Chapter 90: Indenture

Seeing everyone eating so happily, Zhang Laosan felt very regretful that he had not come earlier. He really wanted to try what the clay pot rice tasted like.

After looking around, I finally saw someone who looked familiar.

In front of the delicious food, he cast aside his shyness and went straight up to try to get close to people.

Li Laoqi looked at the person in front of him, and after hearing these words, he finally understood that the other party was trying to get close to him just for the clay pot rice in his bowl.

After all, they were familiar with each other, so Li Laoqi scooped some clay pot rice from his bowl and gave it to the other person, as a token of their acquaintance.

There were a lot of rice crusts in Zhang Laosan's bowl, which were crispy and fragrant. He finished the small bowl very quickly. That amount of clay pot rice was not enough for him at all. It felt like the flavor was gone before he even tasted it. His gaze shifted to Li Laoqi again.

He came to Li Laoqi and linked arms with him, calling him brother: "Laoqi, from the first time we met, I felt that you were a very good person, very reliable. I have wanted to be brothers with you for a long time, what about you?"

Li Laoqi had originally intended to concentrate on enjoying the food alone, but someone kept nagging him. He nodded in agreement, "Hmm, hmm, hmm."

"Hey! Since we're brothers, we should share. It's not too much to give me half of the clay pot rice in front of you!"

Li Laoqi looked at Zhang Laosan with an indescribable look. Wow, he had been talking for so long just now, and it turned out that this was what he was thinking.

He held the clay pot rice in front of him, showing his attitude, "Old Three, we should not be brothers anymore."

"Hey, hey, don't be like this! I really treat you as a brother!" Zhang Laosan said, putting one hand on his shoulder and the other hand to reach for the clay pot rice in his arms.

In the end, Li Laoqi couldn't resist Zhang Laosan's persistence, so he reluctantly gave up half of the clay pot rice in the bowl.

"Seventh Brother, you are truly my brother! Let's come early tomorrow, I'll treat you!"

"I just wonder what dishes Baiwei Restaurant will launch tomorrow?"

"Yes! But no matter what the food is, it must taste great!" Li Laoqi has decided to have his evening meal at Baiwei Restaurant every day in the future.

Baiwei Restaurant has a random dish every day, which arouses the interest and freshness of diners. Many people even decide to dine here every day. After all, who doesn’t like to experience the joy of opening a blind box!

The marketing model launched by Ji Zhisui was very successful. The restaurant's random dishes were almost in short supply every day, and the 50-jin pork sausage was also delivered smoothly. The ship merchants gave Ji Zhisui 20 taels of silver, which was another large sum of money.

With the help of Grandma Zhao and others, the restaurant is now well-staffed. Ji Zhisui no longer asked the two children, Madam Pei and Mrs. Pei to help.

Pei concentrated on her embroidery work at home. Manager Wu was familiar with her family and took good care of them. Whenever there was a larger order, he would give the embroidery work to Pei.

Let Pei make money, she will not lose money. Pei's embroidery skills are not unparalleled, but they are the best in Qizhou County.

When Mrs. Pei was tending to the vegetable garden in the courtyard, she heard a knock on the door. She put down her hoe and hurried to open the door, wondering if Sui Niang and the others had forgotten to take something at this time.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw an unexpected person, who was Liu, the daughter-in-law of the old lady next door.

Because Old Lady Liu had come to her house several times and was causing trouble, Old Lady Pei didn't have a good face towards that family. "Is there something wrong?"

Liu naturally knew how annoying her mother-in-law was, and the neighbors around her all had a bad attitude towards them.

If she didn't really have something urgent, Liu wouldn't have been embarrassed to come to her house.

The day after tomorrow is Daya's birthday. She asked her father last night and said that he wanted to visit her on Daya's birthday. After all, the mother and daughter haven't seen each other for a year. But all she got was Liu Lao Da's angry roar.

He said that a daughter who is sold is like water spilled, and if I continue to mention Daya at home, he will beat me with his fists.

Her husband's irritability and impatience and her mother-in-law's vagueness always made Liu feel that things were not that simple. This morning, when she passed by the door, she keenly heard Daya's name and became alert. She hid secretly and took a peek, and saw her mother-in-law handing a piece of paper to Liu Lao Da.

Because this matter was related to Daya, Liu had been paying attention to the movement of the paper, and saw that Liu Lao Da casually put the paper in the cabinet.

I don’t know if it’s because this piece of paper is not important, or if he doesn’t think that this piece of paper will not cause any trouble even if it falls into Liu’s hands.

While Boss Liu was out working, she stole the paper.

This note should be related to Daya's whereabouts. Liu really wanted to know what was written on the paper, but she had never been to school and could not read, so she could not understand it at all.

She also thought about going to the bookstore on South Street to ask the owner, as they would definitely understand.

But she didn't dare go far. There was still a lot of work to do at home today. If Old Lady Liu didn't see her for a long time, she might think she had gone out to be lazy, and then she would definitely make a big fuss again. She could only ask the people around her about the situation.

But she also knew that there were few educated men in the surrounding families, let alone women. Just when she was worrying about this, she suddenly thought of the Pei family next door.

They could open a restaurant on South Street. At least someone in the family had been educated and could read. So Liu thought of trying her luck there.

Liu ignored Madam Pei's unhappy expression and said humbly, "Madam, I'm sorry to bother you at this time. I can't read. Could you please take a look at the contents of this paper, Master Pei?"

After saying that, Liu handed the paper over.

Mrs. Liu's attitude was very proper, and the other party didn't seem to have any ill intentions, so Mrs. Pei's expression eased. She reached out and took the paper. After looking at it for a few seconds, a look of astonishment flashed in her eyes.

Because this is a contract of sale, and the place of signature is a brothel.

Liu noticed the change in Madam Pei's expression and asked anxiously, "Madam, do you understand what's written here? To which nobleman's house was my daughter sold?"

If she could get any news about Daya, she would definitely find a way to meet Daya and give her the birthday gift she had prepared.

Mrs. Liu's words also allowed Mrs. Pei to guess something. Mrs. Pei knew that Mrs. Liu was not a good person, but she did not expect that she could be so cruel as to sell her own granddaughter to a brothel.

A brothel, how can that be a good place?

Besides, she thought the Liu family wasn't starving; there were three grown men working outside the house...