Chapter 119: I'm Not Here to Make Money

In the county yamen.

Ji Yun An sat at the table, sipping the tofu fish soup, and a touch of surprise flashed across his eyes.

The taste of the tofu fish soup was very fresh. He didn't expect tofu and fish would complement each other so great.

Ji Yun An looked at Lu Lin and exclaimed in his heart that what a great cook this new county magistrate was, he was sure Lu Lin could make a living on opening a restaurant if Lu Lin happened to lose this job.

Ji Yun An would eat something novel yet delicious on a daily basis since he was caught by Xiao Mai.

Ji Yun An was born in the capital city, both his parents were from influential and privileged families. Being an upper-class child, he never had to worry about food or anything, but never had he expected that normal ingredients could make such great meals!

Yuan Bao and Chen Xiao Mai were nibbling on pig's feet this day, savoring every mouthful.

Ji Yun An looked at Yuan Bao and Chen Xiao Mai with a strange expression.

In wealthy and influential families, it was the custom that women and Bios shouldn't join men by the dining table. However, no one seemed to follow that rule in the county yamen. Not only could Bios join the men for dinner, but Chen Xiao Mai and Yuan Bao had the worst table manners, they would make funny noises when they were eating.

Looking at the smile of the county, Ji Yun An was shocked to the core, he felt that Lu Lin was not bothered by such a situation, he even felt Lu Lin was happy to see the kids gorging themselves.

"Mai, how do you enjoy your pig's feet?"

Chen Xiao Mai nodded and said, "It's so delicious."

Lu Lin nodded and said, "There's more in the pot. This pig's feet is one of the best nourishing foods, it helps people to maintain beauty and keep young."

Chen Xiao Mai was very convinced of Lu Lin, he nodded solemnly and was determined to eat more.

Ji Yun An glanced at Lu Lin and thought in his heart, 'This county magistrate seems to have a glib tongue. Many officials and dignitaries disliked and avoided pig's feet, they all thought those were dirty. But this county magistrate keeps on showering praise on them, I don't buy a word!'

Lu Lin glanced at Ji Yun An who showed a skeptical expression and thought chances were this guy wasn't convinced. Lu Lin thought to himself, 'Tut tut tut, poor child has never heard of collagen, pig's feet are rich in collagen and they are anti-aging.)

......

Lu Lin was sitting in the county yamen this day and he was in a good mood.

Although Sha County had scarce resources and he didn't make much money as before, he was an official now, so he didn't have to exercise undue caution in carrying out his plans.

Chen Xiao Cai who was sitting by Lu Lin while using an abacus raised his head and said, "Lin Ge, the military camp wants to sign a long-term contract with us, they want to buy tofu from us on a regular basis."

Lu Lin nodded and said, "This is a good thing."

Chen Xiao Cai hesitated for a moment and said, "I agree, my only concern is we will be short of men."

They were used to produce and market all by themselves for they had a pretty estimation about the market demand.

Lu Lin nodded, "That's no big deal, let's hire more people. And we can use a mule to grind the mill now that we are done punishing Ji Yun An."

Chen Xiao Cai was a little surprised. "A mule?"

Lu Lin nodded. Lu Lin planned to use a mule to grind the mill since the beginning. However, he changed his mind on seeing how passionate Chen Xiao Mai and other kids were. He figured he should let the kids have fun first and use a mule when the kids were bored.

And then Chen Xiao Mai punished Ji Yun An by forcing him to grind the mill. Lu Lin didn't mind teaching that 'intruder' a lesson so he postponed the plan again.

Lu Lin raised several mules in the yard. He couldn't wait to finally put the mules into work.

Chen Xiao Mai looked at the blindfolded mule curiously. He couldn't figure it out, "Lin Ge, why does the mule keep working after you blindfolded him?"

Lu Lin nodded, "It's a trick I learned from the books!"

Chen Xiao Mai looked at Lu Lin with admiration in his eyes and said, "Lin Ge, you are so amazing that you can make the mule work as you wish."

Lu Lin smiled and said, "It's just a little trick."

Ji Yun An glanced at Lu Lin and thought, 'Humph, this new county magistrate is so cunning, he could have used a mule for all this time, but he allowed that little Mai to slave me!'

Lu Lin stroked Chen Xiao Mai's hair and said, "Mai, we are going to expand our tofu shop now, would you like to help out, Mai?"

Chen Xiao Mai nodded, "But Second Brother said that the tofu shop is unprofitable."

Lu Lin sighed, "That is true, but we are getting better, plus making money isn't everything!"

Chen Xiao Mai sighed and said, "I heard that an official could make a lot of money. Lin Ge, you're an official now. How come you are earning less money?"

Lu Lin thought for a little while and said, "Don't worry, Mai, we are doing okay. Plus I didn't take this position to make money."

Chen Xiao Mai sighed and said, "It seems that there's nothing good about being an official. I'd better not be an official in the future."

Ji Yun An looked at Chen Xiao Mai and thought to himself, 'This brat is really getting ahead of himself. Bios cannot be officials in the first place, and I don't think he has what it takes to become a good official!'

Lu Lin replied, "We will support your decisions, and yes, I don't think becoming an official is the only way out for you."

Chen Xiao Mai nodded. "Yes, yes! There's no fun in becoming an official." He used to have a bunch of dolls to play with, but now there is only one left, the tiger one that he had for a long time.

Ji Yun An looked at Chen Xiao Mai and said sullenly, "As an official, you can't think about money all day long."

Chen Xiao Mai put his hands in his waist and glanced at Ji Yun An. He said arrogantly, "Oh yeah? The money your uncle gave us only enough for dinner, not enough for the snacks like the egg pancakes. You can no longer have egg pancakes."

Ji Yun An blushed.

The egg pancakes Lu Lin made had completely won Ji Yun An's heart since day one, never had he tasted anything remotely as delicious, his heart sank when Xiao Mai threatened him with the egg pancakes.

Ji Yun An had never picture himself as someone who indulged himself in the desire for good food, but he yearned for some egg pancakes.

"On second thought, there's nothing wrong in thinking about making money and living a good life," said Ji Yun An awkwardly.

Ji Yun An thought to himself, The tofu sold in their store is not expensive, they are just one cent for each piece. I guess it will be highly appreciated, especially in winter, and I heard Uncle wants to buy tofu from them regularly as well, that's really good, they deserve to add something new in their diet.'

Due to the high demand for tofu in the military camp, Lu Lin came up with a plan to send the tofu to the camp using a mule cart.

Ji Yun An had escorted the mule cart to the military camp for a few times.

......

Lu Lin recruited several Yamen runners from the village, and several of them used to work for the previous county magistrate.

The previous county magistrate once was kidnapped, and it was impossible for him to find out who the kidnappers were. So he vented his anger on the Yamen runners, he fired them all before he fled back to his hometown.

As a result, Lu Lin didn't have a single Yamen runner when he arrived in Sha County.

If the previous county order had not dismissed those Yamen runners, when Lu Lin came over, the county yamen would have been in a better state.

Lu Lin didn't hire all the old Yamen runners. He picked two who were praised by the people and selected the rest from the villagers.

More and more customers were frequenting Chen Xiao Cai's tofu shop, they either spend one cent on a piece of tofu or a jug of soy milk.

The price of tofu was not expensive. The villagers were happy to buy some tofu and make some warm dinner out of it.

Although the profit was a little low, Chen Xiao Cai enjoyed it. Some sense of unevenness was inevitable, they used to make more than twenty tales of silver on a daily basis and now they were dealing with coppers, but Xiao Cai and Chi coped it well.

In the yard, the Qin brothers were learning skills from the carpenters and blacksmiths.

Lu Lin once sold rocking chairs and rocking horses in the Sino Commercial House. At that time, the Qins had learned a little carpentry and they mastered new skills quickly.

Ever since Lu Lin used the mule to grind the mill, Chen Xiao Mai stopped forcing Ji Yun An to do it. In Chen Xiao Mai's words, the mule did a much better job than Ji Yun An.

During the past few years, all the soldiers addressed Ji Yun An as Young Master or General Ji Junior. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed when Xiao Mai roasted him.

However, he couldn't argue with this Bio boy who was allegedly a bit special.

Since his identity was exposed, Ji Yun An stopped hiding

"Young Master, do you know what the county magistrate is up to?"

Ji Yun An shook his head and said, "I don't know, Uncle Tian, you're a carpenter. Do you know?"

Tian Zheng shook his head. "I don't know either, we are only making the small parts, it's the Qins who have been assembling all the parts, so none of us has seen the finished products."

The carpenters and blacksmiths knew that Lu Lin had given them different tasks because he tried to keep the finished products a secret. They had privately gathered together to discuss what Lu Lin was doing, but they had no clue.

Ji Yun rubbed his chin and said: "I heard that this county magistrate used to sell some novelty things, such as rocking chairs, which are useless yet ridiculously expensive."

Sino Commercial House enjoyed great reputation, and counterfeits of their products could be found across the country.

Ji Yun An, who had travelled extensively together with Ji Cheng Kang had heard of the rocking chair. It was said that it was a kind of chair that would shake back and forth when you lied down on it. Ji Yun An had also heard that this county magistrate always launched superficially clever products and he doubted that chances were Lu Lin was producing something showy and not substantial again.

Tian Zheng said embarrassedly, "Who cares what he's doing. As long as he pays us on time."

Tian Zheng didn't care to delve into this topic, he always stayed aloof when Lu Lin was around.

However, Luo Wen had a good impression of Lu Lin, he liked to follow Lu Lin around, and it was Luo Wen who had recommend Tian Zheng to Lu Lin. Tian Zheng originally didn't want to take the job, but he was desperate for some money. The redundancy pay he got from the imperial court was not much, he felt embarrassed to always take money from General Ji.

Tian Zheng and the rest of the workers all fell in love with the food that Lu Lion provided for them, even though there was no abundant fish and meat, the flavor and the portion were just impeccable.

Some workers asked their wives to try to imitate the dishes, even though their cooking skills were not as great as Yun Niang's, the dishes all turned out to be pretty good.

The bachelors on the other hand weren't as lucky, they could only have some coarse food after they got back home. Take Tian Zheng for an example, he looked forward to lunch provided by Lu Lin every day.

Ji Yun An nodded and said, "Yes, our county magistrate knows how to make the best use of everything."

Lu Lin had recruited a few new Yamen runners. These people were mainly responsible for patrolling tasks, but sometimes Lu Lin would ask them to run personal errands.

Ji Yun An felt that this was not appropriate, but he didn't dare say anything for fear of Xiao Mai's ridicule. In addition, Lu Lin didn't ask the Yamen runners to do anything unreasonable. So Ji Yun An just turned a blind eye to it.