Chapter 79 Chapter 79 What if they don’t sell it?
Aunt Guizhi went to the headman's house early today to wait. When she saw the headman coming back, she hurried to greet him.
The village head gave her the divorce certificate and household registration sticker.
Aunt Guizhi took the two things and thanked him profusely, feeling a sense of having lost something and then regained it.
When she returned to the village, she happened to meet a village woman. Seeing that Aunt Guizhi looked better, she asked about Lin Shuilian.
"Sister-in-law, what are your plans for the future? Will you find another one for Shuilian?"
Aunt Guizhi wasn't displeased when she heard this. She shook her head and said, "No need to look for another one. I'll take care of her and she'll stay at home from now on."
The man paused, "She's still young, you can't be with her forever."
Aunt Guizhi said, "When I'm gone, the two children will have grown up and will be able to accompany her."
The woman who was speaking wanted to say something else, but then she thought that this was a good thing. After suffering such a great hardship, the mother must be heartbroken.
It is normal for Aunt Guizhi to want to keep her daughter by her side and look after her.
After Aunt Guizhi left, the two women said, "This is truly a family of pitiful people."
Isn't it true? He originally had a son, but now he's someone else's.
Aunt Guizhi knew that many people in the village would definitely discuss their family, but she didn't care. The divorce papers were in hand, the two children were at home, the household registration was ready, and Lin Shuilian looked much better than that day. The days ahead would only get better and better.
But Lin Chuntao helped her so much, and she didn’t know how to thank her in the future.
Everything has been settled on Aunt Guizhi's side, and there has also been progress on Chai Xingyu's side.
He had been waiting for a reply from Chai Jiao. Just when he was thinking that he would send a second letter if he didn't receive the first one, Chai Jiao came back.
"Second sister! Why are you here?"
"What? You don't welcome me?"
Chai Xingyu smiled. His ferocious face didn't look good and the smile was even a bit scary. But he still smiled, and there was a strong emotion in his eyes. Chai Jiao was happy.
"No, I just think the journey is long and my second sister must be exhausted."
When Chai Xingyu got into trouble, the two sisters came back together, but they didn't stay long before leaving. It hadn't been that long, and he hadn't expected Chai Jiao to come.
"Second sister must have come back for me, right?"
Chai Jiao smiled. It was indeed half the reason. The other half was that her husband came here with the newly appointed prefect, so she came along too.
However, she had just gotten off the carriage, and she didn't tell Chai Xingyu that her husband and others were coming here.
Guo Jixiang was so happy to see her second daughter come back that she took her daughter's arm and walked home, and told the nanny beside her to go to the kitchen.
"Tell the cook that the second young lady is back and make her favorite dishes tonight."
Chai Songchuan was also happy and asked about his son-in-law after entering the house.
"Why did you come back? Meng Yuan didn't come with you?"
There were no outsiders in the house, so Chai Jiao said, "He is here, but it's just business. He came with his boss, so I guess he doesn't have time to come home."
Chai Jiao had her own plans, and Chai Songchuan didn't say much. Guo Jixiang, who was standing beside her, asked, "How long can you stay this time? Stay longer. If you leave this time, you probably won't be able to come back before the New Year, right?"
Chai Jiao nodded and responded.
Because of Chai Jiao's arrival, the whole Chai family became a little more lively. Even Chai Xingyu no longer hid in his own yard alone. He kept chatting with Chai Jiao, only going out for a while, again and again.
Guo Jixiang felt something strange. Chai Xingyu often went out for a stroll these days, and no one knew what he was busy with. It seemed that he hadn't visited Lin Chuntao and the others for several days.
Chai Jiao stayed with Guo Jixiang all afternoon. Chai Xingyu was anxious and wanted to call Chai Jiao away several times, but in the end he didn't say a word and left again on the pretext of going to the toilet.
After Chai Xingyu left, Chai Jiao said, "I see that my brother is much more energetic now than before. How did you get through this?"
Guo Jixiang laughed when he heard this and said, "This is quite strange. He locked himself in the courtyard, probably hoping to starve himself to death. We forced him to eat for a long time. I thought it would be like this day after day."
Chai Jiao raised her eyebrows slightly and waited for Guo Jixiang to continue.
"There's a new noodle stall in the market here. They use sauce in their soup, and it tastes delicious. Many people who eat it think the sauce comes from our family, and they come to our shop to ask about it. When your third uncle found out, he bought three bowls of noodles and sent them over. The housekeeper said he was sending one bowl to your brother, but I thought it was a waste of money at the time."
Chai Jiao took over the conversation, "In the end, my brother ate it."
Guo Jixiang smiled and hummed. Chai Jiao laughed for no apparent reason. "Is that all?"
"Yes, that's how it was. The next day, your brother took Sanbao to someone's stall to eat noodles before dawn."
Chai Jiao: "...This is exactly what a younger brother would do."
Guo Jixiang sighed.
"Not only that, he's not happy with me and your father, and he even recognized that Mrs. Lin who makes the noodle soup as his sister. He often goes to her for free meals. According to Sanbao, Mrs. Lin not only makes delicious noodle soup, but she's also an amazing cook."
"Recognize my sister?" Chai Jiao frowned slightly, a hint of displeasure in her eyes, "Who is this Madam Lin?"
Guo Jixiang said: "I was just a peasant girl from the countryside, with no parents. I made a living with my four younger sisters, selling noodle soup and often picking mushrooms to sell."
After Guo Jixiang finished speaking, the displeasure in Chai Jiao's eyes gradually grew stronger.
But the curve of her lips didn't move, and the expression on her face didn't change.
Guo Jixiang didn't notice the displeasure in Chai Jiao's eyes.
"Listen to what my mother said, this Madam Lin is quite capable."
Chai Jiao's tone was very calm. Guo Jixiang said, "He does have some skills. Although it's a small business, he's very smart and the sauce he makes tastes good."
Chai Jiao frowned slightly when she heard what Guo Jixiang said. She picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea. After a while, she looked up at Guo Jixiang.
"Why do I feel like my mother quite likes this Mrs. Lin?"
Guo Jixiang noticed her daughter's playful look, her heart skipped a beat, then she chuckled, lowered her eyes, and took the teacup beside her and held it in her hand.
"It has nothing to do with liking someone, it's just stating the facts."
Chai Jiao's brows slowly relaxed. "Does my brother like her very much?"
Guo Jixiang nodded, but then understood the meaning behind Chai Jiao's words and quickly waved her hand: "Mrs. Lin is married, and I see she has a good relationship with her husband."
"That's good." Chai Jiao seemed relieved. Guo Jixiang looked at her daughter's expression. She originally wanted to tell Chai Jiao that she wanted to go to the Lin family to act as a matchmaker for Chai Xingyu, but now the words were stuck in her throat.
Chai Songchuan sat next to him and asked his son-in-law if everything was going well recently.
Chai Jiao said, "Not bad. The new prefect thinks highly of him, so he was the only one brought along this time."
Chai Songchuanyan also smiled and said, "Then there may be good news soon."
Chai Jiao didn't respond, but only asked, "What about Madam Lin's sauce? Aren't Mom and Dad planning to buy the recipe?"
Guo Jixiang said: "I am planning to buy it, but I haven't mentioned it yet."
There was a hint of doubt in Chai Jiao's eyes. This speed of action was not something Guo Jixiang and Chai Songchuan would do.
Guo Jixiang met her gaze and added, "I forgot to tell you, it's such a coincidence that the person who saved your brother at the market entrance was Mrs. Lin's husband. We treated them to a meal and I even prepared a thank-you gift, but they refused to accept it."
Chai Jiao asked, "Isn't what mother gave you enough?"
"It was in a box, never opened, and someone brought it back."
Chai Jiao said, "If you don't want to accept money, then you are just trying to repay our Chai family's favor. You are quite good at calculating."
Guo Jixiang wanted the sauce recipe, but after she had been in contact with Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying for a while, she found that they really didn't want to accept it. It didn't seem like they were thinking about the favor of their family. Instead, she could feel that Lin Chuntao didn't want to sell the recipe.
But since it was rare that Chai Xingyu agreed to this, they were not in a hurry. After all, he would inherit the soy sauce factory in the future, so they let him try his hand first.
"Your father and I have handed over the Lin family sauce matter to your younger brother, and we plan to let him practice."
Chai Jiao remembered what Chai Xingyu said in the letter, but did not give any details. She only talked about their differences and his idea that he wanted to enrich the variety of sauces in the sauce factory so that customers would have more choices when they came to the shop. She supported this idea.
But only now did she realize that Chai Xingyu had come up with this method in order to protect the Lin family's recipe. Chai Jiao felt a little angry at being deceived.
But she didn't tell Guo Jixiang about this.
"It's good to practice, it's better than playing around like before."
After Chai Jiao finished speaking, Chai Song said, "This is the only way. Although I handed it over to him, it feels uncertain. What do you think, Jiao'er?"
Listening to her father's question, Chai Jiao smiled and said, "I still hope to buy the recipe and add a new sauce to our family."
Chai Song preached: "This is what my father planned too."
"But Madam Lin uses sauce in her noodle soups. Her noodle soup shop is doing pretty good business. Maybe she can open many shops in the future. She may not necessarily sell sauce recipes."
"She makes a lot of money a day from her stall, right? Business has its ups and downs, and it's impossible for her to make that much every day. Giving them a little more silver, even two hundred taels would be enough for them to live comfortably."
When Chai Xingyu came back from the toilet, he happened to hear Chai Jiao's words which were full of condescending charity, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Two hundred taels is a lot for a peasant girl, but her sauce is also unique. Just because she is a peasant girl, can we ignore her craftsmanship? Can we buy her things as alms?
The anger in Chai Xingyu's heart burst out, also because these words came from Chai Jiao's mouth. If they came from Chai Songchuan and Guo Jixiang, he would have accepted it.
These words came from his second sister.
He originally wanted to talk to Chai Jiao about the details and discuss how to cooperate with Lin Chuntao and others, but now after hearing this, it seems that there is no need to say anything.
He didn't go in again and went straight back to his own courtyard.
Chai Jiao and the others sat and chatted for a long time, but Chai Xingyu still hadn't returned. She raised her eyebrows slightly: "Ayu has been out for a long time, why hasn't he returned yet?"
"Don't worry about him. He's been acting mysteriously lately and I don't know what he's been up to."
After hearing what Guo Jixiang said, Chai Jiao didn't say anything. Not long after she sat there, people from other branches of the Chai family came over when they heard that Chai Jiao was back. After all, she was an official's wife. Almost every word these uncles and aunts said was complimentary, and the cousins were also polite and sweet-mouthed.
The whole family had dinner together in the evening, and there were a lot of people.
The first wife is in charge of the sauce factory and the sauce recipes, the second wife is mainly responsible for running around and transporting the sauces to various places, and the third wife is in charge of the shop selling sauces. Chai Lao San does everything himself and often stays in the shop, turning the original shop owner into a waiter.
Halfway through the meal, he said to Chai Songchuan, "Brother, I heard from the chef at the sauce shop that they can't make the sauce that the Soup Noodle Lady makes. Many customers come to ask every day. What should we do? Should we buy the recipe from the Soup Noodle Lady?"
Chai Laosan spoke suddenly. Chai Songchuan and Guo Jixiang glanced at Chai Xingyu who was eating. Chai Xingyu felt the gaze of his parents. He looked up and looked around at the people at the table. Finally, his eyes fell on Chai Jiao. He just looked at her for a moment and then slowly looked away.
"If I were to buy the recipe, how much would you charge for this sauce recipe, Uncle San?"
Chai Lao San didn't expect that it was Chai Xingyu who spoke up. He glanced at Chai Songchuan and Guo Jixiang, who didn't try to stop him. Chai Lao San said directly, "For their recipe, one or two hundred taels is already a lot."
“What if they don’t want to sell it?”
Chai Xingyu asked back, and everyone at the table fell silent.
After a long while, Chai Lao San said, "She's not selling it because she thinks they can still make money from it. If we are their only choice, she will sell it for a hundred taels."
Chai Xingyu chuckled when he heard this, with a hint of sarcasm in his laughter.
Chai Laosan's expression changed slightly. He looked at Chai Songchuan's calm face and was not sure whether Chai Xingyu's words represented Chai Songchuan.
He said bluntly: "Ayu is still too young. We are doing business to make money, not to spend it."
Upon hearing this, Chai Xingyu smiled and looked at Chai Songchuan. After his face was injured, he rarely appeared in front of everyone. This was the first time he appeared in front of the whole family. The playful boy he used to be, now covered with the scar, looked a little scary when he smiled.
"I'm young, so I think business should be based on mutual consent." After he finished speaking, Chai Lao San chuckled, his face full of disdain, "Then according to A Yu's idea, how much should we pay for this recipe?"
Chai Xingyu suppressed the smile on his face and said in a deep voice, "In my opinion, no matter how much we offer here, it will be useless. We have to ask the seller if she wants to sell it and how much she wants."
Chai Laosan's smile widened. Chai Xingyu looked at that smile and asked calmly, "Uncle San, don't you just throw a few coins at people and take the things away without asking the price when you go out to buy things?"
Before Chai Lao San could say anything, Chai Xingyu continued, "No wonder everyone is criticizing our Chai family. We could have just robbed them, but we still had to pay a penny as a fig leaf."
This statement was too blunt, no different from slapping Chai Lao San in the face.
His eyes slowly turned cold, and he looked at Chai Songchuan and asked, "What do you mean, brother?"
Chai Songchuan has only one son. If he wants to train Chai Xingyu to take over the soy sauce factory, he has to support him no matter what he thinks now. Otherwise, if Chai Xingyu wants to sit at this table and speak in the future, these uncles will use this matter to control him.
"I'll leave the soup sauce to Ayu."
After Chai Song replied, he looked at Chai Xingyu and said, "Ayu, your third uncle is right. We are doing business to make money, not to spend it. You have to understand this."
Chai Xingyu was a little surprised by Chai Songchuan's first sentence, but the second sentence came out immediately, and Chai Xingyu asked in return: "Making money through business is fine, but I want to ask, can our Chai family make all the money in the world?"
The table fell silent. Chai Xingyu continued, "Since there's no way to make money, why not give people a way to survive and make money together?"
After Chai Xingyu finished speaking, no one responded.
Chai Jiao looked at her uncles and aunts, all of whom were competing with her family for power and profit. Even though she agreed with her third uncle's ideas and disagreed with Chai Xingyu's, she had to speak up for her brother at this time.
"Ayu is right. We can't earn all the money. Many people have migrated from the Central Plains to Yizhou this year. They come from all directions and have diverse tastes. Our shop needs to be filled with a variety of sauces and flavors. We can't buy so many recipes for 200 taels like before. Our sauce factory also needs to expand. It's hard to supply so many sauces at once."
Chai Jiao was a daughter who had married out of town, but none of the Chai family dared to say she couldn't speak here, nor did they dare to ignore her words. Chai Lao San was silent for a moment and then said, "Jiao'er is right. We were indeed negligent. We didn't expect so many outsiders to come this year. They will be our guests in the future."
Chai Jiao said, "Uncle San is busy with the shop. Besides, those people from the Central Plains haven't settled down yet. Once they do, they'll come to the shop and hang out."
Chai Laosan echoed and turned to look at Chai Xingyu: "What does Ah Yu think?"
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