Chapter 412 A Turtle in a Jar
Qi gave her son a cold look, and Cao Hong finally quieted down, no longer referring to Cao as "Uncle Cao".
The meal ended peacefully... at least superficially.
In the afternoon, Cao Yingying and Zhao Ergou followed Cao Defu to the shop to check the accounts. With Zhao Ergou there, these things were not Cao Yingying's responsibility. She mainly wanted to learn about the newly added businesses under her name from Manager Sun. Currently, Manager Sun was managing them, and she would have to gradually take them over to herself.
After dealing with these matters, the two left Hekou Town and returned to Ping'an County to pick up Cheng Wanwan.
Cheng Wanwan had lunch at the Shen residence. In the afternoon, she played cards with Old Madam Shen and Aunt Meng. She only knew how to play mahjong and Dou Dizhu. She really couldn't play these ancient card games. After playing two rounds, she got bored. But since it was still early, she asked the servants of the Shen residence to bring some paper, cut it into small pieces, and make playing cards.
"Madam Sui is truly intelligent and kind; she even came up with such a fun card game." Aunt Meng threw out a pair of twos, "We've got a pair!"
"I've been waiting for you to call 'double'!" Old Madam Shen threw down a royal flush, which the opponent couldn't beat, and then threw out a three. "I've won again! Come on, pay up! This round had a royal flush, double it, twenty coins each!"
The coins in front of Cheng Wanwan were disappearing at the speed of light. She was quite depressed. In her previous life, when she played Dou Dizhu, she would lose all her Happy Beans every time. She thought she could gain an advantage in this life, but after only a few rounds, she started losing like crazy. At ten coins per round, she lost almost one tael of silver.
After shuffling the cards, Aunt Meng rolled up her sleeves and said, "Again, again! This time I want to be the landlord!"
Madam Shen laughed loudly: "Even if you're the landlord and have a few more cards, it won't work. You can't count cards, so you'll lose no matter how you play."
Cheng Wanwan was extremely surprised: "Godmother, don't tell me you can already count cards?"
"Of course." Madam Shen made no attempt to hide anything. "No matter what you do, you have to be careful. I remember every single card you've played. You two are both so inexperienced."
Cheng Wanwan: "..."
This deck of cards is unplayable.
Just then, the voices of the old women greeting them came from the doorway; it was Zhao Ergou and Cao Yingying who had arrived.
Madam Shen had tea served and casually asked, "With Consort Meng gone, how is the Cao household doing?"
She has always lived a quiet life, devoted to Buddhism and rarely concerned herself with other people's affairs. However, she has been getting along well with Aunt Meng these past few days, so she wanted to offer some advice.
Cao Yingying recounted the situation in the mansion, everything seemed normal, and finally said, "My husband and I accidentally stumbled upon my stepmother and the former steward of the Cao family having an indisputable affair. It seems that the steward has some kind of leverage over my stepmother, which should be a fatal one."
“That’s strange.” Aunt Meng stroked her chin. “I used to be a maid who served the madam. I often saw Steward Cao come to the madam to report on various trivial matters. The two had a very good relationship. The madam trusted Steward Cao completely, and Steward Cao was more loyal to the madam than the master. The two of them shouldn’t have fallen out like this.”
Cheng Wanwan paused, her eyebrows slightly raised: "A very good relationship, how good?"
"Before I joined the master's household, Steward Cao would pay his respects to the madam at least three times a day, sometimes for most of the day," Aunt Meng clicked her tongue. "Shouldn't a steward report to the master if he has something to say? He's always hanging around in front of the madam... Hmm, Steward Cao and the madam often talk alone for hours on end. Could these two be conspiring to seize the Cao family's assets? Could the evidence that Steward Cao has is proof that the madam is transferring the Cao family's money?"
Madam Shen put down her teacup: "No matter how magnanimous a man is, he would never tolerate his wife scheming against the property inherited from his ancestors. If we can get this evidence, Qi's position as Madam Cao will be over."
“It seems that this evidence is in the hands of Steward Cao,” Zhao Ergou said. “Last time, Steward Cao took the blame for the gauze fabric incident. This time, we can’t alert them, otherwise the Qi family will definitely find a second scapegoat.”
Cheng Wanwan spoke slowly, "If Steward Cao doesn't achieve his goal, he will definitely keep pestering us. Qi Shi is in the inner quarters of the Cao family mansion, and she is always served by people, so it is difficult for him to meet her. What if we bring Qi Shi to Dahe Village?"
Zhao Ergou's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea."
The villagers of Dahe Village are all our own people. If Steward Cao comes, he'll be trapped like a turtle in a jar!
Cao Yingying pondered for a moment and said, "I'll have Kong Xiuniang borrow 10,000 taels of silver from the Cao family in my name, saying it's for buying a new loom from Jiangnan. My stepmother will definitely try to stop me and will also try to suppress Sangyuan. Given her personality, she'll definitely come here in person."
“If Steward Cao and Madam Qi reach an agreement, we won’t be able to find any loopholes,” Old Madam Shen declared decisively. “This matter should be handled as soon as possible, the sooner the better.”
That's settled then.
Madam Shen wanted them to stay for dinner, but Cheng Wanwan declined. The main reason was that Magistrate Shen would be having dinner at home that evening, and they would inevitably be sitting at the same table. Although she had become godparents to the Shen family, she would still intentionally or unintentionally reduce the number of times she interacted with Magistrate Shen.
Before sunset, the three of them arrived at Dahe Village.
The evening sunset was beautiful; the clouds were orange, and the light shone on the paddy fields, turning the shallow water orange as well, creating a beautiful rural scene with the green rice seedlings.
"Mom's back just in time, dinner's ready!"
Zhao Sidan scurried off to the kitchen to help serve the dishes, while Wei Xiaohai and Sanmao also assisted.
The dinner was very lavish, with a plate of fresh river shrimp, deep-fried golden-brown small fish, braised eel with green beans, stir-fried celery with pork, preserved egg and tofu, and mushroom and egg soup. The table was full of dishes, and a group of people surrounded the round table.
The restaurant is usually full of people at dinner time every night, but Wu Huiniang and Zhao Ergou are busy with the restaurant and usually don't eat at home all day. Starting tomorrow, Zhao Ergou will continue to be busy at Dahe Banquet every day.
"Mother, I have an idea." After finishing his meal, Zhao Ergou put down his chopsticks. "Since its opening, Dahe Banquet has attracted many diners from all directions. Some people even come all the way from Huzhou just to taste the roast duck. I was thinking, could we open a branch of Dahe Banquet in Huzhou? There are more wealthy people in Huzhou. If we really open it, the business should be better than Dahe Banquet in Ping'an County."
Cheng Wanwan said seriously, "Have you thought about this? Right now, your sister-in-law is the only cook. Do you want her to stay in Ping'an County or go to Huzhou?"
She had also considered opening Dahe Banquet restaurants all over the country, but it was really hard to find chefs. There weren't many talented ones among her own people, and she couldn't quite trust the ones from outside.
She came up with another model: inviting franchisees.
As long as you pay the franchise fee, you can learn culinary skills at Daheyan and use the Daheyan brand to open branches in other regions.
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