She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 122 - 121: Milk is Secured Now

Chapter 122: Chapter 121: Milk is Secured Now

Madam Song didn’t receive a good reception in the Second Branch family, so Qi Yourong turned to the more amenable Qi Yougui. After a few words, she started to make a scene, complaining that as brothers, the two elders enjoyed their wealth and fortune while watching with open eyes as the third branch struggled, not knowing to lend a helping hand.

In the end, Qi Yourong successfully extorted half a bag of fine flour for making triangular pastries and a small pouch of broken rice from Qi Yougui’s home, and happily went back to her place.

Lady Wang was so angry that she almost passed out. Thankfully, Lady Xu was there persuading her again and again, repeating that living off others is no way to live a good life, and that the honorable thing to do is to manage one’s own household well. It’s much better for us to have things taken by Third Uncle than to be poor and white, relying on taking advantage of others to get by.

After hearing this, Lady Wang calmed down somewhat.

......

Ye Xinyan made sure the snack shop was well taken care of before she let go of her worries and formally began constructing the cattle ranch.

The funds from Jinrong had been secured, and the scale of cattle and sheep farming was no longer small-time. Ye Xinyan’s initial plan was to start with raising twenty to fifty cows, along with the subsequent breeding of calves, raising them and so on, which involved a range of complex activities.

With such a scale of breeding, not only were professionals needed for the cattle, but also a steward.

Ye Xinyan was reluctant to use Jinrong’s people, and among the businessmen she was more familiar with, there was only Shopkeeper He from the Great Crane House. Shopkeeper He had managed businesses for many years and knew a lot of people.

So, she asked Shopkeeper He to help her find a suitable candidate for the steward.

Although Shopkeeper He had not collaborated with Ye Xinyan for long, he had great respect for her. At first, in his view, Lady Qi was merely lucky to have stumbled upon a method for making a novel ice cream, enabling her to supply small snacks to the Great Crane House and make some fortunate earnings. Even if she was a bit more clever, it didn’t necessarily mean she was very capable.

But as the snack shop opened, the variety of snacks supplied to the Great Crane House wasn’t limited to ice cream and double skin milk but also included many innovative desserts, seemingly with unlimited potential.

The Qi family’s snack shop, although in the food business, operated differently from any restaurant, tea house, or snack shop, actually carving out a unique path. This impressed Shopkeeper He.

Now Lady Qi had become even more formidable, gaining the trust of Sixth Master Rong and Lord Jiang, being entrusted with cattle farming. That was a cattle ranch, a big business indeed, which clearly showed Lady Qi was efficient, mature in business and caught the eye of noble patrons.

Shopkeeper He appreciated Ye Xinyan’s character and capabilities and had a good collaboration with her. Now, due to Jinrong and Jiang Yifan’s relationships, he thought it wise to forge a closer bond with the Qi family and thus took the matter of finding a steward for Ye Xinyan very seriously.

It wasn’t long before Shopkeeper He introduced two candidates for the steward position. He didn’t present them to Ye Xinyan right away, but instead gave her a detailed introduction to both candidates.

Ultimately, Ye Xinyan chose someone who had experience in long-distance trade.

This person was named Fan Zhengyuan, who had been in the traveling merchant business for nearly ten years. Due to Fan Zhengyuan’s reliable way of handling business, his ten years in the trade were fairly successful. Though not having made a lot of money, he hadn’t suffered losses either, managing to save a decent amount from what was once a very poor lifestyle.

As Fan Zhengyuan was getting older and found the traveling merchant life unstable, he planned to settle down, either by opening a small store or taking on a stewardship. He didn’t have high demands; as long as he could be close to his family and provide them with a sufficient and stable environment, he would be content.

Shopkeeper He guaranteed that having known Fan Zhengyuan for many years, his character was beyond reproach and he was meticulous and steady in his work, without a hint of greed.

Qi Younian accompanied Ye Xinyan to meet the candidate and felt he was suitable, so they decided to finalize the selection for the steward position and signed a two-year employment contract.

Additionally, there was the issue of finding people who specialized in professional cattle raising. The mediator, Steward Yang, whom Ye Xinyan had entrusted with finding such individuals, had also given a response. Steward Yang recommended someone who had previously worked for a wealthy family raising horses, a man named Cui Chengxi.

Steward Yang, likely sharing the same thoughts as Shopkeeper He, regarded the Qi family as a potential major client and was naturally diligent in his efforts. Cui Chengxi, a robust man in his thirties and Steward Yang’s fellow villager from Clear Water Village in Qingyuan County, was very reliable.

Qi Younian continued to work in his original trade, his very first business deal being with the cowshed under the name of His Highness Prince Yu. The cowshed had been determined based on Ye Xinyan’s very limited impressions and combined with Cui Chengxi’s experience in raising horses, after consulting with the three of them.

Once the construction of the cowshed was decided, Qi Younian naturally led the work. Ye Xinyan, along with Fan Zhengyuan and Cui Chengxi, followed Steward Yang to inspect the cattle, persuading the owners to sell them to her.

As it turned out, finding milking cows was the tricky part; convincing the owners to sell was much easier. With an attractive enough price, buying cows was not a difficult task.

In this situation, it was also a good opportunity to evaluate Fan Zhengyuan’s eloquence, character, and abilities.

Although Cui Chengxi came from a horse-raising background, his years of experience with horses gave him a better understanding of domesticated animals than most. He examined each of the cows identified by Steward Yang and could generally tell if they were healthy or had any issues.

Fan Zhengyuan did not disappoint Ye Xinyan either, being eloquent and upright in character. When negotiating price with the cattle owners, he did not use embellished language to disparage the owner’s cows but still managed to persuade them, securing a reasonable price.

During this era, farmers were poor, and not many had oxen for farming. Ye Xinyan’s purchase was further limited to buying only female cows. Therefore, Steward Yang’s range of inquiries extended beyond Qingyuan County to the surrounding county villages as well.

It took Ye Xinyan over ten days to buy all the cows she had set her sights on. Meanwhile, the cow barns and pens Qi Younian had built were partially ready for use.

The cows and two bulls that were bought directly entered the two initially completed cow pens, which, though somewhat crammed compared to Ye Xinyan’s plans, were much more spacious and brighter than the typical livestock shed of an ordinary farm.

Ye Xinyan repeatedly emphasized to Cui Chengxi and Fan Zhengyuan the importance of cleaning the cow pens. The pens must be cleaned twice a day, morning and evening, and a thin layer of wood ash or limewater sprinkled around the perimeter. This treatment of the cow pens meant that the cows were less likely to fall ill, and if there were any sick cows, they would not quickly infect the others.

Cui Chengxi and Fan Zhengyuan, both of peasant origins and Cui Chengxi with specialized experience in horse-raising for many years, were well aware of the severity of domestic animals falling sick and were very committed to enforcing the rules.

The cattle farm employed several villagers from Clear Water Village on a long-term basis, all under a signed labor contract, essentially acting as permanent workers for the farm. They were responsible for cleaning the cow pens twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon, as well as handling tasks such as feeding forage and beans, and milking the cows.

In accordance with the regulations written by Ye Xinyan to Liu Qing, the cattle farm specifically hired a veterinarian.

Ye Xinyan repeatedly urged Fan Zhengyuan to ensure the veterinarian regularly checked the health of the cattle at the farm and to immediately isolate and treat any abnormalities. Cui Chengxi and the others were also instructed to promptly isolate any cows whose health and eating habits seemed off and to have them examined by the veterinarian.

Although this past half month had been exhausting, the results were heartening. Now, Ye Xinyan’s dilemma with the milk supply was completely secured. Not only could the cattle farm’s milk production meet the needs of the snack shop, but there was also a substantial surplus.

Ensuring a steady milk supply for the snack shop operation was naturally a good thing. However, the surplus milk, along with the steadily increasing amounts, was causing great concern for Nanny Jin, Fan Zhengyuan, and others.

What to do with so much surplus cow’s milk? The snack shop’s consumption of milk for double-layer milk pudding, fried milk, ice cream, and cakes was quite limited—just the output from one or two dairy cows was enough. What to do with the excess milk?

As the manager of the cattle farm, Fan Zhengyuan was almost back to his old trading business, having to promote cow’s milk everywhere.