Chapter 169 Chapter 169 Update.
"I've seen this restaurant, you've managed it very well. Once it's in my house, I'll hand it over to the steward in the mansion to look after it.
You should just focus on taking care of Quan Ye. He is a little weak now, so you should persuade him to take more nourishing food. I have also sent someone to inform your mother. I believe she must have..."
Yu was about to give her instructions when Ji Xu pulled his hand away and said:
"Madam Yu, if your son needs some nourishment, I can prepare whatever he wants and send someone to get it."
After the restaurant opened, she had no time to cook in the kitchen. In the past, if the ladies had something they couldn't leave, they would make arrangements in advance and send the maid to pick it up, and the business would still go on as usual.
"It's just that I won't be someone's second wife."
"Silly child, if you marry into my family, you won't have to worry about the rest of your life. You'll be adorned with gold and silver, surrounded by servants, and your mother's family will also be honored. No one, near or far, will dare to bully you. Isn't this a thousand times better than just guarding a stove and living in the smoke and fire?"
However, Ji Xu still said the same thing. Yu stared at her with dissatisfaction in her eyes.
"If you don't want to be my concubine, do you want to be my principal wife?"
Ji Xu shook his head. "They say that a husband and wife should be in perfect harmony. In my opinion, a couple must love each other. I don't have any romantic feelings for your son, so naturally I won't think about such things."
Yu's face turned cold. "Think carefully, this shop is given to you by me, and I naturally have a way to take it back."
Ji Xu said, "Mrs. Yu wouldn't do that."
Yu's face was sullen, and she said slowly:
"Everyone in Wuling knows that the Li family gave me this shop. They all said you were generous and kind. Now you've taken it back. Those who don't know would think the Li family is stingy, taking back a gift they gave away."
This was right. The Yu family would not do such a petty thing that would damage their reputation. It was just a burned-down shop, and her Li family looked down on it.
But she was not a kind-hearted person who only did good deeds. When he gave this shop to Quan Ye, he chose her to be his second wife, just as a small amount of money to buy her in.
Now that he had been humiliated, he felt suffocated and said:
"Without the support of my Li family, do you still think your restaurant can survive in Gao City? It will be closed in less than a month!"
Yu looked unhappy when she left. She got on the carriage without even looking back. I don't know how many pairs of eyes nearby saw her.
In Mulberry Alley, Tian was sweeping people out with a broom.
"You can't pull out pearls or agates by sticking your tail out. Take your stuff and get out of here!"
She threw all the money she had bought for the wedding, the cakes and pastries she had given her for the celebration, and the red dates and longans and other fruits outside the door. The maids pointed at them and cursed:
"Who are you calling a dog? A bitch raised under the stove! You are a concubine of the Li family. Your ancestors are so lucky to be able to become my concubine."
"My daughter is worthy of being a prince, but she is dreaming in broad daylight to be your wife!"
Although Tian was born in the countryside, she had seen wealthy families with three wives and four concubines, which often caused unrest in the family. What's more, nearby, Qiu Gu's husband was fickle, and even their original family broke up. It can be seen that being a man's concubine is not a good thing.
"How dare a common cook dream of becoming a prince? Who are you dreaming of in broad daylight? The whole world knows that it is because of our Li family's support that you can open a restaurant. Now you dare to disrespect us? Prepare to suffer!"
The maidservant got on the carriage cursing, and saw Tian picking up the broom again, urging the coachman to go faster.
Speaking of Jin, she has been busy with this matter since she decided to borrow money from Wuyan. Because her rice and meat soup stall has a certain amount of income every month, and her son-in-law has a fixed salary every month, she borrowed 185 taels of silver, and she has to pay back about 16 taels of silver every month.
Since his family had borrowed the money, they did not dare to close the business for even a single day, so Ji Zhi stayed in the store to look after the stall.
That day, she brought three hundred taels of silver and went to Manxiang Tower with Ji Yuan and his wife.
Because Ping'an Restaurant lost the support of the Li family, the whole Gao City now knows that the incident when Yu left home in anger was said to be because the girl named Jin was unwilling to become the Li family's concubine. Manager Hu was in a good mood, counted the money, gave the indenture and agreed to release her.
With this contract, Du Xian had a way to use his connections with the Household Department to have his brother demoted to a commoner.
Jin shouted all the way to the backyard of Manxianglou, where she saw Ji Huhai busy pouring the slop into a large vat.
There was slop that had been accumulated here for who knows how many days. There were seven or eight large vats filled with it, and the stench was unbearable.
Knowing that his family wanted to redeem him, Ji Huhai was troubled by the slaves here and was not given any food. Ji Huhai first ate the leftovers in the泔水 (swill) and then poured it into the jar.
Seeing this, Jin burst into tears and sniffles. She snatched the swill bucket and threw it far away, saying:
"Don't eat these. Go back and your mother will give you fried dough sticks. Let's go home."
When they got home, Jin changed his clothes and threw the dirty clothes he had been wearing into the stove and burned them.
Ji Huhai was no longer as strong and courageous as before. Now he was like a rat, hanging on his own two feet. When he arrived here, he looked around and said little.
Ji Yuan served him a hot bowl of rice and meat soup and said:
"Eat it, this is what my mother made. We sell this at home now."
He brought over a plate of freshly fried candy cakes and said, "You used to love eating this the most. You would eat it secretly even when you were beaten."
The two items were placed in front of him, smelling fragrant. He rolled his eyes at them, and because of his pale and thin face, his eyeballs were particularly prominent.
"Eat." Ji Yuan said.
He quietly climbed onto the table with one hand, picked up a piece of candy, and put it in his mouth to eat, while looking at them vigilantly.
When he found that they didn't hit anyone, he stuffed them with a second, third, and fourth one...his cheeks bulged out.
He picked up the chopsticks again and ate the bowl of rice and meat soup in big mouthfuls. He picked up the rice grains that fell on the table and even licked the soup at the bottom of the bowl clean.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan started sobbing on Du Xian's shoulder. Jin tucked her eyes in and filled another bowl with rice.
When Ji Zhi came back from closing his stall, he smelled a strong aroma in the house. He looked into the room and saw not only fried Can Guo Er on the table, but also five Hu Bing, stacked a dozen thick, enough for everyone to eat a whole one.
She thought it was a celebration of Ji Huhai's redemption and a good meal today, but Jin said:
"From now on, you can be like the Erfeng sisters next door, running a stall and getting two pocket dollars every day. You can buy whatever you want."
Ji Zhi was amazed as he ate the delicious mutton pancake.
"What's wrong with my mother?"
Jin has always been known for being mean and stingy, so Ji Zhi never dared to dream of getting pocket money from her.
Ji Yuan knew the reason. Jin was afraid and blamed himself for restricting them. They were always hungry and poorly clothed, and were easily coaxed away by the thief Xiao with a little food. They were separated from their family for so many years, so he said:
"You little girl, you've got some pocket money, but you're not happy?"
"Happy! Of course I'm happy!"
Ji Zhi was happy for a while, then sad for a while.
"But the family still owes money to Wuyan."
"It's all right. You don't have to worry about it. Mother will pay it back when she earns money. Zhi'er has reached marriage age and should wear something brighter. I'll use the red cloth at home to make you a new dress. You still look like a wild girl. How will you get married in the future?"
Ji Zhi was originally happy when he heard about making new clothes, but when he heard about getting married, his face flushed and he pouted and said:
"I won't marry."
It is said that because he did not want to be the concubine, Ji Xu knew that he had offended the Yu family.
Because of their good business, those big stores in Kaohsiung City have probably been keeping their eyes on them for a long time. If they can't take advantage of the Li family's influence in the future, Ping'an Restaurant may not be safe anymore.
Therefore, he was on high alert and ordered Wufu Liugu and two others to serve as waiters in the private room to guard against any troublemakers.
No one is allowed to enter the kitchen except her, Tian and Candou. Even washing dishes is not done there, but in a small room in the backyard, which is separated from the kitchen.
The daily food ingredients were purchased from vegetable vendors who had a good relationship with the store and were delivered to the restaurant, and Tian Dou would check them before accepting them.
Ten days passed and everything was peaceful.
I settled down that day and had a private conversation with Tian. I heard that Ji Huhai, the boy next door, was redeemed today.
"When they came back, I took a look and saw that Tiger Boy was trembling with fear. He looked nothing like before. He must have suffered a lot outside, just like Xiaoyao did. That thief Xiao deserves to die."
Her family had just spent all their savings on building a restaurant, so they had to keep some money for themselves.
Moreover, the neighbors had watched her family suffer with indifference, and she felt a sense of resentment in her heart. She could not be generous enough to lend them money. If she lent them the money, wouldn't she be letting her daughter down for the humiliation she had suffered in the eldest wife's house?
But even though she and Jin did not get along, as a mother, her heart was always the same. She would not be satisfied until she saw the neighboring family broken up and relatives separated. That would be meaningless, so she said something more and asked her to ask Wuyan for a loan.
Ji Xu thought the same thing.
"That day, Xiaoyao found his relatives and was taken back by his aunt. She watched secretly there, missing Tiger Boy so much. Now he has been redeemed."
As they were talking, they were about to go to sleep when they suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. Someone was knocking on the courtyard gate. Jindou, who lived nearby, had heard it earlier and put on his clothes and asked who it was at the door.
"It's me, Mrs. Jin next door."
The person who came in said that Tian, who had just come out with her clothes on, had also heard what was said and gestured for the door to be opened for her.
Jindou took down the door bolt, and Jin came up to Tian with a lantern and said:
"Just before my Tiger Boy went to bed, I asked him how he was doing at Manxiang Tower. I heard something that my Tiger Boy overheard by accident, and I thought it would be a good idea to tell you."
After that, she whispered it in Tian's ear. Tian was shocked and asked her why she was so kind to tell her. When Jin left, she said:
"If you, old fellow, fall, who will I fight with in the future?"
The next night, the sky was filled with stars, and it looked like the sun would shine brightly the next day.
Two waiters and a cook from Manxianglou stayed up late at night and were busy and sneaky in the backyard.
They all blocked their noses with cloth strips and worked together to pour the buckets of slop into the ditch.
"What are you so flustered about! Watch out! Sloppy water from a few days ago splashed onto my feet. Isn't that disgusting?"
The fat cook was the one who twisted Ji Huhai's ear. After seeing that the two of them had finished, he went outside Hu's room and replied:
"Including us, the swill from five or six families has all been dumped in, converging into one place. Ping'an Restaurant is located at a low point, and the stench in front of the door will be unbearable tomorrow morning."
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