CH 44.1

Crispy deep-fried milk was a kind of sweet that Lu Qingjiu really liked. The specific method he used was to mix milk, starch powder and egg together. Then, after freezing it into a gelatinous state, he then cut it into strips, coated them in flour and deep-fried them in oil. Deep-fried milk made in this way was crispy on the outside, but the milk mixture on the inside would already have melted. With one bite, the warm milk mixture would burst out, tasting fragrant, sweet, and chewy, with a strong milk flavour.

After he was done, Lu Qingjiu took them to give to Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu for a taste. The two of them both said that they really liked it. Lu Qingjiu then said that now that they had milk, they could try even more dairy products in the future. Moreover, he’d found that his family’s bull’s milk production was more than sufficient. As long as they fed him, they would be able to squeeze out some milk. Also, the flavour of the milk was based on what the bull ate. If he was fed grass, the milk produced by the bull would have the usual flavour of milk. If he was fed chocolate, it would be chocolate milk produced. 

Yin Xun was extremely happy about this. Sure enough, those two chocolates of his hadn’t been fed to the bull for nothing.

On another note, as for Lu Qingjiu’s money making scheme, his Taobao store had not yet had any business since its opening. The first reason was because it was too expensive, and the second was because the store didn’t have any popularity. However, he wasn’t worried. Regardless of anything, the money he’d earned from Zhang Chuyang was still enough for them to live off of.

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But that morning, a buyer hit up Lu Qingjiu on his Wangwang, asking about this hair growth water.

He Xiaoyang was 27 years old as of this year. He had an elegant appearance, but hadn’t had a girlfriend for a long time. The reason was that head of hair which he had been steadily losing since he was young. Now matter how handsome the face, when paired with a Mediterranean Sea hairstyle, it would be disdained. Towards this, He Xiaoyang was also utterly helpless. He could only wear hats all day long. However, when he wore hats for too long, the state of his hair would become even worse. It was simply a vicious cycle. 

He Xiaoyang had tried getting a hair transplant before, but the follicles that had been transplanted from the back of his head to the top of his head simply wouldn’t grow. He’d spent tens of thousands of yuan, to no avail. He was still suffering. He Xiaoyang thought that his gains truly hadn’t made up his losses.

That day, he had just happened to see a store called “Little Village” on Taobao. The store seemed to be newly set up. It only had one listing. The listing was titled the three words “hair growth water”. No matter how he looked at it, he felt like it had been done deliberately.

But as if possessed, He Xiaoyang still clicked into it. After clicking on the store, he saw the shop owner’s introduction — if you don’t grow hair, you’ll get a full refund.

So confident?! He Xiaoyang saw the price of the hair growth water, 4999, which for him, a programmer, wasn’t too expensive. It was just that, was this really reliable? 

He Xiaoyang deliberated over it for a while, before clicking on the “contact the shop owner” button, and voicing his doubts.

“Boss, if your hair growth water doesn’t work, you’ll really refund it?”

“Yes.” The owner’s reply was very simple and straightforward. “Full refund.”

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Anyways, he could get a full refund, why not try it out, He Xiaoyang thought, he’d already tried so many hair growth products, why not another. He could just try treating the dead horse like it was a live one, what if it worked?

With such thoughts, He Xiaoyang waited for his delivery to arrive. 

Lu Qingjiu treated his very first customer with great importance. He placed the well water into one of the glass bottles Zhu Miaomiao had designed. The glass bottle was like an expensive perfume bottle. The amount of hair growth water that could be stored inside was only enough to wipe on one’s head once. The glass bottle was then placed into a wooden packing box and after that, was packed into a custom made hard cardboard box. Finally, he tied a bow on the outside with a beautiful black ribbon, and sealed it with sealing wax. Just like that, a faux expensive bottle of hair growth water was packed up.

Lu Qingjiu went to town to send it out, specially choosing the most expensive delivery option.

As of now, the amount was rather few. When there were more orders, then he could have the courier come to Shuifu village to pick up the items, and he himself wouldn’t have to make such a long trip.

After sending out the goods, Lu Qingjiu forgot about it. There were a lot of things he needed to do in the fall. He even planned on taking advantage of the fact that the days were getting colder to make some fermented beancurd and pickles. From what Yin Xun said, there were a lot of wild chestnut trees on the mountain. He planned to find some time to pick a few chestnuts to make chestnut cakes and chestnut with stewed chicken. 

So the next time Lu Qingjiu logged into his Taobao account, only then did he realise that there was an incredible amount of messages on his Wangwang. His limited stock of one hundred bottles of hair growth water had all been sold off, and there were a lot of people begging him to restock. After a careful look over the messages, he roughly understood what had happened.

It was actually very simple. It was just that a customer had noticed that the hair growth water worked incredibly well, to the point that it could be called miraculous. Hence, he recommended it to his friends and coworkers, so all the hair growth water had been bought.

Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment, then simply placed an announcement over the shop, saying that the shop’s technology was limited, so there would only be one hundred bottles available every month. After they were sold out, there wouldn’t be any more, those who want to buy it, please wait for the next month.

After that, he closed Wangwang, printed out all the order labels and shipped them out. 

“It’s sold out, it’s sold out. He Xiaoyang, can you talk to the owner about letting him put up a few more?” He Xiaoyang, who was being painstakingly pleaded to by his colleague, could only smile bitterly. He said, “There’s no use asking me, it’s not like I know the owner.”

“Then how did you get it?” As he looked at the full head of short, black beautiful hair that had replaced He Xiaoyang’s Mediterreanean sea hairstyle, his coworker’s envious eyes turned red. “This shop is so small, and you actually noticed it…”

“I was just lucky.” He Xiaoyang was also a little helpless. If he’d known earlier, he himself would have bought more to keep. Who knew that the shop’s hair growth water would be this hard to buy? He’d just advertised it casually, but when those people had seen the hair on his head, they’d immediately placed their orders, without even a hint of hesitation.

“Then what do I do,” the coworker said despairingly, “It’s out of stock.” 

“Wait for next month then,” He Xiaoyang could only say, “Didn’t the owner say that he’d restock next month?”

Looking at the owner who wouldn’t reply no matter how many messages he sent him, his coworker let out a loud sigh. It seemed like he could only do that.

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Lu Qingjiu’s speed of sending out the stock wasn’t very fast. After all, he still needed to cook everyday, and this Taobao shop was just a side job. Thus, even though all his stock had been sold out, he would only package the bottles at night when he was free, then bring it to town to send it off the next day. He sent out about twenty a day, so sending out all the orders took more than a week.

In order to thank Miss Ghost in the inner courtyard, Lu Qingjiu even bought quite a bit of joss sticks and paper money and burned it for her. 

After sending out the goods, Lu Qingjiu got Yin Xun to come with him up the mountain. Carrying a bamboo basket on his back, he collect a basketful of chestnuts with a bamboo pole.

Even though the skins of chestnuts looked smooth, they were actually wrapped in a thick layer of barbed flesh. When poking them down, one needed to be especially careful, or else if one dropped onto one’s body, it wouldn’t just hurt, you would also get pricked by the barbs. Also, when picking up chestnuts and opening chestnuts, it was best to wear gloves.

Fortunately, Yin Xun’s body was special. He completely didn’t need to worry about this, so Lu Qingjiu would stand by the side, knocking down chestnuts with his pole, while he happily bent down and picked them up. Soon, the baskets were full.

Carrying two baskets full of chestnuts on their backs, the two made their way down the mountain, contented. Lu Qingjiu planned to make stewed chicken with chestnuts that night, and chestnut cakes tomorrow. 

“Have you had sweet roasted chestnuts before?” Lu Qingjiu chatted with Yin Xun.

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“Nope.” Before Lu Qingjiu returned here, the amount of different types of food that Yin Xun had been eating was pitifully small. When he cooked chestnuts himself, he would just place them into a pot and boil them to serve as a snack.

“Then I’ll roast some for you to snack on when I have some time,” Lu Qingjiu said, “But there doesn’t seem to be any fine sand on the mountain…”

“I’ll find some for you,” Yin Xun volunteered. 

Lu Qingjiu said, “Alright.”

Stewed chicken with chestnuts was very simple to make. You just added chestnuts to stewed chicken. That way, the stewed chicken would have a kind of sweetness unique to chestnuts, and the chestnuts would have the deliciousness of chicken soup. In short, it was a very likeable dish. Chestnuts were very filling. After eating just twenty, Yin Xun’s stomach was already full to bursting, and he’d only eating two pieces of chicken.

Of course, Bai Yuehu didn’t have this problem. He devoured all the remaining chicken and chestnuts in one breath. If not for Lu Qingjiu telling him to leave some soup for some noodles in chicken soup for tomorrow morning, he was afraid that the bottom of the pot would have been licked clean by him.

“Ah, I’m so jealous of Bai Yuehu,” Yin Xun, who’d eaten himself full to the point that he could only sit on the chair, unable to move, expressed enviously, “Why is it that even though I’m clearly already no longer human, my appetite is still so small…” 

Lu Qingjiu said, “I was wondering the same thing.”

Yin Xun, “…”