The Lucky Heiress

After speaking, Wei Ruo walked away, ignoring Madame Yun.

Madame Yun had so much to discuss with her eldest daughter, but her words were all stuck in her throat.

She felt frustrated, but didn’t know how to vent her anger.

She both loved and hated her eldest daughter, Wei Ruo. To the outside world, her daughter was clever and competent, receiving praise from all round, but only those inside the family understood how dismissive the girl was of her own mother.

Unfortunately, the mother had no effective way to control her. She was part guilt-ridden from past neglect, part thwarted by her daughter’s growing influence that could be used to threaten her, threatening the Wei family. Though Madame Yun was angry, thinking about the praise her eldest daughter received and the contributions she had made to the family, her anger cooled. Alas, those thirteen lost years… Had the girl grown up under her very knees, things would not have evolved into such a shape.

###

Upon returning home, Wei Qingwan heard about the Concubine of the Taizhou Prefecture paying a visit to the military prefecture.

Wei Qingwan’s face darkened involuntarily. Even though she knew that Wei Ruo had gained the Concubine’s favor, hearing about the progress in the match-making process, her mood couldn’t help but sink.

In Taizhou Prefecture, apart from the Yuan family, the Xiu family was of the highest status, and Xiu Fengyuan was the eldest grandson. If this arranged marriage happened, it would certainly mean that the Wei family had made a great leap upwards.

It seemed that Wei Qingruo’s future was bright. While her own future appeared to hold only shadows.

Her current situation was quite concerning. Not only was she being outperformed by Wei Qingruo in almost every aspect, she also had many enemies.. Xiu Yaojun attempted to set her up last time, there was no knowing what her next moves might be.

She didn’t understand what she had done wrong. Despite not provoking her detractors and despite them continuously trying to set her up, she always ended up in embarrassing predicaments.

Wei Qingwan sat lost in thought at her dressing table. After quite a while, she took out a jade pendant the size of a copper coin from her makeup box.

It was dropped by the young master who rescued her in the peach forest the other day. He had hurriedly left to avoid being seen by others who came into the forest to look for her. She found the jade pendant he had dropped and kept it, in order not to draw attention from others.

Judging by the quality of the jade pendant, the young master was of noble birth. His intervention indicated his good moral character.

She wondered if she will ever get a chance to meet him again…

###

Zuixian Residence.

Fan Chengxu was reviewing the accounts of the past month and a smile unintentionally crept onto his face.

Ever since his partnership with Xu Heyou, business at the Zuixian Residence had improved, with monthly profits increasing by nearly ten percent.

One had to not underestimate this ten percent. Originally, as the number one tavern in Taizhou Prefecture, it was already pretty good to retain its original profit. It was very difficult to increase profits further, so an extra ten percent was a significant result.

“This Xu Heyou is a quite an interesting man. If he had been born a few years earlier, he might have even given me a hard time,” Fan Chengxu murmured to himself with a smirk on his face.

“My lord does not need to worry. Xu’s young master does possess some skills, but he is not as superior as you,” responded Manager Shen busily.

“That’s not certain,” Fan Chengxu said confidently, albeit without any arrogance. In some situations, he didn’t dare to make absolutes.

Manager Shen agreed with a smile.

‘I heard that Xu Heyou has been encouraging people to replant seedlings recently?” Fan Chengxu inquired.

“That’s correct, he has been visiting the farms, and wherever he sees a problem, he advises the farmers to replant. However, not many listened to him then. Recently, a large batch of seedlings has died, validating Xu’s previous assertions. Those who did not heed his advice had regrets while those who did were grateful and consider him a benefactor,” Manager Shen replied.

“That’s intriguing.” Fan Chengxu remarked, then asked, “Are there any bad seedlings on my farm too?”

Fan Chengxu had established a few enterprises in Taizhou Prefecture over the years.

My lord, some issues have been found at your farm in Taizhou Prefecture. However, the proportion of bad seedlings is small and will not greatly affect this year’s grain yield,” Manager Shen reassured him.

Send a message with Xu Heyou’s delivery man next time. Tell him I have something to discuss with him,” Fan Chengxu instructed.

“Yes.” Manager Shen promptly took a note.

###

Finally, Wei Ruo’s distillery was fully equipped.

The major ingredients for brewing liquor are cereals and roots, with cereals including sorghum, rice, glutinous rice, corn, and wheat. Apart from corn, which was not yet available, the rest were common cereals. The Wei family had production of rice, glutinous rice and wheat in their own estate.

The roots were mainly sweet potatoes and cassava, and Wei Ruo had more than enough sweet potatoes.

The essential fermenting agents, such as rice husks, grain bran, sorghum husks, etc., were also readily available for Wei Ruo.

For the crucial yeast needed in fermentation, Wei Ruo had already arranged people to find it when she first planned for the distillery.

The brewing process of white liquor mainly included seven steps: grinding the raw materials, ingredient mixing, boiling and liquefaction, cooling, mixing with yeast, fermentation in the cellar, and distillation.

Comparatively speaking, this was the most complex workshop that Wei Ruo operated currently. If she wanted high production, it would require more manpower than her previous workshops.

However, Wei Ruo didn’t plan to mass-produce at this stage, but stick to smaller scale, high-quality production.

Originally, Wei Ruo didn’t consider brewing on a large scale because during this time, when food was not abundant, improving the food yield and feeding more people was the priority.

Using cereals to brew alcohol was wasteful as the quantity of grains used for producing liquor could not feed as many people as it would if it were eaten directly.

However, white liquor could fetch high prices, swap for more resources, and serve the same purpose as the Four Treasure House. For the current Wei Ruo, this was worth the investment and would accelerate the expansion of the Wei family’s business.

As the brewing process was comparatively delicate and certain techniques needed to be kept secret, Wei Ruo was particularly careful about selecting workers for the distillery. Apart from being diligent, they were required to possess a good character.

She assigned the preliminary selection work to Manager Yu. Wei Ruo trusted him, and with his broader contact with their estate workers, he had a deeper understanding of them.

Manager Yu took this responsibility earnestly, carefully selecting a pool of candidates over several days before presenting the shortlisted individuals—a total of ten people—to Wei Ruo.

Wei Ruo met these ten people at her brewery today, interviewed them briefly and tested them before finally selecting six.

She then handed over the “Training Guide” that she had prepared earlier to Manager Yu.

“Manager Yu, please train them according to the guidelines I have written,” Wei Ruo said.

“Certainly, Madam. Rest assured, I will strictly adhere to your instructions for training them so that they will be able to serve you as soon as possible,” Manager Yu pledged solemnly to Wei Ruo..