Chapter 308: Chapter 275: The Worried Master

"Mr. Su, take a look at this." Lin Miao instructed, and Lianxin fetched a stack of paper from the study.

"Brewing alcohol?"

Su Chen glanced at the content on the paper and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother, you even understand brewing?"

"Just a bit. This is a method I figured out on my own. Mr. Su, you might want to take it back and try it out. If it works, I’ll take a 30% share. From then on, all alcohol for Huaye Tower will be supplied by the Su Family." Lin Miao smiled gently.

"Alright, I accept it." Su Chen agreed without a second thought; Lin Miao handed Su Chen the traditional brewing method for yellow wine.

The method is quite intricate and time-consuming. Even if the Su Family manages to brew the wine, it would be two years later.

Almost around the time of his wedding to Sun Youwei.

It might come in handy.

Of course, for his wedding, he plans to brew the wine himself, naturally not needing the Su Family’s supply. This alcohol business shared with the Su Family is a way to diversify investment and collaboratively bear risk.

Apart from horse breeding, the Su Family doesn’t have many backbone industries. Although they dabble in various fields, it’s mostly small-scale and lacks risk resistance.

Of course, the Su Family has been trying to change this situation over the years, but with little success. Many times, entering a new industry requires more than just pouring money in to make it big and strong.

Besides, some industries are already occupied. Wanting to enter and take a share would hardly be welcomed by others. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Only by finding a new track can it work.

Lin Miao faces similar challenges. The glass boom is temporary; once it proliferates, it loses value.

The next target is earning money from women. Yes, anyone who has read transmigration novels knows about mirrors.

Women who love beauty can’t do without a mirror, and despite being durable, copper mirrors don’t match glass mirrors in other aspects.

Once mirrors are made, future sustained profits would be much richer than merely selling glassware.

This is why Lin Miao must relocate the glazed workshop to Li Hen City.

Then there’s sugar, another lucrative industry, and the Lin Clan currently only needs to focus on these two well. Too much greed can lead to trouble.

Others can be tackled if possible, and if not, handled later. Money in this world can’t be hoarded indefinitely, and life is long enough.

He’s not even twenty yet.

"My father asked me to tell you he wants to hire you as an advisor for our Su Family’s Horse Field. What’s your opinion?" Su Chen asked, "We’ll offer a ten thousand taels annual consulting fee."

Lin Miao smiled, knowing the Su Family wished to bind him, and he didn’t oppose: "Consulting is fine, but skip the ten thousand taels fee. I estimate I won’t visit the Horse Field even once a year."

"How could I agree to that?"

"If you’re embarrassed, send me a few good horses later. Let’s not mention the consulting fee again," Lin Miao directly refused.

"Alright, I’ll personally pick several fine horses for you!" Su Chen felt warm inside; after all, Lin Miao saved the Su Family, and a yearly ten thousand taels consulting fee is far from expensive. But he wants nothing; this clearly is for Su Chen’s sake.

"Huaye Tower is running a trial opening. Stay and have dinner with us," Lin Miao invited.

"Sure, it’s been ages since I had a meal at your residence, I’ve missed it dearly. How about handing over Star-Picking Tower’s kitchen to Huaye Tower for operation, while we only manage accommodation?"

"Outsourcing the operation?" Lin Miao hadn’t expected Su Chen to have such a contemporary business mindset, coming up with this approach.

"Not possible yet; the chefs and staff we train internally aren’t enough for ourselves. However, you can separate Star-Picking Tower’s kitchen, merge it with our Huaye Tower’s kitchen, and then we’ll provide unified training before they start working, and diversify operations. How does that sound?"

"Implementing that could be challenging; I can make decisions for Dongshan Prefecture’s Star-Picking Tower, but the others are tough to handle; they’re managed by others." Su Chen found it difficult.

"Then let’s test it with the Dongshan’s Star-Picking Tower first, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll reconsider." Lin Miao suggested.

"Aren’t you afraid of them learning your unique dishes?"

"Dishes need constant innovation; how much they learn depends on their skill. Without competition, how can one improve? As long as it’s delicious, business naturally flourishes. I can’t possibly monopolize all business, can I?" Lin Miao didn’t mind.

"There’s another matter, but looks like I needn’t ask now, there’s already an answer." Su Chen glanced at Lianxin while speaking.

From the moment Su Chen arrived, Lianxin’s gaze hadn’t strayed from Lin Miao, with such gentle affection that it could melt a person.

Even a fool could see that Lianxin’s heart had long been set on Lin Miao. If Lianxin is like that, Liansuo must be similar.

The two sisters share a bond and grew up together; due to special sensory issues, they can only marry the same person, otherwise there’ll be many troubles.

From the diffuse eyebrow hairs, it’s apparent that Lianxin is no longer a maiden. In Lin’s residence, aside from Lin Miao, who else could claim her?

Lin Miao naturally understood the implication in Su Chen’s words; he had already discussed with Bai Feng about this. If Lianxin and Liansuo wish to stay with him, of course, he’d treat them well.

Thinking of his own sister made Su Chen slightly worried; the young girl had been spoiled to be unruly and difficult. He wondered who would dare take her in the future.

...

"Dong Fei, take Mr. Su to the Star-Picking Tower and hand him over to Mr. Bai before coming back, remember this." Su Chen had drunk a little too much in the evening, and he insisted on going back. Lin Miao had no choice but to arrange for Dong Fei to drive him back to the Star-Picking Tower.

He also quietly let Liansuo follow in secret to escort him for a while.

Bathing with the assistance of Lianxin, Lin Miao finally understood the thought of "why a king would be reluctant to attend early court sessions."

With such a life, who would still want to get up early to attend court and work?

However, he still had enough self-control to not be indulged by beauty. Getting up early, grooming and dressing properly, today he was going to the Xinglin Institute Medical Bureau to meet Wen Ruyu, and he had to dress more formally.

This is a formal occasion, so he couldn’t be careless. Being too casual would break the rules, which wouldn’t be good.

Liansuo accompanied, with Dong Fei driving.

After having breakfast, Lin Miao headed to the Xinglin Institute.

Wen Ruyu had also gotten up early, grooming and dressing meticulously, with his hair neat and his official robe perfectly ironed, and he put on new official boots.

Everything was extremely precise and meticulous, even more tense than when meeting his mentor.

Even though it was him who was being visited by the head of the Medical Bureau, he felt somewhat like a nervous son-in-law meeting his in-laws for the first time.

In a way, it was true, and in another not quite.

He was interested in Xia Zhu, but he also knew the other party was engaged. Breaking someone else’s engagement was something a traditionally educated Wen Ruyu couldn’t do, yet he could see that Xia Zhu didn’t like her fiancé, and the engagement was just due to family pressure.

Therefore, he hoped Xia Zhu could peacefully cancel the engagement with the other party, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it outright, as that would change the nature of things.

And the only person who could persuade Xia Zhu to change her mind, besides her parents, would now be her little master, Lin Miao.

His appointment to Dongshan City was largely due to Lin Miao. Before coming here, he had high expectations, but he doubted a physician from such a small place could have much ability, thinking that the fame could be exaggerated—it’s not uncommon in the world of fame and fortune.

Even the famous Wan Bin and Sun He, with their tremendous reputation among the people, at least have some exaggerations mixed in. Maybe Lin Miao is the same.

Dongshan Prefecture seemingly created a god for political achievements, gathering all its power to do so.

Of course, he didn’t deny the profound contents of Lin Miao’s "Medical Three Character Classics" and "Lin’s Pulse Study Notes." Otherwise, even his teacher wouldn’t admire and praise them, but he internally believed it was the result of collective wisdom.

He didn’t think a 17- or 18-year-old could write such profound medical works.

This simply defies common sense.

However, after arriving in Dongshan, he discovered that in Dongshan City, most people in the medical world had no connection with Lin Miao.

Only a few had a good relationship with him, especially, he had deep conflicts with the Dongshan Medical Association.

The Medical Master Association’s suppression of him could be said to be unscrupulous, having attempted to destroy him several times, and if it weren’t for his true talents and means to turn dangers into safety, there would be no such person in the world now.

The so-called collective wisdom didn’t exist at all.

He even learned from Mr. Sang that Xia Zhu’s father, Xia Yuan, initially wanted to have Lin Miao send the "Medical Three Character Classics" to the Imperial Pharmacy in the name of the Dongshan Medical Bureau, but Lin Miao refused, fearing offending his colleagues in Dongshan Prefecture.

Otherwise, Wan Bin wouldn’t have gotten the credit.

Lin Miao nearly ousted the Ye Family’s genius, Ye Xizhao, from the top spot in the medical examination, and applied for the "Path to Sainthood" trial. With Ye Xizhao’s mysterious death, being the leader of Dongshan’s medical world, Ye Xizhao’s father, Ye Shengyuan, spared no effort to suppress him...

But even so, they couldn’t stop his rising momentum, gradually becoming known among the people of Dongshan as "Mr. Lin."

To be spontaneously given the title of "saint" by the people is not an ordinary honor. No one can self-declare as "a master of medicine"; only by gaining others’ recognition can it be genuine.

Fortunately, Lin Miao wasn’t in Dongshan, and Wen Ruyu didn’t have direct contact with Lin Miao first, but rather became acquainted with Xia Zhu.

Xia Zhu was Lin Miao’s eldest disciple and currently his only disciple. For Wen Ruyu to understand Lin Miao, it was natural to start with Xia Zhu.

Upon interaction, he inevitably saw Xia Zhu’s class notes. These notes were all essence; many things weren’t found in the "Lin’s Pulse Study Notes" and "Lin’s Medical Case Collection." Though the knowledge points were scattered, Wen Ruyu, being knowledgeable, immediately recognized their value.

So he kept pestering Xia Zhu to borrow the notes, but Xia Zhu naturally refused. After all, this was her master’s learning, and she couldn’t show it to others without permission.

Even though Lin Miao never explicitly disallowed teaching others, teaching without asking would be a kind of betrayal, so she put everything away, not giving Wen Ruyu a chance.

Nevertheless, Wen Ruyu truly had talents and was particularly eager to learn. After all, being the closed-door disciple of a national hands master, without some skills, the master wouldn’t have admitted him. Under the pretext of discussing medical skills, he even went to Yongning Hall to consult patients directly.

Although Xia Zhu hadn’t passed the medical examination and didn’t have a practicing certificate, she had followed Lin Miao and seen over ten thousand cases. Many common diseases, just by feeling the pulse and glancing, she would know what medicine to use. Whenever Wen Ruyu’s prescription came to her counter for medication, she couldn’t help but check the patient herself, and if something seemed off, she’d definitely confront him about it.

With this back-and-forth, Wen Ruyu was thoroughly convinced.

If the disciple taught was this remarkable, then what about the teacher himself? Wouldn’t he be even more outstanding?