Chapter Five

  Xia Ting nodded as she looked at the ingredients and spices on the table. When she was drafting the menu earlier, she suddenly remembered that Yixing City didn't have potatoes and tomatoes, and herbs and spices were also in short supply.

  She had to let Guan Bo find someone to rush to Yunzhou, which is the border between Tianqi and other countries. Every day, there are merchants from other countries who come to trade goods there.

  Foreign lands refer to countries outside of Tianqi.

  After arriving in this unknown dynasty, Xia Ting had browsed through books recording the customs and conditions of various countries. If she wasn't mistaken, there should be the ingredients and spices she wanted at the exotic merchants' place in Yunzhou.

  Looking at the various ingredients and spices on the table, there were over a dozen kinds. Xia Ting's mind immediately had an idea, she decided to buy another farm to plant these scarce ingredients, herbs and spices.

  Firstly, his own wine shop needs it.

  Secondly, after the wine house gains a good reputation, these ingredients and spices will be in great demand. At that time, she can open another store specializing in supplying these ingredients, herbs, spices and seasonings, which will be another source of wealth for her.

  Three days later, it was still for the sake of the wine house. The business of Warm Smoke House was extremely good, and now almost every day was a full house. It's hard to guarantee that other wine houses won't be jealous and secretly cause trouble.

  Xia Ting decided to sell some dishes that required special seasonings and ingredients at a high price to other restaurants, although it would divert some customers away. However, if they wanted to make these dishes, they would have to use the new ingredients and spices she had just procured, which meant they would still have to come to her new shop to place their orders, so the money would ultimately come back to her anyway, killing two birds with one stone.

  These few wine houses will be the first batch of customers for her new shop.

  Xia Ting had made up his mind, so he let Guan Bo take care of it. He quickly found a suitable villa and shop, then bought several bags of seeds for various food materials and spices from foreign merchants, and finally ordered a batch of ready-made goods to meet the urgent needs.

  After settling this matter, Guan Bo reported to her on several other matters: "In the past few days, two of the newly purchased villas have been planted with various flowers and plants as per your instructions. Another one for raising livestock is also being built. As for the greenhouse you mentioned, the workers are building it according to the drawings you provided."

  Because Meiren Tang's products require a large number of various flowers, apart from sending people to the mountains to pick them, Xia Tingning also plans to grow them herself. Flowers are seasonal, and if she wants to use the same type of flower all year round, she must build a greenhouse to cultivate them.

  Xia Ting listened and then mentioned a few words, "Now the wine house business is very good, we need to speed up the Zhuangzi project." She now has five Zhuangzi in her hands. Three of them are newly purchased, used for planting flowers and raising livestock.

  Two were left by her grandfather and she has been planting various melons, fruits and vegetables since taking over.

  After Xia Lian Jing decided to open a wine house, she stopped selling the vegetables from her farm to others and instead supplied them exclusively to her own wine house.

  Because the farm of Zhuangzi has not yet produced any output, the meat ingredients for the wine house are currently all imported from outside.

  This is due to the relationship between new ingredients and spices, and also need to buy a villa and a shop.

  Xia Ting needs to take care of too many things, fortunately Guan Bo handles affairs very efficiently, now most of the business has been on the right track.

  Just when Xia Ting's career was booming, with a large amount of silver pouring in every day, came the thrilling news that Xia Ziyun had passed the imperial examination and become the youngest scholar of his year.

  Shui's family was overjoyed upon hearing the news, with tears of happiness streaming down their faces. Xia Ting also felt relieved and happy as they all gathered together to celebrate.

  Good fortune is often the precursor to disaster. Another unpleasant matter is that Xia Ting's cheap father received a letter from Shui Shi, knowing that his son had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar. Overjoyed, he immediately replied, saying that he would inform the child's grandmother and send someone to pick up Shui Shi and her three children in a few days.

  Xia Ting Zheng was sitting in the hall, looking at the letter sent by that cheap father. In his heart, he snorted: What a good talker! If it weren't for Yun'er being only 10 years old and already becoming a Xiucai, she would have had great prospects and brought glory to our family. Does this "tracheitis" dare to harbor the idea of taking us back?

  Sitting beside her, Mrs. Shui looked at her daughter's unpredictable face and couldn't help but feel a little worried: Jing'er seemed unhappy, she had always been strong-willed, and as her mother, she was used to listening to her, but she didn't know if Jing'er would agree to go back.

  After hesitating for a long time, Shui Shi carefully asked, "Ning Er, what do you think...?"

  Xia Ting raised her head and looked at her mother, saying slowly "I have no opinion" Anyway, she really did plan to leave Yixing City, the business here had already taken off, and she was planning to open a branch elsewhere.

  Kyoto is indeed a great choice, and someone even offers free accommodation, why not?

  It's just that Xia Ting had originally wanted to tell her mother about opening a shop and making a good profit, but now she can't say it. To avoid giving her father an excuse to shift the blame onto her.

  Shui heard his daughter's reply and finally put down his heart, hastily instructing the maid beside him to pack up their luggage.

  Xia Ting Cong then returned to the house and called Guan Bo. As soon as Guan Bo heard that Xia Ting Cong and Shui Shi were moving to Kyoto, he was taken aback at first, but immediately spoke up and said, "If Miss trusts old slave, this mansion and several shops will be properly managed by old slave."

  Xia Ting nodded "I do trust you, Guan Bo. The business of Yixing City and several neighboring cities will be handed over to you to take care of. If there's anything, just send someone to deliver a message to me in Kyoto. Also, I'm afraid this time going to Kyoto will require many hands, so carefully select some loyal and reliable ones for me to bring along."

  Guan Bo has indeed been loyal and reliable over the years. Moreover, he is a family slave, with the entire family's life contract in her hands, so there is no need to worry about him daring to betray her.

  Guan Bo hastily went to arrange the personnel. Xia Ting again let Wan Yu call over Ling'er and Qian Xiang, she had already decided to leave Yixing City, so the monthly supply of Jin Du Zhai would be handed over to them.

  Fortunately, after this period of teaching, the sachets and embroidered pouches they made are very well done.

  In mid-November, they packed up their belongings and brought along the young servants. Xia Ting Cong, her mother, and younger brother boarded a carriage headed for Kyoto.

  The bumpy road made Xia Ting's head spin and her eyes blur, and she felt nauseous, so she swallowed over a dozen sour plums in a row.

  Shui looked at her daughter's pale and wan face, feeling heartbroken, and hastily pulled her into her arms, softly saying "Ning'er, lean on your mother for a while"

  Xia Ting nodded weakly in the arms of Shui Shi, she was indeed tired. Yesterday, she was busy handing over to Guan Bo the management of various matters of the shop, and also because the wine house and several shops were doing extremely well, so she decided to improve the welfare of employees.

  She used to give her apprentices a monthly allowance that was five silver coins more than other households, and now she has decided to add 0.1% of the monthly profit as a bonus, divided equally among the managers and apprentices.

  With this policy, it is natural to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees. As long as the business of the shop is better, their monthly salary will naturally be higher.

  And Guan Bo also chose good people to follow her, but she didn't let them walk with her directly. Instead, she ordered two managers to go ahead and buy a villa in Kyoto, then notify the rest of the people to set off. Otherwise, these dozen or so people would attract attention wherever they went.

  After several days of drifting life, Xia Ting and his party finally arrived in Kyoto on the fifth day after departure.

  She had her cheap father send a servant girl to pick them up and take them back to the Xia residence. Looking at the lead servant girl's attire, it was not ordinary, and she should have some weight in the Xia residence. However, her expression and attitude made Xia Ting's face turn cold.