"Then let's not go back to the county town anymore. Let's settle down in the prefectural city. Yu Ting is going to school now, and the schools in the prefectural city are better than those in the county town." Zhao Guihua was thinking of her sister's family. She didn't want her sister and her husband to be too proud to help Mei Zhou Lou, while leaving their own restaurant to be managed by someone else.
Hearing this, Zhao Guizhi felt comforted and said gently, "Shunping and I have discussed it. From now on, we'll live in the prefectural city and won't go back to the county town. I've found a reliable manager to handle things here in the county town. You and your brother-in-law just need to check the accounts once a month."
I'll come over when I have time. We have multiple restaurants now, so I can't do everything myself. But we have powerful backers, so no one dares to mess with our restaurants.
"Okay, as long as you have a plan in mind, that's fine. My husband and I aren't good at business, we can't read much, and we're not good at accounting either. We'll still need you to look after the accounts in the future. It only takes a few days to get there by water now, so you can come back once every three months."
Zhao Guihua felt sorry for her husband when she thought about how he got a headache whenever he had to do the accounting, so she and her husband stopped getting involved in the accounting.
The day we arrived in the prefectural city, the sun was blazing and it was very hot, a stark contrast to the coolness we had experienced during the rain and hurricanes a while back.
Knowing that Zhou Laoda and his wife, Chen Shunping and his wife would be coming, Li Quan and his wife, Dafu, Sanfu, and Chen Yueru waited at the dock early in the morning.
Standing on the deck, Zhou and his group spotted the people on the dock from afar, and they all waved to make sure they could see them.
"You're here! You're quite early. There's still an hour before noon. Perfect timing to go back and have lunch," Zhong Daya said with a smile.
Li Quan smiled and nodded, but when he turned his head and saw his wife's face painted deathly white and her lips bright red, he froze for a moment.
"I told you not to put it on, but you insisted. Do you know how ugly it looks?" Li Quan complained in a low voice.
“How is it ugly? So many people in the city wear rouge and no one looks ugly. They all look better. Last time I saw you staring at Madam Heng with wide eyes. Madam Heng’s face is covered in rouge even more than mine. Why didn’t you say it looked ugly?” Zhong Daya retorted to him irritably.
She didn't particularly like buying rouge, but Madam Heng and her daughter ate at the restaurant every day, bringing in a lot of business for the restaurant. Since they were so helpful, she felt embarrassed to pretend she didn't know.
Last time, she passed by the Heng family's rouge shop and went in for a casual look. Unexpectedly, Madam Heng pulled her to buy several boxes of rouge, saying that it would make her look beautiful and several years younger, and that older women like them should learn to dress up.
Besides, they all own shops in the prefectural city, so it wouldn't be good for them to look too shabby. Which proprietress or shopkeeper in the prefectural city doesn't wear rouge? Only Zhong Daya always has a bare face.
“My husband is just a manager, not a boss’s wife.” She didn’t want to say that the real boss’s wife was not as good as her. Zhao Guihua directly farmed the land in the village, tended the orchard, and raised many pigs and poultry. She simply didn’t have time to take care of herself.
Madam Heng was very enthusiastic and insisted on introducing Zhong Daya, saying, "Being the manager of a restaurant in the prefectural city is a prestigious position, something most people can't match. Our rouge is excellent; it's all pure, natural, non-irritating, and additive-free. It won't harm your skin and can even nourish it. Trust me."
My daughter and I go to your restaurant every day for drinks, and you always give us a discount. I'll give you a discount on this rouge too; it's not expensive.”
In her previous life, Yokoyama Chiyo was a plastic surgeon and knew a lot about skincare products. All the rouge and face powder in this shop were formulated by her, and the recipes were given to Madam Yokoyama. The words Madam Yokoyama mentioned earlier about "all-natural" were also heard from her eldest daughter.
In fact, after Yokoyama Chiyo transmigrated, her personality was completely different from the original owner of the body. She was a completely different person. Madam Yoko and her two children had their doubts, but Chiyo was capable, and the three of them depended on her for their livelihood, so even if they had doubts, they were unwilling to investigate further.
Back to Zhong Daya, thinking about how much Madam Heng cared for the restaurant's business, Zhong Daya gritted her teeth and bought a few boxes of rouge, spending a total of two taels of silver. When she paid the bill, her heart ached terribly.
After bringing it back, she originally intended to give it to her future daughter-in-law, but Chen Yueru said after looking at the rouge she bought: "Auntie, the color of this rouge is too heavy and not suitable for your sister-in-law. You should keep it for yourself. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the person to refuse it if you give it away, and it will be difficult not to use it if they accept it, but it will be inappropriate if they use it. It will put people in a difficult position."
So Zhong Daya had no choice but to keep it for herself. Actually, she wasn't used to applying it to her face, but since she had spent two taels of silver to buy it, it would be a waste not to use it, so she had to apply it every day.
But when she put on makeup, her husband complained every day, saying it looked terrible and that she should just go bare-faced.
Actually, Zhong Daya didn't know how to use it. She applied it unevenly and didn't match it well, so the rouge and powder didn't look good on her; instead, it looked a bit creepy.
Chen Yueru had done her makeup once before, and it looked quite natural and pretty. However, Chen Yueru couldn't be there to do her makeup all day long, since the two didn't live in the same house.
Zhong Daya was busy with the restaurant business all day long, so she didn't care whether her face looked good or not, and she didn't have the time to focus on dressing up. As long as she thought she looked good, she didn't care what others thought.
She mostly helps out in the kitchen and rarely comes out to greet guests in the main hall.
When Zhao Guizhi and Zhao Guihua got off the boat and got closer, they were shocked to see Zhong Daya's face covered in white paint. Zhao Guihua couldn't help but say, "Cousin, the way you put on your face is even worse than before. When Madam Zhang gave me rouge, I smeared it on like this too. Later, my daughter disliked it and covered her eyes to avoid looking. So I never dared to put on makeup like that again."
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