Chapter 147
After Zheng knew that it was the Empress's people who rented Jizi's shop, she wanted to back out at first, thinking that there was no hope for the Empress's people to return the contract, not to mention that they had rented the shop for five years. If they really wanted to return the contract, it would cost 50,000 taels of silver. She was unwilling to pay this money, knowing that Jizi didn't have that much money.
Zheng originally planned to stop there.
But she suddenly remembered that her husband was already forty, not young anymore, and her eldest son was already sixteen. He was very knowledgeable, but he could not inherit the title of the Crown Prince of Changshan.
If the Changshan Mansion really let the stepson inherit the title, the generations to come would surely be inferior to the previous ones...
If the child can inherit the title, the Changshan Mansion may achieve great things in the future.
Anyway, this title makes no difference to the stepson, who will still only eat, drink and have fun with those spoiled young men.
If he insists, the stepson might insist on asking the Queen's people to get the deed back, and then there might be a conflict that would offend the Queen, and then his position as the Crown Prince would naturally be in jeopardy...
Zheng was in a state of confusion. She wanted to make up her mind, but she was also worried that if she really instigated her stepson to go to the wine house to take back the deed, it would offend the Empress. Given how much Emperor Shengwu doted on the Empress, she was worried that she would just capture her stepson and kill him. In any case, she had never thought of taking her stepson's life.
I have never made up my mind to let my stepson continue to go to the restaurant and return the deed.
But he was so troubled that he had trouble eating or drinking every day and fell ill.
When Luotang Pingzhixiao's stepmother fell ill, he was very worried and went to visit Zheng.
Zheng just smiled and said, "It's okay, I just don't have a good appetite, and I've been busy with the government these days, so I'm not feeling well. The doctor has come and prescribed medicine, and I'll be fine after taking it for a few days."
Luo Tangping asked, "Mother, is it because of the shop? Have you found out who the young lady who rented the shop is from? If it is really because of the shop, then no matter what, if I can't find a shop, I can definitely get the deed to my own shop back."
He also didn't think that a young lady who lived in a two-story house in an ordinary area could afford more than 10,000 taels of silver to buy such a large shop and even dare to open a restaurant right away. Maybe she was from some noble family?
But even the sons of noble families usually live in the same mansion instead of moving out and living separately. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what was going on with the young lady who rented his shop.
He had been looking for a shop outside for the past few days. Just as he had guessed, a shop like his was still difficult to find. Seeing that his mother had lost her appetite because of this matter, he thought about looking for a few more days. If he still couldn't find a shop, he would go to the restaurant again and get the deed back.
Zheng was startled for a moment and turned her eyes away slightly. "I didn't find out. The name on the deed of the house is also a lady named Lianhua. I don't know anything else. I think she should be an ordinary lady with some money who wants to make a big living. That's why she rented a shop in this area. As for your shop, Tangping, don't worry about it. I will take some medicine for a few days and I will be better. After all, your shop has been rented out and the deed has been signed. It is definitely impossible for you to take it back..."
Luo Tangping saw that his stepmother had become thinner due to illness in just a few days, and he couldn't bear it. He wanted to repeat what his stepmother said, "Don't worry, mother. I have you all. You don't have to worry about the rest."
"You kid..."
Luo Tangping talked to his stepmother for a while, and seeing that her face was still pale, he asked her to have a good rest while he planned to return to his own yard.
When he went out, Luo Tangping saw his younger brother Luo Tangming.
Luo Tangming is the first child of his stepmother and father. He is four years younger than him, of the same age, and has the closest affinity with Luo Tangping.
When Luo Tangming saw his elder brother, he smiled and said, "Brother, are you here to see mother too?"
Luo Tangping nodded and said with a smile: "I just visited my mother. She is sleeping now. Have you learned the lesson?"
"Yeah." Luo Tangming smiled and said, "Brother, I'll come find you later."
The two brothers have always gotten along very well, even better than many other families' brothers.
Also because the two brothers have a good relationship, Luo Tangping has always respected his stepmother in his heart. He feels that his stepmother is truly good to him.
The two brothers chatted for a while, then Luo Tangming went in to see Zheng, and Luo Tangping returned to his own yard.
A few days passed, and Luo Tangping still hadn't found a suitable shop. Seeing that Zheng's resentment was getting heavier and her temper was getting worse, Luo Tangping could not wait any longer and went to the restaurant again. The restaurant was still under renovation. Xu Qinyu came here every day to check on the progress, and also ran around with Lianhua to purchase various matters. No one in the capital knew about it yet, so he and Lianhua were the ones doing all these things.
My fourth brother is also very busy. On weekdays, when he wakes up in the morning, he has already gone to court. After the morning court, he still has a lot of government affairs to deal with the court officials. Usually, when he returns home in the evening, my fourth brother is almost done with his work.
Xu Qinyu was also worried about her fourth brother, as state affairs were more distracting than these things. Every morning before leaving the palace, she would cook some soothing and brain-nourishing soup and have the palace maids watch over it so that her fourth brother could eat it when he returned in the evening.
These soups and meals are all relatively warm and nourishing, and can be eaten by the Empress Dowager and my grandmother.
My maternal grandmother, Zhu, also lived in the palace, and I would often go there to have dinner with the old man.
Xu Qinyu was already pretty busy in the restaurant at this moment, and she had been coming here to write recipes these past few days.
Even the account book that Prince Luo had thrown away before was sorted out, and the falsified parts were marked out. The actual purchase and daily order quantities of the restaurant were calculated clearly, and the key points could be seen at a glance, and how much money was missing. Xu Qinyu had no plans to share this account book with Prince Luo for the time being. She sorted it out and marked it for Lianhua to see in order to teach her how to do the accounting.
Xu Qinyu was talking to Lianhua, "It's getting late, let's go back to the palace first and come back tomorrow. In a few days, my brother and the others should be back in Beijing soon."
Just as Lianhua was about to say hello, a young man from downstairs came up and said, "Boss, the previous boss is here to see you again. He said he has something to ask."
This guy used to be a waiter in the restaurant. He was one of the waiters, cooks, and buyers. Except for the buyer Xu Qinyu, the rest of the waiters and cooks were kept. He even told them that they would be paid this month, so on weekdays these waiters would come over to help with sweeping and running errands.
This young man was quite clever. He knew at a glance that although the lady with the round face was the boss on the surface, the actual boss was a lady of another appearance.
Lianhua immediately said, "Master, please wait. I'll go down and take a look."
After a while, I found that it was Luo Tangping, who was standing in the hall downstairs with a sad face. When he saw Lianhua, he immediately came forward with an apologetic look on his face. But before he could say anything, Lianhua asked bluntly, "Boss, you came to tell me that your mother has lost her appetite because of the shop and has fallen ill. You can't bear to see your mother continue to be ill, and you really can't find another shop for your mother to use. You really want to fulfill your filial piety, so you can only come to discuss with us?"
Luo Tangping was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, "Yes, because of this, my mother has fallen ill, and I really can't find any other place to shop, so I had no choice but to come and look for the young lady again..."
He also thought clearly that if he really needed 50,000 taels of silver, he didn't have that much, but he could still come up with 4,000 or 5,000 taels. Apart from the 2,000 taels of silver that Lianhua gave him as rent and the 10,000 taels of silver used to purchase the wine shop and other assets, he had less than 5,000 taels of silver left in total. He thought of returning all the silver to the young lady as a favor.
Lianhua couldn't help but smile. "Prince Luo, I know your position. I know that this restaurant is yours. You are the prince of Changshan Mansion. There is something I don't know if I should say, but I have been annoyed by you two, so I might as well tell you everything. This restaurant is indeed not rented by me, but by my master. Do you know who my master is?"
"Who is it?" Luo Tangping was stunned.
Lianhua said: "My master is the Queen."
Luo Tangping was stunned for a moment.
But what stunned him even more was not this, but what Lianhua said next. She said, "Prince Luo, do you think your stepmother knows that this shop was rented by the Empress? If she knew, why would she insist on asking you to come here to ask for the shop's deed?"
"I, my mother naturally doesn't know."
If my mother knew that the shop was rented by the Queen, she would not have any idea at all.
Lianhua couldn't help but sneer, "Prince Luo, you are really stupid. Why do you believe everything your stepmother says? Didn't your mother say that she didn't know who the owner of your shop was? Even when you said you wanted to continue to ask for the deed, she was just vague in her words and didn't sternly tell you not to come to ask for the deed? Prince Luo, I'm not afraid to tell you that your mother had already sent people to check my background and knew who rented the shop. If you don't believe it, just go back and interrogate the housekeeper Zheng. Your mother sent him to find out. There is another thing..."
Having said this, Lianhua went back upstairs, asked Xu Qinyu for the account book with the revised accounts, and then threw it into Luo Tangping's arms.
At this moment, Luo Tangping's mind was blank. He took the account book subconsciously and murmured, "What is this?"
Lianhua said, "This is the account book you left at the wine shop. My master saw it. My master has a wine shop and a restaurant in the border town. He is very good at reading accounts. He can see many problems in your account book. Now I have marked them clearly for you. You can open it and see what's going on. You will know why your wine shop is losing money."
When talking about her master running a restaurant, Lianhua sounded very proud, as if she felt that her master's cooking skills were more impressive than her master being the queen.
Luo Tangping subconsciously opened the account book. He was not really stupid. The items in the current account book were clear at a glance. He saw it clearly and knew where the problem was. There were many more items in the purchase account. From the corrected account book, it can be seen that the restaurant should have a net profit of about two to three thousand taels of silver per month...
What did he not understand at this moment? He was in charge of purchasing and was making false accounts together with the restaurant owner.
The purchaser swallowed the money and the shopkeeper also helped to make false accounts.
These two were given to him by his mother...
Until this moment, Luo Tangping finally understood what kind of person his stepmother was. She knew that the person who rented the wine house was the queen, and even wanted him to continue to come to the wine house to get the deed in a vague way. If he offended the queen in the process of getting the deed, he might be spared the death penalty, but he would be punished with a life sentence and would definitely be stripped of his title as the crown prince...
He stared at the account book, his face pale.
Lianhua felt a little sorry for him when she saw him like this.
Prince Luo's father didn't care about him very much, and since his biological mother died, his stepmother married into his family when he was less than three years old. Naturally, his mother regarded his stepmother's mother as a lifeline.
Lianhua sighed, "Oh, let me tell you one more thing. When your biological mother passed away, she left behind nearly one million taels of silver. Your family has spent it over the years. Your stepmother took away at least three hundred thousand taels..." Then she gave him a last dose of strong medicine. Since she wanted to tell him, she might as well finish it. There was no need to hide it.
Luo Tangping glanced at Lianhua in a trance.
Who is she? Is she just a maidservant of the Queen? Definitely not. She has her own house and can enter and leave the palace freely. She must be a secret guard in the palace.
Things that others cannot find out are easy for the secret guards.
When Luo Tangping left with the account book, he even remembered to say thank you to Lianhua. Lianhua waved her hand and thought: Go away quickly, don't come again next time, it's really annoying to see you.
When Luo Tangping returned to Changshan Mansion, he did not take the account book to confront his stepmother. Instead, he asked the servant in the courtyard to call Manager Zheng over.
At first, Manager Zheng didn't know why the prince wanted to see him. When the prince asked him if he had found out that the person who rented his wine shop was the queen, he naturally denied it and said that he didn't know until he found out.
Luo Tangping was also not used to him, so he asked a few servants to hold him down, and beat him with a whip. Manager Zheng couldn't help but howl before he admitted it, and said that it was the lady who asked him to investigate and that he had already told the lady everything.
Then, Luo Tangping asked Xiao Dian to call the former purchasing manager and the shopkeeper of the restaurant over and threw the account book in their faces. The two knew that they were in trouble, and at first they just said that they had embezzled the money. After Luo Tangping gave them a good scolding, they finally confessed honestly and gave all the money to his wife.
Luo Tangping directly asked Xiaodian to take the three people to Zheng's yard.
Facing the three people, Zheng's face turned pale and she was speechless. She tried to refute them, but looking at her stepson's cold face, she couldn't say anything.
The stepson is a little stubborn, but he is not a fool.
Zheng could only cry, "Tangping, mother is wrong, I, I..."
Luo Tangping interrupted, "You don't have to make excuses. I know what you want. You just want Tang Ming to be the crown prince. You are just too greedy. From now on, I will no longer recognize you as my mother, and I will take back all the shops in your hands."
There was such a commotion here that even Lord Changshan was frightened. When he came over and saw the chaos in the main courtyard, he frowned and asked his eldest son what was going on.
Luo Tangping naturally told all these things to Changshan Gong, and then said: "Not only do I want to take back this shop, but I also want to take back the three hundred thousand silver dollars that my mother left behind."
Duke Changshan said angrily, "How dare you! But your mother, even if she did something wrong, she has worked hard over the years. Apart from these things, how else has she let you down?"
Luo Tangping sneered: "So in your eyes, framing me for offending the Queen is a small matter? As for the shop and money my mother left for me, do you think I dare to take it back?"
Sure enough, even if my father knew all this, he still wouldn't think it was Zheng's fault.
Luo Tangping also felt disappointed.
He is stubborn, but he is not really stupid, nor is he stupid. He can't just let this matter go.
…………
Within two days, Xu Qinyu knew what had happened in Changshan Mansion.
Or was it because of Lotus Gossip, knowing that if these things were told to Luo Tangping, he would definitely confront Zheng after returning. According to Luo Shizi's character, he would definitely do something else.
The next day Lianhua went to inquire and joined in the fun, only to find out that Prince Luo had a big fight with his parents at home and took back all the shops from Zheng. He went to the shops with the deeds and drove the shop assistants away. Then he had people move all the things back to Zheng's yard and closed the shop doors.
After listening to what Lianhua said, Xu Qinyu couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.
Two days later, everyone in the capital knew about this matter, but they only knew that Zheng had embezzled the 300,000 taels of silver left by Changshan Gong's original wife, and wanted to take over the shop left to her son. She also placed people in the restaurant opened by her stepson and swallowed up the restaurant's monthly profits. Now everything was exposed, and the shop was taken back by Changshan Gong's son. I heard that the matter of the 300,000 taels of silver was still going on, and it would definitely take a while to resolve it.
The fact that the tavern was rented by the Queen was kept a secret, and Luo Tangping did not tell anyone because he did not want to cause trouble for the Queen.
The other people in Changshan Mansion didn't dare to tell anyone because they still had to offend others.
Xu Qinyu didn't say anything. Once the restaurant was completed and the sign was hung, other people would know that it was a restaurant.
But I have no intention of hanging my heart on any other signboard, so I will still use the Xu's Restaurant signboard.
It had nothing to do with the affairs of Changshan Mansion. Seven or eight days later, my brothers finally arrived in the capital.
Except for my brother, everyone else in the family returned to the capital, including Aunt Bai.
Not only their family came, but also Mrs. Lin brought her two daughters, Da Ya and Er Ya, and even Chef Wang came along.
The weather was good and several brothers also came to the capital.
The wine houses and restaurants in the border town are managed by the Dong family, and the monthly accounts are sent to the capital. Xu Qinyu was afraid that it would be too troublesome, so she wrote a letter to the Dong family and their apprentice Dong Qian, asking them to send the accounts once a year instead of every month.
As for where my brothers live, it is still the original Wen family mansion, which was returned to them by my fourth brother.
Except for the brother's branch of the Wen family who returned to the capital, the other two branches and the old lady and the old grandfather did not return. The brother told Xu Qinyu about the Wen family.
He also said that it was Wen Pingling's idea and told Xu Qinyu that Wen Pingling was living well in the border town and had found a husband, and that he also wanted to prevent the Wen family from returning to the capital.
Xu Qinyu also knew about Wen Ling's affairs and knew that Zi had changed.
When she was still in the border town, Wen Lingling found a son-in-law and opened a rice shop, and her business was quite good.
Wen Lingling is now the most sober person in the Wen family.
As for Lin and her two sons, as well as Fengtiao Yushun and his brothers, Xu Qinyu had prepared houses for them long ago. They were all two-story houses, just enough for people to live in. They were in the same alley as Lianhua's house. Chef Wang lived directly with Fengtiao Yushun and his brothers. He didn't have many relatives, and he had been living with the brothers all these years, treating them as his own children.
After arranging everyone, Xu Qinyu took her brother and his family to the palace for the first time to meet her grandmother, Zhu.
Grandmother was still mainly concerned about Aunt Bai. Now that Aunt Bai had come to the capital, she was finally happy. However, she was a little reluctant to live in the palace as she felt it was too lonely and wanted to live outside the palace. Finally, Xu Qinyu discussed with Mrs. Wen and decided that it would be difficult for Mrs. Zhu to live in the palace. It would be better for her to live outside so that she could be with Aunt Bai every day. Only if her heart was good could her child be healthy. Otherwise, any supplements would be in vain.
So Zhu finally moved out of the palace and lived in Lianhua's house. When Lianhua went back home on weekdays, there was an old woman guarding the gatehouse. Because she was worried about Zhu, Wen also sent two palace maids to look after her.
As soon as Zhu moved in, he felt relaxed.
Xu Qinyu also began to plan for the opening of the restaurant. The restaurant has now been completely renovated, except for the signboard which has not been hung up yet. It will open for business once the signboard is hung up.
Now everyone has arrived, together with the original waiters and cooks of the restaurant, everything is ready. Xu Qinyu also asked her fourth brother to help choose a good day. Three days later is a good day, suitable for opening the business and auspicious.
So three days later, Xu Qinyu hung up the sign, and Xu's Restaurant officially opened.
The kitchen in the back of the house has already been filled with ingredients. They know very well that once the sign is hung up, the restaurant will be full of diners, so they have prepared the ingredients.
Although the dignitaries and wealthy people in the capital all eat three or four meals a day, Xu Qinyu still plans to have two meals a day in the restaurant, breakfast and evening, breakfast at around nine in the morning and evening at around four in the afternoon.
The original waiters and cooks of the restaurant didn't know who opened the restaurant, and now they were a little confused when they saw the sign. They were all ordinary people in the capital, but they had heard about the Queen opening a restaurant and a wine shop in the capital a long time ago, and they also knew that the restaurant and wine shop opened by the Queen was Xu's Restaurant.
Now I know that my real boss is actually the Queen, which means the lady I saw before is the Queen?
Even the Queen came here in person to cook today?
Xu Qinyu didn't feel anything, and the fourth brother didn't hold back either, thinking that she was originally a cook, and even though she was now the queen with the fourth brother, she was still a cook. Now that the restaurant had just opened, she would come over to help with the cooking, and when the restaurant became stable in the future, her focus would naturally not be on the restaurant anymore.
Xu's Restaurant in Beijing officially opened.
Initially, few people noticed Xu's Restaurant.
This restaurant was not famous before, and few people paid attention to it. Even after the sign was taken down, few diners cared. It was known that the restaurant seemed to have been rented out again, and it seemed that it was still open. But today, the restaurant sign was hung up again, and it had a new name, 'Xu's Restaurant'.
"Xu's Restaurant?"
"How dare this restaurant claim to be Xu's Restaurant? Isn't Xu's Restaurant the restaurant opened by the Queen in the border town? Whose is this? How dare they be so bold."
"Is it possible that this is the restaurant opened by the Queen?"