Seeing the people from the government office arrest Shi Lao Ba, Yao couldn't help but look at Xu Qinyu.

Xu Qinyu glanced at her and said to her, "Let's not talk about the dispute between the shops. The shop will be leased next year. Now that I'm not renting it out, the contract will expire. There's no need to wait until next year. Madam Yao can take the shop back and rent it out now. But he slandered me for adding addictive substances to the food I made. I can't let him go for such a slander on my reputation. If I let him spread rumors and ruin my reputation, I will report it to the authorities. The right and wrong will be decided by the county magistrate in the government. This kind of slander on people's reputation is serious in itself, not to mention that I'm still a foodie. If I don't prove my reputation, how can I make my guests trust me and continue to come to the restaurant for meals in the future?"

Yao looked at Shi Laoba in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he would actually come to Miss Xu's tavern and say such things.

Everyone knows that Miss Xu’s cooking is delicious, that’s because she’s a good cook. After all, I’ve been eating in her restaurant for three years. If it was something I was really addicted to, my body would have been ruined long ago.

She couldn't help but apologize to Xu Qinyu again, hoping that Xu Qinyu would let Shi Laoba go.

"We know how good your cooking skills are, Miss Xu. It's impossible that he put something in the food. He is just talking nonsense. Please give him a chance."

Xu Qinyu shook her head. "Other things are fine, but not this."

Otherwise, if someone is jealous of her good business, they will say that she has a problem with her eating habits, and once there is one problem, there will be two.

Shi Laoba was still shouting, "I was just talking casually, why do you take it so seriously? You take it so seriously, could it be that you..."

Seeing that he was about to talk nonsense again, Yao finally couldn't stand it anymore and turned around to hit Shi Lao Ba in the face, "Shut up, how dare you talk like that! If it weren't for you, Miss Xu and I wouldn't have been in such a mess. The rent has been raised, and you've been thinking about that little bit of money every day. If you really have the ability and the desire to make money, why don't you go out and make money yourself? You eat and drink my food all day long, and you even caused such trouble with me. You're just thinking about taking advantage of me all day long, and you're waiting for pie in the sky..."

She had been holding it in for a long time, and now she suddenly let it out. The strings in her heart loosened at once, as if everything had been cleared up and exposed to the light of day.

Yes, all of this belongs to her, why should she endure it?

Finally, the bailiff took Shi Lao Ba away. Since Xu Qinyu was suing him, she had to go with them. Fortunately, the kitchen had already finished most of the work, and the rest was left to Chef Wang and Dong Qian, who had no problem taking care of it.

Yao had vented her anger, but she couldn't just ignore him and followed him to the yamen.

It was unknown whether Shi Laoba was stunned by her attack or not. He did not make a sound along the way, and was escorted by the yamen runners to the yamen with a depressed look on his face.

When we arrived at the yamen, the county magistrate did not even try us out.

The county lord slammed the wooden block in the hall, and Shi Laoba was so frightened that he shrank his head and told everything with a tearful face.

He also said that he was jealous of Xu's good business and wanted to raise the rent, but Xu Qinyu disagreed and moved out directly. He held a grudge against her and went to the restaurant to make a fuss, saying that Xu Qinyu put addictive substances in the food she made, which was also nonsense and did not happen.

County Magistrate Yang was somewhat helpless, so he asked him to beat Shi Laoba with a stick and then let him go.

Xu Qinyu also returned to Xu Ji and continued to work.

The guests who were having breakfast were not affected at all. Instead, they felt that it was like watching a play and was quite enjoyable.

As for what Shi Laoba said about Miss Xu putting something addictive in the food she made, they knew it was impossible after thinking about it carefully, as they were all regular customers of Xu's.

Now that Shi Laoba himself has admitted that he was talking nonsense, there's nothing to worry about.

…

And on the Yao side.

Even though he was hit on the buttocks with ten strokes of the board, it was not painful, and Shi Laoba was pulled back by Yao in a donkey cart.

After pulling him back, she threw him onto the bed and ignored him, even telling him, "Shi Lao Ba, from now on, you will be responsible for sweeping, making rice pulp, and washing clothes at home. You are not allowed to interfere in the business of the shop and the house. If I find out that you interfere in such matters again and go to Xu Xiao Niang to make trouble, we will divorce!"

Shi Laoba raised his head and looked at Yao in disbelief, "You, what did you say? You, you dare!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Yao said with red eyes, "Now that your affair is known to everyone, who would dare to rent my shop? Otherwise, when business picks up, you'll ask for 20 taels of silver a month, and I don't know if I can still rent the shop out. Anyway, if something like this happens again, we'll get divorced."

"How dare you!" Shi Laoba struggled to the ground, wanting to teach Yao a lesson. "Just now you beat me in the wine shop. You, you bitch, who did you learn this from? You used to be so gentle and kind."

"You forced me to do this."

Seeing that Shi Laoba was limping and still wanted to get down to beat her, Yao was not going to let him do as he wished. She took advantage of his pain and pushed him down, then rode on him and beat him all over the face. Shi Laoba was injured and could not resist, and was beaten by Yao until he cried out.

After beating the man, Yao returned to the kitchen, took out a kitchen knife and stuffed it into Shi Lao Ba's hand, "If you want to hit me, kill me with one knife, otherwise..."

When Shi Laoba saw that she even took out the kitchen knife, he scolded her, "Are you crazy? I didn't hit you, you hit me, put the kitchen knife back quickly, don't hurt yourself."

Yao didn't listen to him, picked up the kitchen knife and chopped towards Shi Laoba's head.

Shi Laoba looked at Yao's chopping knife with horror, but luckily the knife just grazed his face.

Shi Laoba trembled and said, "You, what do you want to do? Do you want to kill me?"

Yao was also very angry.

She pulled out the kitchen knife that was on the ground next to Shi Lao Ba, raised it and told Shi Lao Ba, "Since you don't dare to kill me, you should live a good life with me in the future and do all the housework. Otherwise, we can divorce. If you still want to make trouble, we can die together. Now I am not afraid of anything."

Shi Laoba stared at Yao in a daze. Seeing the fierce expression on her face, he was a little afraid to say anything.

In the following days, except for the first three days when he had to recuperate, it was Yao who cooked for him. Later, when he was able to move, Yao asked him to cook and wash his own clothes. He was still not happy about it, and Yao was very straightforward. She didn't cook for him, but cooked for herself and her two daughters, and only washed their clothes. She didn't care about Shi Lao Ba at all, and even told him that she wanted a divorce.

She really didn't want to continue living with Shi Laoba.

She had been married once and had a daughter with her deceased ex-husband. Her family property was left to her by her parents. Her ex-husband also recruited a son-in-law, and the daughter took her surname.

She had never thought about remarrying before, but Shi Laoba pursued her relentlessly, coming to her house to fetch water and cook for her. After half a year of this, she finally agreed to marry him.

Unexpectedly, he gradually changed after the marriage. Not long after the marriage, she and Shi Laoba gave birth to a little girl.

She had an experience of being alone with her daughter, and they lived a good life.

Because Yuanbao Town had good public security, the county magistrate was a good man, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, there weren't many troubles around the widow.

If she reported the case to the government, the county magistrate would also make the decision for her, so she felt that it was impossible and it would be fine for her to live with her two daughters. Didn't Lin from Xu's family live with her two daughters?

Yao was truly disheartened now, and she told Shi Laoba truthfully that she was so disappointed and did not want to continue living with him and wanted a divorce.

Shi Laoba then started to panic, realizing that what Yao said was true.

He also began to cook meals and take care of the young girl. When the wound on his buttocks was almost healed, he also started to wash clothes and clean the house.

This made Yao stunned.

But Yao didn't take it seriously.

She was just being casual now. Anyway, she had a house, a shop and money. She could survive without a man. Even if Shi Lao Ba was not around, she might as well buy two maids and let the maids do the house cleaning and cooking. In fact, she wanted to save money at first, so she didn't buy any maids. Later, when the family had more people, she wanted to buy maids, but Shi Lao Ba didn't let her.

He was a very frugal man, and he treated his two daughters equally. If he really wanted to buy some cakes or hair ties when he went out, he would give them to both daughters, all the same, without any favoritism. That was why Yao was willing to follow him all these years.

Now Yao has also come to terms with it.

If Shi Lao Ba didn't want to work or live like that, she would divorce him and buy two maids. She would be happy to have some free time. She had thousands of taels of silver in her hand, plus a shop and a house. This money was enough for her to live comfortably. There was no need for her to live a miserable life.

Now that Shi Laoba was willing to work, Yao didn't say much, nor was she as grateful as before. She was just indifferent every day and didn't thank him, as if it was natural for him to do these things.

Yao really thought so. She had money, a house and a shop. Although she was married to Shi Lao Ba, he ate and drank at her expense. Wasn't it her duty to do something for him? Why should she be grateful to him?

So the days went on, and Shi Laoba even stopped complaining. He worked honestly every day and stopped going out for fun. He stayed at home playing with his little daughter all day.

Even though he worked all day, he didn't want Yao to buy a maid because he felt sorry for the money.

As for the shop, it was just as Yao had expected. Because the things done by Shi Lao Ba spread in Yuanbao Town, other people didn't want to rent the shop even though they thought it was a prosperous shop after Xu Ji rented it. Otherwise, they would end up like Xu Ji. What if the owner asked for a huge amount of money when the business was good in the future?

However, Yao had a relatively peaceful attitude towards the shop.

She still had two thousand taels of silver in cash, and she also had a house somewhere else that was rented out. It didn't matter if the shop couldn't be rented out for the time being. After this period of time, the shop could be rented out eventually.

…

On Xu's side, the restaurant was gradually getting on the right track, with three or four times more diners every day than before at the restaurant. Although it was busy, with the chef helping out more, Xu Qinyu didn't feel very tired.

Moreover, as long as the original chef of Donglai Ju is trained as a cooking assistant, things will be much better in the future.

The days passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed and it was already the twelfth lunar month.

Xu Qinyu also ordered 1,500 hams from Tian the butcher, but after thinking it over, she decided to order 2,000. Even if they couldn't finish them, they could be kept and, after being cooked to the standard of being edible raw, they could be transported to other state capitals by Madam Lu's caravan and sold easily there.

Once you have tasted this thing, you will know how delicious it is. There is no need to worry about not being able to sell it.

Naturally, Tian the butcher did not have that many pig hind legs, but he knew more pig farmers, so he naturally ordered from them.

It was impossible for all these hind legs to be delivered to Xu Qinyu at once. They were delivered one after another within a month.

Xu Qinyu also pickled all the 2,000 pig hind legs during the Leonuri month.

Pickling these pig hind legs cost her more than one thousand taels of silver. She had more than 20,000 taels of silver left, but she didn't know if it was enough to cover the subsequent expenses of building the restaurant in Raozhou City.

However, most of the money for the materials has been paid, only the wages of the craftsmen and some of the furniture and kitchen utensils have not been paid.

Moreover, since Xu Ji moved to Donglaiju, her monthly income has increased several times! Apart from the 30% that was given to the Dong family, she can still get about 3,000 taels of silver every month.

So he estimated that the remaining money plus Xu Ji’s income in the next few months should be enough to support the restaurant in Raozhou City.

The small workshop that was bought before to store the hams was obviously not enough. There were more than 900 hams stored in it, and at most it could hold more than 1,000 hams. The remaining 1,000 hams were directly stored in Mrs. Lu's big winery in Dagu Village. The winery was relatively large and had many empty rooms.

Even she couldn't bear to let Heiyu and Baiyu stand guard on both sides to watch over the ham, so she specially hired two honest and responsible people to help watch over it.

This person was introduced to her by Xia Yuanzhi, the husband of Mrs. Wu from the cloth shop. She used to work in the cloth shop with Xia Yuanzhi, but later she got older and less strong than before, so she returned home. She is an honest person, so there is no problem for her to help look after the workshop.

Xu Qinyu moved to Laixi Lane. Although it was closer to the Wu family, she was too busy on weekdays and didn't visit them often.

However, we always run into each other on weekdays, and visit each other frequently during festivals, and the relationship between the two families is getting better and better.

Shao Ge'er from Wu Wan's family is already seven or eight years old this year. He is much stronger and taller than the skinny and petite Shao Ge'er whom I met when I came to Yuanbao Town to rent a house three years ago.

Shao Ge'er has a very good relationship with Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er.

Now the three of them are still studying in a private school and go to and from school together on weekdays.

Shao Ge'er's temperament is different from what it was three years ago. He is much tougher now, talks more, and knows how to protect Feng Ge'er and Yuan Jie'er.

Xu Qinyu would definitely feel at ease working with the person introduced by Xia Yuanzhi.

Moreover, the workshop and the winery are located in the town and the village respectively. If there are thieves, they can be discovered by shouting. As long as there are people guarding them, it will be fine.

Two people were helping to guard the workshop and the winery.

Xu Qinyu did not let Baiyu and Moyu continue to go to the workshop. She also told them that a new restaurant and a house were being built in Raozhou City. It was a large house with five courtyards and a big garden. They would have a place to run in the future. She also said that the garden led to the back mountain, so they could stroll to the back mountain from the garden on weekdays.

Ever since she told Baiyu and Moyu about this, Xu Qinyu hasn't seen them in the past few days. She suspected that they had gone to the outskirts of Raozhou City to see Gai's restaurant and house.

By the time the ham is pickled, it will be almost the Chinese New Year.

By the end of the New Year, the restaurant will be almost completed, and she will definitely go to Raozhou City to get busy.

The restaurant closed on the 29th day of the lunar month.

Xu Ji usually had the New Year's Eve dinner with the restaurant staff.

This year is no exception. This is the first year since moving here, so Xu Qinyu naturally attaches more importance to it. On the 29th of Lunar New Year, she only prepared breakfast and did not receive diners in the afternoon. She asked the kitchen staff to prepare three large tables of food.

In the past, Xu's restaurant only had one table, but it was always packed with people. This year, there are many more waiters and chefs, so there are three packed tables.

Even the Dong family is here today.

At the end of the meal, Xu Qinyu said a few words as usual. She stood up with a glass of wine and said with a smile: "The fact that the restaurant is crowded with guests every day is also due to everyone's hard work throughout the year. From now on, the restaurant will set up a New Year's dinner every year during the New Year. We will eat together, and after the dinner, we can rest for a few days and have a good New Year."

After she finished speaking, she smiled and said, "In addition to the monthly salary, Xu Ji's employees will also receive red envelopes during the Chinese New Year. Now that we are all Xu Ji's employees, we will naturally receive red envelopes as well."

Originally, the waiters at Donglaiju only earned eight hundred coins a month, but after Xu Qinyu came, their salary was raised to one or two taels of silver per person, because Yuan and her friends' monthly wages had already been raised to one or two taels of silver.

These guys are all old folks at Donglaiju. They have been here for many years and are diligent and conscientious.

Xu Qinyu naturally treated everyone equally and paid them all one or two taels of silver.

The monthly salary of one or two taels of silver alone was enough to make the waiters very happy.

These waiters are just like Yuan and his friends. They not only serve as waiters, but also wash the pots, bowls, and utensils in the kitchen. They are very efficient at their work.

In fact, eight hundred coins is considered a lot in Yuanbao Town, but unexpectedly, the new boss would give more, so he worked harder and all his heart was directed towards Xu Qinyu.

Fortunately, although the two companies merged, Xu Qinyu was only in charge of the kitchen affairs on weekdays, while Dong Xi was in charge of purchasing and other matters. His personality was also like Dong's, unlike Yue Youwei, who would take a cut of the purchases.

Dong Shi and Dong Xi had no objection at all to raising the employees' wages.

Now even Dong Xi is learning cooking from Xu Qinyu and has to respectfully call her Master.

They even thought Xu Qinyu was kind and righteous.

These guys didn't think much about it when they heard they were going to be given a red envelope.

Only the three Yuans looked at Xu Qinyu, their eyes sparkling.

The guys around couldn't help but wonder, how many red envelopes could there be and why did they look so excited?

They thought that red envelopes were the red packets given by the elders in the family to the children during the Chinese New Year, with just a few coins in them for festive occasion. They thought that the red envelopes given by Xu Dongjia should have the same meaning.

When Cheng Ge'er came over pushing a wooden box, Xu Qinyu opened the box and revealed the silver inside.

Seeing the white silver, everyone was a little confused.

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, waiters. In previous years, the red envelope was 10 taels of silver per person, and it will be the same this year."

"Ten, ten taels?" Someone couldn't help but exclaimed, "Boss, are you sure?"

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Don't worry, it won't be wrong, so please work hard in the future. If you do a good job, your salary will increase."

As long as the employees work hard, she will not treat her employees unfairly.

The waiters were stunned, and slowly, they became like Yuan and the others. They were excited, their faces flushed, and they couldn't help but straighten their backs and sit upright.

Donglaiju originally had eight waiters. Xu Qinyu took out eighty taels of silver and distributed them to them. Each ingot was worth ten taels of silver. They felt heavy in their hands, but no one disliked them at all. They all smiled unconsciously, revealing two rows of white teeth.

Xu Qinyu took out another thirty taels and gave them to Yuan, Chen and Lin.

The others are Cheng Ge'er, Da Niu, Xu Feng and Xu Tiao.

After all, they were still apprentices and had not officially become chefs, but they helped a lot every day and each of them was given a red envelope of ten taels of silver.

The younger Erniu, Xu Yu and Xu Shun also had three taels of silver.

As for Gong Ge'er.

Gong Ge'er has been busy supervising the construction work at the construction site in Raozhou City these days and cannot even come back for the New Year. Xu Qinyu asked Cheng Ge'er to take Gong Ge'er's ten taels of silver back with him and give it to him when Gong Ge'er comes back.

The rest is for the kitchen helpers and chefs.

For helping in the kitchen, Xu Qinyu gave each person a red envelope containing forty taels of silver.

The chief chef's fee is eighty taels.

The red envelope from Xu Qinyu was almost a year-end bonus, but she earned a lot, so the amount she gave was almost equivalent to a year's salary.

Even the assistants and the chef did not expect that they had so many red envelopes. They thought that all the red envelopes were the same, also ten taels.

As cooks, they were paid much more than ordinary craftsmen. A helper could earn three or four taels of silver a month, and a head chef would basically start at seven taels of silver. But these dozens of taels of silver were not a small amount of money for them, so they naturally felt warm in their hearts and thanked Xu Qinyu.

I also felt more and more that although the owner of Xu Ji was young, he was an honest person. He made money and did not treat them badly.

If the monthly salary is higher in the future, plus this red envelope, to be honest, they are not willing to open a restaurant or food stall by themselves, with so many things to worry about. It would be better to just follow Mr. Xu peacefully. In this way, the assistant chefs can get about 100 taels of silver every year, and the head chef can get nearly 200 taels of silver. Why bother to worry so much?

It’s just that Dong was a little surprised. He didn’t know that Xu Ji would give everyone so many red envelopes.

After all, no restaurant or shop owner would give out red envelopes like this. They would just give a few dozen coins to each person as a token of appreciation after opening on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

But Xu Qinyu was generous to everyone, so Dong would certainly not hold back.

All the red envelopes added up to several hundred taels of silver, which was considered a lot, but Xu Qinyu earned more, so naturally he was willing to give some to his employees.

After handing out the red envelopes, everyone started to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.

Because of these red envelopes, everyone was in a good mood and enjoyed eating and drinking more happily.

They were so happy.

When they returned home with the red envelope, they showed it to their family members and told them how generous Xu Ji's boss was.

Everyone was also very surprised, and said, "No wonder when someone asked the waiters at Xu's how much they got each month, they said eight hundred coins. They were really good at hiding it. This is one tael of silver a month, plus the red envelope, my God, that's twenty-two taels of silver a year. Oh my God, Mr. Xu is so nice. You guys have to work hard and don't be sneaky. In the future, if someone asks you about your monthly salary, remember not to tell others about it, so as not to arouse jealousy and bring trouble to yourself and Mr. Xu."

"Save it, save it."

The principle of not showing off wealth is applicable both in ancient and modern times.