Chapter 245 – Fan Chengxu’s Little Heart

After delivering dried sweet potatoes to the villagers, Wei Ruo took Xiu Mei to the brewery again.

Wei Ruo brought some refreshing pickled sour plums for the crowd.

The work in a brewery is quite a bit more strenuous than in other small workshops, with a lot of manual labor and days spent in front of a big, hot boiler.

At this time of year, eating something as dry and sticky as dried sweet potatoes is naturally too much to swallow, and crunchy plums are much more appropriate.

A few people nibbled on the plums while thanking Wei Ruo.

“Mr. East, you’re really too good to us!”

“Don’t worry, proprietor, we’ll make wine as soon as possible!”

“That’s right, we’ll make wine as soon as possible to make the proprietor earn his silver!”

Several people became more and more exuberant as they talked, and then they couldn’t be bothered to eat the plums, so they went back to their posts and got back to work.

Wei Ruo smiled, then inspected the brewery, checking every link to make sure there were no mistakes.

After inspecting the progress of the work in the brewery, Wei Ruo departed back to the inner city of the mansion and went to the halibut store and the Four Treasures, and then went to the Drunken Immortal Residence.

It’s because Fan Seung Wook sent a message to her saying that he has something to find her.

Wei Ruo stepped into the door of Drunken Immortal Residence, and was warmly welcomed in by the junior, and was then taken to the box in the corner of the second floor that belonged exclusively to Fan Chengxu.

“Please wait a moment, Mr. Xu, I’ll inform you.”

Wei Ruo nodded while taking a seat by the window.

Xiu Mei stood behind Wei Ruo and asked Wei Ruo in a low voice, “Miss, what do you think Boss Fan’s looking for you could be about?”

“It’s mostly something related to making money, right?” Wei Ruo guessed.

This period of cooperation down, Wei Ruo feel Fan Chengxu is a real businessman, love of money, can let him bother, most of them are related to wealth.

“The slave girl is worried, could it be that Mr. Fan is doing this for Zhu ……”

After Wei Ruo told Xiu Mei about her suspicions last time, Xiu Mei started to have some second thoughts, so much so that now that Fan Cheng Xu is invited, Xiu Mei can’t help but think about it a little more.

“It’s unlikely.” That’s what Wei Ruo’s intuition told her.

And if it did have anything to do with that person, she couldn’t hide from it if she wanted to.

So Wei Ruo only thought for a while after receiving the news and agreed.

Wei Ruo only waited for a while before Fan Chengxu came. A green brocade robe, a folding fan never left his hand.

Fan Chengxu greeted Wei Ruo with a smile as soon as he entered, “Mr. Xu, long time no see.”

“Mr. Fan.” Wei Ruo rose to greet him.

“Mr. Xu, please take a seat, no need to be polite.” Fan Chengxu took a seat opposite Wei Ruo and then poured tea for Wei Ruo, “This is this year’s newly arrived Dragon Well tea, Mr. Xu try it.”

Wei Ruo didn’t make a move, but inquired, “Did Boss Fan ask me to come here for something important?”

Fan Chengxu smiled, ”I can’t say it’s important, I’m just looking for Mr. Xu to have a chat or two. By the way, I heard that Mr. Xu sold a lot of late rice seeds recently?”

Wei Ruo nodded, “Indeed.”

The commotion of this matter is not too big, not too small, and it’s normal that Fan Chengxu would know about it.

“Where did Mr. Xu get his rice seeds? Why is there such a good rice seed that I don’t know.” Fan Chengxu asked.

”It was passed on from the Huzhou Prefecture side, and the people there have been planting it for two years, only it hasn’t been spread to the Taizhou Prefecture side yet.” Wei Ruo explained. ….

Fan Chengxu laughed, “It looks like I’m not well-informed and business-minded enough to make the trip.”

“Boss Fan is overrated, if even Boss Fan says he doesn’t have business acumen, then no one in the entire Taizhou Prefecture would dare to say they know how to do business.” Wei Ruo said.

“I’ve also heard that Mr. Xu has recently purchased a lot of sandy land that no one wants and is preparing to plant crops on it?” Fan Chengxu asked again.

“Indeed, doing some attempts may not be successful, I hope that Boss Fan will not laugh.” Wei Ruo replied.

“And I’ve heard that the wheat on Mr. Xu’s farm is about to ripen.

It will be a bumper crop according to the growth.” Fan Chengxu added.

“By Boss Fan’s good advice, I also hope for a good harvest.” Wei Ruo replied.

“It looks like Mr. Xu is not only an excellent businessman, but also very proficient in farming.” Fan Chengxu commented.

Wei Ruo just smiled and didn’t say anything, lowering her head and quietly taking a sip of the freshly made Longjing tea, waiting for Fan Chengxu’s follow-up.

Fan Chengxu definitely didn’t seek her out just for the simple purpose of complimenting her twice, as for what purpose, he would wait for him to slowly say it himself.

Immediately after that, Fan Chengxu pointed at the dragon well on the table and said, “Does Mr. Xu know how much this dragon well tea sells for per catty?”

Wei Ruo looked at it and said, “Is it before the brightening, before the rain, or after?”

“Mr. Xu is the one who knows what he’s doing.” Fan Chengxu smiled, “This crop is from before the rain, what does Mr. Xu think?”

“The flavor is fresh and strong, and the shape is firm and superior.” Wei Ruo commented.

If it is before the Ming Dynasty, it will be more cherished, as treasures. But the pre-mingming tea will not generally flow into the market, most of the local officials will be taken to the tribute to the palace.

Fan Chengxu asked again, ”Then does Mr. Xu know how much silver one tael of this rainy day Dragon Well you have to buy?”

“Although I have never purchased it, I have also heard of its reputation, and depending on the quality and color, it requires anywhere from ten to fifty taels of silver.” Wei Ruo replied.

“Not bad, not bad, Mr. Xu really knows his stuff. The price of this crop when I bought it was thirty taels of silver for one tael of tea.” Fan Chengxu laughed.

Fan Chengxu looked at Wei Ruo, the smile on his face unabated, a pair of fox-like eyes filled with a cunning light.

“Boss Fan shouldn’t have sent me here just to praise my business acumen and test my appreciation of tea, right?” Wei Ruo said.

“I wonder if Mr. Xu, who is well versed in farming, has any research on growing tea leaves? Do you know how to make the tea leaves on the tea tree grow better, so that the tea leaves can achieve excellent color and flavor?”

Fan Chengxu finally brought the conversation to the point.

“Does Mr. Fan have a tea garden?” Wei Ruo asked.

“Yes. I have two tea gardens in Taizhou Prefecture, covering more than a hundred acres.” Fan Chengxu replied.

Upon hearing this Wei Ruo instantly became clear in his mind.

Tea is a profitable business, and Fan Chengxu wants to get involved. But his tea plantation doesn’t seem to be doing too well, and when he hears something about her recently, he guesses that she might have a way to help him and wants to work with her.

To be honest, the piece of tea was indeed very appealing to Wei Ruo, but Wei Ruo herself was currently not so capable of doing it.

Tea is a big upfront investment, tea trees don’t grow in a year or two, and the subsequent costs are high.

The most important point is the question of marketing.

Ordinary people do not drink tea, and ordinary families, such as the schoolmaster’s house, will only drink some ordinary tea.

Not many people like Fan Chengxu to brew rainy day dragon well to drink, these people are either rich or expensive, easily will not casually change the tea and the channel to buy tea .

Chinese whitefly (Ericerus pela)