Gu Ren took Gu Xin's hand and they walked inside together.
He actually had a general idea of what Lu Zheng was up to; this plot was in his book, but Lu Zheng had arrived in Kuncheng ahead of time, so the plot unfolded ahead of schedule.
He remembered writing that Lu Zheng was injured, and then everyone in the capital thought he was dead. He rushed back despite his injuries, just because he was afraid that Gu Xin would worry and that people would bully her.
He collapsed when he saw Gu Xin, and then remained unconscious for three days and three nights.
This life shouldn't be so tragic. After all, he's already done this, and if he still gets injured, wouldn't that mean he's incompetent?
Therefore, Gu Ren was not worried at all.
The family sat around a table, but Gu Sishu and Yang Shi were missing; instead, Princess Jinghe and He Sanniang were present.
There was a huge feast on the table, something that even Princess Jinghe, let alone He San Niang, had never tasted before.
Cumin lamb, braised beef, a large platter of braised meats, twice-cooked pork with chili peppers, potato slices with chili peppers, braised pork ribs with glass noodles, ...
The cumin was obtained by Cai Xiaolian from the Sand God Kingdom. It wasn't available in the Great Zhou Dynasty; it was unique to the Sand God Kingdom. Cai Xiaolian also traded for seeds, and in just a few nights, she harvested a large batch of seeds, planning to plant them in the spring.
Peng Yizhu came over to help make the vermicelli; they didn't make many, since the sweet potatoes were to be used as seeds.
Uncle Gu slurped up a mouthful of vermicelli: "This is good, this is good. Luckily we saved a lot of seeds. We can plant more in the spring, and starting next year, we'll have this to eat all the time!"
Gu Xin: "Uncle, we can still sell them. Only we know how to make these sweet potato noodles, no one else does. If our family opens a sweet potato noodle workshop, we can sell to Da Zhou and to the surrounding countries, and make a lot of money!"
Gu Nian laughed and said, "Now I know what Xiao Xinxin likes! Money, look at that greedy little face."
Everyone laughed. It seemed to be true; this girl really liked making money, and she could think of money in everything.
Gu Xin chuckled along, and after she finished laughing, she said, "Speaking of which, I've also thought of a way to make money. To help Father replenish the county government's treasury."
Gu Shouxin: "Oh? Tell me about it?"
Gu Xin smiled and said, "I've inquired, and Kuncheng didn't have a lantern festival before. We can hold one on the fifteenth of the first lunar month. Entry to the lantern festival will cost silver; merchants from our Great Zhou don't have to pay, but those from neighboring countries will. The government will provide the venue, maintain order, and charge each stall a certain amount of silver, based on the stalls' revenue that night, with the government taking 10%. Father, you can also create some riddles and hang them around for people from neighboring countries to guess. Make the lanterns exquisite; if they guess correctly, they get a free lantern; if they don't, they can buy the answer with silver, priced according to the difficulty of the riddle. Father can also mobilize the residents of Kuncheng, including military families, to participate in this trade fair, selling anything they consider useless. You can charge ten coins per household. You can have someone inform the neighboring countries; haven't they never participated in the Great Zhou's lantern festival before? To put it more aptly, the number of people coming will definitely be much larger than usual. Oh, and by the way, the government can also buy some things—ring toss, darts, and other small games."
Gu Shouxin thought about it and agreed, but he was a little worried about Gu Xin: "Why are you thinking about the lantern festival? Do you think Kuncheng is too deserted?"
Gu Xin nodded: "Yes! It's too deserted. I saw it at the gate just now, there aren't even any streetlights in front of it. It's not as lively as our Zhoujia Town! Since it's not lively, let's make it lively ourselves."
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