The Wealthy Eldest Sister Rules Supreme

After Zhuang Sifu finished speaking, he licked his lips and looked eagerly at Zhuang Yonghe and Zhuang Qingning.

Zhuang Sifu is a naive boy. Because of the early death of his mother, he became sensible earlier than other children. He was not interested in mischief and was polite to others.

When it comes to him transporting tofu to town on a bullock cart, there is no problem at all.

Furthermore, Zhuang Sifu and Zhuang Qingning are relatives within five degrees, technically cousin siblings. They often work together, so there would be no objections from others.

Zhuang Yonghe felt this arrangement was a pretty good fit.

However, his opinion didn’t matter, it was Zhuang Qingning who was paying for the labour, everything needed to be according to Zhuang Qingning’s preferences.

Zhuang Yonghe transferred his gaze towards Zhuang Qingning, waiting for her decision.

Moreover, he thought, if Zhuang Qingning found it inappropriate and was uncomfortable to express it, she only had to give him a sign, and he would refuse on her behalf, ready to play the bad guy if needed.

Zhuang Qingning understood Zhuang Yonghe’s perspective, and after nodding to him, she said with a smile, “Uncle Yonghe and I were just discussing the matter of sending tofu to town, and it’s a coincidence you, Brother Sifu, came at this moment.”

“I’m in need of someone who can help us with transporting tofu to town with their bullock cart. Since your household has a bullock cart and you’re free to help out on a daily basis, let’s settle on this plan, Brother Sifu helping us transport tofu to town.”

“For the moment, we’ll be making only one trip to town per day, so the payment…”

Zhuang Qingning paused for a moment before continuing. “Brother Sifu, this is the deal. I’ve set up a shop in town, and chances are we will need to make a lot of trips. So, I can pay you by the month for your bullock cart, a hundred and twenty coins per month for now, no matter how many trips we make. If anything comes up, I will count on you, Brother Sifu.”

“Considering the current situation, we’re only likely to make one trip a day. Mostly, I’m thinking it would be convenient to have a cart handy when there is a need.”

“Agreed, agreed.” As soon as Zhuang Sifu heard he would receive over a hundred coins per month, he eagerly nodded, “Let’s do as Sister Ning says.”

But after committing, he had second thoughts and immediately suggested, “How about this, we give it a try for the first month to see how often you need the cart. If it’s not much, you can pay less, and if it’s quite often, you can pay more. This seems fairer to me.”

As long as Zhuang Qingning gets a good deal on the cart service, he will feel at ease with the money he receives.

If you only needed the cart once a day for the whole month, he would be embarrassed to take that much money.

“Agreed.” Zhuang Qingning smiled and nodded her agreement, “So, we have a deal then. Starting from tomorrow, we’ll transport tofu to town in the afternoon. At the end of the month, we’ll settle the payment.”

“Great,” the jubilant Zhuang Sifu agreed immediately. After confirming the timing with Zhuang Qingning, he cheerfully set off for home.

Now that the issue of arranging for the bullock cart was settled, there were no other concerns left.

Everything was falling into place, leaving Zhuang Qingning relieved.

On the other hand, Zhuang Yonghe was chuckling at Zhuang Qingning.

“Uncle Yonghe, why are you laughing?” Zhuang Qingning raised her eyebrows inquiringly when she saw him looking at her and laughing.

“Nothing much, the thought just occurred to me that you’re a very lucky person.” Zhuang Yonghe replied, “I’m sure you’ll become very wealthy and successful in the future.”

What Zhuang Yonghe said was not flattery; he was just stating a fact.

Ever since Zhuang Qingning’s status as the head of her household was confirmed, everything she did seemed to progress swimmingly, with plenty of help from others.

Without a livelihood, Mrs. Wen, who was infamous for her ill-temper, leased her tofu factory to Zhuang Qingning, without asking for any rent.

In the business of selling tofu, the chef at Fushun Tower preferred buying Zhuang Qingning’s tofu rather than doing business with his own in-laws, even selling her tofu in the county town.

When it was time to build a house, it was such a stroke of luck that Zhuang Jingye was desperate enough to want to contribute to this venture for political gains. He vowed to repair the house and also volunteered to expand the tofu factory.

Now, regarding a bullock cart for transportation to town, along came Zhuang Sifu…

On every occasion, Zhuang Yonghe had reason to believe that Zhuang Qingning was a very lucky person, or perhaps someone blessed by the divine.

There was only one thing to remember in the future: just happily help Zhuang Qingning with her work, and maybe he could borrow some of her luck too.

Zhuang Qjngning didn’t overthink it and just smiled delightedly, “Then I will happily accept your good wishes, Uncle Yonghe.”

After they discussed matters regarding the tofu factory, they each went off to their own tasks.

The next day, the tofu factory began supplying tofu as scheduled, twice a day, and the tofu hot pot was never at rest.

Zhuang Qingning delegated the responsibility of managing the tofu production and the tofu factory to Zhuang Mingliang.

As for Mingliang, he was a very honest, diligent, and meticulous person. He was a quick learner when it came to these matters. After only a few days, he had already grasped the essentials, which was very reassuring.

As for the tofu recipe water, Zhuang Qingning mixed it into the Physalis used for making tofu so no one could detect it.

After everything was arranged, Zhuang Qingning, along with Bai San, took Zhuang Qingsui to town.

When they arrived at the shop, Mrs. Cao and Zhang Qiuying had already opened the door and were cleaning the shop and wiping the windows.

Both mother and daughter were industrious and loved cleanliness, so the shop and the area outside were impeccably clean. When they saw Zhuang Qingning and the others arrive, they promptly put aside their own tasks to help unload the goods.

“Oh, Big Sister Ning, did you notice?” Zhang Qiuying huddled over and looked at Zhuang Qingning while working.

“Notice what?” Zhuang Qingning was somewhat confused.

“The front entrance.” Zhang Qiuying pointed over, “Look, the stall owners have changed.”

Zhuang Qingning looked over in the direction Zhang Qiuying was pointing and saw a sesame seed cake stand next to the stall where Zhang Qiuying sold the fried chop rice cake, and then there was a stall selling fried dough sticks.

Zhuang Qingning looked over three or four more stalls but didn’t see Ge Hetong’s pea cake stall anywhere.

Did they not come today?

But, Ge Hetong’s stall was doing good business yesterday, so logically, he shouldn’t miss out on such a great opportunity.

If he’s not going to be absent, then there’s only one reason why he can’t set up his stall here anymore.

“Seems like my guess yesterday was right, he was forced out,” Zhuang Qingning said with a grin.

“Big Sister Ning, you’re such a good guesser,” Zhang Qiuying gave Zhuang Qingning a thumbs-up and said, “My mom and I got up early to clean the shop and the backyard in no time.”

“And the moment we got here, we saw Uncle Ge arguing with someone, claiming that the spot he usually set up his stall was taken by others.”

“Of course, the others didn’t stay quiet either and refuted him right on the spot, arguing that there was no designated area for setting up stalls in town, and no spot belonged to anyone. It has always been first come first served.

Furthermore, they accused Uncle Ge of using his old age to bully others..”