Chapter 338 : Making A Living (1)

In the evening, Yuxi told Yun Qing about Xu Shi’s visit with Qin Yue. “Qin Yue asked me quite a few things about Xuan Wang. It seems that our speculation is not wrong.”

Yun Qing’s face did not look good, but still, he said. “For the sake of Marshal Qin, if she comes to the door again, you will tell her everything you know! Save yourself the disadvantage of going to the capital.”

Yuxi laughed. “I’m sure I’ve told her everything I know. However, Xuan Wangfei is an extremely intelligent woman, and Heshou Xianzhu has the ability to foresee and has saved the life of the 9th Prince. If Qin Yue wants to establish a firm footing in Xuan Wangfu, I’m afraid it will not be an easy task.”

Yun Qing asked Yuxi to help Qin Yue, but it was just in return for a favour. Whether Qin Yue could gain a foothold in Xuan Wangfu was not his concern. “I heard that you have a feud with Heshou Xianzhu?”

Yuxi nodded her head and told Yun Qing the whole story. “Actually, I am still confused. Neither my San Jie nor I have offended her. Why does she insist on killing my San Jie and me?”

Yun Qing coldly snorted and said, “For Xuan Wang taking her as his Ce Fei, he really wasn’t afraid of having his yang energy being sucked out of his life.” Heshou Xianzhu dared to say that Yuxi was a demon when she was clearly the demon herself.

Yuxi let out a snort and was amused. She did not expect Yun Qing could still be entertaining sometimes, like when he honestly thought that Heshou was a blood-sucking demon. “Now that I’m away from the capital, she can’t do anything to me. By the way, the Fu family has helped you so much, and we have not yet thanked them for all that they have done!”

Yun Qing responded, “When I have time, I will accompany you to go there. It’s also a good time for you to get acquainted with them.” They had only been married for a few days, and no one would criticise them if they didn’t go so soon.

Yuxi smiled and asked, “So when will you have your next vacation?” Seeing that Yun Qing was also unsure, she said, “I’ll go there first. When you have time, you can go later. This kind of thing, naturally, the earlier, the better. It will look more insincere if we do it after a while.”

Yun Qing nodded and replied, “That’s fine, then.”

Yuxi originally had a lot of things to ask, but seeing that Yun Qing was a bit tired, she stopped talking, and the two of them went to bed after turning out the lights.

The next day, Xu Shi came over again, but Qin Yue did not follow her this time around. The purpose of Xu Shi’s visit this day was to borrow Mama Qu. “I heard that Mama Qu had been in the palace, so I would like to ask Mama Qu to teach Qin Yue the rules. I wonder if it is possible?”

Yuxi hesitated before saying, “Marshal Qin’s favours towards my husband were weighty as a mountain. It stands to reason that I shouldn’t refuse this small matter. It’s merely that Mama Qu is my left and right arms. If she’s not here, many things can’t be handled properly.” It wasn’t that she was acting petty, but rather, Mama Qu was indeed her arms, and she would have to start getting busy if Mama Qu wasn’t around.

Xu Shi’s heart became sluggish. Her request was just a trivial matter, but Yuxi would go as far as bringing up a favour. This woman really didn’t want to suffer any loss at all. Xu Shi cursed her in her heart but didn’t show it on her face as she spoke, “Dimei, it won’t take long. I will borrow her for just three days. After three days, I will send Mama Qu back to you.”

Yuxi smiled and said, “Then, that’s fine.” After saying that, she called Mama Qu to come over and asked her to pack her clothes to follow Xu Shi to the Qin Residence.

Xu Shi smilingly expressed, “Thanks a lot, Dimei.”

Yuxi laughed and said, “What’s the point of being so polite? If we’re starting to act too polite, it will look like we’re unfamiliar with each other.” If it wasn’t because the Qin family’s favour towards Yun Qing was weighty as a mountain, she wouldn’t have lent her people out. So it was best not to owe anyone. Once you started to owe someone, you would get a headache by the time you wanted to pay it back.

After sending Xu Shi away, Yuxi had someone send a bai tie to the Fu family. It was not enough to have a good relationship with the Zhao family. She had to have a good relationship with other officials’ wives to get more useful information.

After dealing with these matters, Yuxi continued settling the household accounts. Once she was done, she looked somewhat worried. The residence had dozens of people, and it cost a huge expense just to support everyone’s daily ration. It was not an excellent long-term solution by relying solely on Yun Qing’s salary to cover all the costs.

When Yuxi was in the capital, her expenses were not that small either. However, her income was quite considerable, and at the end of the year, she would still have a large cash surplus! But now, if they didn’t open a water source and reduce the outflow, they would have a deficit.

Zijin asked, “Miss, what’s wrong?”

Yuxi let out the worry she had in her heart. “I don’t know what kind of business is good to do here?” It was better not to consult Yun Qing on this kind of thing. She knew without asking him that he must also be clueless about this.

Zijin said with a smile. “Miss, why don’t you ask Master Yang and Yu Zhi? They’ve been hanging out all day for the past two months, so they definitely know what business can make money here.” Although Master Yang and Yu Zhi were said to be the residence guards, they were only responsible for Yuxi’s safety. As long as Yuxi stayed in the inner courtyard, the two would hang around outside. Xu Wu also didn’t have the right to control them either.

Yuxi nodded and said, “Go see if Master Yang and Yu Zhi are in. If they are, ask them to come over.”

It just so happened that the two of them hadn’t gone out for these two days and stayed inside the residence. When Master Yang knew that Yuxi wanted to do business, he suggested, “If you want to do business, you should open a restaurant. If you open one, I guarantee that you will only make a profit without losing any of your money.” This way, he had an excellent place to have a drink in the future.

Yuxi was a bit excited about opening a restaurant. Making money was the next best thing about it. She was excited mainly because a restaurant was a good place to collect news. She asked, “Fancy that, only make a profit without losing money. What does that actually mean, though?” When the restaurant was well managed, it was indeed very profitable. But the problem was, no matter what business one did, it was impossible to only make money without losing any.

Master Yang liked to drink and often took more than a few sips. Fortunately, he didn’t become addicted to it and never did anything bad because of it. “You may not have been aware of this. People here like to eat out. Your business will definitely be good as long as your food is done well and you have good wine.” There were many soldiers in the northwest. When they had nothing to do during their vacation, they would invite the other free soldiers for a drink. Of course, the most profitable business in the northwest was not a restaurant but a brothel. Only that, Master Yang did not want to mention the latter one.

When Yuxi heard good wine, her eyes lit up.

Zijin frowned and questioned, “How can a restaurant be that easy to open?”

Master Yang smiled as he answered, “You are talking about the general public. If your Madam wants to open one, it will be blessed by heaven.” Yun Qing was also a notable person in the northwest. Hence, it would be unlikely that people were brave enough to cause trouble when Yuxi opened a restaurant.

Yuxi said, “To open a restaurant, the wine problem can easily be solved, but it won’t be that easy to recruit a good cook.”

Master Yang cheerfully said, “Madam, what you said is wrong. It is easy to look for a cook but hard to get a bottle of good wine.” The wine he drank here was not tasty enough.

Yuxi shook her head and replied, “I know a method to purify the wine, and the purified wine tastes much richer. But we can’t think that we can find a good cook just by looking for one.”

Zijin was curious and asked, “How does Miss know the method for purifying wine?” How come she didn’t know about such a big thing.

Yuxi smiled as she answered, “Momo Quan told me.” When did Momo Quan ever tell her that? It was something she knew from her previous life. The current taste of the brewed wine was relatively light. However, if the wine went through another processing procedure, it would taste very strong. Originally, this kind of thing should have been confidential. Still, she did not know how it spread out later that even she naturally knew about it.

Han Jianye had actually told her that the wine here tasted too light. She remembered this matter, but she was not prepared to use this method at that time.

Master Yang knew that Yuxi was not a deceitful person. In order to drink good wine, he laid out a reason that he thought could make Yuxi tempted. “By opening a restaurant, you not only can make money but also collect information.” Since ancient times, teahouses, restaurants and brothels had been used by people from three religions and nine schools of thought to hide their identities and the easiest place to spread and collect news.

It was because Yuxi already had this reason in her mind that she was interested in opening a restaurant in the first place. “I know this. It’s just that, to open a restaurant, there are too many things to prepare.” Although she knew that the processed wine would taste better, it was not just a matter of talking about such things. There was a lot of work to do.

Master Yang pondered before saying, “Actually, it’s not that easy to find a good chef here. So, it’s better to find two cooks from the capital if you can.” Master Yang would give out this suggestion mainly because he craved the capital’s cuisine.

Zijin happily exclaimed, “Miss, you can invite Guo Daniang to come over! Guo Daniang’s food is delicious.” Guo Daniang had been sold since the poisoning incident. Of course, she was said to be sold on the surface, but the truth was, she had been released from her life deed so that she could leave the capital with her family.

Yuxi rolled her eyes at Zijin. No one could use Guo Daniang. Not to mention that Guo Daniang had two young grandchildren to take care of, even Guo Daniang’s son was killed because of her. Who knew if she still had a knot in her heart. “I will write to my Dage later to see if he can find me good cooks.” She didn’t need top chefs, just passable ones. With Han Jianming’s ability, there should be no problem finding two cooks to come here.

Something as big as opening a restaurant was certainly not something Yuxi could just decide independently. After thinking for a while, she went to see Huo Changqing and told him about her plans.

Huo Changqing looked at Yuxi for a moment and asked, “Why do you want to open a restaurant? Could it be that you don’t have any money?” As far as he knew, Yuxi was not a big spender either.

Yuxi explained her reason. “There will be even more people in the family in the future, increasing household expenses in the process. For this reason, we can’t just live on my husband’s salary. I would like to have a few lucrative businesses not only to help my husband reduce his burden but also to support in raising his family properties.”

Huo Changqing asked, “Opening a restaurant is not a small business since the cost will be huge. Are you sure you can run it well?” Huo Changqing didn’t prefer seeing Yuxi making money, but the idea looked pretty good when he thought more about it.

Yuxi told him that she knew about the wine purification method and then said. “To be successful in opening a restaurant requires nothing more than these two things. One is having good wine, and the other is having good food. As long as these two things are complete, there will be no worries about not making money. I’m going to ask my Dage to find the cooks, and then the main dish will be the cuisines of the capital. That way, our restaurant will be more distinguished.”

Huo Changqing saw that Yuxi had thought of everything and secretly nodded. It was enough to see Yuxi’s ability to manage the household from here. “What do you need my help with? Is the capital not enough?” The money he left to Yuxi was only enough for daily use, certainly not enough to open a restaurant.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “I have my own money in my hand. I am just worried that my husband will not agree.” Although they had only been together for several days, she could tell that Yun Qing was a rather stubborn person. In all likelihood, Yun Qing would not agree to this matter.

Huo Changqing had a smile on his face. “If he goes against it, just say that I have already agreed.” How could Yuxi be discouraged when she was looking out for the family’s livelihood and was busy doing so? Besides, with the restaurant open, the benefits would go beyond just making money.

Yuxi responded happily, “Thank you, Uncle Huo.”

Huo Changqing said, “It’s good that you can think about cutting costs, but you still have to pay attention to your health.” The words ‘open branches and scatter leaves soon’ were hidden, but he believed that Yuxi could understand.

Yuxi naturally heard the meaning of Huo Changqing’s words, smiled and nodded her head. In fact, she also very much wanted to have a child of her own.