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

Chapter 231: Holding a grudge
Lu Chengjing quietly let the pinching continue, and even silently adjusted the angle.

Shang Wan suppressed a laugh, and after having had her fill of playing, she continued to get down to business: "Boss Zhong has already written to me, asking when Qionghua Restaurant will go out of business."

"When do you want it?"

"Let's do it in the next couple of days, we can't keep it until the New Year." Shang Wan leaned on his shoulder and lazily closed her eyes. "Zhong Li is really vengeful. Qiao Yugui broke one of his cups at the banquet when he was drunk, and he's holding a grudge against him."

Shang Wan had to pay Chen Cai to get this information.

Not long after the news was obtained, Qiao Yugui used underhanded tactics against Lingyao Pavilion for the second time. If Lu Chengjing hadn't noticed something was wrong, people might have actually died from the medicinal herbs in Lingyao Pavilion.

Faced with such a generous gift, Shangwan naturally had to reciprocate in a proper way.

Heaven knows how traumatized those diners in restaurants must feel when they find a dead rat in their soup while scooping it out.

Good things don't go out, bad things pass thousands of miles.

From then on, Qionghua Restaurant's business plummeted, and even lowering the prices of its dishes couldn't attract many customers.

Just then, Baoyuezhai emerged as a dark horse, offering more exquisite and delicious dishes, lower prices, and daily specials, which quickly stole away the customers of Qionghua Restaurant, and they never returned.

To this day, no one knows who owns Baoyuezhai, but in just two months, Baoyuezhai has become the most popular restaurant in the city.

In contrast, the Qionghua Restaurant was deserted and desolate.

Logically, without customers, Qionghua Restaurant should have closed down long ago. But perhaps Qiao Yugui had designs on Zhongli or Shang Wan, so he paid out of his own pocket to stay open and entertained only a handful of customers every day.

Moreover, despite constantly engaging in underhanded and overt actions, they managed to avoid leaving any fatal weaknesses.

Since they're willing to pay out of their own pockets to keep the restaurant a shell, Shang Wan really can't do anything about it. She can't exactly smash up the restaurant or kill Qiao Yugui, can she?
The shopkeeper is a respectable businessman; he wouldn't do something so violent.

However, Mr. Zhong was very dissatisfied with this.

The cup was smashed at Qionghua Restaurant. He wouldn't be able to get over it until Qionghua Restaurant collapsed.

To appease the God of Wealth, Shang Wan had no choice but to resort to her trump card.

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Zhuangzi had three hundred acres of land at the foot of Duanya Mountain, all of which he planted with medicinal herbs.

These were purchased by Shang Wan to cover up the existence of Ling Tian, ​​and at the time, it almost emptied his family's coffers.

Unlike cultivated wasteland, a manor, if well managed, can be easily sold when you want to.

The villagers were all readily available; after weeding out those who were lazy, cunning, and didn't do any real work, Shang Wan kept everyone else.

Shang Wan spent a lot of money to hire experts to train the people on the knowledge of herb cultivation. Only when it was almost ready did he gradually replace all the land on the estate with herbs.

Ordinary fields are not like spirit fields; they can't produce anything in just a few days. Therefore, Shang Wan specially purchased a batch of high-quality medicinal herbs from other places to disguise his spirit fields.

These medicinal herbs were made into various ointments and powders, and when combined with spiritual spring water, the effects were not significantly different.

Although it cost a lot, at least they managed to cover up the origins of the medicinal herbs.

Once the village begins to produce medicinal herbs, Shang Wan will no longer need to purchase large quantities of herbs from other places, nor will he have to watch his hard-earned money flow into other people's pockets.

"Shopkeeper, we've arrived."

As the words were spoken, the carriage stopped.

Shang Wan opened her eyes from Lu Chengjing's arms and yawned, covering her mouth.

It's cold in winter, and she really doesn't want to move unless absolutely necessary.

Lu Chengjing reached out to straighten her cloak, then handed her the hand warmer and asked gently, "Shall I carry you inside?"

"No." Shang Wan, holding the hand warmer, got up and walked out of the carriage. Last time Lu Chengjing did this, good heavens, the entire manor must have imagined something, and they all came up to congratulate her.

When asked, everyone thought she was pregnant.

They've only been married for a few days, and they're already sprouting beans?
Shang Wan was so shocked that she refused to let anyone misunderstand her.

The heavy snow today made it impossible to work, and everyone in the manor was resting indoors. Upon hearing that Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing had arrived, Steward Dai quickly led two people out to greet them.

"Master, it's snowing heavily, why are you coming at this time? Be careful not to get cold."

Manager Dai held the umbrella over Shang Wan's head, and Lu Chengjing reached out to take it, saying, "I'll take it."

Manager Dai glanced at him and silently let go of his hand.

Shang Wan nodded slightly to the others as a greeting.

"How is Zhuangzi?"

"Everything is fine," Steward Dai said, bowing his hand. "All the harvestable herbs in the fields were harvested before the snow. I was worried that the heavy snow would collapse the roof, so I led some people to sweep it up again last night. There is also enough charcoal in the manor for boiling water, cooking, and heating."

Shang Wan glanced at the rooftops in front of her and saw that there was indeed little snow on them.

She looked at Steward Dai and said, “Everyone has worked hard these days. Tell the accountant to double the monthly wages this month, make an extra set of winter clothes for everyone on the estate, double the holiday bonuses, and slaughter a few more pigs and sheep. You can distribute them according to their usual performance so that everyone can have a good New Year.”

Shopkeeper Dai beamed with joy and cupped his hands in thanks, saying, "On behalf of everyone, I thank you for your generous gift."

The others also bowed and echoed, "Thank you for the reward, sir."

Shang Wan waved for everyone to stand up and asked, "Where is Mr. Duanmu?"

"The master is enjoying the snow in the pavilion in the garden," Steward Dai said, then added, "The young lady wants hot pot, and the kitchen is preparing it."

Speaking of hot pot, Shang Wan thinks that winter is indeed the perfect time to eat hot pot.

She smiled and said, "Tell the kitchen to prepare more, clean the mutton thoroughly, slice it thinly so it's easy to cook in the hot pot, and also warm up a pot of pear blossom white wine."

"If you're going to cook lamb offal, stew it the way Xiaohuan taught you, and add some radish. Radish is good to eat in winter."

Steward Dai agreed to all of them and personally went to the kitchen to give the instructions.

The snow on the road had been swept away and pebbles had been scattered on it to prevent slipping. Boots crunched as they stepped on them.

Shang and Wan walked towards the garden, their red umbrellas covered in snowflakes, which fell softly as they tilted to the side.

Shang Wan reached out and touched an icicle hanging under the eaves. She broke it off and played with it a few times, but it was still freezing even through her gloves, so she quickly threw it into the grass.

Lu Chengjing smiled helplessly and handed over the hand warmer.

Shang Wan held a hand warmer in both hands, breathing out white breath as she spoke, "After the New Year, we'll hire a tutor to start Yuanyuan's education."

The little guy is getting more and more mischievous and incredibly bold. Shang Wan thinks it's time to let the little one experience the charm of going to school.

Lu Chengjing hesitated: "Isn't it too early?"

"You'll be two years old after the New Year. Didn't you start your formal education at two?" Shang Wan turned to look at him. "You could have started Yuanyuan's education, but you have to prepare for next year's provincial examination, so you don't have that much time."

Otherwise, Shang Wan wouldn't have thought of inviting the tutor.

Lu Chengjing was worried. His daughter was different from ordinary people and was still young. It would be bad if she revealed something to others.

He said, “What can a two-year-old learn? A teacher can’t be with her all the time. I can teach her without wasting time.”