Upon seeing how serious Yan Qingqing was, the two of them suppressed their smiles and followed her into the house.
It was the first time for both of them to be in Yan Qingqing's room, so Chen Liu naturally didn't dare to look around and sat obediently on the stool.
Lin Ning'er looked at it carefully, then said with a smile, "You're a fifth-rank official now, yet the furnishings in this room are too simple."
Yan Qingqing laughed and said, "I don't earn as much as you do every day. I have a whole family to support."
Lin Ning'er pursed her lips upon hearing this, but she knew that Yan Qingqing meant no harm.
For some reason, she just felt that Yan Qingqing was different from others and that she didn't look down on her just because she was in a brothel.
Lin Ning'er also sat down on the stool next to her and said, "Speak, what do you want to see me about?"
Yan Qingqing then recounted how the Chen family had repeatedly framed her.
Upon hearing this, Chen Liu angrily said, "The Shen family and the Chen family are simply going too far! Tomorrow I will go to the prefectural city and find a chance to teach them a lesson."
To be honest, Yan Qingqing was quite touched by these words; at least she hadn't made Chen Liu a friend in vain.
However, Yan Qingqing stopped him and said, "The best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting. When the strength is not equal, the stupidest way is to solve the problem with force."
Besides, this is on someone else's turf. What if things don't go smoothly and we have to find a way to bail you out?
Chen Liu wanted to argue, but Lin Ning'er stopped him, saying, "Since Sister Yan has asked us to come, she must have thought of a solution. Let's listen to her first."
Chen Liu then gave up after hearing this.
Yan Qingqing smiled and waved to the two of them, signaling them to come closer. The three of them then whispered among themselves for a while.
After hearing this, Lin Ning'er slapped her thigh and said, "That's a great idea. When their own backyard catches fire, they won't have time to bother my sister."
"But I need to think this through carefully and find a reliable person to handle it."
Yan Qingqing stood up, straightened her clothes, bowed to Lin Ning'er, and said, "I entrust this matter to you, elder sister."
Lin Ning'er accepted the gift readily and said nonchalantly, "It was nothing, little sister, wait for my good news."
After saying that, she got up to leave, but Yan Qingqing suddenly called out to her, saying, "Sister Lin, I know you have burdens to bear, and I can't help you much right now, but if I ever have the ability, I will definitely not stand idly by."
Lin Ning'er stopped in her tracks upon hearing this, but did not turn around. Her voice choked with emotion as she said, "These words from my sister are enough."
After saying that, he took Chen Liu and left.
Yan Qingqing sighed. Lin Ning'er carried too much on her shoulders; it was not something that a small person like her could handle.
But today she owes Lin Ning'er such a huge favor, which she will have to repay in the future.
After the two left, Yan Qingqing also went to rest.
Three days later, Li Xiang'an had prepared all the goods requested by the merchants.
Over the course of three days, these businesspeople visited the rose and peony garden, toured the food processing workshop, and even went to the embroidery workshop and the mushroom cultivation workshop.
Of course, after this series of visits, Li Xiang'an was overwhelmed with orders.
Li Xiang'an was overjoyed, and while instructing the accountant to collect the payment for this shipment, he also collected the deposit for their next order.
After seeing off the group of merchants, Li Xiang'an breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the thick stack of silver notes in his hand, he quickly took them to Yan Qingqing to claim credit.
Yan Qingqing was discussing planting chrysanthemums with Li Xiangping.
Yan Qingqing meant that the varieties didn't need to be too rare, but there should be as many types as possible.
Li Xiangping, who recently started managing the peony garden and is also an agricultural official, has gotten to know quite a few people who enjoy growing flowers and plants.
Li Xiangping said with a smile, "Mother, I've already negotiated with them. In addition to the common chrysanthemums, they are also willing to give up some of the more precious varieties."
Of course, my price was fair.
Yan Qingqing nodded in agreement. She trusted Li Xiangping completely. He was gentle and not the type to bully others.
After saying that, Li Xiangping said somewhat embarrassedly, "Mom, now that we have money, shouldn't we buy some more land?"
Although the Li family owned many properties, they didn't own much land. Apart from the estate that Magistrate Ling had awarded them, they only had the seven mu of land that had been divided among the family members.
Although Yan Qingqing bought thirty acres of wasteland and twenty acres of mountain land, the wasteland was used to grow flowers and the mountain land was used to plant trees, so there was no extra land to grow grain.
Yan Qingqing has been so busy with business lately that she hasn't really thought about buying land.
Food is the most important thing for people, especially in ancient class society, where people really couldn't live without the land.
So when Yan Qingqing heard Li Xiangping's suggestion, she immediately decided, "Buy it, we definitely have to buy this land."
This time, we won't buy small plots of land; we'll buy a large estate. It'll be easier to manage that way.”
Li Xiangping was delighted and said, "In that case, I'll have someone keep an eye out for suitable properties and we'll buy some. I wonder how many acres Mother plans to buy? That way, I'll have a better idea."
Just then, Li Xiang'an walked in with a beaming smile and said, "The amount of land you buy depends on how much silver you have on hand."
After saying that, he handed the silver notes to Yan Qingqing and said, "Mother, this is the payment from those merchants. I kept a small portion for the workshop's normal expenses. The rest is here."
Yan Qingqing picked up the silver note and looked at it; it contained over forty thousand taels. She asked in surprise, "How come there's so much?"
Although Yan Qingqing signed more contracts in the prefectural city than these, there weren't many merchants who came this time; a large number of them hadn't arrived yet.
Li Xiang'an said helplessly, "Mom, it's not my fault. It's just that our products are so good."
These customers kept asking for more goods and even insisted on leaving payment for their next order. I couldn't refuse them.
Seeing his Versailles-like demeanor, Yan Qingqing said with amusement, "Don't be too happy yet. In a few days, there will be more merchants coming to buy goods. If you can't produce the goods then, it will be a big problem."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiang'an's face immediately fell, and he said with a bitter expression, "Mother, can we hire another batch of workers to expand the production scale?"
The warehouse is almost empty now, barely enough to meet the orders Mother signed in the prefectural city.
But I'm worried they'll ask for more stock later, and we also have several partner merchants in the county, so it really won't be enough."
Yan Qingqing sighed and replied, "Haste makes waste. Mother also wants to expand the scale. But it's not necessarily a good thing for a workshop to develop too quickly. They will need time to develop the market after taking these goods back."
Once these products are mass-produced or even have specialized workshops, they will become mass-market consumer goods, and the profit margins will inevitably be very low.
We are not ready to transform at the moment.
Li Xiang'an sighed upon hearing this, feeling truly distressed to see money but be unable to earn it.
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