The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Sunlight streamed through the carved window and crept quietly onto the soft couch, like a mischievous child playing.

Before long, it seemed to have discovered a new paradise and dashed to the corner of the window.

Just then, a beam of warm and bright light fell perfectly on Shen Cao's slender body.

The young girl stood in the center of the room, tall and graceful, like a sturdy willow tree.

She smiled, composed, and freely expressed her thoughts. Every word she spoke was full of confidence and energy, drawing everyone's attention.

Ji Lingfeng, who was sitting to the side, was just listening casually at first, but at some point, his gaze was as if it had been under a magical spell, and he was completely unable to take his eyes off that figure.

The woman before him had eyebrows like distant mountains, eyes like autumn water, red lips and white teeth, and a face like a peach blossom.

Her long, jet-black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, gently brushing against her snow-white skin. She wore a pale pink dress, the hem of which fluttered in the wind, like a delicate flower in full bloom, exuding a captivating fragrance.

At that moment, Grandma Zhou, who was sitting quietly to one side, stared intently at the young girl in front of her with her weathered eyes, her gaze filled with endless emotion.

Grandma Zhou was involuntarily drawn into deep memories, her thoughts racing back to her carefree youth.

Looking back, she was still young and innocent, harboring countless beautiful and grand dreams in her heart, as dazzling and bright as the twinkling stars in the night sky.

What remains vivid in my memory is that there was a time when she resolutely and without hesitation declared to everyone around her: "When I grow up, I will definitely become the richest woman in the entire city of Hangzhou!"

At that moment, her eyes were incredibly firm, as if she could already see herself in the future, achieving great success and enjoying boundless glory.

However, whenever she passionately uttered this ambitious vow, she was immediately met with a series of sarcastic remarks filled with prejudice and skepticism.

Some people were merciless in their sarcasm, saying, "Young lady, the most important thing you should do in your life is to find a good family, be a good wife and mother!"

Some people said sarcastically, "What good is it for a woman to amass a fortune? In the end, she still has to get married, start a family, and have children!" Old Mrs. Zhou had heard similar gossip countless times.

At first, with her stubborn personality, she would argue with those people indignantly, trying to refute their ignorance and narrow-mindedness with her passion and firm belief.

But as time went on, these piercing sounds came at her like a surging tide, wave after wave.

Faced with such immense public pressure, she, being outnumbered and outmatched, gradually felt powerless and could no longer resist it.

In the end, she had no choice but to silently compromise and back down, and slowly became numb and indifferent as the days went by, and began to take the various criticisms from the outside world for granted.

Just then, Old Mrs. Zhou's gaze, which had been wandering elsewhere, slowly returned and settled steadily on Shen Cao once again.

Her eyes were full of love and appreciation, as if she could never get enough of looking at the young man in front of her.

As time passed, Grandma Zhou's affection for Shen Cao grew stronger, and her satisfaction with him increased steadily, almost to the extreme.

Grandma Zhou couldn't help but think to herself, "Oh my, look at this child, he's so lovable!"

He's practically a carbon copy of me when I was young!

Not only do they share the same unwavering beliefs and lofty aspirations, but even their indomitable and fearless courage is exactly the same as mine back then! Thinking this, a gratified and joyful smile involuntarily bloomed on Grandma Zhou's face, which had weathered the vicissitudes of time but still looked radiant.

Ji Lingfeng looked at Shen Cao, his admiration growing stronger like a burning flame.

He had full confidence in Shen Cao, firmly believing that as long as she could successfully build the dock in Xin'an County, the remaining docks in the entire Great Xia Kingdom could be successfully built using this as a template.

This will undoubtedly bring a significant increase to the fiscal revenue of the Great Xia Kingdom.

More importantly, these docks were essential transit points for merchant ships from various countries.

By charging various fees such as docking fees and cargo loading and unloading fees, they could not only make money from domestic merchants, but also pocket the wealth of foreign caravans.

This model is incredibly efficient, as it not only enriches the national treasury and promotes trade, but also enhances the Great Xia Kingdom's standing on the international business stage.

For Ji Lingfeng, helping Shen Cao was not merely out of personal affection or simply to assist a capable person in achieving their goals.

In fact, if a war between the Great Xia Kingdom and the Great Qing Kingdom is inevitable, then sufficient financial reserves will be one of the key factors in determining the outcome.

As the saying goes, "an army marches on its stomach," war consumes not only manpower, but also massive amounts of supplies and money.

Therefore, it is especially important to make adequate resource preparations in advance.

Only in this way can the Great Xia Kingdom have enough strength to meet all challenges when war comes.

Zhou Qingzhu is an outstanding figure in the younger generation of the Zhou family in Xin'an County who is engaged in business operations.

Back then, during a casual conversation with a friend, he mentioned the matter of the dock.

At that time, he was very optimistic about the business prospects of the dock.

In his view, if this deal were to succeed, the entire dock area would be revitalized, as if it had been completely activated. The area on the dock itself would be a veritable flowing silver mountain, containing endless opportunities for wealth.

Unfortunately, no one had ever dared to venture into this field before.

After all, it is not easy to establish a foothold and start a business at the dock. The biggest challenge is how to ensure that the many stall owners at the dock can cook delicious food.

The public lacked sufficient confidence to take on such risks and challenges.

These past few days, as he savored the delicious dishes that Shen Cao had specially brought for his grandmother, a deep sense of admiration welled up in his heart.

It has to be said that Shen Cao's cooking skills are simply superb! This is the most outstanding taste he has ever had in his more than twenty years of life!

Some dishes look exactly the same as those sold outside, but when you actually put them in your mouth and taste them carefully, the difference is quite obvious!

Every bite seems to possess a unique magic, making it irresistible.

After spending so many days together, he increasingly felt that Shen Cao was not the kind of person who liked to make empty promises or boast. On the contrary, she was always a girl who kept her word and was reliable and dependable.

Since she so confidently stated that she could do this well and gave the corresponding guarantees, she must have a strong grasp of the situation and the ability to accomplish it.

Thinking about this, he secretly pondered, "Why don't I give it a try? I could find a few people to share two stalls and see if I can actually make a profit, just like Shen Cao said!"

Once the thought arose in his mind, it spread rapidly like wild grass, making it impossible for him to suppress his inner impulse and anticipation.

Grandma Zhou sat in the old armchair, her eyes slightly narrowed, listening attentively as Shen Cao recounted his initial motivation for starting his business at the docks.

As Shen Cao recounted the story, Grandma Zhou's doubts were gradually dispelled, and she finally gained a comprehensive and clear understanding of the matter.

It turns out that the inside story differed significantly from the version she had heard from her son some time ago.

However, Old Mrs. Zhou still trusted Shen Cao quite a bit.

Based on her years of experience traveling all over the country and meeting countless people, Shen Cao is definitely not the kind of person who would oppress the people or do evil.

As a seasoned businesswoman, Mrs. Zhou knew that to earn substantial profits, one must inevitably bear corresponding risks.

As the saying goes, "Fortune favors the bold," meaning that the greater the risk, the higher the potential reward.

This is similar to fishing. When fishing in calm waters, you may catch a lot of fish, but because the market supply is plentiful, the price is usually relatively low. However, if you dare to venture out to sea in the bad weather of a raging hurricane, the rare fish you catch after overcoming difficulties can fetch an astonishingly high price.

This huge price difference vividly illustrates the direct proportional relationship between risk and return.

Unfortunately, most ordinary people lack the courage to face risks. They instinctively choose to avoid difficulties, focusing only on how to maximize benefits and minimize harm, and live a stable life. Little do they know that while this may avoid temporary setbacks, it will never lead to true success and wealth.

However, if there were no risks in everything in the world, wouldn't everyone be able to amass great wealth? What would be the point then?

According to Shen Cao, she has reduced the risk to those people to a minimum, or even zero.

However, that didn't seem to be enough; everyone wanted assurances from her as well.

In this world, who can guarantee anything? Even the emperor probably wouldn't dare to easily make such a guarantee for the people.

Humans are always greedy.

Most people are short-sighted; they only look at the surface of things and people, not at the underlying truth.

Little did they know that just one more step forward would open up a vast and boundless world.

She had made up her mind.

"Grass, just hearing you talk about the dock makes my heart itch like a little cat is scratching at it!"

The old lady held Shen Cao's hand tightly and said with a face full of anticipation, "How about we wait a couple of days until I feel a bit better, then pick an auspicious day and you accompany your grandmother to the dock for a good stroll? What do you think?"

Shen Cao nodded obediently and replied, "Okay, Grandmother, as long as you recover, we can go anytime."

However, as Shen Cao walked home, her conversation with the old lady kept replaying in her mind, and she still felt somewhat dazed.

In the past few days, whenever she chatted with the old lady, she racked her brains trying to figure out how to bring up the dock matter naturally and subtly.

Therefore, she even planned to find an excuse, saying that she was worried that the old lady was not in good health if she stayed at home all day, and suggested taking her out for a walk, and then pretend to walk to the dock by chance.

Unexpectedly, it was Zhou Qingzhu who brought up the matter today.

Thinking of this, Shen Cao couldn't help but smile slightly.

She suddenly remembered that Zhou Qingzhu especially liked to eat qingtuan with salted egg yolk and pork floss, and qingtuan with shiitake mushroom, bamboo shoot, and minced pork.

So he secretly planned that when he visited the Zhou residence in two days, he would definitely bring him some more.

After all, he had eaten quite a bit of the delicious food I made these past few days, so it wasn't a waste of my efforts.

It seems this older brother is quite reliable!

Ji Lingfeng hadn't seen Shen Cao at the Hundred Herbs Garden for so many days, so he naturally knew she was worried about things at the dock.

With less than seven days until the eighth day of the third lunar month, He Yu said that less than 30% of the stalls at the dock have been rented out.

Her wish was for the dock and the herb garden to open at the same time.

He was very happy for him that his wish was about to come true.

In the past few days, he has been sneaking around, secretly searching for many people.

With each person he met, he would fall into deep thought, repeatedly weighing the same question in his mind: should he let He Yu and the others stop doing odd jobs in the Hundred Herbs Garden?

Perhaps it would be better to let them set up a stall outside!

At that very moment, He Yu and the others, who were enjoying the turtle-drawing game in the spacious and bright hall of the Hundred Herbs Garden, suddenly shivered without warning.

Then, as if they had caught it, one after another they started sneezing.

For a moment, the sound of sneezes echoed throughout the hall.

The deafening sound, if heard by someone unaware of the situation, might actually lead them to believe that Baicaoyuan was having a grand opening and that they were setting off celebratory firecrackers!

With the affairs of the Hundred Herbs Garden nearly settled, Shen Qing taught them how to play with turtles.

These days, whenever they have nothing to do, they just sit in the lobby and play.

"Hiss, has the weather changed?"

"I don't feel cold, so why am I sneezing?"

"Hewu, go and close the window."

"Why don't you go!"

"I am older than you!"

"What about respecting the elderly and caring for the young?!"

Finally, Xiaoqi helped them close the window.

Xiao Qi looked at the pedestrians on the street who were only wearing thin clothes, and then looked at a few people who were much more robust than the pedestrians on the street. "What Master said is not right. Martial arts practitioners are not resistant to the cold either."

"Or is it, as Sister Cao'er said, all bark and no bite?"

He went back and had a good talk with Sister Cao'er, asking her to make some ginseng soup for them to nourish themselves.