Chapter 197: Preparing for a Big Move

Yan Lao’er was deeply frustrated.

Maltose—just hearing the name, you could tell it was made from wheat.

Given the current conditions, with grain prices rising and disaster victims surviving on thin porridge daily, who would waste grain making sugar?

If someone dared to squander food like that, they’d probably get a shoe sole smacked across their face…

He couldn’t take it anymore and went to sleep!

The remaining two items were for hygiene purposes. He didn’t want to hear about them, fearing further disappointment.

Li Xuemei and Yan Yu stayed up, determined to finish reading the remaining bamboo slips and handwritten books.

“This shampoo is made by boiling medicinal herbs, so the cost isn’t low,” Li Xuemei noted. Then, weighing the bamboo slip labeled “tooth powder,” she added, “This formula is quite extensive—there are versions for bleeding gums, cavity prevention, wind-heat and wind-cold toothaches, loose teeth, and soft teeth… A full range of remedies.

Some recipes contain over ten ingredients, while the simplest ones use just one or two.”

Yan Yu, speaking seriously but completely making things up, said, “We have enough to open a dental clinic. No matter the problem, there’s a formula for it.”

Li Xuemei shot her a glare and organized the handwritten book catalog.

She set aside one particular volume. “This one is the prologue. I skimmed through it—it explains the relationships between sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy herbs in great detail. It also categorizes medicines into jade, herbs, wood-based drugs, animals, insects, fish, fruits, vegetables, and grains, dividing them into upper, middle, and lower classes.

It elaborates on how some medicines enhance each other, while others counteract or even kill one another.”

Yan Yu flipped through a random page.

It read: “Magnolia bark uses dried ginger as its envoy. It conflicts with cold minerals, alisma, and saltpeter.”

She flipped again and found apricot kernels: “More effective when exposed to fire. Conflicts with skullcap, astragalus, kudzu root, tin detoxifiers, and white lead. It fears wolfsbane.”

She was in awe of traditional Chinese medicine’s vastness.

Her disdain for Physician Cui lessened slightly.

He had never formally apprenticed under a master, yet he dared to diagnose and prescribe medicine just from self-study. That wasn’t just bold—that was ruthless.

Just memorizing the names of all these herbs would take a long time, not to mention understanding their interactions… Headache-inducing.

Yan Yu made up her mind. She was giving up on a career in medicine. Her mother could be the one to study it diligently.

“Mom!” She gazed up in admiration, her eyes shining with enthusiasm.

“Our family’s health depends on you!”

Li Xuemei closed the book and knocked on her head. “We both need to memorize this. You copy one, I copy one, and we’ll each learn separately. When someone falls ill, we’ll study it together.”

“What illnesses? We’re not doctors,” Yan Yu pouted, reluctant to take on more work.

“Just minor ailments. We’ll prescribe something ourselves first, then compare it with what the doctor gives us. We’ll definitely learn something from it.”

“Fiiine—” Yan Yu dragged out the word, filled with reluctance.

She recalled her uncle mentioning health checkup robots and silently prayed: Let me connect with Uncle next time, please let me connect with Uncle next time…

—

For three consecutive days, Yan Lao’er was either at the quarry or the brick factory. Sometimes, he traveled farther to Yongning City, delivering goods and promoting sales.

The woman who had previously ordered a thousand catties of charcoal introduced him to her neighbors. Since it was affordable, many placed small orders.

Yan Lao’er also figured out the market price for charcoal in Yongning City: three qian three per hundred catties.

On the fourth day, Yan Yu tagged along for the whole day. They bought all the materials needed for cement, tools for papermaking, and medicinal ingredients for shampoo.

Since they were at the pharmacy, they couldn’t skip ginseng.

They were too frugal to buy much—even ginseng roots seemed expensive. Under the clerk’s disdainful gaze, ahem, they settled for some ginseng powder.

The city’s butcher stalls were also a major stop on their shopping trip.

Pig pancreases were hard to come by—most butchers found them too troublesome to sell individually. In the end, they had to buy entire sets of offal.

Luckily, Yongning City was a prefectural city, so its residents lived relatively well. Unlike in Xiqiao Town, where only one pig was butchered per stall, here, some stalls slaughtered two or three at a time.

Father and daughter brought back ten sets of pig offal, preparing for a big project.

Their goal was to make fragrant soap as soon as possible and start selling it in Yongning City.

Why were they investing so heavily in this?

Heh!

It was all about the silver!

Who would believe that a single bar of fragrant soap in Yongning City sold for one tael and five qian?!

Yan Yu visited multiple shops, leveraging her small size and sweet talk to touch and examine all their soaps.

The cheapest ones were one tael two qian—completely scentless and lacking the smooth texture of their own soap.

Based on her observations, their soap was only slightly inferior to the one selling for one tael five qian.

The difference lay in the fineness of their ground powder and, most notably, the packaging.

This discovery instantly reignited Yan Lao’er’s entrepreneurial fire.

Burning brighter than ever!

On the way back, Yan Yu told her father, “Dad, stay calm! I never expected Yongning City to have such strong purchasing power. This soap business is worth pursuing. We can definitely sell it for at least eight qian. When we get home, we need to grind the powder even finer, sift it multiple times to improve quality, and enhance the packaging. Who knows, we might even sell it for a whole tael!”

Yan Yu’s voice grew higher with excitement.

Honestly, she was half talking to herself.

Eight qian… One tael… This is crazy! She could barely contain herself.

Yan Lao’er’s face turned red with excitement, and he nodded vigorously. “Let’s get home and get to work!”

—

The Yan family’s house was already half-built.

The kitchen, even earlier than the central rooms, was starting to take shape.

Per the owner’s request, the stove was built higher, with no concern for extra bricks.

Master Lu had no objections—his job was simply to meet the client’s needs.

As for why the Yan family needed three stoves, that wasn’t his problem. He just built them.

The half-finished kitchen had already become Madam Rong’s domain.

Since the chimney wasn’t finished, the aroma of cooking spread freely.

And with three stoves at her disposal, the Yan family’s meals instantly leveled up.

One pot for stews.

One pot for steaming large mantou and flower rolls.

One pot for slow-braising meat and various marinated dishes.

Yan Yu took in the scent and closed her eyes.

She swallowed a mouthful of saliva and murmured, “Ah! This smell—I could find my way home just by following it. Wuwuwu! Dad! I can’t even imagine… If we add the spices we bought today, how fragrant will the braised dishes be?”

With Madam Rong around, Yan Yu felt she could stay home forever.

As long as her dad kept restocking ingredients, she would be the happiest homebody!

Yan Lao’er was humbled.

Occasionally, Li Xuemei and Yan Yu would crave his cooking, but he knew they weren’t after the taste—it was just nostalgia.

When it came to cooking, Madam Rong had already reached the pinnacle of home-style cuisine.

Father and daughter unloaded the cart, and Yan Xiangheng quickly came over to help.

Lately, he had been assisting the neighboring Qi family with their house construction.

His tasks weren’t too heavy—mainly sketching layouts, aligning straight lines, and offering advice based on their own house.

The Qi family was building six rooms as well, copying the Yan family’s design entirely.

Even the heated walls weren’t left out.

In every possible way, the Qi family was striving to match the Yan family.