He served in the Ministry of Revenue, being extremely cautious as always…

He was also a biǎojiù of Su Yujin’s age, so he must be quite young.

That must be a high official position.

Listening to Su Yujin’s meaning, it was certain that she often saw her biǎojiù, otherwise, she wouldn’t mention the matter of reproach.

Ye Yongwang had a rough idea in his mind, so he just cupped his hands and said, “Miss Su is also very adaptable. If adults know about it, they won’t blame her. Miss Su can rest assured about this matter. I will do my best to never let the murderer behind the scenes go unpunished.”

“Thank you, Lord Ye.” Su Yujin smiled and was blessed.

After Su Yujin left, Ye Yongwang ordered his subordinates to investigate the matter of the unidentified woman.

Because the cold wind from a few days ago hadn’t subsided yet, and he had just spoken a bit too much, now his throat was itching badly, causing him to cough repeatedly.

The official next to him looked a little unbearable, “My lord, you have been working really hard these days.”

After a pause, he continued, “I spoke too much. Although Miss Su doesn’t seem like an ordinary girl from the streets, she also doesn’t appear to be from a wealthy family. Running a food stall in the market, she must be quite resourceful. Perhaps the matter about the biǎojiù was fabricated, just to intimidate you, sir.”

“It doesn’t matter whether she wants to scare me or not. She is young and lives alone in Qinghe County. She must be scared when encountering such a thing, and she is also afraid that I will not take it seriously, so she said this. That’s all.”

Ye Yongwang smiled and said, “I just asked a question casually, and she answered it. As for whether it is true or not, it doesn’t matter. If it is true, I will have a good relationship. If not, it doesn’t stop me from catching the real culprit behind the scenes.”

“The real culprit behind the scenes is really very vicious, and I don’t know if she is targeting Miss Su alone or just killing people randomly. I need to catch her as soon as possible. I am doing my best. Yes, if the county magistrate or others ask about it in the future, I will have something to say.”

The Yamen suddenly realized, “The adults are wise, it is the young ones who are stupid.”

“It’s not that you are stupid, it’s just that you are simple.” Ye Yongwang said, “People under you, has everyone gone to work as I told them?”

“They have all gone. Don’t worry, sir, we will have the result within a few days.” The Yamen smiled.

“That’s good.”

Ye Yongwang’s frown dropped slightly.

——

“Sneeze!”

He Yanxiu wiped his nose with a handkerchief.

“Second Master, are you feeling unwell?” Xing’an hurriedly raised the curtain, “It’s been cold these days, so you need to be careful.”

“It’s okay, my nose suddenly felt a little itchy.” He Yanxiu waved his hand nonchalantly.

Although he said that, Xing’an still said, “In the evening, I asked the kitchen to make more soup for the Second Master. The weather is cold in winter, and the soup is good for warming up.”

“But then again, Second Master today was promoted to the position of láng zhōng¹ of the Ministry of Revenue. The Old Lady at home, the Master, and the Madam must be very happy. They must have prepared a banquet tonight and cooked a lot of delicious food to celebrate the Second Master’s promotion.”

Indeed, delicious food.

Speaking of which, the copper pot shabu prepared by Su Yujin and the various meals cooked were very delicious.

Judging from her good cooking skills, she would be able to cook more delicious dishes on this cold winter day.

But…

what a pity.

He Yanxiu’s knuckled fingers fell on the corners of his lips and rubbed them for a long time before sighing slightly.

What a pity.

——

Su Yujin had been busy looking for a suitable shop in the past few days.

Qinghe County was said to be prosperous, and a good location in this county was quite difficult to find.

But hard work paid off, and no matter how good the location was, there were still unprofitable shops.

Su Yujin quickly found a suitable shop.

The location was pretty good, and the shop was pretty spacious. It had two floors, and in terms of area, she could almost open a decent restaurant.

The shop used to be a teahouse, but the business never improved. After a year, it actually lost a fortune. The owner didn’t want to run it anymore and was too lazy to find tenants. He just wanted to sell it.

The owner was not in a hurry to sell, and the asking price was not low, the minimum was two thousand taels of silver.

Su Yujin, “…”

She clutched more than one thousand taels of silver notes in her hand, and after thinking for a while, she went to the Yaxin brokerage firm, found shopkeeper Sun, and asked if this teahouse could be like the previous Su Ji shop. Give her a loan.

Shopkeeper Sun smiled and said, “It’s okay for Miss Su to get a loan, but our brokerage firm has rules now. One person cannot take out two loans. If Miss Su wants to use this teahouse to get a loan, Su Ji’s previous loan must be paid off in advance.”

“Based on the friendship between our two families, we shouldn’t say such things. It’s just that there are business rules in business. If everyone is an exception, my business will not be easy. I hope Miss Su can be considerate.”

“If Miss Su repays the loan in advance, I will no longer charge liquidated damages for early repayment of the loan, and the interest previously paid by Miss Su will also be offset against the remaining principal.”

So, it meant that Su Ji had cost Su Yujin quite a bit of money over the past few months.

Shopkeeper Sun’s move would be considered as very kind and polite.

“Thank you, Shopkeeper Sun.” Su Yujin thanked Shopkeeper Su and calculated the amount and period of the teahouse loan with Shopkeeper Su.

Loans from Yaxing Bank were usually only for one year. Because of Su Yujin’s friendship, shopkeeper Sun gave her a two-year loan. He loaned one thousand taels of silver and had to pay back one thousand two hundred taels with interest. She had to repay Yaxing fifty taels of silver every month.

Su Yujin had more than twelve hundred taels of silver on hand. After deducting one thousand two hundred taels for the first month’s rent and loan repayment, the remainder would be used for the renovation of the restaurant and for hiring or purchasing waiters.

In addition, Su Yujin also intended to find a manager.

Although Shuangye and others were relatively capable, they could manage a food shop, but if they were to manage a large restaurant, they would be somewhat inadequate.

Although she could take care of it, a business like a restaurant had a lot of trivial matters, so she needed to keep an eye on it every day.

Su Yujin naturally hoped to find a capable person who could take care of everything in order, and she only needed to lie at home counting money and live a leisurely life.

Moreover, in places like restaurants, there was also a need to socialize once or twice now and then. In this era, a man was still needed to do many favors and maintain the scene.

However, a satisfactory manager was much harder to find than a waiter.

What’s more, Su Yujin didn’t have many connections in Qinghe County…

After thinking about it, Su Yujin asked for help from Li Shi.

Li Shi had managed several medicinal material shops in the Zhou family for many years and dealt with many merchants. She had a lot of resources at her disposal. It was much faster for her to help find a manager than for Su Yujin to do it herself.

After Li Shi learned about Su Yujin’s needs, she agreed without saying a word, “If Miss Su wants a manager, I will help find him. When the time comes, let Miss Su take a look and make a selection.”

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. Assistant Minister