On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Dragon Boat Festival, the Shen family celebrated the holiday according to the village customs.
The Yuanbao River section of Mianzhou City held a dragon boat race every year, and many people went to watch.
However, the Shen family, preoccupied with the groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for the next day, had little mood for festivities.
They stayed home, quietly preparing.
The sixth day of the fifth lunar month was auspicious for breaking ground and was a good day to lay the foundation.
The Shen family rose early.
After eating millet porridge, eggs, and steamed buns made by Su Xiaoqi, they, along with Old Madam Yu and Zhao Shi, headed to the building site at the end of the village, carrying incense, candles, offerings, and all other necessary items.
Under Shen Yun's arrangements, fifteen people had been found to help build the house over the past few days.
Actually, building a house at this time of year was quite manageable. With the seedlings planted, the work mainly involved pest control and irrigation, not overly busy.
Everyone had spare time.
Upon arrival, Su Xiaoqi looked at Yuanbao Mountain not far away.
The trees were tall, the grass lush, and the greenery vibrant with vigorous life.
To build a courtyard house here, where they could bask in the sun and tend flowers during leisure time, sweep the courtyard and ponds when busy, and watch the clouds drift by, seemed exceptionally pleasant.
Soon, Zhao Dashan arrived with Zhao Erhu and thirteen other villagers from Zhao Family Village, forming the construction team.
Shen Yun presented three cups of boiling water, five cups of wine, and three bowls of sweet glutinous rice balls.
Two bowls of rice, two pairs of chopsticks and spoons, red buns, sweet cakes, glutinous rice cakes, and a bowl of soup each, three types of poultry and fish, three cups of tea, and three kinds of fruit.
Under Zhao Dashan's lead, a series of ground-breaking rituals were performed.
Offerings were arranged, food and dishes were sincerely presented, and gold paper (nine gold and nine silver sheets) was burned to worship the Earth God, praying for smoothness and peace.
After the ceremony, Zhao Dashan had Shen Yun strike the ground a few times in the east and west with a hammer, symbolizing the official commencement of work.
According to the plan, the fifteen workers could finish digging the foundation in just three days.
Next would be laying bricks and tiling the roof. If there were no major issues, the house would be completed in a little over a month.
Following Su Xiaoqi's suggestion, Shen Yun negotiated a contracting price with Zhao Dashan.
Zhao Dashan would be solely responsible for all materials and labor costs.
They only needed to pay him the total amount and wait for the house to be ready.
Although his wife, Madam Qian, was not a pleasant person, her elder brother, Zhao Dashan, was a righteous and honest man.
Like the old scholar Zhao Ci, he had an excellent reputation in the village.
Coupled with his skillful craftsmanship, everyone would request his services for any house building or renovation.
With the major task of building the house settled, and the shop opened, bringing in a steady income daily.
Su Xiaoqi felt that the days ahead were becoming increasingly hopeful.
Zhao Ye's hand had also recovered under her treatment and Zhao Xiaozhu's meticulous care.
Now, he was unmatched in his ability to work.
Not only was he looking after their two fishponds well,
but he also took care of the farmlands they cultivated.
Furthermore, he took on the task of delivering fish to the county town every other day.
Su Xiaoqi, delighted by the ease, generously increased his monthly wage to three strings of cash.
He ate and drank at the Shen family's, and Su Xiaoqi bought his clothes and daily necessities, so this money was essentially untouched and could be saved entirely.
Su Xiaoqi felt he was well worth this price.
He allowed her more time to manage her shops in the city.
At the Chen Ji Grain Shop, the capable Chen Jinniang continued to sell her own steamed buns while also helping Su Xiaoqi sell rice and flour.
Their partnership business was running very harmoniously.
It yielded a net profit of twenty strings of cash per month.
Both Su Xiaoqi and Chen Jinniang were principled individuals.
They adapted very well to this mode of cooperation.
However, both were also ambitious individuals.
Su Xiaoqi wanted to earn more money so that she would have more capital to live well after leaving Shen Yun.
As for Chen Jinniang, her ancestors had also been wealthy.
It was just that by her grandfather's generation, he had been so irresponsible.
He had squandered almost all of the Chen family's vast fortune.
Previously, the conditions did not allow her to think too much about it.
But now, with Su Xiaoqi's assistance, she seemed to see a glimmer of hope.
The hope of one day reviving the Chen family.
Especially since Su Xiaoqi felt that her selling only a few steamed buns and flatbreads every day was too monotonous.
She gave Chen Jinniang several recipes for baked goods.
Such as scallion pancakes, beef flatbreads, savory soybean paste cakes, strip cakes, Indian roti, as well as toast bread, pork floss bread, and coconut bread...
Su Xiaoqi provided her with ten items at once.
She also took the time to teach her how to make them hands-on twice.
Chen Jinniang was quite skilled, learning after just two attempts.
After tasting the pastries made by Chen Jinniang, Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but praise, "Not bad, not bad, as skillful as my little sister."
Chen Jinniang, receiving the praise, did not become arrogant, but was curious about whose "little sister" Su Xiaoqi was referring to.
Su Xiaoqi had to explain, saying she was referring to her husband's younger sister.
Chen Jinniang's eyes flickered as she said, "These pastries are delicious and fresh, they will surely sell well.
But they are too time-consuming to make.
I am busy with everything alone, and I am afraid I won't be able to manage.
Is your sister-in-law's workload at home heavy? Why not invite her to come and work with me."
Su Xiaoqi's heart stirred.
"Hey, this is a good idea."
She agreed, but did not immediately give a definite answer.
She only said that this matter needed to be discussed with her in-laws, and her sister-in-law's own opinion would also have to be sought.
"That's natural," Chen Jinniang expressed her understanding.
At the same time, she discussed with Su Xiaoqi that if Shen Xiaomei didn't come, it wouldn't matter.
They had to continue this business.
The profits from sales would be split fifty-fifty as before.
She would work alone first, and if she was truly overwhelmed, she would hire a young girl later.
However, there was a concern about the recipes being leaked.
For families like theirs who dealt in food, recipes were paramount.
Once a recipe was stolen and someone else opened a shop imitating it, business would become difficult.
This was indeed true. Su Xiaoqi told her to wait patiently, saying she would do her best to persuade her sister-in-law to come out.
She also told Chen Jinniang that if Shen Xiaomei came, she would not take any share from the sales of the snacks.
She hoped to give them to Shen Xiaomei.
Chen Jinniang looked at Su Xiaoqi with some surprise.
She thought to herself that her sister-in-law was too good to her sister-in-law.
She wondered what kind of girl Shen Xiaomei was to have earned such kindness from someone as capable as Su Xiaoqi.
She was quite eager to meet her.
After discussing matters with Chen Jinniang, Su Xiaoqi stayed for a while before hailing Zhao Laoshi's mule cart and traveling through more than half of Mianzhou City to her shop, 'Supermarket,' in the east of the city.
Today was an odd-numbered day, not a market day, so Linshui Alley was not crowded, but her shop's business was not bad.
There were still a few customers buying grain inside.
After all, people could do without buying anything else, but they couldn't do without eating.
After greeting Zhao Dayou, who was busy working, Su Xiaoqi ducked into the small warehouse built behind the shop and moved ten shi of rice and flour each from her spatial dimension.
The cotton had been harvested in her dimension, with a yield of one hundred jin per mu for the cotton wadding, and the ten chickens and ten ducks had also grown.
After some thought, she decided to bring them out as well.
After all, her establishment was a supermarket, following a path of selling all kinds of goods.
After Zhao Dayou saw off the customers in the shop, he went to the warehouse.
He was startled by the sound of chickens and ducks inside.
Then, looking at the rice and flour piled up in the warehouse, he pointed to the door and then to Su Xiaoqi.
He was very curious how she had managed to move all of it in by herself.
Su Xiaoqi calmly told him that the small warehouse had a side door, and she had asked Zhao Laoshi, the mule cart driver, to help her move them.
"You were busy just now, so I didn't call you."
That was true, Zhao Dayou had been too busy.
Upon seeing Su Xiaoqi enter, he had only glanced at her and hadn't paid her much attention, not even exchanging a word.
Su Xiaoqi looked at the cramped warehouse, opened the side door, and looked to the side.
She had now saved enough money to buy a place with a front shop and a back courtyard. How great it would be if she could buy the space behind.
She just didn't know if the owner was willing to sell.