Chapter 146 - Chapter 146: Old Mistress Wang, You ‘re Jealous
Chapter 146: Old Mistress Wang, You ‘re Jealous
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Old Mistress Wang’s eyes revealed a look of envy; she couldn’t compare to the younger generation.
Qiao Mai noticed this and thought that when she had free time, she would select a gift for Old Mistress Wang online. This old lady really appealed to her.
They had some common ground in conversation and action, so she wanted to be nice to her.
Looking at her grey hair, Qiao Mai suddenly had an idea. She would buy a natural plant-based hair dye on the platform to dye the old lady’s hair black. This would instantly make her look younger.
She would also buy anti-wrinkle and anti-aging skincare products and mix spiritual river water to make her skin radiant and appear even younger.
But that wasn’t all. If Qiao Mai wanted the elderly couple to be healthier, she would need to add some river water to the water they drank daily.
Long-term consumption could lead to a longer and healthier life, and their bodies would become stronger.
She decided to start doing this from tomorrow. She would occasionally pour some into the water in the big jar at home so everyone in the Qiao family could benefit.
On the day Yuan Jiaqi returned to the academy, Qiao Mai prepared a gourd of purified water mixed with the spiritual river and told him to drink it every day, saying it was good for his health.
Entering June, occasional rains from the heavens would come. Ever since she arrived here, the weather in the northern region had been favorable, with abundant rain.
Mayor Qian arranged for the disaster-stricken refugees in his jurisdiction and added her deeds to his merit record. No one knew he had this ace up his sleeve. He kept track of who did good deeds and how much silver and grain they donated.
The commoners all spoke highly of Mayor Qian.
This year, the Wang family publicly purchased large quantities of sweet potatoes and sesame seeds from the farmers, which resulted in a significant increase in the number of households growing these two crops.
Even the three tenant farmers of the Qiao family started cultivating these crops and signed agreements with the Wang family.
In the past, sweet potatoes were priced at one tael for two catties. Now, it was sold for two taels per catty. One acre of land could yield two to three thousand catties of sweet potatoes, which meant an income of more than fifty taels. With ten acres of land, one could earn over five hundred taels. After taxes, it was still around three hundred taels, enough for the commoners to chew on for more than a year. Not growing them would be foolish.
Then there were sesame seeds. The Wang family purchased them from the farmers for thirty coins per catty. Even if sesame seeds had lower yields, one acre could still produce two hundred catties, not inferior to sweet potatoes, and they were easy to manage.
For the second season of grain crops, the farmers all switched to sweet potatoes or sesame seeds. The Wang family had brought good news to the people of the Great Ming Dynasty.
In the south, sweet potatoes and sesame seeds were not suitable for cultivation due to abundant rain, which made these two crops unsuitable for growth.
Therefore, the Wang family’s workshops were all located in the north. However, the finished products were sold to various parts of the Great Ming Dynasty.
Since the introduction of vermicelli, rice noodles, sesame paste, and sesame oil, the Wang family’s business has been thriving. Although they were not as famous as the imperial merchants, they didn’t earn any less. The Wang family, however, remained relatively low-profile and didn’t boast about it.
But observant individuals could still figure it out. They had never imagined that the sweet potatoes eaten by commoners could be turned into such delicious products.
People were eager to try them and sent people to the Wang family to learn their secrets.
The Wang family was strict about who they allowed in and closely guarded their production process. Not even a fly could enter.
For those who wanted to learn their secrets, it was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
To put it simply, as long as the Emperor didn’t have the intention, no one else could.
Although the Wang family profited, one-third of their income went to the main family in the Capital. With the main branch receiving so much money, how could they not protect them?
Moreover, because of the Wang family’s recipes and workshops, the income of the commoners had increased, and fewer people were starving. The Emperor couldn’t resent them. He had to praise the Wang family’s efforts.
After all, the well-being of the people was crucial to the country’s prosperity.
The emperor wasn’t foolish, and he understood this point. The head of the Wang family was promoted by one rank. The emperor hoped that he would not disappoint him and will continue to work for the welfare of the common folk.
Wang Zongsheng never expected his unintentional actions would benefit the main branch. They sent five carts of generous gifts to Wang Zongsheng in joy.
As they say, those who dig wells should not forget those who drink from them. Wang Zongsheng quickly prepared a cart of gifts and sent them to the Qiao family.
After learning about this, Qiao Mai smiled. When someone is lucky, money flows in effortlessly. Even unintentional actions can lead to promotions.
It was a stroke of luck.
After hearing about this, Old Master and Mistress Wang treated Qiao Mai even better, like their own granddaughter.
Old Mistress Wang even brought her treasured set of amethyst jewelry and delivered it to Qiao Mai.
Wang Jiaru stayed with the Qiao family for over half a month before leaving.
They had agreed to meet in the Capital.
When she left, she hugged Qiao Mai and cried, reluctant to leave.
After being scolded by Old Mistress Wang, she left crying!
As soon as she left, Old Mistress Wang began cursing.
“What an ungrateful girl. I’ve been so good to her, and she didn’t even hug me and cry when she left. You two have only known each other shortly, yet she behaves like this. Heartless little thing!”
“Haha. Grandmother, you’re jealous!”
“I’m not jealous; I just wanted to scold her. I’m not as skillful as you. She can make her happy and content. Her dependence on you is justified. Don’t take it too seriously.”
“I won’t.”
“Ah, her wedding is on the sixteenth of September. Let’s wait until after the fifteenth of August to leave. How about we spend that day at your place?”
“Welcome. We’ll prepare some snacks for you from my house.”
“I’ll count on you. I can’t stand hardship.”
The two walked hand in hand like good friends. They took the opportunity of sending Wang Jiaru off to go to Qiao’s Small Eatery.
Qiao Mai ordered a glass of passion fruit honey water for the old lady, who looked curiously at the straw.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a disposable straw. You can drink without using a spoon. It’s very convenient. You should try it.”
“This cup is strange too, slim and tall.”
“I ordered it from a porcelain workshop. Do you like it?”
“It just feels weird.”
“You’ll get used to it. Why don’t you give it a try?”
Qiao Mai had the waiter bring a fruit platter. Old Mistress Wang rarely had such a leisurely time, and the two chatted like they had known each other for years as they drank fruit juice, talking and laughing.
From June to August, it was the rainy season in the north. The heavens would occasionally send rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes moderate, and sometimes light.
Rain made people feel relaxed. The Qiao family would sit quietly by the half-open windows, enjoying the chill and watching the rain outside.
Qiao Mai would always take advantage of rainy days to plant her crops in the space.
As long as the seeds were available on the platform, she would buy them with money if she had them or sell things to make money.
Qiao Mai would buy the seeds and plant them in the fields. Her current amount of land was about ten million acres.
Her cultivation had remained at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Ninth Level without any progress. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cultivate, but she wasn’t sure yet.
She had thoroughly understood the Alchemy Manual and sold a batch of spiritual herbs and dozens of spiritual river water jars. She accumulated a batch of spirit stones and bought all the alchemical recipes for the first, second, and third stages from Customer Service.
She planned to use the rainy season when there was nothing else to do to refine pills. She will adjust to the best condition and prepare all the first-stage spiritual herbs.
She memorized all the first-stage recipes and repeatedly simulated the refining process in her mind, along with the operating procedures and techniques from the alchemy manual.
After adequate preparation, Qiao Mai stood by the alchemical furnace, waved her hand, and released a red light, placing the alchemical fire under the furnace.
She preheated the furnace, opened the lid, and added the spiritual herbs in the prescribed order, paying attention to the timing and the liquidation process.
Then, she used her spiritual consciousness to filter out the residue from the liquid repeatedly.
Finally, Qiao Mai used the alchemical fire to keep the spiritual liquid’s temperature constant and evaporate the excess water from the liquid. The last step was to condense the thick spiritual liquid into pills smaller than quail eggs and remove the moisture from each pill.
To ensure that the pill’s efficacy was good, filtration was the most critical step. The purer the spiritual liquid, the better the efficacy..