The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

If calculated at four hundred coins per bolt of cloth, with the ten looms we plan to prepare, we can weave at least four hundred bolts in a month, which equals one hundred and sixty taels of silver.

Even after deducting the cost of cotton and labor, we can still make a profit of eighty to ninety taels.

Earning eighty to ninety taels in a month, our daughter says it’s more than what a high-ranking official like the County Magistrate earns.

The key is, this is something I can manage on my own.

The more Chunniang thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed, her heart filled with anticipation.

By then, we can hire people to farm our land, which would also ease some of our burden.

After heating the water, Chunniang brought a basin and helped her husband shampoo his hair in the kitchen.

After washing his face, Jiang Sanlang put on the clothes his wife handed him.

“These clothes seem loose on you. It looks like you have lost quite a bit of weight since last month.”

Chunniang asked, “Does performing manual labor take a toll on you?”

Jiang Sanlang shook his head: “It’s just that the work is a bit heavy, but everyone is in the same situation. There is nothing unbearable.”

With sympathy, Chunniang pinched her husband’s arm, sighed, took a few eggs from the grass basket, and beat them into the basin.

She scooped in some flour, preparing to roll out egg noodles for her husband.

At this moment, Yingbao and her younger brother Jiang Wu ran in from outside. Seeing their father, they rushed over.

“Dad! I knew you’d be back.” Yingbao handed over a package of pastries: “This is a chestnut cake which Granny, Sister Dani and I just made. Please try it.”

These days, Yingbao led a few village kids to pick all the chestnuts from their trees, shelled them, made them into chestnut cakes and pies in batches, ready to sell them in the city when Jiang Quan came back.

Jiang Sanlang, holding his son Jiang Wu with one hand, took a bite of the chestnut cake with the other.

The crust was crisp and fragrant, and the filling was sweet and soft. It tasted delicious.

“Very good, very good. Chestnuts are indeed delicious when made in this way.” Jiang Sanlang complimented.

Yingbao proudly said: “I learned this from a pastry shop in the city. It’s very popular in our shop.”

In fact, she used Pupil Spring water to soak the chestnuts, and also used it for making the dough, hence the sweet and fragrant taste.

Upon finishing a few bites, Jiang Sanlang picked up another piece and asked: “How is the shop recently?”

“Very good. The golden and silver ear mushrooms are selling extremely well.”

Last time, only a portion of the premium golden ear mushrooms were sold to Zhou Mao, the rest were taken by Jiang Quan to the city for sale in their shop. They were priced at twenty taels per box, each box half a kilogram.

The silver ear mushrooms were fifteen taels per box, also half a kilogram per box.

As the quantity of golden and silver ear mushrooms in stock was low, Yingbao told Jiang Quan not to worry about them not being sold, the New Year’s Festival was coming, people would certainly buy them regardless of the price.

Jiang Sanlang: “Our persimmon cakes at home are also dried now. In two days, when Erquan comes back, I will go to the city with him.”

He could then retrieve the loom parts that his wife had customized at the blacksmith shop.

“I will go too.” Yingbao: “Fortunately, I don’t have much to do now, Sister Dani and Second Sister are also planning to go to the city.”

With the New Year approaching, they all wanted to buy some pretty hairpins and flowers in the city, and see how the young ladies there dressed up.

Ever since Second Sister told them about Wa City after returning from the city, Sister Dani has been envious and wanted to go. But she’s been too busy at home lately and hasn’t had the time.

Jiang Sanlang laughed: “That’s fine, I’ll take them with me then.”

“And me! And me!” It’s been a long time since Jiang Wu saw his older brother Jiang Jie.

“Good, good! And you too.” Jiang Sanlang patted his son on the head, turning his gaze towards his wife.

Chunniang understood what her husband meant and said, “I won’t go. There’s still quite a bit of cotton at home. I’ll spin it these days. Once everyone starts preparing for the New Year, we won’t have any free time.”

“Sounds good.” Jiang Sanlang also wanted to sell all the looms before the New Year. Money in hand was, after all, money earned.

With the family’s agreement, Jiang Quan indeed returned in a cart on the third day, seeing Yingbao giggling non-stop. “Yingbao, we’ve made it!”

Yingbao asked, “Did we sell all the golden and silver ear mushrooms?”

“Yes!” Jiang Quan responded with a broad, uncontrollable smile and whispered:

“You probably don’t know, Dongmei really knows how to attract attention. She promoted our shop for over a month, and as a result, many people came for products bearing our name. We couldn’t keep up with the demand for our gift boxes.”

“Now, the best pastry shop in the county is working with us, providing us with freshly made cakes daily for our shop to sell on their behalf.”

Surprised, Yingbao quickly asked, “Has Big Brother signed a contract with them?”

“He has. Big Brother had everything clearly written in the contract – the ingredients for each type of cake. If their shop uses not-fresh ingredients or substitutes inferior ones, they must compensate our shop with double the loss.”

“That’s good to hear.” Her big cousin is indeed made for the shopkeeper role.

However…

Yingbao was a bit worried.

All the profitable golden ear and snow ear products in the shop had been sold out, and it was not a good sign that stock was running out even before the holiday season.

Should she take out the ones stored in her cave dwelling?

No, she couldn’t!

Those were reserved for the Wen Family and couldn’t be used for the time being.

But the Wen Family still hasn’t come to pick up the goods. Does it mean they no longer need them?

It wouldn’t matter if they didn’t want them. She only promised to keep the goods for the Wen Family until a few days before the holiday season. If they didn’t come, she would put all the golden ear and snow ear products on sale at the shop.

Yingbao had only received one letter from Sister Wen Shu a few days ago.

In the letter, Wen Shu mentioned that something unexpected happened to their family again and they would be moving to Luzhou in a few days. In the meantime, she asked Yingbao not to send letters to Yuzhou as she may not receive them.

Sigh, there seems to be no end to the Wen Family’s troubles, with one problem arising after another.

Later that night, Yingbao entered her cave dwelling.

Inside the dwelling, there were several crates of dried golden ear and snow ear, totaling up to about forty pounds.

In addition, she had placed over a thousand cans of mushrooms around the pool, all of which she had accumulated over the years. The tops of the cans were already full of golden ear and snow ear, which she estimated could be harvested in around ten days.

After harvesting, the mushrooms only needed to be dried in the dwelling for about four or five days. This was something Yingbao discovered early on.

The mushroom roots left after harvesting could continue to grow in the cans, which was pretty convenient.

If she wanted to propagate them, she just needed to get more cans and fill them with a nutrient base. However, Yingbao didn’t want to do that anymore. She already had too many types of mushrooms in her dwelling and she couldn’t keep up with them all.

Besides breeding and cultivating mushrooms, Yingbao had no plans to plant anything else on this patch of land. Whatever was already planted could fend for themselves, like the melons, cucumbers, and various flowers.

She didn’t go up to check the plants near the luminescent body at the top, but she guessed they were all growing well.

The next day, Jiang Sanlang brought his children and two nieces, along with Jiang Quan, to the county city. After dropping the kids off at the shop, he drove the carriage to pick up the custom made items.

Jiang Quan took the returned persimmon cakes and chestnut cakes into the backyard for Yingbao, Dani, and Erni to help weigh and pack. He took his young cousin to go out and buy delicious food.

As the two brothers were eating and shopping, and were heading back with a large bag of snacks, they suddenly saw a group of people fighting at the entrance of an alley.

A crowd gathered around to watch the spectacle.

Jiang Quan curiously took a closer look and to his surprise, the two who were being beaten up were none other than Aunty Jiang Yunniang and Uncle Zhang Jia.

There was also a heavily made-up young woman standing by, crying pitifully.

Aunty Jiang Yunniang was seen desperately defending Uncle Zhang, shouting through tears, “Stop it! You’re going to beat him to death…”

A big, brutish man laughed coldly, “He deserves to die! He dared to seduce my daughter, it would be no loss if he died!”

“No! He didn’t, that woman seduced him first.” Jiang Yunniang defended her husband, using her body to shield him from the blows.

Hearing this, the brutish man became infuriated and laid into Jiang Yunniang and Zhang Jia, yelling as he hit them, “Bullshit! How could my beautiful, innocent daughter be seduced by an old, ugly man like him? Since you’re so intent on protecting him, either die with him, or pay me compensation. Go on, make your choice!”