She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 94 - 93: Giving Gifts is Difficult

Chapter 94: Chapter 93: Giving Gifts is Difficult

Nanny Jin listened to Qi Jia’s answer and happily praised, "Our little Jiajia is so capable? She can help her sister with tasks now." As she spoke, she led Qi Jia towards the house, "Come on, inside I’ve hung some iced tea for you, sweetened with sugar, it’s delicious."

Ye Xinyan smiled and tugged at Nanny Jin’s sleeve, saying, "Nanny Jin, don’t rush inside yet. You need to go to the main house and bring Great Uncle here; we have matters to discuss."

Nanny Jin was a bit puzzled, Ye Xinyan had just entered the house and hadn’t even settled in, yet she was already looking for the old master of the main house. What was so urgent?

Qi Jia had already quickly explained to Nanny Jin, "Nanny, Sixth Master came to our store today, he’s the one who used to eat rice tofu and spread cake at our stall."

"Oh." That meant there was business to discuss.

Qi Younian had already entered the house, so Nanny Jin could only turn her attention to Ye Xinyan.

Ye Xinyan briefly explained Jinrong’s intention to Nanny Jin. There would be more to handle in the future, and naturally, the rice tofu stall couldn’t be looked after as before; it would be better to hand it over to Great Uncle sooner. After all, the reason for starting the rice tofu business was the lack of capital, and it was always intended to be a small venture to be relinquished sooner or later.

Nanny Jin wasn’t worried about whether the cattle farm could be set up. Prince Yu wasn’t short of money, and even if things didn’t turn out well, it wouldn’t matter much. However, transferring the rice tofu stall was going to be a tricky matter.

"I’ll go now; it’s better to inform the old master of the main house early. That way, it will be easier to handle things," said Nanny Jin, releasing Qi Jia and getting ready to leave.

Qi Jia followed her and said, "Nanny, take me along, I want to go play with Brother Sanshun."

Ye Xinyan said, "Go ahead, but make sure you come back with Nanny Jin, okay? You can invite Brother Sanshun over to play together." Ye Xinyan had always been very strict in taking care of Qi Jia, especially when it came to the adults and children from the Third Branch family in the village.

As expected, before long, Qi Sanshun showed up along with Qi Yougui and Qi Jia.

Qi Sanshun met Qi Jia halfway, and upon hearing Qi Jia’s enthusiastic invitation, he immediately came over with a bunch of little friends. Now, the children in the village all knew that there were many fun things at little Jiajia’s place in Second Grandpa Qi’s house, which held a great attraction for them.

At Qi Jia’s place not only were there paper birds folded by Ye Xinyan, but there was also a slingshot made for the kids by war veteran Qi Younian, and various small toys like the Nine-Linked Rings bought from a miscellaneous shop in town. Among them, the most popular was still the slingshot; even though the tendon’s elasticity could not compare with modern rubber, it was still very fun for the kids to play with.

Qi Jia brought out his toys and went out to play in the yard with a group of kids, while Ye Xinyan welcomed Qi Yougui into the house.

Inside, Qi Younian was on the kang bed in the outer room, pondering how to discuss the matter of the stall with his elder brother. His big brother was a man of integrity, usually unwilling to accept favors from others, and when it came to his own brothers, he was even more inclined to give without expecting anything in return.

If the Second Branch family were to run the stall themselves, there would naturally be no issue, but if they were to hand it over, Qi Yourong certainly wouldn’t stand by and watch a profitable business go to the main house without having any part in it.

The interests of the three brothers were intertwined, and their elder brother usually chose to yield. What Qi Younian was considering now was how to smoothly convince his elder brother to take over the stall.

After welcoming his elder brother inside, they sat down on the kang bed. Only then did Qi Yougui begin to ask, "What’s so urgent that you had to call me here without explanation? Didn’t you see that it’s time for dinner at home?"

Ye Xinyan came in with tea, smiling and saying, "We just invited Great Uncle over for dinner, you can eat while discussing matters with Grandpa, it won’t delay anything."

"What’s it this time?" Qi Yougui noticed that whenever Nanny Jin came to see him at his second brother’s place, it was definitely because there was an issue.

Qi Younian considered his words carefully and said, "Big Brother must have noticed that Chengzi and his spouse have been busier than usual these past few days."

"Hmm, Chengzi mentioned that you and Ye Zi are making rice tofu for a restaurant and might be neglecting the stall somewhat," Qi Yougui combined Chengzi’s perfunctory remarks with his own assumptions before speaking them aloud.

Hearing Qi Yougui’s response, Qi Younian was somewhat amused and frustrated. He had indeed told Chengzi not to mention that they had opened another store in order to avoid attracting attention. However, it seemed Chengzi had described it to Big Brother in a way that led to such a misunderstanding.

"That’s not it, Big Brother. Ye Zi opened a snack shop, and these days, Ye Zi and I have both been busy with the snack shop..."

Before Qi Younian could finish his sentence, Qi Yougui interrupted him in shock, "Your family opened another store?"

Second Brother and his Ye Zi were quite capable, weren’t they? How long had it been since the rice tofu stall started? Just over three months if he was counting right, and now they’d opened another store?

"That kid Qi Cheng, keeping me in the dark, not telling me the truth," Qi Yougui grumbled indignantly.

Qi Younian hurriedly defended Qi Cheng, "It’s not Chengzi’s fault. The shop has just started up, and we don’t know if it can take off yet. I was concerned about drawing attention, so I told Chengzi to keep it under wraps for the time being."

"You’re mentioning it to me now, does that mean the snack shop is all set and can make a go of it? Is the snack shop still selling rice tofu?" Qi Yougui fired off a barrage of questions.

Ye Xinyan internally rolled her eyes, critiquing her great uncle’s lack of insight; she had opened a shop, and yet he still thought she was selling rice tofu? She marveled at his quaint line of thought.

Qi Younian explained, "Didn’t Sanshun eat an egg-based white custard here? That’s called double-layered milk custard. Our snack shop sells those kinds of foods."

"I know about that. Sanshun said that he and Xiao Jiajia shared it; it was incredibly tasty. I had thought it was just a snack for Jiajia. Second Brother, this is where I need to say something. If you are doing business to make money, how can you just give away your wares to your own family? You can’t spoil the child like this."

Qi Younian was taken aback, his brother was getting off-topic. He quickly steered the conversation back, "Big Brother, what I’m trying to say is that the snack shop requires a lot of attention, and Ye Zi has got new projects on top of that. I just can’t manage the rice tofu stall anymore."

"Oh, I see," Qi Yougui said, showing no regret and even failing to notice what Qi Younian said about Ye Xinyan having other things to do, continuing with his own train of thought, "Does that mean you’re not going to run the rice tofu stall anymore? No problem, if you don’t have the energy to manage it, then let’s just not do it. I’ll tell Chengzi and his spouse to go back to farming."

Qi Younian felt helpless about his big brother’s attitude and said, "Big Brother, why close down a good stall? I mean, Chengzi and his wife have already learned how to manage the stall’s operations. From now on, we won’t be involved with the rice tofu stall anymore. Let’s leave the business to Chengzi to handle. If he and his spouse can’t manage, we can have Ercheng or someone from Big Brother’s family help out. After all, it’s a profitable business, a waste to just let it go."

"Like that... Really?" Qi Yougui appeared a bit dazed, "The rice tofu business is from your family. It’s already not great that Chengzi learned it, but if he uses the skill to make money, what does that make us?"

Qi Younian, exasperated, replied, "Where are all these thoughts coming from, Big Brother? We’re one family; would we really rather waste a business opportunity than let our own brother make a living?"

When the topic of their own brother came up, Qi Yougui instantly thought of Qi Yourong.