Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Ma Youqing was delighted, "Alright, you can leave Madam Zhang to me without worry!"

"Then it's settled!"

Zhang Xixi had Chen take out twenty taels of silver and give it to Ma Youqing before bidding him farewell!

After walking for a while and losing sight of Ma Youqing, Chen asked worriedly, "Daughter, won't this money go down the drain?"

Chen had no idea beforehand that Zhang Xixi was also planning to renovate the shop, which cost her a lot of money and made her feel bad.

"No, don't worry!"

Then Zhang Xixi explained to Chen in detail the importance of the renovation and the activities that needed to be held when the business opened.

Hearing about these various creative ways of starting a business, Mrs. Chen wondered how her daughter could come up with such a plan.

"Alright, we'll discuss these things when we get back. Let's go buy some things first!"

"Okay." I can't remember all of that now anyway.

Zhang Xixi and Chen went to the pork shop, bought more than ten catties of meat and some large bones, and then bought some seasonings before going home.

When he got home, he told his family the good news, which surprised Zhang Dacheng and his family.

They thought Zhang Xixi was just joking when she talked about opening a shop, so how come she suddenly even rented a shop?

Chen arranged for Xiao Chen and Zhou to help her. Xiao Chen helped her make pastries at home, while Zhou went with her to the town to watch the shop. Every morning, they would make pastries and deliver them there, and then return in the afternoon.

"Here's how I'll pay you: thirty coins a day. You can keep this money for yourselves; you don't need to hand it over to the government!"

Little Chen and Zhou quickly shook their heads, "Mother, we don't want wages!"

"Take it if it's given to you!"

Seeing that Zhang Dacheng had spoken, Madam Chen and Madam Zhou finally accepted it!

My mother-in-law is so good to them. Although most of the money the family earns is kept in her possession, they keep all the money they earn for themselves. Unlike other families, they don't have to hand it over to the public fund. They don't have any private savings at all.

For the next few days, Chen was thinking about what pastries to sell in the shop. Cakes were definitely a must, and only cakes would be made in the shop; everything else would be pre-made.

In the end, it was decided that in addition to selling cakes, they would also sell jujube paste cakes, walnut candies, bear-shaped cookies, sweet potato cakes, and other pastries that were not available in the town.

Firstly, they didn't want to compete with other pastry shops because their backing wasn't very secure. Secondly, only new pastries could attract customers.

These past few days, Mrs. Chen has been working hard with her two daughters-in-law to practice making pastries, including some that can be made in advance, such as walnut candy and cookies.

Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Xixi would go into the mountains to pick walnuts in the morning and shell them at home in the afternoon. She was quite good at this kind of physically demanding work.

She even took the time to write down her ideas for opening the shop, and had Chen and the others make some work clothes. Because white was considered unlucky, they were all made in cyan. She also made headscarves so that people would keep their hair covered in the shop and not pay attention to their personal hygiene.

Zhang Xixi told Chen and the others all of this. In fact, she wasn't very clear about how to train employees, so she just read out what she had seen before and gave them an idea, letting them use their own ideas!

Finally, after careful consideration, everyone refined the ideas provided by Zhang Xixi and came up with a solution.

Now we're just waiting for the shops in town to be renovated!

A few days later, Zhang Xixi and the others didn't see Ma Youqing. Instead, Manager Qian came to buy fans, but mainly to deliver letters.

After the supply agreement was reached, Manager Qian stopped coming to pick up the goods himself; his subordinates always came to collect them.

This time, he not only came in person, but also handed Zhang Xixi a letter.

Zhang Xixi stared at the letter in front of her, stunned. She didn't dare to take it; she was afraid!

Could it be someone else who's been poisoned? Maybe they should ask her for help!

"Madam Zhang, this is a letter from my young lady!"

Seeing that Zhang Xixi didn't answer, Manager Qian repeated himself.

Zhang Xixi had no choice but to take the letter and open it. "Your young lady is getting married!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing the affirmative answer, Zhang Xixi continued reading. The letter was from a young girl who wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

But she's not a confidante!

She didn't know how to comfort the victims of this marriage alliance; that's just how times are, and no one can change it.

At this moment, Zhang Xixi was very grateful that she had been reborn into a small family, so she didn't have to experience the infighting of wealthy families. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have survived even one episode here.

Zhang Xixi asked Manager Qian to wait a moment, then went to the bedroom and bought an antidote pill and a beauty pill from the system shop, which she then handed to him.

"Please congratulate your young lady for me. This is a congratulatory gift!"

After accepting the gift, Manager Qian cupped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you so much, Madam Zhang!"

"Madam Zhang, I have some news for you. The fighting on the border is almost over, and the disaster situation in various places has been alleviated."

"It's good that there's no more war!"

Manager Qian added, "Madam Zhang, don't tell anyone about this yet. Be careful, walls have ears!"

"I know."

Zhang Xixi nodded.

After finishing his business, Manager Qian bid farewell to Zhang Xixi and went to the factory to recruit fans.

Watching Manager Qian's departing figure, Zhang Xixi suddenly realized that the end of the Northwest War meant that the deadbeat man was coming back!

Then her days of freedom are gone forever!

Ah, let's cherish these remaining days!

In the afternoon, Ma Youqing finally arrived and said that the shop had been renovated and cleaned by his lover. Zhang Xixi and Chen Shi immediately went with him to take a look. If all went well, the shop would open tomorrow.

Because the younger children in the family all clamored to help out when they heard that a shop had opened in town, and since tomorrow was a day off from school and also an auspicious day, they all went together.

Arriving in town, I saw the sign for Zhang's Desserts. The calligraphy was neat and impressive, and the signboard was also well-made.

The shop was also cleaned very thoroughly.

Ma Youqing followed behind, "Zhang Niangzi, are you satisfied?"

Zhang Xixi looked at Chen Shi, who touched the counter with her hand and found it was dust-free.

"Thank you for your hard work, we are very satisfied!"

Ma Youqing smiled and nodded, "Of course, of course!"

"Do you need to hire a waiter to help watch the shop at night? I have a good candidate in mind."

Ms. Chen was reluctant to hire anyone, but she was also afraid that things would get lost.

"Have him come over tomorrow, let him try it out for a few days!"

I learned this from my daughter; if someone doesn't follow the rules, then you don't need to worry about the horse-tooth's face.

"Ok!"

The next day, Zhang Xixi's family and the Zhang family went to town. Because they needed to set up all kinds of tools and pastries, they didn't finish until 10:30 a.m.

Zhang Dacheng went outside and lit firecrackers, which marked the start of his business!