Chapter 97: Preparation

“Clearly, everyone has high expectations for this,” Ye Xin Ran said.

“I hope the sales will be good,” Li Mo replied with anticipation.

Three days later, Ye Xin Ran went to the county town to check on the pottery being fired. She was very pleased with the samples.

“Then, as we agreed before, let’s make a hundred of them,” she decided.

“One hundred will cost five taels of silver. According to the rules, the customer needs to leave a deposit of three taels of silver before we can begin the firing,” the potter explained.

“Alright.”

After leaving the deposit, Ye Xin Ran went to a stone shop in the city to choose materials for building the house.

Most of the houses in the village were made with mud bricks. These bricks could be made by oneself to save some money, but the downside was that they weren’t very sturdy and could easily collapse.

Ye Xin Ran thought about the house she was living in now and decided to invest in building a better one.

There were both good and bad quality blue bricks.

The same size of blue bricks, 2 feet long and 1 foot wide, could range from 8 wen per brick for better quality to 3 wen per brick for cheaper quality.

Ye Xin Ran decided to buy the cheaper ones.

Li Zheng had calculated that with all the rooms needed, she would require about 8,000 blue bricks.

Just for the blue bricks alone, it would cost 24 taels of silver.

Although that was a lot, it was still within her budget.

She agreed on the quantity with the merchant and paid a one-tael deposit. The remaining balance would be paid after delivery.

By the time she finished all these tasks, it was almost noon.

Ye Xin Ran found a street-side stall, ordered a pot of tea, and a bowl of shredded chicken noodles, planning to have a quick bite before heading home.

As soon as her noodles arrived, she was distracted by a conversation at the next table.

“Have you heard? Something strange happened in our town,” one person said.

“What happened? What happened?” another asked.

“It’s said that at Ye Yuan Wai’s house, in broad daylight, all the things in the house suddenly disappeared.

The thief didn’t leave a single footprint.

No one in the house saw the thief’s shadow. Isn’t that strange?”

“A person leaves footprints when they walk. How could there be no footprints at all?” one of the diners scoffed.

“It’s true! It’s said that Ye Yuan Wai went to the temple to pray the next day.

He claimed that he must have offended something,” the first person continued.

“That’s nonsense! Even if she had offended something, it should have happened at night. How could it cause trouble in broad daylight?” one of the diners said.

“Exactly!” another agreed.

“Hey, I’ve heard a different version of the story.”

The people from another table, hearing the commotion, leaned in to listen.

“What did you hear?”

“I heard that it wasn’t thieves who took everything from Ye’s house. It was actually Ye Yuan Wai’s wife. She had someone on the outside, and together, they cleared out the house.”

“Is that true?”

A few people were stunned.

“After all these years of being married, could she really do such a thing?”

“It’s true! Ye Yuan Wai’s wife, Mrs. Zou, is still locked up at the county office. If she wasn’t involved, why would they arrest her?”

“That’s a good point.”

“That woman sure has guts!”

“Marriage is supposed to be like birds in the same tree, but when disaster strikes, they each fly their own way. Ye Yuan Wai is really unlucky to have married her.”

“Don’t talk about it. It’s all fate!”

…

As Ye Xin Ran ate her noodles, she listened to their conversation and was a little surprised.

Mrs. Zou hadn’t been released yet.

Did Ye Da Cheng really suspect her of doing this?

---

Ye Da Cheng’s dissatisfaction with Mrs. Zou had been there for some time. However, after thinking it through, he came to the conclusion that Mrs. Zou wouldn’t have been capable of working with others to empty out the entire manor.

His daughter was about to marry into the county magistrate’s family, and his son was studying at the academy, preparing for the imperial exams.

Even if she disregarded his own feelings, she would still have to think about the future of her children.

But recently, Mrs. Zou had become too bold. She even dared to secretly bring Ye Xin Ran into the house without his knowledge. Ye Da Cheng decided to teach her a lesson and make her realize that she couldn’t make decisions on her own in the future.

So he didn’t rush to visit her, planning to let her suffer for a couple of days as a lesson.

Meanwhile, Ye Xin Yao, whose dowry and private savings had been taken, had been so upset recently that she stayed in bed, crying every day, forgetting that her own mother was still suffering in prison.

Mrs. Zou, poor thing, had been waiting for a visit from a family member, but she hadn’t received one.

She thought the county magistrate had already decided her fate and prohibited her family from visiting.

She was so scared that she couldn’t sleep at night, staring at the roof of her cell.

By the time Ye Da Cheng came to pick her up three days later, Zou Shi had already become somewhat delirious.

However, these matters were all within the Ye family and were not known to outsiders.

---

Ye Xin Ran was only focused on getting her business up and running as soon as possible.

After receiving the custom-made pottery jars, she found a secluded spot to fill one with the ointment and then delivered it to Yong Le Hall.

Li Mo was very polite and came out to personally greet her.

Li Qiao was left confused, thinking that his boss had changed his personality.

“Brother Xiao’s words, I have never doubted. Since he says this ointment is effective, we at Yong Le Hall can confidently and boldly promote the entire batch. Sister-in-law, don’t worry, as long as you send the ointment, just sit back and wait for the money.”

“Originally, I planned to leave ten jars here first, and after those ten are sold, I would send more. But since we have this connection, next time, I’ll produce fifty jars and deliver them directly.”

Ye Xin Ran said.

“No problem, I’ll make sure to set aside a prominent spot to display our Xue Yan Ointment.”

When it came time to deliver the goods, Ye Xin Ran suddenly became nervous.

The contents in the reactor didn’t need much attention, but these past few days, she hadn’t been sleeping, staying up every night in the lab waiting for the finished product.

Fortunately, during this process, the product for Hu Xin Ning was made.

Ye Xin Ran had turned the bitter herbal liquid into small pills, coating them with a layer of syrup.

She placed the Hu Xin Ning in a large jar and handed it to Chang An.

“Chang An, this is the medicine Auntie made for you. You need to remember to take one pill in the morning and one in the evening. You cannot take extra in secret.”

“Thank you, Auntie. I remember, I won’t take extra!”

The child always accepted anything Ye Xin Ran gave him.

He stuck out his tongue and licked the pill.

“Auntie, the medicine is sweet.”

“Only the outer layer is sweet, the inside is bitter!” Ye Xin Ran reminded him.

But Chang An still enjoyed the sweetness of the syrup coating. He kept the pill in his mouth and refused to swallow it.

Only after tasting the sharp bitterness did he drink a large gulp of water and swallow the pill.

“So bitter!” Chang An’s little face scrunched up in disgust.