The White-Bone Demon of the Farm is as rich as a country

"Miss Meng." The voice came before the person arrived. Shopkeeper Tao pushed open the door of the private room and walked in. "The dishes cooked with this chili sauce taste really good. Can you supply me on time?

Ru Yue and Chu Ning'an looked at each other, and then looked at Shopkeeper Tao. It seemed that their luck was unstoppable. They really just came to thank Shopkeeper Tao and didn't think about doing business with him. But this, but they couldn't turn down this business!

"How does Shopkeeper Tao want me to supply the goods?" Ru Yue quickly calmed down and asked directly without refusing.

"For now, you can send me a jar of hot sauce every three days. Let's try it for a month, and then we can discuss the details. What do you think?"

Ru Yue had no reason to refuse, so they negotiated the price and signed the contract, and all three of them were very satisfied.

"By the way, the two dishes Miss Meng just cooked are really good. Several of my regular customers have tried them and are all raving about them. I wonder if you could sell me the recipes for these dishes?" Merchants are always reluctant to pry into the secrets of trading recipes, which made Shopkeeper Tao speak awkwardly and cautiously. "If it's inconvenient for you, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Seeing Manager Tao like this, Ru Yue and Chu Ning'an were shocked. They had known him for some time. He was a shrewd and scheming businessman, but also had the free and easy and kind heart of a scholar. They had never seen him like this before.

But after a little thought, Ru Yue understood. They had just been in court over the smoothie recipe two days ago, and today he brought up the dish recipe again, which inevitably made him feel embarrassed to talk about it. Before signing the contract, he was afraid that Ru Yue would suspect that he was using the cooperation to control her, so he didn't mention it at all. Now that everything was settled, he spoke of it so cautiously.

"Haha, Manager Tao, you're overthinking it. I'll write the recipe for you right now. Forget about the money. Just think of it as a free recipe given with the sauces I sell." After figuring out the key point, Ru Yue didn't pretend to be embarrassed and agreed generously.

Shopkeeper Tao never expected Ru Yue to be so generous. You know how important this recipe is in the eyes of the world. She, she wanted to give it to him just like that. "No, no, no, the recipe is precious. If I really took it without considering its importance, I would be truly inconsiderate." He changed the subject and said, "Since the young lady is so generous and willing to give it away, I am already very grateful. I will give you twenty taels of silver for each recipe. You must not refuse it again."

Seeing him like this, Ru Yue didn't want him to feel uneasy after taking the things, so she stopped insisting, "Then Shopkeeper Tao, just give me fifty taels. We've been working together for a while now. If I really care about that much, how can I dare to tell you about my recipes in the future?"

Seeing Ru Yue's generosity, Shopkeeper Tao no longer hesitated, thinking that the cooperation would be long-term and there would always be a long way to go. "Okay, thank you very much, young lady."

Shopkeeper Tao asked someone to bring paper and pen. In the eyes of outsiders, Ru Yue was just a peasant girl who was illiterate. However, she really couldn't use a brush, so she could only dictate and Chu Ning'an took pen. Soon, the menu for the three dishes was written and handed over.

"Mr. Chu's calligraphy is truly timeless and extraordinary, with power that shines through the paper, and it embodies the spirit of a great man!"

"Shopkeeper Tao, you are too kind. I did practice with you for a few years when I was young."

"Oh, by the way, Manager Tao has lived in this town for a long time. Does he know where there is a private school?" Ru Yue knew that Chu Ning'an didn't want others to know about his past, so she quickly took over the conversation.

"You've asked the right person. Mr. Wu Minzhi of the Zhixing Academy in town is a good friend of mine and a frequent customer of my restaurant. He's a man of great talent, but he's reluctant to get involved in officialdom. So after passing the imperial examination, he returned to his hometown to run a school. What's the matter? Miss Meng, do you want to...?"

"I want my younger brother and Brother Chu to both study literature. Although there is nothing wrong with doing business, it means having more choices and more ways out. Don't you agree?" Ru Yue did not hide it and roughly expressed what she was thinking.

These two short sentences made Shopkeeper Tao have a different understanding of Ru Yue. This little girl didn't think about letting her family take the imperial examinations and pursue official careers just because she had money. Instead, she wanted to give her family more choices for the future. This little girl had a good perspective.

"In that case, I'll take you there whenever you're ready. Mr. Wu is very knowledgeable and understanding. Besides studying, he's probably also interested in the world's delicious food. I think you won't be disappointed."

Ru Yue really had to admit that she was lucky. With Manager Tao's words, Anping's enrollment was settled.

After bidding farewell to Shopkeeper Tao, Ru Yue took Chu Ning'an to the bookstore to give them the pens, ink, paper, and inkstone they needed. Since they were going to go to school, they couldn't do without these things. They should have bought them a long time ago. Firstly, they had no place to put the things in the two straw huts at home, and secondly, they didn't take these things to heart before they went to school. Now that they had found a teacher and could go at any time, they couldn't delay any longer.

Ru Yue didn't know much about these things, but Chu Ning'an was very familiar with them. When Anping started to learn, if she wanted to practice writing big characters, she only needed to buy an ordinary brush, two dozen pieces of rice paper, and some rough-edged paper for practicing calligraphy. As for the inkstone, it didn't need to be too expensive, as long as it was smooth and new. As for himself, Chu Ning'an tried to save as much as possible. He knew that it was not easy for Ru Yue to make money, so he couldn't increase his spending.

Seeing him like this, Ru Yue knew what he was thinking. "A craftsman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools. If you want to relieve my worries, you must enter the official career as soon as possible. Only then can you go where you should go and find the answers you seek. Why bother with these trivial matters?"

When Chu Ning'an heard her say this, he knew that she was unhappy, so he started to pick carefully, bought suitable pens and ink for himself, and finally picked out the books he and Anping needed. All in all, it cost them fifteen taels of silver. No wonder a farmer's family might not be able to support a scholar even if they spent all their money. Ru Yue sighed in her heart that studying was really a money-burning thing. No wonder the old Meng family had to live frugally to support Meng Wenfeng. She finally learned the lesson.

"It's not good for us to wear these coarse linen shorts when we go to meet the gentleman. Let's buy two sets of ready-made clothes." Ru Yue suggested.

Chu Ning'an knew that she didn't want him and Anping to be looked down upon in the academy, and she always hoped to do her best. He understood her good intentions and didn't want to reject her kindness, so he readily agreed, but he still felt sorry for what she had done for him.

It was the same cloth shop that Ru Yue had been to before. This time, it was the young clerk whom she had always wanted to poach who received them. After explaining their purpose, the clerk immediately perked up. He looked Chu Ning'an and Ru Yue up and down, and made up his mind. He took them to the suitable styles and introduced them. Since they were both there, they could compare their upper bodies to get a rough idea. Chu Ning'an was the kind of clothes hanger who looked muscular when undressed and thin when dressed. Even a linen short shirt could show a different temperament. The clerk picked out a light green long gown embroidered with bamboos and a light blue long gown with lake blue edging for him. Ru Yue also asked the clerk to get a belt, hairband and shoes in the same color as the two clothes. Imagining how Chu Ning'an would look in these outfits, she couldn't help but smile.

Seeing her like this, Chu Ning'an knew that she really liked these two sets of clothes, so he didn't refuse anymore and picked out two dresses for her from the display rack, one was a cross-collared skirt in the color of rain-soaked sky, and the other was a lilac-colored double-breasted pleated skirt. Ru Yue had always been indifferent to complicated ancient costumes, so she felt that wearing a linen short shirt every day was simple and neat. However, the dress Chu Ning'an picked out for her today was simple and generous, and she herself felt that it would look good in her.

She picked out two sets of dresses for Anping and Ruxue respectively before she stopped.