Chapter 367 - 367: To Each His Own

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

When she thought of this, Princess Xiangyang no longer fretted over Qin Xiaoyao’s reaction.

However, the way she looked at her master was filled with pity.

It was unfortunate that while her master was unparalleled in martial arts, in the realm of literary accomplishment, she was…

Qin Xiaoyao looked a little embarrassed when she saw Xiangyang’s reaction.

“Ahem… they are pretty good.

“I met this guy Young Master Song at the Ministry of Rites previously.

“Young Master Song is not only talented in literature, but he is also quite capable. In addition, he is also very handsome.” When she said the last sentence, a smile had already crept across Qin Xiaoyao’s face.

Of course, her husband was handsome.

Up until now, she had never seen anyone who was more good-looking than her husband.

Princess Xiangyang nodded in agreement with Qin Xiaoyao.

She had personally witnessed Song Rui’s poetic talent. However, she had only heard about his performance at the Ministry of Rites from other people.

When she entered the palace today, her mother had personally told her about it, so she understood it even more clearly.

As for his looks…

Princess Xiangyang suddenly looked at Qin Xiaoyao as if she remembered something.

“I feel that Young Master Liu’s looks are not worse than his.” She felt that it was a little against her conscience to say that Master Liu was more handsome than Song Rui.

However, she honestly felt that Liu Ling’s looks were not inferior to Song Rui’s.

In the beginning, she was indeed biased against Liu Ling.

However, after knowing the truth and having spent a long time with Liu Ling, observing how he handled things, not only did she not hate Liu Ling now, but she also admired him.

If it wasn’t for his poor background, Liu Ling could have relied on his own abilities to make a name for himself.

Qin Xiaoyao was a little surprised.

She did not expect Princess Xiangyang to compare Liu Ling to her husband.

However, when she thought of their similar appearances, she suddenly felt that it was not that strange anymore.

“You seem to think quite highly of Liu Ling,” Qin Xiaoyao said with a meaningful look.

In her heart, no one was comparable to her husband.

Moreover, in terms of other tangible aspects, Liu Ling was indeed very much inferior to her husband.

This girl Xiangyang actually said that Liu Ling was not inferior to her husband. She did not know if it was because her sense of aesthetics was different from others, or…

Xiangyang’s expression stiffened.

“Master, don’t misunderstand. I… 1 didn’t mean anything else. 1 simply felt that Liu Ling was quite good-looking. Moreover, he is very capable,” she quickly explained.

To her chagrin, her explanation only made the meaningful look in Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes even stronger.

“You mean Liu Ling is more capable than Song Rui?”

Xiangyang’s face turned red at once.

Song Rui was indeed very capable, and he had made great contributions at the Ministry of Rites.

Compared to Song Rui, Liu Ling’s ability in doing business seemed… There was really no comparison.

Yet, for some reason, she still felt that Liu Ling was not inferior to Song Rui.

When she saw that her master was still looking at her with that kind of meaningful gaze, a hint of guilt flashed across Princess Xiangyang’s heart.

“Gosh, Master! You know I don’t mean that! Don’t look at me like that!”

“Hehe! When you say you don’t mean that, what is ‘that’ referring to?” Qin Xiaoyao refused to let Princess Xiangyang off and continued to tease her.

This girl had been quite close to Liu Ling recently.

Could it be that she had really developed feelings for him at such a young age?

“Master!” Princess Xiangyang protested in embarrassment.

“You refuse to talk seriously. 1 won’t talk to you anymore!” Then, she turned around and fled.

“Hahahaha…” Qin Xiaoyao’s loud laughter rang out from behind.

Upon hearing this laughter, Princess Xiangyang became even more embarrassed and annoyed. She quickened her pace.

In the end, she bumped into Liu Ling just as she left the courtyard.

“Lord Marquis…” Liu Ling was rushing into the courtyard hurriedly while calling out anxiously to Qin Xiaoyao.

When he saw Princess Xiangyang walk out of the courtyard, he quickly stopped and prepared to rush toward Princess Xiangyang to pay his respects to her.

Princess Xiangyang’s face was flushed. She looked at Liu Ling with an evasive expression and then averted her eyes quickly.

Then, without saying anything to Liu Ling, she ran away.

Liu Ling’s bow froze in mid-air.

The words that he wanted to say also froze on his tongue.

“Haha! Is it Young Master Liu?” At this moment, Liu Ling heard Qin Xiaoyao’s voice coming from the courtyard.

Liu Ling, who was initially puzzled by Princess Xiangyang’s reaction, instantly recovered himself.

“Yes, it is I,” he shouted toward the courtyard.

Thereafter, he quickly walked into the courtyard.

After entering the courtyard, Liu Ling saw Qin Xiaoyao sitting on a recliner under the shade of a tree.

Liu Ling hurried forward and reported the workshop’s work progress to Qin Xiaoyao.

Only then did Qin Xiaoyao learn that the workshop had received another big order today.

“I’ve approved the recruitment of new staff.

“In addition, an additional twenty workers is too little. Just go and procure another hundred workers.

“It doesn’t matter if you get more workers. We can inform the broker to keep a look out for us while we slowly pick the right candidate.”

“Previously, Yun Niang mentioned that a guy called Landlord Zheng was interested in selling a manor in the suburbs.

“It’s just that the price is a little too expensive. He’s asking for 8ooo taels of silver.

“After you go back, take stock of the money collected from the porridge shops and the workshop and see how much you can withdraw.”

“If you can gather 5000 taels, I will go and buy that manor. Later on, we’ll move the century egg workshop to that manor.” In this way, there was no need to worry about not being able to accommodate so many workers.

Moreover, the manor was big and came with some open land.

After buying it, she could arrange for the workers to stay there and let them farm and raise poultry and such. They would be self-sufficient.

Liu Ling’s eyes flickered.

“There’s no need to take stock. Last night, 1 checked the accounts and found that there are more than 5500 taels of excess silver that can be used,” he said.

The reason the century egg workshop and the porridge shops could accumulate so much silver in a short time was firstly, the deposits from the large orders that the century egg workshop received had been received.

Secondly, the income from the customers who applied for membership cards in the porridge shops was quite substantial.

This was especially true of the income from the membership fees. Even though it didn’t cost much to set up a membership account, the number of people who signed up was enormous.

Once the number of people increased, the membership fees collected would not be a small amount.

Liu Ling also received a lot of deposits for the century egg workshop.

For large orders, he took 50% of the other party’s payment straightaway, and for small orders, he took at least 30%.

As for delivering the other party’s goods, he was not able to arrange order fulfillment for most of them because the workshop was short of manpower.

Even if he used up the deposits, he had calculated that the remaining money in the account was enough to purchase the two raw materials since chicken eggs and duck eggs were cheap.

Moreover, the century egg workshop was delivering a large number of goods to the outside world every day.

Upon completing the delivery, he would receive the remaining payment.

As the profits from the century egg business were huge, the money received could then be used to buy the two main ingredients, which were chicken and duck eggs, again.

If the funds allocated for specific purposes were used as designated, it would not be long before a new surplus would appear in the accounts.

Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes lit up.

“So much?” She was a little surprised.

Liu Ling nodded.

“It’s not a problem to take out 5000 taels.”

“Except that we may have to slow down on opening new porridge shops.” After all, they only had this amount of funds. If he took care of this end, there wouldn’t be enough funds for the other side.

Qin Xiaoyao nodded.

“Let’s buy the manor first.

“Clothes, food, accommodation, and transportation are all expensive in the city. Moving the workshop to the manor earlier can save a lot of money..”