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Madam Shen opened the box beside her and took out two banknotes worth 1,000 taels of silver each. “Shopkeepers, make your choice.”

The two of them were naturally unwilling. Without the ice cream bar and rice dumpling, their restaurant might close down in the end.

Madam Shen threatened, “Do you want to go against me?”

Both of them knew Madam Shen’s background. If they went against Madam Shen, not only would their restaurants be shut down, but their lives would also be in danger. The two of them immediately fell into a dilemma.

Shopkeeper Zhou asked tentatively, “May I ask how Shen Ruyue offended you? Do you have to do this?”

Madam Shen looked as if it was all someone else’s fault. “I wanted to buy the ice cream bar and rice dumpling workshops and ask her to help me negotiate with Chu Qingzhi, but she rejected me.”

Shopkeeper Zhou and Shopkeeper Qian could not help but ask in their hearts, Don’t you think you’ve gone too far?

However, the two of them did not dare to say it out loud.

Shopkeeper Qian did not give up and asked, “Madam Shen, are there no other options?

“There are many options . It’s up to you.” Madam Shen was calm and composed. It seemed like she didn’t care about their decisions at all.

The two of them were frustrated that they didn’t have a powerful backer. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been bullied by a woman.

Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, Shopkeeper Qian started to fight for as many benefits as he could. “Madam Shen, when 1 signed the contract with Chu Qingzhi, we made a promise that if anyone broke the agreement, they would have to compensate the other party ten times the silver. So, Madam Shen… a thousand taels is not enough.”

Madam Shen’s expression froze. “How much is enough?”

Shopkeeper Qian raised two fingers. “2,000 taels of silver.” It was actually 1,250 taels, but it was better to scam as much as possible.

Madam Shen gritted her teeth and handed another two thousand taels to Shopkeeper Qian.

Shopkeeper Zhou hurriedly said, “Madam Shen, me too. Otherwise, if Chu Qingzhi sues me, I’ll go bankrupt.”

He did not sign a contract, but he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to fleece a fat sheep.

Madam Shen gritted her teeth and gave Shopkeeper Zhou another two thousand taels.

The two of them quickly left after receiving the money, afraid that Madam Shen would go back on her word.

In the blink of an eye, 6,000 taels of silver was gone. Madam Shen sat there and cursed.

In the Chu Village.

Shopkeeper Qian and Shopkeeper Zhou didn’t even go back to the restaurant. They hired a carriage and hurried to the Chu Village.

Chu Qingzhi was instructing the villagers to build the stove for baking mooncakes in the front yard of the old house.

In ancient times, there was no oven. Mooncakes were baked using special stoves.

Chu Qingzhi modified the stove. One stove could bake 25 mooncakes at a time. She wanted to build 20.

It took 20 minutes to fully bake the mooncake. In a day, they would be able to bake about 20,000 mooncakes. It could be considered efficient.

However, it would also take time to make the mooncakes, so they planned to spend the first three days making the mooncakes.

There were still seven days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Three days for making the mooncakes, one day for baking the mooncakes, two days for selling the mooncakes, and there was still a day left.

They planned to spend the last day making mooncakes, not for anyone else but the villagers.

Since mooncakes were indispensable during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the villagers unanimously agreed to buy it from the Chu family. Firstly, they believed that the mooncakes Chu Qingzhi made would definitely be delicious. Secondly, they didn’t need to specially make a trip to the county to buy it.

They had already agreed on this.

Under Chu Qingzhi’s guidance, they had already built two stoves. Just as they were about to build the third one, Shopkeeper Qian’s anxious voice sounded. “Miss Chu…”

Chu Qingzhi hurriedly walked out. When she saw the two shopkeepers’ anxious expressions, she had a bad feeling. “Why are you here together?”

Shopkeeper Qian was a smart person. Seeing that there were so many people around, he said, “Miss Chu, let’s talk somewhere else.”

Chu Qingzhi raised her hand. “This way, please.”

Chu Qingzhi brought them to the central room of the old house. “Please take a seat.” She went to bring tea. “Please have some tea.”

Shopkeeper Qian and Shopkeeper Zhou looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak.

Chu Qingzhi sat at the head of the table. “Shopkeepers, please speak frankly.”

Shopkeeper Qian bit the bullet and told her everything that had happened in the Shen residence.

As he spoke, he cursed Madam Shen in his heart. They were good business partners with Chu Qingzhi, but now, they were forced to end this partnership.

After Chu Qingzhi heard the ins and outs, her expression did not change, but she had already sentenced Madam Shen to death in her heart.

The ice cream bar and rice dumpling were the foundation of her business. Madam Shen wanted to tear down the foundation. She wouldn’t tolerate this.

“What are your opinions?”

Shopkeeper Qian sighed and said helplessly, “Miss Chu, to be honest, our cooperation has always been very good. I don’t want to end our cooperation, but Madam Shen is too powerful. If we go against her, I’m afraid I’ll be dead.”

Chu Qingzhi nodded in understanding. “Shopkeepers, I understand your concern. Leave this to me. I’ll talk to Madam Shen.”

Shopkeeper Qian and Shopkeeper Zhou were stunned for a moment before they suddenly realized that the girl in front of them was not an ordinary person. She was a baroness personally conferred by the emperor and was much more capable than they thought.

At the thought of this, the two of them relaxed.

Shopkeeper Zhou asked expectantly, “Miss Chu, are you confident? If you are, I hope we can continue our cooperation.”

These days, he could earn dozens of taels of silver a day in the restaurant.

When the business was especially good, he could earn more than a hundred taels of silver. He really could not bear to part with it.

Chu Qingzhi smiled at the two of them. “Are you willing to take this risk?”

Shopkeeper Qian said, “Wealth comes from danger. We’ve lived for most of our lives and understand this logic. At most, if we fail, we’ll bring our family to the countryside to hide.”

The main reason was that he felt that Chu Qingzhi could probably solve this quagmire, so he wanted to take a gamble.

Businessmen are not much different from gamblers?

Chu Qingzhi smiled. “Don’t worry. Since you chose to believe me, I won’t let you down. You can go back first. Our cooperation will continue as normal.”

The two of them looked at each other and nodded heavily. “Okay.”

The two of them went back and arranged for their family to go to a secret place to prepare for the worst.

Chu Qingzhi sat in the central room, thinking of a plan.

After coming up with a rough plan, she walked out of the central room and continued to instruct the villagers to build the stove.

In the cornfield.

The monkeys moved nimbly and quickly helped the Chu family harvest all the crops.

Li Qingyu was quite grateful. She brought them some water and placed it aside. “If you’re thirsty, come and drink it.”

When the monkeys heard Li Qingyu’s words, they surrounded her. However, they did not want to drink water. They just looked at her. There were about 30 monkeys looking at her. Li Qingyu panicked.. “What’s wrong?”