Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chapter 382 Canned Food

He Jieyu had never seen such subtle seduction before. Apart from that poor emperor, everyone else in the palace was neither male nor female, and she couldn't help but feel a stirring of lust.

“Come forward and open it so I can take a look,” He Jieyu beckoned with her slender hand, her meaning ambiguous.

Zhao Qi smiled slightly, turned his head slightly, stepped forward, opened the exquisite perfume, gently held it in his palm, lowered his posture, and presented it.

He Jieyu looked at his long, curled eyelashes and his peach blossom eyes filled with doting smiles through the perfume, and was quite amazed.

Zhao Qi remained calm and let her look him over. He gently applied some pink perfume to the back of her hand.

He Jieyu let him hold her hand, looking at him with affection in her eyes. This peach blossom balm smelled really good. She had been serving others all these years, and now she actually had such a beautiful person serving her. Ah, indeed, it is good to be in a high position and have power!

"How do you think this is?" Zhao Qi took her hand and gently blew on the area where the perfume balm was applied.

"Excellent!" He Jieyu stared at him intently, then beckoned with her other hand. "A reward!"

The maid handed over the prepared silver.

Zhao Qi then pretended to let go, bowed slightly, and said, "Thank you, Consort He! I wish you all your wishes come true and that you enjoy wealth and honor."

"Haha, alright, then I'll take your good wishes!" These words really struck a chord with her. Having seen too much intrigue and backstabbing in the palace, she had also developed a sense of envy. Look at the Empress, look at that Consort, they're actually just so-so in appearance, not as pretty as her, not as young as her, and not as useful as her. Every man would choose her, so why can't she be a Consort?

He Jieyu applied some perfume to her neck, and indeed, she smelled wonderful all over. Expensive things are indeed better.

"Next time you have something good, give it to me first. The price is negotiable; I'll give you double." With He Tianxia at her disposal, money was never a problem, and besides, she didn't have this thing, so she couldn't use any underhanded tactics.

"Yes, Your Majesty, rest assured!" Zhao Qi bowed respectfully before taking his leave.

It's so easy to make money from the rich! Zhao Qi weighed his purse. The emperor and empress in the palace are very frugal, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to be. A box of perfume costing a hundred taels of silver is hard to come by, but he has hundreds of boxes in his storeroom.

Zhao Qi took the money smugly and walked eight steps. He had come here specifically to see He Tianxia's sister. He had known about this woman for a long time, but he didn't know her background. Now it seemed that she was obviously a stand-in, but since there was a conflict of interest, he wanted to find out more.

When Zhao Qicai returned home, a servant came to report, "Madam requests your presence."

"I know!" Zhao Qi rolled his eyes at him impatiently. This new woman who was sent into the Liang family had little beauty, but she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Ever since he remarried, she had been clinging to him every day, which was so annoying. Zhao Qi got angry when he saw her similar eyebrows and eyes to Liang Meiqing, and he didn't want to talk to her.

He turned and left the mansion, heading to a side courtyard where several women were kept. Upon receiving the news, Liang Rubing stormed over there, and this game of catching adulterers, which happened every few days, once again became a laughing stock in the capital.

In Huian County, Chen Wenfang thought of the blacksmith who had promised to deliver the goods in half a month. Now it had been almost two months, and where were her canned goods?

She should go out for a walk, but everyone told her not to go out alone, so she took Caiyun with her, and the carriage drove straight into the street, only to get stuck in traffic...

Chen Wenfang lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. The road was completely blocked by horse-drawn carriages coming and going to deliver goods. Looking into the distance, Chen's General Store was full of people coming and going.

"Are there so many rich people here? I remember when I first arrived there weren't many people, let alone carriages." Chen Wenfang was quite surprised.

“Madam doesn’t go out much. Now that the Huian Wharf is repaired, boats can dock there for free. People are coming here in boatloads, mostly from Jiangsu and Zhejiang,” Caiyun explained with a smile.

"No wonder the workshop has been incredibly busy lately. We've already hired three hundred people, but it's still not enough. But this is good. Let's go downstairs and walk. Let Lou Qi drive the car back." Lou Qi was introduced by Lou Tai. As the workshop grows, more people need to be hired.

Caiyun looked around with some concern, but still got out of the car according to Chen Wenfang's wishes.

Seeing the lively crowd, Chen Wenfang felt much better. Wang Erniu had recently hired a tutor for the children, so they didn't have time to bother her anymore, and things were much quieter.

Upon entering the blacksmith's shop, there were several people from out of town looking at the goods.

"Master Zheng, how's my stuff coming along? Why haven't you come to see me yet?" Chen Wenfang called out loudly, looking around, while Caiyun cautiously glanced around.

Zheng Dong came out rubbing his hands. "Oh, so it's the militia leader's wife?"

"If I don't come, are you not planning to come looking for me?" Chen Wenfang wasn't annoyed, thinking to herself that probably no one else could make this.

"Sigh!" Zheng Dong sighed. "We couldn't make the pull ring, but we did make the lidded one. However, the cost is just too high. To be honest, Madam, I used all my own savings. If you want to use this to store things, ordinary people really can't afford it."

As he spoke, he took out two exquisite thin-skinned tin cans, polished to a mirror shine, with even the lids rounded so they wouldn't cut your hands. "Look," he said, "I spent half a month making just one. Thinking you wanted two, I painstakingly made another one."

"Thank you for your hard work!" Chen Wenfang took it and looked at it. It was indeed very well made. The lid and the tin can were sealed together, and it fit together perfectly.

"This can hold soup, it won't leak, but it won't last long, I reckon it'll rust," Zheng the blacksmith said regretfully.

"It's already very good. How much do you think it would cost?" Chen Wenfang said, clearly delighted with it.

“Well,” Zheng Dong said, rubbing his hands nervously, “each one will cost at least one tael of silver.”

“You have to include the labor costs. You can’t work for half a month without paying you.” Chen Wenfang looked at the young master craftsman. “I’ll pay you two taels of silver for each of these two jars. And since you put a lot of effort into making them, I’ll give you an extra five taels of silver for your hard work. Consider it part of the transaction. Is that alright?”

“Sure, sure, of course.” Zheng Dong smiled broadly. Of course, this generous lady was not only willing to bargain, but she even raised the price. No wonder everyone said that this Lady Chen was a good person.

Zheng the blacksmith grinned from ear to ear, but the villagers watching over his goods, seeing that he had no time to pay attention to him, turned and left.

Seeing him smile made Chen Wenfang happy too. She found a stool in the room, sat down, and said, "If there are no problems, let's talk about the next steps of our cooperation, shall we?"

"Yes, Madam, please wait a moment." Zheng Dong called out from inside the room, "Little sister, Madam Wang, the commander's wife, has arrived. Bring out some tea."