Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 305 Towards the Golden Palace (9)

Women who make a living in brothels year-round may not have the bright and beautiful looks of young women, but they have slender shoulders and a graceful waist.

After curtsying, she looked up and glanced at herself with captivating charm, her eyes and brows radiating allure.

Yan Zhen sensed a hint of flirting from the woman's actions, and his lips twitched.

Before she could say a few polite words of refusal, the woman noticed the wet stains on her hands and said solicitously, "I have no way to repay your kindness, sir. Is there any chores around the house that I can help you with?"

As she spoke these words, she slipped into the yard before Yan Zhen could return home and headed straight for the kitchen.

Soon, the sound of washing the earthenware jars could be heard from inside.

Yan Zhen: "..."

She looked at Abao.

Abao grinned at her: "I told my mom I wanted you to be my dad, so I could have pork cracklings to eat every day."

Yan Zhen flicked him on the forehead: "Thank you for your kindness, but I can't be your father."

Yan Zhen returned to the kitchen and leaned against the doorway to watch the woman busy at work.

She worked very quickly, rolling up her sleeves and using a loofah dipped in wood ash, she cleaned the dirty earthenware pot in no time.

She washed more than a dozen earthenware jars in less than fifteen minutes.

The woman, wanting to impress, started busying herself in the kitchen after washing the earthenware pot. She noticed that the rice container was empty and the stove was covered in a layer of dust, indicating that she hadn't cooked in a long time.

She enthusiastically dragged Yan Zhen and A Bao to the street to buy rice and vegetables.

Yan Zhen was led out by her, and along the way he watched the woman select fresh ingredients, haggling with the vendors with great enthusiasm, and soon they returned home with their bags full.

The woman started cooking, and in less than half an hour, a very homely meal of three dishes and a soup was served.

She served Yan Zhen rice attentively: "Husband, eat more. If you like it, I will cook for you often in the future."

Yan Zhen tasted it and put down his chopsticks.

The woman frowned: "Husband, is the food not to your liking?"

"No, it's quite delicious." Yan Zhen picked up the plate of meat and vegetables on the table and handed it to A Bao along with a bowl of rice. "Go eat outside. I have something to say to your mother."

Ah Bao picked up the dishes, turned around, and left the dining room.

Seeing this, the woman thought that Yan Zhen wanted to talk to her about private matters between men and women.

A fleeting hint of impatience and annoyance crossed her eyes, but her face remained smiling, shy and timid, her voice both sweet and alluring: "Husband, what do you want to say to me?"

"Don't call me husband, I am a woman just like you."

The woman was startled, and the chopsticks in her hand fell to the table with a "clatter".

She looked Yan Zhen up and down in disbelief, and seeing that he indeed did not have an Adam's apple and did not have a beard like other men, her expression was indescribable at first, then she stood up and said angrily, "Are you playing me?"

Yan Zhen shrugged: "These are not things I asked you to do."

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner?" The woman's temper changed as quickly as turning the pages of a book, all her charm vanished, and she put her hands on her hips, saying fiercely, "Seeing me rushing to please you, were you secretly laughing at me?"

"I don't have that kind of hobby," Yan Zhen said calmly. "I have other reasons for not stopping you."

The woman asked suspiciously, "What's your intention?"

Yan Zhen didn't answer immediately, but asked instead, "Do you want to retire from your life of crime and find a man to marry?"

Woman: "...Yes."

"Marrying a man is unreliable; no one knows what kind of monster you'll marry. If you want to make a living, you'd better work hard and earn money."

Yan Zhen said, "I'm planning to start a business and I need a smooth-talking and eloquent helper. If you're willing to help, I'll pay you a percentage of your salary, how about that?"

The woman was cautious and did not agree immediately. Instead, she carefully inquired with Yan Zhen about the type of business he wanted to do, what kind of help he needed, and how much salary she would receive each month.

After some discussion, she made a request: "I can do things for you, but you have to provide food and lodging for me and Abao—of course, I won't stay for free, I'll cook for you."

"it is good."

The "man" she originally intended to seduce turned out to be a woman, and even became her employer. It took the woman a whole meal to adjust her mindset.

After the meal, she volunteered to wash the dishes.

Yan Zhen watched her busy figure and asked, "What's your name?"

The woman blurted out, "Ruyan."

"...It's not the name of the flower in Qixiang Pavilion."

"Oh, my name is Wang Xiaocui."

-

A few days later, Wang Xiaocui, who had redeemed herself from Qixianglou, moved into the house rented by Yan Zhen with Abao.

The next day, Yan Zhen took Wang Xiaocui and her son out to stroll around a fruit farm outside Yinzhou City.

It is early autumn, the season when various fruits ripen.

The climate in Yinzhou was stable this year, and the orchards were laden with hawthorns, oranges, yellow peaches, and white pears. Yan Zhen bought hundreds of kilograms of each and hired an oxcart to haul them home, starting his second pot of gold—making canned goods.

The canning process is simpler than making soap, and with the help of Wang Xiaocui, a capable assistant, the first batch of finished products was completed in just two days.

During the taste test, Wang Xiaocui's surprise was palpable, and Abao practically buried his head in the pottery jar.

Yan Zhen knew that the deal was done.

Unlike soap, which can be sold year-round, canned goods can only be made and stored until winter, when heavy snow falls and fruits and vegetables become scarce, before being brought out to sell.

Yan Zhen and Wang Xiaocui got busy for the next while.

Yan Zhen rented a courtyard not far from the farm to use as a workshop, and hired a group of people to make canned goods. The finished canned goods were then transported to another rented warehouse in the city for storage.

Yan Zhen was right about Wang Xiaocui. From purchasing large quantities of pottery jars to negotiating prices with fruit farmers in various farms, and supervising the workers in making canned goods on a daily basis, Wang Xiaocui played a huge role.

Having worked in the entertainment industry for over twenty years, she was outspoken and had a loud voice. She was good at reading people and knew how to say one thing to one person and another to another. With her mediating, Yan Zhen was saved a lot of trouble.

The factory worked tirelessly for more than three months until winter arrived and all the fruits were out of season, at which point it finally shut down.

As the first frost fell over Yinzhou City, Yan Zhen loaded a dozen cans of food onto a horse-drawn cart and delivered them one by one to the shopkeepers of the merchants who had previously purchased soap from her.

When she delivered the jars to Manager Yuan's house, she took a few extra and asked Manager Yuan to deliver them to Master Zhao, the clerk of the Yinzhou government office.

She had inquired and learned that the clerk, Zhao, loved sweets.

When the first snow fell in Yinzhou, "Cao's Fruit Canned Goods" sold out.

During this period, something happened that inadvertently established the consumer base for canned goods—

Wang Xiaocui brought canned food back to Qixianglou to visit her former colleagues, where she was spotted by a wealthy young man who came looking for fun.

He took a bite and was greatly surprised, and took the canned food home to give to his sick mother.

The wealthy lady loved the taste of the canned food and was also pleased with her son's filial piety. Overjoyed, her illness improved significantly, and she accompanied her daughter to the plum garden to admire the plum blossoms in the winter.

This news spread among the wealthy in Yinzhou City, directly boosting the reputation and sales of canned goods.

Yan Zhen simply raised the price of the canned food, selling it for fifteen taels of silver per can, specifically targeting high-end consumers.

There is no shortage of wealthy people in any era. The high price of canned goods has not deterred consumers; on the contrary, it has made it the trendsetter in Yinzhou City this year.

It's a matter of pride and prestige to have Cao's canned fruit at a banquet.

Yan Zhen bought a street-front shop as a sales point, and distributed it to various businesses. The more than 20,000 cans of canned food that he produced over three months were sold out in less than a month.

She did the math and found that after deducting all costs for raw materials and labor, the deal would net her 220,000 taels of silver.