As soon as Xu Lanyin entered the hanging flower gate, she saw Qin Hongyu, Min Jia and Xu Lanyue playing with string under a tree.
Seeing so many dishes, Min Jia said, "Aunt Xu, since you bought so many dishes, can you let my dad come over for dinner tonight?"
The little girl is getting more and more skilled.
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "I heard from your Uncle Zhao that your father seems to be very busy today. Aunt Xu can buy some more food and invite him to dinner another day."
Xu Lanyin went to the upper room to greet Mrs. Wu, then went down to the kitchen to cook. Qin Hongyu followed her there. Qin Hongyu also wanted to learn cooking skills at home and had two specialties, one of which was Longjing shrimp. Seeing some live shrimp, she volunteered to make it.
In the evening, Qin Ru and Qin Che arrived one after another, followed by Zhao Wu and Li Luo.
Only Qin Che and Qin Ru knew Li Luo's true identity. Li Luo gave him a greeting as a junior. Qin Che was astonished. The legendary Immortal Bone Pill was truly a miracle drug. A man with a broken leg for ten years could actually walk again. Although he still used crutches, his legs were able to move freely. In six months at most, he would be able to walk like a normal person.
Qin Hongyu also knelt down to greet Li Luo and Zhao Wu, calling them "Brother Li, Brother Zhao".
The men drank at one table, and the women and children ate at another.
Xu Lanyin’s pickled fish and garlic spare ribs and Qin Hongyu’s Longjing shrimps received unanimous praise.
After dinner, Qin Che and his son and the Zhao brothers went to the Zhao family for a secret talk.
After the Qin family left, Zhao Wu came to the Xu family and whispered to Xu Lanyin, "Let's discuss this. It's best to tell Lord Min about Aunt's situation. My elder brother and I trust Lord Min. Uncle Qin and Lord Min are close friends, and he also said he's trustworthy. With Lord Min's help, many things will be easier to investigate. Tomorrow night, I'll make some extra dishes and invite Lord Min, Uncle Qin, and Brother Qin to come drink."
Zhao Wu smiled brightly, and the two dimples on his cheeks became even bigger. Before he even started investigating Wen Yan, Wen Yan's handle was handed over, making him and his elder brother very happy.
Xu Lanyin was also happy. There had been so much good news these days, and it seemed that the moment of light was getting closer and closer.
The next morning, Xu Lanyin prepared a menu and sent someone to buy groceries. As she was discussing what to cook with Qin, Old Lady Xu, Li, and Xu Yuan arrived.
Xu Lanyin took them directly to the east wing and said that Qin was now bedridden.
They gave Qin a bunch of gifts, and Li also made a set of clothes and a pair of shoes for her.
The old lady first scolded Old Man Xu for a while, then told Qin not to get angry. They were family, and they would see each other again. She invited the second wife and her family to have dinner at the Xu family's house in Dongmen tomorrow. She also thanked Xu Lanyin for helping Xu Dashi open a grain store.
In ancient times, it was impossible to open a grain shop without connections.
What the old lady couldn't say was that Old Man Xu and Xu Qingming asked her to beg Xu Lanyin again, saying that she had the connections and should help Xu Ershi and transfer him to the provincial capital.
Old Lady Xu scolded, "You old bastard, you have such a foul mouth. You've offended everyone, why would they help you? Because the girl is willing to help Dashi, think about what Dashi did when the Second House was in trouble. When they were down, you were afraid of being stuck with them, and now when they are better, you want them to help you for everything. I don't have the face to say that, and you shouldn't say it either. I won't help you even if you say it. The most important thing now is how to ease the relationship with the Second House."
The old lady didn't say it, but Xu Lanyin could guess it. When Xu Dashi came to her for help, she also wanted the eldest wife to live a good life through her own efforts, so she went to ask Mincan for help.
But she didn't want to have any more dealings with the place, and didn't give the old lady a good look. She simply refused, "My mother is ill and can't go. We have to take care of her, so we won't go." She gritted her teeth and said, "Defaming someone's reputation is fatal. My mother couldn't figure it out, and she even tried to hang herself two days ago. Luckily, I found her and saved her. She didn't die. If she had, I would have rolled on a nail board and filed a complaint with the government to redress my mother's grievances."
When Old Lady Xu heard that Qin had hanged herself, she was horrified and even shed tears. She cursed Old Man Xu for a while, then went on to praise Qin for her virtue and filial piety towards her parents-in-law. She added, "Good boy, try to talk your mother down and tell her we all know she's a good daughter-in-law. Your grandfather was just drunk that day and said nonsense."
After scaring Old Lady Xu for a while, Xu Lanyue was asked to talk to the old lady, and Xu Lanyin took Li to another room. She could see that Li seemed to have something to say to her.
Li blushed and said, "My mistress and I are exhausted every day. Most of the money we earn goes to my mother-in-law, and she favors my second uncle. I have to think about my children and want to open a shop of my own. My parents-in-law are always embarrassed to worry about my daughter-in-law's dowry."
Xu Lanyin said, "Sister-in-law should have thought so a long time ago. How can I help?"
Li said, "I don't know how to cook anything else, but I still want to open a pastry shop. Ningzhou Prefecture has a large population, and Xu's pastries are all sold out before dark every day. I want to open a small pastry shop in the west that doesn't use the Xu family's secret recipes..."
Xu Lanyin said, "In my sister-in-law's shop, we just use those few recipes. Now that we have so many apprentices, many of the secret recipes have been leaked. If we want to sell dim sum well, we can't just rely on the few existing recipes. We have to constantly develop new products, use good ingredients, and have good business practices. Those who use the Xu family's secret recipes still don't make dim sum that tastes as good as ours, nor do they sell as well as ours."
Xu Lanyin had already decided to expand Xu's Dim Sum to the capital, establishing a stronghold there and retaining it entirely within the Second Branch. She would cede some of the Ningzhou Prefecture market to Xu Dashi and his wife rather than others. Initially, she had only considered partnering with Xu Dashi and his wife, but because they hadn't split up, the Dim Sum shares belonged to Xu Qingming.
Then he asked, "Do you have enough silver?"
Xu Lanyin really wanted to help them. They had been running the dim sum shop for so long without causing any worries to the second wife, and without any selfish motives.
Li was so happy that her face was beaming with joy. She said, "I really need to borrow some money from Sister Yin. We have more than eighty taels of silver in our private savings, and I'd like to borrow another hundred taels."
Xu Lanyin lent her one hundred taels of silver and reminded her not to hire her relatives from her natal family in the new shop, otherwise the old couple Xu and Xu Qingming and his wife would think that Li was helping her natal family to compete with her in-laws and would definitely punish her.
Li smiled and said, "Sister Xie Yin reminded me. I really wanted to ask my brothers from my mother's family to help."
Xu Lan invited them to have lunch, and then asked Ding Gu to go to the clinic to call a doctor, saying that he had finished taking the medicine.
Old Mrs. Xu and her friends said goodbye and went home.
In the evening, Li Luo arrived first, followed by Qin Che and his son, and then Min Hu and Zhao Wu.
They first held a private conversation in the east wing, where Qin's identity startled Min Hu. He thought to himself, "No wonder Xu Lanyin and her brother, despite growing up in the countryside, acted differently than other country kids. It turns out their mother was a daughter of the Chai family, Marquis of Pingnan." He hadn't expected Chai Zhengguan and Old Shen to be so ruthless and bold.
Not to mention his close relationship with Qin Che, Xu Lanyin, and Zhao Wu, just the fact that Chai Zhengguan has harmed so many people, including those with royal blood, they cannot be let off.
They also had their meal in the east wing, talking as they ate, and finished their meal at the beginning of the night before saying goodbye.
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