Su Qingluan had been brainstorming and hadn't noticed what her mother had said. Suddenly hearing this, she looked up, only to find Yang looking at her with... how should I describe it? Sympathy? Pity? Heartache? In short, it wasn't a happy expression.
Su Qingluan felt a little sick to her stomach when she saw Yang's expression.
Although she didn't know what Yang's specific thought process was, Su Qingluan was basically certain that Yang must have imagined some incredible plot - otherwise, what kind of look would she have when she looked at the miserable little white flower heroine?
Su Qingluan silently swallowed all the explanations and threw the matter to the other party in a very ostrich-like manner - anyway, since Mu Xingzhi needed her as a tool for marriage, he would definitely find a way to solve the various problems brought about by this "marriage" itself, including the reasons for getting married.
So Su Qingluan left after saying "Mother, I'm going back to my room to rest." Yang thought that her reaction was like her secrets were exposed, but she was too embarrassed to speak or didn't know how to explain, so she fled.
Then Yang, who thought he had "discovered the truth", was a little absent-minded the whole afternoon.
However, during the day, the children were all around, so it was not appropriate to talk about the eldest daughter's "little thoughts". Only at night, after finally coaxing the younger daughter to sleep and asking Su Guangfu to go outside to check that the lights of his son and eldest daughter were off, did the couple snuggle together in bed and talk in private.
"Daya is thinking about Mr. Mu?" Su Guangfu looked at Yang. "Didn't she say before that she was just trying to help?"
"What's our daughter's personality like? After all this time, you still haven't figured it out?" Yang nudged Su Guangfu lightly with her elbow. "Although our eldest daughter is kind-hearted, she's not the kind of person who just does good things for free. How could she go to someone just once or twice just to help them?"
Of course, Su Qingluan had helped others "for free" before, but that was usually short-term and sudden. Yang and Su Guangfu had only seen one family doing sustained, long-term "help" like the Mu Xing family.
"But Mr. Mu didn't get nothing in return—didn't he also lend a lot of books to our girl?"
"Mr. Mu has also lent books to the young men in the village. When did these people start running around delivering food and drinks to others every few days?"
"Then the Liu family is also..."
"How much help has the Liu family given us?" Yang rolled her eyes at her husband. "Let's not talk about how the Liu family always rushes to the front whenever our family encounters something big or small. Just think about the times when our tailor shop was disrupted by hooligans and rogues, wasn't it the Liu family who came to our aid?"
If Su Qingluan heard her parents talking about Mu Xingzhi like this, she would definitely say with a mixture of laughter and tears: Mu Xingzhi's help was more serious and went unnoticed.
In fact, Su Qingluan had noticed the unusualness of Mu Xingzhi's identity a long time ago, but what really made her feel this "unusual" thing was that Mu Xingzhi was able to ensure that she and the Su family could live peacefully and safely in Huaxi Village until now without attracting any attention.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, this is illogical. Regardless of whether Su Qingluan had such intentions or not, the mastermind behind the simultaneous "fruit jam craze" in the capital, the north, and the prosperous south was bound to attract attention.
What's more, as the reputation of the various dishes of "Hongfulou" spread far and wide, although Manager Liang stopped them from making it public, Su Qingluan never hid her whereabouts, so as long as they had certain means, they could more or less find out who those menus came from.
The wealthier a family is, the more likely they are to have gourmets seeking the ultimate in culinary indulgence. This is especially true for those with significant wealth, who find that ordinary delicacies are no longer enough to satisfy their taste buds. So, whenever a new chef emerges with exceptional culinary skills, they'll inevitably come to see what he's up to, either out of curiosity or with the intention of deliberately provoking him.
And as far as Su Qingluan knew, even Xu Yuanwei, a burly middle-aged man, had been poached several times because he was really good at stewing meat. However, he himself did not want to move, and the other party's attitude was not tough, so Xu Yuanwei has been staying in Hongfulou until now.
However, Su Qingluan, the true owner and technical staff behind "Su Ji", had never encountered such "poaching" incidents. Moreover, Su Qingluan only recently realized that her "business journey" was not smooth sailing, but it had its minor setbacks, but the overall direction was stable.
There was no malicious attack on her home, no demand for "protection money", and no strange people came to "invite" her to a certain house to "visit"...
Although there has been malicious competition, Su Qingluan believes that the method of simply relying on poor imitation and low-price promotions to "increase sales" does not pose a threat at all - after all, whether it is Hongfulou or "Su Ji", the initial selling point is not affordability but taste.
Since you go there for the "taste", you naturally have money, so even if the price is higher than other places, it can only gain a temporary and not particularly obvious advantage.
As long as no one was playing dirty tricks, Su Qingluan thought it wouldn't be a problem - what's more, if a restaurant really surpassed her in taste, she wouldn't feel dissatisfied at all and would just go and learn immediately. After all, there is no end to learning cooking.
When Su Qingluan realized this problem, she hinted at it - of course, it was considered straightforward to Mu Xingzhi - and asked Mu Xingzhi whether she had secretly used some means on him.
Mu Xingzhi didn't answer directly at the time, but instead asked her: "Isn't this kind of peaceful life what Qingluan wants?"
Su Qingluan was full of admiration for this man at that time: If she had not noticed the slightest abnormality and taken the initiative to ask, would this guy have just done good deeds silently?
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan asked this question, but unexpectedly Mu Xingzhi was very surprised: "Didn't our cooperation agreement at the beginning guarantee that you and your family could live in peace?"
...That's true, but at that time Su Qingluan really didn't expect that the so-called "protection" would be so comprehensive and thoughtful.
In short, this was a private transaction between the two of them, and Yang and Su Guangfu naturally had no way of knowing. So from their perspective, it became like their usually shrewd daughter had become too enthusiastic about Mu Xingzhi, a complete "loser".
Su Guangfu sighed: "Although Mr. Mu is frail, he is a scholar after all. Although our girl is not bad, but in terms of family background... it would be better if Erzhuang was a brother." If he was a brother, he would be at least sixteen or seventeen years old now. Even if he didn't pass the exam to get the title of "Yuan" or "Yuan", at least he would have a reputation and could support the girl!
Yang was also worried: "Now that the relationship has not even started, our girl is already throwing herself at him like this. She is being taken advantage of and will definitely suffer a loss!"
Time passed slowly amid the worries of the parents, and then one day about half a month later, something happened that shocked them - Mu Xingzhi found a matchmaker to come and propose marriage!
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