No matter how complicated Ning Qingfeng's feelings were, six months later, Jiang Cha successfully married into the family. In the first month after the marriage, she ordered the old Ning family house to be demolished and a brand new brick house to be built.
The Ning family even employed servants, though not many, making them the first in the village to do so.
The villagers were both jealous and envious, but since they didn't have a good relationship with the Ning family, they were too embarrassed to visit them.
Even if they were willing to swallow their pride, Ning Hongze was not someone to be trifled with.
Especially the Wei family. Wei Er initially thought Ning Qingfeng was useless, but then he thought of his own daughter, who had the ability to make money.
Breaking off the engagement was naturally the best option, but who knew that after the engagement was broken off, the Ning family would rise again with the help of the Jiang family.
Ning Qingfeng even got into Baima Academy. Baima Academy is no less prestigious than Guanglu Academy.
Even more so, because the headmaster of Baima Academy was a prince consort, no one dared to offend him.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have broken off the engagement," Wei's second wife thought bitterly.
Wei Qing is already sixteen years old this year, but they don't plan to marry her off directly. They want to keep her for a few more years so that the second branch of the Wei family can earn more money.
Wei Qing was also very disappointed. She had always believed that with her own abilities, she could definitely make a name for herself in this ancient world. However, the reality was not so.
Junyue Restaurant has a recipe from who-knows-where that makes their braised dishes and other pastries so delicious they're mouthwatering.
Although her cooking skills were good, they were far inferior to those of the chefs in the restaurants.
Most importantly, their braised dishes actually contain chili peppers?
It's unbelievable.
She had been searching for chili peppers but never expected that the Grand Hyatt Restaurant would have them.
After eating the spicy braised food, her braised food became rather bland. Therefore, she had to lower the price. Business was decent, but it was far from what she had expected.
However, this was enough to make the second branch of the Wei family happy.
Ning Hong was initially reluctant to use chili peppers, especially towards Junyue Restaurant, because she was holding back. But things are different now.
Now that Jiang Cha has become his wife, she's one of his own.
He naturally didn't hold back with his wife. He immediately took out dried chili peppers and carefully taught her how to preserve them for reproduction.
Jiang Cha looked at him thoughtfully.
A half-smile.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing his wife looking at him like that, Ning Hong licked his cheek and kissed the corner of her lips.
"Did you suddenly realize that your husband is exceptionally handsome?"
"I've noticed you have a thick skin." Jiang Cha picked up a chili pepper, held it to her nose and sniffed it. The pungent smell made her cough repeatedly, but she couldn't bear to let go.
"If I hadn't married you, would you not have taught me how to make this chili pepper?"
Even though they had already reached a cooperation agreement, this guy was still thinking of keeping things to himself.
The boiled fish or boiled meat served at Junyue Restaurant uses dogwood, which, although also spicy, doesn't taste as good as chili peppers.
“Of course I have to keep this to myself,” Ning Hong said matter-of-factly. “This is my specialty, and I’ll definitely rely on it to make a living in the future. I can’t live off the profits from Junyue Restaurant forever; I still have a family to support.”
"You want to marry someone else?"
"No, that's not it. I hadn't originally planned to get married. It's just because of you that I had this idea," Ning Hong said ingratiatingly.
However, this is the truth, and there is no lying involved.
These things depend on fate. Didn't you see that he lived for so long before he found a partner?
Jiang Cha nodded, accepting his answer.
She could actually understand.
If she were Ning Hongze, she would probably also keep some of her own secrets.
Time flies.
Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Five years is neither a long nor a short time.
So much has happened in the past five years.
Firstly, in the past two years, with the help of the Jiang family's influence, he has vigorously expanded his businesses, such as soap, glass, and even mirrors. Under his efforts, the Junyue Restaurant has also expanded its branches to other provinces.
Among them, Junyue Restaurant is most famous for its signature hot pot and skewers.
Secondly, Ning Qingfeng also passed the imperial examination and became a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). He is currently studying hard and striving to participate in the autumn imperial examinations.
It must be said that Ning Qingfeng is indeed talented in reading.
With Xiao Lang's special tutoring and Ning Qingfeng's hard work, his progress over the past two years has been remarkable, as evidenced by his top ranking as a student in this exam.
Of course, Ning Qingfeng's efforts were not without the threat of Ning Hongze's fists.
I remember that day, he lingered at the entrance of the gambling den once. After he got home, I don't know how his brother found out, but he pinned him down and beat him up severely.
That time, he truly didn't get out of bed for three days.
His brother even locked him up.
This caused him to miss the academy's assessment.
Even now, he still remembers his brother's cold smile as he said to him that day, "If you really don't want to study, then don't study at all, so I won't have to work hard to earn money to support your studies. Since you want to give up on yourself, what can I do to you?" Hearing his brother's tone, which seemed to indicate that he really intended to give up on him, he became truly anxious.
His brother starved him for three days, but thanks to his sister-in-law, who secretly brought him food.
His sister-in-law told him that his brother was so angry with him that he cried.
In order to enable him to take the exam, his brother went to great lengths, even seeking someone to act as a guarantor.
To participate in the provincial examination, one must have a government-subsidized student as a guarantor, and five other students must jointly guarantee the registration.
Ning Qingfeng has a bad reputation, so he not only can't find any government-subsidized students, but even finding these five students is somewhat difficult.
Ning Hong personally went to their door to make the request, offering silver and a precious mirror, before they finally agreed.
However, they all said that if Ning Qingfeng went gambling again, the joint guarantee would be terminated, and of course, they would not return the money and goods that had been sent to him.
Hearing Jiang Cha's words, Ning Qingfeng felt extremely distressed.
The smooth sailing of the past year has almost made him forget the embarrassment he experienced during his studies.
Yes, his brother has suffered so much for him, how could he treat his brother's feelings like this?
From that moment on, Ning Qingfeng truly began to study diligently. Later, to everyone's surprise, he achieved the top score in two examinations and successfully passed the imperial examination to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations).
With the autumn imperial examinations just around the corner, the whole family is being extremely careful, not daring to make any loud noises, for fear of disturbing Ning Qingfeng's studies.
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