Chapter 102: Five Little Kids in One Litter

Because he caused trouble for his family, Young Master Chen was not only scolded by his father, but was also punished to kneel in the ancestral hall for half a month, at a fixed time and place every day, and had to kneel for a full hour.

His knees were aching badly and he was in a bad mood. Hearing what the servant said, he said coldly, "It'd better be good news, otherwise you can forget about staying in the Chen family!"

The servant smiled and helped the Second Master Chen walk into his yard, whispering, "It's about the new base recipe of Cui's hot pot restaurant. Master, do you think it's good news?"

Young Master Chen stopped and looked at the boy in surprise: "You know the recipe?"

This time he was tricked by the Cui family. As the person in charge of the milk tea shop, he was the one who hired the employees to sell the recipe, and he was also the one who led the team to destroy the shop later. It can be said that he made one wrong step after another.

Although his father hated the Cui family, he hated his brainless son even more. If it weren't for his eldest brother, younger brother and mother's pleading, his father would definitely punish him more severely.

And now the milk tea shop has been handed over to a dedicated shopkeeper. He has become a boss in name only, has lost his management rights, and has once again become a lazy and dissolute young master.

I thought that would be the end of his life, but unexpectedly, the situation took a turn for the better and the servant brought him new hope.

The servant scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "I don't know."

When Chen Ershao heard what he said, he was about to attack him. Fortunately, the servant spoke up in time: "But I know who has this thing."

Young Master Chen finally delivered the slap, and it landed on the boy's head with a loud "pa" sound.

"Who taught you to breathe heavily when you talk?"

The servant was not bothered by being beaten. On the one hand, he did not dare to do it. On the other hand, he knew that he would be rewarded. Compared with the money, this little pain was nothing.

"It's my fault, please don't blame me, let's continue talking about the recipe."

The Second Young Master Chen was too lazy to argue with him anymore and urged him, "Hurry up and explain everything to me."

"Yes, yes, yes." The servant responded quickly.

When they returned to Master Chen's courtyard, the servant had already explained the whole story in detail.

It turned out that today he was urgently called out by a brother he met outside, who said he was invited to drink. When he arrived at the place, he found that a strange man was also there.

After the introduction by the brother, I learned that this strange man wanted to negotiate a deal with the Chen family, but he had no connections. After knowing that the brother knew the servants of the Chen family, he asked the brother to call the servant out.

The man said that he knew the chef who developed the new base for Cui's Hotpot Restaurant. He used to be a good brother to him, but they later fell out for some reasons.

However, before the chef cooked up the new base, the man had a good relationship with him. When he went to see him one time, he accidentally saw the recipe he wrote on a piece of paper and wrote it down, thinking it might be useful in the future.

Later, the man passed by Cui's Hotpot Restaurant and smelled the fragrance coming from inside, which was the flavor of the base cooked by the chef. After some inquiries, he found out that the new chef of Cui's Hotpot Restaurant was the one he knew.

The man recently lost some money in gambling, and his creditors kept coming to his house to collect the debts. The man had no money in his pocket, so he set his sights on the formula of the base material.

The man had also heard about the farce between the Cui and Chen families. After observing for a few days, he found that the business of the Chen family's hot pot restaurant was indeed taken away by the new base of the Cui family's hot pot restaurant. Thinking that the Chen family might need this recipe, he began to find connections to contact someone in the Cui family.

The servant was curious and asked him why he didn't go directly to Chen's Hot Pot Restaurant to negotiate the recipe with the manager, but instead wasted time and energy to come and negotiate with him.

The man said he wanted to find someone he knew, hoping to make more money through his connections. If he went directly to the store, he was afraid of being forced to lower the price.

The servant thought to himself that if they really wanted to lower your price, given the Chen family's status in the capital, you would have to hand over the recipe even if they didn't give you a penny.

However, thinking of the recent tense relationship between the Cui and Chen families, the servant gave up the idea of ​​snatching the recipe and presenting it to his master, and agreed to convey the man's request, but he would have to share some of the money from the sale of the recipe.

The man agreed with tears of gratitude.

Chen Ershao asked: "Are you sure that the formula is real?"

The waiter said, "The man thought we wouldn't believe him, so he bought some ingredients out of his own pocket and cooked a small portion. Although the taste is a little off because of his poor cooking skills, it still has that aroma. I still have another portion in my hand."

As he spoke, the servant took the oil-paper bag out of his arms.

Master Chen personally took him to the kitchen to try it, and it was indeed the fragrance of the new base.

Young Master Chen was so excited that even the gloom on his face faded a little. He asked anxiously, "How much does he want?"

The boy showed three fingers.

"Three hundred taels? He really dares to ask for it." It's not that Young Master Chen can't afford the money, he just doesn't want to let those lowly civilians get away with it.

The servant tried to test him: "How about a smaller one and then bargaining for a lower price?"

"Forget it." Chen Ershao waved his hands. "I will feel at ease when I get the stuff sooner. The money comes from me, and you must bring me the real formula. If you do this well, I will definitely get your reward."

The servant was so happy that his mouth almost flew to the sky. He kept saying yes and promised to complete the task.

The servant was very careful in his work. After he exchanged the recipe for silver, he first detained the man who sold the recipe, and then asked someone to buy the required ingredients as quickly as possible. He then asked the chef in the mansion to cook the recipe. Only after he was sure that the recipe was authentic did he let the man go.

At this time, the second young master Chen had already taken the recipe to his third brother to claim credit.

The three legitimate sons of the Chen family have a very good relationship. The eldest son Chen was transferred back to the capital this year, and the family was reunited. The relationship between the three brothers is even stronger than before.

Father Chen has always been cold-hearted. If it weren't for the fact that the Cui family had indeed gone too far this time, and if it weren't for the fact that his eldest brother, third brother and mother had helped to plead for them, maybe Young Master Chen would have really been thrown into jail by his father and ignored.

The hot pot restaurant is now managed by the third brother. Due to poor performance, Chen Lao San has been very distressed recently.

As a reward for his plea and also to show his concern for his younger brother, Chen Ershao felt that his younger brother would definitely like this gift.

The result was as he expected, the base material recipe solved Chen Laosan's urgent problem.

After the new base was used in the hot pot restaurant, coupled with promotional activities, it really attracted a lot of customers, and was at least on par with the Cui family.

Chen Laosan's eyes were red with excitement. The success of the hot pot restaurant business was not only related to the income, but also to the reputation of the Chen family.

The Cui and Chen families are currently competing secretly. In addition to the court, business is also one of the competitions.

They lost the milk tea shop before and brought shame to the Chen family, but this time they finally won at the hot pot restaurant.

The hot pot restaurant belongs to the third young master Chen. He was proud of himself in front of the head of the Chen family and naturally would not forget the contribution of his second brother. He immediately took him to his father to praise him for how lucky and decisive he was. If they had not handled it well, the recipe might not have fallen into their hands.

Young Master Chen, who had been leading the attack on the court battlefield with his father, also spared no effort to speak well of his second brother.

Young Master Chen did a really good job in this matter, and the scene of the three brothers working together formed a sharp contrast with the quarrels between the Cui and Li families. The head of the Chen family was very happy for a while, and not only withdrew the punishment on Young Master Chen, but also rewarded him with some study supplies.

It wasn't a very valuable item, but it meant that the Second Young Master Chen had gained a certain status in the heart of the head of the Chen family, which made the three brothers very happy.

The Chen family was happy, but the Cui family was unhappy.

The new base material produced by the Chen family is exactly the same as their own. If there is no cat stuff in it, then their Cui family's surname would be written backwards.

The first person they would suspect would definitely be the chef who came to seek refuge with them, but no matter how they asked, the chef said that he had never done anything to sell the same ingredients to two families, unless he didn't want to live anymore.

The Cui family's investigation results also proved that the chef did not lie.

Finally, the chef thought hard and remembered his good friend, who was the only one who could have access to his base recipe and thus stole it.

The Cui family investigated based on the clues he gave and found that there was indeed such a person who had contact with the Chen family's servants, but now that person has left the capital, and they can't catch him even if they want to.

There is no doubt that this is the Chen family's revenge against the Cui family, just like before, the Chen family knew that the Cui family bribed the store clerk to sell the fruit tea recipe, but without evidence, the Chen family could not do anything to the Cui family.

Now the Chen family wants to retaliate.

But the Cui family is not the Chen family. They will neither swallow their anger nor be as reckless as the second young master Chen, who ultimately turns what was right into what was wrong.

Three days later, after inspecting the shops, Young Master Chen took a carriage back home. Unexpectedly, the horse went mad on the way and not only knocked down several passers-by, but the carriage eventually lost control and crashed into the wall, overturning. Young Master Chen's right leg was injured and he would probably have to stay in bed for the next few months.

Clearly, there was something wrong with the horse pulling the carriage, but later rumors spread that it was because Young Master Chen drove the carriage recklessly and crashed into other people in the city for the sake of momentary pleasure, causing many injuries to the people, including the elderly and children, which caused great dissatisfaction among the people.

A censor even reported the Chen family in the court. Although the head of the Chen family explained that the horse had been tampered with, Zong Zhengxiao still scolded him for the mistake of hitting someone.

During the entire process, Patriarch Cui never stood up to say a word for Patriarch Chen.

If it was just a business robbery and a court dispute, it would be fine, but this time Cui Jiaming was aiming to hurt Young Master Chen. Maybe they just wanted to teach Young Master Chen a lesson, but if something unexpected happened, Young Master Chen might lose his life.

Looking at his brother lying on the hospital bed, Young Master Chen was furious. If it weren't for his family members stopping him, he would have rushed to the Cui family and killed all the culprits.

"Then we're just going to let the Cui family trample on us?" Young Master Chen was dissatisfied. "Today it's my third brother, who will it be tomorrow? My father, my mother, my eldest brother, or me? Even if I die, I don't want to die in such a miserable way."

陳母蹙眉：“什麽死不死的，晦氣，快說呸呸呸。”

陳二少扭頭：“我又不信這個。”

“你這孩子……”陳母無奈了。

作為被害者，陳三少也在勸哥哥：“君子報仇十年不晚，又何必争這一時之氣，我們總能想到更好的辦法回擊。”

看大家都一副不贊同自己的神情，陳二少一屁股坐到旁邊的椅子上，氣哼哼地道：“這不答應那不合适，那你們自己想辦法吧。”

旁邊一直沉默的陳家主這才開口道：“本來也沒讓你想辦法，是你自己一直在那裏叽叽喳喳。”

“我……”陳二少下意識想反駁，但發現說話的是他爹，又把不滿給咽了回去。

陳家主見他老實了，才道：“老三說得對，小不忍則亂大謀，總有一天他們會為自己所做的一切付出代價。”

衆人都很是贊同這個說法，除了陳二少。

後頭陳父又單獨将陳二少喊去教育了一番，嚴肅地叮囑道：“也不知你這暴躁脾氣是随了誰，你要是不想落得跟李傲一樣的下場，以後就給我老實待在家裏當你的二少爺，少給我想那些打打殺殺的事情。”

聽他爹拿他跟李傲做對比，陳二少暗地裏不屑地撇了撇嘴，但知道跟父親對抗沒他好果子吃，便就乖乖地答應了。

崔家見陳家沒有動作，知曉他們是怕了，也不由得狂傲起來。

馬車一事不是崔家主指使的，但其中也有他的默許。

在他眼裏，不聽話的狗，就是要狠狠教訓才行。

他可以後悔當初答應李楚保護李家，但不能容忍陳家主他們的質疑，一旦自己的威嚴遭到挑釁，那他的地位就會不保。

之後的日子，從秋到冬，崔陳兩家都相安無事，再沒出過亂子。

眼看這兩家和平相處，有人比宗政逍和戎音更着急。

崔二少這日臉色陰沉地從府外回來，一言不發地進了自己院子，他的小厮全程緊張，生怕他發火，拿自己開刀。

幾個月前，崔陳兩家鬥得正歡時，崔二少每日都樂呵呵的，還跟小厮打賭哪家會贏。

但後面兩家卻默契地沉寂了下來，沒了好戲可看，崔二少的心情再次跌入谷底。

小厮發現了，自家少爺如今是越來越瘋了，崔家一天不倒黴，他心裏就一天不快活。

還好少爺演技好，沒在崔家主面前漏過餡兒，不然要是被崔家主知道他的真實想法，肯定會第一時間就将他給處置了。

而崔二少今天之所以不高興，也是因為有事兒沒順他的意。

他今天帶着小厮去了之前常去的一家鬥狗場。

鬥狗場的狗都經過專門的訓練，兇惡又嗜殺，很适合用來發洩心裏的暴力情緒，鬥狗場的主人就靠客人給狗押注來賺錢。

崔二少是鬥狗場的常客，這日去了以後照舊随便選了條狗下注，他不在乎輸贏，只想看兩條狗發瘋般撕咬對方，僅為了奪走對手的性命。

可今天不知道怎麽回事，原本兇神惡煞的兩條狗，放進圈裏以後卻誰也不理誰，無論訓狗人怎麽咒罵唆使，兩條狗都不為所動。

後面兩條狗被訓狗人拿鞭子抽急了，還想反咬訓狗人。

崔二少當即就敗了性致，花錢賣下兩條狗，讓人當着他的面将狗給狠狠打死。

當時他的臉比寒冬的冰雪還冷，壓得在場所有人都不敢擡頭。

他說：“到了鬥狗場，還想着相安無事，由得着你們兩個畜生做主嗎？不想鬥，那就都去死吧。”

別人不知道，但小厮清楚，他這話是意有所指。

看着緊閉的房門，小厮覺得要不了多久，崔家的太平估計就又要再一次被打破了。

皇宮裏，戎音捧着自己捏的小雪人去找宗政逍，身後跟五只胖嘟嘟的小狗，排成一排跟随戎音的腳步，尾巴都快晃出殘影了。

這正是小艾同學的孩子，也是戎音的“外孫”們。

小艾同學通體黝黑，生出來的狗崽卻有一半是白色的，看來那個不靠譜的狗爹不是黃毛，而是白毛。

小艾同學生完孩子就奶了一個月，然後就繼續到處去野了，完全将自己的兒子女兒們抛諸腦後，最後還得戎音這個老父親來給它收拾爛攤子。

宗政逍剛批閱完今日份的折子，戎音就噔噔噔地跑到他面前，将小雪人遞給他看。

“這是我捏的你，像不像？”

宗政逍看看那個勉強能看得出人形來的雪人，再看看戎音期待的眼神，很是勉強地點了點頭，“像。”

“嘿嘿，我就說我有藝術天賦。”戎音得意完，把雪人往桌上一放，跟條魚似地滑溜進了宗政逍懷裏。

“怎麽了嗎？”宗政逍歪頭看他。

“沒事就不能讓你抱我嗎？”戎音仰頭看他，一副你要是敢說是，我就要生氣了的小表情。

“當然不是，我的懷抱，阿音什麽時候想來都可以。”

“哼，算你識趣。”

戎音靠在宗政逍肩頭，看着地上或打鬧或到處跑的狗崽們，唇角揚起了一抹恬靜的笑容。

“有錢有權，恩愛非常，身體健康，子孫滿堂，陛下，咱們倆算是人生終極贏家了吧。”

宗政逍将下巴輕輕抵在戎音頭頂，将他環抱住，“是啊，這世上沒有人比我們更幸福了。”

戎音蹭了蹭宗政逍的下巴，想起了什麽，感嘆道：“要是世家能早點倒臺就更好了，那樣才算是完美結局呢。”

宗政逍側頭在戎音臉上親一口，說：“阿音你許個願，說希望世家通通倒黴，或許會有效。”

他本是玩笑，但戎音聽完卻認真地合起手掌，閉上眼睛，在心裏虔誠地默念了這個願望。

聽着戎音誠懇的心聲，宗政逍眼底的笑意更深。

他家阿音就是那麽傻乎乎的。

許完願，戎音招來狗崽們，開心地道：“大豆二豆三豆四豆五豆你們過來，你們剛出生，說不定自帶新手好運，讓我摸摸蹭蹭歐氣，說不定願望很快就能實現了。”

沒錯，這從大到五幾個豆，就是戎音給外孫們取的名字。

宗政逍當初聽見時還驚訝了一下，不過後來又想通了，他家阿音取名就是随心所欲的，比如雲朵面包店就是經典案例，想到什麽就取什麽。

小艾同學大概是他目前取的最認真的一個名字了，雖然聽上去也很好笑。

“汪汪汪～”

狗崽的叫聲很稚嫩，還奶呼呼的，聽得人心都要化了。

戎音天天照顧它們，它們在戎音面前很乖，聽見戎音叫它們的名字，馬上就邁開小短腿跑了過去。

戎音将五只狗崽都抱進懷裏，這個摸完摸那個，還讓宗政逍一起摸，說是蹭蹭新生兒福氣。

宗政逍怕拒絕的話會惹戎音不高興，便憋笑和他一起蹭起了狗崽的好運。

但他沒想到的是，這個方法好像真的有用，因為摸完狗崽不到半個月，世家那邊就傳來了好消息。

當然，對他們來說是好消息，對世家、特別是陳家來說就是噩耗了。

因為陳二少死了。

中毒而亡，死在了一個世家主辦的宴會上。

這事兒還得從半個月前說起。

崔陳兩家相安無事，焦急的不止崔二少，陳二少心裏很也不得勁。

他爹怕他出去搗亂，就收了他的權，讓他只能當個閑散人員，每天除了待在家裏睡大覺，就是去外面溜貓逗狗，反正就是沒正事幹。

陳三少的腿經過治療修養，已經可以下床走路了，但想要恢複到原來能活蹦亂跳的程度，還需要一些日子。

每天看見三弟跛着腳走路的樣子，再聯想到崔家那些人的嘴臉，陳二少心裏就很窩火。

京城權貴圈子就這麽大，陳二少出去玩，難免會碰到崔家人。

崔家嫡系倒還算低調，幾個庶子就不是那麽友好了，總是當着陳二少的面冷嘲熱諷，暗罵陳家孬種，自家三少爺斷了一條腿，陳家卻連兇手都抓不到。

陳二少想着家人的叮囑，每次都忍了下來，可滔天的怒意在心裏聚集，只等一個爆發的機會，就能将自己和仇人都炸得粉碎。

并且，這個機會很快就到了。

這日是某個小世家一位老家主的七十歲壽宴，陳二少被他大哥帶着去祝壽，他們到時壽宴還沒開始，陳大少就領着弟弟四處社交。

雖然是兄弟，但陳二少跟大哥的朋友們玩不到一塊兒去，他大哥見他無聊，就讓他跟自己的好友去玩，只叮囑他乖一點，不要在別人家裏鬧事。

陳二少答應得好好的，原也沒有惹事的想法，可人算不如天算，他跟着同伴去了後院，不巧又和崔家人撞到了一起。

這次崔二少也在，他對陳二少的态度好算和善，但其他崔家庶子以及想巴結崔家的人就不是那麽回事了。

冷嘲熱諷都只是開胃小菜，後來他們不止說起了陳三少的事，還把之前陳家在崔家面前伏低做小的姿态都拿出來嘲笑，俨然是不把陳二少放在眼裏了。

The second young master Cui tried to persuade him, but was instead ridiculed by several illegitimate sons. They said that although he was a legitimate son, he had long been a useless person and had lost the favor of the master of the family, and was not even as good as them.

Young Master Cui looked so unhappy after hearing what they said that he ignored them.

It was not the first time that the bastards had provoked Young Master Chen. They thought that he would swallow his anger like before, but an angry rabbit will bite. Young Master Chen had tolerated them for too long, and his emotions controlled his reason. He got hot-headed and swung his fist.

At first, some people tried to stop the fight, but the Cui family didn't know what was good for them. They kept cursing and saying that if Young Master Chen didn't beat them up today, they would be real wastes!

This time the Second Young Master Chen really exploded, and no one could stop him. He rushed over and started fighting with several bastards of the Cui family.

At first, only the two families took action. Later, seeing that Chen Ershao was outnumbered, his friends could not just stand by and watch, so they joined the battlefield. Coincidentally, the Cui family also had a lot of help.

The scene escalated from a two-way fight to a group fight, and with the addition of people trying to break up the fight, the entire backyard became a mess.