Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

They were very well prepared for this trip to the county town. The ingredients they brought from home were piled up like a small mountain in the storeroom in their small courtyard.

Every day, Wang Cuiying would have the people from Fuxianglou bring in large quantities of fresh vegetables, fruits, and mushroom sauce.

Knowing that her daughter-in-law had a special fondness for chili peppers, she had the staff at Fuxianglou bring her some fresh, tender chili peppers every day.

Wang Qing'er absolutely adored her tiger-skin green peppers; she could eat them endlessly.

This dish has also started to be sold in various Fuxianglou restaurants and has become very popular.

This is the time when the first batch of chili peppers planted are hitting the market in large quantities.

They harvest hundreds of kilograms of chili peppers every day, all of which are sold to Fuxianglou.

Wang Qing'er, as if possessed by a master chef, wrote down several recipes related to chili peppers and handed them over to Fuxianglou.

In addition, Wang Qing'er also plans to plant dozens of acres of chili peppers on the farm. Anyway, she has a lot of chili pepper seeds at home, with a wide variety of varieties, including all the common ones.

And those rapeseed plants, once the season arrives, will all be planted on the farm.

That day I visited a farm in Brussels and found the courtyard to be rather small, barely enough for the servants to stay in.

If she wanted to stay for a few days in the future, she probably wouldn't have anywhere to stay. So, after discussing it with Zhou and the others, they decided to build a separate courtyard at the farm after some time.

In this way, family members can also go over from time to time to enjoy a few days of leisure.

"Here, this is for Qing'er." At dinner time, Zhou brought over a bowl of medicinal food and placed it in front of Wang Qing'er.

"Grandma, let her eat this after her meal." Mu Nan hadn't forgotten his promise to his wife to help her eat the medicinal food, so he thought he would delay and bring it back to her room later so he could help her eat it.

"No need, I'll eat now." Wang Qing'er also realized that she still had some health problems and was determined to take care of her body.

She picked up the bowl and smelled it. A strong, unpleasant smell of Chinese medicine assaulted her sense of smell, but she forced herself to scoop up a spoonful and eat it.

Wang Qing'er gritted her teeth, ignoring the bitterness, unpleasant taste, and slightly foul smell, and quickly swallowed a bowl of medicinal food.

"Sweetie, have a bite of this to soothe your palate." Seeing that she had finished eating, Zhou was overjoyed. She had thought her granddaughter-in-law wouldn't be able to finish, so she smiled and picked up a piece of pickled fish for her, which was her granddaughter-in-law's favorite dish.

"Thank you, Grandma." Wang Qing'er hurriedly picked up the food and fed it to her, secretly lamenting that this medicinal food was too unpalatable and wondering how long it would take for her body to recover.

"Qing'er, are you alright?" Mu Nan watched his wife finish eating the food with a pained expression, and it pained him to see her like that.

"I'm fine, you guys eat, why are you all staring at me?" Wang Qing'er then noticed that they hadn't touched their chopsticks yet and were all looking at her expectantly, with the two little girls staring at her with their big, bright eyes.

"Come, come, eat quickly. Qing'er, you should eat more too." Zhou Shi then called everyone to eat, and did not forget to tell her granddaughter-in-law to eat more.

After eating such a large bowl of bitter medicinal food, Wang Qing'er had no appetite. She gave all the rice in her bowl to her husband, ate some vegetables herself, and then ran to the washroom to rinse her mouth and brush her teeth.

The taste in my mouth was so unpleasant that even eating lots of spicy food couldn't mask it.

"Honey, are you alright?" Mu Nan asked with concern as she followed him in.

Wang Qing'er waved her hand: "I'm fine."

"If you don't want to eat, I'll go talk to Grandma." Mu Nan felt that his wife was just a little thinner, but his son was fine. After all, he was satisfied with his son's figure, and there was no need for him to eat those bitter medicinal meals and suffer that pain.

Wang Qing'er: "No need, I'm really fine, I can eat."

Mu Nan confirmed again: "Really?"

Wang Qing'er nodded affirmatively: "Yes."

"Alright, you can go now, I'll be right out." Seeing that her husband was still standing there and unwilling to leave, Wang Qing'er urged him and pushed him out of the washroom.

The next morning, Wang Qing'er and her family had just finished breakfast. They hadn't made scented soap for several days, but since they had nothing to do that day, the three of them started making scented soap and lip balm again.

Mu Nan then found craftsmen to build a courtyard in the farm, a smaller version of the courtyard in Dongguan Lane, only one-fifth the size.

There are enough rooms for a family to stay, plus guest rooms and servants' quarters.

The three were busy in the courtyard when Cuihe came in and reported that Manager Wang of Fuxianglou had arrived with his staff.

Wang Qing'er stopped what she was doing and followed Cuihe into a private room in the shop.

When Manager Wang saw Wang Qing'er walk in, he quickly stood up and greeted her respectfully, "Madam Mu."

"Manager Wang, what brings you here so suddenly today?"

"Madam Mu, I've come today to deliver last month's share." Manager Wang said, placing a stack of silver notes in front of Wang Qing'er, and then continued:

"Here is a note for five thousand two hundred and fifty-five taels of silver. Please keep it safe."

"These are all profit sharing?" Wang Qing'er really didn't expect that the dishes could earn so much money, and this was just the profit sharing from the dishes.

The family still receives daily payments for the raw materials and braised meat, which should amount to nearly a thousand taels of silver a month.

This money is really easy to make; she feels like she can just relax and do nothing.

Manager Wang hurriedly replied, "It's the share of all the profits from the thirty-odd Fuxianglou restaurants. The owner sent word that there will be even more next month."

Manager Wang paused for a moment and then said, "Uh, the master also asked me to ask the madam if there are any new dishes?"

"There are indeed a few dishes. Manager Wang, please wait a moment while I go and fetch them."

Wang Qing'er carefully put away the silver notes in front of her, then got up and went back to the courtyard. She went into the room, put the silver notes away, and took out the recipe she had already written.

She also packed some dried mangoes and flower cakes that she had made herself, intending to give them to Manager Wang. It wouldn't be right for her to go back empty-handed, since he had come to give her money on such a hot day.

She didn't know there was seafood here before, but now that she does, she has already written a series of seafood recipes.

Most of them are stir-fried, dry-fried, or braised dishes.

Most of the dishes are spicy and have a strong flavor.

Anyway, we planted a lot of chili peppers, enough to supply Fuxianglou.

Moreover, she discovered that the people here must all love chili peppers, otherwise why would the dishes be divided into so many portions?

"Manager Wang, these are all new dishes. Here are some pastries; please take them back and try them." Wang Qing'er handed the recipes and pastries to Manager Wang.

"Thank you, Madam Mu. I won't bother you any longer. I'll take my leave now." Manager Wang stood up to take his leave, handing the pastries to the waiter beside him.

"Alright, Manager Wang, please take care." Wang Qing'er then instructed Cuihe outside, "See Manager Wang out for me."

"No need, no need to trouble you, young lady," Manager Wang said to Cuihe as he walked.