The Chief Minister's Ferocious Wife

232 What Were the Benefits of Being the Emperor?

The popularity of tofu skins exceeded Zhao Chuchu’s expectations.

Many merchants wanted to go and get tofu skins. However, it was Niu Tongsheng’s first time doing business, so he didn’t dare to agree and told them to wait for Zhao Chuchu to return.

“Chief, there are some things you can actually decide on,” Zhao Chuchu said. “You can learn slowly if you don’t know how.”

“I’m afraid of being cheated because of my inexperience. So I dare to do it only when you guys give me an idea.” Niu Tongsheng was embarrassed. “After all, this watermill workshop is funded by you, and you are the owner. Now the people in the village are counting on the watermill workshop to make their lives prosperous, so I’m taking on a lot of responsibility, and it’s better to be careful.”

!!

“Everyone must pay some tuition to learn. It’s better to lose now than later. But, Chief, you are not confident in yourself. You have to believe in yourself!” Zhao Chuchu encouraged him.

Niu Tongsheng quickly shook his head. “No, no. It’s better to follow you to learn more skills.”

Then Xie Heng asked, “Then, Chief, which of these people do you think is worth doing business with? You might as well create a list of those you approve of.”

“Huh?” Niu Tongsheng froze for a moment. “Create a list?”

“Yes. Don’t you remember who they are?”

“I do. I wrote them all down to prevent missing any of them!”

Then, Niu Tongsheng circled all the people he thought he could do business with.

He knew how to read, but not much. So he had the accountant write down the names of all these people, and then he slowly kept track of who was who.

He now spoke with good reason and clear logic. He investigated all the people on the list and gave the reasons why he could cooperate with them and which he could not.

After hearing this, Xie Heng looked at Niu Tongsheng. “Chief, you can do business with the people you picked out on your list this time. But, of course, whether you succeed or fail depends on you. So remember not to be too honest and tell them everything.”

“What did you say, Da Lang? You want me to do business with them by myself?” Niu Tongsheng could not believe it.

“Yes. Chuchu and I can’t keep an eye on the watermill workshop all the time, so most of the business is still left to you in the future,” Xie Heng said with a straight face. “Whether or not the people in this village can live a good life depends on you, Chief.”

“What? Well…Da Lang, you have given me too much trust. What if I mess this up?”

“I believe in you, Chief. Don’t you have confidence in yourself? You can grow crops well, so how can you not learn how to do business?”

“But…”

“Hey, Da Lang and Chuchu have said so, so stop rejecting their good intentions. Besides, Chuchu has to learn medicine, and Da Lang also has to study, so where would they find the time to take care of those trivial matters in the watermill workshop?”

At that point, Old Mrs. Chen spoke.

“In my opinion, since Da Lang and Chuchu are in the village, you should hurry up and learn well. Otherwise, when Da Lang goes to take the Provincial Examination in two years, won’t Chuchu and Junjun go with him? So two years is enough time for you to learn, right?”

Niu Tongsheng thought it made sense, so he patted his chest and said, “Well, since you all believe in me, I will learn well and try not to let you down.”

“You can do it, Chief!” Zhao Chuchu encouraged Niu Tongsheng. “When the watermill workshop gets prosperous, we’ll live a good life!”

“Yes!” Niu Tongsheng had a confident look. “Our Lengshui Village will definitely lead a good life. We are the first to do business with tofu skins. If we can’t succeed in doing so, then I am really useless!”

“Chief, don’t say so.”

“By the way, Da Lang, where will you store the grain? I’ll have them all sent over later.”

“Put it in the room over here.” Xie Heng pointed to the empty room next to Xie Jun’s room. “It’s been packed up, so just put the grain in there.”

“Okay, I’ll go back and call someone to help. You just came back, so take a rest first.”

Niu Tongsheng hurriedly went away again.

Old Mrs. Chen also followed to call her son, who was working in the field, back to help.

Before Zhao Chuchu and Xie Heng could react, the villagers picked up the stretcher, pushed the cart, and soon helped to send back the Xie clan’s grain.

This kind of harvest made them all excited. They hoped that they could get the rice seeds next year so that they would still have food left over in addition to paying taxes.

Looking at the piles of rice that filled up the room, Zhao Chuchu was very happy.

Food was more important to her than money.

After experiencing that situation, money was not that important to her. When it came to a critical moment, it was a waste, and only food was the most practical.

Xie Heng was a scholar and did not have to pay taxes, so the food belonged to them entirely.

After nightfall, Zhao Chuchu asked Xie Heng’s opinion and then put two-thirds of the grain into the carry-on space so that it would not be targeted by thieves.

In addition, most of the potatoes were likewise stored.

Only after this was done did Zhao Chuchu say to Xie Heng, “The Great Prince did send someone to search our house.”

“I found out about it, too,” Xie Heng said. “The bookshelves have also been turned over.”

“Was anything missing?”

“No.”

Before the trip, nothing that should not have been left wasn’t, so even if the Great Prince dug into the ground, he could not find a single helpful thing.

Furthermore, Sikou Qin’s death would make him anxious, so he wouldn’t return to Yuanjiang County for a while.

“But I found this.”

Zhao Chuchu took out a white handkerchief and showed Xie Heng the powder stain.

“I found it by the water tank.”

“What is this?”

“Poison.”

“Is he trying to kill us?”

“But they had no time to do it. There were signs of a fight next to the water tank. Although the other party had cleaned up, I still found the clues. Da Lang, who else is targeting us besides the Great Prince? The Third Prince?”

“Well, it should be him. He had Qiao Heting invite us to Qiaoyi Town, so he may also have the idea of investigating us.”

“These people are really interesting. They can even think about us trivial people!”

...

Zhao Chuchu spoke sarcastically.

“Don’t they feel tired?”

“Tiredness is nothing if they can get to that position. They only want to have the whole world in their hands.”

“Then do you want to, Da Lang?”

“No.” Xie Heng shook his head. “Chuchu, do you want to?”

“No.”

Wasn’t it good to live in peace when getting old?

What were the benefits of being the Emperor?

The Emperor had to get up by starlight and work till the moon rose. Even if the world was in his hands, he still became a puppet of the world and lived his life for others.

She did not have such lofty and ambitious ideals. She just wanted to live a peaceful and stable life without worrying about food; nothing else was important to her.

“Then let’s travel the world when everything is settled in the future. We can go anywhere you want to go and see the world, okay?” Xie Heng looked at Zhao Chuchu, his gaze burning.

...

“Okay.” Zhao Chuchu smiled brightly. “Don’t go back on your word. If you stay in power in the future, I won’t be with you.”

“I won’t!” Xie Heng said firmly.

He had once stood on the highest place overlooking all the people, and the feeling of being alone was not good.