"You Ran, the accounts aren't wrong, are they?" Li Dazhu was so shocked that he dropped his pipe on the kang (a heated brick bed), and said tremblingly, "Is there really that much money?"
Let alone five hundred taels, even fifty taels of silver was something Li Dazhu dared not even dream of.
"Little sister, how come you're so smart?" Zhao Lanzhi looked at Li Youran with starry eyes, overflowing with admiration.
A casual suggestion from her sister-in-law multiplied the pancake shop's income several times over. She also opened a bookstore and came up with the idea of registering members and pre-depositing silver, earning five hundred taels of silver in a single day.
Zhao Lanzhi felt that even if a man passed the imperial examinations, he was still not as smart as her sister-in-law.
"The bookstore was able to open so smoothly thanks to the support and help of my family."
As Li Youran spoke, he took out fifty taels of silver from the five hundred taels of silver.
She planned to lend the money to her second brother and sister-in-law so they could expand their pancake shop and hire more people, thus earning more money.
"Little sister, you mustn't do this. This is all money you've worked hard to earn. Besides, it's all money pre-deposited by customers..."
Li Tairan's first reaction was to refuse. As the second brother, how could he accept money from his younger sister?
Even if he wants to expand the store, he has to rely on his own abilities and wait until he has saved enough money before expanding the store.
"Second brother, now the pancake shop not only has to keep up with its original business, but also has to deliver meals to the academy. Second sister-in-law is working too hard following you. Can you really bear to see her so tired every day?"
Hearing Li Youran's words, Li Tairan wavered.
Indeed, the pancake shop is extremely busy right now. Although they have considered hiring more people, the shop is too small, so they can only hire two women to help out.
Not to mention his wife, even he himself found it hard to handle such a high-intensity job.
"Little sister, consider this money a loan from me. I'll pay you back once I've saved enough silver."
Li Tairan did some mental calculations. Based on the current monthly income of the pancake shop, he could save up fifty taels of silver in just a few months.
After dinner, Li Youran returned to her house. As soon as she drove out of the alley, she ran into Xiao Zhou, who had come running to find her.
"Xiao Zhou, has something happened?"
It was during the dockworkers' evening strike when Xiao Zhou rushed over to find her, and Li Youran had a bad feeling.
"Shopkeeper, something terrible has happened! Someone's causing trouble, saying they got diarrhea from eating our cooked food." Xiao Zhou said breathlessly, "The person is lying right outside our shop and won't get up no matter what we say."
"Get on the carriage." Li Youran quickly analyzed the various situations.
They use only fresh ingredients, and the food is braised on the same day. Any leftover cooked food is sold off at a low price or given to beggars. They never keep any for the next day to buy again, so there is absolutely no problem with the cooked food.
The troublemakers were either trying to extort money or were just jealous of her family's good business.
The distance wasn't far to begin with, and the carriage was extremely fast, so they arrived in the blink of an eye.
"This guy said he got diarrhea after eating some of my cooked food. I wonder what he ate?"
"What else can we eat? It's all the stuff you have here." Seeing the shopkeeper arrive, the person who had been lying on the ground causing trouble stood up.
"I ate your pig intestines!" The man's eyes darted around, and he shouted loudly, "There's something wrong with your cooked food. It'll give you diarrhea. Either close down, or come with me to see the authorities!"
"I wonder when this brother bought the pig intestines from my house? Do our pig intestines smell bad?"
Seeing that this person looked dejected and had his eyes constantly darting around, clearly a scoundrel, Li Youran was surprised that he didn't ask for money but instead told her to close down her business.
"Where can I find pig intestines that don't smell bad? I bought them from your store yesterday at noon."
"Xiao Zhou, tie this man up!" Li Youran roared. "Take him to the authorities!"
The onlookers already knew the answer: as everyone knows, her pig intestines didn't smell bad; instead, they had a unique aroma. Most importantly, her cooked food stall wasn't open at lunchtime.
"Since my shop opened, I've been fortunate to receive your patronage. Is there any hero willing to step forward and testify on my behalf?" Li Youran cupped her hands in a respectful gesture and addressed the crowd, "I will certainly offer a generous reward!"
Several regular customers insisted on going along to testify, so they closed the shop, packed up, and took the scoundrel to the yamen.
The wedding was originally scheduled for three days later, but the Lu family came in the middle of the night, saying that they had consulted a master who had divined the future, and that tomorrow was an auspicious day that was rare in a thousand years. If they got married tomorrow, Lu Chuan would pass the imperial examination and become a scholar.
The family dared not delay, and in the middle of the night they found a woman with both a son and a daughter, and whose parents-in-law were still alive to be the person to receive the five blessings. Then they did a lot of tidying up, waiting for the Lu family to come and pick up the bride early the next morning.
"I never expected to marry Lu Chuan so soon..."
Looking at the person in the mirror and at the festive red decorations filling the room, Wang Xiangyu felt a little dazed, as if it were all a dream.
The gates of the Li family's old house were tightly shut, while the Wang family was making a grand entrance as their daughter was getting married, drawing a crowd of onlookers who were all talking about it.
"When Li's younger sister married Lu Chuan, it was with just as much fanfare. It's just a pity that Li's younger sister couldn't have children, what a pity..."
"The Li family's gate was tightly closed; they probably didn't want to see such a scene, so the whole family went outside!"
Lu Chuan rode a tall horse, adorned with red flowers, looking spirited and majestic.
Lu Chuan felt uneasy when he inadvertently saw the Li family's tightly closed gate and heard the neighbors' gossip.
His anger was instantly replaced by boundless hatred, and his eyes blazed with fury as Lu Chuan recalled the humiliation of that day.
The Lu family was in such a hurry because Lu Chuan's inability to perform sexual acts had become known throughout the entire academy.
The news spread quickly because there were scholars studying at the academy in the alley. After discussing it, the Lu family went to the Wang family that night to deliver the message that they would be welcoming the bride the next morning.
The Lu family didn't sleep a wink all night, asking for help, booking a hotel, and preparing things for the wedding overnight.
Last night, the people were sent to the yamen, and there were witnesses to testify, but the magistrate thought it was just a trivial matter and not worth holding a trial in the middle of the night, so he sent them back.
But Li Youran insisted on investigating the matter thoroughly, and the county magistrate had no choice but to wave his hand and tell them to wait there until the next day to hold court.
After learning about this, the entire Li family rushed to the yamen overnight to wait with Li Youran.
After finally waiting until the next day, the witnesses suddenly changed their stories, and Li Youran did not expect such a big reversal.
"Wait a minute!"
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