Chapter 40 – The Formula For Making Sugar
During the construction of the factory building, Aunt Yang and the others were in charge of the workers’ lunch. One vegetarian dish and one stewed meat dish were served with special sauces, along with rice and steamed buns made with whole grains.
Workers look forward to it the most, every day at noon, and the best time of their days is their meal at noon, they all want to continue eating like this.
That afternoon, Yun Chengfeng’s carriage arrived outside Wei Cheng’s house, but Wei Cheng didn’t know that Yun Chengfeng was coming.
Yun Chengfeng got off the carriage and looked at the dilapidated house in front of him. He turned his head and stared at Yan Yi, astonished, “Yan Yi, you found the right house, right? This is Wei Cheng’s home?”
Yan Yi answered, “This subordinate is right, this is Wei Cheng’s home.”
Yun Chengfeng: “…”
Both the master and the servant were full of disbelief. Wei Cheng lived in such a dilapidated house. It would be understandable if he had no silver taels but the recipes sold to Tai Fu Lou earned him hundreds of taels. According to inquiries, Wei Cheng’s stall earns a monthly amount of dozens of taels. With Wei Cheng’s money, he can build a big house with bricks and tiles so it was not shocking that they were surprised that it is so shabby and dilapidated.
“Knock.”
Yan Yi obeyed the order to knock on the door.
Wei Cheng bought a reclining chair, and the stall had closed for business in the afternoon, and he was resting on the reclining chair in the yard with his eyes closed, when he heard a knock on the door, who would come at this hour?
As soon as the door opened, Wei Cheng’s face became expressionless as soon as he saw who the person at the door was- why was he here? Despite his confusion, he welcomed them into the door and closed it, as to block the inquiring eyes outside.
Wei Cheng’s home was not located where houses were concentrated, instead his home was on the edge, and there were only a few scattered neighbors. Ever since his home’s business started, there have always been people who intentionally or unintentionally come to inquire about it.
The neighbors are not familiar with Wei Cheng and have never dealt with Wei Cheng, and Wei Cheng’s house will not open up, and those who want to inquire about Wei Cheng’s family are not allowed to enter.
Now that another young master from a rich family came, many aunts and busybodies who were gathered at their neighbor’s house all exploded. Did Wei Cheng meet some rich and powerful people? They all regretted that they didn’t get along well with Wei Cheng when he first moved here.
The one who has the most regret is the family closest to Wei Cheng’s house- the woman of that family even scolded Wei Cheng once.
Wei Cheng looked at Yun Chengfeng, and said bluntly, “Why are you here?”
Yun Chengfeng: “…”
Is this a tone of contempt?
He was disgusted by a countryman- he was willing to come to this dilapidated place so Wei Cheng should be grateful, this was the first time he was disgusted by others, Yun Chengfeng even forgot to react.
Zhou Yuan came out of the house, and saw Yun Chengfeng, who was dressed in silk, brocade and jade belt, standing in the courtyard of his house, Zhou Yuan didn’t know how to entertain him.
This was the first time he has met such a noble person. Compared with the person he met at the banquet when he and his husband went to celebrate his grandfather’s birthday last time, the gorgeously dressed people at the birthday banquet were rich but the person in front of him was noble, extraordinarily so.
Wei Cheng saw that his wife was embarrassed, and stepped forward to hold his hand. Zhou Yuan calmed down under the gentle gaze of his husband.
Wei Cheng softly comforted, “Just go to the kitchen and bring out two bowls of water. Don’t be cautious, I’m here.”
Wei Cheng didn’t think there was anything wrong with entertaining people with two bowls of sugar water.
Yun Chengfeng, who was ignored by Wei Cheng, didn’t care, since he was disgusted with just now anyway. There was a set of tables in the yard with wide chairs and cushions on the back. Yun Chengfeng sat down directly, and Yan Yi stood behind him.
After Zhou Yuan entered the kitchen, Wei Cheng turned around and saw that the person sat down without having to be greeted by him, and he sat opposite the person.
Yun Chengfeng complained, “Wei Cheng, why is your house so dilapidated? I thought I went to the wrong house.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Wei Cheng reprimanded him, “My house is so dilapidated in your eyes but this is the house of the countryside people, if you don’t like it, don’t come here!”
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Since Wei Cheng cooperated with Yun Chengfeng, he has seen clearly the essence of this young master. This young master of an aristocratic family is a little bit ambiguous but has a straightforward personality.
He asks Yan Yi to go to his stall for breakfast every day, and every time he reminds Yan Yi that there must be more fresh shrimp in his rice rolls, Yan Yi is really serious and old-fashioned so he obeys his master’s order every time, and has to remind him every day he comes.
Even if he were dissatisfied, Wei Cheng was not afraid of him going on an angry rampage.
Zhou Yuan came out with sugar water, Wei Cheng took the bowl from his wife, helped him put the sugar water on the table, and was about to pull his wife to sit beside him, when he saw the color of the sugar water in the bowl, he immediately pursed his lips tightly to avoid laughing.
Yun Chengfeng looked at the reddish-brown water in the bowl, dumbfounded, “What is this?”
Wei Cheng wouldn’t let his husband entertain him with yellow muddy water.
“Brown sugar water.” Zhou Yuan replied. When he was making sugar water in the kitchen, he felt that brown sugar was more expensive than white sugar, so he directly brewed two bowls of brown sugar water and brought it out.
Wei Cheng couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
His wife is so cute!
Yun Chengfeng was dumbfounded, Yan Yi, whose expression did not change, was also dumbfounded in his heart. This was the first time he met a host serving guests with brown sugar water.
If there is no tea, just use boiled water, at least it won’t be so strange.
Ordinary people would not find it strange to entertain others with brown sugar water, but it would seem abrupt and funny to entertain the owner of Tai Fu Luo with brown sugar water.
Zhou Yuan watched their reactions, how could he not know that he did something wrong, and was about to make amends and go to the kitchen to pour water again, when Wei Cheng stopped him and pulled him away.
Wei Cheng said to Yun Chengfeng, “Young master, my family just treats guests with sugar water so don’t be too polite to me.”
If it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t hold back the smile at the corner of his mouth, Yun Chengfeng would have believed him.
Yun Chengfeng couldn’t drink this cup of brown sugar water.
Wei Cheng didn’t care whether he drank it or not, he introduced his wife to Yun Chengfeng, and only then did Zhou Yuan realized that the noble and handsome young master in front of him was the young boss of Tai Fu Luo, and the one who cooperated with his family and their backer.
Wei Cheng would never hide these things from his wife, and he even taught him about interests, profits, and business matters. Zhou Yuan also knew the importance of having a ‘backer’.
Yun Chengfeng only responded to Wei Cheng’s actions but he didn’t show any signs of looking down on a ger. This is the demeanor of a real big family.
Immediately after seeing Wei Cheng pulling his husband to sit next to him as he softly whispered to his husband, Yun Chengfeng had a flash of surprise in his eyes before he quickly restrained himself.
Wei Cheng asked, “I don’t know what purpose the Young Master’s family has for visiting my humble house?”
“I’m here to ask you about you buying all that wasteland.” Yun Chengfeng stopped beating around the bush.
Wei Cheng rolled his eyes and knew it was because of this matter.
“For building workshops.”
“You bought so much wasteland to build workshops? Isn’t it too much?” Yun Chengfeng was surprised.
“It’s not too much, the wasteland is for building many workshops to form an industrial workshop area.”
“Industrial area?”
It was the first time Yun Chengfeng heard this word.
Wei Cheng wanted to attract him to cooperate so he revealed his bright plan.
“The industrial workshop area is a plurality of workshops where the processing workshops are merged into one area to form a concentrated work area called the industrial workshop area. Shops can also be built around the industrial workshop area to display the products of the workshop and find suitable products for sale together.”
“The wasteland is close to the official road of the county, and there are merchants and travelers coming and going. It is the best place to sell products made by one’s own workshop. One can not only trade your own products, but also cooperate with passing merchants.”
“In the past, there were many merchants from the north and the south traveling here and it still continues up to this day- the goods on hand of these merchants came from the north and the south. After transactions would be cooperated, then there would be sources for goods from the north and the south.”
“With the north-south supply line of goods- if it is slowly expanded then maybe there will be an industrial area here in the future.”
Yun Chengfeng frowned and thought, and asked the key point: “How can you be sure that the merchants who come and go will cooperate with you?”
With confidence in his eyes, Wei Cheng said, “As long as I have enough goods to attract merchants then no merchant can refuse to cooperate with my workshop.”
Yun Chengfeng felt that Wei Cheng’s words were too exaggerated. The most important commodities in the whole world are in the hands of powerful and aristocratic families. What kind of goods does Wei Cheng have to use to attract business and cooperation? He should consider whether to continue working with him or not. After all, if he breaks their contract then his loss would just be a drop in the bucket.
Wei Cheng said slowly, “I dare to say this with full confidence. The products I provide are definitely rare in the market. As for where the products come from, after the workshop opens, the Young Master will know.”
Yun Chengfeng looked at Wei Cheng, and he felt that as long as he talked about business, the people in front of him would become calmer regardless of who they were facing, and their calculations would be even more strategizing.
That steady aura and sharp eyes- he’d seen it all from his elder brother, the difference is that his elder brother has more status, revealing an aura of ambition, and an inherently ruthless aura.
If it is as Wei Cheng said, he is really looking forward to it, maybe he will also buy a large piece of wasteland to build his industrial area and shops. As Wei Cheng said, this place will definitely be another hotspot in the future, provided that there are enough benefits to attract those merchants to cooperate—
Yun Chengfeng thought about it, picked up the bowl to drink water, and he froze when the brown sugar water entered him…
Yan Yi, who was unable to stop him: “…”
Wei Cheng laughed jokingly.
Wei Cheng found him very funny- it was fun to drink brown sugar water with his wife at home but most times, girls or gers are the ones who like drinking sugar water.
He just doesn’t know why Yun Chengfeng rejects brown sugar water so much.
Yun Chengfeng thought that brown sugar water was something that a woman or a ger who gave birth drank during confinement. He didn’t know it before, it was his second sister who drank brown sugar water during her confinement. One day, when he was just visiting, the maid handed him a bowl of brown sugar water. After he drank it, his second sister joked that the brown sugar water was what ordinary people drink for confinement.
Since then, he has seriously rejected brown sugar water.
It’s just that the sip of brown sugar water he drank just now seemed to have the sweet taste of a sugar cane. It didn’t have the greasy taste of the brown sugar water he drank before, it was all the sweet.
Wei Cheng laughed and joked, “Young master, my brown sugar tastes good. If you think it tastes good then I will give you a few catties when you leave later. Don’t dislike brown sugar as a simple thing, they are not as precious as delicacies from mountains and seas but in the countryside, brown sugar is very expensive. It is a rare item.”
Yun Chengfeng: “…”
Yun Chengfeng had a toothache from his sweet words, “Thank you, thank you but there is no need—”
Wei Cheng had a regretful expression on his face and was about to say a few more words. Zhou Yuan could see that his husband was teasing him, and gently pulled the corner of his husband’s clothes with his small hand to tell him not to add fuel to the fire.
Wei Cheng smiled at his wife, and stopped teasing the young master.
The intimate behavior between the two- Wei Cheng who seemed to stop teasing him because of his husband’s slight gesture- all of which fell into Yun Chengfeng’s eyes.
Yun Chengfeng came today to ask him about him buying wasteland. After asking clearly, there was no tea to serve him while sitting and there was still a bowl of brown sugar water in front of him. He thought about saying a few more words and leaving early when his eyes swept to the corner. Was that sugar cane? He casually asked, “Is that sugar cane, why does it look shriveled, can this thing be eaten?”
In his memory, the sugar cane was black in appearance and saturated with water, but the brown-yellow pile in front of him was woody and hard, and it looked like it would hurt his teeth if he bit into it.
“It’s sugar cane from the wasteland, and the sugar cane’s juice was squeezed out to make brown sugar.” Wei Cheng gestured to the two bowls of brown sugar water on the table with his chin, “The brown sugar water I’m serving you is made from the water squeezed from that pile of sugar cane.”
There were so many sugar cane piled up in his house, because he was about to make a batch of brown sugar. The cousin of his wife’s family asked her uncle to bring a message, asking if there is any extra brown sugar. A good sister of hers gave birth last month but it was not an easy birth- she wanted to help her family buy a few catties to nourish her. There was still a large plot of sugarcane in the wasteland, so he promised to make it himself and sell it to her.
Wei Cheng knew that the source of sugar production should be in the hands of the powerful families. Yun Chengfeng is a son of a noble family and since he was not kicked out then after building a workshop, he would also make brown sugar and sell it.
Yun Chengfeng and Yan Yi were so shocked that their jaws dropped.
“You can make sugar—”
Wei Cheng glanced at Yun Chengfeng, did he have to be so shocked?
“I am able to do so.”
As soon as Wei Cheng’s voice fell, Yun Chengfeng immediately asked excitedly, “Is the formula for sale?”
Wei Cheng: “…”
Wei Cheng’s eyes flickered- there was something he didn’t understand, the information in ancient times was underdeveloped, and he was an ordinary countryman so his understanding of many things was superficial plus his own speculation.
Things like sugar and firewood, rice, oil and salt are daily necessities for people’s livelihood so in his mind, many businesses should be able to make them.
Sugarcane for making sugar is not like rice grain, which requires suitable land and manpower to grow. Sugarcane can grow a piece of wasteland, it was easy to grow them.
The price of sugar in the market should not be due to the lack of raw materials for making sugar, but to the labor, process, and profits behind it. The price of sugar in the market is only high for the merchant to make a profit. This is also the method of the merchant.
It was like in his time and space, where white sugar was cheap but brown sugar is more than five times more expensive.
“Do you have the sugar formula?”
Yun Chengfeng looked at Wei Cheng’s expression, knowing that the other party must not know the importance of making sugar formula in his hand. Sugar, salt, and rice grains are all important foods.
Salt belongs to the imperial court, and the imperial court controls it. Rice grain is in the hands of rice merchants and government merchants, and the method of sugar production is in the hands of only two aristocratic families. The high price of sugar is also because the two aristocratic families control the price.
Under the supervision of the imperial court, white sugar and brown sugar are daily necessities, and the price will be controlled. In order to increase profits, those people set up various grades of white sugar and brown sugar, and the selling prices are different. The better grades are sold to the rich and powerful, and that is why the prices are also high.
Under deliberate control, the quantity of brown sugar produced is even smaller and the price is higher.
The profits can be imagined.
Those two aristocratic families relied on the sugar-making formula to amass so much property, and there was also a backer behind them. Even if they searched for the sugar-making formula, under the strict control of the two aristocratic families, it was impossible to find them out.
Does Wei Cheng know how important the sugar recipe in his hand is?
It even involves various forces, and one carelessness will lead to death.
t/n: bonus chapters available on ko-fi
Thanks for the chapter!! 🩷
Thank You for the new chapter (੭ु´･ω･`)੭ु⁾⁾❤
Thank you for the chapter!!!!
Thanks for the chapter!
Wow, did not realize that brown sugar was that important