Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 28

“Shu Qing,” Lu Sheng greeted her with a smile.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Lin Shuqing glanced at the property agent behind her, her smile gentle. “Xiao Sheng, are you planning to buy a shop?”

“Yes, I want to buy a shop to sell wine.”

Qi Zhenshu walked out, holding Tangtang, and the little one immediately exclaimed happily when she saw Lin Shuqing: “Auntie.”

“Tangtang baby.” Lin Shuqing nodded slightly to Qi Zhenshu, and greeted Tangtang with a smile.

Lu Sheng saw the maid behind her carrying several boxes of pastries, so she casually asked, “Are you guys out shopping?”

“I heard Tangtang mention it the other day, and when I saw it just now, I bought some,” Lin Shuqing replied with a faint smile. “I haven’t eaten it for a long time.”

The little one happily agreed with Lin Shuqing’s words: “Osmanthus cake is delicious~”

“It just so happens that I bought extra, so I’ll give this box to Tangtang baby.”

Lin Shuqing smiled and took a box of osmanthus cake from the maid and handed it to Tangtang, “Thank you for telling Auntie about this delicious pastry last time.”

The little one’s eyes sparkled, but she didn’t reach out to take it, instead looking up at Qi Zhenshu.

Qi Zhenshu’s expression was indifferent, and she showed no intention of accepting it.

“Didn’t you say you hadn’t eaten it for a long time? You should keep it for yourself. I’ll buy some for her later,” Lu Sheng smiled and interjected. “This little glutton wants more than just this one kind.”

“That’s fine too.”

Lin Shuqing smiled and withdrew her hand, handing the box of pastries to the maid. She then asked Lu Sheng, “Do you have a shop that you like?”

“I’ve looked at a few, and none were quite suitable. Only this one looks alright, but the price is too high.” Lu Sheng shook her head, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed. “I probably won’t be able to buy it anytime soon.”

Lin Shuqing seemed to suddenly remember something and smiled gracefully, “Speaking of which, coincidentally, I happen to have a shop on this street. Would Xiao Sheng like to take a look?”

“Huh?”

Lin Shuqing had mentioned during their first meeting that her family was in the restaurant business. Hearing her suddenly say she had a shop in hand, Lu Sheng was momentarily taken aback.

However, since ancient times, people with money would buy houses and hoard land, so it wasn’t surprising that Lin Shuqing had a shop.

“It’s that one.” Lin Shuqing pointed to a storefront across the street and explained, “The owner of that shop owed my family some money that he couldn’t repay, so he used the shop to settle the debt.”

“This shop is not of much use to me. I originally planned to find someone to sell it. If you think it’s suitable, it would also save me the trouble.”

Lu Sheng looked in the direction she pointed. That storefront was about the same size as the one they were currently looking at, and it seemed to have a courtyard behind it. It was closer to the dock, so the location was considered better than here.

“How much are you planning to sell that shop for?” Lu Sheng guessed that the price would not be low.

“It was used to settle a debt of five hundred and fifty taels.”

The price was the same as the current one, so whether she looked or not made no difference.

“Then I won’t look. I don’t have that much silver right now,” Lu Sheng said with a slight regret.

“How much are you short?” Lin Shuqing asked.

“I plan to buy one for around four hundred taels,” Lu Sheng replied with an embarrassed smile.

Lin Shuqing pondered for a moment and said, “In that case, we can…”

Lu Sheng suddenly remembered that Lin Shuqing kept mentioning that she wanted to thank her for saving her life, so she quickly interrupted, smiling, “Please don’t say you’ll sell it to me for four hundred taels, because then I can’t buy it.”

“Xiao Sheng, you misunderstood,” Lin Shuqing smiled gently. “The shop is five hundred and fifty taels. What do you think of the price?”

“The price is acceptable.”

Lu Sheng had looked at several shops and felt that for that location and size, five hundred and fifty taels was not expensive. Otherwise, the owner of the shop they just looked at wouldn’t have insisted on five hundred and fifty taels and refused to sell for less.

“That’s good then,” Lin Shuqing said with a smile. “I was thinking of going to the distillery tomorrow to order some distilled spirits to send to Qingzhou, but since we met today, I don’t have to make an extra trip.”

“You want to order distilled spirits?”

Distilled spirits were not favored by restaurant diners because of their strong nature. Most merchants who ordered from the distillery were from food stalls or small eateries.

“Lu family’s distilled spirits are quite popular in the small eateries in Qingzhou now. My family wrote to me asking me to buy some to sell in the eateries back in Qingzhou.”

“Xiao Sheng, you can go and look at the shop. If you find it suitable, you can give me four hundred taels in cash, and the remaining silver can be converted into distilled spirits. What do you think?”

Lu Sheng’s eyes lit up. What Lin Shuqing suggested was indeed a good method.

The new five-grain wine that the distillery had started making was already brewing, and with the help of the dilong (underground heating), it would basically be ready in half a month.

Many distilleries had now begun making distilled spirits, and gradually, people would no longer only think of the Lu Family Distillery when mentioning it.

Last time, in order to avoid standing out and attracting unwanted attention, Lu Sheng sold the distillation formula.

This time, Lu Sheng wanted to use the opportunity of the five-grain wine to once again make the Lu Family Distillery famous.

To let everyone remember that there are thousands of distilleries making distilled spirits, but the one that can achieve the most mellow and strong taste at the lowest price is their Lu Family Distillery.

To let the five-grain wine become special but not the most unique wine, just like the Lu Family Distillery—outstanding but not necessarily the most prominent.

Therefore, she wanted to get the shop sorted before the wine was brewed. Then, the opening of the wine shop and the launch of the new wine would be the perfect timing.

Thus, Lin Shuqing’s proposal exactly matched Lu Sheng’s plan.

She turned to look at Qi Zhenshu, wanting to ask for her opinion.

In fact, Qi Zhenshu had seen Lin Shuqing from inside the house even before Lu Sheng met her.

For some reason, ever since Qi Zhenshu first saw Lin Shuqing on Puji Island, she had not been particularly fond of this person.

Coupled with Lin Shuqing’s proactive visit last time and her offer to help deal with Boss Liao, Qi Zhenshu could basically conclude that Lin Shuqing was deliberately trying to get close to Lu Sheng.

As for the purpose, that was self-evident.

Qi Zhenshu wanted Lu Sheng to directly reject Lin Shuqing’s suggestion, but when Lu Sheng looked at her excitedly, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“Let’s go look at the shop first,” Qi Zhenshu suppressed the inexplicable discomfort in her heart and said calmly.

“Okay, then let’s go look at the shop,” Lu Sheng said happily.

The layout of Lin Shuqing’s shop was similar to the one they had just seen, and after looking it over, Lu Sheng felt it was quite good.

Seeing her so joyful and satisfied, and considering her plan, Qi Zhenshu no longer had the heart to voice her desire to reject the offer.

Lu Sheng and Lin Shuqing hit it off immediately, and they signed the contract right then and there, and even went to the local government office to complete the change of ownership registration.

As for Lin Shuqing’s wine order, Lu Sheng asked her to still go to the distillery tomorrow to see if she wanted to order the new five-grain wine or the original rice-brewed distilled spirit.

After all the formalities were completed, Lu Sheng invited Lin Shuqing to have lunch together before they said goodbye and parted ways.

Upon returning to the village, Lu Sheng handed the shop’s deed to Qi Zhenshu, her face still beaming with undisguised happiness, “You keep this deed too.”

Qi Zhenshu accepted the deed, hesitating whether she should warn her that Lin Shuqing seemed a bit too eager to please her.

“I’ll go to the distillery again to tell Uncle about Shu Qing’s wine order.”

Before she could speak, Lu Sheng left that hurried sentence and excitedly turned and headed to the distillery.

Watching her light and cheerful steps, the slight displeasure in Qi Zhenshu’s heart, which she had rationally suppressed, slowly surged up again.

At the distillery, Lu Sheng told Lu Hualin about buying the shop. After hearing it, Lu Hualin also thought it was very good, and even took the initiative to propose that from now on, for all the wine sold in the shop, he would split the profits with Lu Sheng five ways (50%).

After half a month, Lu Hualin had discovered that his little niece was no less capable than his father, Lu Huacheng, and had even surpassed him.

From the initial distillation of spirits to the later production of five-grain wine, it all came from her hands.

Lu Hualin had a hunch that Lu Sheng would surely lead the Lu Family Distillery to a higher level in the future.

If it weren’t for his mother being a bit mentally unsound now, Lu Hualin would have even considered giving the manager position to her.

This way, he would also be happy to have some leisure time and just focus on brewing wine.

Returning home, Lu Sheng carried a bamboo basket and headed up the mountain, planning to harvest more herbs for making jiuqu (fermenting agent) before the weather got cold.

‘Sister, wait for me, I want to go too!’

A certain clingy bird, who had been sulking all morning because it couldn’t go to the county town with Lu Sheng, finally seized the opportunity and stuck to her.

‘Sister, why haven’t we gone to catch bad guys recently?’

‘That scoundrel Ding Laizi, how is Sister planning to deal with him?’

‘And that annoying Huang family, should I and my sparrow sisters go eat up all their grain?’

Lu Sheng glanced at it sideways and said with a laugh, “Aren’t you afraid of getting stuffed?”

‘Aiya! I know!’

‘I’ll let the sparrow sisters go to their doorstep every morning to wake them up!’

“What a rotten idea,” Lu Sheng reminded it. “Be careful, if you provoke them too much, they might shoot down your sparrow sisters and stew them for food.”

‘Oh no, that won’t do, that won’t do!’ Yu Ling chirped, hopping frantically.

‘Then, Sister, hurry up and think of a plan. That woman is very wicked, she must be taught a good lesson!’ Yu Ling chirped indignantly.

Lu Sheng was too lazy to bother with this silly bird that was so eager to punish evil and promote good, and concentrated on cutting the herbs.

Yu Ling muttered for a long time. Seeing that Lu Sheng ignored it, it pecked at her hair twice in annoyance, and then flew off to another place by itself.

Half an hour later, Lu Sheng was walking down the mountain with the basket of herbs. The arrogant bird that had flown away in anger fluttered its wings and loudly called out to Lu Sheng: ‘Sister~ Sister~’

‘Sister, there’s a sweet kind of fruit over there.’

‘Sister, do you want to go pick some to eat?’

“I think it’s you who hasn’t had enough, and you want me to pick some for you to eat when we get back, right?” Lu Sheng saw the yellow juice on the white feathers near its beak and immediately exposed its trick.

‘Sister~’ Yu Ling landed on her hand, rubbing its crest feathers against the back of her hand.

“Alright, alright, stop clinging. I’ll go pick some for you.”

Lu Sheng pushed it away and followed the direction it pointed to look for the wild fruit.

When she got closer, she realized that the wild fruit Yu Ling was talking about was actually Jin Ying Zi (Cherokee Rose Hips).

Jin Ying Zi is also called mountain pomegranate. It’s a wild fruit covered in thorns. It’s sour when unripe, but the ripe fruit is sweet. When dried, it is a Chinese medicinal herb. Boiling it in water can be used to stop diarrhea, suppress coughs and asthma, and relieve frequent urination.

The Jin Ying Zi fruit can also be used to brew wine, which has the effect of nourishing the kidneys and liver, strengthening the stomach, and stopping diarrhea.

Lu Sheng was initially worried about what kind of wine to brew next to penetrate the restaurant market. Now, seeing this Jin Ying Zi, she instantly had an idea.

She could use high-proof distilled spirits to soak and make a fruit wine, using the sweet aroma of the fruit to counteract the strong, pungent taste of the distilled spirit.

The alcohol content of the fruit wine would also not be too high, which she thought would appeal to the refined scholars who enjoy a slight buzz.

‘Thank you, Sister!’

‘Sister is so nice!’

‘Sister is amazing!’

‘Sister, I really, really like you oh~’

Yu Ling perched on a branch, wagging its head and twisting its little butt, spouting flattering words.

Qi Zhenshu had just found her way up the mountain and witnessed this bizarre scene.

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