"Really? Will my cousin really forgive me?" Lin Shuyan asked innocently. "Brother Xuan, my sister has never liked me. Maybe we should just forget about it."
"During this time, Young Master Ye and I opened a shop, and we stole customers from my sister's shop..."
"Yan Yan, don't worry, Hua Hua is a sensible person and won't hold a grudge against you for this. If the guests went to Young Master Ye's shop, it's because your recipe is good and you made the guests stay by your own ability," Zhou Yingxuan comforted her.
"It's getting dark, I'll take you home. Don't think too much about it." As he spoke, Zhou Yingxuan reached out and ruffled Lin Shuyan's hair, his face full of affection.
"Thank you, Brother Xuan. You're so kind, Brother Xuan." Lin Shuyan lingered, feeling Zhou Yingxuan patting her head.
The two left the ancestral hall side by side and walked home. As they walked, Lin Shuyan secretly glanced at Zhou Yingxuan, who was staring straight ahead.
"Jiang Hua, Xuan-gege can only be mine. I will erase you from Xuan-gege's heart little by little!" Lin Shuyan thought to herself.
The next day, after breakfast, Jiang Hua took Jiang Jingyi to Mingde Hall in town.
When Manager Shen of Mingdetang saw her arrive, he immediately asked about the injured person from the previous night and how Jiang Hua had stopped the bleeding.
"Miss Jiang, what is 'Yunnan Baiyao'? Is it the medicine you gave to the injured person who lost too much blood?" Manager Shen asked again.
Jiang Hua patiently explained it to Manager Shen, who then understood and asked Jiang Hua if the medicine could be sold to Mingdetang.
"I didn't bring any today, I'll bring a bottle another day," Jiang Hua nodded and said.
"Then thank you very much, Miss Jiang." Manager Shen cupped his hands and took out a hundred-tael silver note from his sleeve.
“Miss Jiang, this is the consultation fee from Madam Meng. Madam Meng said your medical skills are excellent and would like to invite you to visit. She asked me to tell you when would be a convenient time?” Manager Shen asked again.
“In a couple of days, after A-Yi goes to the academy, I will visit Madam Meng,” Jiang Hua replied.
“Yes, Miss Jiang, I will pass on the message to Madam Meng in a moment.” Manager Shen nodded.
After leaving Mingde Hall, Jiang Hua went to Mingyue Tower to see how business was going there.
"Miss Jiang, what brings you here today?" Manager Bai greeted her and asked.
"I came out to buy some things and stopped by to take a look," Jiang Hua said.
"Manager Bai, please reserve a private room for me tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll have Sun Nian prepare it. You can come directly tomorrow." Manager Bai called Sun Nian over again and asked him to write it down.
"How's business at Mingyue Tower lately?" Jiang Hua asked casually.
"It's a bit worse than before. The main problem is that Guangfulou across the street has new dishes that, while not as good as ours, are somewhat similar, but they're cheaper than ours." Manager Bai didn't seem to mind.
When Guangfulou first launched dishes that were the same as theirs, he almost thought that Jiang Hua had sold the recipes to Guangfulou again, and he almost went to ask her about it.
Finally, the employer discovered that Miss Jiang's cousin was also a skilled cook, and the matter was dropped.
However, most customers who are familiar with the taste of Mingyuelou's dishes will not care about the small amount of money and will still firmly choose Mingyuelou.
Other customers went to Guangfulou for a meal, but in the end they still came back to Mingyuelou.
"Miss Jiang, how's your snail rice noodle shop doing lately?" Manager Bai asked. "I noticed that the Ye family opened a shop right across from yours, selling exactly the same thing."
"It's alright, we can learn something just by imitating what we've learned," Jiang Hua replied.
She had already figured it out; Lin Shuyan was deliberately teaming up with Ye Shaoling to annoy her. If she really took it to heart, she would be falling into their trap.
"That's true, but Miss Jiang, you should still be careful. The owner of the Ye family won't give up so easily," Manager Bai reminded her.
"Thank you for reminding me, Manager Bai." Jiang Hua understood, and finally went to the snail rice noodle shop.
"Girl, you've come over."
It's midday now, and many customers are slurping noodles in the shop. Wenqing, Wenya, and Honghua are all busy working in the shop.
"You all go ahead with your work." Jiang Hua had Fang Ru scoop a bowl and take it to the back room for Jiang Jingyi to eat.
An hour later, the number of people in the shop decreased, and the few who were there sat down to rest.
"Miss, is there anything you need from me today?" Wen Yu asked as he stepped forward.
"Come and take a look. Go and bring me the ledgers," Jiang Hua instructed as she sat down at the counter.
"You all have a day off tomorrow, no need to open the shop, let's go to Mingyue Tower for dinner together," Jiang Hua said to Fangru and the others.
"Dinner?" Fangru stood up. "Is there some good news for you, Miss?"
"Yes, there's good news," Jiang Hua replied, flipping through the account book.
It will be the end of the month in a couple of days. I'll calculate how much profit I'll have left after deducting costs.
Jiang Hua stayed until the shop closed before leaving with Jiang Jingyi, this time also taking some red flowers with her.
Since the shop wouldn't be open tomorrow, Honghua wanted to go home, and Jiang Hua let her have her way.
"Miss Jiang, wait!" Manager Bai ran over, slightly out of breath. "It's good that you didn't go back."
As he spoke, Manager Bai took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Jiang Hua.
"Miss Jiang, this is a letter sent by Young Master Jiang. It just arrived, and I rushed over to deliver it to you."
"Thank you very much, Manager Bai," Jiang Hua said as she accepted the letter.
"No need to be polite. If you want to reply, just bring it with you when you come to Mingyue Tower tomorrow," Manager Bai reminded him.
"Okay, I understand."
After returning to the village, Jiang Hua handed the letter to Jiang Jingyi and told him to read it at his own pace.
"Stepmother, aren't you going to read this? It's a letter Father wrote to us." Jiang Jingyi saw that Jiang Hua didn't care at all. After handing him the letter, she went into the kitchen to busy herself.
This won't do. His stepmother and father separated right after they got married. He's already worried that his stepmother will run off with someone else.
I was reminded of Magistrate Bai, whom I saw at Mingyue Tower last time. My stepmother actually praised his good looks. Could it be that my stepmother likes this kind of man?
A sense of crisis welled up in Jiang Jingyi's heart, and he began to panic, his mind already conjuring up the image of his stepmother abandoning him and his father.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Hua walked out of the kitchen and saw Jiang Jingyi holding the letter in a daze, his expression changing in various ways.
"Take a look first, and tell me when you're done, it'll be the same," Jiang Hua explained. Was this child overthinking things again?
"Alright, stepmother, I'll go take a look first and tell you in a bit," Jiang Jingyi said, snapping out of her daze, and quickly went into the inner room to open the envelope.
The handwriting on the letter was indeed his father's, and Jiang Jingyi was overjoyed. He read it word by word.
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