Beautiful Peasant Girl: The Young Marquis's Beloved

Inside the study, the three of them sat down.

"Young Marquis, we are all so familiar with each other, so I won't beat around the bush. The dishes in Zhenxiu Pavilion are all provided by Miss Xu, so Miss Xu gets 60% of the profits. What I mean is that Miss Xu's share remains unchanged, and the rest is divided equally between the two of us. What do you think?" Chang Yifei said.

He knew that Liu Xu was not short of money now, and even without him, the Treasure Pavilion could still be opened. It was just because this girl was lazy that they had the previous partnership. For him, it was actually a great bargain. Although their development would be smoother with the joining of the young marquis, it was not necessary. He actually hoped that this would give the Chang family a chance to get close to the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion, so he was willing to give up 20% of the profit, but he was unwilling to touch Liu Xu's share.

"I have no objection!" Mu Lingxuan nodded. Naturally, Mu Lingxuan understood what Chang Yifei could think of.

"Then..."

"I have an opinion!" Liu Xu interrupted before Chang Yifei finished speaking. The other two looked at her in confusion.

Liu Xu looked at the two of them and sighed helplessly, "Brother Chang San, Brother Huai Jin, how can you be like this? Since we have decided to work together, then the share must be recalculated. How can we invest the same amount and I alone get the lion's share?"

"Xu girl..."

"Brother Chang, listen to me first. Zhenxiu Pavilion must expand outward. If it's just you and me, Yongshun Prefecture is still okay, but if we want to expand to the entire Dongsheng Country, we will face many difficulties."

"But now that Brother Huai Jin has joined us, the progress will be much faster, you can't deny that. As for the most important personnel issue, Brother Huai Jin and I can't take care of it, so you need to do the most troublesome things. In fact, I have the easiest job, I only need to develop dishes. Although I am thick-skinned, I can't do the easiest job and get the most money. My opinion is that we divide the money into three parts, each of us will get 30% of the profit, and the remaining 10% will be distributed to the store owner and clerks as a bonus at the end of the year. The world is bustling for profit, with this bonus, I believe everyone will be more loyal to Zhenxiu Pavilion."

After Liu Xu finished speaking, she blinked and looked at the two of them.

"No, you will be at a disadvantage this way, girl Xu. Dishes are the key to a restaurant's profitability. Anyone can open a restaurant. Take Zuiyunxuan for example. You have seen that since the dishes you gave us, it has now firmly ranked first among the restaurants in Qinghe County. Without your dishes, no matter how powerful the young marquis is, or how many people I have, it would be useless."

As a businessman, he should be happy. But Chang Yifei felt that he was not thick-skinned enough to take advantage of a little girl.

Mu Lingxuan didn't know much about business, but he also understood what Chang Yifei said. Whether Zhenxiu Pavilion was profitable or how much profit it made depended mainly on Liu Xu, so he didn't agree with the three-person split.

"I only invested money, 20% is already a bargain." Mu Lingxuan said concisely.

Liu Xu looked at the two of them with a mixture of laughter and tears. Thinking back to her past life, she used her savings to open a store with someone else. It was her idea, and they even deducted the management fee before giving her 40%. But these two people in front of her...

"How can you be like this? You have money but you push it away! What's the matter? Are you afraid of getting hurt? We must give everyone bonuses. As for the remaining 90%, 30% for each of us is just right. What's there to be entangled about?" Liu Xu rolled his eyes at the two of them.

Seeing that they still looked unhappy, Liu Xu thought for a moment and said,

"How about this, if you feel you've treated me unfairly, I can invest my technology and you two can be responsible for the cost of the first store? But after that, you can pay for the cost of subsequent stores from the profits?" Anyway, the cost of the first store was not that much for them.

The two of them brightened up when they heard this, but then Chang Yifei frowned again, "No, don't think I don't know that the money you have now is more than enough to open a Treasure Pavilion by yourself."

"I can open one myself, but without you two, I would only dare to open this one! Compared with the money made by letting Zhenxiu Pavilion open all over Dongsheng, what is the profit of this store? Okay, don't worry about it. In order for our Zhenxiu Pavilion to open all over Dongsheng, you two are indispensable. Let's decide it this way!" Liu Xu didn't want to nag them anymore.

"And you forgot that the mushrooms and brine used in the store were all provided by me. I will not stop making money just because I am a shareholder!" Liu Xu shrugged.

Mu Lingxuan and the other person looked at each other, smiled helplessly, and finally agreed.

"Oh, by the way, I have just finished drawing the decoration plan. You two can check if there is anything that needs to be changed. When you are done today, Third Brother Chang can take it back. Hurry up and try to open the store in early December and make some money in winter!"

Afterwards, the three of them discussed for a while, invalidated the previous contract, rewrote three copies, signed them respectively and put them in their pockets before leaving the study.

They stayed in there for nearly half an hour. When they came out, Xing'er and his sister were already resting on the side, while Qingfeng and Xuanyi were roasting food there.

After a while, Xu Ruolan and Aunt Lin came over with two plates of dumplings, "Come and eat dumplings everyone! Thinking that you would also like to eat grilled skewers, I didn't cook too much. There are some already wrapped in the kitchen. If it's not enough, ask Grandma Fang to make more for you." Xu Ruolan smiled gently.

"Okay, thank you, auntie." Mu Lingxuan said.

"Thank you, auntie!" Chang Yifei said with a smile, holding a half-eaten piece of barbecue in his hand.

"Second Aunt, stop busying yourself and sit down to eat together!" Xing'er and Liu Xu stepped forward to take the dumplings and pulled Xu Ruolan to sit down.

"Aunt Lin, you guys go eat too, we'll come over to clean up later!" Liu Xu said.

"Yes, miss!"

After dinner, Xu Ruolan asked Qiao Yun to prepare hawthorn water for everyone, and then went back to the house to take care of the children.

Who made these kids eat so much that their bellies are full and they just lie limp in their chairs and don't want to move at all?

Even Mu Lingxuan, who was always self-disciplined, ate too much. It wasn't that he was greedy, but Liu Xu started to divide the food up after eating, and he cleaned up the pot and bowl, saying that it was a shame to waste it.

After drinking hawthorn water and resting for a while, Chang Yifei said goodbye with Qingfeng. There was no other way, he had to do more work as he had to collect food for Mu Lingxuan and watch over the decoration of Zhenxiu Pavilion. There was a lot to do.

After seeing Chang Yifei off, Liu Xu and Mu Lingxuan sat in the yard and chatted, and they started talking about the taste of the soup pot.

"Brother Huai Jin, let me tell you, when it comes to our soup pot, the spicy flavor is the best!" Liu Xu thought of the Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot in her previous life and couldn't help swallowing.

"Oh? Do you add dogwood and peppercorns in it?" Mu Lingxuan asked curiously.

Liu Xu shook her head and sighed. Although it is possible to make spicy food with dogwood, she had tried it before and it tasted a bit bitter. It would be better if it had chili peppers.

Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind. In history, chili peppers seemed to have first appeared as ornamental objects. So is it possible that Dongsheng Kingdom actually had them, but people just didn't know they could be eaten?

Then, Liu Xu looked at Mu Lingxuan with bright eyes, "Brother Huai Jin, have you ever seen such a plant? Well, it's about one foot tall, with dark green, irregular diamond-shaped leaves, and small white flowers. After the flowers fall, it produces green finger-sized, smooth fruits. The fruits will slowly turn red over time." Liu Xu gestured excitedly, and looked at Mu Lingxuan with anticipation.

Mu Lingxuan frowned, thinking that he had seen this thing Liu Xu was talking about somewhere before. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment. After a moment, he raised his head and frowned even more tightly.

"Sister Xu'er, if I remember correctly, this should be the pepper that Nanyue country paid tribute to a few years ago. This thing is poisonous. How did you know about this thing?"

"What? It's poisonous? Who told you?" Liu Xu was stunned.

Mu Lingxuan shook his head and said, "I saw it with my own eyes. The emperor saw that the fruit was red and festive, so he gave it to Duke Rong who had a grandson. At the child's 100-day banquet, Duke Rong served it to everyone for appreciation, but it was eaten by the young master of Prince Yu's mansion. His face became red and swollen, he vomited and had stomach pain, and then he fainted. He was treated by the imperial physician for a long time before he recovered. The next day, the court even suspected that this was Nan Yue's trick, but fortunately the young master was fine after two days. But since then, although the peppers are very beautiful when they are ripe, very few people are willing to grow them."

Liu Xu was speechless when she saw him avoiding her like a snake or scorpion.

"What a waste of natural resources! Chili peppers, the peppers you mentioned, are not only non-toxic, but can also be used as medicine. Most importantly, they are a dish and a condiment! As for the condition that the young master had, it was because of the spiciness! Just like dogwood, can children eat too much of it?"

Liu Xu couldn't help but roll her eyes. Mu Lingxuan was even more confused, "Sister Xu, how do you know all this?"

Liu Xu's heart skipped a beat, and then he laughed, "How would I know? My grandpa told my mother, and my mother told me. It is said that when he was young, he went to the coast to do business, and he saw it from the foreigners. He asked curiously, and they told him. I heard that there is also a kind of red fruit that tastes sour and sweet like a persimmon, but he was afraid of being cheated, so he didn't dare to buy it."

Mu Lingxuan looked as if he understood everything.

"By the way, Brother Huai Jin, you just said that very few people raise them. Does that mean there are still people growing them?" Liu Xu asked Mu Lingxuan with bright eyes and full of expectation.

Seeing her so lively and vivid, Mu Lingxuan was stunned for a moment, but soon reacted, put his fist to his mouth, coughed twice, and said, "Well, this is also a coincidence. My mother likes the red and fiery appearance, so she planted a few in the yard!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xu excitedly hugged Mu Lingxuan's arm and said excitedly, "That's great, Brother Huaijin! Can you ask someone to talk to the Madam and ask her to give... no, sell me a few red fruits so I can use them as seeds! Then wait until next year... No, I have to notify Uncle Zhu immediately to rebuild the old house. I'm going to build a row of greenhouses in the back and plant peppers. Hahahaha, I'll be able to eat spicy hot pot soon!"

Mu Lingxuan was somewhat at a loss for words by her sudden action. His face flushed slightly. He gently struggled with his arm and said, "Sister Xu'er, let go first."

Liu Xu then realized her mistake, blushed, let go of her hand, and lowered her head in embarrassment.