Hints About a Marriage Match

Gu Wanning then realized that the people here didn't recognize rice noodles.

"It's delicious, come on, have a taste."

Once they sat down, they basically filled the entire stall.

The stall owner, a young woman, cooked rice noodles while asking each customer about their taste preferences.

Gu Wanning chatted with her, and by the time the rice noodles were served, she already knew that the stall owner was named Xu Qiaoqiao and the maid was named Xi'er. The two of them came from the distant Zhen'an Prefecture and had come to the capital to find their relatives. They hadn't found them and planned to earn some travel expenses before heading back home.

"Zhen'an Prefecture, that's so far away!" Gu Wanning said.

After some consideration, she concluded it must be Guangxi.

Do you have snail rice noodles where you live?

"Luosifen?" Xu Qiaoqiao shook her head with a smile. "I've never heard of it."

"Oh," Gu Wanning said regretfully, "That's a pity, snail rice noodles are delicious."

Boss, a bowl of snail rice noodles, with a fried egg and two tiger-skin chicken feet, please!

It's so delicious!

"Since you came here to find your relatives, why did you turn back if you couldn't find them? Why don't you keep looking?"

"Actually, we did find it, but... never mind."

Gu Wanning immediately understood that her relatives didn't want to help her.

"Then you two, mistress and servant, have to be careful, lest someone target you." The First Concubine was already starting to worry about them.

"Yes, I understand, thank you, sister."

After eating the rice noodles, the mistress and servant cleaned up the dishes, and Gu Wanning asked Er Ya Xu Qiaoqiao an extra handful of money.

Xu Qiaoqiao brought them a pot of tea, then took Xi'er and retreated to the back so as not to disturb them.

Fourth Concubine began to pour out her grievances.

"Has the Marquis suffered some kind of shock? Is something wrong with him?" She pointed to her head and said, "He insists on coming with us."

Gu Wanning pretended not to hear.

Xu Weibei's intentions were clearly directed at her.

But she couldn't respond, so she could only pretend not to understand.

Seeing that Zhi Nu shared the candied hawthorns she hadn't finished eating with Jiaoniang, Gu Wanning instantly felt like she had grasped a lifeline.

"By the way, which of you is from the South?"

The group looked at each other and shook their heads.

My First Concubine's mother was from the South, but she wasn't.

"Oh, never mind then, I won't ask you anymore. Qiaoqiao," Gu Wanning smiled and waved to the stall owner, "When you're not busy, let's talk for a while. I have something I'd like to ask you."

Xu Qiaoqiao wiped her hands on her apron, walked over, and said with a smile, "Sister, please ask."

Chapter 154 Hints at Marriage

"Do you have sugarcane where you live?" Gu Wanning asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes," Xu Qiaoqiao nodded, "My family grows a large area of sugarcane."

Do you know how to make sugar from sugarcane?

"Yes, my family happens to have a small workshop that makes sugar; we can produce over a thousand kilograms of brown sugar every year."

"Then white sugar?" Gu Wanning became even more interested.

"White sugar? We don't have that," Xu Qiaoqiao said. "White sugar is very rare, and it would waste a lot of manpower and resources. It's more cost-effective to make brown sugar."

What about the Yellow-Mud Water-Leaching Method?

"Yellow clay? How can yellow clay be used to make sugar?" Xu Qiaoqiao asked, puzzled.

Gu Wanning, suppressing her excitement, asked, "Your little sugar mill, don't you use yellow clay to refine white sugar?"

Xu Qiaoqiao her head, "I've never heard of that."

I can't even imagine it.

Gu Wanning thought to herself, "It's stable. We've mastered another core technology."

Learning agriculture is useful!

The Yellow-Mud Water-Leaching Decolorization Method is recorded in the "Essential Techniques for the Common People," but judging from Xu Qiaoqiao's reaction, it seems that it was not used or popularized here.

That's fine. Making money from information asymmetry is enough.

"Sister, how do you extract white sugar from yellow clay?" Xu Qiaoqiao asked for guidance.

Gu Wanning waved her hand. "Actually, I only heard someone mention it before, I don't know how to do it."

That's half true and half false.

Firstly, she wanted to make money using this method, and secondly, she genuinely didn't know how to put it into practice.

But as long as she puts forward a theory, her older brother can find someone to test it.

There are too many smart people in this world; with a little guidance, they can achieve the desired results.

Considering there might be other things she needed to inquire about later, Gu Wanning left her address with Xu Qiaoqiao, saying, "If you need anything in the future, come find me."

Xu Qiaoqiao thanked her sincerely.

Gu Wanning led everyone away.

Only then did Xi'er dare to step forward and speak to Xu Qiaoqiao, "Miss, aren't they good people? Why did you lie to them? I thought they seemed like good people, maybe they could help us."

"We should always be wary of others, and we're not completely desperate yet," Xu Qiaoqiao. "Even if selling rice noodles doesn't work, we can find other ways to make money."

"So, once we've saved enough money for the journey, are we really going back?"

"Let's go back." This time, Xu Qiaoqiao said firmly, "It's good that he's alright."

Xi'er looked somewhat aggrieved. "Miss, aren't you being foolish? You did it back then..."

"Alright, hurry up and pack up, other guests will be coming soon." Xu Qiaoqiao interrupted her.

Xi'er could only swallow her words.

Xu Weibei, meanwhile, was drinking tea in a teahouse, sipping tea he couldn't taste, and rambling on about trivial matters.

In short, they were stalling, preventing Gu Anqi and Fang Tingxiu from leaving.

Gu Anqi was fully aware of his purpose. Although Fang Tingxiu didn't quite understand, he remained calm and sat there, letting Xu Weibei scrutinize him.

Gu Anqi put down his teacup and said casually, "Tingxiu, you haven't returned home since you became the third-highest scorer in the imperial examination. Although your parents are no longer here, it's still good news that you passed the exam. You should go back and offer your condolences."

Both parents deceased?

Xu Weibei thought that he himself was the same.

Is this a mandatory requirement for the Gu family when choosing a son-in-law?

He has a serious illness.

"My home is far away, and it would take four or five months to travel back and forth. I dare not delay my duties, so I can only offer my respects from afar in the Capital," Fang Tingxiu said.