Chapter 148

Zhang Mingzhu was initially abducted back to the palace by Prince Handong, and then married to Prince Handong as a concubine by Empress Dowager Fu, which made the entire Chongming Mansion very angry, but they could do nothing about it. Even Zhang Mingzhu never thought that God would give her another chance. After Prince Shu returned to the capital, he killed Empress Dowager Fu and Empress Sheng Yuan, and released other people in Prince Handong's palace. She and Princess Handong were both released from the palace. They could return to their parents' home or start their own business, but they went to a nunnery with the princess, and spent the rest of their lives with a green lamp.

But when he opened his eyes again, he found that he was alive again.

This time, the youngest daughter of the Taifu family, Qi Zhiqing, was rescued.

I thought this time would be the same as the last time, Prince Shu would come to the capital ten years later and kill Empress Dowager Fu and Emperor Sheng Yuan.

Unexpectedly, King Shu ascended the throne in the seventh year of his life.

If it were only this, it would not be surprising. What was surprising was that in the previous life, Prince Shu was exiled, and the second Miss Xu who was married to him died of illness on the way to exile. Within two years of exile, the sixth princess, the seventh prince, and the little princess also passed away, leaving only Wen and Prince Shu.

But in this life, not only did Prince Shu ascend the throne three years earlier, but the Sixth Princess, the Seventh Prince, the Eldest Prince, and the Little Princess were all alive and well. Even the Second Lady of the Marquis Dechang Mansion who married Prince Shu was still alive.

We all lived a good life.

The second young lady in the Marquis Dechang's mansion has also changed the most. Not only is she still alive, she has even opened a wine shop and restaurant. I heard that the food she cooks is even more delicious than the food cooked by the chef in the kitchen.

Even if Zhang Mingzhu were to live again, she still felt that this life was meaningless. She didn't understand why God gave her a chance and didn't let her go back to the time before she was abducted back to the palace by the King of Handong, but instead let her live a few years later. She originally wanted to wait until the King of Handong died as she had done in her previous life, and then go to a nunnery with the Princess of Handong to live the rest of her life by the light of a green lamp, just like she had in her previous life.

But in this life, I became curious about the second daughter of the Marquis Dechang's Mansion, and about the queen who lived a good life. I was also curious about how delicious the food cooked by the queen was. So after the death of King Handong, I did not go to the nunnery immediately with the princess, but returned to the Duke Chongming's Mansion and stayed at my parents' home for a while. I wanted to know what the queen was like and I also wanted to meet the queen.

Unexpectedly, the queen actually opened a restaurant in the capital.

Zhang Mingzhu naturally also tried it.

This taste is a bit shocking.

The King of Handong was also a foodie. The chefs in his palace were all famous chefs invited from all over the country. The food tasted excellent, but he was not very interested in food at that time. However, he had to admit that the chefs had great cooking skills, but he was even more impressed by the Queen's cooking skills.

Even though I don't care about food, I couldn't help it and came to Xu's Restaurant for breakfast and dinner for three consecutive days.

I thought I could go to a nunnery with peace of mind after tasting the best food in the world, but for some reason, a ripple arose in my heart. I don’t know if it was because I couldn’t bear to give up such food, or for other reasons, but I felt as if life still had some fun.

Coincidentally, that day when he was having breakfast at Xu's Restaurant, the Queen Mother came out to meet him.

In fact, it was Xu Qinyu who learned about Zhang Mingzhu's existence from Lianhua. She knew that she was the grandson of Duke Chongming, but was taken back to the palace by Prince Handong to be a concubine for several years. She also saved Tutor Qi. Now Prince Handong is dead, but this lady of the Zhang family plans to go to a nunnery and live with Qingdeng for the rest of her life.

Xu Qinyu felt it was a pity after hearing this. Why would such a good girl punish herself like this? Zhang Mingzhu seemed to be about the same age as her, only in her early twenties. She would have to stay in a nunnery for the rest of her life, and she was not a cultivator. She probably just felt that there was nothing to do in life, so she wanted to spend the rest of her life in a nunnery.

To put it bluntly, I'm probably a bit depressed.

Xu Qinyu thought that maybe she could get to know such a good girl and give her some advice.

So Xu Qinyu went to meet him, and the two of them got along well. After chatting for a while, they became friends.

Zhang Mingzhu had originally planned to have breakfast that day and then pack up and go to the nunnery the next day.

But after getting to know the Empress, the Empress said, "Mingzhu, don't you know that this spring, the Emperor asked every household to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes? These two can be used as staple food and as dishes, and the food they make is also very delicious. In addition, there are tomatoes and peppers. With these peppers, the taste of spicy food will be even more amazing. Mingzhu, when summer comes, you can come and try it, and then I will cook it for you."

Zhang Mingzhu couldn't help but feel a little curious about these foods.

So another three or four months passed.

It's late summer now, and the tomatoes and peppers are ripe.

The people in the restaurant and the countryside who grow these two crops do not harvest them, so the spicy dishes in the restaurant have replaced the dogwood with chili peppers. These peppers are still green now, and some will continue to be planted in the vegetable garden. When they turn red, they will be picked and dried, and can continue to be used as dried chili seasoning.

The tomatoes are ripe too. They can be eaten for about a month.

The restaurant now has several new tomato dishes.

There are many foods that can be made with tomatoes, including fried tomato eggs, tomato scrambled eggs, sour soup tomato fish, fried tomato rice cake, tomato egg custard, tomato poached egg soup, tomato sauce noodles, etc. In fact, tomato beef brisket is also a must-try. However, cows are now used as working cattle and cannot be bought and sold freely, so there are still no cows in the restaurant.

When people's lives get better in the future, more people will raise cattle, and cattle farms will be opened so that they can eat beef.

Today was the first day that all the new dishes were served. Xu Qinyu specially made a dish of double peppers, a dish of fish with tomatoes in sour soup, and cold tomatoes for Zhang Mingzhu. The staple food was a dish of noodles with tomato sauce.

She has been cooking since the beginning of the past two months, but when Mingzhu comes, Xu Qinyu basically cooks for her herself.

Wait until some food is served.

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Mingzhu, try it quickly."

Zhang Mingzhu took a piece first. This double pepper was made of fresh green peppercorns and green chili peppers. It tasted spicy, fresh and fragrant, and thin. It felt like the tip of the tongue was jumping slightly. It was a completely different taste from before and more enjoyable.

Zhang Mingzhu exclaimed: "Qinyu, this is delicious."

I’ve tried the double peppers before, which used dogwood, but the peppers I use now are even better.

Zhang Mingzhu tried a few other dishes.

The fish in sour tomato soup has a refreshing sour taste and is very appetizing. The fish is also very small and melts in the soup as soon as you put it in your mouth.

The simplest salad tomato is also amazing. Remove the tomato skin, cut the tomatoes into pieces, sprinkle with sugar, and chill them with ice cubes for half an hour. It tastes sour and sweet, cool and refreshing. It is perfect for summer. Zhang Mingzhu couldn't help but finished a small plate of salad tomatoes.

The last main course was noodles with tomato sauce, which was rich in tomato flavor and wrapped in tasty handmade noodles.

Zhang Mingzhu didn't waste any of the food and ate it all.

The amount Xu Qinyu prepared was not much.

In autumn, when potatoes and sweet potatoes are harvested, Zhang Mingzhu eats spicy and sour potatoes, cumin pot potatoes, potato cheese balls, fried potato cubes, mashed potatoes, potato stewed with pork ribs, as well as sweet and sticky roasted sweet potatoes, sweet potato and date mashed steamed cakes, fragrant cheese sweet potatoes, French fries, salty and sticky sweet potato risotto, and so on.

I suddenly felt that this was such a good time, why should I spend the rest of my life in a nunnery? Even Qinyu said that one's early twenties is still very young, it's just the beginning of life. In this life, no matter what age you are or what you have experienced, you must not give up on yourself.

At this moment, Zhang Mingzhu suddenly didn't want to go to the nunnery anymore and wanted to stay in the capital. She had some idea in her heart that she didn't want to live a secluded life forever and wanted to do something, but she couldn't decide what to do.

But I want to be like the queen, to be someone like the queen.

Even as the mother of a country, she insists on doing what she wants to do.

Zhang Mingzhu finally figured it out. Yes, she is still young and there are endless possibilities in the future. She wants to do more things instead of being depressed like in her previous life.

Before leaving the restaurant, Zhang Mingzhu smiled and said to Xu Qinyu, "Qinyu, thank you."

In my previous life, I spent more than ten years in a nunnery.

Therefore, I know that there is nothing to do.

The previous Emperor Shengwu never married in his life. When he passed away, it was heard that his bones were already very poor. At that time, Emperor Shengwu had no children, and he did not even adopt children from other princes to raise. After the death of the previous Emperor Shengwu, the Great Sheng Dynasty would definitely rise again.

But in this life, the ending of Emperor Shengwu and the Great Sheng Dynasty seemed to be different.

In his previous life, when Emperor Shengwu first ascended the throne, times were very difficult and the treasury was empty. Unlike this life, when Emperor Shengwu ascended the throne, he established an agricultural college and began to build water conservancy projects. Although the treasury was not full, it was much better than in his previous life.

In this life, perhaps Emperor Shengwu will have a very good ending, and the Great Sheng Dynasty will also be prosperous, with the people living and working in peace and contentment.

After Zhang Mingzhu left, Xu Qinyu saw her off downstairs.

Mingzhu said that she would go back to visit Princess Handong tomorrow and tell her that she did not plan to go to the nunnery again. She thought that Princess Handong would be happy for Mingzhu.

Xu Qinyu also admired the Princess of Handong very much. She heard from Lianhua that when the Prince of Handong was just the younger brother of Concubine Fu Gui, and before he was crowned as a king, he liked to take concubines. There were concubines in the family, but it seemed that they did not have many children. The Princess of Handong gave birth to a son, and the concubines in the mansion gave birth to two illegitimate sons and two concubines. The Princess of Handong treated the concubines and illegitimate sons very well, and raised the illegitimate sons and concubines by her side, treating them equally, and these illegitimate sons and concubines were brought up very well.

After the fourth brother ascended the throne, although he killed the King of Handong, all other innocent people in the King of Handong's palace were released and demoted to commoners, but they were not exiled.

You know, according to the crime of King Handong, almost all nine generations of his clan should be exterminated.

When seeing Zhang Mingzhu off, Xu Qinyu saw Lianhua chatting with Prince Luo of Changshan's Mansion downstairs. Prince Luo seemed to give Lianhua something. Lianhua took a look at it and gave it back to Prince Luo. Prince Luo seemed to say something again, with a helpless look on his face.

Xu Qinyu stood upstairs and watched for a while, and couldn't help but smile.

This Prince Luo is also interesting. Since the restaurant opened, he has come to the restaurant to eat every day.

Moreover, ever since Prince Luo had a quarrel with his stepmother, he moved out of the Changshan Mansion with the grandmother left to him by his biological mother and lived in a house left for him by his biological mother. He also said that he would no longer be the prince of the Changshan Mansion and that he did not care about the title of prince. But the title of prince is not something he can give up just because he wants to. Even the Changshan Lord has no say on it. It is obtained according to the law.

Ever since he moved out of Changshan Mansion, Luo Tangming also had a falling out with his mother, which shows that he really loves his brother like a brother.

Luo Tangming would go to see Luo Tangping from time to time, hoping that he would return home.

However, Luo Tangping had never been willing to do so. Instead, he now lived a very carefree life. He rented out the shops he had taken back from his stepmother, and together with the farmland left by his biological mother, he collected a considerable amount of rent every year, which was enough for him to use.

Ever since he started dining at the restaurant, he somehow took a liking to Lianhua and often gave her all sorts of little gifts.

But Lianhua didn't understand and didn't understand Luo Tangping's intention.

Xu Qinyu had no intention of interfering with the two of them. As for what would happen to them in the future, it all depended on whether Lianhua could come to her senses and fall in love with Prince Luo.

After Prince Luo left, Xu Qinyu and Lianhua returned to the palace together.

Although my fourth brother started to build water conservancy projects, it was a huge project in ancient times and required too much design and construction. Now it is still in the early stages of construction and it is not yet waterproof. So two months ago in the middle of summer, there were several days of heavy rain in Youzhou City, and the water from the surrounding riverbanks spread out.

Fortunately, the fourth brother acted quickly and sent people to prevent the flood, but some towns and villages in the surrounding area were still flooded.

After that came the disaster relief. Xu Qinyu also took out half of the restaurant's profits in the past few months to use for disaster relief.

The disaster has now been stabilized and not caused much damage.

After returning to the palace, Xu Qinyu brought two hot roasted sweet potatoes for her fourth brother. The sweet potatoes tasted sweet and sticky. They were baked in the kiln in the wine house. They were roasted until they were covered with sugar and oil. They were sweet and sticky. The fourth brother could have one to warm his stomach after finishing his work in the evening.

In addition to breakfast and dinner, the restaurant now also offers afternoon tea, which is dinner.

Actually, it is called breakfast, but now the restaurant continues to operate even after breakfast, which means it is open all day.

Dinner was afternoon tea. Xu Qinyu thought about it and made some cakes and desserts for afternoon tea. She then boiled a pot of tea to eat with the desserts. It was a leisurely and relaxing experience. The ladies and girls who usually came to the restaurant for afternoon tea would not do that.

The profit of the restaurant was not as great as that of the restaurants outside Raozhou City, but it still made a profit of 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver a month.

Xu Qinyu plans to choose a farm next year to continue running the restaurant.

When Xu Qinyu returned to the bedroom, her fourth brother had also returned and should have had dinner. The two of them ate the hot roasted sweet potatoes before washing up and going to bed.

Fourth brother has been busy with Enke’s affairs recently.

This year is the first year of my fourth brother's ascension to the throne. He has issued a general amnesty and opened a special imperial examination. It is autumn and all places have already started the autumn examinations. Next spring, students from all over the country will come to Beijing to take the examinations.

The two chatted about pediatrics for a while and unknowingly talked about Sister Ning.

Fourth brother and Wen Shi never cared about Ning Jie'er's marriage. Ning Jie'er was already eighteen years old, and Xu Qinyu's attitude was to let things take their own course. If Ning Jie'er liked someone, she would naturally take the initiative. If she didn't like anyone, she would just choose someone casually.

However, Ning Jie'er didn't seem to want to kiss. She recently found a martial arts master and started learning martial arts, horse riding and archery. She was very busy every day and got a little tanned, but she looked better than when she was in the border town.

…………

In this way, the days passed slowly until winter.

In winter, more people start to eat hot pot in restaurants. There used to be spicy hot pot in restaurants, but with the addition of chili peppers, the taste of the spicy hot pot base is more authentic. In addition to spicy hot pot, there are also double pepper hot pot base, mushroom and pork ribs hot pot base, pork belly hot pot base, and now there is a tomato hot pot base.

When the tomato season was about to end, Xu Qinyu harvested all the tomatoes and made tomato sauce with them. She put them into jars and stored them in the freezer. We can still eat the tomato sauce now.

Therefore, people who eat hot pot in restaurants cannot...

The restaurant business had been going smoothly, but a few days later, people in the capital suddenly started talking about the Empress opening a restaurant, saying that she was seeking power and profit, and that the Empress should not open a restaurant, and that she was competing with the people for profit. They said that since it was a restaurant opened by the Empress, the rich and powerful would naturally go to support it, and they might even give gifts and money.

As soon as Lianhua heard these rumors, she started investigating with the secret guards without waiting for Emperor Shengwu to order her to do so.

This rumor was definitely not spread among the common people. After all, it had been more than half a year since the Empress opened a restaurant, and no one had said anything about it. Moreover, who said that the Empress could not open a restaurant? It was not a business that the nobles in the capital could run.

What's more, the common people actually like the restaurant opened by the queen very much.

The food in the restaurant might be a bit expensive, but the braised fish, braised fish head with tofu and fish balls sold in front of the restaurant were affordable and cheap. Not only that, the Queen Mother even wrote two recipes on the notices for each of them.

There are two cookbooks, one contains recipes for various home-cooked dishes, and the other contains recipes for hundreds of snacks.

The home cooking recipe includes various ways to cook the potatoes and sweet potatoes harvested this year.

Many people followed the steps in the recipe and finally realized that there are so many ways to eat these two things. They are not just boiled in plain water. You can also eat fish and shrimp that you didn’t like to eat before, and cheap pig offal that is very dirty, but if you prepare it well, it tastes very good.

Nowadays, almost every household will cook according to the recipe given by the Queen Mother, and the food is very delicious.

Therefore, the people still like this queen very much and feel that she is down-to-earth and just like them.

Because of this, when these rumors spread among the people, many people spoke up for the queen.

"What malicious rumor is this? Why can't the Queen open a restaurant? We don't say anything, so why are there people deliberately spreading such rumors? They even say that the Queen bribed us. Could it be that some restaurant can't compete with Xu's Restaurant and deliberately spread such rumors to make the Queen's restaurant closed down?"

"That's right. Xu's restaurant sells cheap food, and we often buy from it. My two grandsons have grown fat and white in the past few months. She is the queen, but she is willing to cook in person and open a restaurant. She also announced the menu to the people of the world so that we can all afford to eat cheap and delicious meat. It is also doing good for us people."

"You don't know that there was a flood in Liaozhou before. The Queen also donated tens of thousands of taels of silver to the disaster relief. I heard that the money earned by this wine shop was all added to the national treasury to build water conservancy projects."

"The Queen is so kind, who on earth spread this rumor?"

"It's okay. Let this evil-minded man spread his story. We just ignore him."

And Lianhua quickly found out who was spreading these rumors.

Xu Qinyu originally wondered whether some restaurant was really jealous of Xu's restaurant's good business and therefore spread these words, but after thinking about it carefully, anyone who could afford to open a big restaurant in the capital must have a rich family background and would not destroy their family just for such a small profit.

I roughly knew who spread these words.

When Lianhua came back, he asked, "Lianhua, have you found out who spread the rumor? Is it Xu Qinhui?"

Since her marriage with her fourth brother, she has never seen Xu Qinhui or anyone from the third branch of the Xu family. Mei from the third branch came to see her once, but that was after she opened a restaurant, but she also never saw anyone from the third branch.

Lianhua nodded, frowning, "It's Xu Qinhui."

Lian felt that Xu Qinhui was really courting death. She had fallen into such a situation, but she still refused to settle down and wanted to ruin the reputation of the Queen.

Xu Qinyu said, "Report it to the Dali Temple and submit the evidence. We will make the final judgment when the time comes."

Spreading slanderous rumors about the queen is a serious crime, and it is not an ordinary quarrel or insult between women in the market, which can be stopped by persuading them to stop fighting.

Lianhua nodded, "Master, don't worry. I have already sent someone to report the case to the Dali Temple, and I have also sent the witness certificates over."

…………

Xu Qinhui still lives in the Song family. Ever since she was sent to the Song family in a sedan chair by her family and became a relative of Song Bingjian, she was locked up in the Song family at first. Old Mrs. Song watched over her all day and did not allow her to go out.

It's not that I haven't thought about leaving the capital, but where can I go after leaving the capital? Hide in the mountains and forests for the rest of my life? I can't do it, and because of this, I hate Xu Qinyu more and more. I think if it weren't for Xu Qinyu, if I hadn't been unwilling to continue my relationship with Song Bingjian, I wouldn't have ended up like this, and I might have been forgiven by Emperor Shengwu.

Over the past few months, the hatred in my heart has grown stronger and stronger, and I can't get rid of it.

So he bribed a few people to start spreading the news that the Queen opened a wine shop, slandering the Queen for bribery. He thought that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it, and he wanted to use the people to pull Xu Qinyu down from the position of Queen.

Unexpectedly, the gossip spread all day, and at dawn the next day, a group of soldiers broke into the Song family and arrested all the members of the Song family without saying a word.

Old Lady Song was terrified, "What are you doing? Why are you arresting us for no reason?"

The leading soldier sneered, "We are not here to arrest you for no reason. We are from the Dali Temple. Someone in your family is involved in slandering the Empress. This is a serious crime, so we must arrest everyone and investigate thoroughly."

Old Mrs. Song was stunned for a moment. She had heard about this matter yesterday, but she didn't dare to say anything. She knew her family's situation and was afraid that it would bring trouble again.

But how come this matter is still related to my family?

Suddenly thinking of his daughter-in-law, he looked at Xu Qinhui in disbelief, "It's you, right? You were the one who spread those words, right?"

Xu Qinhui's face turned pale. She didn't expect that she had been so cautious, but how could she be discovered after only one day?

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something but nothing came out. He only knew that everything was over. He went to the Dali Temple and after an investigation, he found out that for such a crime, even if it was not a death sentence, it would be a living sentence and he would probably be exiled.

No, no, no matter whether it is the death penalty or exile, there is no way to accept it. I have to go and beg Xu Qinyu. I know I am wrong.

Before he could think any more, Old Lady Song screamed and grabbed Xu Qinhui's hair. "You lunatic, why did you do this? Haven't you done enough to harm our family? You vicious whore, you really deserve a bad death."

Song Bingjian stared at Xu Qinhui with his eyes wide open. He also thought that this man had a problem with his brain. They were already in such a situation, but he still dared to do such a thing. He was really courting death and wanted to drag their entire family down with him.

Seeing that Old Lady Song had beaten Xu Qinhui, the soldiers of the Dali Temple took a long time to pull them apart. "Alright, stop beating them. Take them all back to the Dali Temple. The Dali Temple will not wrongly accuse anyone. If you are not involved in this case, we will investigate and let you go home."

Once everyone was brought to the Dali Temple, the case was quickly investigated and it was discovered that Xu Qinhui was the only one responsible.

This matter is also related to Mrs. Mei, the third wife of Xu. Since Mr. Xu sent his son to the Song family, he was afraid that his son would continue to make trouble, so he was very strict with the money. Apart from a few taels of silver every month, Mr. Xu would not give his son more money. But Mei felt sorry for her son. Occasionally, when she came to the Song family and saw that her son was having a hard time, she could only give him banknotes, all of which were hundreds or thousands of taels. Otherwise, Xu Qinhui would not have extra money to bribe others to do such things.

Since Xu Qinhui was the only one responsible for this, the people from the Dali Temple released all the members of the Song family.

After returning home, the Song family lived even more cautiously, not daring to have any ideas. They just hoped that even if they could not become rich and powerful, they could live in peace and stability without any trouble in the future.

Xu Qinhui was spared the death penalty, but her crime was punishable by death, so she was exiled to a border town. Soldiers would escort her to the border town tomorrow, along with other serious criminals.

After Mr. Xu San learned about this, he just sighed, and was even a little relieved. In recent years, he had been tormented by his son, but now it was all right. It would never be like this again. He just hoped that his son would not cause any more trouble after being exiled to the border town.

It seemed as if fate had taken a sharp turn and was back to square one.

Originally, he should have been exiled along with his son, and now he has returned to the starting point.

Mr. Xu San sighed helplessly.

When Mei knew her son was sentenced to exile, she wailed and passed out. When she woke up, she naturally cried and begged her husband to save her son, but her husband told her that there was no way and that he was not allowed to think of any way to save Xu Qinhui. He also said, "It is because of your unbridled pampering that you gave Hui Niang all that money that you have the money to bribe other people. If you hadn't done that, Hui Niang wouldn't have ended up like this. From now on, just pretend that you don't have this son."

Mei was naturally unwilling and cried, trying to seek help from connections and personal connections. Xu Shuping naturally could not allow his wife to act like this, so he ordered people to keep his wife under guard and not allow her to go out.

Xu Qinhui cried and wailed in the prison of the Dali Temple, begging to see the Empress, but no one paid any attention to her.

After the New Year and the coming of spring, Wan Fusu recovered and Xu Qinhui was prepared to be escorted to the border town by soldiers.