Chương 67: Thinking Up a Business

After over a week of hard work, the harvest was quite bountiful. He had completely refined the 400-year-old wild ginseng. Currently, the Tesseract in his mind was still a deep red, but Song Que keenly noticed a hint of orange mixed within the crimson glow. This meant that after the next advancement, the Tesseract's energy would transform into the color orange. Although there wasn't a massive visible change right now, having digested such a colossal amount of energy, his physical body had elevated by 1 Horsepower!

At this moment, his physical strength had thoroughly surpassed the 2 Bear Force threshold. As long as there was progress, Grandee Song felt satisfied. Furthermore, thanks to his efforts staying up late and waking up early, the silver in his Storage Space had visibly swelled. His net cash assets were now hovering around ten thousand taels, allowing Grandee Song to once again reclaim his confident swagger.

Having decided to take a temporary break to avoid revealing that "Lord Song" hadn't actually gone out last night, he had crawled into bed very early. After a good night's sleep, he woke up this morning feeling exceptionally refreshed. Getting up early, he joined Xiong Ba, Li Xin, and Brother Hong's lackeys for their morning training. Watching Aunt Li carrying a bag and leaving the house so early, he felt a bit puzzled:"A'Xin, where is your mother going so early carrying a bag of stuff?"

Beside him, Li Xin hesitated to speak, but the quick-mouthed Shitou, standing behind him, snatched the opportunity to answer:"Master Song, Aunt Li has taken on some piecework making handicrafts for people. She's heading out early to deliver the finished goods." Hearing this, Song Que was surprised:"Oh? A'Xin, does Aunt Li need money for something? If she's short on cash, why didn't she tell me? Why take on such exhausting work?" Li Xin blushed and explained:"Big Brother, our family doesn't lack anything.

It's just that my mother feels uneasy about us living off you for so long without doing anything in return. She wants to work and earn some extra money to help you out."

"Ah, I see. Haha, A'Xin, go back and tell Aunt Li not to worry about money. Your big brother has his own ways. Tell her there's no need to overwork herself," Song Que smiled and told him. However, Li Xin, who rarely ever argued with him, was unusually firm this time:"Big Brother, we know you want to help our family. But both my mother and I genuinely want to put in some effort to lend you a hand."

"That's right, A'Que. It's not just Aunt Li. The rest of us have also been feeling uneasy living as freeloaders these past few days. You shouldn't try to carry everything on your own shoulders; it just makes us brothers feel terrible." Zhong Hong, who rarely woke up early, had appeared nearby at some point and chimed in after Li Xin:"Exactly, Master Song! Please assign us some work! We might not have any grand skills, but doing some odd jobs is absolutely no problem!"

"Yes, Master Song, please give us tasks! Idling around every day is driving us crazy!" Hearing the responses from the brothers around him, Song Que felt a weight on his heart. He had indeed been negligent, overlooking the feelings of these people. He had been so busy lately that he hadn't had the time to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Brother Hong, nor had he thought about the group's future. He had to remember that ever since leaving Yellow Leaf Town, he was no longer just one person.

Behind him were Xiong Ba, the Li family, Zhong Hong, and his men! It made sense; idling away all day would inevitably make people feel like dead weight, a burden, leading to anxiety. And the reason was obvious: dead weights and burdens were the easiest things to abandon. Inwardly blaming himself, Song Que immediately apologized to everyone:"I am truly sorry, everyone. I've been preoccupied with important matters these past few days and neglected your feelings.

Let's do this: later today, I will discuss it with Brother Hong and figure out a business for us brothers to run together as soon as possible!" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"Long live Big Brother!"

"Long live Master Song!" Seeing the group cheering and jumping for joy, Song Que smiled happily. He nodded at Zhong Hong, and the two strode into the main hall together, finding chairs to sit down.

"Brother Hong, I haven't gone out these past few days. Have you figured out any solutions to settle everyone's situation?" Hearing his question, Zhong Hong explained with a serious expression:"A'Que, I've been tossing and turning thinking about this over the past few days, and I've actually come up with a few ideas. Let me run them by you, and you can see what you think." Seeing Song Que nod in attention, Brother Hong continued:"The first is mixing in the underworld.

I've noticed that the gangs in the slums of the East and North Cities are incredibly chaotic, with no truly powerful factions holding down the fort. With your strength, if we start something in those two areas, we could quickly seize a piece of territory to plant our flag."

"The second is that we could assemble a merchant convoy and establish a trade route with Yellow Leaf Town. That's our home base; we know everything there inside out. Wandering around the county recently, I've spotted quite a few business opportunities. If we work hard to gather goods from the town and sell them here, I guarantee we can make a substantial profit!"

Having acted as a middleman peddler between Giant Willow Village and Yellow Leaf Town for several years, Zhong Hong was thoroughly familiar with the concept of buying low and selling high to profit from both ends. He had thought of this method very quickly.

"It's just that if we take this route, we inevitably have to clash with the mountain bandits of Huanglian Mountain. A'Que, are you confident you can handle them?" Zhong Hong still felt a bit apprehensive about this point.

"Mm, they're just a disorganized mob; I can wipe them out easily. Go on, Brother Hong." Song Que replied casually. Having clearly inquired about them from Yun Jiu on the journey here, he knew the situation perfectly. The level of those mountain bandits was just mediocre; they were only throwing their weight around because they occupied treacherous terrain. With the Five-Star Iron-Arm Bow in his hands, he guaranteed that anyone who dared poke their head out would get their skull exploded by Grandee Song!

"Then my mind is at ease! As for other businesses, the majority are already monopolized. If we want to start something, we can only begin with the food and beverage industry. I've seen your culinary skills and wine-brewing, A'Que—they are absolutely unmatched! If we do this, I'm confident we'll succeed!" Listening to Zhong Hong's analysis, Song Que fell into deep thought. Inwardly, he felt a sense of approval toward Brother Hong.

All these approaches were very good, and his analysis was clear and logical; he was truly a talent. After pondering and weighing the options for a long time, Song Que finally made a decision:"We'll start with the food stall first. The other two require careful, long-term planning; they can't be rushed." Zhong Hong nodded in agreement and asked curiously:"Then do we need to start looking for a location and prepare to open a restaurant?"

"No need. I already have a rough plan in my head, it just needs some refining. After breakfast, let's go out for a walk." Hearing Song Que's instructions, Zhong Hong raised no objections. The two brothers quickly reached a consensus, hurriedly ate breakfast, and headed out the door to wander around aimlessly.... Following Song Que as he strolled through the surrounding streets, Zhong Hong watched him turn the markets upside down searching for various vegetables and inquiring about prices.

He was incredibly curious but held back, not asking any questions. It wasn't until the two returned home that he finally asked:"A'Que, were you looking for cooking ingredients just now?"

"Mm, you could say that."

"So, did you find everything?" This related to an important issue, and Brother Hong eagerly wanted to know.

"I'm still missing one or two herbs and spices. But they are common wild plants, they should be easy to find. It seems there won't be any problems." Hearing him say this, Zhong Hong was delighted:"That's great! Then this afternoon, we'll go look for a storefront to rent, right?" Unexpectedly, Song Que shook his head:"There's no need to rent a shop. We can just set up a stall right in front of our house."

"Set up a stall? Aren't we opening a restaurant?" This completely stunned Brother Hong.

"Haha, who said we were opening a restaurant? I don't have the time to do all that! We can learn from Old Zhan and just open a breakfast stall. We'll only work half the day, leaving the rest of the time free for the brothers. We still have many things to do in the future. We can't waste all our time on this." Hearing Song Que's reasoning, Zhong Hong also began to understand. That's true! If we put all our focus into running a restaurant and get busy from dawn till dusk, we can forget about doing anything else!

Let alone establishing a gang or opening a trade route! It's still A'Que who thinks comprehensively! Zhong Hong felt a bit embarrassed and silently blamed himself.

"Then what are we selling?"

"Congee."

"Congee?" Song Que nodded:"That's right, pork offal congee! I'll figure out the recipe and teach it to Aunt Li. It's very simple, and the flavor is unforgettable! I guarantee the business won't be bad!" In his past life, Song Que was extremely familiar with this 'national treasure' of a dish. He had even looked up recipes online to make it at home so it would be clean and safe. Now, he only needed to find a few specific herbs and spices, and he could perfectly replicate the authentic flavor!

Hearing 'pork offal congee', Zhong Hong immediately pictured the stinky, filthy mixed-offal dishes sold in town, and goosebumps broke out all over his body! But remembering Song Que's culinary skills, his heart settled down, and he even felt a faint sense of anticipation. Smacking his lips, he said:"Then I'll have to taste your pork offal congee first to see how it is. Just thinking about that mixed-offal stuff from town makes me want to throw up."

"Haha, I guarantee it won't disappoint you, Brother Hong! I'll have to trouble you this afternoon to go ask around and find out where the slaughterhouse is, learn their supply route for fresh goods, and bring me a portion back to test the recipe."

"Ah, don't worry! I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"

"Later, I'll take someone out of the city to find those wild herbs. Tonight, we brothers will taste-test this pork offal congee and see if this business has a future!"

"Haha, excellent! I can't wait!"