A single bowl of century egg and lean pork congee gave Boss Yue a huge boost of confidence. His only regret was that he hadn’t brought enough cash on this trip.

Fortunately, his shop was currently the only one in the Prefectural City selling century egg congee.

Once he recouped half of his initial investment, he’d have his brother-in-law come back for another round. As long as he moved fast enough, the cash wouldn’t be small.

However, to achieve the same level of popularity as the local noodle shop, the price couldn’t be too high; otherwise, ordinary diners simply wouldn’t be able to afford it.

So, he chuckled and turned to Ye Li, who was serving the porridge: “Mr. Ye, this porridge is every bit as good as the finest delicacies; once you taste it, the flavor lingers on the palate.”

“Still, with all this meat and century eggs in the porridge, I wonder how that cold noodle shop sets its prices?”

Aunt Lu, standing nearby, was also quite concerned about this. There were so many good ingredients in this porridge—surely it would cost more than the cold-served century eggs? If it were too expensive, it wouldn’t sell well.

She sipped her porridge while looking expectantly at Ye Li. Ye Li had already thought this through.

He set down his spoon, turned, and explained, “In Beiyang County, we’ll keep the price of the porridge at eight wen. In the Prefectural City, Mr. Yue, you can set the price based on the prices of the various noodle dishes at your restaurant.”

Stir-fried cold noodles are priced at seven wen per bowl.

The century egg and lean pork congee was set at eight wen—one wen higher than the stir-fried cold noodles—which still stayed within the customers’ budget. After all, this congee contained meat.

Every ingredient is of high quality.

“If it’s eight wen per bowl, we’ll put one century egg and a few slices of pork in the porridge, keeping the cost at six wen.”

“But some customers who aren’t short on cash will surely find that unsatisfying. So, cook an extra pot of congee without rice—just century eggs and lean pork—so that wealthy customers can add meat and century eggs separately.”

Rice is quite expensive—seven wen per catty.

But when making congee, fifty grams of raw rice—or one tael—is enough to produce a bowl of very thick congee. Calculated this way, one jin of rice yields ten bowls of congee, bringing the cost per bowl to 0.7 wen.

As for century eggs, small ones cost two wen each and large ones three wen each. If we use the small size, the cost is two wen.

Lean pork is cheap—you can get a catty for about 17 or 18 wen. A single tael of raw pork is enough for a bowl of porridge, so the cost is 1.7 wen. Additionally, seasonings like shredded ginger, salt, pepper, and sesame oil, plus the firewood, add up to a total cost of 1 wen per bowl.

Thus, the total cost of that bowl of congee is 5.4 wen. There might be slight fluctuations, but keeping it under 6 wen is no problem.

Of course, even if it exceeds six wen, it doesn’t matter—they’re selling in volume anyway.

If he sells 500 bowls a day, even if he only makes 1.5 wen per bowl, the net profit is still 450 wen. That’s no small sum.

If he maintains this level every day, that comes to thirteen taels and five tael a month. Is that a small amount?

It’s no small sum by any standard!

To be honest, he was even thinking of getting Bao Beiyuan to switch to selling congee too—not only is the pay better, but the work is easier!

However, century eggs come in various sizes, and this cost calculation is based on the smaller ones.

But with a big pot of congee, as long as the total weight of the century eggs and lean pork in the pot remains the same—no shortchanging—that’s honest business, not ripping people off.

As for scooping it out—maybe the bits of century egg in one bowl don’t quite make up a whole one, or the century egg in another bowl looks a bit more plentiful—but as long as it’s roughly even, it’s acceptable. Most customers won’t nitpick.

Aunt Lu was reassured after hearing this. Eight wen per bowl is more expensive than cold-dressed century eggs. But it’s only one wen more.

Anyone who can afford the cold-tossed century eggs probably wouldn’t mind that one-wen difference. Besides, this porridge is delicious!

It’s especially delicious!

What could be better than a steaming bowl of century egg and lean pork congee on a cold winter day? So even as winter sets in, there’s no shortage of buyers for century eggs.

It’s just that with no out-of-town merchants or travelers in Beiyang County, sales are bound to drop.

But now that they have the Prefectural City as a new market—one declining, one growing—they’ll surely offset each other. The Prefectural City’s market is so huge!

So from now on, they’ll have to do our very best to make century eggs!

Aunt Lu’s thoughts wandered off, while Mr. Yue, listening to Ye Li’s words, began doing the math in his head. This price is indeed reasonable.

The vegetarian tossed noodles at his noodle shop cost eight wen. If you add an egg, that brings it to ten wen. Still, this price is about right.

After all, it’s porridge—mostly water. It might taste delicious, but you’ll be hungry again in no time. When it comes to filling your stomach, noodles are definitely the better deal.

Therefore, he had no intention of pricing the congee the same as the noodles.

But he had come all the way from the Prefectural City, and the costs along the way…

He cleared his throat and continued, “Fulang, I’m carrying a large shipment, and the round trip covers hundreds of miles. You see…”

Before he could finish, he saw Ye Li smile, and he smiled along with him. “Mr. Ye, the expenses along the way were indeed quite high. Could you lower the price of the century eggs a bit?”

He wasn’t lying.

Just for renting the carts, one oxcart costs one hundred wen per day.

He was driving his own oxcart, and the remaining four were rented from a carting company—one hundred wen per day, which came to four hundred wen. Six days round-trip meant two taels and four tael.

As for the two extra days spent in Beiyang County—well, that was a bit awkward to mention. In front of Ye Li, he didn’t want to bring that up; he’d stick to the obvious expenses.

Additionally, for lodging at an inn, a standard room costs sixty wen per day. Since he shared a room with his brother-in-law, six days and four nights came to two hundred and forty wen.

The assistant stayed in a dormitory-style room for eight wen per night; three people paid twenty-four wen each for four nights, for a total of ninety-six wen. Add that up, and it comes to three hundred thirty-six wen.

As for meals, since they were all men, even if they just ate flatbread, they’d need several pieces per meal.

Counting this expense and the lodging as one tael, plus the cost of hiring a cart, that comes to a little over three taels. A single trip would cost him three or four taels—a cost far higher than running a starch noodle shop.

So he wanted to haggle.

Ye Li had his own ledger in mind; he understood the math clearly, after all, Jiang Ji had just gone to Prefectural City to take the imperial exams. In fact, Boss Yue wasn’t making a bad profit either.

A bowl of century egg and lean pork congee nets him one cash wen and five li; with those 30,000 century eggs—that is, 30,000 bowls—Mr. Yue could make forty-five taels. But since the customer had come from afar and had already broached the subject, he certainly had to offer a reasonable discount.

In business, one can’t be too rigid; Yezaopo currently needs this connection to the Prefectural City.

So he turned to Aunt Lu and said, “Aunt Lu, since Mr. Yue has put it that way—it’s no easy feat for him to make the long journey all the way here—shall we lower the price a bit?”

A portion of those 30,000 century eggs belonged to Aunt Lu’s family.

Aunt Lu nodded. “Alright, let’s lower the price a bit. It really is a hassle for Mr. Yue to make the trip.” 

“I’ll go out and discuss it with the others.”

With these thirty thousand century eggs, every household except Ye Li’s would receive a share—it wasn’t a decision she could make on her own. Ye Li nodded. “Alright. By the way, Mr. Yue, why don’t you invite your men over for some congee?”

Mr. Yue nodded with a smile. “Such delicious porridge, cooked by Jiang Fulang himself—the three assistants who came with me are truly in for a treat.”

Ye Li smiled at his words and followed Aunt Lu out of the kitchen. In the courtyard, construction on the new house to the west was still underway.

Over here, by the shed, stood several villagers who had brought their century eggs over on handcarts. Ye Li currently had no century eggs to sell to Boss Yue; this batch of hers wasn’t ready yet.

With thirty thousand century eggs to be distributed among the remaining twenty-one households—at least a thousand per household—it was impossible to carry them all by hand; handcarts were essential.

During the summer, Ye Li publicly announced that century eggs could be used to make congee in order to reassure the villagers.

Now the porridge was ready, and he had made half a pot. After serving the five people, including Boss Yue, there was still plenty left. Besides, Boss Yue would have to make another batch later to ensure he had truly mastered the technique.

So, he called out to the villagers who wanted some to go home and fetch a bowl. With porridge this delicious, naturally, everyone wanted a taste.

Just look at the porridge in Aunt Lu’s bowl—not only is it thick and creamy, but it’s also studded with slices of meat. Just the sight of it makes people swallow their saliva quietly!

So, for the entire morning, Ye Li’s house was bustling like a marketplace—people delivering century eggs, others waiting to drink the porridge—until noon, when the handover was finally complete. All thirty thousand century eggs were loaded onto the truck.

As for the price, after discussing it with everyone, Aunt Lu decided to offer a discount of 100 wen per thousand eggs. Previously, selling a thousand eggs would have earned 1,100 wen.

With a discount of 100 wen, they’d still make 1,000 wen. That wasn’t actually a small amount.

With 30,000 century eggs, the total discount amounted to 3,000 wen, instantly covering more than half of Mr. Yue’s expenses for the trip. This brought his costs nearly in line with Gong Lisheng’s, demonstrating considerable goodwill.

Mr. Yue was very satisfied and immediately said that upon returning home, he would mobilize his entire family to make congee. He planned to serve cold-dressed century eggs alongside the noodles at his noodle shop—a two-pronged approach to speed up cash flow and aim to return to Beiyang County as soon as possible.

In the meantime, they’ll need to prepare another 30,000 worth of stock for him!

Mr. Yue didn’t linger; he loaded the century eggs onto his truck and left.

Having filled their bellies with congee, the five of them were now ready to set out early. By traveling quickly, they aimed to return to Prefectural City within three days—which would save them a considerable amount of cash on carriage hire!

After Boss Yue left, the villagers who had received cash immediately handed Ye Li his share of the commission. The 30,000 century eggs had earned a total of 30 taels; Ye Li took a 10% cut, so he was due 3 taels.

Soon, everyone dispersed.

It was time for Ye Li to make lunch.

Most of the lean meat from the pork hind leg that Boss Yue had brought had been used to make century egg and lean pork congee. Now, three-quarters of what remained was fatty meat.

This kind of meat—more fat than lean—was a favorite among many people these days.

The Jiang and Ye Liang families had only been better off for a little over half a year, and they, too, favored this kind of meat.

Ye Li sliced the meat, put it in the pot to render the fat, then added tofu to fry briefly. The rest of the process was the same as the past few days: stewing the dish in a large pot.

Since they’d made some cash today, he also added some sweet potato noodles to the pot.

He also tossed in the marrowbone from the hind leg to simmer along with the rest.

Once the stew was ready, the aroma filled the air. Because it had simmered for so long, the fatty parts of the plump meat slices had turned slightly translucent, soaking in the brown broth—a sight that was incredibly tempting to Ye Li and his son.

The three of them were more than satisfied with today’s meal, eating their fill with a bite of flatbread followed by a bite of thick meat. Boss Yue is so generous!

Of course, Li-ger’s cooking skills are top-notch too.

Ye Li scooped the marrow bone into his own bowl. Well, since Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya also liked thick slices of meat, he might as well let them have the bone.

After gnawing on the marrow bone, slurping down half a bowl of sweet potato noodles, and eating a few pieces of the lotus flower pastries Boss Yue had bought, he was finally satisfied.

However, after the meal, the three members of the Ye family didn’t rest for a single moment. They set down their bowls and chopsticks, immediately grabbed their trowels and shovels, and headed toward the new house—some to build walls, others to mix mortar.

This made Jiang Ji feel too guilty to rest. So he picked up a trowel and followed them. Ye Li watched his back and sighed softly.

However, Ye Li couldn’t rest either. Since they’d had a late lunch today, he had to hurry and fry the fried tofu puffs; otherwise, he wouldn’t finish in time. So, the two of them—who had originally planned to sneak off to the county town for a date—were once again tied up by tedious chores until nightfall.

The three members of the Ye family left early, but Jiang Dahu, Jiang Tong, and the others kept working until it was so dark they could no longer see, only then stopping. And so, the day passed.

After dinner, Jiang Ji finished washing up and walked around the new house with an oil lamp.

After confirming that tools like the trowel had been brought back inside and that the large dog Zhang Shi had specially brought over was securely tied at the junction between the new house and the backyard, he returned to the main hall.

Now that the western courtyard wall had been torn down, their own courtyard had become little more than a formality. Seeing this, Zhang Shi had brought over his family’s large dog and tied it at the junction between the new house and the backyard.

This way, the dog could guard both the building materials in the front yard and the pigs and chickens in the back yard. With this big dog around, he and Ye Li could sleep soundly at night.

He entered the main hall, bolted the door, and then went to check on the east room.

Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya were fast asleep, their chubby little faces peeking out from under the blankets, looking utterly adorable. A smile flashed across his eyes. He closed the door behind him and, holding the oil lamp, made his way to the west room.

In the west room, Ye Li sat on the kang, counting the days on her fingers.

As soon as she saw him enter, Ye Li waved him over: “You’re finally here. Come on up.”

“What are you doing?” Jiang Ji bolted the door, set down the oil lamp, and then walked over to her.

“Counting the days. Today is the fourth day. By the eighth day, I’ll go see Uncle Jiang and tell him about the fried tofu puffs workshop.”

Ye Li explained.

Jiang Ji smiled at this; today had indeed been far too busy, running counter to their plans. As he climbed onto the kang, he said, “Why don’t you go see him tomorrow? It won’t make a difference if you wait a few more days.” 

“If you get this job out of the way sooner, you’ll have a few extra days to rest.”

The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can enjoy yourself.

“Tomorrow?” Ye Li hesitated. “I’d like to observe a bit longer…” “In my opinion, there’s no need to observe any further.”

Jiang Ji pulled back the quilt and sat down inside the bed.

He wrapped his arms around Ye Li and said, “The core secret of making tofu should stay within our own circle first—people like Xiao Liu and Brother Datong. As for the rest, like grinding the soybeans and frying the tofu, we can leave those tasks to others.”

“It doesn’t matter if those two steps get leaked.”

Ye Li：“……”

He turned to look at Jiang Ji, his eyes widening slightly.

The core secret of making tofu should first be kept within our own family? Jiang Tong and Jiang Liu are, of course, trustworthy.

Including tael Erxiang and Gao Jun—they could be trusted as well.

If all four of them worked together, each person could easily make 120 jin of tofu.

After all, there are only two steps—boiling the soy milk and curdling the tofu—and he could easily make sixty jin of tofu on his own. With four people working together, that would be four hundred and eighty jin of tofu.

That amount of tofu could yield 240 jin of fried tofu puffs. He sold them to Ye Liang for 11 wen per jin of fried tofu puffs.

But the cost is five wen and three li, so for every pound sold, he makes a profit of five wen and seven li.

If he had 240 jin of fried tofu puffs, he could earn 1,368 wen in a single day! Of course, he’d have to pay the other workers.

Well, the wages wouldn’t have to be too high—thirty wen per person per day. In the dead of winter, that’s a job that’s hard to come by even if you went looking with a lantern. Plus, by separating the three steps—grinding the soybeans, curdling the soy milk, and frying the fried tofu puffs—each step would only require half a day’s work.

Earning thirty wen for half a day’s work—if he advertised the job, the whole village would be lining up to take it. That way, even if he paid out a thousand wen in wages, he’d still come out ahead by three hundred sixty-eight wen.

That’s eleven taels a month!

But clearly, he wouldn’t need to spend a thousand wens on wages. At thirty wens per person, a thousand wens would hire thirty-three people.

With just this small amount of fried tofu puffs, why would he need thirty-three people to do the work?

If there really were thirty-three people working, the output of fried tofu puffs would surely double.

At this thought, Ye Li couldn’t bring himself to calculate any further; his heart and mind were racing! He dared not think about it any further!

He wrapped his arms around Jiang Ji’s neck, leaned in to kiss his lips, and then said with a mischievous smile, “My dear husband, you truly live up to your reputation as a scholar—your mind is sharper than mine.”

“…You’re too close to the situation to see clearly.”

Jiang Ji found this compliment rather odd.

He didn’t believe for a second that Ye Li hadn’t been to school.

But he didn’t dwell on the issue. Instead, he immediately asked, “So do you think this will work?”

“Of course! It’s a brilliant idea. This core technology really should be in our own hands—I was the one who was confused.”

What was there to observe? He didn’t need to observe anything!

Apart from the three of them, every other household just needs to send one person to do odd jobs. That way, the whole village will prosper—fair and square.

At the thought of being able to roll this out soon, he was so delighted he cupped Jiang Ji’s cheeks and began rubbing and kneading them. Jiang Ji let him “run wild,” feeling both joyful and tender inside.

However, this contact did nothing to quell the heat burning within Ye Li. He wrapped his arms around Jiang Ji’s neck and, with a slight tug, they both fell onto the kang. The lamplight flickered as they embraced and smiled; the moment their lips met, they both closed their eyes.

The toothpaste Ye Li had bought last time was mint-flavored; its refreshing scent enticed them both to entwine their tongues, reluctant to let go. As they kissed, the heat between them rose, and they unconsciously began to undress each other.

A moment later, they lay back down under the covers.

Actually, they’d been making love every night for the past few days, but Ye Li was clearly much more excited today. The leash that had held him captive for nearly half a year could finally be cast aside—how could he not be happy?

He held Jiang Ji close, biting his lips while urging him to go faster, faster still.

Jiang Ji obliged him. At only eighteen years old, and having been well-nourished for over half a year, with everyone sparing him from real hard labor during the day, he was brimming with energy right now.

Jiang Ji thrust with such force that, for a moment, the sound echoed throughout the room. That shameful noise made Ye Li’s body grow even hotter.

But he dared not cry out; the old house’s soundproofing was still rather poor.

He could only press his lips against Jiang Ji’s, silencing any screams within his mouth. Once the weather turned cooler, whenever the two made love, they stayed under the covers.

This meant there was less visual stimulation.

But there was an upside: the bedding retained heat, and the quilt kept them warm. Jiang Ji’s body grew hotter and hotter under his caresses, and he nearly climaxed inside him.

This gave both of them quite a scare.

They didn’t want a child right now and had been using contraception all along.

After the false alarm, once they came to their senses and looked at each other’s flushed, sweaty faces, they both burst into laughter. Still clinging to each other, they laughed and laughed until they found themselves kissing again.

Once was never enough. The night was still young.