Fang Mingjiang tugged at his stiff face and smiled unnaturally, "Madam, are you truly not joking? That green vegetable spoils after a few days, how could it possibly be kept intact for several months?"
"If it were meat, if you pickled it heavily with salt, you could still eat it for a month or two. By the third month, the meat would taste off, not as good as fresh. And what about fish, shrimp, and crabs, seafood!"
Pickled meat was passable to eat, besides being salty, it still retained a hint of meatiness. But seafood left for too long, would it stink? He would do whatever she asked!
Song Fei's brows were tightly furrowed. He sat on a chair, constantly tracing the rim of his teacup, carefully pondering his wife's words!
Wild vegetables were wild vegetables, but there were three more words after that, deep processing?
Song Fei asked, "Madam, does deep processing mean improving the vegetables or something else, so that they can be stored for a long time?"
He was afraid Zhao Jiaqi wouldn't understand his meaning, so he added, "What I mean is, it's like watermelon jam. Watermelons can't be stored for long, but once made into jam, they can be stored for one or two months. Madam, do you understand what I mean?"
Indeed, he was the son of a former prime minister and a former Minister of Revenue. His mind was truly sharp!
Zhao Jiaqi nodded with a smile, "You're right, that's exactly what it means!"
After Song Fei's explanation and his wife's nod of confirmation, Fang Mingjiang understood a little. But soon, he offered a different opinion!
"Madam, I don't mean to pour cold water on your idea, but wild vegetables are really not suitable for deep processing. If it were vegetables, and they could be deep processed and eaten in autumn and winter, then the business would surely boom!"
Fang Mingjiang still refused to believe that wild vegetables could be sold. Conversely, vegetables were scarce in winter. If vegetables could be deep processed and sold in winter, the business would definitely be prosperous!
Zhao Jiaqi sighed lightly!
People of this era, whenever wild vegetables were mentioned, they reacted with fear.
"Let me put it this way, if I were to rename wild vegetables, and they were also a type of vegetable you don't often see, would you buy them to try when you saw them?"
Fang Mingjiang and Song Fei exchanged glances again, and then both nodded!
Song Fei stated, "As long as the food is delicious, I will definitely buy it!"
"That's what I mean too!"
Zhao Jiaqi smiled. See, with just a change of name, these people were willing to try it!
Zhao Jiaqi was determined to go through with this.
The winter greenhouses within the Yun Kingdom were insufficient to supply all the people in the country. If processed vegetables could be stored for winter, this would be a considerable income.
However, her ultimate goal was to sell these deep-processed vegetables, wild vegetables, meat, and seafood to her own country, and her target was various vassal states!
"This is a difficult undertaking. With the knowledge I currently possess, I can only experiment. If it succeeds, then we can move forward with all our might. If it fails..."
Song Fei put down his teacup and said firmly, "Failure is the mother of success. We are not afraid of research, only of giving up. Madam, if you have made up your mind, we will follow you!"
Since his elder brother-in-law felt this way, he had nothing to fear. Everyone was taking a gamble, and it was better to gamble on something with his elder brother-in-law and follow his wife.
"Madam, just tell us what you need us to do, and we will absolutely not refuse. We will definitely complete the tasks you assign!"
With both of them expressing their commitment, she had no reason to hesitate!
She took out three small booklets. The contents were based on her memories, detailing the deep processing methods for various vegetables and meats.
However, with the passage of time, her memory was not as good as before. There might be some discrepancies in these writings.
"These are what I've written. The content is not guaranteed to be entirely correct and needs to be tested. You two can divide the work: one will establish the workshop, and the other will find people to experiment. When we officially open for business, the profits will be divided equally among us three. I'll say it again, I'll only be responsible for the finances and behind-the-scenes planning; you two will be in charge of the front-end operations!"
Song Fei and Fang Mingjiang were greatly shocked. They could each get a share? This was simply a pie falling from the sky, hitting them hard!
Song Fei was relatively stable, a warm smile filling his eyes. "Madam, rest assured, we will complete the task!"
Task equaled money!
The two of them were now energized, full of spirit and boundless energy!
However, Zhao Jiaqi's next sentence almost made them leap for joy!
She said, "The farm at Phoenix Mountain is nearing the end of the year. You two take some time to go there and settle the accounts. As the year ends, we should settle our books and distribute some money to celebrate the New Year!"
This time, Fang Mingjiang could no longer conceal his inner ecstasy, his smile stretching from ear to ear!
It was wonderful, receiving two pieces of good news in one afternoon!
"After we finish these matters, we will go to Lingnan and will definitely complete these tasks assigned by Madam before the New Year!"
Fang Mingjiang, in his excitement, boasted.
Zhao Jiaqi smiled, "If you both complete them, I will reward each of you with five thousand taels!"
Five thousand taels was a significant sum. Both of them were now determined to embark on a great endeavor!
While she was actively working, a letter arrived from the Zong Sheng Kingdom!
Fan Zehao held the letter and read it twice, sighing, feeling heartbroken, and helpless.
"Wife, take a look. Zong Han is in some trouble."
Zong Han?
Zhao Jiaqi frowned, "Zong Han has always been extremely arrogant and ruthless. Nothing has gone wrong in the Zong Sheng Kingdom all these years, so what kind of trouble could possibly stump him?"
Upon seeing the handwriting on the letter, she realized it was from their daughter!
She read quickly, and after finishing the three pages of the letter, Zhao Jiaqi's expression also darkened. She slowly closed the letter, her brows furrowed, "An earth dragon turning over, why haven't we heard any news here!"
Speaking of this, Fan Zehao did not elaborate, but simply replied, "This news hasn't reached us yet. This is the first message Jun Jun sent via carrier pigeon. However, soon, scouts will also deliver such news."
"It's just that the number of casualties in the Zong Sheng Kingdom is still unclear, as is the extent of the losses. Jun Jun is asking us what she should do next."
This was truly difficult to handle!
An earth dragon turning over was equivalent to an earthquake in modern times.
In this backward ancient era, the number of casualties was not calculated by figures, as they had not reached that level of precision. After all, beggars, the homeless, and those traveling abroad could not be accounted for.
As for the losses, they were even harder to calculate. Only after rebuilding cities and towns could they be tallied!
However, as far as she knew, earthquakes were followed by rain.
Rain was not frightening, but the drowning of livestock was. If the livestock flowed into rivers and were then nibbled by disease-carrying animals like rats, it could easily lead to an epidemic later.
Epidemic, meant death!