Chapter 462: Brewing Vinegar
"I'm really scared of you. Eating steamed buns with chili sauce, is that okay?"

The little girl let go of the third whisker in her hand, grinned, and even put her chubby little hands together and clapped them again and again.

Seeing his daughter smiling happily, Butcher Hong forgot the pain in his jaw and walked happily to the backyard, calling his wife to prepare hot steamed buns with chili sauce for his daughter.

When Fang heard this, her eyes lit up. "He's only a little kid, but he keeps eating chili peppers all day long. I don't know who he takes after!"

But even though he said that, he still lit a fire to heat the buns.

Butcher Hong took off his beard and poked his daughter with it, making her giggle. He said with a playful smile, "Yeah, I don't know who she took after!"

After Xia Mingyue left the butcher shop, she stayed on the street for a while.

He looked at the bustling streets and also saw the confused faces of those fleeing famine. Seeing that it was getting late, he went back home.

When I got home, I found that there were guests at home.

It’s Pei Chenghe.

"Lord Pei." Xia Mingyue bowed.

"Madam Xia, you are too polite." Pei Chenghe hurriedly bowed and saluted properly.

"I was just strolling on the street and didn't know Lord Pei was visiting. I'm really sorry." Xia Mingyue explained while asking Yinqiao to bring her a cup of hot tea.

"I also came here suddenly to disturb you. Madam Xia didn't know about this, so how can you blame me?" Pei Chenghe said modestly. "If you want to talk about it, you should blame me for coming here suddenly. But I had something to discuss with Madam Xia, so I couldn't care less."

"I wonder what Lord Pei wants to discuss with me?" Xia Mingyue asked.

"Since Madam Xia has been walking around the streets, you should be able to see that there are many more refugees in the city who have fled famine."

"That's right." Xia Mingyue nodded and took the opportunity to ask, "I heard that there will be another war. Is this true?"

"Yes." Pei Chenghe lowered his voice. "This morning, the prefect sent someone to deliver an official document, mentioning that the war at the border is tense. This should be the case."

"It is precisely because of the frequent wars that the number of refugees has increased, so that the nearby prefectures and county towns are constantly filled with refugees, conflicts are frequent, and it is very unstable."

"The new pacification envoy, Lord Cao, has issued an order for all prefectures, cities and counties under their jurisdiction to resettle refugees as appropriate, so as to prevent refugees fleeing famine from causing instability among the people and leading to unrest."

"I am an incompetent official. Although I intend to resettle the refugees who have arrived in Jinqiu County, all I can think of is building border defenses and repairing river embankments. However, this can only resettle young and strong laborers, and there is no better solution for many women and children. Therefore, I want to ask Lady Xia."

"Mrs. Xia's Xia Ji business is quite good, and the franchise model is very novel and suitable for women and children. Therefore, I want to see if Mrs. Xia can open more Xia Ji franchises to these refugees, so that they will have something to do, and after the border is stabilized and they return to their hometown, they can also use this to settle down."

"I understand what Lord Pei means." Xia Mingyue said, "But I won't hide it from Lord Pei. Although my Xia Ji's business is okay, it is not the case that more franchises are better. Instead, we need to reach a balance point for healthy development. If everyone learns, they will have something to do when they return home, but they will easily compete with each other during this period of time away from home, and no one will make much money."

Pei Chenghe heard this, thought for a moment and nodded, "It is true, and everyone learns these skills to cook. Even if everyone can do business legitimately, there must be someone to buy the food, otherwise it will be useless..." "I thought it was simple!" Pei Chenghe looked ashamed.

"Lord Pei is also concerned about the people and wants to properly settle those who have left their homes. It is understandable that he is concerned and confused."

Xia Mingyue thought for a moment and said, "But since we want to settle these refugees, besides learning how to cook, we can do something else."

"Madam Xia means..."

"I have been in Jinqiu County for a long time and have been in the food business for several years. I found that the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and other products here are all imported from outside, not produced locally."

Xia Mingyue said, "Let's not talk about the fact that salt is under the jurisdiction of the government. Among oil, soy sauce and vinegar, especially vinegar, the quality of local products has always been poor. Except for some people who buy it for cheap, the vinegar used by those who are not short of money and those of us who run food businesses are almost all sold from Yilong County (fictional)."

"I also learned the brewing skills before. County Magistrate Pei might as well set up a vinegar brewing workshop in the name of the county government and let the women and children work in the workshop. This way, these refugees will have food to eat, and the vinegar brewed by the workshop can also be sold for profit, which can also be regarded as adding some income to the government office."

"This is a very good idea." Pei Chenghe nodded repeatedly, but he was quite worried. "Although the government office is not rich, it can get by with the money from the court. On the contrary, if the county office gets too much money in the future, I'm afraid some trouble will arise..."

It's good that Jinqiu County Government is a low-income government office, at least others won't be interested in it. But if it makes a lot of money in the future and becomes a piece of fat meat, I'm afraid it will be targeted by others.

By then, those who can serve as the magistrate of Jinqiu County will probably be people who are eager to get rich, and the lives of the common people will be unpredictable. Even the vinegar workshop may not be able to make money.

Therefore, it is necessary to plan ahead to avoid these incidents.

Seeing this, Xia Mingyue was quite relieved, "If Lord Pei is worried about this, it will be easy to deal with."

"Madam Xia, do you have a solution?"

"Well." Xia Mingyue continued, "It takes a certain amount of money to set up a vinegar workshop. This money cannot come from the government, but it can come from the people."

"Estimate the amount of silver needed, divide it into equal shares, publish a notice, and ask the people of Jinqiu County to buy a share. After paying the money, register it. After the vinegar workshop makes a profit, the money earned will be distributed according to everyone's share."

In this way, this vinegar-brewing workshop has nothing to do with the Jinqiu County Government, but belongs to the people's workshop, and it can be regarded as a benefit for the people by him as the county magistrate.

The common people who become workshop owners will, in order to help the workshops make profits, also take the initiative to promote and purchase vinegar from the workshops, and future sales will not be a problem.

Get it in one fell swoop!
"This method is very good." Pei Chenghe nodded repeatedly and affirmed again, "Very good!"

Then he added, "To prevent wealthy businessmen from controlling the workshop, we can limit the amount each person can buy, and prohibit buying on behalf of others. If found, the goods will be confiscated immediately."

"The vinegar brewing workshop also needs to be located in a spacious, clean place close to a river or a well. Lord Pei will have to take care of the site selection." Xia Mingyue said.

"It's within my responsibility. Leave it to me." Pei Chenghe patted his chest, "I'll also take care of building the house, getting the materials, and coordinating the relationships."