Chapter 1613 - 1608: Shuangshuang, Your House Has Been Taken (Part 1)

"Lord Liu of Qianzhou Prefecture turned the county port into a cargo transfer station, where all the government’s salt and iron would pass through.

My father believes this task is quite important, so he set up a separate department to manage it! Your elder brother is the steward in charge here," Zheng Zhi said.

The steward at the port?

Mu Shuangshuang knew that in ancient times, salt and iron were exclusively managed by the government.

And the prices were set by the government.

Ordinary merchants wanting to get involved and take a cut was impossible.

Unless there was collusion between officials and merchants.

Private salt and iron, under the protection of officials, were brought into a place. Either sold privately or branded with the government’s label.

Regardless of which, the profits involved were significant without needing Mu Shuangshuang to elaborate.

The benefits for the steward were too substantial to describe.

However, would Mu Dade do something like this?

"Why are you asking about this? Are you also thinking of long-distance transport?" Zheng Zhi asked.

"No, it’s just that I heard from Xiaxia and my parents earlier that my elder brother recently got a good job.

She explained it vaguely, and my parents looked puzzled, so I thought I’d ask you to see if you know anything about it. Later, I can explain it to my parents in detail!"

Mu Shuangshuang squinted, smiling at Zheng Zhi.

Perhaps Mu Shuangshuang tended to act differently from others regularly, so even when she inquired about Mu Dade’s affairs, Zheng Zhi didn’t think much of it!

"If there’s anything you want to ask, feel free to ask me, as long as it doesn’t involve important matters in the government office!" Zheng Zhi said with a good attitude.

"Thank you, Mr. Zheng!" Mu Shuangshuang replied.

"Why thank me? We’re considered partners in business, and we’ll be making money together in the future!" Zheng Zhi said.

"Then, Mr. Zheng, come with me to the third floor. I’ll give you the table design and discuss the vegetable farming funds for Dahuo Village!"

"Sure!"

The last room on the third floor is a space Mu Shuangshuang reserved as something like an office.

Inside, there were two tables: one for Yu Dahai’s things and the other for hers.

The items in the elegant room were neatly arranged, very simple, showing no sign of luxury.

This kind of place, however, is perfect for conducting business!

Mu Shuangshuang took out the table design from a drawer, along with an abacus and writing materials for Zheng Zhi.

Zheng Zhi listed down all the expenses for the vegetable garden.

Costs included the land, hiring laborers, and other expenses.

This investment wasn’t huge, but it definitely wasn’t small either.

Managing over fifty acres of dry land was entrusted to a dozen women.

These women were responsible for everything from planting to harvesting, except for plowing the land.

Zheng Zhi wrote a long list of numbers on paper.

Finally, the decision was made that each person would temporarily contribute two hundred taels.

As for Mu Shuangshuang’s table design, Zheng Zhi said it could offset fifty taels.

Mu Shuangshuang needed only to contribute one hundred fifty taels.

The one hundred fifty taels didn’t require using money from the restaurant; Mu Shuangshuang could take it out personally.

Money was handed over to Zheng Zhi, who wrote a receipt. The rest would wait for warmer weather, and together, they would check the actual farming situation at Dahuo Village.

That day, Mu Shuangshuang took a break in the morning, but was busy the rest of the time.

She didn’t even have time to see Zheng Zhi and Mu Xiaxia off when they left.

Near dusk, Mu Shuangshuang finally had a moment to eat a bite of her meal.

Like her, Yu Dahai was handling all the affairs today.

When overwhelmed with work, people would come to find Mu Shuangshuang for help in the kitchen.

The two sat at a table eating, glancing at each other, looking exhausted, and laughed heartily.

"Shuangshuang, today we worked hard, my voice is hoarse, I guess if not rested for a few days, it won’t recover!" Yu Dahai said.

"Yeah, the staff and those helping in the kitchen, everyone worked hard!" Mu Shuangshuang said.

"I didn’t expect such an explosion in business today! If only you saw during lunch and dinner times, the whole restaurant was filled with the noise of customers ordering!"

Yu Dahai spoke of today’s bustling business, unable to contain his smile.

If talking about a restaurant opening this explosively, in all his years as a restaurant steward, Yu Dahai had never seen anything like it.

Busy as it was, he felt happy inside!

He had watched Chengfeng Restaurant rise little by little. From a small eatery to now being the largest restaurant in town, he knew how much hardship and effort had gone into it.

Mu Shuangshuang nodded, "Yes, I didn’t expect such a boom in business either! Luckily, we improved our menu which brought more refinement than before!

It’s just the beginning; afterward, I guess business won’t differ much! In short, we should adhere to the highest standards!

If there are insufficient personnel, we’ll hire them! Anyway, we want to give customers at Chengfeng Restaurant a homely feeling! If our food is good, they’ll naturally come back every day!"

"Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on that!"

After dinner, everyone finished up.

Mu Shuangshuang was going to go back home.

Her parents had already left after dinner, walking with villagers.

As they left, they packed some dishes to take back for Taohua and Mr. Luo Bai.

Now, it was just Mu Shuangshuang alone.

As usual, she drove the carriage back to the village alone, arriving when it was already dark.

...

Early the next morning, before Mu Shuangshuang headed to the restaurant, Zhang Yutou rushed to Shuangshuang’s house.

Shouting, "It’s not good, it’s not good..."

Mu Shuangshuang was in the courtyard washing her face and seeing such an anxious Zhang Yutou, she asked curiously, "Uncle Yu, what happened?"

"Shuangshuang, your house... your house has been occupied again by Ma the Landlord!"

"What? Occupied again?" Mu Shuangshuang’s face was full of astonishment.

Didn’t she have the walls built up?

How was the house still appropriated?

"I don’t know. This morning, I was digging in the fields, passed by your house, heard noises inside and feared the Ma guy had occupied your house again.

I didn’t have a key, so I climbed over the wall, and what I saw was shocking... the walls were demolished, and... there are people living inside.

The outside of the house was surrounded by layers of people on guard, so I quickly came to tell you!"

Zhang Yutou recounted everything he knew to Mu Shuangshuang in one breath.

Mu Shuangshuang squinted her eyes and said, "They really have gotten addicted to occupying others’ properties! They truly think everybody is easy to bully!"

"Shuangshuang, should we go fight Ma the Landlord now and take back your house?" Zhang Yutou asked.

"No, there’s no need! This matter isn’t urgent! Uncle Yu, I’ll talk to my father later, and we’ll let this matter sit for now!"

"But..."