For the next few days, Li An stayed at the Meng residence, going with the River Department to oversee the aqueduct during the day and returning in the evening to play a couple of games of chess with the old man and give him a talk about the day’s events.
During this period there were a few more rains, not too heavy, and the workers did not stop working. The governor felt that they were working too hard and added ten coins a day for each of them, and had meat put into the lunch dishes.
The rest of the days when it didn’t rain, Song Wangyue took everyone out to play and spent most of the month going around the city and eating all the famous snacks here.
The first batch of soap was quickly made, and with the publicity of the people, it was snapped up as soon as it was put up in the Meng family shop.
Meng Yang happily returned to his house and told Song Wan Yue the good news.
“I plan to build two more workshops, in the east of the city, separated from the two original ones. ”
“I’m afraid that two more are not enough.”
Meng Yang thought Song Wangyue was joking with him and couldn’t help but laugh, “Two more should be about right.”
“Uncle grandfather should think bigger.”
Meng Yang smiled and nudged her vaguely, “Uncle grandfather is already thinking big enough, look around Jinling City, who’s business can be as prosperous as ours.”
“They can’t compare to you, they are just ordinary merchants, and you ……”
Song Wan Yue smiled at him and said word by word, “In the near future will be an imperial merchant.”
Meng Yang stood up in a tentative manner, his two eyes rounded as he looked at her, his voice trembling with excitement, “Yue’er, you, you, you mean, are ……”
“It is what you think.”
Meng Yang sat back down, picked up the tea in his hand and poured a few mouthfuls, scalding his mouth hot, but nowhere near as hot as the fire in his heart.
Being an imperial merchant was something every merchant dreamed of, but he had never dared to hope, he knew he didn’t have the strength or the things that made the people in the palace stand out, but now it was different, he had soap in his hands, unique soap.
Thinking of himself, he suddenly thought of something and looked fiercely at Song Wangyue, “Did you want, want …… to begin with”
“Not really.”
The first thing I thought of was to let you do this soap business, but I didn’t think much of it until the governor of Jinling asked you to take the lead in donating silver to build an aqueduct. The actual fact is that you will be able to get a lot more than just a few of these.
“But what if your lordship doesn’t mention my name in the fold?”
“No, he will not, he knows that my elder brother is the Minister of Household, he will mention your name even if it is to cater to my elder brother.”
“Then, then, then ……”
Meng Yang couldn’t contain his excitement as he stood up and turned around the room a few times, “Then we’ll build a few more workshops.”
“That’s perfectly fine.”
“I’ll order it down here.”
Meng Yang wanted to ask the butler to call someone over, but felt it was too slow, so he simply headed out the door, “It’s better if I go and find someone.”
Meng happened to lift the curtain and almost collided with him, moving to the side, “What’s happened?”
Meng Yang was too full of thoughts about becoming an imperial merchant to give her the time of day, “I’ll go out first.”
After saying that, he hurriedly left.
Meng looked at Song Wangyue nervously, “What’s wrong?”
Song Wangyue came over and helped her in to sit down, “Uncle grandfather and I were discussing about becoming an imperial merchant.”
“An imperial merchant?”
“An imperial merchant?”
Meng and Sister Wu, who had followed her in, uttered at the same time.
Song Wan Yue smiled and nodded, “The soap is considered the first of its kind in Da Qing country, and it works very well, so I’m thinking that when I go back and ask Queen Consort Xian to help, I should be able to become an imperial merchant.”
“Can, can it work?”
Meng was excited and disbelieving, if they became an imperial merchant, their Meng family’s status would not be ordinary within this Jinling City.
“It should be eight or nine out of ten.”
Meng was so excited that she completely forgot what she had come over for, or Sister Wu reminded her, “Madam, you have something to ask for Miss Sun.”
Meng slapped her forehead, “Yue’er, I came over to ask you, when are we going back?”
“Grandma is homesick?”
“It’s not that I miss it, it’s your mother who misses it. Although she doesn’t say so, I can see that she misses home. Besides, we’ve been out for more than two months, so it’s time to go back, and it’s the rainy season, so the roads are not good, so it’ll take at least a month.”
“You’re right, I’ll talk to my great-grandfather later and see when he wants to go back.”
“That’s fine.”
When she returned to the land she had longed for, Meng was relieved, she had put on a little weight, and her face was smiling more.
Song Wan Yue thought of Meng Cheng and said, “I have something I want to say to you.”
“Go ahead.”
Song Wangyue told the story of Meng Cheng’s fondness for Xu Ling’er.
The smile on Meng’s face dissipated after she heard it.
She was silent for a moment, “Yue’er, grand grandmother won’t hide anything from you, I don’t have a good feeling about Xu Ling’er, but she has been taught by your maternal great grandfather for many years, and is much better than the average lady of the house. The fact that Cheng’er sees her shows that she has an eye for talent, so tell Cheng’er that I have no objection.”
“I knew Grandmother was not generally open-minded.”
Meng laughed, “Don’t patronise me, Grand Grandmother doesn’t want Cheng’er to have regrets.”
“I thank Grand Grandmother for my cousin.”
Meng gave her a false nod, “You ……”
After sending Meng away, Song Wan Yue went to the old gentleman’s courtyard.
The old gentleman was writing and did not raise his head when he heard the commotion. He did not put down his pen until he finished writing and went to the water basin to clean his hands, “Are you alright today?”
Song Wan Yue walked over and gave him a handkerchief, “I have two things to tell you.”
“What is it?”
As he spoke, the old man put the hankie on the shelf and went to sit at the table. Song Wangyue poured him tea, “Just now Grandma went to look for me and said we should go back, so I came to ask you what you wanted.”
“We’ve been out for more than two months, it’s time to go back. Even if your grandmother doesn’t say anything, I’m going to tell you in the next few days.”
“Then let’s set a date and ask uncle grandfather to book a boat for us.”
The old man nodded and asked, “What is the other thing?”
Song Wangyue told the story of Meng Cheng’s heart for Xu Ling’er, “I’ve observed, Xu Ling’er should have that same interest in third cousin, only because of our sudden arrival, she’s afraid we’ll reveal her past, so she’s backed off.”
Hearing her mention Xu Ling’er, the old gentleman was also silent for a while, before letting out a long sigh, “That child has been with me for more than ten years, I still know her well, her nature is not bad, so, have someone send a message to her, and ask her to come over to see me.”