Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Although the butcher cleaned the meat much more thoroughly than before after the quantity increased, it still needed to be washed several more times after being brought back.

Previously, Zhou Shi, Wang Cuiying, and Mu Yan worked together, but they were still too busy to handle everything. Whenever someone else had free time, they would help out.

The owner behind Fuxianglou is also a shrewd businessman. After the braised meat became popular, a total of five Fuxianglou stores in several nearby towns, including the county seat, started selling braised meat. The meat delivered to the county seat was just in time for lunch.

They not only sell to dine-in customers, but also offer takeout. If Wang Qing'er hadn't been worried about managing the workload at home and hadn't been holding back on increasing the quantity, the output would definitely be much larger than it is now.

"Then let's hire two people to help with washing the meat and such. There's too much work to handle. Cuiying, go and ask around and find someone who's quick and efficient."

When Zhou heard that the workload would be increased, she felt a little overwhelmed and quickly agreed to hire someone. After all, she used to have someone to take care of her at home, and now that she had the means to hire someone to do the work, why should she work herself to death?

On this point, Zhou and Wang Qing'er shared the same opinion.

Seeing that her mother-in-law had agreed, Wang Cuiying had no objections and quickly said, "Okay, I'll go ask."

"Grandma, let's hire three aunties. They'll pay six hundred coins a month. They can go home once the work is done, but they must clean everything thoroughly. They can't be careless when preparing food."

Wang Cuiying said, "Okay, I'm sure someone will be willing to do it for six hundred cash."

Wang Qing'er added, "Grandma is getting old and can't keep working so hard. Besides, I need Grandma's help too!"

"And Mother, you still need to take care of the vegetable garden. You can also find someone to help take care of it, as weeding and such things take a lot of time."

"Dad, I'll leave the wood-chopping to you. You can hire someone to chop it for you, or you can buy some from someone else."

“Alright, I’ll go find someone to chop wood,” Old Man Mu readily agreed.

After arranging all the household chores in one go, Wang Qing'er said to the two girls:

"From now on, Muqin and Zitong will continue to work with me making scented soap. In addition to working every day, you will also have to study and learn to read. Later, I will take you to the county town to learn how to sell scented soap and manage the shop. Are you willing?"

"We do," the two girls said in unison, then looked at each other and smiled, both extremely happy.

Whether they're doing chores at home or going to the county town, they're always happy as long as they're with their sister-in-law.

As the saying goes, some are happy while others are sad. At this moment, Wu Zihan sat there quietly, her face showing nothing, but her heart was filled with a mix of emotions. She was unwilling to accept this, as everyone else had been given tasks, but she hadn't.

But she wouldn't fight for herself. She was a proud and arrogant person by nature. It was just that no one knew where her aloofness and arrogance came from. Anyway, Wang Qing'er couldn't see anything special about her, and she didn't want to find out.

After everything was arranged, everyone else went to work, but Zhou and a few others remained seated.

Only then did Wang Qing'er tell them about Wu Zihao and Jingyi's blind date.

"I think I heard Zihao's father mention this before when he came back. It's true." Mu Yan recalled that Wu the hunter had indeed told her about it after he returned home.

"Qing'er, is it really possible for Zihao to get married?" Zhou was somewhat skeptical. Her grandson was too dull; would a girl really be interested in him?

She also spoke to her daughter privately several times, but her daughter said there was nothing she could do. Her father was not talkative when he was alive, and he became even less talkative after he passed away.

"Grandma, do you lack confidence in me or in Zihao?" Wang Qing'er said to Zhou Shi in a coquettish tone.

"Of course, it's because they don't have confidence in Zihao. They've been back home for so long, how many words have you heard him say?"

Wang Cuiying said with a smile, "Mother, isn't Nan-ge also a quiet type? Now he's doing so well with Qing'er."

Upon hearing her daughter-in-law's words, Zhou glanced at her grandson and granddaughter-in-law, then smiled and nodded happily, saying, "That's true."

Mu Yan asked seriously, "Qing'er, did that girl make any requests?"

"Auntie, I'm not entirely sure either. Jingyi just said her parents don't object. I don't know much about this marriage between Grandma and Auntie either. Do the two families need to meet?"

Wang Qing'er really didn't understand the procedures for this kind of kinship ceremony; she hadn't followed any of them back then.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou said, "Yan'er, you used to live in the county town, so you should know better than us how to handle this."

“Yes, Aunt, shouldn’t we find a matchmaker first?” Wang Qing’er felt that finding a matchmaker was very necessary.

“There’s a famous matchmaker in the county town. Wealthy families all hire her to arrange marriages. In that case, do I have to go to the county town?”

Mu Yan had lived in the county town for over a decade, so she knew some of these things.

Zihan was the one who was arranged to marry by the matchmaker, but after her father died, the engagement was called off by the man's family.

Mu Yan felt sad when she thought about these things. She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Zhou Shi.

“Aunt, you’ll definitely be going to the county town. There’s a small courtyard behind Qingxia Pavilion where you can stay.”

“That’s the Lin family’s house. Wouldn’t it be inappropriate for all of us to stay there?” Mu Yan was a little worried that Mu Xia would be in a difficult position as her mother-in-law.

Wang Qing'er said, "It's okay, Mu Xia cleaned it up for us to stay in."

"I'll go to the county town after we've moved in here." Mu Yan finally agreed, but still felt a little unsure, and asked the others worriedly:

"They have nothing at home? The girl's family is so well-off, would they really agree to this?"

Mu Yan thought that the two families were not well-matched and that the other family would object.

“Aunt, what do you mean by saying we have nothing? We have fields, land, shops, and a yard. We have everything they have, so don’t worry about it.”

"This..." Mu Yan thought to herself that she hadn't earned any of this herself. If it weren't for her older brother's family, she didn't know if she would even be alive.

How could she possibly tell the matchmaker that all of these belonged to her family?

Seeing that her aunt was still hesitant, Wang Qing'er continued, "Aunt, don't forget, you just received your share. You do have a share in this shop, and the house and land are in your name, they are yours too."

“This is to find a wife for Zihao, so you need to be more confident. You don’t want your son to be unable to find a wife, do you? Also, Jingyi’s family doesn’t want her to marry into the village, so we can buy a house in the county town.”

"Mu Yan, Qing'er has already said so, what are you still worried about? If you keep hesitating, I'll let Mu Xiao go to that girl's house for the betrothal ceremony."

Seeing her younger sister dawdling, Wang Cuiying grew anxious and urged her on, even cracking a joke in the process.