Chapter 113: Buying Servants

The carriage entered Tianxiang city, and Mo Qianxue told Awu who was driving the carriage, “Let’s go to Baiyunju first.”

When they arrived at Baiyunju, Mo Qianxue didn’t disembark but handed an envelope and a can to Awu and told him, “Give the recipe and the brine to lord Su Qi. I’ll stay in the carriage and wait for you to come back.”

Fearing that Awu would mistake it, Mo Qianxue accentuated the recipe to show that she didn’t give these to Su Qi on a private term.

She had wanted to discuss with Su Qi on the soy sauce and vinegar business, but now she felt too embarrassed to step into his restaurant. If she really met Su Qi in person, she would rather dig a hole and sneak into it.

Now giving him the recipe could be counted as her gratitude towards him. In any business, the pioneer would always impress consumers as the best and most authentic one.

The tofu had been sold in Baiyunju for a long time, and now, with the recipe, Su Qi could start a tofu workshop as the pioneer in the capital city.

Bean products, after the experiments of her and sister Fang, now boasts a variety of kinds, which were nutritious and affordable for people from all walks of life. Although the workshop wasn’t a big one, the business would be quite profitable because of the large population in the capital city. Once it accumulated words of mouth, the market would be further expanded.

To put aside retails, only the amount consumed on a daily basis by big families, restaurants, temples and the imperial palace was striking.

*

Now the 15th had passed, Fang Datang and Li San visited early in the morning before they set off.

The capital city was located in the center of Tianqi, and Tianxiang city was situated on the near east. They led two groups of people respectively, one heading for the south and the other the north along the upstream and downstream of Dongjing river.

It would take them at least a week to arrive at their destinations. Although Mo Qianxue had agreed upon Ning Shaoqing’s advice, she told them to sell the recipe at places far from Tianxiang so that her tofu business wouldn’t be threatened immediately. When the recipe was sold everywhere and people came to buy the brine and then learn to make tofu with it and put tofu on the market, it would be at least a month later.

The two routes wouldn’t influence the capital. Originally, Mo Qianxue had planned to start a tofu shop herself, but after the incident, she didn’t want to linger on tofu or fight over market share against Su Qi.

Moreover, the tofu market was indeed opened by Su Qi, although what he sold wasn’t fresh tofu but frozen tofu. However, it was popular to ordinary households and constantly in short supply.

Although the gift wasn’t very valuable, it was the best she could give him for the time being.

Awu took over the envelope and entered Baiyunju.

He happened to need to send another envelop for lord, so it was time-saving for him, and luckily lady didn’t go inside together. Awu was invited to Su Qi’s study, handed the brine can to Alu, bowed to Su Qi, and then presented the envelop from Mo Qianxue.

His face cold, he said loudly, “This is the tofu recipe. Lady sent me to give it to you.” Then, he pointed at the can in Alu’s hand, “That is the brine to make tofu. Lady said that if your chefs didn’t know how to use it, they could learn at the tofu workshop at the Wang village.”

If the gift was something else, Su Qi might not accept it readily, but the recipe was just needed.

He had recently heard from his eldest brother that the tofu was selling so crazy in the capital that even the Emperor knew that Su family had a new kind of food called tofu. The imperial concubine Yu liked it very much and had it sent to the imperial palace on a daily basis.

Everybody knew that the imperial concubine Yu was most loved by the Emperor and that he went her place to have meals everyday.

After this, every household had taken it as a faceless thing if they didn’t have tofu on the table for the dinner on New Year’s Eve.

Therefore, the carriage of tofu arriving at the capital became a shopping-rush goods among the big families in the capital. Everyday, before the carriage arrived, the tofu was all booked already.

Hence, Su Qi let manager Li temporarily stop selling tofu to other places except for the capital. However, with Mo Qianxue’s small workshop as the supplier, the production was at most one thousand kilograms, far behind the demand from the large amount of consumers.

His eldest brother meant to get the recipe as soon as possible so that the Su family could start a tofu workshop in the capital and again more customers in a shorter period of time.

Food was the most basic need of people. If they could send food to big mansions, they could also send spies to form a bigger information network…

Therefore, getting the recipe became a top priority for the Su family.

He was exactly worrying how to make the request to Mo Qianxue. According to his eldest brother, he must get this recipe by hook or crook.

Even if he refused to do it personally, his eldest brother would send people here, which would only lead to more conflicts.

By then, Ning Shaoiqng’s whereabouts would be revealed and he would return to the capital, and…

Su Qi sighed and accepted the recipe. There were things that couldn’t be expressed by language, so he didn’t plan to let Awu pass a word of thank. When there was an opportunity, he would explain to her personally.

Seeing Su Qi accepting the recipe and gazing at the brine can, Awu didn’t say anything and quickly handed him the envelop from Ning Shaoqing.

“This is from my lord. He hopes you know what is the right thing to do.”

Su Qi had predicted that Ning Shaoqing would definitely send a gift of gratitude because Ning Shaoqing wasn’t a person that readily accept kindness from others. Like last time, Su Qi helped him to get a doctor, then he gave back a plan to make Baiyunju rise rapidly.

Last time, Su Qi had accepted it because his feelings for Mo Qianxue hadn’t gone deep into the bone. He felt alright and even fair to accept it.

However, now, at any rate, he wouldn’t accept the big gift, because in his eyes, it had nothing to do with Ning Shaoqing, but instead, it was a matter between him and her.

Mo Qianxue’s recipe was accepted because it could be counted as memory.

Therefore, Su Qi didn’t even look at the envelop, opening his folded fan, and pushed it back, smiling playfully, “Please tell your lord that I don’t need anything.”

“Lord told me that you didn’t any it but the Su famiy did. This thing is vital to Su family. It’s something that eldest lord Su dreams about. You would regret to not accept it.”

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Hearing this, Su Qi stopped smiling and folded his fan. He already knew the real identity of Ning Shaoqing and also the fact that he, as the eldest lord of the Ning family, never overstated.

A thing vital to the Su family; a thing that his eldest brother dreamed about? Was it…

Su Qi took over the envelope and drew out the contract in it, turning astonished at once, “Your lord is really willing to transfer a half-share of this mine property?”

He had long heard that the mine had fallen into the hands of two mysterious people. To his surprise, one of them was the well-known eldest young lord Ning.

This person had a really deep mind.

Awu remained deadpan, “Of course he’s willing to, as long as you promise not to reveal the fact that the original co-owner of the mine is our lord.”

How could Su Qi refuse such a huge temptation? As long as lord Su accept the agreement, his mission would be completed.

More importantly, as long as lord Su Qi accept the agreement, he would return to the capital to discuss with his families, after which, he would probably never go back to Tianxiang again and lord would feel better…

Of course, lord had made it clear in the letter that it was a transfer, not a grant.

Yet, it was already a big favor once lord was willing to transfer.

Now Su Qi was put into a dilemma. On the one side, there was his dear eldest brother, and one the other side was his unwillingness to break the certain connection and give in.

The Su family boasted the advantage of military power, and what an elite troop needed most was sophisticated weapons, which required the fine iron that would be produced from this mine.

Hence, the significance of the mine to the Su family was obvious. The family would stay assured only after it grabbed the mine in its own hands. Every minute when the mine fell into the hand of others was a sort of torture for the Su family, because it felt like being tie by a rope around its neck.

For this mine property, his eldest brother had strived personally. Even his several ambitious cousins had showed up and tried to step in with all kinds of means, yet the mine fell into the pocket of two mysterious men anyhow.

There was rarely family love in a big mansion, but he was different. His mother only had two children, he and his eldest brother. Since birth, his eldest brother loved and took care of him in every possible way. Since the burden of family responsibility wasn’t put on his shoulders, he could go to wherever he liked.

This time, but for the possible engagement that his grandmother insisted to arrange for him, he wouldn’t be hiding here.

Alright. He had never done anything for his eldest brother. This time, he should. The recipe from Mo Qianxue was written very detailed, even including the ingredients and approach to make the brine, which no other restaurants knew.

Even if other restaurant learned how to make tofu, they still had to buy the brine from her. In the near future, the secret of the brine wouldn’t be revealed to others.

After Awu left, Su Qi wrote a copy of the recipe and the brine and let manager Li find a trustworthy servant to try it first. If he wasn’t able to make tofu, then let him learn at Mrs. Ning’s tofu workshop. Then, once he grasped the skill, he would be sent back to the capital.

Afterwards, Su Qi took with him the agreement and set off for the capital immediately. It was a big deal that required a large sum of money. He lacked the authority to employ it.

Awu followed behind, taking no other valuable things except for a jar of fermented bean curd.

This bean curd had been taken over by Xiaoqizi last month and was made by Mo Qianxue personally. Since he had this jar of bean curd, lord’s appetite was much better than before.

Hence, even if he took nothing, he must take this jar.

*

When Mo Qianxue reached Tingfengquan, Asan had just left a moment ago. He told uncle Yu the three missions that Ning Shaoiqng had assigned and then sneaked into Jian mansion.

Uncle Yu, the manager of Tingfengquan, had long gotten the news that lady would come and waited for her respectfully at the gate.

The moment Mo Qianxue’s carriage stopped, uncle Yu stepped forward to greet her. After exchanging words of greetings, uncle Yu got down to the business, “On the back of that alley is a studio owned by a woman called nanny Mu who specializes in disciplining servant girls for big mansions. I’ve been there several times and consulted butlers of those big mansions. The servant girls from the studio are not bad and well-disciplined. Why don’t we go there to take a look? If you don’t like the girls there, we can go to another place.”

Mo Qianxue nodded. Although she had hung around in Tianxiang city for a few times, she had never heard of such a studio.

The studio was located in the inner of the back alley. They didn’t take the carriage and arrived in a short while. From afar, they heard a middle-aged tough female sound of disciplining, “Since you arrive here, you’re no longer cherished babies of your parents. You’re servants and slaves. You can’t go west if your masters let you go east. You can’t lift your feet if your masters let you raise your hands. Servants and slaves are cheap and inferior things…”

Hearing this, Mo Qianxue almost burst into laughter because she almost got confused meddle-headed by the so-called servants and masters. Besides, that tone sounded really similar to that of nanny Rong, a typical nanny character in a famous TV series. As they walked into the yard, the sound became clearer.

“Stand straight! You must stand right… Try to be lazy?”

Upon the finish of the reprimand, the whip of discipline rattan rang, then there was sobbing and begging, “Nanny, don’t beat me again. I’m too starved to stand straight. I’m not being lazy…” The begging didn’t finish when the sound of beating rang again along with the nanny’s voice, “Don’t find excuses. Don’t you listen to me? Call yourself servant…”

“It’s okay you don’t listen to me. Tomorrow I’ll sell you to the brothel. Girls there don’t need to call themselves slaves, but at my place, there can’t be lazy idiots.”

“No, please don’t. I’m a slave. I stand straight.”

Mo Qianxue nodded and smiled. Although the nanny acted and spoke inhumanly, it was undeniable that her method was effective. At least for that moment, the unruly girl who yelled to be starving began to behave herself.

Judging by the tough reprimand of this nanny Mu, Mo Qianxue knew that this was the right place to go. Without rules, everything would be in a mess. She had a modern soul, but she also knew to do in Rome as the Romans do

Since she was buying servant girls to work for her, of course the girls shouldn’t have a strong ego. After all, back in the modern times, her staff still called her boss respectfully.

When choosing servant girls, the well-behaved ones would be a great help while the misbehaved ones would stir up more troubles in the future.

Hearing this, the three of them had already walked from the further end of the yard to the door. Uncle Yu looked at Mo Qianxue and, after seeing Mo Qianxue nodded slightly, knocked at the door.

“Are you home nanny Mu?”

In a while, nanny Mu opened the door. It was a neatly dressed woman around forty years of age.

At the sight of uncle Yu, she immediately put on a joyful smile and hurriedly dropped away the rattan in her hand, “Oh how do you do manager Yu? Are you coming to choose servant girls for your winery? Thank you so much for helping me with my business. This is the right place to buy servants. The girls that have been disciplined by me are the most disobedient and hard-working ones.”

Meanwhile, she invited the three people into the house and turned to ordered, “Take over chairs and make tea.”

Mo Qianxue frowned, “No, thanks.” She was here to buy servant girls, not to drink tea.

Seeing Mo Qianxue frowning and standing there unrevealingly, Manager Yu understood that she wanted to select a few girls quickly and left, so he hurriedly stopped nanny Mu, “Don’t bother, nanny Mu. Our lady comes to select two servant girls, as I’ve told you a few days ago. Let the candidates I picked come out and demonstrate themselves to our lady.”