Ever since a new chef came to Qiaoyuan Restaurant, the business of Yan's Restaurant has been getting worse and worse. Although Yan Langqing was busy developing new dishes, he was no match for the chef's cooking skills. They had just come up with a new dish, and before it could gain reputation, a new dish came out over there. The ingredients were similar, but the cooking method was extremely sophisticated, and it soon overshadowed theirs.
Lin Laoer has been as anxious as an ant on a hot pan these days, with a bunch of blisters appearing at the corners of his mouth. Ever since Yan Langqing entered the palace as an imperial chef, the Yan family has become nervous and used various means to seize the other 30% of shares from Lin Lao Er. Now he only owns 20% of the stock in the store, but he still has to be the shopkeeper and the buyer, taking care of all the chores. He is exhausted like a dog, but the money he gets is less than one-tenth of his original salary.
He also had to support a large family. Since they had been spoiled by Lin Baotian, his family wanted the best of everything. They wanted to live in a mansion, eat delicacies from land and sea, and wear silk and satin. Their monthly expenses were enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for a year. At that time, he was still the owner of Yan's Restaurant, and all the profits belonged to him to spend. Lin Baotian never asked about it and would occasionally give him some help, so he lived a very comfortable life. But what about now? He receives monthly salary as a shopkeeper but has to support a family that is like an aristocrat. How does he live?
After ten years, his savings had long been spent and he had to rely on pawning his property to make ends meet. If Yan's Restaurant made a lot of money, he would have a lot of money on hand. If Yan's Restaurant's business was bad, he would also have a bad life. So when Qiaoyuan Restaurant rose to prominence, he was more anxious than anyone else. Occasionally, when he thinks of his past, he would feel filled with regret, but what’s the use of regret? Now that the wolf has been brought into the house, how can we drive it out?
Seeing that today was another day with few customers, Lin Lao Er said with a sullen face: "Go to Qiaoyuan Restaurant and see if they have launched a new dish to compete with us."
The waiter agreed and left in a hurry. After a while, he came back and said in surprise, "There really is a new dish called the Boneless Fish. The whole fish has no bones. It is stewed in a thick milky white soup. It tastes fresh and sweet and melts in your mouth. I saw the old lady of the Yongding Marquis's Mansion and her eldest grandson there. The eldest grandson never eats fish because he dislikes the bones, but today he ate it very much and kept asking for another one. The business in the restaurant is almost booming. The diners inside are reluctant to come out, and the diners outside are queuing up. The old shopkeeper asked the waiters to put many benches at the door for the guests to rest, and invited storytellers to tell stories at the street corner. People eat inside and laugh outside. It's so lively. I finally squeezed in and one of my shoes fell off."
At this point, the waiter lifted his foot to show Lin Lao Er his bare left foot, and said hesitantly: "Boss, will you compensate me with a new pair of shoes?"
"Compensation is useless! Get out of here!" Lin Lao Er roared with his face flushed and neck thick, and he felt like his lungs were about to explode with anger. We cook black sea cucumber, and you also cook black sea cucumber; we make meatballs, and you also make meatballs; we cook boneless fish, and you also cook boneless fish, and every time you cook it better than us. It is obvious that you want to smash the reputation of Yan's Restaurant! Yan Langqing is also a waste. He is a royal chef but he is not as good as a common chef. Has he been eating for free all these years?
Lin Laoer was so anxious that he wanted to pick up a knife and kill the new chef of Qiaoyuan Restaurant.
Just then, Yan Shouye walked in unsteadily, holding a birdcage in one hand and a pipe in the other. When he saw that there were no diners in the hall, his face turned dark. Lin Laoer hurriedly told him about the competition between Qiaoyuan Restaurant and his own restaurant. He immediately sneered, "You are tired of living by going against my Yan family! You want to compete with me? Well, if they don’t have any signature dishes, let’s see what they can use to compete with me!" After he finished speaking, he took out a token from his waist, took out ten silver bills, and asked his attendant to go to the palace gate to find someone.
…………
On the other side, since the boneless fairy fish was highly praised by diners, Lin Dan made an exception and prepared ten tables of dishes. When it was getting late, he washed his hands and face and prepared to go home. Just then, the old shopkeeper came in with a pale-faced, beardless young man, who looked as if he had lost his parents.
As soon as he saw the young man, the smile on Chef Qiu's face quickly disappeared, and anger appeared in his eyes.
The young man said in a shrill voice, "Congratulations, Chef Qiu. Your golden lionfish, stuffed black sea cucumber, meatballs, and boneless fairy fish have all been chosen by the imperial kitchen. They will be presented to the emperor and included in the royal recipes. This is a reward, you should thank me." After he finished speaking, he handed over a jade ruyi.
The jade ruyi was only the size of a palm, with insufficient water content and not bright color. If it were not engraved with the words "made by imperial decree", no one would want it even if it was thrown on the street. But just based on these two words, Chef Qiu had to kneel down and kowtow to express his gratitude. No matter how humiliated he felt, he couldn't say "no".
Lin Dan knelt down, with a sarcastic smile on his face. Ever since Yan Langqing became the imperial chef, he often searched for folk delicacies for the emperor. If a restaurant had delicious dishes that had a great reputation, she would recommend the restaurant's dishes to the emperor and then record them in the royal recipes.
The chef she chose was initially very grateful and awed, but later discovered that since the dish was prepared for the emperor, they could not sell it outside, otherwise it would be a crime of disrespect. It often takes chefs months or even years of painstaking research to develop new dishes. But with just a few words, she deprived others of their hard work and cut off their source of income, just like a bandit.
Lin Dan knew what kind of people the Yan family was like, so she was not surprised or angry. She stood up and said slowly: "Please ask this eunuch to tell Yan Yuchu that Lin Dan is back and wants to compete with her again to end the past. She will understand after hearing it." After that, she handed over a large silver note.
The young man seemed to be very familiar with Yan Langqing. He did not want the banknotes, but sneered and said, "I have heard about you and Yan Yuchu from her own mouth. You were not as good as her back then, but now the difference between you two is like heaven and earth. How can you even talk about competing again?"
“Then tell her that these four dishes are my creations and have nothing to do with Qiaoyuan Restaurant. If she wants the dishes, she can come to me in Nancheng. If she is afraid, let’s just forget about it.” Lin Dan took back the banknote naturally, his voice neither hurried nor slow, neither humble nor arrogant.
"Did you make these four dishes?" The young man also came from the imperial kitchen. He had good cooking skills and good taste. He had just tasted four dishes in the front hall, so he naturally knew the level of Lin Dan's cooking skills. Her knife skills, cooking skills, and seasoning are all top-notch, and are no worse than the chefs in the imperial kitchen. Just now he dared to say the four words "a world of difference", but now he couldn't open his mouth.
"Of course," Lin Dan nodded, "Please help me pass on a message, sir."
The young man looked at her deeply, then walked away with a flick of his sleeves. Little Chef Qiu finally came to his senses and exclaimed, "Master, you actually have a grudge against Chef Yan Yu! You used all your skills to help Qiaoyuan Restaurant develop new dishes just to lure her out?"
Lin Dan took off her headscarf that was covered in oil smoke and chuckled, "It's true that we have a grudge, but it's not a complete fight. She made a move, I responded, that's all. There are thousands of delicacies in the world, and just four dishes are nothing."
Little Chef Qiu sent her to the car and said sincerely: "Master, I think you are better than Yan Yuchu. You are willing to teach others your unique skills, but Yan Yuchu only plunders others' hard work. Whether it is cooking or being a person, she is not as good as you."
Lin Dan knocked on the head of Little Chef Qiu with his knuckles, then left with a smile. When he arrived in South City, he saw that the Sanchakou Hutong was full of people. There was a faint sound of crying coming from inside, and some onlookers whispered, "I never expected that the owner of this restaurant would be such a traitor who would even be greedy for the money for the master's coffin!"
"You can't judge a person by his appearance. Don't be fooled by the smiling face of the young boss. Who knows how vicious he is inside! Both of them are widows at such a young age. Is this retribution?"
"Yes, I don't know what means this young widow used to make her business so successful. It's dirty, really dirty!"
Hearing this, Lin Dan knew without asking that the Yan family must have used their old tricks again and came to the house to cause trouble. She quickly pushed through the crowd and saw Qi sitting on the ground with messy hair and scratches on her cheeks and neck. She must have been injured in a fight with someone. The earthenware jar placed at the door was broken, the marinade spilled all over the floor, and the marinated food was snatched away by the onlookers. The tables and chairs in the store were also missing some parts. Xiaozhu, Shaoyao and others were cleaning and they all had injuries on their bodies.
Ten years have passed, and the Yan family is still as arrogant as ever, and they love to push people into desperate situations. But Lin Dan is no longer the Lin Dan who was powerless to fight back ten years ago. She ignored the pointing and criticizing of the crowd and their scornful and questioning looks, helped Qi up and closed the door.
"From today on, we will close our shop." She said slowly, "Take advantage of this free time to walk around and have some fun. When we are done with this, we will go to Jiangnan."
"When are we leaving the capital?" Qi didn't want to stay in the capital for even a quarter of an hour. She was afraid of the Yan family.
"It's almost done, mom, you should pack up first." Lin Dan returned to the capital not to make money to open a store, but to settle the past. The store being smashed would not cause her any loss, and her reputation being tarnished would not cause her any harm.
"Okay, I'll pack my luggage right away. I told you not to come back, but you didn't listen. After we leave this time, we won't ever come back again, okay?" Qi asked fearfully.
"Okay, let's find a place with beautiful mountains and rivers to live in." Lin Dan gently comforted Qi. Naturally, she would not tell Qi about the cooking competition, lest she lose sleep. In the eyes of nobles, the imperial chefs are just slaves who serve people, but in the eyes of ordinary people, they are people who cannot be provoked.
After everyone tidied up the shop, they went to bed, but they didn't expect that a fire broke out in the kitchen in the middle of the night. If Lin Dan hadn't been highly alert due to his extensive travels, he would have woken up quickly and everyone would have been burned to death. After extinguishing the fire, Lin Dan found a pile of burnt wood and a strong smell of kerosene at the foot of the wall. He immediately realized that someone had deliberately set the fire, and he didn't need to guess who the murderer was.
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