Chapter 345: The Whole Family Goes to the Prefectural City to Watch the Opening
Fan Ziyi excitedly poured out his thrilled mood and his recent experience. The excitement and happiness on the young lad’s face couldn’t be hidden at all as he added that starting tomorrow, he would begin practicing martial arts alongside the young masters.
Fan Cheng looked at his son with concern, worried he wouldn’t be able to handle it, yet seeing his son’s radiant and spirited appearance, he ultimately swallowed his words back down.
Snapping out of her shock, Su Shilan was delighted as well.
“Since you are going to practice martial arts with the young masters, wearing these long gowns definitely won’t do. Brother Cheng, hurry and have the child wash up to rest; I’ll alter two sets of clothes for Ziyi to wear for tomorrow’s practice,” Su Shilan said, rising to go fetch Fan Ziyi’s clothes.
Gradually calming down at this moment, Fan Ziyi recalled what he had done just now. Watching Su Shilan’s bustling figure, he actually felt a wave of embarrassment for a moment.
Knowing that Su Shilan saw him still standing on the spot, she gave a fond smile: “What are you still standing there for? Hurry and go rest! Rest assured, I can finish altering the clothes in a short while, guaranteed not to delay your martial arts practice tomorrow.”
Fan Ziyi’s throat hitched, and he spoke up out of nowhere: “Thank you, Mom.”
The motion of Su Shilan’s hands paused. She suddenly felt a sour sting in her eyes, yet suppressing her emotions, the smile on her face grew even broader: “We’re all family—what is there to thank? Take your sister and go sleep.”
“Yes.” Fan Ziyi bowed to the two, picked up Fan Ziling in his arms, and returned to the inner room.
Fan Cheng noticed something amiss at this moment as well.
Looking at the direction where his son departed, and then at his wife whose eye rims were flushed red, he stepped forward and patted her back gently: “Your kindness toward them—they keep every bit of it in their hearts.”
Unable to suppress the sour sting, tears fell from Su Shilan’s eyes, yet she burst into a laugh with a pfft, pushing Fan Cheng away with feigned annoyance: “Hurry and fetch an oil lamp over for me!”
“Yes, yes, yes, Wife.”
Though the room was small, it allowed the family of four to feel unprecedented warmth. At the very least, they no longer needed to worry about their future livelihood, no longer needed to worry about the difficulties made by his elder brother’s side, and no longer needed to worry about their son’s studies. Everything seemed to begin changing from the moment they made their decision.
Over the following days, Fan Cheng handled affairs with increasing dedication. Every day, he was either going up the mountain to inspect conditions or patrolling the fields, while also having to visit the winery to check on its progress, alongside running back and forth several trips to the dock shop.
Not only that, he re-did all the ledgers previously drawn up casually by the family.
Neither Second Uncle Wen nor Third Uncle Wen’s family had received an education, while Wen Xiuzhu and Wen Xiuqing were brought along by the Old Master to work in the fields all day long, so the ledgers for the duck sheds and fish ponds could only be kept by Lady Li and Lady Cai themselves. The method of book-keeping for two uneducated women was simply recording what they could understand.
At any rate, Qiu Rongrong’s accountants would come over to reconcile the accounts with them in the end, so long as the accounting entries matched.
Fan Cheng’s appearance was undoubtedly their salvation.
On the second day after returning to Yunwu Town, Wen Yao and Qiu Rongrong sought out Jiao Jian and Carpenter Zhang, explaining the matter of renovating their two storefronts in the prefectural city. Without a second word, the two immediately dispatched people to the prefectural city to begin work—Carpenter Zhang personally led people over, while Jiao Jian remained in Yunwu Town to keep an eye on the work here.
Wen Yao gave them her home address, telling them to seek out Wu Gu Feng Deng upon reaching the prefectural city, as everything over there was fully arranged.
During this period, Manager Fang learned alongside Manager Lu, while the chefs and assistants were allocated to Zui Xian Tower and the roast duck shop respectively, leaving no need for worry.
Wen Yao, on the other hand, with Fan Cheng helping manage affairs, could set her mind at ease to prepare the hotpot base.
The chili peppers she had planted previously, combined with those planted later at Qiu Rongrong’s estate, added up to several hundred catties of chili peppers already. Furthermore, she could buy them from her spatial storage without anyone noticing, so she wasn’t worried about running short at all.
For several consecutive days, the spicy fragrance of hotpot base drifted around the vicinity of the Wen family estate.
Speaking of frying hotpot base, beef tallow was the absolute best option, yet slaughtering cattle was illegal nowadays. Besides, their family’s Big Yellow was Old Man Wen’s prized treasure, while those dairy cows raised at the farm outside the village were the lifeblood of their milk tea shop.
Fortunately, having an oil press machine at home now meant there was no fear of running short on oil either.
When Old Madam Luo came over to look for Wen Yao, the moment she stepped through the door, she caught the spicy, choke-inducing fragrance of chili peppers that one couldn’t help wanting to smell more of. She skillfully pulled a face mask out from her sleeve to put on, stepping into the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Wen Yao wore an apron gown with her hair wrapped in a cap, wearing a face mask over her mouth while standing beside the stove huffing and puffing as she fried the base, while Nanny Shi led Mingyue and Minglan beside her to pack it into molds.
“This home is almost turning into a hotpot restaurant.” Stepping inside, Old Madam Luo skillfully took the spatula from Wen Yao’s hand and began frying.
Wen Yao yielded her spot along with the momentum, exercising her arms.
“No more—this is the very last wok! Grandma, Sister Rongrong had someone check the opening date for the hotpot restaurant, set right for the first day of next month, which is seven or eight days away. When the time comes, we all have to go to the prefectural city—you, my grandpa, my Second Uncle and Second Aunt, Third Uncle and Third Aunt, along with this bunch of elder brothers, younger brothers, elder sisters, and younger sisters at home—why don’t you all go?” Wen Yao said.
Old Madam Luo looked at her: “The date is set? Then are all the items inside prepared over there?”
Wen Yao nodded: “All prepared! The moment we returned, we sought out the old coppersmith from before to order the pots, which can be hauled over directly.”
Seeing that they had arranged everything properly, only then did Old Madam Luo put her heart at ease.
“Fine then. Turn around and inform your grandpa so our entire family goes! Oh, right—bring your Little Grandaunt along.”
Wen Yao offered a smile: “Wherever you go now, you never forget to bring your younger sister along.”
Old Madam Luo cast a dotingly reproving glance at her: “Only us two sisters remain in our family. If I don’t take the opportunity to bring her out to see more while we can still move around, once we grow old and can’t walk, we won’t be able to go even if we want to. Alright, in a moment I’ll tell her when I return to the workshop. Conveniently, Jiao Yang is home alone during this stretch, so let him wait upon his own wife.”
“Hmm? My Second Cousin Uncle isn’t working at the yamen anymore?” Wen Yao asked. Toward this Second Cousin Uncle who returned from serving in the military, Wen Yao—a child raised under the red flag—felt deep respect. Because he was lame in one foot, Magistrate Chen had arranged a job guarding the prison for him, which was leisurely without danger.
“Working! Why wouldn’t he be working? Where would one find such a wonderful job if lost?
“It’s just that your Second Cousin Aunt has been suffering severe morning sickness during this stretch. Eldest Cousin Aunt has to go cook for your Eldest Cousin Uncle and his group, so your Little Grandaunt has to attend to both the workshop and her daughter-in-law, leaving her truly unable to manage it all.
“So your Second Cousin Uncle went to see Magistrate Chen to request a month’s leave to stay home and care for his wife, because the doctor said that after this month or so passes, the severe morning sickness will improve.
“Coincidentally, your dad was present when he went to request leave. Out of respect for your dad, Old Chen approved the leave directly.”
