Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

Their first stop was not the market, but Nongchao Tower.

It was just after breakfast time, and there were only a few scattered guests left in the building.

Li Yuer and his friends went to the back door. The guy who opened the door had seen Li Yuer before and knew that she was from the Li family who had come to the restaurant to sell whale meat a few days ago.

Lai Fu, who had introduced the Li family in the beginning, had now become an apprentice in the accounting office. The receptionist did not dare to look down on them and naturally led them in politely.

Soon, they met Manager Qian.

Shopkeeper Qian was in high spirits when there was good news. As the year was coming to an end, he wore a dark red waistcoat, and his whole body was filled with the joy of the New Year. The building was also decorated with lights and colorful lanterns everywhere, and it was very festive.

"Hello, Uncle Qian! We are here to see you." Li Yuer called sweetly.

"Okay, okay! You clever little boy, are you here with your grandpa and grandma to buy New Year's goods today?"

Li Yuer shook her head and said, "My grandfather and his family didn't come with us. We came here on our own. We made some small items and set up a stall at the market. By the way, we brought one for you as well."

"That's great, take it out and show it to uncle."

Shopkeeper Qian thought they were just shoes, hats or something like that.

When the villagers nearby are idle in winter, they make these things and sell them to supplement their family income.

Their restaurant was really blessed by the Li family this time. The whale-tasting banquet that their owner was preparing was going very well, and all the invitations sent out had received responses.

Even the prefect had his steward convey a message saying that he would be in attendance.

The prefect is the highest-ranking official in the entire Haining Prefecture. As long as he is willing to attend, Nongchaolou will open a restaurant in Huihai County.

The boss promised that once the branch in Huihai County was opened, he would be transferred there to be the chief manager.

It would be a lie for Shopkeeper Qian, who has worked hard in Xinpu Town for decades, to say that he has no ambition at all.

Since ancient times, people tend to go to higher places and water flows to lower places. This is a natural truth.

Last time, the whale tail was listed as the finale of the whale tasting banquet. The host was very satisfied and rewarded him with a lot of things.

Since Li Yuer is here, he might as well take this opportunity to give more New Year gifts to the Li family.

Li Erlang carefully took out a square wicker box from the wicker basket.

Li Yuer opened the top cover and took out an exquisite shell oil lamp from inside.

This is the best oil lamp they have made so far, and it is called "Attract Wealth and Treasure". Li Yuer plans to give each high-end oil lamp an auspicious name.

The base of this oil lamp is made up of several large golden scallop shells, like a ground paved with gold.

The lamp post is made of two golden Pixiu, one on the left and one on the right, glued together with fish glue. The Pixiu are lifelike and majestic, symbolizing the attraction of wealth from all directions.

Each Pixiu has a scallop lamp stand on its head, on which is placed the pure white pith of rush.

Li Yuer polished this lamp using the whale oil aromatherapy method. After being smoked with whale oil, a light oil film will form on the surface of the oil lamp, which makes the oil lamp more shiny and more resistant to oxidation. It will not fade easily even after ten or eight years.

Shopkeeper Qian was shocked to see the exquisite oil lamp in front of him and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's simply a work of art beyond imagination!"

But he asked in disbelief: "Did you really do this?"

Even skilled craftsmen with decades of experience may not be able to produce such works with such creativity and craftsmanship.

Li Yuer knew in her heart that she was merely taking advantage of the fish maw and the wisdom and talent accumulated by people in later generations.

She said modestly: "It's nothing, as long as Uncle Qian likes it."

Li Yuer and Li Meir looked at each other, and the latter took out a porcelain jar, which was the porcelain jar that Old Mrs. Cai gave as her dowry.

Li Meier handed the porcelain jar to Shopkeeper Qian and said, "Uncle Qian, this is whale oil. It is brighter than other oils, produces less smoke, and has a light fragrance. Try it."

Shopkeeper Qian was pleasantly surprised. Although their restaurant collected a lot of whale meat, most of it was kept for whale tasting banquets. The very small amount that was refined into oil was also used by the owners to give away as gifts and to maintain relationships.

Such good stuff has never been his turn.

He carefully took the porcelain jar and immediately asked the waiter to bring a spoon and a fire starter to light the oil lamp.

Although it was daytime, the brightness of the whale oil lamp was still very obvious in the house, directly overshadowing the other fine oil lamps in the restaurant and becoming the shining king of lamps.

"Wonderful! So wonderful!" Shopkeeper Qian looked at the magnificent whale oil lamp and praised it highly.

An idea immediately occurred to him. If this good thing could be used in a whale-tasting banquet, it would surely improve the quality of the banquet and add a sense of mystery and elegance.

Shopkeeper Qian couldn't wait to ask, "How many of these oil lamps do you have?"

Li Erlang immediately replied, "There are ten more, all here."

Li Yuer added: "The remaining ten are not as exquisite as this one. We plan to sell them at the market."

Products that are tested cannot be compared with those that are given away as gifts.

Shopkeeper Qian opened the lid of the wicker basket himself, looked at the lamps one by one, and said, "Why do we need to sell them at the big market? We have them all in Nongchaolou."

Li Yuer and the other two looked at each other, then grinned happily. Li Yuer imitated the adults and bowed to Shopkeeper Qian, saying, "Thank you for your generosity."

Shopkeeper Qian was amused by her quirky appearance and felt extremely happy for a moment. He thought, it would be great if this little girl was from his family.

One top-quality lamp costs five hundred coins each; three medium-quality shell lamps cost two hundred coins each, for a total of six hundred coins; six lowest-quality lamps cost fifty coins each, for a total of three hundred coins.

The total amount was 1,400 coins, and Li Yuer took all the copper coins.

The three of them came out of Nongchao Tower. The wicker basket was heavier than when they came. In the basket was a pile of money as a return gift from the shopkeeper, which was said to be a New Year gift and no one could refuse it.

Not only that, Qian Zhangui also ordered fifty special-grade oil lamps, each costing one tael of silver, for a total of fifty taels. Manager Qian directly gave a silver note for twenty taels as a deposit.

Li Mei'er said with a guilty conscience: "Do we look like poor relatives who come to ask for money?"

Li Yuer looked down at the patched clothes on his body and found that it really looked like her.

Li Erlang and Li Meier carried the wicker baskets on the left and right, humming happily. They didn't feel heavy at all.

Li Yuer had been to the town several times and had something to do every time. This time he had money and free time, so of course he was going to go on a shopping spree after holding back for a long time.

So she took the lead and led the two of them to go shopping.

The family will buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, cotton cloth and other necessities, so they don’t have to worry about it. They just want to buy what they like.

"As the saying goes, 'clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse.' We will be small bosses in the future. Should we change our clothes? Otherwise, it will be unworthy of our status, right?" Li Yuer said seriously.

Li Meier, who was used to being frugal, felt that something was wrong and said, "No need for that. Didn't grandma say that she would buy us some cloth to make new clothes?"

Li Yuer shook his head and said, "How can they be the same? What they choose may not be suitable for us to go out. We have to buy some clothes to show off so that people won't look down on us when we go out to do things.

Think about it, if people want to have equal conversations with each other, shouldn’t they dress equally first?”

Li Erlang felt that what Li Yu'er said made a lot of sense, so he nodded and agreed: "Mei'er, stop nagging and listen to Yu Bao'er. She is much smarter than you."

Li Meir rolled her eyes at him. If they weren't outside, she would have torn his mouth apart.

After glaring at Li Erlang, Li Meir held back and said nothing more.

The two followed Li Yuer and swaggered into a medium-sized cloth shop - Liuji Cloth Shop.

There were not too many customers in the store. When a few ragged children sneaked in, they just glanced at them and turned around to continue picking things. They didn't pay much attention and didn't drive them away.

Li Yuer ignored all that. Seeing that no one was there to greet them, she walked directly to the counter and said to the proprietress who was counting the hours: "Sister, we want to buy some ready-made clothes."

Madam Liu looked over when she heard the sound and saw that they were a few children in ragged clothes, but she was not annoyed, especially towards the sweet-mouthed little girl.

She is already twenty-eight years old and has been a mother for ten years. She is naturally happy to be called sister.

She smiled and said, "My dear guests, if you want to buy ready-made clothes, just follow me."