Chapter 67 Revenge "Hu Shi, death penalty!"
At Yuelai Restaurant, when Manager Li was settling the bill for a customer, he suddenly overheard two people in front of him saying that the grilled fish at Lin's Restaurant had "caused a death." His hand, which was working on the abacus, suddenly stopped.
Zhang Shui glanced at Manager Li's panicked appearance and continued casually, "I wonder if the fish is not fresh."
Qu Zhong immediately retorted, "How could that be? Their fish all come from Old Man Qu. Don't you know what kind of person Old Man Qu is? His fish are always top-notch. The old man has been selling fish for decades and has never made a mistake. Besides, we've been eating fish since we were kids. When have we ever heard of anyone losing their life from eating fish? In my opinion, they probably added something they shouldn't have to their grilled fish. Eating too much of it would be fatal. Otherwise, why would their grilled fish be the most popular in the whole town?"
Now, Manager Li didn't care whether eavesdropping on the customers' conversation would offend them, and asked in a low voice, "Is the Lin Family Restaurant that you two gentlemen mentioned the one on the next street?"
Qu Zhong nodded: "Yes, I saw the officials arresting people when I came here! Your restaurant is the best; you can eat at an old establishment with peace of mind."
Manager Li forced a stiff smile and replied, "Of course, we do business with a clear conscience."
Seeing that the music was almost ready, I ended the conversation at the right time and asked Manager Li behind the counter how much their table had spent.
Manager Li was already in a panic, and after quickly settling the bill for the two men, he ordered the waiter to remove all the grilled fish dishes from the menu. But just as the menus were removed, two constables rushed in and took him away.
Manager Li knelt below the courtroom. Before the magistrate could even begin his interrogation, he saw Lin Yao and Lin Changshou's family. This sight confirmed what the two customers had said earlier. Greatly alarmed, before the magistrate could speak, he cried out impatiently, "Your Honor! The poison is from the Lin family's secret recipe! That old man sold it to us! Thirty coins a jar! We were kept in the dark! My lord, I'm innocent!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Yao's lips curled up slightly, and she almost burst out laughing.
Outside the county government office, Xu Zhiheng and Jin Yu were also watching the spectacle. They had come today to discuss matters with Magistrate Tang, but unexpectedly stumbled upon this lively scene.
Jin Yu gasped in astonishment: "It actually worked! My lord, how do you think she did it?"
Xu Zhiheng glanced at him helplessly and explained the whole story in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Jin Yu exclaimed with admiration, "Lady Lin is truly a female Zhuge Liang!" She then nodded with satisfaction at her own description.
Xu Zhiheng looked at the small figure kneeling on the ground in the county government office and nodded, a rare occurrence: "He is indeed much more astute than you."
"Tsk! Why do you say that, young master? Everyone has their own expertise." Jin Yu curled his lip and waved his solid fist. "No matter how smart she is, can she be as strong as me? I could take down three of those yamen runners with one punch!"
In the courtroom, the county magistrate looked at Manager Li, who had confessed without being asked, and turned to Lin Changshou, "Do you have anything else to say?"
In court, the county magistrate turned to Lin Changshou: "What other explanation do you have?"
Lin Changshou stubbornly argued, "We are a family, so naturally we have a share of the secret recipe. How can selling our own stuff be considered a crime?"
Lin Yao sneered: "My lord, our two families have long since separated. This secret recipe was given to us by a wandering Taoist priest and has nothing to do with the Lin family's main branch. If you don't believe me, just ask them to restore the recipe."
Lin Changshou knew there was absolutely no way to salvage the situation, and he was furious: "You vicious little brat, are you trying to kill your own uncle and brother?"
Lin Yao said softly, “You won’t die. A jar of five-spice powder costs thirty taels, but you’ll get thirty strokes of the cane and three years of hard labor.” As she spoke, she turned her gaze to the Lin Youmin brothers, who were cowering to the side, “But the jewelry I stole totaled sixty-eight taels. According to the law, anyone who steals more than fifty strings of cash shall be beheaded.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Youmin's legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.
The county magistrate was quite surprised to see Lin Yao's familiarity with the law and ordered his constables to search her. Sure enough, they found a silver bracelet and a silver hairpin in Lin Youmin's clothes, exactly as Lin Yao had described.
This time, Lin Yao didn't wait for their unreasonable arguments: "Sir, along with the longevity lock from earlier, I bought them at Ruifuxiang Jewelry Store. The jewelry has the character 'Rui' on the corner. As for the price, you can inquire at the jewelry store."
The constable rushed back: "Reporting to Your Excellency, the situation is true."
Lin Youmin completely broke down, his legs trembling, and frantically grabbed Hu Shi: "Mother! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
Seeing her son's tearful face, Mrs. Hu felt as if her heart was being ripped out. Although her youngest son was unreliable, she had carried him for ten months and raised him with great care and hardship.
Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared fiercely at Lin Yao. The sound of her youngest son crying filled her ears, and the thought of Lin Yao's death sentence echoed in her mind. With a determined heart, she kowtowed to the county magistrate: "Your Honor, it was all because I was momentarily tempted by greed that I instigated my youngest son to steal it."
Madam Hu raised her head, her gaze turning sinister: "My son is not like these orphans who prioritize filial piety. How dare he disobey me?" With that, she seemed to lose her mind and shouted at Lin Yao: "You wretch, even if I die, I will haunt you day and night, making sure you can't sleep peacefully."
The county magistrate slammed his gavel: "Silence! Hu instigated the theft, the amount of which is confirmed, and according to the law, he should be executed! Lin Youmin and Lin Youfu are accomplices, and shall be given thirty strokes of the cane and exiled to the frontier to serve three years of hard labor. Lin Changshou stole the secret recipe, and shall be given thirty strokes of the cane and exiled to the frontier to serve three years of hard labor."
Upon hearing the magistrate's verdict, Hu was struck dumb, collapsing to the ground. Lin Youmin suddenly roared at Lin Yao, "Bastard! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!!"
Looking at his frenzied appearance, Lin Yao found it truly laughable: "What does this have to do with me! It was your own greed that killed your mother." After bowing to the county magistrate, she leaned close to Hu's ear and said, "Are you afraid of dying? That day, she lay in the woods, terrified. A life for a life. What you owed Lin Yao, I have taken back for her."
Hu was struck dumb. Her cloudy eyes widened suddenly, filled with terror. Her hands suddenly gripped Lin Yao's skirt tightly, but then she released it as if she had touched a poisonous snake. A gurgling sound came from her throat, as if someone had grabbed her lifeline, and she couldn't say a word.
Lin Yao looked down at her from her high position, watching her being dragged away in a sorry state by the yamen runners and thrown into prison.
Lin Yao breathed a long sigh of relief; she had finally avenged her.
Zhao Niangzi and Afu had been waiting at the entrance of the government office for a long time. When they saw the group of people come out, they took out the pomelo leaves they had prepared beforehand. The two of them each took one, and the men and women were divided into groups to ensure that everyone who had just been in the county government office had been baptized by the pomelo leaves.
Zhao Niangzi took a pomelo leaf and swept it back and forth twice for Lin Yao, saying, "Get rid of the bad luck, and everything will go smoothly from now on after you get over this hurdle."
Lin Yao smiled faintly, cooperating with her movements, feeling warm inside. "Let's go! We'll have a big meal today!"
Jin Yu's ears twitched, accurately catching the key phrase: "A feast? What feast? I want to eat too!"
Lin Yao then noticed Xu Zhiheng standing to the side, with Jin Yu by her side. "Miss Lin, your performance today was truly spectacular."
"Not at all, it's just a trivial skill. We're having hot pot today, are Young Master Xu and Young Master Jin Yu coming too?" Lin Yao said politely.
Jin Yu couldn't wait to agree on Xu Zhiheng's behalf: "Okay! Okay!"
Xu Zhiheng glared at him, "Don't be rude."
Lin Yao was just being polite. Seeing his words, she didn't try to persuade him further. Just as she was about to comfort Jin Yu by saying that she would cook him a new dish next time he came to the shop, she heard the person next to her say, "Since Miss Lin has invited us, we will gladly accept. What ingredients do you need today? We'll go and buy them now."
Lin Yao: ? I never thought this person was so clueless before.
Xu Zhiheng: "Miss Lin?"
Lin Yao snapped out of her daze, her big eyes darting around: "Since Young Master Xu puts it that way, I won't stand on ceremony. I'll trouble you to buy some mutton, pork belly, and chicken, and also prepare a few grass carp, sliced into fillets, which would be perfect for hot pot."
As soon as she returned to the restaurant, Lin Yao began preparing the hot pot broth. She planned to make two broths: one spicy broth and the other pork tripe and chicken broth.
Su Niang and Zhao Niangzi were about to help clean the pig offal, but Lin Yao stopped them: "Cleaning the pig's stomach is a delicate process. You can watch from the side and learn later."
She first turned the pig's stomach inside out, then rubbed it three times with salt and flour until the mucus was completely washed away. Next, she blanched it in boiling water to remove the fishy smell, and then cut it into strips about the width of a thumb.
Heat an iron wok until it's steaming, pour in lard, sauté ginger slices until fragrant, add pork belly strips and stir-fry until the surface is slightly browned, add enough boiling water, bring to a boil over high heat, then pour into a clay pot and simmer over low heat for half an hour.
Lin Yao took the large bowl of chicken that Wang Xiaoyu had prepared, heated oil in a wok, and stir-fried the chicken until it was half-cooked. Then she took out half of the chicken and put it into a casserole containing pig's stomach.
Once the soup turned milky white like nectar, Lin Yao added a handful of pepper powder, closed the lid, and continued to simmer.
The remaining chicken is then simmered over low heat until the meat and bones are tender.
Seeing that the chicken meat in the pot had already separated from the bone, Lin Yao separated the chicken meat from the chicken soup. She wanted to keep this part of the chicken soup to make the soup base for the spicy hot pot.
Chicken meat that has been boiled in chicken soup has lost its soul and is bland and tasteless. Lin Yao thought for a moment and decided to make the remaining chicken into shredded chicken. Although the taste would be slightly worse, it would still be better than eating it dry.
Lin Yao rinsed the chicken twice with cold water and then placed it on a bamboo sieve to cool. Once the temperature had dropped slightly, Wang Xiaoyu, along with Su Niang and Zhao Niangzi, shredded the chicken into thin strips.
Lin Yao took the chicken out of the water and rinsed it with cold water, then placed it on a bamboo sieve to cool. Afterwards, she had Wang Xiaoyu, along with Su Niang and Zhao Niangzi, shred the chicken into thin strips. She prepared minced garlic, chopped cilantro, and fried peanuts, and drizzled two spoonfuls of chili oil over it. The hot oil released a burst of aroma, and after mixing in the seasonings, a bowl of bright red, oily, and tempting hand-shredded chicken was ready.
"Bring me the chili oil and Sichuan peppercorns." Lin Yao poured lard into the empty iron pot, heated it to about 70% of its maximum temperature, added the dogwood leaves, and fried them until fragrant and crispy. She quickly removed them and then added the Sichuan peppercorns to the oil to sauté until fragrant. Next, she ladled three large bowls of pure chicken broth into the iron pot, and a layer of bright red chili oil immediately floated on the surface. Lin Yao stirred the spicy broth in the pot with a wooden spoon, then sprinkled in some salt and sugar to taste.
Meanwhile, the spicy broth was being prepared in full swing. Lin Yao poured lard into the iron pot, heated it to 70% of its maximum temperature, added dogwood and fried it until it was fragrant, then sautéed Sichuan peppercorns, and ladled in three large bowls of pure chicken broth. The bright red chili oil immediately floated on the surface of the soup. She sprinkled salt and sugar on it for seasoning, and the aroma of spicy and fresh flavor wafted up, making Xu Zhiheng and Jin Yulian outside the door sneeze.
Jin Yu covered her nose and backed away, saying, "What's that smell? It's giving me a headache!"
Lin Cheng laughed upon seeing this: "This is my little sister's favorite spicy hot pot. It smells amazing. Brother Jin Yu will soon find out how good it is."
Jin Yu covered her nose and said in a muffled voice, "I know now."
The pork tripe and chicken hot pot was already bubbling away. Lin Yao lifted the lid, sprinkled in goji berries, and the rich, savory aroma immediately filled the kitchen. She divided the broth into several smaller clay pots, added small earthen stoves, and tables of steaming hot pots were ready. She clapped her hands: "Let's eat!"
Watching people come in one after another carrying pots and bowls, Lin Yao suddenly felt like she was a cafeteria worker serving meals.
Everyone sat around the table, the charcoal fire crackling in the clay stove, and the broth bubbling in the clay pot. Now that winter had arrived, this chilly weather was perfect for hot pot.
Jin Yu couldn't wait to pick up a slice of grass carp as thin as a cicada's wing, dip it in the spicy hot pot, blow on it a few times, and then hurriedly stuff it into her mouth. Her face scrunched up from the spiciness: "Ouch, it's so spicy, it's killing me!"
He hurriedly grabbed the plum juice on the table and gulped down half a cup, his face flushed with excitement. "Awesome!" he exclaimed. Then he picked up a piece of mutton roll, but this time he was smarter. He poured himself a cup of tea, rinsed the meat in it, and then put it in his mouth.
Xu Zhiheng was much more refined. He scooped a spoonful of milky white soup into his mouth, the warmth of the pepper flowing down his throat. The pork belly was soft yet crisp, the chicken tender and falling off the bone, mixed with the sweetness of goji berries. A bowl of this on a winter's day would be so comforting that it would make you want to sigh.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
After dinner, Lin Yao sat in a rocking chair to rest, watching Lin Song and Xiao Man chase each other around the yard.
Lin Cheng took a small stool and sat down next to her. "Ayao, you've had a hard time these past few days. Don't take what your aunt said today to heart."
Lin Yao waved her hand dismissively, "I'm not afraid of her at all."
In fact, this matter was not entirely without room for maneuver. If Lin Youfu, Lin Youmin, and Madam Hu each admitted to the crime of possessing a piece of jewelry, they would at most be punished with caning and then exiled. This was the biggest flaw in her plan.
However, Lin Yao decided to take a gamble, betting that the heartless bastards of the Lin family's eldest branch would not be willing to take responsibility, and that the blame would ultimately fall on Madam Hu.
However, Lin Yao is not having a good time either. Although Hu Shi deserves to die, and what she is scheming on the surface is the selfishness of the men in the eldest branch of the Lin family, isn't this also a reflection of the disadvantage of women's status over the past thousands of years?
When the interests of a group are harmed, women are often the first to be sacrificed.
Indeed, relying on others is unreliable, and relying on mountains is unreliable; it's best to rely on oneself. No matter where she is, she must have absolute authority.
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Author's note: [Let me see] Can you give me a free collection?
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