Chapter 80 Two Forces Applying Influence Zhou Xuezi's chopsticks landed on the lotus leaf duck, the duck...

Zhou Xuezi's chopsticks landed on the lotus leaf duck. The duck meat was stewed until tender. With just a little force, the chopsticks tore the duck skin and meat apart, and the steaming hot meat juices were released.

Zhou Xuezi didn't have time to speak, so he picked up a large piece of duck meat and stuffed it into his mouth. With just a little sucking, the lean meat came off the bone, and the juices instantly filled his mouth. In addition to the rich duck flavor, his mouth was also filled with the fragrance of lotus leaves.

This dish was the best he had ever eaten in his life!

Before Zhou could even offer his opinion, he heard Fang exclaim in surprise, "Ugh!"

His goal differed from Zhou Xuezi's; he set off for braised chicken. Large chunks of chicken were perfectly coated in a golden sauce, gleaming with an oily sheen. An indescribable, wonderful aroma rushed into Fang Xuezi's nostrils as they drew closer, conquering his senses and driving him straight into his mouth in a daze.

The chicken is stewed until it's incredibly tender, requiring no effort to chew. It's also incredibly flavorful, with a savory, sweet, and savory taste that whets the appetite.

The same goes for shiitake mushrooms. The plump shiitake mushrooms absorb plenty of meat juices, so plump that they resemble abalone more than shiitake mushrooms. With each chew, the rich and mellow broth bursts out, unceremoniously dominating everything in its path and forcefully opening the door to your taste buds.

Fang Xuezi chewed repeatedly before finally swallowing with reluctance. What he wanted most now was a bowl of rice, with a spoonful of broth poured over it, and the chicken and mushrooms to eat in one go.

That must be an incredibly wonderful thing!

Without even asking Zhang, Fang voluntarily went to get his rice. He ate a mouthful of rice followed by a bite of braised chicken, his cheeks bulging, saying, "You know, you've been hiding such delicious food all this time..."

Zhang Xuezi was also eating his rice, immersed in the deliciousness. He heard his classmate's words, but had no time to reply.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the three of them slumped back, rubbing their round bellies: "Brother Zhang... you were really hiding your talent."

"You fucking eat that well all the time?"

"That's right, that's right, if only I had known, if only I had known, if only I had known..." Zhou Xuezi pounded his chest and stamped his feet, recalling Zhang Xuezi's words that the dish was made by the girl from the Jiang family's braised meat shop on the street.

How much braised pork rice would you need?

How many times has he missed out?!

After Zhou Xuezi figured it out, his gaze towards Zhang Xuezi became even sharper: "You rascal, you're always hoarding everything!"

"That's right!"

"No, no—" Zhang Xuezi protested repeatedly, hurriedly explaining, "I've heard it's delicious... but I've never heard it's this delicious!"

"This is the first time I've ever had such a feast!"

"This isn't the time to argue about this." Fang stopped Zhou and Zhang from arguing, placing his hands on Zhang's shoulders: "You said... hiring this cook only costs ten strings of cash? Even with the cost of ingredients, it would only be fifteen to twenty strings?"

“Yes… Yao Lang, who just delivered the vegetables, told me that,” Zhang Xuezi said slowly, calming down.

"I agree with this."

I agree.

“Also… I have another idea.” A thought flashed through Fang Xuezi’s mind. “Actually, we are not like the others in the academy. We originally only planned to send people to a middle-class banquet.”

“Brother Fang…” Zhou Xuezi’s eyes were lifeless, and he gritted his teeth: “We know about this without you having to tell us.”

Zhang Xuezi remained silent, his eyes filled with resentment.

Fang chuckled and continued, "I reckon that once we spread the word, Fan and his group will definitely choose something similar in order to outdo us..."

Before he could finish speaking, the other two understood the answer.

A moment later, the room was filled with a chorus of groans.

...

That evening, while Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang were busy with their business in the shop, Yao's wife, Madam Lü, hurriedly entered, looking rather serious.

Su Zhihan greeted Jiang Zhenniang, washed her hands, and then went through the back door to find a quiet place to talk: "Why does Madam Lü look so pale? Is there something wrong with my dishes? Or are Zhang Xuezi and the others dissatisfied, or is there something else going on?"

"Sister Han is underestimating herself."

“It’s not that I’m dissatisfied, it’s just that there’s another problem.” Madam Lü couldn’t explain the situation in a short time, so she led Su Zhihan to her own home: “My husband is inside talking to her and asked me to invite you over, Miss.”

Su Zhihan was surprised, so she followed.

As soon as they lifted the curtain and entered the room, Yao Lang led Zhang Xuezi and the others to stand up and greet them. Zhang Xuezi had seen Su Zhihan a few times at the braised meat shop, so he wasn't surprised. However, Fang Xuezi and Zhou Xuezi's eyes widened, and they couldn't hold back their excitement.

The girl in the braised meat shop...

In their view, Zhang Lang meant the shop owner's daughter—and Zhang Lang was indeed right.

To their surprise, he was used to it. Fang and Zhou were completely taken aback and were dumbfounded. They were stunned and speechless for a good two beats before they followed Yao and Zhang and said, "Mother, wife."

After exchanging greetings, the two of them glared at Zhang Xuezi, leaving him looking at them with a bewildered expression, his eyes asking, "What's wrong?"

Fang Xuezi: "..."

Zhou Xuezi: "..."

The two reluctantly withdrew their gazes, their mouths tightly shut as they stared at Yao Lang, who was unusually quick-witted, but they couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Zhang Xuezi remained unchanged, adding his own details with Yao Lang, and then told Su Zhihan about booking the banquet. Su Zhihan carefully considered their statements and slowly said, "So, the three of you mean to create a dual contract?"

Zhang blushed: "Well, you could say that."

The three hoped that the contract, which was essentially the actual cost of the banquet, could be lower, while also hoping that the price could be inflated when others inquired later. In short, they wanted Su Zhihan and Yao Lang to help them save face.

"What kind of banquet do you want to prepare?"

“It should be a mid-range banquet like the ones in restaurants.” Zhang Xuezi had just discussed it with the other two and answered the question without hesitation: “Furthermore, we should also pay more attention to the utensils. Choose a complete set of silver utensils... If that’s not possible, a complete set of porcelain will also be fine.”

Worried that Su Zhihan wouldn't understand, he explained in more detail: "It means perfection..."

"Ten hot stir-fries, plus four delicious snacks and eight side dishes."

“Exactly.” Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuezi’s face immediately lit up with joy. Although they had never booked a mid-range banquet themselves, they had participated in banquets hosted by their classmates and those held at the Imperial Academy, so they had some understanding of mid-range banquets.

The three of them were worried that Su Zhihan, who came from a humble background, might not understand official banquets and might use ordinary, low-grade tableware as if it were middle-grade or even high-grade.

Now, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

As the two discussed the banquet arrangements in more depth, Fang Xuezi and Zhou Xuezi gradually came to their senses and joined in without prior arrangement.

Of course, the most important thing was how much money Zhang Xuezi and the others were willing to pay. After discussing it for a long time, they finally settled on a figure of twenty strings of cash, which was neither too high nor too low.

"Turn around—"

“We then told people that the three of you had spent thirty-eight strings of cash on the banquet,” Su Zhihan replied with a smile.

The three students thanked him repeatedly before seeing Su Zhihan and the Yao couple off. Once they were out of sight, Yao Lang said happily, "I had noticed that Zhang Lang was either eating simple vegetables with tofu or buying the cheapest braised pork rice from the shop to treat himself, so I assumed that his family was not doing well."

"I only found out today that their family's financial situation is indeed not good, but it's not as bad as I thought."

"They lived a frugal life and were always saving money... This twenty strings of cash was what they had planned to use to raise money for a banquet."

Yao Lang chuckled and brought up the price of thirty-eight strings of cash again: "As long as we make a name for ourselves this time, we can raise the price justifiably."

Su Zhihan was annoyed that the Peng couple were bothering her so much, offering to hire her as their cook and then offering to teach her how to work as a kitchen helper at the Xu residence. It was truly both laughable and exasperating.

As for Yao Lang, he thought the other party was stingy, always giving all the money directly to Su Zhihan and leaving out his share. He figured it was better to save that half a penny.

Although Su Zhihan would often make up for it herself, this also meant that Su Zhihan received less money. If it weren't for the fact that the later households were all related to the Peng family and had received an introduction from Steward Zheng, they would have stopped going long ago.

"I hope... everything goes well."

“Yes.” Yao Lang agreed wholeheartedly. If all went well, they could not only open up a new path, but also raise prices.

Yao Lang was no longer the novice he once was. During this time, he inquired from various sources and even shamelessly went to the brokerage to eavesdrop and learn. There were always one or two kind people who explained a few words to him, teaching him that a banquet costing ten strings of cash was only a low-class banquet, and that those who did this were mostly unknown cooks or cooks who had just started their own businesses.

The banquet prepared at Master Peng's residence was at least of medium quality, and its usual price outside was twenty or thirty strings of cash. A chef with a great reputation and excellent skills could receive fifty strings of cash per banquet.

The first hurdle is getting from ten strings of cash to thirty strings of cash.

Countless cooks started at ten strings of cash per meal, and even years or decades later, the price remained the same.

Su Zhihan and Yao Lang did not want to spend the next few years serving cheap food, so they had to find a way to move up in the ranks.

After discussing it with Yao Lang, Su Zhihan went home in high spirits, ready to tell Jiang Zhenniang the good news.

At the same time, Jiang Zhenniang called Cai Mama over, took out the contract between her family and the Chen family, and handed it to her to look at: "Look at this, what a heartless bastard, always pretending to be a stall owner while hiding it from people."

The news that Granny Chen was too ashamed to keep her stall finally reached Jiang Zhenniang's ears. Jiang Zhenniang was worried that her daughter would be soft-hearted, so she took advantage of Su Zhihan's absence to call Cai Mama to speak to her: "I thought she could do something, but I didn't expect that she would show her fear before I even criticized her to her face. She didn't even dare to guard her stall. It's really like she's trying to hide something."

During the celebration, Jiang Zhenniang never explicitly named Chen Pozi as having taken over her family's reputation. She only pointed out the subordinate relationship between her own shop and the pavilion stall, intending to use the words of the crowd to give Chen Pozi a warning.

If Granny Chen were to set up her stall as usual, outsiders, unaware of the inside story, would at most assume that they hadn't asked clearly enough or that the rumors were spreading.

However, after learning about the matter from others, Granny Chen refused to open her stall the next day, thus confirming the truth.

Previously, Jiang Zhenniang had suffered a lot from those who were outwardly warm but secretly sabotaged her, so she despised Chen Pozi's actions: "Tomorrow you will go to Chen Pozi's house to collect the monthly allowance for me. Remember, you must have a good talk with her."

"Also, go and ask around among her neighbors to see who Granny Chen has climbed up to and is deliberately breaking the contract."

"Don't worry, my lady, I understand." Cai Mama glanced at the contract, then handed it back to Jiang Zhenniang with both hands, and nodded in agreement.

When she stepped outside, Cai's mother's eyes were blazing with anger.

Before she joined the Jiang family, she had worked as a cook in a middle-class household. Although she was said to be a cook, she actually had to do all sorts of chores, from cooking and washing clothes to cleaning, feeding chickens and ducks, and growing vegetables. She had no time to relax from morning till night.

Until they were bought by the Jiang family, when Cai's mother first heard that the two had originally been slaves and had just been redeemed, she was worried that her life would become increasingly difficult. However, she never expected that she would receive a sum of money that day to buy things. Later, she had clothes made for them and provided them with daily necessities. Although not everything was exquisite, it was much better than the previous family's.

No! Not to mention the family in front, even the servants in the homes of the minor officials and clerks in the alley don't live as comfortably as I do.

When Cai's mother thought of the contract she had just seen, and then recalled the past that Jiang Zhenniang had mentioned, and then thought of the old woman Chen she had seen when she went to collect the monthly wages, she wished she could rush forward immediately and slap her hard twice.

If it weren't for her own wife and daughter, Granny Chen and her entire family would have been sold into slavery long ago, and they wouldn't be living such a good life dressed in silk and gold!