For the sake of the golden needles, Li An had racked his brains to co up with these ideas.
Speaking of the golden needles, Ye Yunniang thought of Old Master Chu Nan. She had said she would go pay her respects but still hadn't gone.
"Are you still going to the Chu Family Pharmacy to be an apprentice dispensing dicine?"
"We don't need to go starting tomorrow. Master said he's taking and Senior Brother out to gather herbs." Li An ntioned Gu Cundong's arrangent.
"Where to? Is it dangerous?"
"There's no danger, we're just going to the fields in the suburbs to dig up so common herbs."
Even though Li An said so, Ye Yunniang was still worried, planning to arrange for two martial-arts-trained servants to look after him.
As they were talking, Tong Tiei walked over; she had made an appointnt to et with Zhong Zhaoli.
Ye Yunniang followed Tong Tiei out of Xiaocaiji and went to a teahouse.
Zhong Zhaoli had arrived first and was waiting for the two of them in a private room.
As soon as Tong Tiei sat down, she talked about what she and Ye Yunniang wanted to do.
After hearing this, Zhong Zhaoli was very interested and wanted to participate.
She quickly brought out a planning proposal.
Zhong Zhaoli's plan was for a won's academy, structured like a traditional academy with different departnts and classes.
The departnts were divided into Craft, Arithtic, dicine, and Beauty.
Under each departnt, there were various classes.
Craft: Weaving, embroidery, culinary arts, pastry making, etc.
Arithtic: Basic arithtic, bookkeeping, household managent, etc.
dicine: dical skills, herb gathering, massage, etc.
Beauty: Hairstyling, facial cleansing, making rouge and costics, etc.
Ye Yunniang was full of admiration after reading it. Zhong Zhaoli was truly formidable when she wasn't focusing all her attention on Tong Mo.
Running shops had taught Zhong Zhaoli that offering things for free made people feel they were too easy to get and thus not cherish them.
She proposed two ways of studying.
One was like a traditional academy, paying a monthly tuition fee.
The other was signing a contract: after completing their studies, they would work in the shops under the academy's na for ten years to repay the tuition.
If they studied poorly, they would be expelled and have to return the tuition.
The students' products would be sold in the Zhong family's shops. When the girls finished their studies and left the academy, they could have priority to work in the Zhong family's shops.
Zhong Zhaoli had listed everything very comprehensively.
Ye Yunniang couldn't see any problems with it, so she took the proposal ho to show Jiang Mingzhe and seek his advice.
After reading it, Jiang Mingzhe raised many questions.
If the academy relied entirely on the Zhong family's shops, it would fall into a very passive position.
Would the Zhong family's shops accept all the students, or just so? How would the students who couldn't go be handled?
Also, the proposal didn't state how much each of the three of them would invest to establish the academy.
Who would be the director of the academy? When the three had differing opinions, who would make the final decision?
And who would manage the accounting books? ...
Jiang Mingzhe listed a checklist of questions.
Looking at the list, the slight hesitation in Ye Yunniang's heart grew much larger.
She had originally only wanted to run a small embroidery academy.
Now that it was so big, she felt quite intimidated.
The planned proposal required a large space, a large building, and hiring many people, which ant the expenses would also be huge.
If it succeeded, that would be fine.
If sothing went wrong in the middle, they would lose money.
Ye Yunniang would bla herself, as she was the one who suggested it first.
"Go ahead and do it with peace of mind. The children and I are your backing."
"Mhm, I'll think about it so more."
When Jiang Mingzhe ntioned the children, Ye Yunniang rembered that Li Ping didn't co ho yesterday.
Li Ping was preparing for the opening of the Little Sheep Pavilion, eating and sleeping over there.
"Did Pingping co back today?"
"No."
Hearing that Li Ping hadn't returned, Ye Yunniang was worried and wanted to go take a look.
Jiang Mingzhe accompanied her to the Little Sheep Pavilion.
When they arrived, they found a row of seven shops all under renovation. The Little Sheep Pavilion was almost finished, but the other six had just started.
"Could these six be...?" Ye Yunniang asked softly.
"My wife is smart," Jiang Mingzhe praised.
Ye Yunniang looked at Jiang Mingzhe's slightly profound smile.
"Did Pingping buy these six shops?"
"My wife guessed perfectly."
Ye Yunniang didn't know what to say. This father and son really never stopped battling each other.
"Pingping is still young, don't always bully him."
"Your words are a bit biased, my wife. The brat was willing and gave them of his own accord." Jiang Mingzhe didn't want to be wrongly accused.
"Pingping didn't do business to make money himself, but gave them away on his own initiative. Is he stupid?" Ye Yunniang felt that Li Ping wouldn't make a deal that lost money.
"He's as shrewd as can be."
Looking at it now, giving away six shops was a loss. But these were shops that the six princes were going to run.
Once the six princes finished running them, Li Ping would take over. Using their nas to attract custors would draw in many curious patrons.
"What if the princes don't return the shops?" Ye Yunniang was worried that if the shops were run well and made money, the princes wouldn't be willing to let them go.
"Then let the brat suffer a loss and learn a lesson." Jiang Mingzhe was quite happy to see that happen.
"You didn't remind Pingping of this."
"The brat has his tail high in the air right now; even if I told him, he wouldn't listen."
"Were you father and son enemies in your past lives?" Ye Yunniang couldn't help but ask. The two just wanted to see each other make fools of themselves.
Jiang Mingzhe smiled softly, "It's possible."
"What's possible? Stinky dad, are you speaking ill of again?" Li Ping walked over.
"Pingping." Ye Yunniang frowned. "You shouldn't speak to your father so aggressively."
"Mother, I was wrong." Li Ping imdiately apologized.
"You shouldn't be telling ." Ye Yunniang stepped aside, making Li Ping apologize to Jiang Mingzhe.
"Dad, I was wrong. I shouldn't have called you stinky."
Jiang Mingzhe accepted Li Ping's apology.
The father and son tacitly maintained peace in front of Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang pulled Li Ping close, examining him carefully, and said with heartache.
"You've lost weight."
"Mother, I haven't lost weight, I've actually gained so." Tasting dishes with Wen Nuan every day, he was eating eight als a day.
When Li Ping put on his clothes this morning, he found they were all tight.
However, Li Ping quite enjoyed his mother's concern.
"Aunt Wen has developed two new dishes. You ca at just the right ti, Mother. Taste them and give so feedback." Li Ping pulled Ye Yunniang into the Little Sheep Pavilion.
New dishes made by Wen Nuan had to be tasted.
Entering the Little Sheep Pavilion, Wen Nuan was plating food and looked up at the sound.
"Yunniang, co quickly and taste. I've been working on stir-fried lamb with garlic sprouts, and lamb and yam soup."
"It slls fragrant already; it must be delicious."
Ye Yunniang took the chopsticks Wen Nuan handed her and picked up a piece of the garlic sprout lamb to taste.
The tenderness of the lamb and the fragrance of the garlic sprouts blended perfectly, making it incredibly savory and refreshing to eat.
She accepted the small bowl of lamb and yam soup that Jiang Mingzhe scooped for her. The sweet yam paired with the soft, tender lamb made her whole body feel warm after eating it.
"The lamb and yam soup can be added to our family dining table." Ye Yunniang nodded continuously, urging Jiang Mingzhe to taste it too.
Jiang Mingzhe tasted it and agreed with Ye Yunniang's words.
"Yunniang, don't just focus on praising it. Tell the flaws too," Wen Nuan urged.
"The flaw is that there's too little of it, it's not enough to eat." Ye Yunniang said as she scooped another bowl of lamb and yam soup. "You two eat as well, don't just watch eat."
"We just finished a portion before you ca, we're really not hungry now." Wen Nuan and Li Ping were more than just not hungry; right now, seeing lamb made them a bit nauseous because they had eaten too much.
After tasting the delicious food, Ye Yunniang pulled Li Ping into the carriage to go ho.
On the way, Ye Yunniang voiced her concerns about the six shops.
"Mother, I'm not stupid. The contracts I signed with the princes are all written out clearly. If they want the shops, they can buy them at a ten percent discount off the market price." Wanting Li Ping to give them a shop for free was impossible.
"They are princes. What if they refuse to honor the contract?"
"Dad is there."
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