In the Yongzhou Marquis’s household, there was only one lady, the Young Master’s wife.

The others were all in the capital, so when Aunt Lian arrived, she was naturally directed to her.

Hearing that Yang Haiyan had sent over new vegetables, the Young Master’s wife was quite curious.

Aunt Lian was brought before the Young Master’s wife and respectfully bowed, saying, “I pay my respects to Mistress, My lady has sent me to deliver some new vegetables grown in her estate. The seeds were bought from a traveling merchant, who claims that the locals have been eating this vegetable for many years and found it very beneficial for health, especially for children. These vegetables were just harvested yesterday; my lady has already had them cooked and shared with the people in the courtyard, and everyone really liked them.”

The implication was that although this was a new variety, it had already been tasted by many, so there were no safety concerns.

The Young Master’s wife replied, “Your lady is truly thoughtful. A few days ago, I received some new fabric from the capital, and I was just preparing to send two pieces to your lady, thinking she would appreciate them, being from the capital herself. Since you’re here, could you help me take them over?”

Aunt Lian replied, “Of course.”

The Young Master’s wife then looked at the broccoli in her basket and asked, “What kind of vegetable is this? It’s green and looks a bit like a flower.”

Aunt Lian explained, “This vegetable is called broccoli; that’s the name given by the traveling merchants. My lady says it’s green and looks like a flower, so calling it green flower vegetable is quite fitting. By the way, although this broccoli can be stored, after three days, the green florets will turn yellow and lose their taste. My lady said if you like it, just send someone to let us know; it can be eaten for up to two months.”

The Young Master’s wife smiled, “Madam Qin does things consistently and carefully; she’s truly thoughtful. Green flower vegetable—it’s quite appropriate, actually. A vegetable that’s green and flower-like; the names people come up with out there are quite clever.”

Aunt Lian smiled in agreement.

Not long after, Aunt Lian came out with two pieces of fabric.

She headed to Master Ping’s shop where the Qin family’s carriage was waiting.

After placing the fabric in the carriage, she went to General Ao’s household.

The Young Master’s wife looked at the broccoli and said to her maid, “This Madam Qin is quite thoughtful.”

The maid replied, “She’s definitely from a prominent family; she does things differently. But Madam Qin is really quite interesting; we don’t often see the ladies from noble families buying seeds from traveling merchants to cultivate new vegetable varieties.”

The Young Master’s wife said, “Even if they bought seeds and managed to cultivate them, we wouldn’t necessarily know.”

The maid responded, “That’s true.”

The Young Master’s wife added, “Let’s cook this broccoli for lunch, following the method written by Madam Qin.”

The maid said, “I’ll go inform the kitchen.”

At General Ao’s Household

Since meeting Yang Haiyan at the Marquis’s household on the third day of the lunar new year, Ao Jiang had not seen her again.

People develop feelings through interaction, and since they hadn’t met, she gradually forgot about Yang Haiyan, not expecting that today she would receive vegetables from her.

After receiving the vegetables, Ao Jiang exchanged a few pleasantries with Aunt Lian regarding Yang Haiyan, then had her maid Tian send Aunt Lian off.

Aunt Tian and Granny Lian were somewhat acquainted, as it was Aunt Tian who had greeted Yang Haiyan at the door when she had attended a banquet at the General’s household.

As they exited the courtyard, Granny Lian paused, catching sight of a familiar figure.
Noticing her stop, Aunt Tian asked, “What’s wrong?”

Granny Lian smiled and replied, “I just saw someone familiar, someone I worked with at the Yahang (pawnshop).”

She then explained, “Before being bought by my lady, I spent some time at the Yahang in this county.”

Since the Yahang existed and buying and selling servants was common, having a background from the Yahang was nothing to be ashamed of.

Aunt Tian responded, “Are you talking about this Madam Zhou? She was brought in by my family’s Yiren from the Yahang; I heard she came from the palace, has good manners, and that’s why Yiren hired her to teach the young masters and misses in our household.”

General Ao came from a humble background, and so did Ao Jiang, so they were naturally unfamiliar with proper etiquette.

However, now that General Ao had risen to the rank of a fifth-grade commander, their children had decent standing, and it was essential to keep up with manners and etiquette.

Therefore, Ao Jiang sought someone from the Yahang, leading to the hiring of Madam Zhou.

Granny Lian didn’t ask too many questions: “So that’s how it is.”

After leaving the general’s mansion, Granny Lian went to find Kun Zhang.

Kun Zhang had sent ten orchids to a restaurant, and the shopkeeper Ping had bought two more.

Eighteen orchids were sold to another restaurant, with the reason being very straightforward: this was the first batch of orchids this year.

Since both the marquis and the general’s households had them, it was a trend—if the marquis had them, how could the restaurant not?

By the time Granny Lian and Kun Zhang returned to the dim sum shop, the orchids had already sold out.

It was somewhat amusing; most of the buyers were from the family quarters.

The people from the family quarters now highly praised the items in Yang Haiyan’s shop.

An orchid cost three copper coins and could last for two meals.

It was just a bit more expensive than regular vegetables, but compared to winter cabbage and radishes priced at two copper coins per pound, it was still cheap.

Moreover, it was a fresh variety—who wouldn’t want to enjoy something new? It also added to their prestige when they mentioned it.

The people in the family quarters liked to compare.

Seeing Granny Lian and Kun Zhang arrive, Yang Haiyan asked, “How did it go?”

Granny Lian brought over two bolts of fabric: “This was sent by the young lady of the marquis’s household, saying it’s a new style from the capital.”

She recounted the events from the marquis and general’s households. “By the way, Madam, I ran into an acquaintance at the general’s mansion.”

Yang Haiyan was curious: “Is it someone from your previous master’s household?”

Lian Mama hurriedly replied, “No, it’s an acquaintance I met when I was bought by Madam at the pawnshop. It’s that old woman who came out of the palace—do you still remember her?”

How could Yang Haiyan possibly forget her?

However, she was confused: “Is that old woman in the general’s mansion?”

Lian Mama explained, “Yes, Aunt Tian said she was brought from the pawnshop to teach the young ladies and young masters etiquette last year.”

Yang Haiyan thought this might be fate.

In the novel, that old woman had entered the Han family but was indirectly connected to the general’s mansion since the general also had relations with that prince.

Now, that prince had entered the general’s mansion.

Although it seemed unrelated to Han Zhen and Yang Dahua, who knew what would happen later?

Yang Haiyan didn’t dwell on it; it was enough to have a baseline understanding.

She then asked about the orchids from Kun Zhang.

After hearing her recount the process, Yang Haiyan felt that Kun Zhang was quite clever for leveraging the names of the marquis and the general’s households.

However, she said, “In the future, try not to rely too much on the influence of the marquis and the general’s households.”

Otherwise, if it reached their ears, they might think they owed them something.

Kun Zhang replied, “Yes.”

Today, they sold a total of eighty orchids, earning two hundred and forty copper coins.

With eight hundred orchids, each with two or three blooms, they had over two thousand—an excellent profit of six taels of silver.

In the afternoon, while Yang Haiyan was resting at home, Kun Zhang came with a young servant who looked unfamiliar.

Kun Zhang said, “Madam, this is the county town’s restaurant—he’s the shopkeeper’s nephew, here to order orchids.”

The young servant said, “I’ve met you, Madam. Today, the orchids from your household have received unanimous praise from our customers, so I’m here to discuss the orchid business with you.”

Yang Haiyan replied, “I see. Please take a seat, little shopkeeper, and Mama, bring tea.”

The young servant hurriedly said, “I dare not.” However, being called “little shopkeeper” gave him some prestige.

Yang Haiyan smiled and said, “There’s no need to be polite, little shopkeeper. By the way, I still have other varieties from my estate, all cultivated from merchant seeds. I expect a good harvest next month. I wonder if your restaurant is interested in these other varieties.”

The young servant replied, “Of course! If you have new dishes, please send them over.” If the restaurant didn’t have new dishes, their business would decline.

The orchid stir-fried pork slices introduced at noon was a novelty; most people had never eaten orchids before, making it intriguing, and the price was reasonable.

The restaurant could stir-fry five plates from one orchid, resulting in high profits.

Furthermore, there were many wealthy people in the county town.

For them, food was about novelty—whether it was vegetables or not was not important.

Yang Haiyan said, “Alright, when the fresh vegetables come next month, I’ll have Zhang send them to you.”

The young servant said, “Thank you, Madam. Starting tomorrow, please provide us with twenty orchids daily.”

Yang Haiyan replied, “Okay. I’ll have them sent over every morning.”

After all, Kun Zhang needed to deliver snacks to the shopkeeper Ping daily, so sending the orchids would be convenient. “Little shopkeeper, does your restaurant buy eggs? I have quite a few chickens and ducks on my estate.”

The young servant said, “There are farmers who specifically collect chicken eggs for the restaurant; I’ll have to ask my uncle about that.”

Yang Haiyan responded, “That would be troublesome for you, little shopkeeper.”

The young servant said, “No trouble at all. Madam Qin, my uncle hopes that only our restaurant in the county town will sell the orchids, not any others.”

Yang Haiyan pondered for a moment: “If only your restaurant sells orchids, what if the ones we can’t sell at my estate go bad?”

Although leaving orchids in the field for a few more days wouldn’t harm them, since the restaurant wanted to monopolize, the price would change.

The young servant asked, “Madam Qin, do you have any suggestions?” He had seen many people while working with his uncle and didn’t seem as timid as other young servants.

Yang Haiyan smiled: “I also want to do long-term business with your restaurant. Since you’re not providing orchids to other restaurants, I’ll charge you four copper coins for each orchid.”

When the young servant arrived, he had received instructions from his uncle, so this price was within his expectations, just one copper coin more than usual.

Thus, the deal was finalized.