049, Talk about it

049, Talk about it

At the Fengtian Prefecture Yamen, after the young prince had left with his men, the prefect, Lord Chen, spoke up. "After several rounds of interrogation, the details of the case and the motives of the traffickers have become clear. They operate within the Jingdu Prefecture and weren't specifically targeting the prince. Their capture of the prince was likely a convenient outcome."

However, this result was not what they had initially expected. Who would have believed that the target of a few human traffickers was not their own prince Ding, but a child from a commoner family? But the facts were before their eyes, and they could not bear to believe it.

However, it doesn’t matter whether they believe this result or not. What matters is whether the emperor and the officials in the court believe it or not.

In the end, the three adults decided to go to the palace immediately to meet the emperor and inform him of the results of the interrogation.

After learning the truth of the case, the emperor learned that human traffickers dared to kidnap children under his nose, but he still ordered the prefect of Fengtian Prefecture to strictly arrest human traffickers and various criminals in the capital.

Ordinary people outside the palace have no idea what is happening.

However, from this day on, the people of Kyoto Prefecture could clearly notice that there were more police officers patrolling the city than ever before, the number of petty thieves in the city suddenly decreased, and the inspections in and out of the city gates became stricter.

Because of the strict inspection in the capital that day, which seriously affected everyone's business, their stall didn't sell out until noon. There was still a little left, so Liu Sanniang decided not to sell anything and prepared to close the stall early and go home.

"Qillang, you stay here and watch over the stall. Don't go away. I'll take a bowl of meat and vegetables to your adoptive parents." Liu Sanniang divided the remaining meat and vegetables on the stall into two portions. She planned to keep one portion for her family and send the other portion to the pancake shop for Boss Lu and Xu Yueniang.

"Okay, mother, you go ahead. I won't leave." Lu Mingfei sat on the stool, supporting his chin with both hands. He turned his head to look at his mother when he heard that.

Their stall was right next to the pancake shop, so even if she walked away a little, Liu Sanniang could still see the child sitting there if she turned around. She walked over to the pancake shop, looking back every few steps, and handed the bowl of meat and vegetables to Xu Yueniang. She said to Xu Yueniang and Boss Lu, "We have some leftovers at our stall today, so I split it into two portions. I'll take one home and eat it later, and this portion is for you. Please warm it up and don't be disgusted."

"How could I dislike it? The braised food you make is so delicious, I can't wait to enjoy it." Xu Yue Niang took the bowl with a smile, and didn't bother to be polite with Liu San Niang.

Ever since Liu Sanniang opened a food stall next door, the couple would buy a portion of braised dishes to eat with the sesame cakes almost every day. Sometimes, when they got tired of their own sesame cakes, they would each have a bowl of braised pork rice.

Now, customers who come to their restaurant to eat also like to order a bowl of braised food to go with the sesame cake; or people who buy braised food and pass by will occasionally come to their restaurant to buy sesame cake to go home and eat with the braised food. In this way, they don’t even have to cook when they get home and can have a delicious meal.

Of course, eating out is always a little more expensive than buying food at home, but it saves time and effort, and people with a little money in their pockets don’t mind the cost.

Xu Yueniang also discovered that Liu Sanniang's stall had only been open for a short time when servants and maids from wealthy families in the city or from noble houses came to buy braised food from her stall to take home. She didn't know whether the servants and maids were buying it for themselves or for their masters.

Anyway, no matter what, now Liu Sanniang has opened a small stall next to their store. Liu Sanniang's business is getting better and better, and their pancake shop's business is also getting better and better. It can be regarded as a mutually beneficial good thing. Now they have adopted Liu Sanniang's child as their adopted son, and the relationship between the two families has become even closer.

However, due to the strict inspection in the city today, their pancake shop stall was also affected. Business was usually very good in the morning, but it was much quieter today.

After receiving the braised food from Liu Sanniang, Xu Yueniang wrapped four or five pancakes in a piece of oil paper and gave them to Liu Sanniang. "Take these back and eat them. Our business isn't very good today. These pancakes were just made and have cooled down a bit. When you get home, heat them up in a pot and they'll still be edible."

"Okay, then I won't be polite with you." Liu Sanniang didn't bother to be polite with Xu Yueniang either. She took the pancakes from Xu Yueniang and told them, "We'll set up the stall for another day tomorrow, and take a break the day after tomorrow. We'll open the stall again the day after tomorrow."

Because today's meat and vegetables had already been reserved when she went to pick them up yesterday, she couldn't say no today. She saw that everyone's business was slow today, and if she said no now, others would have a lot of food left over, and she wouldn't get her deposit back, which would affect their future cooperation.

So she planned to tell others when she went to get the meat and vegetables that they would have a day off the day after tomorrow, and that they would not need to prepare the meat and vegetables at their stall tomorrow.

"Oh, it's good for you to take a day off. How about this, our store will also be closed that day, and we will take Qilang to the temple to burn some incense together." When Xu Yue Niang said the latter part of this, she was looking at her own man.

Hearing this, Boss Lu said, "Okay, we haven't had a break for a long time."

So everyone agreed to rest together the day after tomorrow and take the children to the temple to burn incense.

While Liu Sanniang was talking to Boss Lu and Xu Yueniang, her eyes were always looking at the child who was sitting there waiting for her. As soon as she finished speaking, she hurried back to her stall.

After the last two guests finished their meal and left, the mother and son started to clean up together. This time Xu Yueniang came to help them clean up the stall, and Liu Sanniang did not refuse, because she knew that the child was tired, and she was also tired, and needed someone to help them.

After packing up the stall, there was still a lot of work to do, and Xu Yueniang was always helping them. Later, Boss Lu came into the yard to help them fetch water. With one more person to help fetch water, washing things here became much easier.

After washing the dishes and chopsticks, Liu Sanniang brought her child out to the pancake shop and sincerely thanked Boss Lu and Xu Yueniang, saying, "Thank you so much for today."

"There's no need to be polite between our two families. You two are tired today. If you want to buy anything, go ahead and buy it, and then go home." Xu Yue Niang waved her hand, not accepting Liu San Niang's thanks.

"Godfather and mother, my mother and I are going back. See you tomorrow." Before leaving with his mother, Lu Mingfei said goodbye to his godfather and mother.

"Okay, go back with your mother and don't run around." Boss Lu is still frightened when he thinks about how the child was almost taken away by human traffickers last night.

Xu Yueniang was even more so. In fact, the couple didn't get much sleep last night. They got up at dawn and started working, and they are still busy now.

This morning, Boss Lu was so tired that he didn't mix as much noodles as usual, hoping to sell out quickly and go home to rest. Unexpectedly, he ran into a strict inspection at the city gate, affecting business on the entire street. This was a lucky coincidence; otherwise, if he had mixed as much noodles as usual, he might not have been able to sell all the noodles, which would have been even more troublesome.

"I was wrong about what happened last night. I made you, my adoptive parents, worry. And I'm sorry, mother. Please don't blame my adoptive father. It was because I wanted to chase someone that I was taken away by the human traffickers. It's not my adoptive father's fault." While everyone was here today and the incident had just happened, Lu Mingfei explained it clearly in front of his biological mother, adoptive parents.

If we were to say who was wrong in this matter, it was definitely him, because he gave the human traffickers an opportunity to take advantage of him.

Boss Lu felt extremely distressed when he saw such a sensible child. He reached out and hugged the child, patted the child's shoulder, and comforted the child: "It's not your fault, it's the fault of those bad guys."

"Yes, Qilang, don't think it's your fault. It's all the fault of those human traffickers." Xu Yueniang also comforted the child in this way.

Only Liu Sanniang quietly let go of her resentment towards Boss Lu and Xu Yueniang at this time, because she thought it was Boss Lu who took the child and let the child be abducted under her nose. Little did she know that it was the child who was naughty and ran to find someone, and was taken away by the traffickers.

Lu Mingfei knew that the traffickers were the ones who were most at fault, but he didn't want his mother to become estranged from the benefactors who had helped his family because of this incident. His adoptive parents were very good people, as were his father and mother. He hoped that this relationship between the two families could continue, and he was the bond that maintained the relationship between the two families.

After the matter was made clear, he followed his mother away.

As usual, they first went to pick up the vegetables and meat they had ordered the day before. Liu Sanniang also told the vendors who supplied their stalls that they would not open their stalls the day after tomorrow and would take a day off.

"Okay. Business is too difficult today. If it goes on like this every day, I don't know how we can continue our business." There was a lot of meat left at the meat stall today. The stall owner couldn't help but complain to Liu Sanniang who came to pick up the goods.

"Don't worry, uncle. It won't always be like this." Lu Mingfei comforted the big uncle.

"Thank you for your words," the butcher laughed. He was no stranger to the mother and son. They now had a snack stand in the city and came to him every day to buy meat, and they bought a lot of meat and bones every day. There happened to be a large piece of pig's liver on the stall, so he took it and tied it up and gave it to Liu Sanniang. "I'll give you a piece of pig's liver as a gift. It will be delicious when you stir-fry it at home."

"Thank you, uncle." Before his mother could refuse, Lu Mingfei smiled and thanked him. He then took out two sesame cakes from his basket and stuffed them into the butcher's stall. "These are sesame cakes from Lu Ji's sesame cake shop. They're delicious. I'm giving them to you, uncle."

After saying that, he didn't give the butcher a chance to refuse them. He waved his little hand and said, "Goodbye, uncle. When you have time, come to our stall to eat braised pork rice. Our stall is right next to Lu Ji's Shaobing Shop." Then he left with his mother.

"Okay." The butcher at the back looked at the child who had left, smiled, and accepted the gift from the child. He also planned to eat braised pork rice tomorrow.