Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

Lu Qinghe led the donkey, stumbling along the wall towards the Yitang.

Next to the medicine cabinet in the front hall, Gu Mingyue was holding a charcoal pencil and drawing something on a piece of paper.

"Mr. Lu is back." She didn't even look up.

Lu Qinghe put down the sack and stood at the door for a while, watching the scene outside.

"Master."

"Um?"

"Those people outside..." he hesitated for a moment. "Were they all hired by the shop?"

"Yes. More than three hundred."

Lu Qinghe remained silent for two breaths.

For the renovation of a pharmacy, hiring about ten craftsmen would be enough.

Why would over three hundred laborers clean an alley?

"Master, please forgive my indiscretion."

"Does the sanitation of just one alley really require hiring three hundred people to clean it?"

Gu Mingyue put down her charcoal pencil and looked up at him calmly.

"Mr. Lu, did you smell anything when you came in?"

Lu Qinghe remained silent.

Of course he smelled it.

The stench made his eyes sting as he walked from the alley entrance to the shop.

"Sir, you can see for yourself that sewage and drinking water are mixed together here, and there are more flies than people."

Gu Mingyue did not become hostile because of his questioning, and spoke very objectively.

"In places like this, after a heavy rain, malaria and dysentery come in waves. Our shop is located here, and we also stock up on medicinal herbs here."

"If the alley is not kept clean, the shops will run into trouble sooner or later."

After saying that, Gu Mingyue handed the drawing she had finished to Lu Qinghe.

Lu Qinghe glanced at the picture.

The drainage ditch route is clearly marked from one end of the alley to the other, with even the slope and water collection points of each section drawn out.

This drawing technique... is very professional.

He had never seen it before.

"There's one more thing," Gu Mingyue added.

"These people in Powa Lane have no other way to make a living. I hire them for fifty coins a day, which is already a very low cost, and they are also very efficient."

Lu Qinghe went over these words in his mind.

That makes a rough explanation.

He could only open the ledger and write a line under the daily expenses column:

[There are over 300 odd jobs, paid 50 cash a day, including lunch.]

After he finished writing, he added a note at the end.

The number of people is still trending upward.

The number of people is indeed increasing.

Three days later, the number of workers recruited rose to six hundred.

After Powa Lane was cleaned up, Gu Mingyue had people extend the cleaning area outwards from the end of the lane, including the two adjacent alleys.

The reason is sound: the drainage ditches are interconnected, so clearing only one alley is useless.

Six hundred people are busy every day in Powa Lane and the surrounding area.

Some were paving roads, some were digging ditches, and some were carrying lime.

Each team leader takes a bamboo stick and distributes them one by one each day. After distributing them, they return to Gong Huo to report the number.

Lu Qinghe spent two days taking stock of the accounts in the back of the shop, but he finally couldn't sit still any longer.

"Master, I have a question."

"explain."

"The wages for six hundred people are 30 taels of silver per day. Including food, the daily expenses are around forty taels."

He opened the book and pointed to the numbers on it.

"At this rate, it would cost 1,200 taels of silver a month. And that doesn't even include the relief expenses for the charitable institution..."

With this makeshift pharmacy, can they earn a thousand taels a month?

Gu Mingyue, holding her teacup, glanced at him.

"Don't worry, things will work themselves out."

What she wants is a huge, unprofitable pitfall.

Otherwise, how could she get her father to take money out of his pocket to cover the losses of these projects?

Gu Mingyue pulled a piece of paper from her sleeve and pushed it over.

"Sir, please take a look at this."

"Find a tailor for me to order a batch of clothes in this style."

Lu Qinghe took it and looked at it.

A strange type of clothing was drawn on the paper.

The outfit is a one-piece suit with fitted sleeves and cuffs, and the neckline is turned up to cover the chin.

There is a row of buttons on each side, making it easy to put on and take off. The overall design is loose but not cumbersome.

"What is this?"

"Nurse gowns"

"...What kind of nursing care?"

Gu Mingyue didn't answer. She stood up and dusted off her skirt.

"Make two thousand sets first."

Lu Qinghe stared at the drawing for a few seconds.

A light gray jumpsuit with fitted sleeves and cuffs that cover the chin.

He didn't know what it was for, but his intuition told him that it was no ordinary garment.

That night.

Lu Qinghe rode the gray donkey back to the Qi Prince's Mansion.

In the study, Xiao Jue was leaning back in his armchair, flipping through a memorial submitted by a local official.

Lu Qinghe stood in front of the desk, opened the notebook he carried with him, and reported the details one by one.

"Your Highness, this Miss Gu has hired six hundred handymen and stockpiled tens of thousands of kilograms of medicinal herbs that even the Imperial Hospital cannot use up."

"Today we ordered another two thousand gray bodysuits, which they said were 'nursing uniforms'."

He closed the book.

"The estimated cost is 49,400 taels."

Lu Qinghe paused for a moment.

"I really don't understand what she's doing. If you say she's extravagant, every penny is spent wisely. If you say she's doing business, there's no possibility of making a profit."

Xiao Jue tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the memorial.

"Where are they? What are all six hundred handymen doing?"

"Clean up the alleyways, dig drainage ditches, and improve the living environment of residents along the street."

Lu Qinghe answered truthfully.

"I saw it with my own eyes. Those people were divided into small teams, each with their own tasks, and their command and coordination were very orderly."

"A medicine shop supports a charitable organization and employs 600 people to clean the streets and alleys."

Xiao Jue's lips curled up slightly.

"She accomplished what neither the Ministry of Works nor the Jingzhao Prefecture could."

"interesting."

He put down the memorial and leaned back in his chair.

"Since she can't manage it, then I'll send ten people over to her."

Lu Qinghe was taken aback. "Your Highness?"

Xiao Jue said casually, "Select ten reliable men from the retired Imperial Guards and have them disguise themselves as bodyguards to help out."

Lu Qinghe cupped his hands in greeting, "Your subordinate understands."

……

[Remaining time for the mission: 1 days]

The 50,000 taels were spent, leaving only 600 taels.

Early in the morning, Gu Mingyue took a horse-drawn carriage out of the city.

She hadn't been to the Orange Red Business Unit for almost a month.

Although Shi Buji sent a letter every three days.

The letter was written in a very formal manner, reporting on production output, raw material consumption, personnel changes, and at the end, it would add a sentence: "Thank you for your trust, I dare not slack off."

Gu Mingyue always thought it was pretty good after watching it.

Steady people do steady work.

But with the countdown to the pandemic drawing ever closer, masks and orange-scented cough syrup are the most crucial supplies to stockpile. Letters alone cannot reveal the actual situation.

The carriage left the west gate of the city and bumped along the mountain road for about half an hour.

Gu Mingyue lifted the carriage curtain and squinted at it for two seconds.

Four rows of neat wooden racks have been added next to the drying yard, densely covered with slices of tangerine peel.

The ground was paved with gravel, and a drainage ditch ran under the shed, just like the one in the textile workshop.

The site was so clean that not a single fallen leaf could be seen.

Gu Mingyue got off the carriage.

A tall, thin figure rushed out.

"Boss!"

Shi Buji jogged over.

After a month apart, the shame and dejection of a down-on-his-luck scholar were gone from his face; he was much more cheerful now.

He bowed respectfully with his hands clasped.

"Master, I knew you were due to arrive, I've been calculating the days!"

"Come and see our results!"