Chapter 511. Iced Desserts in the Heat of Summer (1/2)

Not to mention, even if she was granted freedom, what kind of a family could a person like her, who was without her own roots and could be compared to common duckweed, marry into? She would only be living amongst the civilians at the lowest level of society, ridden with poverty and struggling to feed herself every day.

How could she be able to live like she was now, as a manager of a pharmaceutical workshop? Even if she was a servant of the Yu Household, she still had her own private courtyard in the workshop, and in that courtyard, she even had a few maidservants who would sweep the floor and cook. It could be said that even though her status was that of a servant, her life was no worse than the daughter of a humble family.

She would wait until she was older, then look for a humble, reliable, and most importantly, loyal, steward to marry, so that she could continue to help her mistress manage the pharmaceutical workshop. Her mistress was kind and valued her relationships, so she definitely wouldn’t mistreat her when she was older. She recalled the times before she was sold into the Fang Residence. At that time, her entire family survived only on rice bran and wild vegetables, and they never knew a life where they could eat until they were full. She was already very satisfied and grateful for her current conditions.

Wutong served at the side, looking at the frank and eloquent Yingtao and Yangliu who already had their own plans, and compared herself to them. Then, she felt more at ease. ‘Young Miss is right, one should do only what one is capable of. With my personality, I might not be able to manage a workshop filled with up to a hundred people.’

Yingtao was bold yet meticulous, and took decisive actions, so she was able to manage the pharmaceutical workshop well and even showed signs that she was able to further expand the business. Yangliu was talented in cooking and making pastries and she had the bravery to get into the profession. If she were to open a patisserie, she would definitely astound everyone. Not to mention Hechun, even if she appeared later than all of them, her talent in crafting handmade soap and cosmetics was undeniable.

There was a reason they were given great responsibilities by their mistress. Before this, she only knew to be envious of others, and got upset because she was not put at the same level of importance. She had never thought to look for the reason behind this on herself. Now that she thought about it, what could she do if the young miss gave her the opportunity? It was better for her to serve loyally by the young miss’s side and manage the matters of the courtyard. This was what she was good at!

The young miss had mentioned that she lacked a trustworthy steward who could keep an eye on the matters of the residence. In this case, she would work towards this goal. Although she wasn’t able to help the young miss in her businesses, she could still work hard to become the young miss’s trusted aide in the residence, so that the young miss could be rid of one more worry when she was working hard outside.

Wutong became more open-minded after she came to this realization, and the calculative air that she exuded also dissipated. It was as though she had been reborn.

One day, when Zhu Junyang snuck out of the Xishan Barracks and pestered Xiaocao to make ice cream for him, he noted the change in Wutong and secretly told his little lass that this maidservant could be tasked with greater responsibilities. As such, Xiaocao slowly started to entrust her with more and more matters regarding the Yu Residence.

Wutong did not disappoint. After oppressing a few pricks and subduing some managerial senior servants, she became increasingly more like a managerial servant who was able to take care of all the matters of the residence.

During the height of summer, the capital city felt as though it was being grilled with a torch blower. This summer, the temperature in the capital city hit a new high, and it was said that it was the hottest season in decades. Many of those that did short-term jobs and heavy labor to survive fainted due to the heat, and the hospitals became flooded with patients that got heat stroke until they were almost at maximum capacity.

Yu Xiaocao, who had given herself summer vacation, along with Doctor Sun of the Tongren Medicine Hall had finally perfected the formula to make Jintan cooling lozenges. They also worked overtime at the pharmaceutical workshop, immersing themselves into its production. The medicinal herbs required to make cooling lozenges were common and cheap, so the price of a pill wasn’t expensive, yet it was effective in relieving heat. Once the pill was introduced to the market, it received many praises and caused a huge sensation in the city.

Other than that, Xiaocao also gathered the maidservants that were skilled in making pastries that Yangliu had bought for her, and quickly trained them in the ways of making iced desserts (Author's Note: mainly ice cream and smoothies of different flavors), and a variety of ways to brew herbal tea. She had opened a few shops that sold iced desserts at all four sides—north, east, south and west—of the capital city.

The key to the shops were the well-sealed ice houses. They were as big as two houses and were equivalent to a large-scale cold storage. Inside, ice ponds made from nitre were placed in neat rows, while a freezer room stored the ready-made ice. The ice used to make smoothies, ice porridge and other types of cold beverages were all taken from the ice houses. The ice cream was also frozen in here.

The majority of the people who lived in the north and south of the city were normal citizens, so the frozen dessert shops there served more simple and chilled beverages like simple smoothies which sold the quickest. Meanwhile, the east and west sides of the city were the hubs of wealthy and influential families, so their main focus products were the ice cream of multifarious flavors, fancy ice porridges and luxurious smoothies.

On a hot summer’s day, ordering a bowl of ice porridge or strawberry or peach flavored ice cream in a cool iced dessert shop was definitely refreshing and would help cool the body down. It was a place for businessmen and officials that had to be out on errands to rest and escape from the scorching heat of the summer.

It was especially a favorite among the children who had tried The Yu’s Frozen Desserts before. During the evening, when the sun was not too hot, they would always pester their parents to bring them to the iced desserts shop to have some ice. The children loved the smoothies that were vibrant in color and had a great texture, as well as the ice cream that had varying flavors that they could mix and match to eat. Even adults could not resist the temptation of these iced desserts, much less children.

The Yu’s Frozen Desserts Store on the western side of the capital was the largest branch in the city. The shop was a part of Princess Consort Jing’s dowry shops. When Xiaocao was in a hurry for her search for a shophouse, Zhu Junyang had told his lady mother about her pressing issue. Princess Consort Jing then shut down the original satin shop that was doing quite well and offered her the shophouse. But, of course, Xiaocao wouldn’t be taking her shop for free. Instead, she took it as Princess Consort Jing using her shop space to buy shares, and split with her half of the profits.