Chapter 63: Is there a mole? Is it her? Or him?

The next day, Liu Dazhuang heard about the theft of the seasonings and was so angry that he decided to stake out the Lin family's old house every night, determined to catch the thief.

He no longer has to risk his life for money, and his wife and children can eat meat every day, all thanks to Lin Yao's family. Now, someone has stolen Lin Yao's secret recipe, cutting off her source of income—this is cutting off their own livelihood. "A Yao, what do you plan to do?"

After a night's rest, Lin Yao's emotions had calmed down considerably. Now, the most important thing was to find out who was responsible and whether any of her own people had betrayed her. "For now, let's hold back. But I'll have to trouble Da Zhuang to keep a close watch in the village these next few days. If any suspicious people are seen near my house at night, make sure to identify them first." Seeing Liu Da Zhuang still looking worried, she offered a few words of comfort before riding her donkey cart back to Qingquan Town.

They thought it would take some time to catch the thief, but unexpectedly, as soon as they returned to Qingquan Town, the matter made progress.

When Lin Yao and her two companions arrived, it was already midday, which is usually the busiest time for restaurants.

But today, as soon as Lin Yao entered the restaurant, she found that there were only two-thirds of the usual number of customers in the front hall. "A-Zhu, come here."

Upon hearing this, Ah Zhu hurriedly put down his work and ran forward.

Lin Yao instructed him, "Go to the street and ask if any new shops have opened today, or which restaurants are doing particularly well."

A moment later, Ah Zhu came running back, panting. "Boss, I've searched all the streets and alleys nearby, and there aren't any new shops opening. But the Yue Lai Eatery, which is just across the street from us, is packed with customers today. They even have a sign outside, and I asked a passerby. They said it says 'Buy one get one free' on grilled fish, and they listed four flavors, all four of which are exactly the same as ours! They're clearly copying us!"

Listening to Ah Zhu's indignant accusations, Lin Yao comforted him, "Grilled fish is not my invention. Let others make it if they want. As long as our taste is good enough, customers will come back." Even so, she had already begun to plan how to lure the person behind the scenes to reveal themselves.

When Xu Zhiheng led Jin Yu into the restaurant, he saw Lin Yao with a slight frown, seemingly lost in thought.

Jin Yu followed his husband happily. He had been in a very good mood lately, and could come to the Lin family's restaurant with his husband every day to eat. He didn't expect that the boy in the restaurant was probably sleeping in the open somewhere.

He was also ordering a grilled fish today; he wondered how Lin Xiao Niangzi had come up with such a delicious dish. He realized he was now not only a fan of Lin Family Restaurant, but also of Lin Yao herself. Seeing Lin Yao standing by the counter with a furrowed brow, he quickly went over and asked, "Is Lin Xiao Niangzi facing some difficulties?"

Lin Yao then noticed the two of them and quickly invited them to sit down, saying, "It's nothing."

Jin Yu didn't think much of what she said and started ordering the dishes for today.

Xu Zhiheng looked around. "Why are there so many fewer customers in the shop today?"

Lin Yao: "Perhaps everyone wants a change of pace."

Jin Yu shook her head dismissively: "I can eat all the food at Miss Lin's place every day and I still can't get enough of it. How could anyone get tired of it?"

Lin Yao chuckled, "If you like it, please eat more. There are few customers today, so the food will be served quickly." After saying that, she turned to A-Zhu and whispered, "Here is one tael of silver. Go to the street and find a few people to go to Yue Lai Restaurant and buy one grilled fish of each flavor."

Jin Yu squinted at Xu Zhiheng beside her, who was holding a teacup and hadn't moved for a long time, and said, "My lord, why are you eavesdropping on other people's conversations?"

Xu Zhiheng glared at him irritably: "What do you mean by eavesdropping? Martial artists naturally have exceptional hearing. Didn't you hear it?"

Jin Yu looked at him like he was an idiot: "You heard that, didn't you, my lord? I was a soldier personally trained by the general, and I started learning martial arts even earlier than you." She added insult to injury, "But I didn't eavesdrop on purpose; the sound just reached my ears on its own. You, on the other hand, deliberately eavesdropped, which is not the way of a gentleman."

︿(￣︶￣)︿

Xu Zhiheng was speechless for a moment when he saw his self-righteous appearance.

Yuelai Restaurant was extremely popular. It took Ah Zhu almost half an hour to buy the grilled fish. By the time he returned, only Xu Zhiheng's table was left in the restaurant.

Since Xu Zhiheng was practically one of their own, Lin Yao decided not to invite everyone to the backyard and instead opened four portions of grilled fish directly in the front hall. Grilled fish had only been around for a short time, and even if other restaurants wanted to imitate it, it would take time to develop the containers for grilling fish, so no restaurant had yet launched this dish with great fanfare.

Since launching her grilled fish, Lin Yao anticipated that competitors would follow suit, but she wasn't bothered by it. After all, grilled fish wasn't her original creation, and there's no reason why anyone can't do it. In the food business, having unique dishes is certainly an advantage, but if not, excellent taste is enough to retain customers.

Everyone stared at the grilled fish in front of them, looking at each other in bewilderment. Wang Xiaoyu spoke first: "Master, whose grilled fish is this?"

Lin Yao invited everyone to sit down and try the food: "Try everything at Yuelai Restaurant and tell us what you think of the taste."

No one said anything more and picked up their chopsticks. As the head chef in the kitchen, Wang Xiaoyu was most familiar with the taste of grilled fish. It was precisely because of this familiarity that she was particularly shocked when she tasted the similar flavor: "This is impossible... Apart from a slight fishy smell that wasn't completely removed, the rest of the flavor is extremely similar to ours."

Because of the presence of outsiders, she did not directly mention that the grilled fish contained Lin Yao's secret seasoning. However, Su Niang and Zhao Niangzi, who had been helping in the kitchen for many years, would surely know this. Everyone tacitly avoided the topic.

Lin Yao kept a close eye on everyone's expressions, secretly unwilling to suspect anyone present. Wang Xiaoyu and Liu Xu were both old acquaintances who had been with her since she started as a small vendor. Now that Wang Xiaoyu was cleared of suspicion, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking back, this matter couldn't be related to Wang Xiaoyu. When preparing the five-spice powder, she had never avoided Wang Xiaoyu; she could have simply sold the product directly, why would she have stolen the finished product?

Therefore, the only remaining suspect is Liu Xu.

At first, Lin Yao did not notice anything unusual in the expressions of the others, until Wang Xiaoyu pointed out that the grilled fish tasted similar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Liu Xu's expression slightly startled, and her heart sank.

Jin Yu had been listening intently since Wang Xiaoyu exclaimed in surprise, and now she was even more curious. Holding her bowl, she approached Lin Yao's table and asked, "Can I have a taste?"

“Of course, please feel free to do as you please, Brother Jin Yu.” Lin Yao shifted her position to make room for him to pick up food.

Jin Yu picked up a piece of fish and put it in her mouth, chewing it a few times: "It really does look similar. Even I, who eat grilled fish every day, can't taste the difference."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xu became even more uneasy.

Lin Yao's heart sank, and the meal tasted like nothing at all.

For the rest of the day, Lin Yao was absent-minded and returned to her newly rented house in town early.

She gently closed the courtyard gate, sat down in the rocking chair under the persimmon tree, and felt a mix of emotions. Before, when she saw traitorous characters in movies and novels, she only felt righteous indignation. Now that such a terrible thing had happened to her, she felt a tightness in her chest, a feeling of suffocation as if she had swallowed a fly. She considered herself a kind person, treating everyone sincerely, so how could this be…

As she was lost in thought, there was a knock on the door.

Lin Yao opened the door and saw Liu Xu. "Brother Xu? Why are you out here now?"

Liu Xu, not bothering to explain his skipping work, blurted out, "Ayao, this must have been done by your uncle's family! Before you opened the shop, Lin Youfu approached me, asking me to cooperate from the inside, whether it was to steal their skills or their secret recipe, and he promised to split the profits 50/50 with me. I didn't agree. Yesterday, when he passed by the eatery, he was carrying five or six pounds of mutton! I don't know if it was a gift or something he bought, so I asked Butcher Fang. You know, they're the only mutton seller in our town. I cut off half a pound of mutton and subtly asked if there were many people buying mutton today. Guess what he said?"

Lin Yao shook her head.

Liu Xu continued, "He said it wasn't much. The same people buy mutton every day. The wealthy families have already had it delivered to their door, and the rest are just individual customers buying in small quantities. But today, a generous customer bought five catties of mutton in one go! I told him that on the way here, I happened to see a plump young man carrying several pieces of mutton! The butcher said, 'That's him!'"

After hearing what she said, Lin Yao's initial sadness at being betrayed vanished, and she appeared much more relaxed than when she was in the shop.

Seeing that she not only wasn't angry when she heard about this, but actually seemed to be in a good mood, Liu Xu couldn't help but feel a little worried. Could it be that A Yao had been driven crazy by anger? But then he saw Lin Yao's eyes suddenly light up, and she whispered a few words in his ear.

Upon hearing this, Liu Xu left with a broad smile.

Having received his assignment, Liu Xu finished work early and went to the mutton stall again. Unlike yesterday when he only bought half a jin, this time he bought a whole jin of mutton. Although he felt a little pain when he took out 180 coins, he was overjoyed.

Butcher Fang recognized the young man as the one who had bought meat the day before. Seeing that he had been buying mutton for two consecutive days, and in increasingly larger quantities, he couldn't help but jokingly ask, "Young man, what good news have you encountered?"

"There's nothing to celebrate, but the shopkeeper said today that I'm her confidant, and I'll have to take care of all the big and small matters in the shop from now on. Don't you think our shopkeeper values ​​me highly?" Liu Xu said modestly, but he was secretly overjoyed.

He had always envied Wang Xiaoyu for being able to learn cooking from Lin Yao and master the skills so she could earn a living anywhere. Knowing he had limited talent in cooking, he worked twice as hard, taking on all the dirty and tiring work at the stall and shop. He also knew he wasn't very smart, so ever since Lin Yao praised Azhu for being clever, he had been paying close attention to how Azhu entertained customers, secretly learning to read between the lines.

He may have walked slowly, but he never stopped. Now that Lin Yao has finally seen his efforts, Liu Xu's joy is beyond words.

On his way back to the village, Liu Xu stopped at the dock and bought some small oysters. His mother likes oyster omelets, and Wang Xiaoyu taught him how to make them a few days ago. Today, he made some for his mother to try.

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Author's Note: Liu Xu: He sees no personal gain whatsoever; all he cares about is the appreciation he receives from his superiors for his hard work. [Sunglasses]

(I'm not a bad guy, I just lack common sense. For my peanuts! For my peanuts!)