After transmigrating into the body of a widow, I became the richest man in the capital.

Chapter 173 A Bountiful Harvest
At first, everyone questioned why Su Xiaoxiao chose to plant potato seedlings and peppers when everyone else was planting rice and grains in the fields. In fact, Su Xiaoxiao knew that her family's land was low-grade soil, and saline-alkali land was not suitable for planting these crops.

However, planting some acidic crops can neutralize the acidity and make good use of land resources. Now it seems that Su Xiaoxiao did the right thing; the rice seedlings in the field are growing well, and Su Xiaoxiao can finally relax.

The moment was filled with the joy of an impending harvest, and Su Xiaoxiao was naturally in a good mood.

Liu Qiaomei was also very puzzled as to why Su Xiaoxiao was planting soybeans in the field, since soybeans don't keep you full.

Su Xiaoxiao said, "Well, you'll find out later."

When Su Xiaoxiao's carriage arrived at her home, many villagers came to watch, creating a sensation comparable to when someone in the village bought the first car.

Pei Yuan, Da Bao, and Xiao Bao immediately surrounded them, looking completely incredulous. "How did you manage to bring this carriage back?"

"This is a very luxurious covered carriage," Pei Yuan asked Su Xiaoxiao, touching the carriage.

Can you drive a horse-drawn carriage?

Su Xiaoxiao replied, "It's alright."

When Pei Yuan saw this, he thought Su Xiaoxiao was quite unmodest, and naturally found her even more adorable.

"What about our mule cart?"

"Of course it was sold."

"You really do come up with things on a whim."

As soon as Pei Yuan finished speaking, he saw Su Xiaoxiao glare at him.

"Can't I even make decisions about my own mule cart?"

"Oh, of course, of course..."

Pei Yuan was almost overwhelmed by Su Xiaoxiao's imposing aura. It seems that in this world, only petty people and women are not to be offended.

Just as her family was preparing to celebrate buying Su Xiaoxiao a new covered carriage, Su Xiaoxiao heard someone knocking on the door again.

When they went outside, they were surprised to find it was Su Bingcheng.

"Cousin, why are you here?"

They hadn't seen each other since their last meeting at the brothel.

What's the situation?
In fact, Su Xiaoxiao was quite concerned about Su Bingcheng and worried that something might happen to him.

"Xiaoxiao, I was wrong before, and I'm ready to start over."

Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoxiao was very pleased that Su Bingcheng had recognized his mistake.

"So what are you planning to do next? Don't worry, cousin, as long as you can get back on your feet, I'll give you the money. You can do whatever you want."

Pei Yuan couldn't stop her even if he wanted to; it seemed that Su Xiaoxiao was truly determined to help her cousin this time.

"I don't have any ideas, Xiaoxiao, why don't you give me some suggestions?"

Su Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, "I think we should open a shop that no one else has. How about a hot pot restaurant?"

In fact, very few people in the previous dynasty had even heard of the term "hot pot," and they had never eaten hot pot before.

Su Xiaoxiao noticed that Su Bingcheng was puzzled, so she made him a hot pot with a spicy broth. As a result, Su Bingcheng ate until he was stuffed.

"good to eat."

Su Bingcheng greatly admired Su Xiaoxiao's abilities and eventually decided to open a hot pot restaurant as well.

The restaurant was located in town, and on its opening day, no one dared to come in and try it. Although the aroma of hot pot wafted through the air, people were hesitant and skeptical about trying something new, wondering if it would taste bad, or if it was expensive and worth the effort.

In the first few days, business was not going well, and Su Bingcheng became disheartened.

On this day, Su Bingcheng was busy in his shop when several burly men came in. He thought they were customers, but upon closer inspection, he realized something was wrong.

"Su Bingcheng, when are you going to pay back the money you owe?"

Su Bingcheng didn't even have time to escape now, so he could only step forward and force a smile.

"Third Brother, look, my shop has just opened and I haven't made any money yet. Why don't you wait a little longer?"

The man whom Su Bingcheng called Third Brother looked around Su Bingcheng's shop with his small, yellow eyes.

"Hmm, the store is nice, quite big. But how long are we supposed to wait? You've been owing money for a while now."

"I……"

Su Bingcheng also knew that he had incurred huge debts from gambling, and he regretted it now, but he couldn't afford to offend these people.

"Okay, I'll get the funds for you right away."

When these thugs came to Su Bingcheng's shop, he couldn't continue doing business at all.

A few days later, Su Xiaoxiao wanted to see how Su Bingcheng's newly opened hot pot restaurant was doing.

When she arrived at the store, she found that not only were there no customers, but even the young waiter had been sent away.

"What's going on?"

Su Xiaoxiao frowned and asked Su Bingcheng. She had expected the business to be bad at first, but she hadn't anticipated it to be this bad.

"Why are the tables and chairs overturned on the floor? Where are the guys? Aren't they coming to clean them up?"

Su Bingcheng sighed and said, "Alas, sister, I'm so sorry."

"what happened?"

Su Bingcheng was very upset. He said to Su Xiaoxiao, "It's all my fault for being so ignorant before and incurring high-interest debt. Now those people have come knocking on our door."

Su Xiaoxiao frowned, but she suppressed her anger.

"Cousin, how much money do you owe?"

Su Xiaoxiao asked.

Su Bingcheng thought for a moment, "This..."

"The total amount of usurious loans is one hundred and fifty taels of silver."

Su Xiaoxiao gasped in shock. Such a huge sum! Her eyes were filled with astonishment. "So much, cousin, how did you end up owing so much money?"

“I used to be addicted to gambling, and when my business ran into some problems, someone told me that I could get money immediately at a gambling den. I believed that person, and then I couldn’t stop…”

Su Xiaoxiao also knew that most gamblers were like this: trying to win big with a small investment, thinking they could get rich quick, but they slowly got trapped.

In fact, many scams nowadays are similar. Scammers exploit this psychology to steal people's money, often to the point of financial ruin and an uncontrollable spiral.

The scammer's mentality is, "I don't deserve to be a scammer if I don't swindle all your money." Their main strategy is to hold on tight and not let go until they have swindled all your money. Otherwise, they would be unworthy of the title of scammer.

“I’ll pay for this for you, cousin, but remember, this is the last time. If I ever hear you mention gambling again, I’ll cut you off from you forever. Even if those loan sharks chop you into eight pieces in the street, I won’t care.”

(End of this chapter)