Chapter 128 Journey to the West

Zhou Chengzhu, who had entrusted the shop to Xue Qingyao, was forced to rest for two days by Song Yushu before being allowed to go out to make purchases.

Worried that she might not be safe going out alone, they also gave Xiong Erni a day off so they could go shopping together.

Zhou Chengzhu's shopping experience this time was different from usual. This time, her goal was to select a batch of new products to sell back in the capital, so she looked at them more carefully.

After spending a long time picking and choosing with Xiong Erni, they finally selected rouge from two different rouge shops. Xiong Erni discovered for the first time that shopping could be so painful. The next day, she absolutely refused to go out with Zhou Chengzhu again. Song Yushu had no choice but to select two tall women from the shops, pay them wages, and hire them to follow Zhou Chengzhu. Only then was the matter resolved.

"Old Master Liu, what brings you here?" Zhou Chengzhu had only been gone a short while when Song Yushu saw Old Master Liu enter the restaurant.

"Are you feeling any better? I heard from Old Wu that you suddenly developed a fever a few days ago, so I came to check on you," said Old Master Liu, handing Song Yushu the tonics he had bought from Master Wu.

"Grandpa, you're too kind. It's nothing. Just be more careful in the future," Song Yushu said. He noticed that the ginseng inside wasn't very old, but it was perfect for nourishing the body. He secretly admired Grandpa Liu's generosity; such ginseng was hard to come by.

"You should pay more attention when you're young, lest you end up like me, old man, with a host of illnesses. You'll suffer a lot when you get old!" Although Grandpa Liu was stubborn, he had a lot of advice to give to others.

Song Yushu thought to himself that this old man was quite self-aware. He knew he was stubborn and wouldn't listen to the doctor, but he never took it seriously. It was only these two times, when he was angered by Liu Yue, that he restrained himself a bit.

“You’re right, sir. I’m not involved in things much anymore, so I’m much more relaxed,” Song Yushu said, not daring to argue with Old Master Liu, and obediently listened to his reprimand.

After having had his fill of conversation, Old Master Liu changed the subject: "Chengzhu is back, isn't she? I haven't seen her for a month. My wife often talks about her. If she has time, she should come to the Liu family to visit. With us here, we will never let her be bullied by the Hu family!"

Old Master Liu knew about the despicable things the Hu family father and son had done, naturally from Doctor Wu. When Song Yushu hurriedly sent Zhou Chengzhu back to the county town, he thought something had happened at home, but he didn't expect it was to avoid trouble.

When Grandpa Liu learned of this, he came over to ask if the Hu family had continued to bully them. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard from Song Yushu that the matter had been resolved.

“Alright, I’ll let her go over and talk to the old lady when she’s done with her work,” Song Yushu said. She knew that Old Lady Liu liked Zhou Chengzhu’s lively personality, while Old Master Liu liked to stay in the shop all day long and was inevitably a little lonely. That’s why she often asked Zhou Chengzhu to go over and talk to the old lady.

“She’s been quite busy in the county this past month, opening a shop. She came to the prefectural city this time to learn some things. Could you recommend someone you know to her?” Song Yushu thought for a moment and decided to ask Old Master Liu, since she trusted his judgment more.

"She's quite ambitious for her age. I'd like to offer her some advice on what to sell," Old Master Liu said, not refusing Song Yushu's request but instead asking with great interest.

"Rouge, face powder, jewelry, and fabrics—the county isn't like the prefectural city. Their shop opening this time has caused quite a stir, but they haven't attracted many customers," Song Yushu explained.

"She could talk to the old lady in my family about this. She had many close friends when she was young, and several of them were in the same profession. She could learn a lot from them," Old Master Liu suggested after a moment of thought.

“Then we can only trouble you, Madam. I will have Chengzhu pay a visit another day.” Song Yushu was a little surprised to hear that she was a close friend of Madam Gu. But thinking that Madam Gu was an old lady of Madam Gu’s age, she must have more experience than ordinary people. So she decided to have Zhou Chengzhu bring a generous gift when she visited.

"It's nothing. By the way, has the Xu family sent anyone to harass you these days? If they have, send someone to find me. I don't believe that bastard Xu Mingchuan would dare to lay a hand on me!"

Old Master Liu's face was filled with hatred whenever he mentioned the Xu family. If his daughter hadn't been so foolish as to insist on marrying into the Xu family, he would never have wanted to have anything to do with anyone from the Xu family in his life.

"Why do you ask that, sir? I was not open the restaurant a few days ago because I was not feeling well, so I did not encounter anyone from the Xu family."

Song Yushu guessed that the Xu family or Liu Yue had done something foolish again, which was why the old man was so angry.

"It's a long story. The Xu family is in a quagmire right now. The brothers are fighting fiercely over the family business, and they are bound to lose their temper and harm others. We have to be careful now."

At this moment, Old Master Liu began to think that Xu Mingchuan was petty and narrow-minded. There were plenty of opportunities for him to prove his abilities and fight for the Xu family's property, but he had to do it to Xu Mingchuan. It was really bad luck.

Song Yushu took the words to heart and thought of another young master of the Xu family, Xu Qingyan. She had briefly cooperated with him before and could see that he was a man of deep scheming. Back then, when she was at odds with Taixing Restaurant, this young master of the Xu family was willing to cooperate with her instead of sending someone to retaliate against her. She was lucky. Now, looking at Xu Mingchuan, she felt that he was indeed comparable to Xu Qingyan in both ability and character.

But she never expected that what she said would come true. When Song Yushu saw Xu Qingyan and his wife arrive at the restaurant, she regretted it. She shouldn't have talked nonsense yesterday!

"Madam Wei, it's been a long time. I never expected you to open a restaurant in the prefectural city. What a coincidence!" Xu Qingyan hadn't originally planned to come here. He didn't even know that Song Yushu had opened a restaurant in the prefectural city. It was only after his brainless second sister-in-law kept mentioning it to his wife that he remembered Song Yushu.

I came to Song Yushu's restaurant today just to see how well Song Yushu was doing in the prefectural city. If he really had the ability, I would offer a high price to recruit him to work for me.

Looking at the beautiful and elegant woman beside him, Song Yushu suddenly remembered that this third young master of the Xu family had been entangled with Zhao Yuzhi, who was still married at the time, in the county town, and had also kept many women in his house. He immediately felt that a beautiful flower had been stuck in cow dung and thought to himself what a pity.

"But there's something wrong with my wife's face. Why is Mr. Wei looking at her like that?"

The maid beside Ning noticed that Song Yushu was staring at her mistress's face with a strange expression and felt that Song Yushu was being too impolite, so she asked her.

"I'm so sorry, I got carried away with my thoughts and offended Madam Xu. How about I treat you both to a meal at a restaurant today?" Song Yushu thought that with the Xu family's young master's calculating nature, he would definitely not be able to get away today, so he might as well treat them to a meal and take the initiative to find out the purpose of their visit.