Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

Shanhou Village is about ten miles away from Qingshan Town, and it took Yuansheng and Zhu Chenxi less than half an hour to walk there.

Yuan Sheng was afraid that if he left Zhu Chenxi at home, her parents would nag her when they came back from weeding, so he brought her along as well.

Upon arriving in town, he went straight to the largest restaurant, Donglaishun.

The waiter immediately stopped them upon seeing their attire, exclaiming, "You really dare to bring anything to my Donglaishun Restaurant!"

The man wore an old robe and worn-out shoes with frayed edges. Although they were not patched, they did not look like something he could afford.

The girl was dressed even worse, in a tattered hemp garment covered in patches, old shoes with her toes showing, and a large birthmark on one side of her face, which was unsightly.

They're obviously two penniless bastards.

"Waiter, could you please tell the shopkeeper that I'm here to sell food recipes? Smell my spiced tea eggs, they smell wonderful."

"Get out! Stop talking nonsense!" The waiter pushed Yuan Sheng as soon as he came up.

As Yuan Sheng backed away, he shouted, "Manager Cao, I want to sell the recipe for spiced tea eggs. If you don't want it, I'll sell it to Meishan Pavilion..."

Manager Cao's obese body teleported in front of Yuan Sheng in an instant. "Wait!"

A fragrant aroma of eggs mixed with tea wafted into his nostrils. Manager Cao took a deep breath, then turned and slapped the waiter on the head. "Ma Lai Xi! You snobbish bastard, pack your bags and get out of here if you do this again!"

The once imposing Malay was now bowing slightly and saying humbly, "Shopkeeper, I was wrong."

Yuansheng came to find Manager Cao because, according to his memories from his previous life, Manager Cao was a shrewd businessman who wouldn't miss such an opportunity.

"Young man, tell me how you want to sell it?" Manager Cao said as he peeled an egg and started eating it.

Hmm... the egg has a slightly salty taste and a faint tea aroma, not bad.

"Recipe for spiced tea eggs, four ounces."

"The taste is not bad, and you have a good idea to combine tea and eggs. However, your recipe is easy to figure out. I have already guessed it. I can give you two hundred coins as a reward."

Yuan Sheng smiled slightly, "Shopkeeper, seizing the opportunity is very important in business. No matter how discerning you are, or how well you appreciate my spiced tea eggs, it will still take you a few days to figure out how to make them."

Yuansheng emphasized the words "five spices".

Spiced tea eggs? Manager Cao's eyes darted around. Spiced? Could there be three other spices?

“As far as I know, Meishan Pavilion is competing with Donglaishun. With your new spiced tea egg dish, you’ll definitely attract more customers. Even if Meishan Pavilion comes up with the recipe later, it will be inferior, won’t it?” Yuan Sheng’s words were reasonable and well-founded.

"Three taels of silver for your recipe and the spiced tea eggs in the jar."

Manager Cao agreed with Yuan Sheng's point that seizing the opportunity was crucial. Three taels of silver was a small amount; the important thing was to give the county magistrate a meal at noon and gain his favor.

"Deal!" Yuan Sheng readily agreed. "But shopkeeper, could you give me two taels of silver, plus one thousand copper coins? I need to buy something later, so I don't want to have to exchange them."

In the Great Qian Kingdom, one tael of silver was equal to one string of coins. Theoretically, one string of coins was one thousand copper coins, but in the market, it was usually eight hundred copper coins per string.

Manager Cao was surprised that the young man even knew about this. "Alright, I'll give you the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. If you can count them clearly, I'll give them to you."

His two hundred coins weren't so easy to get.

In this era, with low levels of education, the vast majority of people can only count to a few dozen.

Zhu Chenxi mustered her courage and said, "Shopkeeper, may I help my husband count?"

Manager Cao nodded. Even a man might not be able to count a hundred copper coins, let alone a woman who could count ten.

The waiter brought over the money box, and Yuan Sheng and Zhu Chenxi counted out a thousand coins in ten breaths with swift fingers.

Just to be on the safe side, Zhu Chenxi counted again.

Manager Cao was secretly surprised. The two of them were counting money faster than the old manager. He felt that the two of them were extraordinary. He took out another two taels and said, "Young brother, this money is yours."

"Laixi, quickly get a rope and string the money together! Don't you have any common sense?!"

Manager Cao has upgraded his address for Yuansheng from "young man" to "little brother".

"Thank you, shopkeeper! I'm really penniless, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you for a thousand coins." Yuan Sheng was also good at taking advantage of the situation.

Yuan Sheng told the shopkeeper the recipe, and after exchanging pleasantries for a while, he left with Zhu Chenxi.

As soon as Xiao Er (Ma Laixi) saw Yuan Sheng and Zhu Chenxi walk away, he whispered, "Shopkeeper, that peasant is so cunning! He said he made spiced tea eggs, but he just put tea leaves and salt in them. We can all guess that."

Manager Cao kicked him, "You snobbish bastard! You almost ruined my plans today! What do you know? Fortune changes every thirty years, never underestimate a young man's potential!"

Manager Cao was still not satisfied, so he gave the back of his head a hard whack, "If you do it again, pack your bags and get out of here!"

……

Zhu Chenxi's heart pounded. She hadn't expected Yuan Sheng to be so capable; such a simple prescription had actually sold for three taels of silver. He was neither servile nor arrogant in his dealings with others, and even when he was calculating, he didn't come across as offensive. On the contrary, he won Manager Cao's approval with his mathematical skills.

This is no lazy bum; he's clearly a shrewd and capable husband.

Rumors are indeed unreliable; they haven't discovered how good their husbands are.

Only I know how good my husband is.

Yuan Sheng never expected that his clever little wife was also proficient in mathematics. The more he got to know her, the more surprises he discovered.

Now that we have the money, two taels plus one thousand coins is equivalent to three taels and two hundred coins.

Yuansheng planned to buy five catties of meat to take to his older sister, and then buy twenty-five catties to take back and make braised meat.

In his previous life, his eldest sister encountered misfortune on her way back to the Yuan family home at noon. This time, he didn't want his eldest sister to make that trip; he wanted to take the initiative to find her.

It's Chen Shi (7-9 AM) now, there's still plenty of time.

Yuan Sheng and Zhu Chenxi arrived at the meat market.

"Hey, isn't this Yuansheng? The marriage proposal really worked well for you!" It was Butcher Wang who spoke.

Wang the butcher and Yuansheng were from the same village. Wang the butcher was the father of Wang Damao, Yuansheng's "good friend" in his previous life.

Yuan Sheng went astray in his previous life, and his crony Wang Damao played a significant role in that.

Not only did they make him pay for everything, but they also took him gambling, which led to Yuan Sheng's gambling addiction and ultimately the ruin of his family.

Wang Damao would occasionally mock his ugly wife in public, and then, like an idiot, he would go home and beat Zhu Chenxi, causing unrest in the household.

Therefore, Yuansheng would never buy meat from Butcher Wang; it would only disgust him.

"Yes, I'm healthy again, all thanks to my lucky wife," Yuan Sheng praised naturally.

Butcher Wang took a closer look at Zhu Chenxi. The girl's face was indeed as beautiful as her son had said, with one half being as beautiful as an angel, while the other half was hideously ugly.

Yesterday, my son Da Mao came home and made a scene. He also wants to spend twenty taels of silver to marry someone this beautiful! He won't accept a single tael less in betrothal gifts!

Unexpectedly, this silly son only saw half of the bride's face.

Hehehe, Yuan Laifu and Sheng Guihua actually spent over twenty taels of silver to marry such an ugly woman. I wonder how much they're crying behind her back.

However, this new bride is a perfect match for Yuan Sheng; one is an ugly wretch, the other a scoundrel—it's unbelievable.

"Yuansheng, want to buy meat? Buy from your uncle, and I'll give you a discount." Butcher Wang forced a smile onto his fierce face.

"Uncle, I need 30 jin of the hind leg and pork belly left on your cutting board. What's the cheapest price you can offer?"

Yuan Sheng completely baffled Butcher Wang! What? Thirty jin? This kid isn't trying to buy on credit, is he?

His family just went into a huge debt, and he actually bought so much meat to eat?

Is he trying to freeload off me? What a ridiculous dream! Ugly as a ghost, all talk and no action!

Butcher Wang said with difficulty, "Yuansheng, you want so much? Then I can't sell it to you. Most of my meat has been ordered. If you want a pound or two, that's fine."

"Okay, I'll go check next door."

The butcher next door, surnamed Li, is from Dongshan Village.

Wang the butcher thought to himself, "Go, go, go quickly and go cause trouble for Li the butcher next door."