Chapter 16

After parting ways on New Year's Eve, the two never returned to the restaurant.

Yu Wan had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on; it was very likely that the county magistrate's wife was the one who was interfering.

One thing at a time, Yu Wan ignored the magistrate's wife's unnecessary actions, but was still grateful to Jin Yifei and the magistrate's family. If Jin Yifei hadn't patronized her barbecue stall on a whim and taken her to the magistrate's house for a barbecue on New Year's Eve, and if the magistrate's family hadn't supported her, Yu's restaurant wouldn't have become such a hot topic in less than two months.

Ever since Zhu Zhifeng ate Yu Wan's grilled skewers, her attitude has undergone a huge change; she warmly stepped forward and took her hand.

"Miss Yu, you're here to buy fabric too? What's on your mind? I was just thinking of buying a few things for myself, let's go shopping together."

Yu Wan smiled faintly, "I did come to buy fabric, but..."

But she was about to leave.

Lady Wan, being from the service industry, was also very shrewd. That's why she could tell that this poor girl was no ordinary person. Even the county magistrate's beloved daughter treated her with great respect.

She stepped forward eagerly, slapping herself twice. "I'm so sorry, young lady. It was my fault for being blind and neglecting you earlier. Please forgive my rudeness. You wanted to buy satin, didn't you? The shopkeeper just received a batch of top-quality fabric yesterday. I guarantee you and Miss Zhu will be satisfied."

Yu Wan didn't react yet, but Zhu Zhifeng immediately understood the meaning behind her words.

"You shameless woman, Wan! How dare you bully my friend! Yu, let's go! We won't buy from this store!"

She took Yu Wan's hand, raised her chin, and left without a word.

Upon seeing this, Madam Wan slid to her knees in front of them with a thud and began slapping herself repeatedly.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Madam Yu, Miss Zhu, I'm so sorry to both of you. I promise this will never happen again. Please forgive me this time, ladies. If the boss comes back and finds out I offended such an important guest, he will definitely not let me off the hook."

She quickly slapped her face until it swelled up.

Zhu Zhifeng gave a soft snort, "That depends on whether Madam Yu can forgive you."

Yu Wan remained completely unmoved; she had seen far too many people like this in her past life.

However, she hadn't forgotten why she was there, and naturally she couldn't let anyone disrupt her plans.

"Never mind. Miss Zhu, it doesn't matter."

Zhu Zhifeng stood up for her, saying, "How can you say it doesn't matter? She's just looking down on people! You're too easygoing; that makes you an easy target for bullying."

The onlookers were all stunned. Wan Niangzi's best friend, along with Master Liu and Hua Niangzi, stared at the scene in disbelief.

This young lady is a year or two younger than Zhu Daqianjin, but when the two stand together, the young lady seems more like the older sister.

Lady Hua was so frightened that she hid behind Master Liu, afraid to come out and suffer the same fate as Lady Wan.

Lady Wan slapped herself without hesitation, saying, "I was wrong, I was wrong, please forgive me, ladies, I will never dare to do it again."

Yu Wan knew that this person didn't genuinely realize that there was something wrong with his attitude; he was just afraid of losing his life because of Zhu Zhifeng's identity.

She didn't want to get entangled any further; she'd already been there for a while and had other things to do.

Seeing that Madam Wan had beaten her enough, Zhu Zhifeng knew it was time to stop, so she waved her hand.

"Alright, alright, bring us that batch of new goods you just mentioned. If it weren't for the fact that you have the most material in the whole county, do you think I'd leave? If you don't learn your lesson next time, I won't even come to your shop when I go to the capital to buy from you, hmph!"

Madam Wan ran in trembling fear and came out carrying several bolts of satin.

"These are all top-quality materials, from Jiangnan."

Jin Yifei glanced at it and nodded in agreement, "It does indeed come from Jiangnan."

The young lady took a fancy to the same lotus-colored one, but dared not go forward. She could only stare at her target and secretly pray that it would not be bought by someone else.

Yu Wan wanted her mother to choose for herself, but the latter was too frightened to speak and had no idea what to do. In the end, Yu Wan chose four bolts of satin, two bolts of silk, three bolts of cotton and linen, plus a variety of other fabrics.

Zhu Zhifeng also bought two bolts of satin. "Madam Yu, you bought so much?"

Yu Wan explained with a smile, "Life is a bit better now. The whole family has two new sets of clothes to wear, and we've replaced the lining and outer fabric of our quilts. Also, the shop doesn't have any decent work uniforms yet, so we need a lot."

Madam Wan was quick-witted: "I'll call the boss back right now, he'll definitely be able to give you a discount."

Zhu Zhifeng looked regretful. "I heard you've added more delicious food to your shop, is that right? I've wanted to go for a long time, but my mother..."

She seemed to remember something, felt a warning look from her cousin, stuck out her tongue, and didn't continue speaking.

The fabric shop owner rushed back and respectfully gave them a very generous discount.

"How about I give you both a 20% discount? Miss Zhu knows that my usual minimum discount is 10%."

In the end, Yu Wan spent a total of two hundred taels of silver, which made Yu's mother's legs go weak.

Madam Wan moved all the cloth into the carriage and kept trying to curry favor with him.

Yu Wan was already preparing to say goodbye. "The restaurant is now open all day, and there are indeed many more food options available. Miss Zhu and Mr. Jin, you are welcome to come and try it when you have time. You two are our esteemed guests, so please feel free to come and eat there anytime, it's free."

She was too poor and had few materials before, so she didn't dare to say that, but she doesn't need to now.

Young Master Jin laughed heartily, "Alright! Take care."

Zhu Zhifeng grabbed Yu Wan and glared at her cousin, "What do you mean by 'take care'? I haven't finished chatting with Madam Yu yet, why are you in such a hurry to send her away? Honestly."

Young Master Jin looked embarrassed and scratched his nose. "I didn't."

Yu Wan was in a hurry. As soon as she arrived in the county town, she went straight to the market, observed some common ingredients, and then bought cloth. She hadn't had a proper chance to play with her mother and younger brother yet.

They had to rush back before dark, and there wasn't much time left.

But what about the people with the surname He?

Is she really not coming back? If so, she'll have to catch the train herself, which isn't impossible.

Just then, the boy suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Seeing so many people standing at the entrance of the fabric shop, each of them looking at Yu Wan with slightly complicated expressions, the atmosphere was somewhat subtle.

He went straight to Yu Wan's side. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Yu Wan looked at him in surprise. This man was truly elusive; she wondered what he was secretly doing.

"It's alright, we've finished shopping, we can go now." She turned to Zhu Zhifeng and the other man and said, "Miss Zhu, Mr. Jin, come over to my place for a meal and a chat sometime. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

He Jing helped Yu's mother and Yu Wan into the carriage, then carried Yu Cheng up, before nimbly jumping onto the carriage himself and driving off.

Zhu Zhifeng had no choice but to see him off with reluctance. Only after the carriage had gone far away did she glare angrily at her cousin.

Jin Yifei shrugged helplessly, staring at the boy thoughtfully.

"That person... I feel like I've seen them somewhere before..."

Only then did Madam Hua step forward to inquire, "Miss Zhu, who was that young lady just now?"

She was so curious; she'd been keeping this question to herself for ages.

Jin Yifei gave her a cold glance. "Have you heard of Yu Family Restaurant? She's the owner of that restaurant."

Madam Wan's beautiful eyes widened: "What?! She's the proprietress of Yu's Restaurant? I've heard that Madam Yu is very young, but she's really this young, she looks only fourteen or fifteen? What am I going to do? I was planning to go to her restaurant for some delicious food tomorrow, she won't let me eat there, will she?"

Jin Yifei sneered: "She's no ordinary woman, why would she lower herself to your level!"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Chen stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face.

"What did you say, young master? Which restaurant? Yu Family Restaurant? Was that Madam Yu just now? I ate roast chicken at my friend's house, and the taste was simply... Wait, what just happened? Madam Wan?"

Madam Wan quickly slipped away.

On the carriage, Yu Wan saw that her mother looked worried and knew that she must have been frightened.

"Mother, it's my fault. I've frightened you."

Yu's mother was pale, clutching Yu Wan's hand, feeling as if she had survived a catastrophe.

"It's good that you and Acheng are alright. What if something really happened? I'm useless; I can't protect you."

Yu Wan gently comforted them, "I'm all grown up now. I'll protect you from now on."

She looked at the silent Yu Cheng, "Cheng, it's alright. How about your older sister takes you to buy some pastries later?"

Besides shopping, I also came to the county town to learn what's trending these days, so I can't limit my perspective to this small town.

When she has more free time in the future, she wants to see even more distant places.

Yu Cheng pouted, unable to hold back any longer, and threw himself into her arms, bursting into loud sobs.

"Big sister, I'm sorry! Waaah... I've been trying so hard to eat every day, why haven't I grown up yet! If I were as tall as Brother Asu, I could protect you and Mother."

When Yu's mother saw her child crying, she also wiped away her tears and couldn't say a word.

Yu Wan never expected that this rare outing would cause them such great trauma.

She wiped away her mother's tears, then cupped her younger brother's chubby little face in her hands, her smile gentle.

"Acheng, just growing taller isn't enough. We also need to understand principles and learn knowledge. Brute force can't solve all problems. Sometimes we need to assess the situation. When we don't have enough strength to fight back, we can't just rush in. We need to find a way to protect ourselves first, and then consider how to fight back, understand?"

Yu Cheng nodded heavily, his little face streaked with tears, his big eyes brimming with moisture.

Upon arriving at the entrance of a restaurant called Zuixianlou, He Jing told Yu Wan in the carriage that they had arrived.

The group got out of the car, went into the restaurant, asked for a private room on the second floor, and ordered six of their signature dishes.

Before coming to the county town, Yu Wan had done her homework. Apart from Fu Man Ju, Zui Xian Lou was the most famous restaurant in the entire county.

Considering the somewhat delicate relationship with Fu Man Ju, she chose to come here to try the cuisine of this modern restaurant.

Yu Cheng was still just a child; in such a short time, he had already forgotten all his unhappiness and was leaning out the window watching people come and go on the street.

"Mom, Mom, come quick! It's so lively down there. There weren't this many people in our town even during the New Year."

Yu's mother walked to the window and looked in the direction he was looking.

"It really is true, the county town is huge."

Yu Wan also walked around and looked around. The big restaurant in the county town was really something else. It had a great location and the interior decoration was also quite elaborate.

A deep, boyish voice sounded in my ear, "Did someone bully you at the fabric store just now?"

Yu Wan had long since stopped caring about it: "It's nothing, it's all in the past."

Her mind was filled with only two words: development!

The restaurant is indeed very popular now, but she cannot stop moving forward and must continue to explore more and bigger development opportunities.