Chapter 213: Was the Money Paid?
Li Fu simply sat down right next to the two of them. While cracking seeds, he spoke up, “When are you two going to open a shop in the capital?” To be honest, if he couldn’t eat or drink these things after returning, Li Fu felt he would be utterly miserable.
How many days could he really spend freeloading at the Wen family? Once that thing called corn was harvested, he would have to rush right back.
It wasn’t that Li Fu hadn’t thought about tricking this family into moving to the capital, but after interacting with them during this period, he realized that this idea simply wouldn’t work. Since that was the case, he could only find another way.
Qiu Rongrong and Wen Yao exchanged a look.
“We don’t have that idea for the time being. The competition in a place like the capital is far too fierce, and many of our affairs are just getting started right now. Maybe we’ll go in the future.” After all, whose money could be easier to earn than the capital’s?
Li Fu wanted to say, I’ll take you there, who would dare compete with me? But after a second thought, he ultimately kept his mouth shut.
Because Li Fu was present, Qiu Rongrong and Wen Yao restrained their speech a bit, discussing matters regarding the milk tea shop that was about to open, as well as the arrangements for those shops at the pier.
Li Fu minded nothing but cracking his seeds, chiming in every now and then, which was also harmless enough.
Not long after, Old Madam Luo came over, bringing along the accountant Qiu Rongrong had brought.
The old lady had a face entirely covered in smiles, looking incredibly happy.
“Madam, the accounts have already been fully calculated,” the accountant saluted respectfully.
Qiu Rongrong nodded. “Was the money paid?”
Wen Yao raised an eyebrow and gave the old lady a sly wink—what do you think? With the old lady smiling like this, it must have been paid.
The accountant nodded repeatedly. “Paid, paid, not a single penny short.”
Old Madam Luo beamed with joy. “Rongrong, don’t leave today. Stay and eat at home. Anyway, Yi’er will also be coming back tonight. You mother and son haven’t seen each other for some days, right?” As for Xie Yushan? He was simply not within Old Madam Luo’s consideration at all.
“Alright, then I will trouble you, Grandma.” Qiu Rongrong was still very happy to stay.
“No trouble, what trouble? We are all one family, there is no need to be so polite.” Old Madam Luo’s tone was delightful; it appeared she had earned quite a lot of silver.
Wen Yao smiled and teased, “Grandma, just how much did you earn to be this happy?”
Old Madam Luo’s face reddened, and she shot her a reproachful glare. “Only you, stinky girl, have such a loose tongue. In any case, it’s bound to be enough to feed you all. You guys sit for a bit; I’m going to stroll around the fields and have Uncle Lu fetch a few fish back.”
The group nodded, and Old Madam Luo walked away in high spirits.
Qiu Rongrong hadn’t inquired about Old Madam Luo and the others’ accounts, so she asked the accountant, “Just how much silver did the old lady split to be happy to this extent?”
The accountant smiled and replied, “The old lady’s soybean paste fetched eighty taels of silver. The duck coop side was a bit more, fetching four hundred and sixty taels. We’ve used quite a few ducks during this period, so the money was handed over to the old lady all together.”
Wen Yao understood. No wonder Grandma was happy to this extent; even subtracting the costs, Grandma’s soybean paste had still brought in quite a bit of money during this period.
Speaking of which, they had to thank Qiu Rongrong for all of it.
“Sister, what do you want to eat today? It’s all on me,” Wen Yao patted her chest and said generously.
Before Qiu Rongrong could even decide what she wanted to eat, Li Fu chimed in from the side, “Yao’er, let’s have hot pot.”
Qiu Rongrong blanked for a second. “Hot pot? What is that again? Good for you, secretly making something delicious behind my back again and not inviting me, right?” Qiu Rongrong feigned anger and teased.
Wen Yao laughed heartily. “No, no, it’s not like that. I just didn’t have time to tell you, and the chili peppers harvested at home are only this much, so I didn’t dare make too much. I only made a batch the day before yesterday to let the family taste the flavor, and who knew Uncle Li would become obsessed with it.”
“Then we’ll listen to Uncle Li. We’ll eat hot pot today,” Qiu Rongrong’s eyes were positively glowing.
Wen Yao knew she couldn’t dodge this meal of hot pot today. Fortunately, she still had quite a bit of the hot pot soup base she had stir-fried a couple of days ago, so eating it was fine.
“Make some more iced drinks too. Taking a bite of hot pot followed by a sip of an iced drink, now that’s what you call thoroughly refreshing.” Thinking of that taste, Li Fu found it beautiful.
Wen Yao burst out laughing with a puchi. “Uncle Li, then you’d better not make my brother look at your stomach in the middle of the night again.”
Recalling his distress that day, Li Fu also laughed along, waving his hands repeatedly. “Won’t happen, won’t happen. Rest assured, it definitely won’t happen today.”
At worst, he would just ask Wen Jun for some medicine to take beforehand, then he wouldn’t get diarrhea again.
In front of delicious food, what was a little diarrhea anyway?
Perhaps because she had earned money and was exceptionally delighted, today Old Madam Luo truly let Wen Yao make whatever she wanted to make, being unusually generous. She even sent a chicken and two catties of meat over to the grandfather and granddaughter at the winery, so they could also eat sumptuously tonight.
After the winery was set up, Uncle Qin had taken Yanyan to live over there. The place had a kitchen, and Yanyan knew how to cook herself. Combined with those six people, it just happened to allow them to cook for themselves. Sometimes when they were too busy to manage, Aunt Lu would also go over to help.
By sunset, the people who had gone out returned home one by one.
Seeing Qiu Rongrong, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, Xie Anyi directly sprinted over.
“Mother!”
Qiu Rongrong also finally saw her son. Catching him in her arms as he pounced over, she discovered that this kid had actually grown taller and much sturdier during this period.
“Mother, why are you here?” Xie Anyi asked, tilting his head up.
Qiu Rongrong stroked his head. She didn’t say she had come to deliver money and see Wen Yao, deeply afraid of hurting the boy’s feelings, so she said, “Mother missed you, so I came to see how our Yi’er has been performing during this period.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Anyi instantly grew spirited, rattling on to Qiu Rongrong about the events at the Wen family during this period.
Knowing that Xie Anyi not only followed Datou and the others to practice martial arts with Xun Feng, but that Li Yi would also occasionally guide them in their studies, Qiu Rongrong was incredibly grateful in her heart, thinking that she must send some thank-you gifts to Xun Feng and Li Yi tomorrow.
After clinging to Qiu Rongrong for a while, Xie Anyi saw his two little companions watching him, and he also felt embarrassed. He quickly stood up properly from beside Qiu Rongrong while acting sticky. “Mother, then you chat with Sister Yao’er first. I’m going to find Master and the others to practice.”
“Go ahead, go ahead,” Qiu Rongrong nodded.
After thinking for a moment, Xie Anyi bit his lip again and said, “Mother, can you come watch me practice martial arts? I’ve learned a set of fist techniques from Master during this period.”
Qiu Rongrong raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Then Mother will go take a look.”
Xie Anyi instantly ran off happily to find Datou and Jin Xiuyi. The three boys immediately dragged Xun Feng toward the back courtyard.
Since they were all going, Wen Jin and Wen Fa could only be called along by Xun Feng as well. Wen Ying didn’t even need to be called; she just followed and ran along on her own.
Since everyone was going to watch, they might as well all go together. Aside from Qiu Rongrong and Wen Yao, the three Wen brothers, Li Fu, Li Yi, and even Old Man Wen carrying his tobacco pipe followed along.
In the kitchen, Old Madam Luo watched as the entire crowd ran off completely.
“What did they go do?” Old Madam Luo asked Nanny Shi.
Nanny Shi replied, “Old Madam, it seems they went to watch the young masters practice martial arts.”
Old Madam Luo gave an “oh.” She wasn’t interested; she might as well continue cooking.
