Actually, Yan Qing was quite a simple Prince in terms of his background and environment, in all aspects.
Because leaning on a big tree for shade is a great help, with an excellent elder brother above him to take the lead, the expectations for him weren’t that high, as he was being nurtured as an assistant.
Moreover, Yan Qing himself had little desire for politics, which led to a relaxed situation where even if he never attended the court, he wouldn’t be impeached.
For the Crown Prince, it wasn’t important whether his brother attended court or not; as long as he was happy every day, he fulfilled his responsibility as the elder brother.
For Yan Qing, staying away from politics was the best choice; even though his elder brother was kind to him, in the face of sensitive political issues, he had to choose comfort.
Even if he wasn’t inferior to the elder brother, he had to act as if he were much less capable because that was the way the Imperial Family survived.
To be honest, if it weren’t for many unresolved issues that needed his attention in those years, he really would have let them think he had perished at sea.
Putting it nicely, he was "playing the fool," but less kindly, he was said to lack ambition.
But no matter what, these were Yan Qing’s own choices, and as long as he had no regrets, any decision he made was OK.
After his confession, Yan Qing seemed even more clingy towards Xiao Yu, and ever since the noodle shop introduced braised noodles and marinated noodles, he seemed to be more inseparable from her.
He always had to say, "I really want to crack open your head to see what’s inside, how can you have so many endless ideas?"
After six months of hard work, Xiao Yu’s noodle shop went from earning a hundred taels a month to three hundred, five hundred taels, not just from selling noodles but also from various side dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which brought in customers and increased traffic.
With the business doing well, naturally, the mood was also good.
She was also thankful to Yan Qing for not inquiring about the origins of the skincare products in her store, and as more people came to buy, the recyclability of the bottles increased when they were exchanged for final products, which greatly reduced her costs.
Profits rose from an initial two hundred taels of silver to now a thousand taels of silver.
When she came from Beijing, she brought 5,500 taels of silver; she spent a lot after she arrived, leaving one thousand taels, and now she had saved up to six thousand taels, meaning she had made a profit of about five hundred taels. It didn’t seem like much, but with the initial investment being significant, next year she would only count the net profit, excluding the initial investment.
Since the farm planted wheat on ten acres, and the remaining few acres were used up by regular vegetables, what was she to do if she wanted to plant something else come spring?
Yan Qing, who somehow got the news, directly handed over another nearby farm for her to manage entirely.
"You can plant anything you want; our estate doesn’t pay taxes, no matter how much we plant, it’s all ours."
Hearing this, Xiao Yu immediately became interested, "Just when I’m feeling sleepy, a pillow comes along. Alright then, I won’t be polite. To make more money for our shop next year, I have to plan this out well."
Tomato sauce requires tomatoes, cornmeal needs corn, sweet potato flour needs sweet potatoes, and potato flour needs potatoes.
Next year she also wanted to introduce dumplings and Wontons, so chives and eggs were essential; if they could secure a seafood route, that would save her quite a bit of cost.
Spring on the mountain would see the planting of Sichuan peppercorns, black peppercorns, cumin, and anise.
Yan Qing’s land could also include a lotus pond for growing lotus roots. If the land was suitable for rice paddies, that would be even better. The rightful source is N0velFire.ɴet
Xiao Yu, growing more excited the more she thought, wrote and drew ideas until midnight before finally going to bed contented.