A farmer has a shrewish wife; he's busy making money every day.

On the way back to the noodle shop, Chen couldn't suppress her curiosity and asked the question.

“Young Master Ye, why don’t you just sell the recipes to that young master? Each recipe costs thirty-five taels. If you sell them all this time, you can live on them for the rest of your life.”

Hearing Chen's amazed tone, Ye Qingxue couldn't help but laugh: "That depends on how you live your life. It's enough for an ordinary life, but if you want to buy some nice things, it won't be enough."

Ms. Chen still didn't understand; she felt she would never see so much money in her life.

“But if a dish only earns six coins, it’s too little compared to several hundred taels of silver.”

Ye Qingxue patiently explained to her, "That's just the profit from one dish; some meat dishes would definitely cost more than that."

"Think about it, even if we're the least, we only earn six coins per dish. Shi Ding Lou is the most popular restaurant in the entire Qingshui County. It must sell no less than a thousand dishes a day. Even if we only sell two hundred dishes a day, that's still one or two hundred coins. If we calculate it like that, we can break even in a year. Not to mention that we'll earn even more. For the next few decades, we can make money just by lying down!"

"What if Shi Ding Lou closes down within a year?" Madam Chen asked worriedly.

Ye Qingxue put her arm around her shoulder: "All investments have risks. If you want to get a big return, you can't avoid taking any risks at all. It's like when I asked you to help me open a noodle shop, that's also an investment. If you're good at cooking and our business is booming, that's my return."

Chen seemed to understand somewhat, and vaguely felt that Ye Qingxue was praising her, which made her a little embarrassed.

"Oh, I see. Hehe, you're so smart."

They quickly returned to the noodle shop, and as soon as they entered, they heard the customers at the tables discussing something.

"Hey, have you heard? That young master Lu from our county who came here the other day is having a birthday party!"

Upon hearing that it was about the Lu family, Ye Qingxue became interested and listened attentively.

"Wow, this is going to be quite a spectacle! I have to go and join in the fun."

"And I heard that the Lu family's birthday banquet this time has a very special theme, called something like Tomato Banquet."

"Tomato, isn't this a new dish at Shi Ding Lou? I've heard it's delicious, but it's too expensive for me."

"Yes, the Lu family has really spent a lot of money this time, just for their young master."

"Young Master Lu is truly blessed. But I've never seen what he looks like. Why does he never go out? Could it be that he's ugly and too ashamed to show his face?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. How can we talk about the young master of the Lu family? I've only heard that the young master of the Lu family has a very strange personality, hates going out, and likes to play with some strange and exotic animals at home all day long. It's terrifying!"

"So scary?"

"Young masters from wealthy families are all a bit strange, aren't they?"

After listening to her story, Ye Qingxue felt that it wasn't much different from what she already knew. The white snake from last time was bought by the young master of the Lu family.

He is indeed a very mysterious person.

"However, I heard that the Lu family will be inviting many dignitaries to their birthday banquet this year. Not only will there be important figures from Jiangnan Prefecture, but people from the capital will also be coming!"

"No wonder. I was wondering why the Tiger Stronghold hadn't come down the mountain lately. They're scared."

Ye Qingxue listened from the side and thought it made sense, so she nodded secretly.

So that's how it is. Since the Fierce Tiger Stronghold had dealings with the officials of Jiangnan Prefecture, they must have known about the Lu family's birthday banquet in advance. That explains why they haven't shown up for so long.

But what exactly is the Lu family? Even officials from the capital would travel all the way to this small Qingshui County to hold a birthday banquet for their young master.

The last time I heard from the pharmacy owner, it was just a wealthy family from the next town. How come they've invited people from the capital?

While Ye Qingxue was filled with doubt, other customers at the noodle stall began to question her.

"Where did you hear that? That's quite an overstatement! What would such an important figure from the capital be doing in our little Qingshui County?"

"Wow, you don't have to believe me. I have a friend who works in the government, and he told me this himself!"

"I just don't believe it!"

"Believe it or not!"

"Hey, forget it, stop arguing. It's their business, what right do we common folk have to discuss it? It's pointless."

After the guests finished their discussion, not many people talked about it anymore.

But while they didn't talk about it, Ye Qingxue was still pondering it in her heart.

As long as the Fierce Tiger Stronghold remains undefeated, her heart will continue to pound with anxiety.

If high-ranking officials and dignitaries really do attend the Lu family's birthday banquet this time, it might be a good opportunity.

After some deliberation, Ye Qingxue finally decided that she needed to find an opportunity to sneak into the Lu family's banquet.

In the evening, after the noodle shop closed, Shan Xuan finished work and left early. Ye Qingxue and the others had just finished cooking several bowls of noodles and were eating dinner when Wen Yanyu sent someone to look for Ye Qingxue again.

Ye Qingxue was somewhat surprised, thinking that something had happened to the recipe: "What's wrong? Should I go over there?"

The man, dressed as a waiter, shook his head and handed Ye Qingxue a list: "This is the birthday banquet menu prepared by the young master. The dishes are made according to your recipe, and each one has a price tag."

“From now on, when we introduce new dishes to our restaurant, they will all be priced the same. The young master said he's giving you a sample so you know the price.”

Ye Qingxue felt a warmth in her heart, nodded to the waiter, took out ten coins from her pocket and handed them to him: "Thank you for your kindness, please thank your young master for me."

The waiter took the money, beaming with delight, nodding repeatedly in agreement, and then ran off.

Madam Chen came up from behind, somewhat moved, "This young master Wen is truly a good person."

Aunt Lu nodded in agreement; she had already heard about Ye Qingxue's collaboration with Shidinglou from Madam Chen.

To be honest, when she first heard about this, she really couldn't believe it, after all, Shi Ding Lou was the most prestigious restaurant in the entire Qingshui County.

Just the thought of eating there made Aunt Lu very excited.

I never imagined that Ye Qingxue could cooperate with Shi Ding Lou!

But now that the waiter from Shidinglou Restaurant has arrived, no matter how shocked she was, she believed it was true.

Thinking of this, Aunt Lu's excited gaze fell on Ye Qingxue again: "Young Master Ye, you are really... so promising!"

Aunt Lu didn't know what to say; the best compliment she could come up with was the word "promising."

Seeing that Aunt Lu was shocked, Madam Chen teased, "You can't take it? That's terrible! Young Master Ye will be doing many earth-shattering things in the future. You'll be scared to death!"

"Pfft." Ye Qingxue couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Recently, Ms. Chen has become increasingly interesting, spouting one adorable remark after another.

Aunt Lu laughed too.

Ye Qingxue smiled and pointed to the soup noodles in front of them: "Alright, let's eat noodles. Tonight, when we get back to the village, we'll go to Aunt Lu's house first. I'll teach you how to make the new dishes for the next five days. I probably won't be at the noodle shop for the next few days."

Madam Chen and Aunt Lu were somewhat surprised, but what Ye Qingxue wanted to do was beyond their control; they would simply follow her orders.

They all nodded in agreement: "Okay."

While eating her noodles, Ye Qingxue opened the menu, wanting to secretly see what prices Shidinglou had set for her dishes.

Upon seeing this, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!

How come this scrambled eggs with tomatoes costs seventy coins a serving?!