Chapter 69 The Emperor's Turtle is Lost
Yun Chenglu raised his head when he heard the voice.
Seeing that it was his grandmother, he frowned and said, "Grandma, what are you talking about? I was just practicing calligraphy. Are you so surprised?"
"Hey," Zhao Zhilan rolled her eyes at him, "Weren't you the one who cried and begged and refused to learn calligraphy before?"
Baoya stood by and looked at the calligraphy written by Yun Chenglu. Although his handwriting was not beautiful enough, he wrote every stroke very carefully and without any mistakes.
She remembered what Yun Chenglu had said to her in the secret cave before.
Baoya's eyes lit up: "Grandma, Second Brother is really determined to learn calligraphy! He promised me before and even asked me to teach him!"
"Really? That's great!" Zhao Zhilan beamed with joy, patting Yun Chenglu on the back of his head. "It wasn't easy, you finally figured it out! Next time we go back to town, I'll tell your big brother. He'll be so happy!"
Yun Chenglu bit the pen and laughed: "Okay, I might learn better than my big brother!"
Baoya and Zhao Zhilan laughed together. Yunhua and Yunyue at the door heard what they said and poked their heads in.
Chao Yun Chenglu made a face: "Luolulu, second brother is using a bucket as a trumpet! Second brother is using a bucket as a trumpet!"
"Hey, you two little girls are itching for trouble!" Yun Chenglu put down his pen and chased after them. "Who are you calling bragging?"
"It's so lively and exciting!"
Zhao Zhilan picked up Baoya with a smile and walked to the door of the main hall: "Baoya, come with grandma and see how lively these little naughty monkeys are!"
Baoya smiled with her eyes curved, took out two pieces of malt sugar from her pocket, gave one to Zhao Zhilan and ate one herself.
"Give me candy and watch the fun!"
In the Yun family courtyard, adults were laughing and children were shouting, while the front and back doors of the Chen family were locked tightly.
Zhou Cuihua, who lost her tofu and got beaten, and her daughter ran away yesterday, thought about it all night and got up early this morning.
She got up and grabbed her man who couldn't even fart with a kick, brought out the small stone mill from their house, ground beans, and started making tofu.
Chen Changshui didn't have much hope for her mediocre skills at first, but when he saw that the tofu she ordered was really lumpy, he thought it seemed okay?
The couple carried their loads and set off for Ping'an Town at dawn.
When she brought the guests to the door, Zhou Cuihua held a piece of tofu with a yellow surface and some small silk holes in it in her hand and showed it to the waiter who came to welcome the guests.
"Look, the soybeans we grow ourselves as farmers, and the beans we grind into tofu, are especially fragrant."
"Your restaurant usually has a lot of customers, so tofu must be used a lot. How about you let me meet your boss so we can talk business?"
The waiter was not very old, had a pair of slanted eyes, and was tall and thin. He looked like someone who was not to be trifled with.
At this time, he looked at Zhou Cuihua as if she were a fool: "Auntie, are you okay? Even if we need tofu to entertain guests, we don't need yours!"
"Hey, how can you talk like that?" Zhou Cuihua was used to being arrogant in the village, and she was unhappy when she heard his words.
"Why can't we use ours? Our tofu is great! Why don't you call your boss out and I'll talk to him!"
The waiter frowned and said, "I think you came to our house on purpose to cause trouble! Look at the tofu you made, it's yellow and rough, and I can smell the burnt smell from a long way away!"
"Go away! Go back to where you came from! It's almost noon, and there are so many customers that no one has time to pay attention to you!"
As he said this, he picked up the broom at the door and kicked people out.
"Ouch, what are you doing!" Zhou Cuihua was almost tumbling down the stairs after he swung the broom at her. "You dare to hit me?!"
She became aggressive and put her hands on her hips to greet the waiter.
The waiter snorted, and two burly servants armed with sticks came out from the reception area.
The two servants had dark faces, muscular bodies, and ferocious looks.
"Do you think I dare to hit you?!"
The waiter also imitated her, put his hands on his hips, and stood at the door. Two servants stood on his left and right, like door gods.
Zhou Cuihua immediately became intimidated and forced out an ugly smile: "Hahaha, don't... don't do it, I can just leave."
"Go!" the waiter shouted.
Zhou Cuihua turned around and left quickly.
As she walked, she muttered, "Tsk, what's so great about that! Ke Lai Xiang's business is so successful, how can you compare?"
"How good do you think the tofu you ordered is? The tofu from Kelaixiang is the best!"
"What did you say?" The waiter was about to turn around and go in when he suddenly heard her mumbling and quickly chased after her.
"Ah?" Zhou Cuihua stopped and turned her head. "What? I said I left on my own!"
"No, you just mentioned Kelaixiang's tofu? Where does their tofu come from?" asked the waiter.
These days, Ke Lai Xiang's business is indeed much better than theirs, and many of their old customers rarely come. After asking, they found out that they all went to Ke Lai Xiang.
His boss has been so worried these past few days that he has lost his appetite. He also heard that the signature dish of Ke Lai Xiang, which used to be braised lion's head, has now been changed to eight-treasure tofu.
When Zhou Cuihua saw him like that, her eyes rolled around and she immediately had an idea: "Want to know? If you want to know, buy my tofu and I'll tell you."
She brought a bucket of tofu today. Chen Changshui went to the fields to work, so she came alone in Qian Dacai's ox cart. She only brought one bucket to try it out, but this bucket was full of thirty pieces of tofu.
The waiter glanced down at the yellow tofu in the bucket and really looked down on it. He also thought that if he bought it back, it would only feed pigs.
Frowning, he said, "No, I won't buy it. If I buy it, my boss will scold me to death. You can tell me whether you want to or not. If not, I'll find a place to ask for it myself."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Zhou Cuihua suddenly became anxious: "Hey! Don't go, if you don't want to buy tofu, at least give me some money!"
The waiter finally stopped and said that it was okay to give some money in exchange for some information.
When the time comes, he will tell his boss about this. If his boss is happy, he will definitely give him a raise.
"Here you go." He took out ten copper coins from his pocket and handed them to Zhou Cuihua.
"Is that all?" Zhou Cuihua's face wrinkled into a bun. "It's too little!"
The waiter rolled his eyes at her and was about to pull his hand back, but Zhou Cuihua quickly snatched it away.
"That's enough," she said. "Since this is a copper coin, I'll tell you that Ke Lai Xiang's tofu is actually ordered from the Yun family in Feishui Village, across from my house!"
The waiter curled his lips and looked at her with disdain: "Oh, I don't care what you say. You are just jealous of how well the tofu is made!"
"Hey! I..."
Before she finished her words, the waiter turned around and went in to greet the guests.
Zhou Cuihua rolled her eyes at his back and staggered towards the city gate carrying the wooden barrel.
After all the trouble on this trip, I didn't sell any tofu, but at least the ten copper coins made back the round-trip fare, and I still had a little left.
But Zhou Cuihua was still very angry. They all made tofu, so why didn't anyone want her tofu? What's wrong with a little yellow? It tasted better when it was a little mushy!
As she was walking, she heard people chatting at a tea stall nearby.
"Hey, have you heard about this new thing?" said a tea drinker, fanning himself.
Another man in a long gown came over and asked, "What's going on?"
"The emperor issued a bounty this morning. Guess who they want to capture?" The tea drinker holding a fan kept the question in suspense.
"Who is it?" asked the man in the long gown.
"I heard that the longevity turtle that the emperor kept in Taiqing Pond was stolen overnight, and a reward of 500 taels of silver is being offered for the capture of the thief who stole the turtle!"
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