Yunling smiled at Yun Ruochun, "Aunt, then consider it your bowl."
Yun Ruochun said happily, "Given my appetite, I'll have to make a lot more."
Yunling handed over the Yuwang stick, letting Yun Ruochun do as she pleased, while she made another one herself from oak wood.
Yun Ruochun initially found it amusing, but when she saw that she could make a Wang Taiji exactly like Yun Ling, she became competitive and secretly competed with Yun Ling in speed. When Yun Ling was slower than her, she secretly rejoiced.
With Yun Ruochun's help, the small queen bases were glued to the frame strips one by one, two small rows were joined together to form a row, and three rows in total. Yunling then placed them on the frame, and the queen base was completed.
By the end of the day, the two had made six queen cells, but Yunling wasn't in a hurry to put them into the beehives; instead, she focused on raising the larvae first.
As darkness fell, she opened the beehive, immediately spotted the queen bee, temporarily imprisoned her, then added a foundation piece next to the brood comb, finally released the queen bee, closed the wooden lid, and waited.
The next day, Yunling began to check whether the queen bee had laid eggs. She carefully scanned the rows and found a small area with bee eggs. She quickly marked the area, as these eggs would hatch into one-day-old larvae in two days.
Yunling spent two days on it, marking the two-day-old and three-day-old larvae one after the other. She then used tweezers to pick them out before they were capped by worker bees.
A porcelain bowl full of larvae. Not only did Yun Chu feel uncomfortable looking at it, but even Yun Ruoxia got goosebumps. "Ling-jie, isn't this too cruel?"
"How is it cruel? Auntie, these larvae have great uses. They grow up by eating royal jelly and become the queen bee of the colony. They can also be stored to make wine, which can also stimulate appetite and relieve inflammation."
"That means you can sell it for money."
That way, Yun Ruoxia doesn't find it cruel anymore.
Yunling just smiled, then took out the queen cell and dripped a little honey into it. Then she used tweezers to pick up the larvae one by one and put them into the wax bowl. When her neck was sore, all the larvae in the porcelain bowl were emptied. Then she put the queen cell into the beehive.
Three days later
Yunling picked up the royal jelly stand, which was covered with swarms of bees. She shook it hard to get rid of the swarm, and then carefully cut off the beeswax attached to it with a knife, revealing larvae and pale yellow royal jelly.
Yun Ruoxia quickly handed over several clean porcelain bowls, her upturned lips unable to disappear. In her eyes, this was no royal jelly, but glittering gold.
Yunling gently picked out the larvae, and then used a specially made, appropriately sized flat wooden stick to dig out the royal jelly from the wax bowl. It seemed like she was digging and digging, but after cleaning six queen cell frames, she only managed to get a meager two pounds of royal jelly.
Yun Ruoxia dared not try the contents of the bowl, only tasting the bits that accidentally spilled out. But as soon as she put them in her mouth, her expression changed drastically. She wanted to vomit but also found them strange, so she could only frown and swallow them.
"Ling-jie, why is it sour, spicy, and a little bitter? Could it be spoiled?"
Yunling quickly examined the larvae she had picked out. She had been extra careful because she was afraid of cutting the larvae and causing the royal jelly to spoil. But the larvae were intact, so they couldn't have spoiled.
"Auntie, royal jelly isn't as sweet as honey. It's mainly for the queen bee to drink, so it has her own flavor."
While drinking water, Yun Ruoxia said, "This thing probably won't sell well. I can't stand the taste and texture."
"This is a highly nourishing substance, practically liquid gold. Wealthy families covet it; otherwise, why would the Lu Family Trading Company have brought it up? I reckon they'll..."
Yunling stopped herself in time and didn't continue. Since the Lu family was trying to make a living under the emperor's nose, they were bound to have connections with powerful people. Honeydew was nothing special, let alone dried black fungus. It was just a convenient excuse to curry favor.
But royal jelly is a truly rare commodity. Due to speculation by the powerful and wealthy, its price is something they could never earn in their entire lives in this small village. And this is just something that slips through someone else's fingers.
So her aunt is sure to learn a lesson this time, so she won't say much more.
Yun Ruoxia didn't hear Yun Ling's follow-up words. She was secretly relieved that she hadn't vomited it up earlier, otherwise it would have been a waste of precious resources, which would have caused her great suffering. So she took out a small jar and carefully portioned the royal jelly into smaller portions.
The next day, Yun Ruoxia set off for Lu Family Trading Company with royal jelly, winter honey, newly harvested wildflower spring honey, this year's dried black fungus, and last autumn's dried black fungus.
After finishing his work, Uncle Cao rushed over in a hurry. Upon hearing that there was royal jelly, he immediately called Lu Yinghuai over as well.
The two of them each picked up a small jar, opened the lid, scooped out a small piece with a spoon, compared the color and smell, and then lightly tasted a small fingernail. They both nodded in approval.
"This royal jelly is good. Is this all?"
"Uh-huh."
Lu Yinghuai immediately had the servant carry it in to be weighed. It weighed less than two jin, but they still charged it as if it were two jin.
After Uncle Cao learned the weight, he said, "Second Madam, do you know that royal jelly can sell for thousands of strings of cash in the capital? Cooperating with our company will maximize the benefits for both parties. However, before that, we need to sign an agreement."
"You must guarantee that the royal jelly you raise will only be sold to the Lu family business. You must not sell it to others in any form, including at a high price, as a gift, or to repay debts. Otherwise, if you disrupt the market price or offend powerful people, you will be solely responsible."
Yun Ruoxia's heart was still pounding with excitement, but with an added tremor. She had never seen Uncle Cao look so serious and solemn before, and she had never signed any agreement.
All she ever thought about was growing and raising the crops, finding someone to sell them, and getting a few coins would be the end of it. She never thought about anything else.
But she quickly sorted out her thoughts. In fact, as long as she didn't break the rules and only sold to the Lu family business, she wouldn't lose money. However, she was unwilling to stay in the village forever. She wanted to be the big boss that Yunling talked about, and she wanted to take her business to the capital. She didn't want to be bound by this.
Yun Ruoxia calmed herself down a little and said, "I wonder if we could sign a time limit, such as three or five years?"
Uncle Cao didn't respond, but smiled and said, "Why don't you go back and discuss it with your family, Second Madam? We talked about visiting before, how about we set it for two days from now?"
It seems that Uncle Cao has already given his answer: either continue cooperating or choose another master.
Yun Ruoxia felt uneasy, but having a couple more days to come up with a solution was a good thing, so she agreed.
Lu Yinghuai was overjoyed when he saw that the matter was settled. He immediately ordered people to prepare gifts, as he wanted to have a proper meeting with the little guy this time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
