277 Doing only as much as Paid
Lu Jiao’s first reaction was to decline.
However, she quickly thought of how much people during this era cared about ceremonial formalities. Ceremonies made things official to people and would make everyone aware of the fact that Qi Lei was her apprentice. They wouldn’t gossip once they know.
If the apprenticeship becomes official, nobody would gossip. Because the relationship between a master and an apprentice was the same as the relationship between a father and a son.
Lu Jiao asked, “Is your family okay with you being my apprentice?”
She knew Qi Lei was from the capital city and was from a good family. Would his family be okay with him having such a young woman for a master.
There was no such thing as equality in this era and she didn’t want any trouble.
Qi Lei smiled, “I have already told my father and grandfather about this. They knew all about it and agreed to it. They said once you move to the capital city, they will host another ceremony for us so everyone from the capital city knows about the apprenticeship.”
Lu Jiao’s lips twitched and she agreed in the end, “Okay, then we’ll do it. Don’t invite too many people though – one table would be enough.”
She didn’t want to be the talk of town and preferred everyone to be low key.
“Okay, we’ll do as you said. Do you want to invite two witnesses from your side?”
Lu Jiao then thought of Xie Yunjin. She should tell him about this. No matter what, he was still her husband on paper.
As for others… She didn’t know anyone else.
“I don’t need to invite anyone. You can invite a few.”
Qi Lei nodded and said, “Then, tomorrow, I will book a private room at Eight Treasure Restaurant. You and your family can come at noon.”
Lu Jiao agreed and that was that.
Right after the conversation, Zhao Lingfeng took out a contract and gave it to Lu Jiao. That was Baohe Tang’s contract and the contract made it clear that Lu Jiao was now a stakeholder with 33% ownership of this place.
The contract made Lu Jiao so happy.
With a huge grin, she tried to take over the contract. However, Mo Bei beat her to it and took it away from her. He swayed the paper in the air and said, “Lady Lu, money goes to you way too quickly. That 5,000 taels of silver you got from Zhao Lingfeng is actually from me. Will you cure whoever I bring next?”
Lu Jiao glanced at Mo Bei, then at Zhao Lingfeng. How sad for Zhao Lingfeng. The money Mo Bei spent was his.
Of course, as long as she was paid for it, she would save whoever.
Lu Jiao grabbed the contract out of Mo Bei’s hands and said almost angrily, “As long as you pay.”
Mo Bei agreed before adding, “Lady Lu, can I make a suggestion?”
“Speak of it.”
Lu Jiao put away the contract and looked back at Mo Bei.
Mo Bei was very handsome. He was not aloof like Xie Yunjin, nor was he affluent looking like Zhao Lingfeng. His eyes were deep and sharp, his body was sturdy and confident. It was obvious to Lu Jiao that he was not easy to deal with and that he thought lowly of women.
Mo Bei didn’t know of Lu Jiao’s thoughts and seriously suggested, “Lady Lu, you charge too much. You should lower your fee to 1,000 or maybe 2,000.”
Before Lu Jiao could answer, he continued, “You know, when you ask for so long, you look greedy.”
Lu Jiao rolled her eyes and announced, “I’m not afraid to tell you that I am a greedy woman. If you don’t want to pay 5,000 next time, tell me ahead of time. If you pay me 1,000, I’ll do 1,000 worth of work.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Mo Bei was confused and Lu Jiao impatiently explained, “I’d just attach the arm and make no promises over its functionalities.”
She then continued to vent, “You think 5,000 is a lot? Do you know how many different tools and medicines I used on him? I gave him a century-old ginseng and almost used up all the medicine that I created myself. I even gave him antibiotics. Do you know how much those things cost? If you don’t want to pay, tell me ahead of time. Do you actually think it’s easy to restore his arm’s functionalities? Why don’t you go around and ask who else is able to reattach an arm successfully? Basically, every time this happens, the arm ends up handicapped. Got it?”
She then began to ignore Mo Bei.
Qi Lei chimed in as well, “Mo Bei, my master always uses a lot of her own medicine when operating. She’s almost out of antibiotics. That is a very rare and expensive medicine.”
It was Zhao Lingfeng’s time to interrupt, “The pharmacy we are going to open can’t make this drug? If we are able to, we can ensure the health of so many citizens.”
Lu Jiao didn’t speak. Qi Lei jumped in, “My master said, in order to make antibiotics, we have to find potash mines or dried-up salt lakes. She said we might be able to find some in the southeast or northwest.”
Since Mo Bei had angered Lu Jiao, he tried to redeem himself, “I’ll find some people to look for those.”
“Okay.”
Zhao Lingfeng then began to tell Lu Jiao about the three businesses, “We’ve bought the land. It’s just outside the city in the south. Do you want to check it out?”
Lu Jiao was very interested, “Sure. But I will be busy for the next few days. We can go in a few days.”
She then thought of her second brother, Lu An.
She said to Zhao Lingfeng, “I want to hire my second brother to manage the three businesses. Of course, he doesn’t have to be the head – he can start off by helping out the head. For both the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical stores, my secret formulas will be used as a part of the recipes. My formulas are difficult to recreate so I will have to do that personally before other products are added. I will need someone who can do the leg work and pick up things for me.
It won’t be convenient for me if some stranger comes to my home all the time. So I want my second brother to be the one who handles it.”
Lu Jiao couldn’t tell them she wanted to use her spiritual stream water so she referred to it as her secret formula.
Zhao Lingfeng agreed, “Okay, I was about to ask you whether or not you know any talents who could help out. If your second brother is willing to do the work, that’s great!”
He then added, “Then, you can tell him to come as early as tomorrow. We are going to start building our stores soon and he can help out with that. He can familiarize himself with our plans for the future and make himself valuable quickly.”
Zhao Lingfeng wanted to finish setting up as soon as possible so he could enter the money-making stage.
Lu Jiao agreed. Tomorrow, she’ll send Lu Gui back to the apricot village and pick up Lu An.
“Okay.”
They then moved on to Lu Jiao’s previous request to buy land.
“I looked around for you. It’s hard to buy so much land together. I could only find plots of land available separately. Are you willing to buy it like that?”
Lu Jiao thought about it. Her money was just sitting there, doing nothing. She might as well buy something.
“Sure, I’ll buy it. How much for an acre?”
“Some are on sale for 100, some are on sale for less.”
“How much money would it cost in total?”
...
“15,000 should do it.”
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