"Indeed, quite good," Min Luozhan readily agreed.

The day after Ah Jing left, my mother brought my cousin to live with us at the Xinwu Marquis Mansion bestowed by the Emperor, the intent of which was obvious.

However, my heart belonged only to Ah Jing, and I could not go against my mother, so before coming here, I found an excuse to avoid going back to the mansion and stayed at Ah Jing's Princess Mansion instead (The Emperor had decreed that no one was to enter the Princess Mansion without Long Jingxi's permission, under penalty of severe punishment).

Noticing that Yang Mengchen's brows were tinged with weariness, Long Xuanmo said to Min Luozhan, "Brother-in-law, take good care of the Eldest Imperial Sister, I will take Ah Jiu back."

"All right," Min Luozhan also noticed that Yang Mengchen did not seem to be in good spirits, and guilt filled his heart.

Yang Mengchen indeed felt very tired and fell into a deep sleep as soon as she got home.

Sitting quietly by the bedside, Long Xuanmo's heart and eyes were filled with indulgence and tenderness for her, and it wasn't until Sister Jin came to report that lunch was ready that he gently woke Yang Mengchen.

After lunch, Yang Mengchen, accompanied by Sister Jin and six others, made pills for Min Luozhan, which she then asked Long Xuanmo to take back to him.

The next morning, Yang Mengchen and her group arrived at the sugar factory.

In the open space outside the factory gate, the people of Jinquan Village and Sweet Water Village lined up, each one carrying sweet water vegetables and iron poles, their faces all bearing joyful smiles.

Shen Qiulan, Xiao Wanxue, Yang Chengrong and several of his brothers, along with the servants, were busy weighing and making payments.

Seeing Zhuo Shuiquan among the crowd, Yang Mengchen gestured to Hai Tang to take him to the second-floor office in the factory.

"Would you be interested in working for my family?" Yang Mengchen asked Zhuo Shuiquan directly.

Zhuo Shuiquan was so astonished that he lifted his head and looked at Yang Mengchen in disbelief.

In recent days, the Yang family's factory had been recruiting workers, and many from Yangliu village had not been selected, let alone someone from another village. He had not been able to enter the factory as he had wished and thought he had no chance until Ninth Sister Yang unexpectedly offered him employment with the Yang family.

Yang Mengchen said indifferently, "My family will soon open several shops in town. If you're willing, you can start by assisting my Sixth Brother and then consider which shop you'd like to work at. As for the salary, it's two taels of silver per month, plus bonuses and an end-of-year reward. If you do well, both your salary and position can be raised. However, you'll have to sign a contract with me."

She was quite satisfied with Zhuo Shuiquan's integrity and adaptability, which is why she wanted to give him an opportunity.

"I'm willing!" The moment the words left her mouth, Zhuo Shuiquan eagerly expressed his willingness: "Please rest assured, Ninth Sister Yang, I will definitely do my job well!"

Afterward, Zhuo Shuiquan signed the contract, took the personal letter Yang Mengchen had written to Yang Chenghong, and left the office with heartfelt thanks.

"He's honest and straightforward yet not lacking in shrewdness. Ah Jiu has a good eye!"

Long Xuanmo stood at the door, his gaze deep as he looked at Yang Mengchen, but no one knew that his heart was actually surging with jealousy. Zhuo Shuiquan's gaze at Ah Jiu was too focused and eager, and he did not like it one bit.

Yang Mengchen's face was calm as water: "Many thanks for your praise, Prince!" she instructed Hai Tang to secure the contract and then brought Sister Jin and others downstairs to the workshop, guiding Shen Qiulan and a dozen newly purchased servants to begin making candy.

Last time, when she helped Long Xuanmo purchase slaves for his other residence, she thought about the new factories that would be completed one after another, and took the opportunity to also buy some death contract servants.

From the beginning, all formulas were in the hands of her own family's people. She then taught the core technologies to the servants in a few factories, while the workers recruited from the village were only responsible for the regular assembly line operations.

Standing outside the office on the corridor, Long Xuanmo gazed down at the busy people, his eyes tender as water, his exquisitely beautiful lips always curved in a slight arc.

The spacious workshop was divided into an inner and an outer workshop.

In the outer workshop, under the steward's guidance, workers cleaned the metal rods and various fruits, peeled them, and used a stone mill to extract juice, filtering it four times.

In the inner workshop, Yang Mengchen had the servants pour the filtered juice into large pots, which were specially crafted by the Elite Guards under the leadership of her sixth brother.

After the juice was boiled, Yang Mengchen first skimmed off the top layer of froth and placed it in an empty basin beside her—a froth that could be used to make sugarcane vinegar.

About an hour and a half later (stirring constantly during the process), when the color turned dark red, Yang Mengchen instructed the servants to switch to a low flame, then proceed with sanding. Sanding was a skilled job. Good sanding resulted in more brown sugar granules, whereas poor sanding yielded fewer and could even create hard candy, and it also affected the texture of the brown sugar.

Finally, the well-sanded brown sugar was evenly poured into the prepared molds beside them. The bottom was lined with mats woven from grass. After cooling for a quarter of an hour, the sugar was cut and then packed into large jars.

Yang Mengchen operated the process while explaining the method of production, the control of the heat, and the precautions to Shen Qiulan and the servants.

Seeing her beloved daughter cut a small piece of brown sugar and put it in her mouth, Shen Qiulan asked curiously, "Jiujiu, is it tasty?"

"Mother, try it." Yang Mengchen mixed some brown sugar with water and handed it to Shen Qiulan, then said to Sister Jin, the six others, and the servants, "You all try it too. Drinking more sugar water can replenish your qi, strengthen the spleen, warm the stomach, and also enrich the blood."

Shen Qiulan took a sip: "So sweet!" And then she finished the half bowl of brown sugar water.

After everyone had a drink, they praised it continuously, feeling a warm and comfortable sensation in their stomachs.

After the first pot of brown sugar was successfully cooked, Yang Mengchen personally watched over Shen Qiulan and the servants making several pots. Once she saw there were no mistakes, she was reassured and then taught them how to make white sugar and rock sugar.

After eating lunch, Yang Mengchen continued to teach them how to cook various candies, again explaining while cooking. She also managed to cook up sugarcane sugar, refined sugar, and others using Sweet Water Plant, which had a similar process to making candy with metal rods.

The paper factory sent over plenty of colored wax paper. Yang Mengchen instructed the workers to cut the wax paper into small rectangles along the printed lines, to then package different kinds of candy, each piece of wax paper printed with the 'Yongchang Manufacture' logo.

"Mother, Sister Jin, try them and see how you like the taste." Yang Mengchen handed a milk candy and a peanut candy to Sister Jin and Shen Qiulan respectively.

After tasting, both of them nodded with approval: "Really delicious!"

Yang Mengchen had Hai Tang and the five others distribute a few candies to each worker, and also sent some to the other factories, the Academy, the Clan Leader, the village chief, the Lizheng, and to her three maternal families, prepared a share for Doctor Luo and a few other families, and then she took a wood box filled with candies to the office, where Long Xuanmo had been all day.

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