Chapter 47 Deception

Zhang, who was still struggling to step forward and make a move, heard Fan Xiaoxiao's words and suddenly realized what she had just done. She couldn't help but feel annoyed and didn't understand why she had been so irritable.

Behind Fan Xiaoxiao, a person emerged from the crowd. Tall, with a pointed face and monkey-like features. It was none other than Hou San!

Hou San slowly walked to Fan Xiaoxiao's side, narrowed his long, thin eyes, and then slowly scanned the expressions of the three people opposite him.

"Ha, Zhu Er, how come I didn't know? You can actually make decisions for the town mayor?"

Zhu Er, flattered, waved his hand with a smile and took two steps toward Hou San, saying as he went, "Hey! Third Brother! How could you say that! How could I make decisions for the town mayor! How could I be so disrespectful!"

"Oh? Good that you know! So tell me what you're doing now? I remember you were supposed to be off today, right? And this isn't your territory, is it? Are you telling me to rest early? Or are you trying to overstep your bounds?"

At this point, Hou San's tone suddenly turned extremely cold. Zhu Er pretended not to understand the meaning behind Hou San's words, chuckled twice, and continued talking as they walked:

"Oh, Third Brother, it's just that the Zhang family is really too pitiful! You know me, I'm always soft-hearted! Besides, what's the difference between yours and mine! We're all family! Don't you think so?"

As they spoke, Zhu Er had already walked up to Hou San's side. He smiled and leaned close to Hou San, pretending to be good buddies, and even patted Hou San on the shoulder. In reality, he whispered quickly to Hou San, "Third Brother, the Zhang family has offered a kickback for this. After it's done, I'll take seven and you three! How about that?"

Hou San narrowed his eyes upon hearing Zhu Er's words, and with a forced smile, repeated Zhu Er's words: "You get seven, I get three?"

Zhu Er nodded, not noticing anything amiss.

"Yes, you get three and I get seven."

"Screw you!"

Hou San suddenly slapped Zhu Er across the face. With a sharp "smack," Zhu Er covered his face and staggered back two steps, staring incredulously at the sinister-looking Hou San, cursing, "Hou San! Are you fucking crazy?! You actually hit me!"

Seeing that the two had started fighting, Zhang quickly stepped forward to help Zhu Er up, and asked Hou San, somewhat at a loss, "Yes! Third Master, what are you doing! Why are you fighting your own brother?"

"Ha! Beating up your own brothers? I don't see how Zhu Er treats me like a brother at all. If you're going to court death, don't drag me into it! I'll report this to the town mayor and let him make a decision!"

Zhu Er was somewhat bewildered by Hou San's series of angry rebukes.

"Hou San, what exactly do you mean?! How did I do something so reckless?!"

Upon hearing Zhu Er's words, Hou San looked at Zhu Er with a cold smile, his gaze devoid of any emotion as if he were looking at a fool: "You're stupid! You really are stupid!"

Among the crowd, some were still confused about the meaning of their conversation. At this moment, Madam Fan finally squeezed through the crowd, bringing Xiao Bao with her, to Fan Xiaoxiao's side. She had been listening outside for quite some time, but still didn't understand what Hou San meant by Zhu Er being courting death. She gently tugged at Fan Xiaoxiao, who was engrossed in watching the scene, and whispered from behind:

"Hey sis, what's with all this talk about courting death? What are they saying?"

"Sister, you're back. Oh, Master Zhu almost got scammed, and Master Hou is disciplining him now!"

Fan Xiaoxiao's voice wasn't quiet, startling Zhu Er, who was even more confused about what was going on. Forgetting about settling scores with Hou San, he covered his face with one hand, his expression so dark it was almost dripping with water, and strode up to Fan Xiaoxiao, demanding fiercely, "What do you mean? What do you mean I was almost scammed?!"

Terrified that Zhu Er would harm Fan Xiaoxiao, and seeing Zhu Er's murderous look, Madam Fan quickly pulled Fan Xiaoxiao behind her. She choked back a sob and shouted at Zhu Er:

"You...you stay away! Didn't the town...the town mayor say that those who fight...fight will be fined three taels of silver!"

Fan Xiaoxiao felt a warmth in her heart and didn't refuse her sister's kindness. She peeked out from behind Fan Shi and looked at Zhu Er, who had an angry expression, and said with a smile, "Oh dear, Master Zhu, you haven't realized it yet? You've been tricked by the Zhang family!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang immediately jumped up, pointed at Fan Xiaoxiao's nose, and began to curse: "Stop talking nonsense! How did we lie to anyone!"

"Don't you know how you lied to people? You came here today asking for my braised pork recipe, saying that someone got addicted to it. That's just a pretext, a pretext for your family to ask for the recipe I have. Only Master Zhu is honest enough to believe it."

After saying that, Fan Xiaoxiao clicked her tongue twice, making no mention of the fact that Zhu Er was also one of their helpers.

Feeling uncomfortable that her thoughts had been exposed, Zhang's eyes darted around nervously. She choked back a snort and yelled at Fan Xiaoxiao, who was hiding behind Fan, "You, you stop making baseless accusations! We didn't say that!"

"Tsk tsk, you know perfectly well whether it's true or not. This braised pork dish isn't actually worth much money. Let me guess, you're probably planning to trick Master Zhu into helping you get my secret recipe, and then trick him into giving him a share of the profits from it?"

"You! You! Stop talking nonsense!"

"Heh, what a pity, you never intended to give any of the profits to Master Zhu from the very beginning."

Zhu Er froze, his gaze slowly landing on the faces of the Zhang couple.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Zhang noticed Zhu Er's suspicion and panicked. A bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. She waved her hands frantically at Zhu Er, saying, "Master Zhu, please don't believe this little devil! She's talking nonsense!"

Hou San waved his hand at Fan Xiaoxiao and snorted coldly: "Keep talking, let him know what a stupid thing he did!"

"Yes, Third Master."

After responding to Hou San's words, Fan Xiaoxiao turned her gaze to Zhu Er's face.

"Master Zhu, you don't know, do you? The Zhang family is trying to get my recipe for free so they can sell braised pork offal themselves! You don't know, do you? This recipe isn't worth any money at all. Today I even asked the head of the Ji family if he wanted to buy my recipe, and guess what he said."

"What did you say?"

“Hey, Mr. Ji, what’s the point of buying my recipe? You can’t buy the ingredients to make it anyway. If you use meat, the cost is too high. It’s a losing proposition. Only a fool would buy my recipe.”

"Is that so?"

Zhu Er's question was directed at Steward Ji, who was watching the show in the crowd. They knew each other since they saw each other all the time in town. When Steward Ji saw that Zhu Er had asked him a question, he stood in the crowd and bowed to Zhu Er, saying, "Yes, that's right."

"So, you're saying who benefits most from having this recipe in the end? Well, naturally it's the Zhang family who have the ingredients! Hey, actually, it's not a big deal if I don't have the recipe, but... if this really happens, who will dare to set up a stall afterward? Anyway, sooner or later, everything that belongs to us will become someone else's!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a low murmur arose from the surrounding crowd. Zhu Er glanced at the crowd, frowned, and remained silent. Fan Xiaoxiao, seemingly oblivious to the commotion behind her, continued speaking to Zhu Er:

"And another thing, I heard that ever since the Zhang family's daughter became the master of the town mayor's house, it seems that the Zhang family no longer has to pay rent to the town, right?"

Hou San glanced coldly at Zhang's plump face and answered without hesitation, "That's right." Fan Xiaoxiao, having received her answer, clasped her hands together and continued her exaggerated acting: "Oh dear! Then tell me, the Zhang family got the formula, don't have to pay rent, and can even sell their own produce—why wouldn't they be happy?"

At this point, Zhu Er realized what was going on. He turned to look at the Zhang couple—yes! They said they would give him 30% of the profits from the recipe, but what if they didn't sell the recipe and instead kept it? Then they would never give him any money! Thinking of this, Zhu Er sneered.

"I really never thought that I would get pecked in the eye by a bird while hunting birds."

(End of this chapter)