The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 225 Digging a hole
Shi Tou had previously asked Shang Wan if it was unfair to force Qionghua Restaurant to close down without provoking them.

At the time, Shang Wan only told him to wait.

Here it is, just what we've been waiting for.

She had recently taken special care of Qionghua Restaurant's business a few times, and hadn't made any moves against it, but it's not like Young Master Qiao would let go of the opportunity to cause trouble at her Lingyao Pavilion.

Shouldn't we repay them properly?
Several simple and unpretentious ways to repay the favor flashed through Shang Wan's mind.

To ruin a restaurant, you can only focus on three aspects: food, service, and reputation.

If no customers go to the restaurant, it's only a matter of time before it goes out of business.

Of course, the most direct way is to get rid of the boss. Without the boss, the restaurant naturally can't stay in business.

Shang Wan was pondering this when Lu Chengjing's words brought her back to reality.

"A-Nian's brother instructed in the letter that A-Nian should return to Beijing with Boss Zhong. Has Boss Zhong replied yet?"

“Boss Zhong is a very busy man.” Shang Wan put the money into the wooden box and locked it. “He will probably reply after he sets a date to return to the capital.”

The child's eyes were red from crying yesterday, and Shang Wan wondered what was wrong. It turned out the child was leaving and couldn't bear to part with them.

Last night, the child told them the contents of the letter on his own initiative, and Shang Wan also deduced the truth about the growth of the spiritual field from the letter.

Most of the medicinal herbs she sold to pharmacies were sent to the border along with other medicinal herbs.

Enemy spies poisoned the medicine, and most of the soldiers in the camp were poisoned, including several generals, including Chu Zhao.

When the military doctor inspected the medicinal materials, he found that some of the medicinal materials, although poisoned, were not affected by the poison after being cleaned.

The military doctor prescribed a formula based on the available medicinal materials to delay the onset of the poisoning, ordered it to be brewed and distributed, and at the same time, he worked hard to find the real antidote.

Thanks to that batch of medicinal herbs, the military camp did not suffer a large number of casualties, and several generals also survived.

The growth of the spiritual field is indeed related to saving people, and the more people saved and the more important they are, the faster the spiritual field grows.

The number of spirit fields that day surged like it was on steroids because the medicinal herbs sent by Shang Wan saved most of the military camp.

In the letter, Chu Zhao also explained that the people they had sent to pick up Chu Xu were intercepted and killed on the way.

Just then, trouble broke out in the military camp, and the father and son were too busy to investigate. They only sent a few secret letters, telling Chu Xu to stay at the Lu family home and that they would send someone to pick him up once the military camp matter was settled.

However, Shang Wan and the others only received one reply; the whereabouts of the subsequent letters are unknown.

If Chu Xu hadn't sent another letter to the border, the Chu father and son would never have known that their letter had been intercepted.

I reckon the spies haven't been completely eliminated yet.

Zhongli once owed Chu Zhao a great favor, and Chu Zhao deduced from the news coming from the capital that something big was about to happen in the capital.

Chu Zhao had always known that Zhongli was in Qingyang Prefecture. With trouble brewing in the capital, Zhongli would inevitably have to return.

So he wrote a letter to Zhongli, asking her to take his younger brother back with him and deliver him safely back to the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, as a way of repaying the favor.

Zhongli readily agreed, and has been so busy these days that he's practically invisible, all in preparation for returning to the capital.

The letter also mentioned that the military camp was searching for the source of medicinal herbs that were unaffected by poison, and they had now traced them to Qingyang Prefecture.

Thanks to these medicinal herbs, nothing serious happened in the military camp. Marshal Chu personally prepared a reward of five hundred taels of silver.

Shang Wan briefly speculated on the conspiracy theory.

Manager Qi's eagerness to make a move against the Spirit Medicine Pavilion might be because he received word of it and wants to keep the reward money for himself.
If something happens to the Spirit Medicine Pavilion, as its owner and manager, she will devote all her attention to resolving the pavilion's troubles and will naturally not care about anything else.

Who knows, by the time she gets the news, the silver might already be in Manager Qi's pocket.

Tsk, how vicious.

I went too easy on them last night.

·
After settling the accounts, Shang Wan took the money box to Bao Hui Money Exchange. Half of the profits would be deposited in the money exchange, and the other half in her spatial storage.

After spending half a day back in the shop, Shang Wan was so bored that she kept yawning.

With so many people doing the work, she, the shopkeeper, found herself with plenty of free time.

Shang Wan lowered her head and drew circles on the paper, preparing to streamline the staff again.

Aside from their own family members, only Yuan Musheng, Yuan Qiao, Aunt Yao, and Liu Cheng remained in the end.

Yuan Musheng was in charge of seeing patients and dispensing medicine, Yuan Qiao was in charge of selling ointments and powders, Aunt Yao was in charge of buying groceries and cooking, and would help Yuan Qiao when she was busy, while Liu Cheng worked part-time as a shop assistant and delivered medicine.

Liu Cheng knows some martial arts and is physically strong, so he won't be at a disadvantage if he gets into a fight with someone outside.

With each of the four having their own responsibilities, plus Shang Wan as the manager, the shop's affairs were completely handled.

The others went back to the village to make medicine, while Xiao Huan and Shi Tou were responsible for checking and settling wages.

Lu Chengjing can still help out now, but after the Mid-Autumn Festival, he will have to devote himself to studying the classics.

At the same time, three men dressed as merchants arrived in Elm Tree Village and began buying medicinal herbs in the village at prices higher than the market price, regardless of quality or quantity.

·
"Closed."

The shopkeeper closed the shop precisely on time, instructing his staff to clean and inventory the medicinal herbs. After registering them, he would replenish the remaining herbs.

Lu Chengjing handed the calculated ledger to Shang Wan.

Using the counter as cover, Shang Wan placed the ledger directly into the space.

Such important things as ledgers must be kept in the safest place.

Lock the door and go home.

As darkness fell, flickering lights appeared at the entrance of Yushu Village.

Only when you get closer do you realize that they are torches.

Led by Old Man Wu, about ten people stood at the village entrance.

The torchlight shone on their faces, casting flickering light that revealed their solemn expressions.

Shang Wan secretly raised an eyebrow; something was up.

The others also sensed that something was wrong, and gradually stopped laughing and joking, their suspicious gazes sweeping over everyone's faces.

Stone spoke first, asking, "Uncle Wu, it's already dark, why is everyone standing at the village entrance?"

"We've been waiting for you. Someone is deliberately trying to make things difficult for our village." Old Man Wu waved his hand, and the crowd parted to reveal the three people behind them who were tied up like dumplings.

In the firelight, the three men's faces were covered in bruises, indicating they had received a severe beating.

The three of them had their mouths gagged tightly, and could only make "mmm" sounds; they couldn't utter a single word.

After glancing at the three people, Shang Wan asked in confusion, "Who are these three?"

"They claimed to be traveling merchants and wanted to buy the medicinal herbs from our village at high prices," Old Man Wu explained the whole story.

After entering the village, the three began hawking their medicine, offering high prices, which attracted many villagers.

The three of them subtly and overtly tried to get information from the villagers about Shang Wan's family.

When Old Man Wu arrived after hearing the news, the villagers had already been tricked into revealing a lot of information, and some even wanted to go home to get medicinal herbs to sell. Old Man Wu's few words brought them back to their senses.

The three men thought Old Man Wu was in their way and wanted to persuade the villagers to lock him up, but unexpectedly, they were the ones who ended up being locked up.

The villagers were just confused for a moment, but after Old Man Wu explained it this way, everyone understood.

It wasn't a windfall; it was a trap set for them.