There were many famine escapees, yet few families managed to thrive as well as the Gu Family’s tofu stall. Many who came to escape famine sold their children or even begged to survive. At this moment, the clerks, Clerk Lv and Clerk Zhang of Si Li Square, learned that the land was bought by the Gu Family’s tofu stall. Both were quite surprised, with Clerk Lv commenting, "Those few families indeed have real ability." Recently, County Captain Jiang has been close with County Magistrate Xu, who kept praising Jiang and assigned many important tasks to him, leaving County Magistrate Zou somewhat out in the cold. Those few families were under the protection of County Captain Jiang. After weighing the pros and cons, the two clerks, Lv and Zhang, decided it would be wise to not cause troubles for those families, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between County Captain Jiang and County Magistrate Zou. However, their immediate superior was still County Magistrate Zou. Following standard protocol, they wrote a letter and delivered it to the Fugui Building for Chef Li to send someone to deliver it to the Zou Mansion. Chef Li, upon receiving the letter, didn’t say much and had his assistant deliver it to the Zou Mansion. However, Chef Li felt that the Gu Family’s tofu stall buying a dozen or so acres of wasteland was hardly worth specifically informing the County Governor. The Gu Family earned dozens of Silver a day from selling tofu and condiments, so what was there to report specifically about buying a dozen or so acres of wasteland? County Magistrate Zou felt frustrated upon receiving the letter, as he had also eyed that wasteland early on. After all, being in town, he could have made a fortune by purchasing it to build a shop. He failed to find the owner of the wasteland, and as years passed, he eventually let it go. Now, knowing that the Qin, Gu, and Luo families had bought the wasteland, although only a dozen or so acres, he was annoyed and wanted to send someone to seize the land. But before he could act, something even more coveted emerged in Tianfu County and the neighboring counties—soy oil! No one knew who made this soy oil, but it suddenly appeared, and curiously, its points of distribution were the major Daoist Temples and temples across several counties. The first to taste the soy oil were the masters in these Daoist Temples and temples, who then gifted it to devotees coming to offer incense. The devotees, seeing gifts from the masters as blessings, were happy to accept and took them home to cook with. And the thing was, although soy oil didn’t have the rich fragrance of animal fats, it made the dishes quite tasty with its oily aroma, provided an adequate amount of fats and gave energy when consumed. After having tasted it, when these common folks next visited the Daoist Temples and temples to offer incense, they asked the masters if there was more soy oil. They didn’t need it to be gifted by the masters—they were willing to pay for it. The masters directed them to a shop, and the people inquired there, only to find out that the soy oil was very affordable: one jin only cost 20 copper coins, which was a full 10 cents cheaper than animal fats. Farmers from several counties went crazy with joy, and many families that couldn’t afford pork started buying soy oil. County Magistrate Zou wasn’t foolish; he knew that not only was soy oil profitable, but it was also a beneficial product for the country and the people. He immediately had Steward Shao personally investigate to find out which family made it. However, the elite families in the Prefecture were even quicker to act and had already set out to discover the family behind the soy oil, eager for a share of the profit. But after searching for a long time, they ended up in Central State! After several days of investigation in Central State, the elite families from the Prefecture all backed off, no longer coveting the soy oil business. It was a case of "a mountain beyond a mountain"—they, as noble families from the Prefecture, could not compare to one of the three major commercial firms in Great Chu and the nobles in the Capital. Steward Shao had a classmate who served as a guest in a powerful family in the Prefecture. Upon learning Steward Shao was investigating the owner of the soy oil, he warned him: "Stop looking into it, and back off immediately. That belongs to a noble family from the Capital, and we shouldn’t even dream about getting a piece of the action." In the eyes of the nobles from the Capital, what County Governor, what influential family from the Prefecture, amounted to nothing more than a fart. If one dares to covet others’ property, be careful not to lose your life over it. Stunned by the warning, Steward Shao hurried back to the Zou Mansion and informed County Magistrate Zou of what he had found. Upon learning of this, County Magistrate Zou got such a fright that he dared not harbor any more thoughts of taking the soy oil. While County Magistrate Zou and his cohort were coveting the soy oil, Gu Jinli had already drawn up three building plans. He took them out to show the elders during the household accounting meeting. Father Luo looked at the design on the blueprint, displaying two courtyards back to back, and said in astonishment: "Xiao Yu, are you planning to build two courtyards?" The shops in town usually consist of a front store with three rooms and an additional back courtyard with four side chambers. However, Xiao Yu’s drawings, in addition to having a front store with three rooms and a back courtyard with four side chambers, also included a wall built in the middle. Behind the wall was another courtyard of the same design. Two courtyards backed against each other, separated by a wall, each with its own front door and a smaller door beside the separating wall to connect the two, forming a very deep and grand house. Gu Jinli nodded: "Uncle Luo is correct, these are indeed two courtyards. We have ample land; building an extra courtyard is not a problem. Later on, the four side chambers coming in from the front store can house the shop assistants, while the rear courtyard can be used for our own family—it’s convenient, safe, and quiet." "What did you say, Xiao Yu, are we going to hire shop assistants?" Mrs. Chen cried out in disapproval, shaking her head, "Why squander money on that? We’re capable of working with our own hands, we can do the job ourselves." Mrs. Chen was reluctant to spend money to hire assistants, preferring to do the strenuous labor herself if it meant keeping the money. Gu Jinli explained: "It’s not essential to hire shop assistants, but it’s better to prepare the room in advance. The main thing is to properly separate the front store from the private residence to prevent the people from the store from disturbing our life." Third Grandma nodded in agreement: "It’s indeed necessary to separate the front store from the private living quarters. Our own family, which includes young ladies, lives in the private quarters, whereas the store is for business and sees many visitors. It’s better to keep them separate." Aunt Tian asked: "Won’t adding another courtyard to the shop cost quite a bit of money?" Although the family had received a fair amount of silver, they still needed to buy land, build houses, and save up for Er Qiang’s wedding. The money couldn’t be spent carelessly. Gu Jin’an had already done the calculations: "Currently, building a house with green bricks and tiles costs fifty taels of silver. Adding another courtyard doubles the price to a hundred taels, plus the cost for digging a well, totaling one hundred and twenty-five taels." Third Grandpa looked at the household heads and said: "That’s roughly the same as our initial budget for buying the shop. If you all don’t have any objections, Dashan and Da Fu will go find people to do the job tomorrow. We should get the shop constructed quickly." As the households had always followed Third Grandpa’s lead, naturally they wouldn’t oppose: "Eh, as you say, Elder." The next day, after finishing his work at the workshop, Gu Dashan called Gu Dafu along with He Shiliu to Yanfu Village. He Shiliu dealt with selling stone materials and had traveled to many places over the years. He had visited Yanfu Village a few times and, wanting to build a good relationship with Gu Family, readily offered to guide them. On the way, He Shiliu told them: "In our Qingfu Town, only Yanfu Village sells green bricks. Their village also has a team of about a dozen bricklayers and plasterers. If you want to build a shop, you’re looking in the right place at Yanfu Village." "Elder Yuan Laorong from Yanfu Village, he’s a real capable person. He came from a family so poor they were practically falling apart, but he was shrewd. Knowing that wealthy old ladies like to go to the Daoist Temple to offer incense, he took a broken bowl and knelt on the path to the temple to beg for food."