Youranju acted swiftly.
No sooner had they finished talking about continuing their cooperation than a waiter drove a horse-drawn carriage to the workshop to transport sausages.
Seeing that Xiao Jiangsheng hadn't gone far, he kindly asked, "Want me a ride with you?"
Jiang Sheng waved her hand and refused. Although taking the carriage would save her energy, she had rarely slipped out and wanted to sneak a bite before going back.
What are you sneaking to eat?
Of course, it's the brightly colored and alluring candied hawthorn berries.
We can't go to Jiuzhenfang to eat yet, because my brothers will find out.
Jiang Sheng couldn't understand why her brothers still wouldn't let her eat more candied hawthorns, even though she had already finished losing her baby teeth and had thick, straight white teeth.
It must be because they don't understand the deliciousness of candied hawthorn.
Coated in a sweet and crunchy sugar coating, filled with sweet and sour hawthorn, even though candied hawthorns in Fengjing cost fifteen coins each, Jiang Sheng gritted her teeth, stamped her foot, and bought them.
It's really expensive, but it smells really good.
The little girl had her back to the vendor. As soon as she got the food, she eagerly opened her mouth, but before she could even take a bite, the light in front of her was blocked.
She looked up blankly and saw a familiar face, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
"You are...you are..." The man scratched his head, thinking. "I remember now, you are Brother Xu's sister. I saw you at the entrance of Jiuzhenfang."
Jiang Sheng also remembered that this was her elder brother's friend, a member of the Zhao family who had bought fifty packs of pastries on the opening day of Jiuzhenfang.
She was worried that this person would tell her older brother the news and expose her affair.
Zhao Yuan laughed heartlessly and asked, "Why are you eating candied hawthorns all by yourself outside? Did you sneak some?"
Jiang Sheng's expression instantly darkened, her eyes filled with resentment.
"It can't be true, can it? Then I'll have to tell Brother Xu that you stole some candied hawthorns and didn't give them to him." Zhao Yuan's face was full of mischief. "You'd better watch out."
As he spoke, he turned around mischievously and ran away.
Jiang Sheng couldn't catch up and knew that this person was teasing her, so she could only angrily spit out two hawthorn seeds at his back.
She turned around and sped up her eating of the candied hawthorn, as if she were destroying evidence.
This also quickened their pace to get home.
Jiang Sheng felt like someone was watching her from behind, but when she looked back carefully, there was nothing there.
Unbeknownst to her, the elderly Madam Jiang, with her head full of silver hair, stood in a private room on the third floor of Youran Residence, carefully watching the child's every move.
Only after her figure disappeared did he sigh softly, "This child is not at all like a proper young lady. If she is... she will have to be taught a lot in the future."
At the same time.
Jiang Sheng finally escaped the constant stare. She ate the last bite of the candied hawthorn, threw the wooden skewer in a corner, and rushed home in one go.
The gate to the courtyard was still the same as when she left, half-open.
Through the crack in the door, you could see the four older brothers busy with their own tasks.
With his worries completely resolved, the eldest brother regained his composure and was now writing furiously in the courtyard, preparing for the imperial examination.
My second brother was holding a blueprint, writing and drawing, muttering to himself, as if he were about to go somewhere far away again.
Fourth Brother held a stone and carefully scraped off the powder on it, barely daring to breathe.
Fifth Brother, on the other hand, was quite relaxed, carrying a miscellaneous book in his hand, and occasionally letting out a few laughs.
Jiang Sheng looked closely and realized that the miscellaneous book was hers, with her own handwritten comments on it. The comments were very insightful, but the handwriting was a bit ugly.
My older brother once said that her handwriting was like a snake dipped in ink.
Her second brother also said that her handwriting bore a resemblance to the excrement of the black dog walking and defecating at the village entrance.
Unexpectedly, even Fifth Brother started mocking her today.
Jiang Sheng felt increasingly embarrassed and flustered. She pushed open the half-closed door and shouted, "Stop looking! Stop looking! Those are young girls' books. How can you look at them?"
She reached out and snatched it, then struggled to hide it behind her back.
"Oh, our little girl is back." Chang Yan chuckled, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Where did the little girl go? She was gone for a full hour."
The eldest brother was still writing, the second brother was still drawing, and the fourth brother's eyes were not leaving the stone, but they all pricked up their ears, waiting for the answer.
"I went to Youranju." The young girl recalled her heroic act and was so proud that she forgot her embarrassment. "After my efforts to turn the tide and persuade them in every way, the owner of Youranju agreed to continue cooperating with us."
Zheng Ruqian put down his brush with some surprise and remained silent.
Chang Yan suppressed a laugh, "You just went to Youran Residence?"
"Of course... Of course." Jiang Sheng would never admit that she had also secretly eaten a candied hawthorn.
As if reading her mind, Changyan slowly asked, "Didn't you sneak a bite?"
Hearing this, Jiang Sheng almost jumped up.
She tried hard to recall, but based on the speed she had just moved, Zhao Yuan couldn't have arrived before her, and her four older brothers hadn't left home, so they couldn't possibly know that she had stolen the candied hawthorn.
"Yes, yes, I didn't steal any food." After weighing the options carefully, she chose to remain stubborn.
Even the usually focused Wen Zhiyun couldn't help herself this time, and stood up with a smile to wash her hands.
Xu Mo and Zheng Ruqian both laughed along.
Jiang Sheng laughed until she felt uneasy.
"What are you laughing at?" she muttered, hesitating whether to tell the truth.
Wen Zhiyun walked up to her without her noticing, took out a clean white handkerchief, and gently and carefully wiped the corners of her mouth clean.
When the handkerchief with sugar crumbs was laid out in front of her, Jiang Sheng realized that she had forgotten to wipe her mouth after eating the candied hawthorn.
No wonder the older brothers were all chuckling.
No wonder Fifth Brother was so certain.
Jiang Sheng's embarrassment returned as soon as it subsided. Her round little face turned almost pink, and she didn't even care about the mess on the ground. She tucked her tail between her legs and ran back to her room.
It continued until it got dark.
After Zhang Xianglian finished selling today's pastries and brought back the accounts of Jiuzhenfang, she went to prepare dinner. Only then did Jiang Sheng appear awkwardly in the main hall.
The brothers were already seated at the table, some relaxing with their eyes closed, others studying intently.
What Zheng Ruqian was holding was the account book for the past three months since Jiuzhenfang opened.
Initially, the opening promotion with gifts for purchases over a certain amount resulted in decent profits. However, after reverting to the original prices, revenue decreased. Even after revising the promotion to a new level, business was only considered passable.
It wasn't until the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, when they adopted a strategy of low profit margins and high sales volume, coupled with the popularity of roasted chestnuts, that Jiuzhenfang's profits truly flourished.
Jiang San cleverly handed over an abacus.
As Zheng Ruqian tallied the accounts, he manipulated the abacus with such nimble fingers that it was dazzling to behold.
When Jiang Sheng arrived, he had just finished calculating the net profit for the past three months.
"After deducting the monthly allowances for the two aunts, rent, and raw material costs, the net profit for the three months was exactly 1,300 taels of silver."
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