In the days following Zhu Yuan's departure, life returned to normal, with only Old Lady Li occasionally muttering a few words.
She asked him when Zhu Yuan would return. She hadn't even had a chance to make braised pork for him with the fresh pork she bought that day!
Zhen Wanwan could only give a vague answer, saying that Zhu Yuan was away on official business and would not be back for some time.
Winter has arrived, and although there is no snowfall, the weather changes are quite noticeable.
Zhen Wanwan and the others put on warm winter clothes, and with thermal underwear, she wore less of an outer coat.
It doesn't feel cumbersome when you're doing things.
Since everyone was from an ordinary farming family, and they no longer needed to clear land or build houses themselves, the adult men in the courtyard found jobs in the county town.
I want to save some money before the Lunar New Year so that I can eat better next spring.
Of course, both the Zhou and Dong families would keep a portion of the money they earned to help Zhen Wanwan pay off her debts.
Qu Huaiyuan, the only scholar in the courtyard, was dismissed by the county magistrate the day after Zhuyuan left.
Now he has become a teacher at the county school.
Zhen Wanwan wasn't idle either. Relying on her connection with Zhu Yuan, she successfully got on the county magistrate's side.
Using her connections, she has already handed over the completed blueprints for the department store to the workers.
With Wang Basan, a dedicated employee, supervising the construction site, she only needs to check on the progress every two days.
Something unpleasant happened.
Tian Zhiping, the former manager of the restaurant, took advantage of his position as the county magistrate and sent his servants to cause trouble at the department store.
Finally, in her latest outburst, the magistrate was so enraged that he gave Tian Zhiping thirty lashes.
In front of her, they beat her until her skin was torn and bleeding, and without even treating her wounds, they threw her directly into the dungeon.
Meanwhile, the magistrate's wife, in the inner quarters, found fault with Tian Zhiping's sister, who was the magistrate's concubine, and sold her off to Guangling County.
Zhen Wanwan's relationship with Zhu Yuan was kept secret. Everyone assumed that Zhen Wanwan was favored by the county magistrate, which was why he took good care of her.
Therefore, no one dared to speak out about the change of ownership of the restaurant.
The things Tian Zhiping had done before have also been uncovered.
It turns out that Tian Zhiping was a shareholder of Yuhualou, which was the restaurant opposite Xiangmanlou, the predecessor of the department store.
Originally, Xiangmanlou and Yuhualou had similar businesses, and the two were competing fiercely, constantly introducing new dishes to attract customers.
Both have their own unique characteristics and are both renowned, so it's impossible to say which one is better.
In the past two years, however, Xiangmanlou has changed its manager, Tian Zhiping, who became the manager of Xiangmanlou by virtue of his close relationship with the county magistrate.
Since then, he has often treated customers in a perfunctory manner and picked out rotten ingredients. At first, he still had some regular customers, but gradually fewer and fewer people came.
On the contrary, Yuhualou frequently offered unusual dishes, and in contrast to Xiangmanlou, it became the number one restaurant in Guangling County.
This year, Xiangmanlou can barely survive on its previous year's income. If Zhenwan comes any later, it will probably be just an empty shell.
At the beginning, Tian Zhiping had great ambitions for Xiangmanlou and tried his best to bring down Yuhualou across the street.
Gradually, his ambition grew, and he was no longer satisfied with being just a manager. Under the dubious efforts of the people at Yuhualou, he acquired half of the shares.
It's better to earn interest without doing any work than to work hard for others and only receive a meager income.
Therefore, Tian Zhiping and his accomplices at Yuhualou conspired to bring down Xiangmanlou and claim the title of the best restaurant in Guangling County.
Logically speaking, it's impossible for the higher-ups not to notice that Xiangmanlou has suffered such a huge loss.
Zhuyuan's main business was not in Guangling County, so they only sent people to check the accounts once every three years.
Xiangmanlou was investigated only two years ago, so it hasn't been managed much.
Over time, Zhu Yuan forgot about the existence of this restaurant. If Zhen Wanwan hadn't mentioned it to him by chance, he probably would never have remembered it in his life.
When Zhen Wanwan thought about how Chen Yong showed her Xiangmanlou's accounts from the past three years, she was still deeply shocked.
In the first year, the net profit was 30,000 taels. The year before last, it was cut in half to only about 15,000 taels. Last year and this year were even worse. After paying the monthly wages of the head chef and the waiters, only 2,000 taels were left.
Of these two thousand taels, half must be used for food expenses, and the other half for shop maintenance expenses.
When the constables searched Tian Zhiping's home, they found that he had countless grains and tens of thousands of taels of gold. In addition to his first wife and two concubines, he also kept two mistresses and a widow.
This directly shocked everyone in the county.
Thinking of this, Zhen Wanwan sighed and her gaze drifted into a daze. It had been about half a month since Zhu Yuan left.
Every letter he sent back contained only the brief words "all is well".
Now she has 20,000 taels of compensation from the confiscation of Tian Zhiping's property, and she took out 10,000 taels to buy the little pistol she had been longing for.
She had 10,000 taels left, which she planned to keep in case of urgent matters in the future. As for the grain found in Tian Zhiping's house, Chen Yong gave it all away.
Feeling bored, Zhen Wanwan went to tinker with the virtual field in her space again.
The time from seed germination to maturity in the land of today has been shortened to three days.
She guessed that the increased irrigation water might have directly accelerated the seed maturation process.
Looking at the mountain of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn piled up in front of her, Zhen Wanwan's agitated heart calmed down considerably.
Ever since hearing what Zhu Yuan said, she has planted all the land in the space with high-yield crops.
She also secretly bought an abandoned granary and secretly put grain inside, while the potatoes and sweet potatoes were hidden in the cellar.
It's best not to reveal this kind of thing to her unless absolutely necessary.
Otherwise, if it were discovered by someone with ulterior motives, its production volume would likely cause a frenzy of buying.
After Zhen Wanwan dug herself up covered in mud again, Grandma Li and the others returned from offering incense.
Five kilometers outside Guangling County, there is a temple called Lingyin Temple, which is highly respected by the nearby villagers.
Grandma Li was invited by her aunt to go to the mountain to worship Buddha. Several old ladies and sisters-in-law in the courtyard also wanted to go, so they all went out.
Zhen Wanwan was too lazy to move and worried about the children, so she became the housekeeper.
"Auntie! I'm home from school!" Yuan Huizhou came back skipping and jumping, hand in hand with Qu Huaiyuan, followed by Xiao Mei carrying her schoolbag.
"You're back! Come here, Auntie will give you some candy!"
As is customary, Zhen Wanwan rewarded Yuan Huizhou with a piece of candy.
"Hehe! So sweet! I want to go inside and see my younger brother and sister!"
Yuan Huizhou ate a candy with relish, then walked past Zhen Wanwan toward the bedside.
While snuggling with her adorable and sweet babies, Zhen Wanwan smiled and didn't stop them.
Xiao Mei, all smiles, carried her schoolbag back to Yuan Huizhou's room.
"Brother Qu! Is Zhou'er still causing trouble at school?"
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