when money is involved, inspiration comes in abundance.

When Fatty Wang went out in his boat before, Wang Yan couldn't remember anything about fried noodles, a suitable dish that could be packed in buckets and sold.

When Wang Yan saw the ten taels of silver, her eyes lit up, and when choosing a staple food, fried noodles immediately came to mind.

Stir-fried noodles with chili powder, bean sprouts, and greens are spicy and delicious. Top it with a poached egg... oh my god, I can't even think about it, my mouth is watering!

Wang Yan originally planned to choose all spicy dishes, except for two cold dishes and one soup, but Fatty Wang stopped her.

If you make everything spicy, that's going too far. People won't even have a chance to eat other dishes to balance things out.

Besides, blind dates are generally a good thing, and doing one can bring good fortune. It's auspicious and beautiful.

The main ingredients of this dish are lily bulbs and minced shrimp. First, peel the shrimp and then crush and mince the meat with the back of a knife.

Add pepper, salt, and cornstarch to the shrimp paste, and stir in one direction until it becomes sticky.

The shrimp paste is rolled into small round balls and placed on a plate. The lilies are trimmed slightly and then arranged in a staggered manner on top of the meatballs.

Finally, steam it for another 15 minutes. It's sweet and soothing to the lungs, and the steamed dish looks crystal clear.

Take a spoonful, and you'll find it refreshing and sweet. It should be a light dish that everyone will enjoy after spicy food, and it also has a very auspicious meaning.

The ingredients for this dish are not complicated and the price is cheap, but it is a bit tiring to make. You have to keep stirring the shrimp paste in one direction.

However, Fatty Wang was used to this job and did it with great enthusiasm, finishing it in no more than fifteen minutes.

Tonight's dinner will be the two banquets we'll be hosting the day after tomorrow, each costing five taels of silver.

Before serving the dishes, they would cook all the dishes themselves and try them out.

That stir-fried noodle dish that everyone was so excited about was made by Wang Yan.

The noodles used for the fried noodles were bought from Aunt Cai's two neighboring shops; her family runs a noodle business.

Put water in a pot, and once it boils, add a spoonful of salt. Put the noodles in and cook until they are about 80% done, then remove them from the pot.

Place it in a small sieve to drain the water for a while. Then add two spoonfuls of oil and mix well.

Heat oil in a pan, scramble the eggs, then add the greens and bean sprouts, and stir-fry until half-cooked.

Then pour the oiled noodles into the pan and stir-fry them while adding salt, soy sauce, vinegar, a little sugar, and two large spoonfuls of chili powder.

It can be taken out of the pan after a few quick stirs; the numbing and spicy flavor is so strong it irritates the nose.

The spicy stir-fried noodles are glossy and have a refreshing spiciness. They are garnished with bean sprouts and greens on the side. With each bite of noodles, you get a burst of juicy bean sprouts.

Fatty Wang gave Wang Yan a thumbs-up as he ate, praising her, "It's perfect! This time, our noodles will definitely sell better than fried chicken strips!"

"You wait here. The day after we've prepared these two tables of food, I'll take a bucket to test the waters."

Wang Yan smiled happily, her eyes crinkling with delight at the compliment.