Xu Qinyu whispered a few words into Cheng Ge'er's ear.
When Cheng Ge'er heard this, his face flushed with anger. Finally, he said, "Don't worry, Master. I won't bother you. I'll do it right away."
After having dinner, Xu Qinyu returned to Guihua Lane as usual.
Xu's restaurant also closed, and Wen was counting the accounts. She also knew today that Ping'an Restaurant had started selling custard buns and other things. She was definitely angry, but Yu Niang said that when doing business, it is inevitable to learn from others and get involved, so she just had to keep a normal mind.
Today she asked Gong Ge'er to take a look. Ping'an Restaurant still had a wooden sign at the door, which said that it sold custard buns, glutinous rice intestines, and raw fish porridge.
Isn't this intentional misunderstanding?
Some people come to West Street for breakfast because they have heard of Xu Ji Restaurant's reputation. Ping An Restaurant is located in the middle of the market. If she puts the sign like this, it will attract customers who want to go to Xu Ji Restaurant to go to Ping An Restaurant.
Wen was still thinking about this matter at the moment.
After settling the bill, Chen and her family returned. Cheng prepared to escort Wen home. Wen didn't see Gong, so she couldn't help but ask, "Where's Gong?"
Cheng Ge'er touched his nose and said, "Maybe he ran away again."
Gong Ge'er usually does errands, but after work on weekdays he and Cheng Ge'er always go to send Wen back to Guihua Lane.
At this moment, Gong Ge'er was not out running errands, but was helping him with something.
The master told her that there might be a thief in the store. Someone was bribed by the people from Ping'an Restaurant. When he saw her making custard buns, he told Ping'an Restaurant the method.
This thing looks easy, but the difficult part is the recipe, the proportion of ingredients and the cooking time. You may know roughly how to make it after seeing it, but the taste will be completely wrong.
That’s why Ping’an Restaurant sells custard buns for two cents each.
The master also said that the rumor last time might have been heard by a thief in the store who told Ping An Restaurant.
This time we must find out the thief.
Cheng Ge'er knew that his master had told him directly and asked him and Gong Ge'er to help keep an eye on the person. He knew that his master had never suspected him and Gong Ge'er. He was moved and became more determined to help his master catch the person. There were only a few people in the store, and besides his second aunt, there were three waitresses.
The master also asked him to help keep an eye on the three waitresses to see if they had any private contact with the people from Ping An Restaurant.
He had lived with the three aunts for some time, and it had to be said that the three aunts worked very diligently and efficiently, and none of them looked like the kind of people who would betray their own people, so he couldn't figure out who it was. The master also said that maybe she made a mistake, and asked him to keep an eye on it. It would be better if it wasn't the three aunts, as the master didn't want there to be a thief in the store.
Wen really thought that Gong Ge'er had gone out to play, so she nodded and said nothing more.
Cheng Ge'er said, "Second aunt, let me take you back first."
The kitchen and the living room have been swept clean, and the three aunts have gone home.
Wen nodded, and the two of them returned carrying the box.
All the daily profits from the restaurant have to be taken home. Yu Niang has saved a thousand taels of silver in the past two months and goes to the money shop almost every few days.
The money house is Luo'an Money House, which is also the largest and most famous money house in the Dasheng Dynasty. It is almost spread across every corner of the Dasheng Dynasty. Even in smaller towns, there are Luo'an Money Houses. Luo'an Money House is a century-old brand, which has been around for almost two hundred years. Even in troubled times, Luo'an Money House can exchange silver and money, so the people of the Dasheng Dynasty are also extremely confident in Luo'an Money House.
When they were first exiled, Wen really thought that the whole family had no way out.
Now Yu Niang has opened a restaurant, with a monthly income of five to six hundred taels of silver, and she lives a prosperous life.
After Cheng Ge'er sent Wen back, he ran away immediately.
He also planned to go and see if his three aunts had returned home.
Xu Qinyu had just finished washing up, and when she came back, her clothes were soaked with sweat.
The weather was getting hotter, and after cooking breakfast in the kitchen, her underwear would be soaked. Unlike later generations, the kitchens here had no air conditioning. Even if there were air conditioning in later generations, the cooks would still sweat after cooking. Here, it goes without saying, she was almost soaked from head to toe.
She would bring a change of clothes to the restaurant every day, and after breakfast she would go to the utility room to wash up and change into clean and fresh clothes.
Even if I changed my clothes, they would still be soaked with sweat after making dinner.
So after preparing dinner every day, she would not worry about the restaurant's affairs and would go back to Guihua Lane to wash up first.
Now that I have washed up, I can wash my underwear. Tomorrow, the laundry lady will come to wash my outer clothes and clean the house.
The family made money, and Xu Qinyu didn't want Wen to work too hard. Wen worked as a shopkeeper all day long, doing accounts and collecting money, and when she was busy, she also had to serve dishes, which was very hard work. So she spent twenty cents a day to hire a maid to do the housework.
This lady also lives in a nearby alley. She is very clean and hardworking.
Gui originally said that she would wash it, but Gui was old, and Xu Qinyu certainly would not let the old lady work too hard.
After the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law counted the silver and money, Xu Qinyu took the wooden box and poured all the silver and money into her cash box and locked it. Bai Yu was not there at the moment, she must have gone hunting in the mountains.
Bai Yu probably remembered Xu Qinyu's nagging, so he would sneak out of the house late at night, go hunting in the mountains, eat and drink his fill, and then run back under the cover of darkness the next day.
It was getting bigger and bigger, and Xu Qinyu was naturally afraid of being seen by others, afraid of scaring others, and also afraid that if the soldiers were called to kill Bai Yu, it would be bad.
It was already mid-June and the weather was gradually getting hotter. Fortunately, the southwest was not as hot as the south. It was the hottest at noon. When the sun went down, the weather was no longer so hot. Sitting in the yard with the gentle breeze, Xu Qinyu felt a rare sense of comfort.
She even specially ordered a few rattan rocking chairs from Carpenter Gao, which were so comfortable to lie on.
The only thing is that the yard looks a bit bare except for the jujube tree. It would be nice if we could plant some flowers and plants, and a few grape vines, build a grape trellis, and make some wine. Then we could sit under the trellis and drink some wine while taking a break, which would be very relaxing.
Thinking of grapes, Xu Qinyu licked her lips.
This dynasty did not exist in history, so she was not clear about the specific situation of crops. Some crops were available like fruits and vegetables, but some were not. It seemed that grapes were only brought back to the Great Sheng Dynasty by caravans and started to be planted a few years ago. Now it seems that no grapes are grown in the southwest, so grapes are still very expensive in summer. There are some wild grapes in the mountains.
Wild grapes have existed since the Great Sheng Dynasty.
However, it will not mature until August. Then you can go to the mountains to pick it and make some wine. You can sell it or keep it for your family to drink. It seems that no one here makes wine yet.
…
After leaving Pei's house, Cheng Ge'er went to look for his younger brother Gong Ge'er, but he didn't find him. He went to the doorsteps of his three aunts' houses and found that all three aunts had gone home. Gong Ge'er was not nearby, but he saw a few little beggars wandering around.
Cheng Ge'er didn't take it seriously. He squatted in front of Chen's door until the end of the evening. When every household turned off the lights and went to bed, he went back to Wen's house.
When he got back, Gong Ge'er had already returned. Cheng Ge'er asked him, "Brother, have you ever been to the homes of the three aunts?"
Gong Ge'er was drinking the cold water from the large vat with a ladle. After finishing his drink, he wiped his mouth and said, "Don't worry, brother. I won't mess up the job. I happen to have a few friends who can help me keep an eye on it. Otherwise, it would be just the two of us, and we can't keep an eye on three people. I also asked my friends to help me keep an eye on the Ping'an Restaurant. We already know where the couple who own the Ping'an Restaurant live."
Cheng Ge'er nodded, still feeling relieved about his brother.
Although Gong Ge'er is more playful, he will definitely complete the tasks assigned to him.
The next day, Xu Ji Restaurant was open as usual.
Because Ping'an Restaurant is located in front of Xu's Restaurant and has such a big sign, some new customers were indeed deceived.
Therefore, the breakfast at Xuji Restaurant was still affected.
But Xu Ji Restaurant has many regular customers, and the breakfast they made in the morning was sold out, only some milk buns were left.
The unsold food is eaten by people in the restaurant or taken home by everyone.
Even some meats will not go bad overnight, but the taste will be affected. Xu Qinyu will not use them anymore. She will share them equally with the three waitresses and Cheng Ge'er and others, and let them take them home to cook.
The three waitresses knew that a monthly wage of eight hundred coins was considered high. The boss also provided them with food, and they could occasionally take some meat home to improve their diet. Such treatment was hard to find in Yuanbao Town, let alone Raozhou City, and was extremely rare for them. When they heard from the boss that there would be a red envelope worth no less than two taels of silver at the end of the year, they thought about helping the boss with more work every day and working more diligently.
There were quite a few milk buns left, and after everyone had eaten, there were still quite a few left. Gong Ge'er ran over to Xu Qinyu, scratched his head, and said, "Fourth sister-in-law, can I take eight milk buns out?"
"As long as it's not wasted, it's fine." Xu Qinyu smiled. "What does Gonggeer do with the milk buns?"
Gong Ge'er was a little embarrassed, but told Xu Qinyu very seriously, "I made some friends and asked them to help me with some things, so I wanted to bring some milk buns for them to eat, because I told them that the food my fourth sister-in-law cooks is particularly delicious."
This kid, he was quite serious, he was only ten years old, and he even asked his friends to help him with something.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Okay, go get it."
"Thank you, Fourth Sister-in-law!" Gong Ge'er grinned, ran back to the kitchen, and ran out of the door with eight steamed buns in his arms.
Gong Ge'er ran away with the steamed bun in his arms and disappeared without a trace.
He left the West Street market and walked towards an alley. At the end of the alley was a small hutong with a few broken wooden boards piled up randomly. Under the broken boards were four ragged children. The children were dirty, their hair was messy, their faces were pitch black, and each of them was so thin that only bones were left.
Not only that, the four children were obviously disabled. Looking at the eldest child, there was only a hole left in his right eye, and only his left eye was still good.
There was also a child with a red birthmark on his face from his eyes to his eyebrows. The other two children didn't see anything obvious, but when two of them stood up, they shouted in surprise, "Second Brother Wen, you're here."
As they walked towards Gongger, one of the children had a limp in one leg.
The other child looked fine and was the youngest, probably only six or seven years old.
The child with only one eye left looked the oldest, probably about ten years old.
Gong Ge'er saw them and said with a smile, "Look what I brought you."
He distributed the steamed buns he got from Xu's Restaurant to his four children, giving each of them two. When the youngest child took the steamed bun, he discovered that he had six fingers on his right palm.
Several children took the milk buns, looked at the snow-white, soft buns full of milk aroma, and were reluctant to eat them.
Gong Ge'er said, "Eat it quickly while it's still hot. Milk buns are most delicious when they're hot, but they're also delicious when they're cold. There's nothing my fourth sister-in-law cooks that isn't delicious."
Finally, the children couldn't resist the aroma of the milk buns. They picked up the buns and took a bite. As soon as they put them in their mouths, they were conquered by the softness and milk aroma of the buns.
They were just a few little beggars. On weekdays, they couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone leftovers. Sometimes they had to compete with wild dogs for food.
"Oh my god, it's delicious and smells so good."
"Brother Wen, do you eat this kind of delicious food every day?"
Gong Ge'er actually felt a little sad, but he nodded, "Yes, my fourth sister-in-law did it. My fourth sister-in-law is a very kind person."
Several children looked at Gong Ge'er with envy.
They also want such a good sister-in-law, but they are all disabled, and even their own families are unwilling to accept them. How can others want them? They can only be beggars for the rest of their lives, and may starve to death or freeze to death on the street one day.
After the children finished eating a steamed bun, they carefully wrapped up the remaining one and hid it on their bodies.
Gong Ge'er then asked, "Did you find anything last night?"
The oldest child shook his head and said, "No, we waited until morning. When they woke up in the morning, they went straight to Xu's Restaurant."
"Then you guys help me keep an eye on this," Gongge'er said. "One or two days probably won't reveal anything. It might take a long time. If there's any leftover food in the restaurant, I'll tell Fourth Sister-in-law to send some to you guys."
The four children looked at him eagerly.
After delivering the milk buns to the four children, Gongger returned to Xuji.
Gong Ge'er had known these little beggars for more than a month. It was that night when Xu Ji just closed down. He had saved two roujiamo in the morning to eat in the evening. At that time, roujiamo was just released as breakfast food. He liked it very much and ate it not only for breakfast but also for dinner. He saved two of them specifically to eat when he returned home in the evening.
Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the street, a dark shadow rushed past him and snatched the roujiamo in his hand.
How could he tolerate this? Gong Ge'er roared and chased after him.
When he chased after him, he found that it was a child younger than him. He tried to snatch the Roujiamo, but the child protected the Roujiamo. During the struggle, the Roujiamo slipped out of his hand and was snatched away by a passing wild dog.
Gong Ge'er was dumbfounded and extremely angry. He raised his fist and planned to fight with the kid.
Only then did he realize that the child was missing one eye, his clothes were torn, and he was staring at him with his other eye.
When Gongger noticed the child's appearance, he knew that he was probably a beggar and was missing an eye, so he naturally couldn't fight him. He stood up, stepped aside, snorted, and prepared to leave.
After walking a few steps, I felt bad when I thought of the skinny appearance of the little beggar.
I looked back and found that the child was actually crying. Tears kept flowing down his left eye, and he didn't wipe them away. He looked extremely desperate.
Gonggeer couldn't move anymore, so he turned around and said, "Don't cry, I'll buy you something you want to eat."
The child said, "Whatever." His voice was so hoarse that I could hardly hear what he said.
Gong Ge'er bought some meat buns nearby and brought them back for the child.
The child ran away with the meat bun. Gong Ge'er was a little worried, so he followed him into a tiny alley and found three other children inside. The youngest one was starving to death. The children snatched his meat bun to feed the youngest one.
This is how Gong Ge'er got to know these kids.
He knew that several of the children were beggars. Some were abandoned by their families because they didn't want them. Some were kidnapped, injured, and disabled, and could not be sold, so they were abandoned again.
The youngest child with six fingers was considered a disaster by his family and was abandoned as soon as he was born. He was then picked up by an old beggar.
The old beggar passed away two years ago, and the child began begging by himself every day. He met three other little beggars and stayed with them. Every day, the children went out together to beg for food.
They often had no food to eat, so Gongger spent the few hundred coins he had every month on buying food for them.
These little beggars keep calling "Second Brother" every day.
Gong Ge'er knew that his fourth sister-in-law wanted to keep an eye on someone, and he and his brother only had two eyes and could not keep an eye on it, so he asked these little beggars for help.
The little beggars were also very responsible. Every day when Xu Ji Restaurant was about to close, they would hang around nearby, waiting for the three aunts to leave Xu Ji. They would also follow behind them separately, and were never discovered by the three aunts.
After watching like this for half a month, it was already early July and the weather was getting hotter and drier.
The sour plum soup at Xu Ji Restaurant was becoming increasingly popular. Due to the hot weather, Xu Qinyu even bought some ice cubes. However, the ice cubes were too expensive. Crushing them and adding them to the sour plum soup would increase the price by two cents. The two cents increase in price was all the cost, so there was no profit at all.
However, after cooking these sour plum soups every day, they are hung in the well to cool for one or two hours. When you drink them, they are also icy and refreshing.
So now when ordering sour plum soup, it is up to the diners to add ice cubes or not.
If you add it, it will cost two cents more. If you don’t add it, the sour plum soup that has been chilled in the well is still quite cold.
The same method is used for milk tea. Milk tea is ordered more by women, and they are willing to pay an extra two cents to add some ice cubes. It tastes cool and refreshing, and has a mellow and rich milk flavor.
The weather is hot and dry, and the business of small restaurants and restaurants on West Street has been affected. Because it is too hot, people don’t want to eat, and there is no air conditioning like in later generations. Nowadays, the food in restaurants and restaurants is mostly greasy, and people are even less willing to eat when the weather is hot.
However, Xu Ji's business was not affected much, because the snails and prawns in sauce, coupled with sour plum drinks, were appetizing and refreshing, attracting more diners.
Moreover, Xu Qinyu added two new cold dishes in the past few days: cold lettuce, pork with mashed garlic, and roasted eggplant with mashed garlic.
These new dishes are the ones that customers have been ordering most recently.
In order to make the diners eat comfortably, Xu Qinyu specially bought some ice cubes and placed them in the four corners of the living room.
This kind of ice is specially used to relieve summer heat and is much cheaper than edible ice. However, this kind of ice costs two taels of silver every day!
She was willing to use ice cubes, so the diners enjoyed their meals and liked Xu Ji Restaurant even more, and they only wanted to eat here.
Xu Qinyu saw that Cheng Ge'er had been following the restaurant for half a month, but still couldn't find out who was connected to Ping'an Restaurant. She couldn't help but wonder if she was mistaken. In fact, there was no thief in the restaurant. Ping'an Restaurant just figured out the method of making custard buns on their own.
It would be great if Fourth Brother was here. He is smart and would definitely know what is going on at a glance.
She doesn't have the ability to see through people's hearts like her fourth brother. Apart from her talent for cooking, she is just an ordinary person.
Less than two days later.
On this day, the little beggars, as usual, watched Xu's Restaurant close and then followed the three aunts around.
The oldest beggar is almost ten years old this year. He has no name and everyone calls him One-Eye.
Today, One-Eye followed Sun, the strongest of the three waitresses.
At first, Sun was fine. After leaving the market, she did not go back to the alley where she lived. Instead, she looked back with a sneaky look.
Sun looked back and didn't see anyone from Xu's Restaurant. She breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards another alley.
When he arrived at a door, he knocked. The door opened and a woman stuck her head out. She was the female owner of Ping'an Restaurant.
…
The one-eyed man did not waste any time. When he saw Sun going to look for the female manager of Ping'an Restaurant, he immediately went to Guihua Lane to look for Gong Ge'er.
When Gong Ge'er heard this, he frowned and went to find his brother.
Cheng Ge'er naturally couldn't sit still, so he went to find his fourth sister-in-law immediately.
When Xu Qinyu saw Cheng Ge'er, she knew that the thief must have been caught.
When I heard Cheng Ge'er say it was Sun, I saw her going to find the female manager of Ping'an Restaurant.
Xu Qinyu couldn't help but sigh. She had just found the strongest person on the remaining list to do the work, but she had chosen an unreliable person.
She didn't delay any longer and planned to go over and block the man. If she went over now, she would be able to block the man.
Wen also heard it from the side. Seeing that Yu Niang was about to go out, she hurriedly called Cheng Ge'er and Wen Ge'er to follow Yu Niang.
Cheng Ge'er said, "Don't worry, Auntie. I will keep an eye on it and will not let outsiders hurt Fourth Sister-in-law."
When the three of them came over, they just saw Sun coming out of the gate.
Sun's face was originally panicked, and she didn't notice anyone at all. When she realized there was someone in front of her, she looked up and her face turned pale with fear. "Dong, Dong, why haven't you gone back to rest yet? I, I came to my relative's house for something, and I didn't expect to run into you, Dong."
Before Xu Qinyu could say anything, Cheng Ge'er shouted angrily, "Aunt Sun, why are you still pretending? This is where the owner of Ping'an Restaurant lives. Why are you here looking for the owner of Ping'an Restaurant? Did you see Fourth Sister-in-law making those custard buns, glutinous rice intestines, and fish porridge, and then sell the recipes to Ping'an Restaurant? And the rumor that our owner's family had tuberculosis spread over a month ago? Did Ping'an Restaurant also ask you to spread it?"
"No, no..." Sun panicked, "Boss, I, I, I didn't."
She thought of the thing that the female owner of Ping'an Restaurant had given her just now, which was still in her hand. She was so scared that her face turned pale and she couldn't help but hide her hand behind her back.
Sun's gesture of hiding her hand was too obvious. It was obvious that she must be holding something in her hand. Xu Qinyu frowned and asked, "Aunt Sun, what are you holding in your hand?"
"No, nothing."
Sun was so frightened at this moment that beads of sweat the size of beans dripped down her forehead and she was shaking.
Sun looked guilty, and Gong Ge'er behind her took advantage of her inattention, stepped forward, grabbed Sun's wrist, and pinched the meridians on her wrist.
Gongger had learned some martial arts from his father, so his hands were quite strong. The pinch caused Sun to scream in pain and loosen her clenched fists.
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