The Marquis' Wife
The arrival of the yamen officer from Fucheng
The next day, Lu Xiang's family was already preparing to welcome the arrival of yamen officers from Qincheng who would give gifts and congratulations on his graduation to become a Xiefu scholar.
Both Lu Xiang and Adelia did not know if the one who came to congratulate was the yamen officer directly from Fucheng. The people of Cheng city were also waiting for the handover of the gift, they gathered in front of the De Xiang cake shop waiting for the arrival of the yamen attendant.
The yamen attendants did not let the people of Cheng city down as they came straight in the morning. They came together with the yamen officers of Qincheng city on horseback which made a more festive impression when they reached Lu Xiang's house.
Officer Yamen Qincheng wanted to come along with their colleagues who came from Fucheng on the pretext of congratulating Zhang Yunlei who was ranked third in the Fu-shih exam. They wanted to find out what caused the yamen officer to come all the way to congratulate Lu Xiang directly.
"Here is Xiefu Lu Xiang's residence?".
Lu Xiang stepped forward and cupped his hands in his chest giving a greeting. "Yes sir. I am Lu Xiang".
One of the officers draped a long, red satin cloth with the words congratulations on Lu Xiang's shoulder.
"Congratulations have become Xiefu master Lu Xiang's scholar. We pray that you can achieve the title of Xiao Xieyuan in the upcoming exam". He also gave a green jade of two fingers bearing the cool Xiefu in hand, indicating that the jade was of high quality as well as a land tax exemption letter of 40 acres of land.
Bachelor Fu will get 20 hectares tax-free and for scholars who get an Xie degree then the kingdom will provide an additional 20 hectares tax-free.
"Thank you sir, let's go in for tea. You must be tired after a long journey".
Officer Yamen laughed happily and stepped in. Adelia gave a lot of copper money to throw at the citizens and turned on the firecrackers as a celebration of the title received by Lu Xiang to make the homeless or the poor in Cheng city cheer happily.
"Before we wanted to introduce ourselves, we were yamen officers who came directly to Fucheng on the orders of the Prefect. My name is Wie Nian and this is my colleague Xu Chen, it is an honor to meet you Xiefu Lu".
Lu Xiang was shocked and shook hands with the two yamen officers. "I didn't expect that Prefect Zhong told the two of you to come immediately congratulating me, his appreciation makes me very happy".
Lu Xiang's words made the two officers feel appreciated, they laughed happily and conveyed their purpose of coming. "Actually Prefect Zhong would like to meet with you to discuss the policy idea you suggested. He greatly admires the ideas you write about and wants to realize them for the benefit of many people. Do you want to go to Fucheng City again? If you want to leave in the near future then I can pass on the news to Prefect Zhong".
Lu Xiang was stunned and understood the purpose of the two officers' arrival. Although the idea appeared in his head when writing the test answer, but he was not able to develop in detail the idea because he did not have the experience and data.
However Lu Xiang did not want to waste the opportunity of meeting with Prefect Zhong and was about to tell the truth about the idea he was thinking of, he said, inviting him to discuss further already showed the integrity of Prefect Zhong who did not want to steal his idea. Perhaps conversing with Prefect Zhong could open his mind and could develop ideas about the levees and irrigation.
"It so happens that I want to go again to the city of Fucheng next week to see the house, I want to continue my schooling at Fucheng Academy and live there with my family".
"Hahaha, your decision is very appropriate Xiefu Lu, the academy in Fucheng is more qualified than the academy in Cheng city. Alright, I will pass this on to Prefect Zhong. If you have trouble finding the right house you can find me or Xu Chen, we'll be happy to help".
"I'm very grateful for the help you offered Officer Wei".
They talked about what was trending in Fucheng. The yamen attendants who came from Qincheng were staring at each other, although they already knew the arrival of the Fucheng yamen officer to Lu Xiang's house, they did not know what idea made Prefect Zhong interested to meet directly with the Xiefu scholar.
The two were disappointed that they were unable to execute mayor Li's orders perfectly because it was impossible to bribe either Wei or Xu officers into leaking the information they knew.
Wei Nian and his other colleagues said goodbye after finishing their tea and wanted to return to Fucheng to preach Lu Xiang's words. The Yamen officer Qincheng continued their activities that would congratulate Zhang Yunlei.
He was sure that his reputation would still be good if he did his best in the exam, he did not want to trouble his wife who kept thinking about what was best for him.
The debate was won by Lu Xiang. Another goal was not to let his wife entertain guests because she did not want many men to know Adelia and even establish a connection with her.
One by one the businessmen came to Lu Xiang's house with a congratulatory gift in order to negotiate properly and get a low selling price but Lu Xiang said that the Liang family bought the 5 recipes with paid 10,000 silver coins.
That fact made many ordinary businessmen retreat, they cursed the Liang family who became an example and Lu Xiang who was cunning but big businessmen from outside the city still bought the recipe. They read the recipes one by one starting from chocolate tarts, regular cream tarts and red velvet and cupcakes and liquid chocolate making carefully then nodded in satisfaction and signed the sales letter.
Lu Xiang managed to sell to 9 businessmen and get 90,000 silver coins and handed them to Adelia who was looking with sparkling eyes.
Adelia has raised more than 35,000 silver coins for the sale of tarts, cupcakes and liquid chocolate over the past 10 months. Coupled with 100,000 silver coins, he now had 135 thousand silver coins. Adelia was able to take a bath with the silver coins she had.
Lu Xiang also smiled at the happy look of his wife. He did not expect to see a lot of money in his life and it was thanks to Adelia.
"Next week you're going to Fucheng to buy a house, right, baby? Buy a mansion house that has 4 houses in it. One main house and three side houses".
"Yes. Lu Cheng and Lu Shan it's time to sleep in a different house to ours".
Adelia nodded, Lu Cheng and Lu Shan were Lu Xiang's younger siblings who would slowly grow up. He had heard Lu Lian say that he could not stay at home with his sister-in-law because it would make a bad rumor if he still did.
Adelia's thinking was reawakened by the concept of patriarchy which greatly troubled women. If the rumors spread, Adelia will be the main topic and bring up new rumors such as Adelia does not want to stay separated her sister-in-law or herself who wants to tease her sister-in-law.
Finished saving the money in the lotus space, Adelia escorted her husband to the gate. Juren Zhao Fan had arrived yesterday night and today Lu Xiang was going to visit while carrying two jugs of fine wine and tea that he bought in Fucheng.
The wine was the wine that manager Xu had given him two months ago. Adelia made 20 jugs of wine and 10 small jugs of wine she would keep for herself.
Adelia told Lu Cai who arrived last night and Lu Mei to send the wine to Fuyuan's restaurant.
Although Adelia felt awkward that Lu Cai was on his knees apologizing after hearing what had happened to his wife during her disappearance, Lu Xiang said that Lu Cai was a trustworthy servant.
Manager Xu received 20 jugs of wine enthusiastically, young master Cheng had sent numerous letters asking if the wine could be delivered and how much longer he would have to wait. He could not do anything because Adelia said quality fruit wine would be drinkable after 2 months of fermentation.
"Send my gratitude to Madam Xiefu. This is a congratulatory gift for Mr. Xiefu. Please tell me that I am also interested in the recipe that Madame Xiefu wants to sell". Manager Xu gave Lu Mei tips and money to make a good relationship with her, knowing that Adelia no longer used Lu Fang to be her personal servant.
"Alright Mr. Xu, I will pass on your message". Lu Mei did not say more and told manager Xu to report to his employer.
"Mrs. Manager Xu gave tips to me" Lu Mei said after reporting manager Xu's message and the wine sales money.
"Take it, it's ration for you". Adelia is not so concerned about tips people who want to build a connection with her through her servant, Lu Niang has received many tips from business people or customers who want to buy cakes in the store. He just needs a loyal servant for him and his family.
