Chapter Twenty-Two: Taking Taiyuan

  "The ancestors of the Li family are above, and later generations, including Li Yuan and his sons Jiancheng, Shimin, and Yuangui, have come to offer sacrifices. We hope that our ancestors will bless us." Li Yuan knelt on a cushion, speaking in front of the ancestral tablets of the Li family in the temple. Prominently displayed at the front was Laozi, the founder of Taoism - also known as Li Er, and the Taicheng Saint of the Three Purities passed down among the people. The Li family ancestors considered themselves descendants of Li Er, hence this ancestral tablet. This would be beneficial for gaining the support of the common people in future uprisings by the Li family, especially since it was not an era with advanced technology like previous dynasties, and superstitions about ghosts and spirits were prevalent. However, to Li Jiancheng, who came from a later generation, these things seemed absurd. Nevertheless, as a member of the Li family, he couldn't say anything about it, so he could only follow Li Yuan in offering sacrifices.

  "May our ancestors bless us with peace and safety." Li Jiancheng continued.

  "Li family ancestors are above, later generations of Li Shimin..." After my father and I finished worshiping, second brother Li Shimin and third brother Li Yuanji came forward to worship separately. It took nearly two hours to finally finish, so we cleaned up a bit and left the ancestral temple.

  "Alright, are you all hungry? The meal is already prepared." By the time the four of them came out of the ancestral hall, Du Xian was already waiting for everyone in the main hall to eat.

  After finishing dinner, Li Jiancheng decided to go to the wine tower to take a look, taking advantage of the absence of his second brother Li Shimin and third brother Li Yuanji. He quietly ran towards the front door, but was almost thwarted by Dou Yi's sudden shout.

  "Come back early for dinner tonight, okay?" Dou Xuan reminded loudly. Li Jiancheng heard it and quickly ran away, otherwise he would be in trouble again. Indeed...

  "Big brother, you're going out to have fun again without bringing me..." Li Jiancheng, who was running outside, only heard the anxious and exasperated voice of his younger brother Li Shimin in his ear.

  "Whew..." Li Jiancheng let out a breath of relief, "Luckily I ran fast, but who knows if Mother did it on purpose."

  After walking for about a quarter of an hour, he arrived in front of the wine building. Although it is New Year's now, this wine building is still bustling with people coming and going. When he passed by other wine buildings, he didn't see such a scene.

  He went straight to the third floor, took out an iron plate along the way and shook it for a while. This way, no one would suspect him, and those who knew him would think he was using the iron plate from his home.

  After a while, there was a knock at the door. "Come in." It turned out to be He Qing who came in.

  "Are you okay after yesterday, nothing serious happened?" He Qing asked Li Jiancheng as soon as she came in. This made him very moved, the feeling of being cared about was good, a warm feeling surged up, making his throat block for a while.

  "Aunt He, thank you for your concern, I'm fine." Li Jiancheng replied calmly, not wanting to let He Qing hear his unusual tone. "Aunt He, how are Sister Yao and Brother Ping?"

  "They just ended up like that, but didn't build your skills." He Qiong smiled and replied.

  Li Jiancheng was stunned, how many people have such abilities? If he's not a prodigy, then he must be a transmigrator like him.

  "How's the recent situation with the wine shop?" Now it's time to ask about the main issue, otherwise I'll be treated as a careless boss.

  "Yes! There are more people recently, because it's the New Year period, so some people who are away from home have come back. And because of our restaurant's reputation, many people have come to try our food. In order to let more people know about our restaurant, I took the initiative to give a pot of our brewed wine to each table that has come to eat at our restaurant recently." He Qing said, carefully watching Li Jiancheng, fearing he would blame her.

  "This is done extremely well, and this way they will bring us more customers, and the source of wealth will come rolling in. In the future, if you have any new ideas, don't be afraid, boldly try them out, as long as it's good for the wine house I won't blame you." Li Jiancheng praised with all his might, mainly to enable them to innovate on their own initiative, which is beneficial to the development of the wine house. Besides, his goal is not just this one wine house, what will happen if there are no more talented people in the future?

  He Qing felt extremely delighted upon hearing the praise, and continued to say: "We have increased our wine-making equipment, and now we have enough wine for sale; however, as our hotel's reputation grows, many merchants are willing to spend money to directly purchase our exclusive iron plaques, aside from those that were originally given out. Now there are 30 more, it's unbelievable that these people would spend 100,000 taels just to buy an iron plaque, they're truly crazy." He Qing said this while patting her chest, seemingly puzzled by their behavior.

  "Hehe, as our wine shop's reputation grows bigger and bigger, when the iron plaque is gone, someone will offer an even higher price." Li Jiancheng said with a smile. People in this era don't know what celebrity effect is, so he doesn't plan to explain it either. "I estimate that these 30 pieces will be bought out quickly, I think I'll go make another 100 pieces and wait until they raise the price high enough before taking them out to sell. I believe this can help us make a big profit."

  "Haha, I didn't expect you to be so cunning at such a young age. But if anyone underestimates you because of your youth, they'll probably end up losing out." He Qings words were indirectly scolding me! "Do you know how much we've earned from the wine shop to now?" He Qing suddenly asked excitedly.

  "How much?" He still hasn't asked about the wine house's profits until now, so he isn't very clear either.

  "They made a total of 1.5 million taels from selling the Guibin brand, and adding the iron brand, they made a total of 3 million taels! Now all those silver taels have been exchanged for gold and are stored in the secret room." He Qing exclaimed.

  "Secret room?" Li Jiancheng asked in surprise.

  "You didn't know?" He Qiong was also surprised. "It's the room where I live, the original owner's room. Once when I was cleaning, I accidentally discovered a secret room. I guess it was used by the previous owner to store things. I thought you knew."

  "That boss didn't tell me either, so I don't have to worry about not having a place to put it, just put it there. You can take care of it." Li Jiancheng was very trusting of He Qing's character, so he wasn't worried about anything.

  "Hehe, with such a large sum of money, aren't you worried that I'll run off with it?" He Qing asked with a smile.

  "I know what kind of person He Yi is. Besides, if you wanted to leave, you could have left a long time ago, why wait until now to tell me?" Li Jiancheng also smiled and retorted.

  "Knock, knock..." The sound of knocking came from outside the door, followed by a man's shout. "Daughter, are you in there?" It seemed to be He Qing's father?

  Seeing Li Jiancheng's puzzled eyes, He Qing explained, "This is my father. Our family does business in Taiyuan. Besides my parents, there is also a younger brother. I've been married here for several years and haven't seen my father or mother until this year when they brought my little brother to visit me."

  Taiyuan! Li Jiancheng suddenly thought, is it possible to start laying out in Taiyuan? After all, the Li family started from Taiyuan. Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng decided to meet He Qing's father and start with him. A family that can teach someone like He Qing must be good.

  "Oh! So that's how it is. Since Uncle has arrived, I'll go see him then." Li Jiancheng suddenly said.

  "What?" He Qing was surprised to know that Li Jiancheng never appeared in front of people, how could he think of seeing her father now? After thinking about it, He Qing still opened the door.

  "Daughter, why did you open the door so slowly? You were..." He Qing's father had just said this when he suddenly saw another child in the room. "Huh? Daughter, didn't you say there was only one daughter? How come there is a boy too? Did you do something that goes against wifely virtue?" By saying this, He Qing's father became somewhat angry.

  "He..." He Qing was choked by her father's words and couldn't speak anymore.

  "Uncle, hello. I am Li Jiancheng, the eldest son of Duke Tangguo, and also the owner of this wine house."