Chapter 151 - 151: Save Some Energy by Lazing Around
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Every time Yuan Jiaqi returns home, he spends two days with Old Master Wang discussing various topics.
Thanks to Old Master and Mistress Wang’s teachings, the children of the Qiao family are well-behaved and not inferior to the young masters of wealthy households.
In fact, they are even better in many ways. At the very least, they exercise in the morning and can be considered well-rounded individuals.
The three children of the Qiao family are exceptionally obedient and filial. Despite their young age, they are caring towards their family members, making them feel warm inside.
The strawberries planted at the end of May yielded a good crop because of Qiao Mai’s diligent watering.
As a result, they attracted the attention of wealthy individuals as soon as they were put on sale at the Moon Festival.
Fresh, large, and tender red strawberries were incredibly appetizing. Shopkeeper Niu took the initiative to set the price at five taels of silver per 500 grams.
Qiao Mai didn’t mind and picked a basin of strawberries for Old Mistress Wang and another for the children, treating them like feeding piglets.
“Come, eat strawberries! They’ve just been picked. They’re delicious!”
Ling’er took one in each hand. Strawberries, being fruits, were considered royalty, and no one didn’t love to eat them.
The ones the Qiao family grew exuded a creamy fragrance and were truly delicious.
Shopkeeper Niu put two baskets on display, each ten kilograms. This amounted to a hundred taels of silver in revenue, which was pure profit.
Everyone in the Qiao family, including Shopkeeper Niu and the assistants, had a taste, which was a testament to Qiao Mai’s generosity. If they had planted grains, they would have earned a maximum of six taels per acre, only thirty taels for five acres. However, by planting strawberries, they had made several times more with just twenty pounds.
They admired their household head, who had the ability and courage. Following such a boss allowed them to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Old Mistress Wang loved the strawberries. She sat alone with a large basin of strawberries and ate almost half of it in one go.
The rest was distributed to the maids and servants who attended to her. One good thing about the Qiao family was that the servants could enjoy whatever the masters ate.
Qiao Mai was now feeling relaxed. She had also reached the Foundation Establishment Realm and could refine second-tier pills. She had over ten million acres of land in her space, coming close to twenty million.
She was preparing for the festival, and luckily, she had a preservation space. She could make things in advance, and when the time came, they would still be as fresh as if they had just come out of the oven. Otherwise, she would have been exhausted.
As she had more relatives and friends each year, she had to prepare more New Year’s gifts.
So this year, she decided to make mooncakes and buy some from the platform to save effort.
On July 31st, Yuan Jiaqi left. On August 5th, Qiao Mai began making mooncakes.
She made at least three pots of mooncakes every day, let them cool down, and then stored them in the wooden boxes she had ordered in the space.
She also bought snow-skinned mooncakes, crystal mooncakes, and flaky pastry mooncakes from the platform. She purchased several servings of each
variety she found delicious and visually appealing.
She then picked a lot of fruits from her space. There were five types of fruits, each in a basket containing ten pounds, three boxes of homemade mooncakes, and three boxes of purchased mooncakes. One set went to the Lu family, one to the Wang family in the Capital, one to the carpenter Qin’s family, and one to Yuan Jiaqi for his friends and teachers.
Qiao Mai also prepared a few more sets just in case someone visited during the festival and she needed to reciprocate.
The last pile was for their consumption. It was better than what she had prepared for any other family, with eight or nine types of fruit alone, not to mention the mooncakes.
She kept busy until the tenth day of the month. By this time, she had started receiving festival gifts.
The carpenter’s family sent two boxes of mooncakes and a basket of eggs. The Lu family also sent many gifts, and even Mayor Qian sent some. They probably wanted to send gifts early to avoid being outshined, which would be embarrassing.
The next day, she sent the festival gifts to various families.
Qiao Mai prepared two sets for the Wang family, one for the old couple and one for Wang Zongsheng. Even though Wang Jiaru wasn’t present, she had to send him a gift.
The old lady was delighted to receive these gifts. She had a sweet tooth and couldn’t stop indulging in all kinds of mooncakes.
The fruits were even more to her liking, bringing her more happiness than gold, silver, or jewelry.
On August 13th, Qiao Mai drove a cart filled with gifts to the Capital.
When she arrived to deliver the gifts to Wang Zongsheng, he came out to receive her without any pretense. This gave Qiao Mai respect.
“Madam Qiao, it’s the Moon Festival. I won’t be going to the Qiao family. Could you take care of my parents?”
“Will you be attending Miss Wang’s wedding?”
“Yes, but I won’t be going with all of you. I can ride a horse quickly, or it would delay a month of official business.” “Alright, we’ll go ahead of you.”
“Yes, I’ll trouble Madam Qiao along the way.”
“Sir, you’re too polite.”
Qiao Mai watched as the items were unloaded from the cart. After giving a polite bow to Wang Zongsheng, she got back into her carriage and left.
Wang Zongsheng sighed. If he had let Madam Qiao manage the workshop, it would have benefited the nation and the people. The Wang family wouldn’t have had any issues. This time, they owed Madam Qiao a significant favor.
At the entrance of the Windforest Academy, Qiao Mai got off the carriage and knocked on the gate.
“Sir, I’m a family member of your academy’s student, Yuan Jiaqi. I’ve come to deliver something to him.”
The gatekeeper was aware of this arrangement. Yuan Jiaqi had informed them in advance.
“Wait here. I’ll call him.”
After closing the side gate, it didn’t take long for Yuan Jiaqi to arrive, accompanied by several younger students.
“How are you all?”
“Oh, is this Sister-in-law? Hello, Sister-in-law!”
Yuan Jiaqi’s dormitory friends stared at Qiao Mai, and Yuan Jiaqi gave each of them a knock on the head.
“Let’s move the stuff. First, take these back to the dormitory, and I’ll distribute them later.”
“What’s the rush? Sister-in-law, can we visit your home?”
“Of course. My husband’s friends are my friends. You’re all welcome to visit our home.”
“In that case, we’ll come over during the New Year. You won’t mind our commotion, will you?”
“Not at all. When you come, I’ll prepare delicious food for you.’ “Sister-in-law, you’re amazing. We’ll thank you in advance.”
Seeing them, Yuan Jiaqi raised his foot to give them a little nudge.
“Hurry up and move. My wife is an excellent cook. If you don’t work, you won’t get to eat.”
“Fine. We’ll move it.”
Yuan Jiaqi watched as they begrudgingly moved the items. One of the boxes was still in Qiao Mai’s hands.
She handed it to the gatekeeper and said, “These are mooncakes I made. I hope you like them.”
“Oh, do I get some too?” The gatekeeper was delighted.
“Of course.’
“Thank you.”
The gatekeeper accepted the mooncakes. Yuan Jiaqi watched as Qiao Mai attended to every detail. He couldn’t find any faults, and whenever he saw her, he felt a profound sense of happiness.
“Wife, you’ve worked hard, making this trip from afar just to deliver these gifts. ”
“It was convenient to deliver them while visiting Wang Zongsheng. Do you know about our trip to the Capital?”
“Old Master Wang told me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the children and make sure they get to see the world while we’re there. Everything will be fine, so focus on your studies here.”
“I trust you to handle things. When do you plan to leave?”
“We’ll leave on the 18th, arrive in the Capital at the beginning of the month, stay for over half a month, and probably return home by the end of September.”
“In that case, I leave the children in your care.”
“I’ve already made arrangements at home. You can withdraw the money from
Shopkeeper Niu when needed.”
Yuan Jiaqi sucked in a deep breath. “Alright, I won’t see you off.”
The two exchanged a few more words before Qiao Mai left. After she was gone, the gatekeeper looked at Yuan Jiaqi with a smile.
“You are such a loving couple, talking for so long.”
Yuan Jiaqi blushed. He did want to be affectionate, but Qiao Mai didn’t give him the opportunity, and he wasn’t skilled in sweet talk.
When they met and talked, they always discussed business matters. After they finished discussing, Yuan Jiaqi watched as Qiao Mai left.
He was also worried.. Who would teach him how to be more affectionate?
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