The update is really fast on this website, it's worth thinking about. Ye Zhuo didn't decline and thought for a moment before asking: "How did the former Ruyi Fang do? Was his business good or not?"

  "I originally chose Ruyi Workshop because it had a lot of customers. Some people who have jade would look for a familiar workshop or master to make it for them, and then pay the labor costs. The largest customer base was those foreign merchants. They came to Nanshan Town to purchase goods, in addition to visiting Jade Street, some also liked to come to Yiren Street to personally compare one by one. If your jade carvings were good or not, if the craftsmanship was fine or not, and what price you would sell at. If it was suitable, they would place a large order. If cooperation went well, they would cooperate with us in the long term. So when we kept Huang Master and your brother here, we also considered keeping Ruyi Workshop's old customers. It doesn't matter if the workshop changes owners, as long as the masters don't change, those old customers will still come to our place to purchase goods." Ye Yuqi said.

  He didn't actually need to follow Ye Zhuo for these things. Although he was disabled and couldn't work, he often went out and about, and was familiar with the people at Jade Carving Street. Moreover, because of Ye Zhuo's relationship, he had some understanding of the operation of these workshops and the craftsmanship of each workshop. He was confident that he could manage this workshop well. As long as he controlled the quality well, managed Huang Shifu and the Zheng family brothers, emphasized reputation, and over time, word-of-mouth would spread, and business would naturally come to him. Earning a lot of money was not something he dared to think about, but earning some living expenses was still not a problem. Otherwise, he wouldn't have rashly bought Ruyi Workshop.

  However, Ye Zhuo's performance during this period has repeatedly surprised him, so he wants to discuss it with Ye Zhuo. Maybe his clever and agile granddaughter can still give him some good advice.

  Ye Zhuo furrowed his brow after hearing Ye Yuqi's words: "That being the case, can we only wait for business to come to us?"

  "What else can we do? Other well-funded workshops would either buy or rent a storefront on Jade Street, then purchase rough jade stones or raw materials from the Xie and Yu families, process them, and sell them in their stores. Your uncle's workshop was like that. His workshop was large, with many skilled craftsmen, and his store had a good turnover. As long as he could get good raw materials, he made money. Our side doesn't have a storefront, so we can only wait for customers to come to us, earning some money. However, as long as we emphasize our reputation, business will slowly pick up."

  "How about we also go to Jade Street and rent a stall?"

  "Besides, we don't have the money to spare. The little money we have is still needed for raw materials and paying the masters' wages, which is already a strain. Even if we had the money, renting a shop on Jade Street wouldn't be easy. You know that everyone in Nanshan Town relies on jade carving for a living, and there are many large workshops. Apart from Yiren Street, there's also a whole row of workshops on Putuo Street. Although other streets have jade shops too, their business can't compare to Jade Street. That's why the rent for a shop on Jade Street is 50 taels of silver per month, even though it's less than one-third the size of our workshop. And with so many workshops competing fiercely, the rent goes up every year. Moreover, opening a shop requires hiring an accountant and apprentices, which is not something we can afford."

  Ye Chou stroked the two hundred taels of silver bills in his bosom, deep in thought.

  She knew that Ye Yuqi was going to buy a workshop and needed money for raw materials. The two hundred taels of silver had not been taken out, one reason being that Ye Yuqi still had enough silver on hand, and the other being that she wanted to use this money to make arrangements for Zheng Shi. Originally, she was in the second house, like a bird locked in a cage, everything was suppressed, and she didn't even have time to take care of herself, let alone Zheng Shi. Moreover, Zheng Shi lived in her mother's home, which was still okay. She would rather live with her own brother, lively and bustling, than be left alone in a courtyard that Zheng Shi had bought for her.

  The day before yesterday, I went to the Zheng family and Liu's attitude towards her has changed. Previously, Liu was good to Zheng because she was in a relatively wealthy second house and might marry a rich or official person in the future. Liu wanted to help her rise to prominence so that when she became successful, she could bring the Zheng family along. However, since hearing that she had been adopted into a poorer main house, her attitude completely changed. If she gave Zheng a hard time, naturally, she wouldn't let Zheng stay in the Zheng family anymore.

  But to let Zheng move into a big house, that's absolutely impossible. The second daughter-in-law of the Ye family ran away from home and came to live in the Ye family's big house, what kind of thing is this? It's estimated that Ye Yuqi and Guan Shi agreed on her face, but with Zheng's strong personality, she wouldn't be willing either. But buying a courtyard and letting her live alone, Ye Zhuo was still worried. If they bought two servants for her, but there was no man in the house to support her, and Zheng looked beautiful and young, those rascals would take advantage of her. But if they hired a male servant, it wouldn't be proper either, that would simply lead to gossip and slander against Zheng.

  So she has been thinking about this problem for the past few days. And these two hundred taels of silver are prepared for Zheng's family. If Zheng's family is really being bullied at home, they should buy a house and move out.

  As for going to gamble on stones again... She vaguely felt that the last time she went to gamble on stones, Xie Yunfeng had already sensed something, otherwise the Xie family would not have agreed to change her from a concubine to a wife and also agreed to set the wedding date so hastily. This strange ability of hers, if discovered by others, would bring great disaster.

  So, unless she was too short of money or the workshop lacked materials, she would never go gamble on stones again.

  Let's start with this workshop first, don't spread it out too big. Grandfather's body can't withstand too much labor either. And she wants to take advantage of this period to practice her jade carving skills. As long as her carving skills are good, the workshop won't have to rely solely on Master Huang in the future, otherwise it will be too passive, and the livelihood of the whole family will be controlled by others.

  She thought for a moment, then lifted her head and smiled at Ye Yuqi: "Let's do it this way. Let's get the workshop up and running first, and then we can consider other things."

  Ye nodded in approval: "Yes, this is the right way. Eat one mouthful at a time, do things one step at a time. The size of the bowl determines the amount of rice to eat, and being content with what you have brings peace of mind."

  He stood up and said, "I'm tired after a whole day's work. Let's take a rest. I've already arranged with Master Huang to stay in the workshop; your brother-in-law has also agreed. Tomorrow, invite his family over for dinner, tidy up the workshop, and open it the day after tomorrow. It's a good day, the day after tomorrow is an auspicious day."

  Yè Yùqī sent her back to the house, and Yè Zhuó moved the two stones into the house. After washing up, it was already dark outside, so she went back to the house, lit the incense, blew out the lamp, and began practicing splitting incense.

  Outside the door, the soft voices of autumn moon and autumn chrysanthemum were mixed with the sound of wind blowing through the leaves. Inside the house, everything else was hidden in darkness, leaving only a faint red glow in the corner of the wall. Ye Zhuo concentrated her mind, sat quietly, and didn't move at all. Gradually, all the sounds had been eliminated from her senses, leaving only that faint red light in her heart and eyes. Her hand moved, and a knife flew out.

  "With a clang", the knife fell to the ground, and that red light was still shining, but Ye Zhuoming clearly felt that the red light had just flashed. It can be seen that the knife is not far from it.

  This gave her a great deal of confidence. Once again, she focused her mind and waited for the red light to enlarge before her eyes, and then enlarge some more... "Whoosh" - the knife flew out.

  One knife, another knife, and yet another... When the fifth knife flew out, that red glow finally disappeared. Ye Zhuang hastily lit an oil lamp, walked forward to observe, and saw that the incense head had been cut in half by the knife, with only the other half still stuck in the stone.

  She also knew that this was just a coincidence, similar to the effect she had in the courtyard this afternoon. But it still made her quite happy. At least there's hope for success, right?

  She lit the incense and continued practicing.

  After practicing calligraphy with a suspended stone, she deeply understood that in order to learn something new, one must push their body to its limits before they can break through. So this time, she practiced until her hands could no longer be lifted, and only then did she force herself to put out the incense and collapse onto the bed.

  Living alone in a room, no need to listen to that autumn moon nagging... dazed and confused thinking of this sentence, she entered the dreamland.

  The next day, she woke up with the same sore feeling in her right arm that she used to get when practicing calligraphy. She struggled to get up and found that not only her right arm but her whole body was sore.

  "Miss, are you awake?" The voice of Autumn Moon came from the doorway. This was a habit she had when she was in the second house. Every morning, she would stand at the door and listen for any movement inside before bringing in water. For the past two days, she had been staying in the main house, and Ye Zhuo had instructed her to go help Guan Shi and Zhao Shi with their tasks, not to attend to her. But somehow today, she came back as usual.

  Ye Zhuo responded with a sound and stood up to open the door.

  "Miss, your hands are sore again?" Autumn Moon turned around and locked the door, then pulled up Ye Zhuo's sleeves and twisted a hot towel to apply heat to her.

  Ye Chou breathed a sigh of comfort and asked: "How did you know?"

  Qiu Yue slightly pouted: "The clanging sound last night didn't stop, who in the house doesn't know? Old Lady originally wanted to come and advise you not to work too hard, but was stopped by Old Master."

  "The old lady pitied me, but you don't?" Ye Zhuo teased her.

  Qiu Yuebai shot back: "When I was in the second house, wasn't I still advising you? You're the one who should be listening to advice!"

  Ye Zhuo burst out laughing.

  She really likes this kind of life. Although it's not wealthy, people are warm and peaceful with each other, caring for one another.

  Although only the Zheng family and Huang Shifu's family were invited to dinner today, there are fewer people than yesterday, but there is no less work to be done. However, Guan Shi and Zhao Shi stopped her, refusing to let Ye Zhuo take action, instructing her to rest well, Ye Zhuo had to listen obediently, only sitting at the table, using her left hand to pick vegetables.

  Because they still had to go to the workshop to collect and arrange things in the afternoon, they were invited for lunch. At the beginning of noon, the Zheng family left first. It was the first time Ye Zhuo had seen her uncle Zheng Penghui since her rebirth.

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