Seeing the people from the government office arrest Shi Lao Ba, Yao couldn't help but look at Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu glanced at her and said, "Let's not talk about the dispute between the shops. The shop's lease is up next year. Now that I'm not renting it anymore, the lease expires. There's no need to wait until next year. Madam Yao can take the shop back now and rent it out. But he slandered me by adding addictive substances to the food I make. I can't let him go if he slanders my reputation. If I let him spread rumors and damage my reputation, I will report him to the authorities. The right and wrong will be decided by the county magistrate. This kind of defamation is serious in itself, not to mention that I'm a foodie. If I don't prove my reputation, how can I expect my guests to trust me and continue to dine at my restaurant?"
Yao looked at Shi Lao Ba in disbelief, unable to believe that he would actually come to Miss Xu's restaurant and say such things.
Everyone knows that Miss Xu’s cooking is delicious. That’s because she has good cooking skills. After all, I have been eating in her restaurant for three years. If I were really addicted to something, my health would have been ruined long ago.
She couldn't help but apologize to Xu Qinyu, hoping that Xu Qinyu would let Shi Laoba go.
"We know how good your cooking is, Madam Xu. It's certainly impossible that he put something in the food. He's just talking nonsense. Please give him a chance, Madam Xu."
Xu Qinyu shook her head. "Other things are fine, but not this."
Otherwise, if someone is jealous of her good business, they will say that there is something wrong with her diet, and if there is one, there will be another.
Shi Laoba was still shouting, "I was just saying it casually, why do you take it so seriously? Are you so serious? Could it be that you..."
Seeing that he was about to spit out ivory again, Yao finally lost her patience and turned around to hit Shi Lao Ba, "Shut up! How dare you say that! If it weren't for you, Miss Xu and I wouldn't have gotten into this fight. You keep thinking about the rent increase and the rent increase, and you're always thinking about that little bit of money. If you really have the ability and the desire to make money, why don't you go out and make money yourself? You eat and drink my food all day long, and you still caused me such trouble. You just want to take advantage of me and get something for free..."
She had been holding it in for a long time, and now she suddenly let it out. The strings in her heart loosened at once, as if everything had been cleared and exposed to the light of day.
Yes, all of this is obviously hers, why should she endure it?
In the end, the bailiff took Shi Laoba away. Since it was Xu Qinyu who sued him, she had to go with them. Fortunately, most of the work in the kitchen had been done, and the rest could be left to Chef Wang and Dong Qian without any problem.
After Yao had vented her anger, she couldn't just ignore him, so she followed him to the yamen.
Shi Laoba didn't know if he was stunned by her beating, but he was silent all the way and was carried to the yamen by the yamen runners with a depressed look on his face.
When he arrived at the yamen, the county magistrate didn't even try him out.
The county magistrate slammed the wooden block in the hall, and Shi Laoba was so frightened that he shrank his head and told everything with a sad face.
He also said that he was jealous of Xu Ji's good business and wanted to raise the rent, but Xu Qinyu disagreed and moved out directly. He held a grudge and ran to the restaurant to make trouble and made nonsense, saying that Xu Qinyu put addictive substances in the food she made, which was also nonsense and did not happen.
County Magistrate Yang was somewhat helpless. He asked Shi Laoba to be beaten with a stick and then let him go.
Xu Qinyu also returned to Xu Ji and continued to work.
The guests who were having breakfast were not affected at all. Instead, they felt that they had watched a very enjoyable play.
As for what Shi Laoba said about Miss Xu putting some addictive substances in the food she made, they knew it was impossible after thinking about it carefully, as they were all regular customers of Xu's.
Now that Shi Laoba himself has admitted that it was all nonsense, everything is even better.
…
And on the Yao family's side.
Even though he was hit on the buttocks by the ten strokes of the board, it was not painful. Shi Laoba was pulled back by Yao in a donkey cart.
After pulling him back, she threw him onto the bed and ignored him, even telling him, "Shi Laoba, from now on, you will be responsible for sweeping, cooking, and washing clothes at home. You are not allowed to interfere in the business of the shop and the house. If I find out that you interfere in such matters again, and go to Xu Xiaoniang to make trouble, we will divorce!"
Shi Laoba raised his head and looked at Yao in disbelief. "You, what did you say? You, you dare!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Yao's eyes flushed. "Now that your affair is known to everyone, who would dare to rent my shop? Otherwise, if business picks up, you'll ask for 20 taels of silver a month. I don't know if I can even rent the shop anymore. Anyway, if something like this happens again, we'll divorce."
"How dare you!" Shi Laoba struggled to the ground, wanting to teach Yao a lesson. "Just now you hit me in the restaurant, you bitch. Who did you learn this from? You used to be such a gentle person."
"You forced me to do this."
Seeing that Shi Laoba was limping and still wanted to get down to beat her, Yao was not willing to let him do so. She took advantage of his pain, pushed him down, then sat on him and beat him all over the face. Shi Laoba was injured and could not resist, and was beaten by Yao until he cried out.
After beating the man, Yao returned to the kitchen, took out a kitchen knife, and stuffed it into Shi Laoba's hand. "If you want to hit me, kill me with one knife, otherwise..."
Seeing that she even took out the kitchen knife, Shi Laoba scolded her, "Are you crazy? I didn't hit you, you hit me. Put the kitchen knife back quickly and don't hurt yourself."
Yao ignored him and raised the kitchen knife to chop towards Shi Laoba's head.
Shi Laoba looked at the kitchen knife that Yao was chopping down with a look of horror, but fortunately the knife just grazed his face.
Shi Laoba trembled and said, "You, what do you want to do? Do you want to kill me?"
Yao was also very angry.
She pulled out the kitchen knife that was lying on the ground next to Shi Laoba, raised it and told Shi Laoba, "Since you don't dare to kill me, you'll have to live a good life with me from now on and do all the housework. Otherwise, we can get a divorce. If you still want to make trouble, we can die together. I'm not afraid of anything now."
Shi Laoba stared at Yao in a daze. Seeing the fierceness on her face, he was a little afraid to speak.
In the following days, except for the first three days when he was recuperating from his injuries, it was Yao who cooked for him. Later, when he was able to move, Yao asked him to cook and wash his own clothes. He was still not happy about it, and Yao was very straightforward. She didn't cook for him, but cooked for herself and her two daughters, and only washed their clothes. She didn't care about Shi Lao Ba at all, and even told him that she wanted a divorce.
She really didn't want to continue living with Shi Laoba.
She had been married once and had a daughter with her deceased ex-husband. Her family property was left to her by her parents. Her ex-husband also married a son-in-law, and her daughter took his surname.
She had never thought about remarrying before. It was Shi Laoba who pursued her relentlessly, coming to her house to fetch water and cook for her. After six months of this, she finally agreed to marry him.
Unexpectedly, he gradually changed after they got married. Not long after the marriage, she gave birth to a little girl with Shi Laoba.
She had experienced raising a daughter alone and lived a good life.
Because Yuanbao Town had good public security, the county magistrate was a good man, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, there wasn't much trouble around the widow's door.
If she reported it to the government office, the county magistrate would also make the decision for her, so she felt that if all else failed, it would be fine to just live with her two daughters on her own. Didn't Lin from Xu's family live with her two daughters on her own?
Yao was indeed disheartened now, and she told Shi Laoba the truth that she was so disappointed and did not want to continue living with him and wanted a divorce.
Only then did Shi Laoba start to panic, realizing that what Yao said was true.
He also began to cook meals and take care of his young daughter. When the wound on his butt was almost healed, he started to wash clothes and clean the house.
This made Yao stunned.
But Yao didn't take it seriously.
She was just being casual now. She had a house, a shop and money anyway. She could live without her man. Even if Shi Laoba didn't exist, she might as well buy two maids and let the maids do all the cleaning and cooking at home. In fact, she wanted to save money at the beginning, so she didn't buy maids. Later, when the family had more people, she thought about buying maids, but Shi Laoba didn't let her.
He was a very frugal man, and he treated his two daughters equally. If he went out to buy some cakes or hairbands or something, he would give the same to both daughters without any favoritism. That was why Yao was willing to follow him over the years.
Now Yao has also come to terms with it.
If Shi Laoba was unwilling to do it and unwilling to live, she would divorce him and buy two maids. She would be happy to have some free time. She had a thousand taels of silver in her hand, plus a shop and a house. This money was enough for her to live comfortably and there was no need for her to live a miserable life.
Now that Shi Laoba was willing to work, Yao didn't say much, nor was she as grateful as before. She was just indifferent every day and didn't thank him, as if it was natural for him to do these things.
Yao really thought so. She had money, a house and a shop. Although she married Shi Lao Ba, he ate and drank at her expense, and it was her duty to do something for him. Why should she be grateful to him?
So the days went on, and Shi Laoba even stopped complaining. He worked diligently every day, stopped hanging out outside, and stayed at home all day playing with his little daughter.
Even though he worked all day, he didn't want Yao to buy a maid because he felt sorry for the money.
As for the shop, it was just as Yao had expected. Because the things Shi Laoba did spread in Yuanbao Town, when other people knew about it, even if they thought that Xu Ji had rented this shop and it was a prosperous shop, they did not want to rent it. Otherwise, they would end up like Xu Ji. What if the business was good in the future and the owner asked for a huge exorbitant price?
However, Yao had a relatively calm attitude towards the shop.
She still had two thousand taels of silver in cash, and she also had a house somewhere else that was rented out. It didn't matter if the shop couldn't be rented out for the time being. After some time had passed, the shop could be rented out eventually.
…
On Xu's side, the restaurant is gradually getting back on track. The number of diners every day is three or four times more than before in the restaurant. Although it is busy, with more chefs and kitchen helpers, Xu Qinyu does not feel very tired.
What's more, as long as we teach the original chef and assistant chef of Donglai Ju, things will be much better in the future.
The days passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the twelfth lunar month.
Xu Qinyu also ordered 1,500 hams from Tian the butcher, but after thinking about it, she decided to order 2,000. Even if they couldn't be eaten up by then, they could be stored. After being cooked to a standard where they could be eaten raw, Madam Lu's caravan could help transport them to other provincial capitals, where they would sell well.
Once you’ve tasted this thing, you’ll know how delicious it is. There’s no need to worry about it not being able to sell.
Naturally, Tian the butcher didn't have that many pig hind legs. He knew many pig farmers, so he naturally ordered from them.
It is impossible to deliver all these hind legs to Xu Qinyu at once. They will be delivered one after another within a month.
Xu Qinyu also pickled all two thousand pig hind legs in the twelfth lunar month.
It cost more than one thousand taels of silver to pickle these pork hind legs. She still had more than twenty thousand taels of silver left, and she didn't know if it was enough to cover the subsequent expenses of building the restaurant in Raozhou City.
However, most of the money for the materials had already been paid, leaving only the wages of the craftsmen and some of the furniture and kitchen utensils to be paid.
Moreover, since Xu Ji moved to Donglaiju, her monthly income has increased several times! Excluding the 30% she gave to the Dong family, she can still earn about 3,000 taels of silver every month.
Therefore, it was estimated that the remaining silver plus Xu Ji's income in the next few months should be enough for the restaurant in Raozhou City.
The small workshop that was bought before to store the hams was obviously not enough. There were more than 900 hams stored in it, and at most it could hold more than 1,000 hams. The remaining 1,000 hams were directly stored in Mrs. Lu's big winery in Dagu Village. The winery was quite large and had many vacant rooms.
Even she couldn't bear to let Heiyu and Baiyu stand guard on both sides to watch over the ham, so she specially asked two honest and responsible people to help guard it.
This person was introduced to her by Xia Yuanzhi, the husband of Mrs. Wu in the cloth shop. She used to work with Xia Yuanzhi in the cloth shop, but later she got older and not as strong as before, so she returned home. She is an honest and dutiful person, so there is no problem for her to help look after the workshop.
Xu Qinyu moved to Laixi Lane. Although it was closer to the Wu family, she was too busy on weekdays and didn't visit often.
However, we always meet each other on weekdays, and we often visit each other during festivals, and the relationship between the two families is getting better and better.
Shao Ge'er from Wu Wan's family is already seven or eight years old this year, but he is much stronger and taller than the skinny little Shao Ge'er he met when he came to Yuanbao Town to rent a house three years ago.
Shao Ge'er has a very good relationship with Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er.
Now the three of them are still studying in a private school and go to and from school together on weekdays.
Shao Ge'er's temperament is different from what it was three years ago. He is now much tougher, talks more, and knows how to protect Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er.
Xu Qinyu would definitely feel at ease using the person introduced by Xia Yuanzhi.
Moreover, the workshop and the winery are located in the town and the village respectively. If there are thieves, they can be discovered by just shouting. As long as there are people guarding them, everything will be fine.
Two people helped to guard the workshop and the winery.
Xu Qinyu didn't let Baiyu and Moyu continue to go to the workshop. She also told them that a new restaurant and a house were being built in Raozhou City. It was a large house with five courtyards and a big garden. They would have a place to run in the future. She also said that the garden led to the back mountain, and they could stroll to the back mountain from the garden on weekdays.
Ever since she told Baiyu and Moyu about this, Xu Qinyu hasn't seen them in the past few days. She suspected that they had gone to the outskirts of Raozhou City to see the restaurants and houses that were being built.
By the time the ham is cured, it will be almost the Chinese New Year.
By the end of the New Year, the restaurant will be almost completed, and then she will definitely have to go to Raozhou City to get busy.
The restaurant closed on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.
Xu Ji usually has New Year’s Eve dinner with the restaurant staff.
This year is no exception. This is the first year since moving here, so Xu Qinyu naturally attaches more importance to it. On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, she only prepared breakfast and did not receive diners in the afternoon. She asked the kitchen staff to prepare three tables of food.
In the past, one table was enough for Xu's, but it was always packed with people. This year, there are many more waiters and cooks, so there are three full tables.
Even Dong is here today.
At the end of the meal, Xu Qinyu said a few words as usual. She stood up with a glass of wine and said with a smile, "The restaurant is always full of guests thanks to everyone. Everyone has worked hard all year round. From now on, every year during the New Year, the restaurant will set up a New Year's dinner. We can all eat together, and after the dinner, we can rest for a few days and have a good New Year."
After she finished speaking, she smiled and said, "In addition to the monthly salary, Xu Ji's employees will also receive red envelopes during the Chinese New Year. Now that we are all Xu Ji's employees, it's natural that we will also receive red envelopes."
Originally, the waiters at Donglaiju only earned 800 coins a month, but since Xu Qinyu came, their salary was raised to one tael of silver per person, because Yuan and the others' monthly wages had already increased to one tael.
These guys are all old folks at Donglaiju. They have been here for many years and are diligent and conscientious.
Xu Qinyu naturally treated everyone equally and paid them all one or two taels of silver as wages.
The monthly salary of one or two taels of silver alone was enough to make the waiters very happy.
These waiters, like Yuan and his friends, not only serve as waiters, but also clean the pots and pans in the kitchen. They do their work very efficiently.
In fact, eight hundred coins is considered a lot in Yuanbao Town, but unexpectedly, the new boss gave more, so he worked harder and his heart was directly towards Xu Qinyu.
Fortunately, although the two families merged, Xu Qinyu was only in charge of the kitchen affairs on weekdays, while Dong Xi was in charge of purchasing and other matters. His personality was also like Dong's, unlike Yue Youwei, who would take a little advantage in purchasing.
Dong Shi and Dong Xi had absolutely no objection to raising the workers' wages.
Now even Dong Xi is learning cooking from Xu Qinyu and has to respectfully call her Master.
They even felt that Xu Qinyu was kind and righteous.
These guys didn't think much about it when they heard they were going to give a red envelope.
Only the three of Yuan looked at Xu Qinyu, their eyes shining a little.
The guys around couldn't help but wonder, how many red envelopes could there be? Why did they look so excited?
They thought that red envelopes were the same as the red packets given by the elders in the family to the children during the Chinese New Year, with only a few cents in them for festive occasion. They thought that the red envelope given by Xu Dongjia should have the same meaning.
When Cheng Ge'er came over pushing a wooden box, Xu Qinyu opened the box and revealed the silver inside.
Seeing the huge amount of silver, everyone was a little stunned.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, waiters. In previous years, the red envelope was ten taels of silver per person, and it will be the same this year."
"Ten, ten taels?" someone couldn't help but exclaimed, "Dong, Dongjia, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Don't worry, it won't be wrong. So please work hard in the future. If you do well, your salary will increase."
As long as the employees work hard, she will not treat her employees unfairly.
The waiters were stunned, and gradually, they became like Yuan and the others, with excited expressions and flushed faces. They couldn't help but straighten their backs and sit upright.
Donglaiju originally had eight waiters. Xu Qinyu took out eighty taels of silver and distributed them to them. Each ingot was ten taels of silver. They felt heavy in their hands, but no one was disgusted at all. They all smiled unconsciously, revealing two rows of white teeth.
Xu Qinyu took out another thirty taels and gave them to Yuan, Chen and Lin.
The others are Cheng Ge'er, Da Nv, Xu Feng and Xu Diao.
After all, they were still apprentices and had not officially become chefs, but they helped out a lot every day and each of them received a red envelope of ten taels of silver.
The younger Erniu, Xu Yu and Xu Shun also had three taels of silver.
As for Gong Ge'er.
Gong Ge'er has been busy supervising the construction site in Raozhou City these days and cannot even come back for the New Year. Xu Qinyu asked Cheng Ge'er to take Gong Ge'er's ten taels of silver back with him and give it to him when Gong Ge'er comes back.
The rest are kitchen helpers and chefs.
As for the kitchen helpers, Xu Qinyu gave each of them a red envelope containing forty taels of silver.
The chef gets eighty taels.
Xu Qinyu's red envelope was almost like a year-end bonus, but she earned a lot, so the amount she received was almost equivalent to a year's salary.
Even the kitchen helpers and chefs didn't expect that they had so many red envelopes. They thought that all the red envelopes were the same, also worth ten taels.
As cooks, they were paid much more than ordinary craftsmen. A kitchen helper could earn three or four taels of silver a month, and a chef's salary would start at seven taels. But these dozens of taels of silver were not a small amount of money for them, so they naturally felt warm in their hearts and thanked Xu Qinyu.
He also felt more and more that although the owner of Xu's was young, he was an honest man. He made money and did not treat them unfairly.
If the monthly salary is higher, plus this red envelope, to be honest, they don't want to open a restaurant or food stall on their own. There are so many things to worry about. How much better it is to just follow Master Xu peacefully? In this way, the kitchen helpers can make about 100 taels of silver per year, and the head chef can make nearly 200 taels of silver. Why bother to worry about so much?
But Dong was a little surprised, as she didn't know that Xu Ji would give everyone so many red envelopes.
After all, no restaurant or shop owner would give out red envelopes like this. They would just give a few dozen coins to each person as a token of appreciation after opening the shop on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
But Xu Qinyu was generous to everyone, so Dong Shi certainly wouldn't stop her.
All the red envelopes added up to several hundred taels of silver, which was considered a lot, but Xu Qinyu earned more, so naturally he was willing to give it to his employees.
After distributing the red envelopes, everyone started to eat the New Year’s dinner.
Because of these red envelopes, everyone was in a good mood and enjoyed eating and drinking even more.
They are so happy.
When they returned home with the red envelope, they showed it to their family members and told them how generous Xu Ji's owner was.
Everyone was also very surprised, and said, "No wonder when someone asked the waiters at Xu's restaurant how much their monthly salary was, they said eight hundred coins. They really can hide it. This is one tael of silver a month, plus the red envelope, my God, that's twenty-two taels of silver a year. Oh my God, Master Xu is so kind. You must work hard and don't be sneaky. In the future, if someone asks you about your monthly salary, remember not to tell others about it, so as not to arouse jealousy and bring trouble to you and Master Xu."
"Save it, save it."
The principle of not showing off your wealth is applicable throughout history.
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