After the matter subsided, Zhao Xian's life gradually returned to normal. One day, Manager Lu came to Narcissus Village to purchase goods again. Zhao Xian suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Have you seen Yang Hong during this time, Manager Lu? Has he returned the fifty taels of silver he borrowed from you?"
"No, more than half a month has passed since he borrowed the money. I haven't seen him during this time. I asked Zhao Xiaoshan, and he said he hadn't seen him either. He probably went home."
“He won’t be going home; he should still be in Qing’an Prefecture. He just hasn’t spent all his money yet,” Zhao Xian sighed.
"There's one more thing. Huang Bo said that the crab food festival is almost ready and can be held in ten days. He wants to ask Manager Zhao if there's anything else he can do for you."
"Huang Bo is a talented person. He has made very thorough preparations for the food festival. I plan to go to Qing'an Prefecture in a few days to participate in the food festival. Let's work together to make this crab food festival a great success."
"This food festival is sure to be a success. The restaurant started promoting it two days ago. Not only will more than 20 kinds of dishes made from crabs be offered at the festival, but some of our signature dishes will also be featured."
Because Qinghe Restaurant is a very high-end establishment, its cuisine is generally unaffordable for the average person. This food festival offers many free dishes, allowing people to enjoy Qinghe Restaurant's food without spending a single penny.
Zhao Xian nodded and said, "Huang Bo's idea is good. In this way, Qinghe Restaurant will become famous and its business will have more and more room for development."
After finishing his business, Manager Lu left, and Zhao Xian began to make arrangements. He had originally planned to start producing soap, but it seemed that this would not be possible for the time being. Once the soap workshop started, it could not be stopped, so soap production could only be postponed until after the food festival.
The recent events showed that the family's security was still very weak. Although everything turned out alright in the end, it gave me quite a fright. As the family business grows bigger, I will need to hire more security personnel.
Currently, the family already has ten household soldiers. To increase the number of household soldiers, the Qing'an Prefecture must approve it. It shouldn't be too difficult. The last time the government wiped out the Wild Wolf Stronghold, I also contributed to it. Based on that alone, Prefect Shen will definitely help.
Thinking of this, he immediately took Zhao Cheng and drove to the county town to find Magistrate Cao and ask him to help increase the number of his household soldiers.
More than an hour later, the two arrived in the county town. After explaining their purpose to Magistrate Cao at the county government office, Magistrate Cao burst into laughter.
Zhao Xian was a little puzzled, wondering why Magistrate Cao was laughing.
"Your Excellency, you may not know this, but last time when this county magistrate and Prefect Shen went to Shuixian Village, Your Excellency led the villagers to confront the Ma family. The situation was very dangerous at the time, mainly because Your Excellency's home defenses were insufficient. The Prefect suggested that Your Excellency increase the number of your household soldiers."
I told the prefect that the registrar's household already had ten guards, and any increase in number would require the approval of the Qing'an Prefecture.
The prefect said this matter was easy to handle, and he would arrange for people to take care of it. The number of people could be increased as needed.
Sure enough, this morning Prefect Shen sent someone to deliver the document, and the registrar seemed to know about it, as he came over this afternoon.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that the prefect was very thoughtful, having already considered things that Zhao Xian hadn't even thought of himself.
At this moment, someone took the document and handed it to Zhao Xian. Zhao Xian took the document and read it carefully. It had many seals on it, and this document needed to be approved by multiple departments before it could be passed.
"The Registrar already has ten household soldiers. With this approval document, he can add up to forty more."
“We don’t need that many soldiers right now. Let’s add ten more for now. If we add more, we won’t even have a place to live. We can add more gradually later,” Zhao Xian said.
“That works too. We’ll increase the number of private soldiers, and we’ll have to consider their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Plus, they won’t be easy to manage.”
"Then I'll trouble Magistrate Cao to help me find ten guards. It would be even better if they knew some martial arts."
"Okay, no problem. I'll arrange for someone to deliver it to you within three days."
"It's getting late, so let's head back."
Magistrate Cao glanced at the sky and said, "I originally wanted to keep the registrar for a meal before he left, but it seems that won't work. It will be dark in a little over an hour, so you should hurry back."
Zhao Xian bid farewell to Magistrate Cao and returned to Shuixian Village.
Adding ten more guards requires some preparation, mainly arranging their accommodations in advance.
Two days later, Magistrate Cao arranged for ten guards to be sent over. These guards were tall, young, and of very good overall quality.
It seems that Magistrate Cao put some effort into selecting these men; with so many strong and imposing guards added to his household, the level of defense has been significantly raised.
Zhao Xian handed these ten guards over to Zhao Cheng, who was in charge of managing them and assigning them security duties.
Zhao Cheng nodded and immediately began to address them, explaining the situation at home and assigning them security tasks, requiring each of them to take responsibility for their assigned duties.
The emperor had bestowed ten sets of writing implements upon him last time, and he planned to keep them safe and give them to promising students in the village in the future.
Master Lin and Old Master Fang, who teach and educate people in the village, deserve respect. Zhao Xian plans to give them a set of writing implements.
Master Lin and Mr. Fang were overjoyed to receive the Four Treasures of the Study. This was a gift from the current emperor, a priceless treasure. They immediately treasured the set and were reluctant to use it.
After returning from Mr. Lin and Mr. Fang, Zhao Xian picked up a set of writing implements and told his mother, Li Chun'e, that he would have lunch at the farm.
It was nearly noon, and at the farm, Chen Xiaoxiao had already prepared lunch, which was served on the table.
Chen Xiaoxiao was very happy to see Zhao Xian arrive.
"Brother Zhao, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Why don't you eat lunch here?"
"Okay, the food smells delicious. I must try it today," Zhao Xian said.
"Great! I'll go call Xiao Sheng and Li Guang back for dinner. Brother Zhao, please wait a moment." Chen Xiaoxiao said and left the farm.
At this moment, Xiao Hei and Yu Hong ran over. Xiao Hei stared at Zhao Xian, looking very excited.
After a few days apart, Xiao Hei had grown quite a bit and had become a little black bear. The little fox Yu Hong had also grown a bit, but she was noticeably smaller than Xiao Hei.
At this moment, Xiao Hei was still a little afraid of the little fox. It looked at the little fox and, seeing that it didn't react, began to play with Zhao Xian.
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