The carriage stopped right at the door of the house. Xu Qinyu didn't know who it was, so she jumped off the donkey cart and looked at the carriage.

When the fourth brother also got off the carriage, the people inside still didn't come out. Xu Qinyu didn't know whether they were looking for her or the Pei family. Seeing that no one came out, she planned to move the ham back to the house with the fourth brother.

The person in the carriage was Wen Lingling. When she was halfway back, she remembered the scene of the chef of Donglaiju supporting the pregnant woman. She felt a little disgusted. After hesitating for a while, she asked the coachman to turn the carriage around.

Arriving at Laixi Lane, she stopped in front of Pei's house, hesitating whether to go down and knock on the door. Later, she felt embarrassed and didn't want to go down. After hesitating for a while, she saw a donkey carriage coming from a distance. Xu Qinyu and her fourth cousin were sitting in it. When the two stopped in front of the door, Xu Qinyu glanced at her carriage for a few times but didn't even ask who it was. She planned to go straight into the house.

Wen Lingling was anxious, and quickly opened the car curtain and shouted, "Xu Qinyu."

Xu Qinyu turned around and found that it was Wen Lingling. She raised her eyebrows and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ever since Aunt Gui came back, she has completely lost contact with that place.

Now that Aunt Gui has become Mrs. Zhu, no one else knows about it except a few people in the family. Even the neighbors around here think that the mother of Magistrate Zhu has come to Yuanbao Town to recuperate, so there is no need to contact them at all. During the holidays, Mrs. Wen will never go there to visit Mr. Wen and Mrs. Wen.

So she hadn't seen Wen Pingling for a long time, but she knew that she opened a restaurant and that her restaurant business was not very good. She was also wondering whether Wen Pingling would come to cause trouble.

I didn't expect that Wen Lingling never came to make trouble.

Xu Qinyu had some understanding of Wen Pingling. If she came to cause trouble, she would probably go directly to the door and would not use any insidious means. For example, if Wen Pingling didn't like someone, she would turn hostile and say nasty things to their face, but she would not use cunning means behind their back.

She is unreasonable, unreasonable, and has a bad temper, but she doesn't dare to do anything that is truly evil and would harm someone's life.

At this moment, she didn't even think about why Wen Lingling came to see her.

Pei Weixuan stood beside Yu Niang and glanced at Wen Ling indifferently.

The unpleasant words that Wen Ling was about to say were stuck in her throat. She was startled when Pei Weixuan gave her a look.

She was a sickly person who could not speak much before, but now, for some reason, she felt a little frightened when she looked at her. She was going to say something unpleasant, but now she could not say it. She just looked at Xu Qinyu and said dryly, "I have something to ask you."

Xu Qinyu also looked at her, "Just tell me what's going on."

Wen Lingling glanced at Pei Weixuan. These were not nice things to say and she was too embarrassed to say them in front of her fourth brother.

Xu Qinyu understood and turned to Pei Weixuan and said, "Fourth brother, move the ham in first."

Pei Weixuan nodded and moved the ham from the donkey cart back into the house.

Shi Liu, who was standing next to Wen Lingling, also poked his head out and stared at the remaining ham on the donkey cart.

Xu Qinyu turned around and saw the maid staring at the ham.

She didn't recognize Shi Liu. She was not a member of the Wen family. She must be a maid bought by the Wen family after her grandmother passed away.

After Pei Weixuan entered the house and disappeared from view, Wen Lingling waved to Xu Qinyu, "Come here, I have something to tell you."

Xu Qinyu frowned, "If you have anything to say, tell me now. I still have to move the remaining ham back."

Wen Lingling glared at Xu Qinyu and finally said, "Do you want to listen to my advice about helping out as a chef in your restaurant? If not, I'll go back."

Related to Dongqian?

Xu Qinyu frowned, then walked over to Wen Lingling's carriage, "What happened? How is it related to Dong Qian?"

She really couldn't imagine that anything had to do with Dong Qian. Dong Qian had a good character. Although he was the young master of Donglai Ju, he didn't give any of what he learned from her to Donglai Ju.

When Xu Qinyu came over, Wen Lingling leaned over and whispered a few words in her ear.

After hearing this, Xu Qinyu's eyes gradually widened, and finally her face turned angry. She was almost mad to death after hearing this.

After Wen Lingling finished speaking, she saw that Xu Qinyu was very angry. She looked at the ham again and said to her, "I have helped you so much, shouldn't you thank me? What is this on your donkey cart? Give me two as a way of repaying the favor." She also didn't want Xu Qinyu to owe her a favor. If they didn't repay each other, it would be awkward to owe someone a favor.

Xu Qinyu glanced at Wen Lingling and felt that she would not lie to her.

But Wen Ling has a bad temper and I don’t know whether I should believe her.

Xu Qinyu thought for a while and said, "I will tell Dong Qian about this. If it's true, can I give you two hams?" If it was true, she didn't want to owe Wen Ling a favor.

She either felt that Wen Ling would trick her into giving her two hams for no reason, or she was worried that what she said was false, and that he was tricking her into using the ham for something else, or using the ham to cause trouble in her restaurant.

But Wen Ling couldn't have known in advance that she would go back from the workshop with her fourth brother to get ham today.

So Xu Qinyu couldn't figure out whether what Wen Lingling said was true or false.

Wen Ling rolled her eyes at Xu Qinyu, and thinking of how familiar Xu Qinyu and Fourth Brother were just now, she asked curiously, "Are you and Fourth Brother really married?"

What I mean is, are the two of them really husband and wife?

Fourth brother is a sickly person and usually very cold, but the way he looked at Xu Qinyu just now shocked her a little. Even she could tell that the way Fourth brother looked at Xu Qinyu was different.

Xu Qinyu was a substitute bride and was not originally the fourth brother's fiancée. She also thought that the two of them would never become a real couple.

"What's it got to do with you?" Xu Qinyu glared at Wen Lingling, finding her words incomprehensible.

Wen Ling wanted to sneer, but she saw her fourth brother coming out of the house again. He gave her a cold look, quickly lowered the curtain, and told the driver to leave Laixi Lane.

It's really strange. Although Fourth Brother also looked cold and aloof during his exile, he wasn't this scary.

To be honest, during the exile, the Wen family targeted the Pei family.

But he didn't really do anything, it was all words, and Fourth Brother didn't care at all.

There was one time when she had an argument with Xu Qinyu over a big rock. They almost came to blows, but in the end they didn't.

Now she was just talking to Xu Qinyu. Fourth brother looked like this, it was really scary.

After Wen Ling left, Xu Qinyu also brought a ham, and Pei Weixuan carried the remaining few pieces in together.

When entering the house, Xu Qinyu whispered to Pei Weixuan, "Fourth brother, Wen Ling just told me that Dong Qian's father had a mistress in Raozhou City. She said she saw it when she went to Raozhou City today, and she came to tell me specifically so that I could tell the Dong family. I just don't know if what she said is true or not."

Fourth brother is smart, maybe he can tell whether what Wen Lingling said is true or false.

Pei Weixuan said gently: "She didn't lie to you. She really just came back from Raozhou City, and she saw it with her own eyes."

Xu Qinyu was shocked and asked, "Fourth Brother, how do you know that what she said is true?"

Pei Weixuan told Yu Niang that from Wen Pingling's personality and expression, the thick mud and weeds on the wheels of her carriage, and the fact that the makeup on Wen Pingling's face had all fallen off, it was obvious that she had been on a long journey and had only just returned.

Xu Qinyu really admired him.

But I think what Wen Ling said is true. This matter is really disgusting.

Isn't this the Phoenix man eating the whole family?

It is even more disgusting than the Phoenix man who eats up the whole family. Even if the Phoenix man eats up the whole family, at least the child is still the woman's. In the future, the family property will at least be left to the woman's child, and there is a blood relationship.

Yue Weimin is even worse. Not only does he want to eat up the whole family, he also wants to give all the family property to himself and the children he has with his concubines.

While he was eating up the family's wealth and supporting his mistress, he must have been reluctant to abandon the child who was related to the Dong family's bloodline.

Even if the second son born to the Dong family took his surname, he would probably still feel aggrieved, thinking that the Dong family made him an heir and that the world looked down on him.

As for his second son, he probably doesn't have any feelings for him at all.

Xu Qinyu was very angry, "Fourth brother, the chef of this Donglaiju is a phoenix man, eating out the whole family, it's really disgusting, fourth brother, I'm going to go to the Dong family later."

She had to tell Dong about this as soon as possible so that Dong could make preparations early.

"Let me take you there."

It was getting dark, and he was worried about Yu Niang going out alone.

Xu Qinyu nodded.

After putting the ham back, the two planned to go to Dong's house.

Xu Qinyu hesitated for a moment, and finally took the two hams and went to the Wen family first. She knocked on the door and gave the two hams to the doorman, asking the doorman to give the hams to Wen Lingling, saying it was a thank-you gift for her.

The doorman was still a little stunned. Finally, after seeing Xu Qinyu leave, he sent the ham to Wen Lingling.

Wen Lingling looked at the ham and pursed her lips.

She didn't know how to eat it either, so she decided to ask the chef from Xiangrui Restaurant to try making it tomorrow.

In fact, she had only eaten food cooked by Qinyu once, when she went to Xu Ji to look for Xu Qinyu as a partner in opening a restaurant more than a year ago.

It was just that one time. Later, when she saw that Xu Ji's business was good, she felt annoyed and a little angry, so she didn't go to eat there. Later, when she saw that Xu Ji's business was getting better and better, she also felt annoyed and didn't want to take care of Xu Qinyu's business, so she never went there again.

She knew how delicious the food Xu Qinyu cooked was.

In fact, almost everyone in Yuanbao Town has eaten Xu’s food.

In Yuanbao Town, everyone, from officials to wealthy gentry to ordinary people, has eaten there, because although Xu's breakfast and dinner are a bit expensive, it also has cheap fish balls, fish heads, and braised fish.

Pomegranate stared at the ham, and was very greedy.

Even when it's still raw, you can smell a rich aroma, which is completely different from the taste of ordinary bacon and pickled meat, and both have a hint of salty aroma.

…

After leaving the Wen family, Xu Qinyu went to the Dong family.

The Dong family's house has five courtyards and they live next to the Dong family, not far from the Wen family.

After knocking on the door, the doorman recognized Xu Qinyu and immediately went in to report. Dong naturally asked the doorman to invite the person in quickly.

After inviting the guests in, Dong asked them to serve tea and fruit, and said with a smile: "Master Xu, why are you here? Are you looking for Brother Qian? He is in the west courtyard. Do you want me to ask the maid to call him over?"

Dong knew that Xu Qinyu was wholeheartedly teaching Qian'er.

She had a similar idea to Qian Ge'er. She would not add the recipe she learned from Xu Qinyu to the menu of Donglaiju, unless Donglaiju opened to other towns in the future. As long as Donglaiju and Xu's were in the same place, she would avoid it.

In the future, Dong’s recipe book will also include where these dishes were learned from.

Xu Qinyu shook her head, "Madam Dong, I'm looking for you."

Dong was a little surprised, "Mr. Xu is looking for me?"

"Yeah." Xu Qinyu nodded and told Mrs. Dong what Wen Pingling had told her. She also told Mrs. Dong that it was not she who discovered it, but Wen Pingling from the Wen family. Shi Liu and she followed him to the house and saw the scene where the eleven or twelve-year-old boy called Yue Weimin "Dad".

Before she finished, Dong's face had turned frighteningly pale. When she reached the end, when the child called her husband "daddy", Dong's body began to stagger and was about to fall.

Xu Qinyu hurriedly stepped forward to support Mrs. Dong and asked worriedly, "Mrs. Dong, are you okay?"

Although the truth hurts people, this matter cannot be kept secret. If it is kept secret, it will cause greater harm to the Dong family. Otherwise, if Yue Weimin really waits until all the affairs of Donglai Residence are settled and the property is transferred, and then divorces the Dong family, the Dong family will suffer even greater harm.

At that time, not only will the family be destroyed, but people may even die.

Dong's body was shaking all the time and she couldn't speak at all. Xu Qinyu became a little anxious and wanted to go out and call the maids and servants outside to call the doctor.

Pei Weixuan, who was standing on one side, said, "Let me do it."

He stepped forward and pressed several acupuncture points on Dong's body. Dong's trembling body finally calmed down slowly, but his eyes were still red and he kept crying.

The two of them could only watch. It was okay for them to cry, but they couldn't keep it all in their hearts. She believed that Dong was not an emotional person and would investigate the matter.

As long as it is proven to be true, she will not let Yue Weimin continue.

Because she has her own children, she has to make plans for her children.

Xu Qinyu knew that regarding keeping a mistress outside, the laws of the Dasheng Dynasty were similar to those of later generations. Even if Yue Weimin was a son-in-law who was adopted by his wife and had a mistress and a child was born outside, the law could not do anything to him. This was a family affair and the government could not interfere.

So what Dong has to do next is actually simple.

Dong finally cried enough and wiped her eyes, which were swollen. "Thank you, Mr. Xu. If you hadn't told me, I don't know how long this matter would have been kept secret. If he really transferred all the family property and divorced me, I would have been in real trouble."

She actually had a vague feeling in her heart.

In fact, when her father asked her to find a son-in-law, she had no feelings for Yue Youwei. She had no feelings for her father's disciples either, and only treated them as senior brothers.

But later, only Yue Weimin was willing to stay in the Dong family as a son-in-law.

After marrying Yue Weimin, she was worried that he had some problems, so she always treated him well.

Later, she slowly developed feelings for him, and after giving birth to three children, her feelings for Yue Weimin grew deeper and deeper.

But recently, she always felt that her husband was a little anxious, and she didn't know what he was anxious about. He always urged her to ask Qian Ge'er what recipes he learned from Xu Ji, and asked Qian Ge'er to write them down for him. He wanted to study them privately and promised that he would never use them in the recipes of Donglai Ju.

But she disagreed, and Qian Ge'er would not agree either. Her husband didn't say anything on the surface, but he always sighed in front of her, saying that he had been passionate about cooking all his life and had no other ideas at all.

She and Qian Ge'er are still hard-hearted.

My husband also goes out often, for two days every month, saying that he goes to a nearby town to meet someone to cook and taste dishes.

Also, every year at the end of the year, he always said that he would go back to his hometown to worship his deceased family members. Who would have thought that he was not going to eat food with others, nor to worship his own parents, but to his mistress, and even had a child with her.

Xu Qinyu sighed, "Madam Dong, then you should take care of the housework first, we will go back first."

"Thank you, Mr. Xu." Dong thanked Xu Qinyu again.

After the two left, Dong sat there in a daze for a long time before finally getting up and going to the yard of her eldest son Dong Qian.

Dong Qian was accompanying his daughter and his pregnant wife.

Seeing her eldest daughter-in-law's bulging belly and thinking of her husband's mistress, Dong felt extremely disgusted.

Dong thought to himself: "Since you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust."

Dong smiled and said a few words to her eldest daughter-in-law, and asked the maid to look after her and her granddaughter to go to the yard to play, while she had something to say to Dong Qian.

Wait for the eldest daughter-in-law and granddaughter to leave.

Dong Qian saw that his mother's eyes were red, and asked worriedly: "Mom, have you cried? What happened?"

Dong did not hide it and told her son what Xu Qinyu had told her.

Dong Qian's face suddenly turned ashen.

He thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, mother. I'll send someone to Raozhou City to take a look first."

He certainly couldn't go to Raozhou City in person to find out anything, for fear of alerting the enemy. If his father really had a mistress and had a child with her, he might have other intentions.

It was not against the law for a man to keep a mistress. Some men even thought their wives were fierce and dared not take a concubine, so they kept a mistress outside.

But his father married into the Yudong family, so the situation was different.

However, he kept a mistress and had children with her. His intentions were self-evident.

Dong said: "Okay, let someone go and take a look first, just in case it's just a misunderstanding..."

In fact, she already knew it in her heart. Even Mr. Xu came in person, so it couldn't be a misunderstanding.

"Mother." Dong Qian hesitated and asked, "If father really has a mistress outside and has a child..."

Dong said coldly: "Then he can take his mistress and children away, but he can't take a penny of the Dong family's property and money with him."

…

Dong Qian did not delay and immediately asked his servant to go to Raozhou City to see if his father really had a mistress outside.

This boy is his own and has grown up with him since childhood.

The servant was shocked when he received the letter, but he said nothing and immediately drove the carriage to Raozhou City.

The next day, the servant came back at night and told Dong Qian and Dong Shi, "Madam, the eldest master, the old man really has a mistress outside, who lives in Shijing Lane in Raozhou City. The mistress is called Liu Niang. I also asked the neighbors nearby, and Liu Niang said that her husband is doing business outside to make money and can only come back twice a year. In addition, Liu Niang moved to Shijing Lane seven or eight years ago with a little boy. I heard that they did not live in Shijing Lane before, but lived somewhere else, and rented a small courtyard. Later, they bought a house with two entrances in Shijing Lane and moved in."

"Not only that, I also stayed at a hidden location in Shijing Lane for a day and a night, and I saw Liu Niang and the young man going out to buy things. The old man sent them to the door and said that he would not accompany them because he was too tired and wanted to rest. The young man said, 'Dad has been out doing business all year round, it's time to rest. Then Dad, go back to the house and rest, and I and Mom will go to buy New Year's goods.'"

Yue Weimin really didn't dare to go out shopping with Liu Niang and Ji Ge'er, for fear of being seen by people they knew.

He also has some chefs he knows in Raozhou City, so he is still relatively cautious.

After the servant finished speaking, he didn't dare to breathe. He didn't expect that his master was a son-in-law who had a mistress and even had a child with her.

Dong Qian nodded and let the servant go down first.

After the servant left, Dong Qian asked, "Mother, what are you going to do?"

He was actually quite confused inside, after all, this was his father and he had feelings for him.

But this feeling is a little complicated. Ever since his younger brother was born, he took his father's surname. He could slowly feel that his father treated him differently and coldly. Even when he was a helper cook in Donglaiju, his father did not teach him the new dishes he created by combining the Dong family recipes.

"Do you want to tell your brother about this?" Dong Qian asked again.

Dong's face turned pale and she shook her head, "Don't tell your brother yet, I'll check the accounts first."

Although Donglaiju has always been managed by her husband, she would check the accounts every month.

However, the account books of Donglaiju were given to her by her husband, so she could tamper with them. According to the account books, Donglaiju's monthly profit was around 1,000 taels at its peak. Since she knew that Xu's restaurant, which only had one floor and two shops, had a profit of 500 to 600 taels of silver every month, Dong now thought that the 1,000 taels must have been false. At that time, Xu's restaurant had not yet opened, and most of the wealthy diners in Yuanbao Town ate at Donglaiju.

Donglai Ju is a three-story restaurant with three floors, so it must have cost more than a thousand taels of silver.

Even after Xu Ji opened, the profits on Donglaiju’s accounts became even less.

By the summer, there would only be five or six hundred taels of monthly profit left in the account book.

Dong felt that her husband must have embezzled most of Donglaiju's profits.

But she didn't really care about the profits her husband embezzled, because in addition to the profits he brought to Donglaiju during the years they were married, there was also a lot of property and money left to her by her father, which were the real big chunks of the money.

In fact, she had never thought of guarding against her husband. It was her father who told her before he died, "Child, even if you have a good relationship with Weimin in the future, you must be careful. Dad is a man, and Dad knows the nature of men. Don't let Youwei know about the things Dad left for you. You must also take care of the wine shop bills and the money. Do you remember everything?"

So all these years, she never told her husband about the family business her father left her.

Her husband did ask her if her father had left her any money or property, but she said no.

But the Dong family is a century-old culinary family, so how could they not have accumulated any wealth?

Since he was so unkind, even if she had money, she would make him return all the money, otherwise he would never be able to see his mistress and children in Raozhou City again in his life.

Dong said, "Don't worry, Brother Qian, wait for him to come back."

————

Xu Qinyu and Pei Weixuan returned to Laixi Lane and spent the next two days preparing for the New Year. Fourth brother was also there this year, as was Old Madam Zhu, but Old Madam Zhu's coma time had started to get longer recently, so she planned to have a good New Year this year so that no one would have any regrets.

As for the Dong family's affairs, it has nothing to do with her.

She could see that Dong was not a weak woman. Since she had taught her eldest son well, she was capable of handling this kind of thing.

Fortunately, it is the Chinese New Year these days, so Dongqian doesn’t have to visit Xu Ji every day, otherwise he would definitely be absent-minded.

Xu Qinyu has been busy preparing ingredients at home these past two days. For this year's New Year's Eve dinner, she plans to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, also known as Fu Shou Quan, was specially prepared by her for Old Lady Zhu because the doctor said that it would be time for Old Lady Zhu to prepare for her funeral after the new year.

However, I wish the old lady would live a natural life without any misfortunes or illnesses, so it can be considered a happy death.

Before the old lady left, she wanted to prepare this Fu Shou Quan for her.