Falling into the mortal world

Lan Qingqing has now handed over the distilled spirits business directly to Lan Xiaotian.

Lan Qingqing put Feng Caidie in charge of the tofu shop, A'er in charge of delivery and purchasing supplies, and Aunt Li in charge of leading the people to make tofu. (Tofu jerky.)

Lan's mother and Lan Xiaoya led people to make fans, while Lan's father, who had difficulty walking, did odd jobs at home.

Lan Qingqing was in charge of burning limestone. She lit the charcoal in the furnace, placed the limestone directly in the middle of the furnace, increased the heat, and started burning it.

After the limestone has been burned for a day, it is taken out and water is poured on it, and the stone turns into white powder.

For the next few days, Lan Qingqing kept burning lime.

During this period, her appetite also increased. Every morning, Lan Qingqing would eat eight eggs and a bowl of soy milk.

The eggs laid by the chickens at home were far from enough for Lan Qingqing to eat. In addition, the Li family had given her only four hens, which only laid three or four eggs a day.

Seeing that Lan Qingqing was eating a lot, Lan's mother bought seven old hens from Aunt Li. Nowadays, it takes several months for chicks to lay eggs, so buying laying hens is really good.

Aunt Li has more than a dozen chickens. She sold seven of them, and several more still lay eggs. Now that Aunt Li has an income every day, she no longer relies on selling eggs for money.

No matter how busy she is, Lan Qingqing always pays close attention to her nutrition. She can still keep busy now, but later she might have to lie in bed every day.

The tiles that Lan Qingqing ordered were ready that day, and oxcarts began delivering goods to the Lan family in the village, which was already a common sight among the villagers.

The village workshop is about to be completed, and most people's eyes are on it. This workshop is the result of everyone's hard work. Some people have even sold their land for this workshop. If it fails, these people will probably jump into the river.

Naturally, they no longer cared much about the Lan family's situation.

Lan Qingqing was overjoyed to see that the tiles she had ordered were ready. With a better living environment, one's mood would naturally improve.

The white tiles gleamed subtly in the sunlight, making them very eye-catching.

Lan Qingqing checked it and was quite satisfied, so she took out two silver notes and handed them over. Lan Qingqing sighed that two hundred taels had just disappeared like that.

Seeing this, the other members of the Lan family rushed forward to help unload the goods. Lan Qingqing was about to help when her mother stopped her. Helpless, Lan Qingqing helped from the side like her father, placing dry grass under the tiles to prevent them from breaking.

The Lan family all knew the value of this tile—three hundred taels of silver. If it were to break, Mr. and Mrs. Lan would be heartbroken. The Lan family, including the servants, were all very careful, afraid of accidentally bumping or damaging it.

After unloading the goods, the worker said goodbye to the Lan family and left.

Lan Xiaotian asked Lan Qingqing curiously, "Sister, won't this be easily damaged if you lay it on the ground?"

"As long as it's laid out properly, it won't easily break," Lan Qingqing said.

"How do we lay it?" Lan Xiaotian asked curiously.

"See that lime over there?" Lan Qingqing asked, pointing to the lime in the yard. This was Lan Qingqing's work over the past few days.

Lan Xiaotian looked at Shi Hui with some confusion.

Go find some clay, as much as you can. Mix the clay and lime together and spread it evenly on the ground. Then place the ceramic tile on top, making sure it's completely submerged in clay and not hollow, otherwise it will break if stepped on.

Next, Lan Xiaotian handed over the distilled liquor business to Lan Xiaoya, and then followed Lan Qingqing's instructions to dig clay. For the next few days, Lan Xiaotian spent his time digging clay. Once the clay was dug, he began to lay tiles according to Lan Qingqing's drawings.

Every room was tiled, even the kitchen had tiled floors.

The laying of tiles immediately gave everyone a refreshing feeling. After all, as ordinary people, they had never seen such a luxurious house before. In the eyes of Lan's parents, all wealthy families were like this. After all, they had never seen what the houses of wealthy families were like, and they had only heard rumors about how luxurious those wealthy families were.

Seeing her house now feels like being in paradise. Lan Qingqing teased, "This isn't even finished yet, and this is already how it looks. If you saw how it would look after it was finished, you'd probably faint from excitement."

Lan's mother said with a hint of reproach: You little rascal, now you've started joking around with your parents too!

"How could I dare joke about my mother? That would be asking for trouble," Lan Qingqing said jokingly.

Lan's mother gently patted Lan Qingqing, "You silly girl, you're getting more and more carried away."

Lan Qingqing chuckled, leaving her mother speechless at the girl's antics...

Lan Xiaotian applied the remaining lime to the walls, and the whole room became bright and cheerful.

When Lan's mother saw the state of the kitchen, she couldn't bear to use it for cooking.

Everyone in the family had their own room, and even Lan Dagen's room was set aside.

The small flower bed in the yard had also been tidied up by Lan's father during this period. The yard was not big, but it gave people a feeling of luxury everywhere.

The extravagance of the royal palace and ministers' courtyards lay in the flowers, trees, furnishings, and the numerous maids and servants. The extravagance of the Lan family's new residence was unheard of, unlike anything seen before. It was unlike any ordinary dwelling.

It's getting colder now; the wind howls in the mornings, and leaves flutter down from the trees.

Lan Qingqing also put on thick clothes. It's already this cold before the dead of winter; it will be even colder when the dead of winter arrives.

Lan Qingqing pulled her clothes tighter because of the cold. Lan Xiaotian had also covered the doors and windows of the new house with paper. Originally, Lan Qingqing had planned to make some glass to put on the doors and windows, but Lan Xiaotian mistakenly thought she was going to cover them with paper. The doors and windows of wealthy families were indeed covered with paper. Paper-covered doors and windows didn't give people a sense of security; a simple poke with a finger would create a hole.

Since it's already pasted on, just leave it as is! You can change it yourself after the baby is born safely.

Lan Qingqing decided to forge the scalpel herself. She drew a design for the scalpel.

She wanted to forge an extremely sharp steel knife, and she now needed to take precautions against any potential problems that might arise during production.

Scalpels, scissors, forceps, tweezers, needles and thread. These must be made. Ideally, they should be crafted from the finest meteorite iron, a material not commonly seen by ordinary people, and even rare among royalty.

It just so happens that Lan Qingqing knows that there is such meteorite iron in the Hongcheng black market. Not everything in the black market exchange has a price tag.

The more precious and rare something is, the more valuable it must be in exchange for. Whether you are royalty or a commoner, as long as you can offer something that satisfies the host, you can take it away. Conversely, even if you are a powerful court official, no one will buy it; the royal family is the one behind the black market.

The owner of the black market was also working for the royal family, so he naturally had plenty of confidence.

Whether an item is valuable depends on whether the black market owner is satisfied.

Take meteorites, for example. They are priceless in the eyes of black market owners. Indeed, meteorite iron is rare in the world, but it is not non-existent. Most of them are in the hands of royalty, and very few appear on the market.

Some people were willing to pay ten thousand taels of gold for a small piece of meteorite iron. The outcome was predictable: the owner of this black market was not short of money, and naturally wouldn't be blinded by greed.

Some offered rare treasures in exchange, but the black market owner remained unmoved. Even long-lost ancient books were offered, but to no avail.

If Lan Qingqing wants to get something like this, she must offer something that others are interested in.