The next day, Zhou Laoda and his family left the government office and returned to their own house in the prefectural city. In the past three years, the Zhou family had developed rapidly. Their restaurant had specialties such as bayberry wine, mulberry wine, and bayberry stewed meat. The business was always very good, and they made a lot of money.
Last year, Zhou Laoda bought another two-courtyard house in the prefectural city. Dafu and Sanfu are going to take the imperial examinations and will have to study at the prefectural school sooner or later. The house that was bought before is now a bit cramped for Li Quan's family.
If Li Yu'er and Li Ji'er have children, it will be even more crowded. Zhou Laoda thought that the family had a lot of silver saved up, so he might as well buy another house so that Brother Fu and his friends could live more comfortably when they came to the prefectural city.
However, all of the Zhou family's houses and restaurants have been occupied by others, and now several burly men are guarding the houses, preventing the Zhou family from entering.
Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu beat up the five burly men, who were quickly knocked to the ground, howling in pain.
"Get out of here! Go back and tell your master to return our Zhou family's restaurant and house right now, or I'll kill them!" Zhou Erfu kicked one of the burly men and cursed viciously.
When Zhou Sifu tried to unlock the door with his key, he found it wouldn't open and smashed it in anger. "Damn it, they even changed the chain! Do they think the Zhou family has no one left?"
The group entered the house, grumbling and cursing.
Zhou Laoda has always been in good health, and his condition improved considerably after taking the medicine for two days. The others also recovered well, except for Chen Shunping, who was still unable to get out of bed. He was already severely weakened, and this ordeal made his condition even worse.
"After you go back, you must not overwork yourself. You need to rest for at least a few months. I will write a prescription for him. You should buy some ingredients according to the prescription and cook medicinal meals for him every day. He cannot take medicine for a long time, otherwise his body will be even more damaged. Food supplements are gentler and will not harm his body. Please take good care of him." Zhu Chumo quickly wrote a prescription and handed it to Zhao Guizhi.
Zhao Guizhi's eyes welled up with tears. She took the prescription and thanked him. "I'll go to the pharmacy right away to buy the ingredients for the medicinal meal, and I'll also buy other materials. Thanks to Young Master Zhu, otherwise my Shunping's health might not have recovered."
"Sister Zhao, you're too kind. We're not outsiders, why be so polite?" Zhu Chumo said calmly, indicating that Zhao Guizhi didn't need to say anything more.
Xingxing told Zhou Dafu and Zhou Zhoufu to rest in bed and not to think about anything for the next few days, just to get better. As for their cheating on the imperial examination, she said that the matter would be settled as soon as the new prefect took office.
The most important thing now is to get the restaurant back. Previously, people died in restaurants in both the prefectural city and the county town at the same time, and as soon as the people died, the officials came to the restaurants to arrest them. It is clear that all of this was planned in advance.
While the Imperial Concubine was certainly behind the scenes, Zheng Wenxin also had his own methods. He even rallied several merchants from Nanyang Prefecture to deal with the Zhou Family Restaurant.
Those merchants simply wanted the secret recipes for bayberry wine, bayberry stew with meat, and mulberry wine. For profit, these people would do anything, disregarding human life and taking over other people's property with a clear conscience.
"These heartless bastards! The family business that our Zhou family has worked so hard to build is not something they can just take as they please! I, your grandma, will teach those wicked people a lesson they won't forget. The Zhou family is not to be trifled with. Today, we will make them pay ten times the price!" Xingxing angrily rolled up her sleeves, looking ready to fight to the death.
The guards standing nearby twitched at the sight. If the Emperor and Empress saw the princess like this, they would surely be shocked to death. Sigh, she's becoming less and less concerned about her image. At least she should remember her status. She's a princess, not some shrew or bully from the village or the street.
Not to mention the guards, even Zhao Guihua couldn't bear to look at her. "Girl, can't you speak more ladylike and behave more politely? You're making a fool of yourself."
"Who dares to laugh at me?" Xingxing raised her chin.
"Be serious, don't do anything weird." Zhu Lin lightly tapped her head with her finger.
"What's wrong with me? How else can I express my anger?" Xingxing rubbed the spot where the boy had hit her. It didn't hurt, but she just instinctively rubbed it.
Zhu Lin found it amusing to see her pouting and unhappy. "You're so angry about this? I didn't say anything harsh. Let's go. We're not in a hurry to take back the restaurant. If we dawdle any longer, it'll be dark by the time we get there."
"The sun is very strong, it's not even noon yet, so it won't get dark so quickly." Xingxing made a face at the boy, her cheeky smile showing no sign of anger. She just liked to play the victim in front of him to get him to coax her.
The plaque for "Meizhou Tower" in the prefectural city was being torn down and smashed on the ground. With a loud bang, the plaque was broken by someone's foot. The person who stepped on it smirked and revealed a smug and slightly lewd smile.
"Someone, throw this signboard into the woodshed to burn as firewood. Today, my Mulberry House is officially open for business. Our main specialties are mulberry wine and mulberry stewed meat. These are the Lai family's exclusive secret recipes, which you won't find anywhere else."
The man who spoke was originally a restaurant owner. He had restaurants in Nanyang Prefecture and various counties. His surname was Lai, and he was considered a prominent merchant in Nanyang Prefecture.
When Master Lai took over Meizhoulou, no one thought much of it at first, but when he suddenly came up with mulberry wine and mulberry stewed meat, it inevitably aroused suspicion.
Meizhoulou started out as a restaurant specializing in bayberry wine and bayberry stewed pork. Two years ago, Meizhoulou introduced mulberry wine and mulberry stewed pork, and everyone who has tried them praises them as "amazing." This is the Zhou family's secret recipe.
Now it has become the Lai family's secret recipe, as if they really think everyone is a fool.
Some of the bolder ones mocked, "Master Lai, isn't your accusation a bit too obvious? Yesterday, the Yi family's restaurant on South Gate Street launched bayberry wine and bayberry stew, claiming it was their Yi family's secret recipe. But anyone with eyes can see that both wines and stews are actually Mei Zhou Lou's secret recipes."
"Someone suddenly died at Meizhoulou that day, and the officials insisted that there was something wrong with Meizhoulou's wine. If there's something wrong with the wine, it shouldn't be sold anymore. But now you're claiming it's your own secret brew and are heavily promoting it. What kind of nonsense is this?"
After the first person spoke up, a second person quickly followed, "This matter is not simple, but it's none of our business. However, both bayberry wine and mulberry wine have been used to kill people. Now that the Yi and Lai families are selling them again, we just want to know if these wines are safe to drink and whether they will kill people?"
"That's right. And are the plum wine and mulberry wine brewed using the same methods as the Zhou family? Do they taste the same? If they are the same, can we guarantee that there won't be any problems after consuming them?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? The Zhou family is the Zhou family. The food and wine of my Lai family are naturally fine. Don't drag others into this. If someone dies from eating here, you'll be thrown in jail. My Lai family would never dare to do such a heartless thing as harming someone's life. If the Zhou family harms someone, they'll be beheaded one day. You all shouldn't talk nonsense either, lest you get burned." Master Lai warned the crowd with a long face.
Everyone guessed that this Master Lai probably had strong connections with the government and was someone they couldn't afford to offend, so they dared not say anything more.
Seeing that everyone had shut up, Master Lai was grinning smugly when suddenly a foot appeared out of nowhere, pinning him to the doorframe.
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