Chapter 1297: Melon Seeds and Sunflower Oil Are All the Rage
The first day of the Lunar New Year, the children are the happiest. They get up early to put on brand new clothes and then start visiting elders to get red envelopes.
Last year’s income was decent for everyone. Even people as stingy as Madam Liang and Madam Li gave bigger red envelopes than usual.
Not to mention the old lady and her companions.
Shu Yu is part of the younger generation. Although she’s of coming-of-age, she isn’t married yet, so she doesn’t have to give out red envelopes and can still receive them from her parents and the old lady.
Even Meng Yunzheng secretly prepared one for her, quite sizable too.
With a red envelope in her hand, Shu Yu glanced at Little Song Le. Hmm... Little Song Le is a junior, a child from her fiancé’s family, so she should also give him one as a gesture, right?
Shu Yu gave Little Song Le an envelope, but it was immediately noticed by Quanquan, who had been attached to him and playing.
Kids don’t understand the complicated nuances of relationships. He just knew that his sister gave his friend a red envelope but not him, so he looked up at her with big eyes full of grievance.
Unable to withstand his accusatory gaze, Shu Yu also gave him one.
Having given him one, she couldn’t treat others unfairly either. After all, the amount in the red envelopes didn’t need to be large, it was just about spreading happiness.
So Shu Yu distributed envelopes to all her younger siblings.
The children, with hefty envelopes in hand, ran off to play with fireworks, filling their pockets with heaps of goodies. Another exciting day began.
After the New Year, everyone was busy visiting relatives. The second branch of the family had long since ceased contact with the Ruan family, so they naturally wouldn’t be visiting them.
Most of the Lu family’s relatives were in Shangshi Village. Shu Yu and Lu Erbai accompanied the old lady on a trip to the village, visiting everyone within a day.
As for the old lady’s family, there was hardly anyone left. She had a sister who had married off years ago and, due to various reasons, settled down with her husband in another town far away.
The old lady didn’t mention the exact location, but they had long since lost contact.
Once the visiting was over, Shu Yu’s shop reopened, although the workshop had not yet started.
During the New Year, melon seeds appeared in many wealthy households, and many people had tried them, so when the shop opened, business suddenly boomed, selling out all the stock.
Quite a bit of sunflower oil was sold along with it.
Shu Yu felt this wouldn’t do. Selling just two items was still too few; she needed to come up with a way to diversify the products.
But before she could figure something out, Hu Li came looking for her after the twentieth day of the first lunar month.
Shu Yu followed him to the county office and found Meng Yunzheng there; he was talking to Xiang Weinan in the study.
When Shu Yu entered, both men turned their heads to smile at her, leaving her puzzled. "Is there... some good news?"
"Indeed, there is some good news, but for you, it might be quite a headache," Meng Yunzheng stood up, pulled her to sit beside him, poured a cup of tea for her, and began to speak slowly. "There’s been a message from the Capital."
Shu Yu’s eyes lit up. "What did the message say?"
"Your melon seeds are considered a hit. On the night of the palace banquet on New Year’s Eve, the emperor specially took them out to entertain guests. Afterwards, many people inquired about them, and upon finding out that several Lords had connections, they sought them out. The Capital’s largest dried fruit shop sensed a commercial opportunity and might soon make a trip to Jiangyuan County. If all goes well, they’ll purchase a lot of stock. But the problem is... you’re running out of stock."
Upon hearing this, Shu Yu couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Yet, Meng Yunzheng hadn’t finished speaking, "Of course, what’s even more popular is your sunflower oil."