AWB Chapter 26 Unexpected Fortune
Chapter 26 Unexpected Fortune
Today is the day the Xiao family officially starts building their house. Early in the morning, the eight people the village chief had found had already arrived at the Xiao family's house.
Grandpa Xiao arranged for them to tidy up the base first, and then went with the village chief to buy bricks and tiles.
This decision was correct. With the village chief accompanying them, all the bricks and tiles cost a total of 19 taels of silver, which were then delivered directly to the Xiao family.
Seeing that the house was already taking shape, Xiao Siyue was very excited. She would soon have her own room and was thinking about how she would decorate the room after the house was completed.
Yes, she needs a desk, two stools—she's five years old now and needs to start learning; she doesn't want to be illiterate in ancient times. She also needs a large wardrobe to store her clothes.
Right, a wardrobe? Nowadays, people put their clothes in trunks, which is not only troublesome to find, but also makes them wrinkled. Why didn't she think of that sooner? There are two carpenters in the house, really.
But it's not too late now.
Xiao Siyue thought for a moment and went to ask her father for pen and ink, then drew a blueprint for a double-door wardrobe. Holding the blueprint, she couldn't bear to look at it; it was so ugly! She had to quickly make a charcoal pencil of it; it was simply too embarrassing for a science and engineering student like herself.
Why don't we show it to my second uncle first?
"Second Uncle, I want to make a large wardrobe like this to store my clothes,"
Xiao Qili took the blueprints and looked at them for a long time, but he still couldn't figure out what was going on.
"Hey Yue'er, what's this?" Xiao Qili asked, pointing to a large clump of paper.
"Ah, this..." It really can't be blamed on Xiao Siyue. This was her first time using a calligraphy brush, and she couldn't control it well. The lines she drew were sometimes thick and sometimes thin, crooked and winding, and sometimes she would accidentally spill a blob of ink.
There was nothing else Xiao Siyue could do but explain the structure of the wardrobe to Xiao Qili in detail.
As expected of a carpenter with many years of experience, Xiao Qili understood the principles completely after Xiao Siyue explained it only once.
He said excitedly, "Yue'er, your idea is absolutely brilliant! Don't worry, just give me three days, and I can get it done!"
Over the next few days, Xiao Qili put aside his other work and focused on making the wardrobe. Later, when Grandpa Xiao found out, the two of them worked together on it. In less than two days, a wardrobe that was 2 meters high and 1.5 meters wide was placed in the Xiao family's courtyard.
The other members of the Xiao family also liked the wardrobe and wanted one for their own rooms. However, there were too many people in the Xiao family, so it was finally decided that since Xiao Siyue's house hadn't been built yet, the wardrobe would be placed in Grandpa Xiao's room for the time being.
Then make another one for Xiao Siyue, and also make one for Xiao Siqi's room.
The day before the house was completed, Xiao Siyue received some good news.
Xiao Qiren came back and said that the owner of their restaurant had returned in the last two days, and he was going to sell Xiao Siyue's recipes to the owner.
The houses were finally completed. Several large brick and tile houses stood there, particularly eye-catching. On that day, many people from the village came to see them.
"Has the Xiao family struck it rich? How much money must have spent building so many houses?" someone said enviously.
Some people said jealously, "Hmph, who knows what they did to earn that money,"
Some even thought that now that the Xiao family's grandson had grown up, perhaps they could marry their daughters and granddaughters into the family.
In any case, the Xiao family has once again made a big splash in the village.
However, none of the Xiao family members knew that they were currently happily choosing a house.
"Grandpa, can we move the wardrobe into the house now?" Xiao Siyue was overjoyed, as she would soon be able to live alone.
"Not yet, the house is newly built and still very damp. It needs to air out for a few days," Grandpa Xiao said. The furniture is all made of wood, and putting it inside makes it prone to getting damp.
A few days later, Xiao Siyue had just moved into her new house when Xiao Qiren returned home with the money.
"Yue'er, here is a total of 50 taels of silver. The braised pork intestines recipe is the most expensive, selling for 30 taels. The steamed fish is 10 taels, and the pork rib soup is 10 taels." Xiao Qili smiled as he handed the silver to Xiao Siyue.
He chuckled to himself, recalling how the chef had made the dishes according to the recipe, and how the owner had immediately bought the recipe after tasting it. He knew that the recipe was excellent, and the owner would definitely buy it.
Don't be fooled by the high price of the pork intestine recipe, which sells for 30 taels, the restaurant doesn't lose money at all. They can break even quickly. The cost of a single pork intestine is very low, and the quantity is large, so the profit is very high. The only thing is that the wine is probably the most expensive item, but you don't need too much of it.
Furthermore, this is not easy for others to imitate. Firstly, many people do not know the cleaning method, and secondly, who would think that the materials used inside are medicinal herbs?
"Thank you, Uncle," Xiao Siyue said as she took the silver. This was truly an unexpected windfall. She had originally intended to give these prescriptions to her uncle, since she didn't consider them anything particularly important.
Her uncle had previously said he was going to sell it to the owner of the Jixiang Restaurant, and she thought it would only fetch a few taels of silver at most. Who would have thought that a recipe could be so valuable?
She remembers a lot about whether she can make money by selling houses.
Forget it, she came up with too many remedies that are hard to explain, and they're not safe either.
Besides, she plans to open her own restaurant in the future, or have a family member do it, so she'll keep the recipe for herself.
"Grandma, take this money." Xiao Siyue thought that after building the house, there should be very little money left in the family. Her eldest brother was getting married, and there would be many expenses. This money could fill the gap.
“No need for all of it, Yue’er. We already agreed that family members who earn their own money only need to pay 50%,” Old Mrs. Xiao said, taking 25 taels of silver and handing the remaining 25 taels back to Xiao Siyue.
"Grandma, you can keep it all. We just built a house, so we don't have much money left. I'm just a child, so I don't need to spend any money."
"Don't worry, Yue'er, there's enough at home. You can keep it yourself." Old Mrs. Xiao was very happy that Xiao Siyue was thinking of the family, but she still didn't accept it. She couldn't let her granddaughter suffer a loss.
"Alright then." Seeing that her grandmother was adamant, Xiao Siyue didn't insist any further.
He took the silver and put it into his silver box.
Counting her money, she now had over thirty taels of silver, making her a small-time rich woman. Xiao Siyue touched her silver before reluctantly putting it away.
Xiao Siyue looked at her house.
To the left of the entrance, near the window, is a desk. Further to the left is a dressing table, and a wardrobe stands against the left wall. In the center of the room is a small round table with several chairs. To the right of the door is a bed. The room isn't large, but it's adequate.
Xiao Siyue liked it more and more as she looked at it. This would be her own room from now on. The layout of the other rooms was similar to everyone else's.