Chapter 102: Five Little Kids in One Little
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 embarrassingly, "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."
Mother Chen frowned: "What's the matter with death? It's bad luck. Say it quickly, bah, bah, bah."
Young Master Chen turned his head and said, "I don't believe this."
"You kid..." Mother Chen was helpless.
As a victim, Chen Sanshao also advised his brother: "It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. Why bother to fight for the moment? We can always think of a better way to fight back."
Seeing that everyone looked disapproving of him, Chen Ershao sat down on a chair beside him and said angrily, "This is not agreeable and that is not appropriate. Then you guys figure out a solution."
The head of the Chen family, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up: "I didn't ask you to come up with a solution. It was you who kept chattering there."
"I..." Young Master Chen wanted to refute subconsciously, but when he realized that it was his father who was speaking, he swallowed his dissatisfaction.
Seeing that he had behaved himself, the head of the Chen family said, "The third brother is right. Impatience leads to chaos. One day, they will pay the price for what they have done."
Everyone agreed with this statement, except Chen Ershao.
Later, Father Chen called Second Young Master Chen to teach him a lesson, and sternly warned him, "I don't know who you inherited this bad temper from. If you don't want to end up like Li Ao, you should stay at home and be your Second Young Master. Don't think about fighting or killing."
Hearing his father compare him with Li Ao, the second young master Chen secretly curled his lips in disdain, but knowing that he would suffer the consequences if he went against his father, he obediently agreed.
When the Cui family saw that the Chen family did not take any action, they knew that they were afraid, and they could not help but become arrogant.
The carriage incident was not ordered by Patriarch Cui, but he tacitly approved it.
In his eyes, a disobedient dog needs to be severely punished.
He could regret agreeing to Li Chu to protect the Li family, but he could not tolerate the doubts from the head of the Chen family. Once his dignity was challenged, his position would be in jeopardy.
In the days that followed, from autumn to winter, the Cui and Chen families lived in peace and there was no more trouble.
Seeing that the two families were living in peace, some people were more anxious than Zong Zhengxiao and Rong Yin.
The second young master Cui came back from outside the mansion with a gloomy face that day, and walked into his yard without saying a word. His servant was nervous the whole time, fearing that he would lose his temper and take revenge on him.
A few months ago, when the Cui and Chen families were fighting each other vigorously, the second young master Cui was in high spirits every day and even made bets with his servants on which family would win.
But the two families behind fell silent tacitly. Without any good show to watch, Master Cui's mood fell to the bottom again.
The servant discovered that his young master was getting crazier and crazier. He would be unhappy as long as the Cui family was in trouble.
Fortunately, the young master had good acting skills and did not let the secret slip in front of Patriarch Cui. Otherwise, if Patriarch Cui knew his true thoughts, he would definitely deal with him immediately.
The reason why Young Master Cui was unhappy today was because something didn't go his way.
Today he took his servant to a dog fighting farm he used to go to often.
The dogs in the dog fighting arena have all been specially trained. They are vicious and bloodthirsty, making them ideal for venting violent emotions. The owners of the dog fighting arena make money by having customers bet on their dogs.
Young Master Cui was a frequent visitor to the dog fighting arena. When he arrived today, he randomly chose a dog to bet on as usual. He didn't care about winning or losing, he just wanted to watch the two dogs bite each other like crazy, just to take their opponents' lives.
But today, I don’t know what happened. The two dogs, which were originally ferocious, ignored each other after being put into the pen. No matter how the dog trainer cursed and instigated them, the two dogs remained unmoved.
The two dogs at the back were whipped by the trainer and became so angry that they wanted to bite the trainer back.
Young Master Cui immediately lost his temper, spent money to buy the two dogs, and had someone beat the dogs to death in front of him.
At that time, his face was colder than the ice and snow in the cold winter, and it suppressed everyone present so much that they dared not raise their heads.
He said, "You're at the dog fighting arena, and you still want to live in peace and let you two beasts decide? If you don't want to fight, then go and die."
Others may not know, but the servant knows that his words have a hidden meaning.
Looking at the tightly closed door, the servant felt that it would not be long before the peace of the Cui family would be disrupted once again.
In the palace, Rong Yin held the little snowman she had made and went to look for Zong Zheng Xiao. Behind her were five chubby puppies, who lined up in a row and followed her footsteps, with their tails almost leaving a shadow.
These are the children of Xiao Ai’s classmate, and also Rong Yin’s “grandchildren”.
Xiao Ai was dark all over, but half of the puppies she gave birth to were white. It seemed that the unreliable dog father had white hair instead of yellow hair.
After giving birth, classmate Xiao Ai breastfed her baby for a month and then continued to roam around, completely forgetting about her own son and daughter. In the end, Rong Yin, her old father, had to clean up her mess.
Zong Zheng Xiao had just finished reviewing today's memorials when Rong Yin ran up to him and handed him the little snowman.
"This is my sculpture of you. Does it look like you?"
Zong Zhengxiao looked at the snowman that barely looked like a human, then looked at Rong Yin's expectant eyes, and nodded reluctantly, "Yes."
"Hehe, I told you I have artistic talent." Rong Yin said proudly, put the snowman on the table, and slid into Zong Zheng Xiao's arms like a fish.
"What's wrong?" Zong Zheng Xiao tilted his head to look at him.
"Can't I let you hug me if nothing's wrong?" Rong Yin looked up at him with an expression that said, "If you dare to say yes, I'll be angry."
"Of course not. You can come to my arms anytime you want, Ayin."
"Hmph, you're quite knowledgeable."
Rong Yin leaned on Zong Zhengxiao's shoulder, looking at the puppies fighting or running around on the ground, with a peaceful smile on her lips.
"We have money, power, love, good health, and many children and grandchildren. Your Majesty, we are the ultimate winners in life."
Zong Zhengxiao gently placed his chin on the top of Rong Yin's head and hugged him, "Yes, no one in this world is happier than us."
Rong Yin rubbed Zong Zhengxiao's chin, remembered something, and sighed: "It would be better if the family could fall earlier, that would be a perfect ending."
Zong Zhengxiao tilted his head and kissed Rong Yin on the cheek, saying, "Ayin, make a wish that all the noble families will be in trouble. Maybe it will work."
He was just joking, but after hearing it, Rong Yin clasped his hands together seriously, closed his eyes, and devoutly recited this wish in his heart.
Listening to Rong Yin's sincere voice, Zong Zhengxiao's smile deepened.
His son Ayin is just so silly.
After making the wish, Rong Yin called the puppies over and said happily, "Big Bean, Two Bean, Three Bean, Four Bean, Five Bean, come here. You are just born, so maybe you have the luck of newbies. Let me touch your luck and maybe your wish will come true soon."
Yes, these names, from big to five or so beans, are the names Rongyin gave to his grandchildren.
Zong Zhengxiao was surprised when he heard it at first, but then he figured it out. He named his Ayin shop as he pleased. For example, Yunduo Bakery is a classic example. He named the shop whatever he thought of.
Xiao Ai is probably the most serious name he has chosen so far, although it also sounds funny.
“Woof woof woof~”
The puppy's cry is so childish and milky that it makes one's heart melt.
Rong Yin takes care of them every day. They are very well behaved in front of Rong Yin. When they hear Rong Yin calling their names, they immediately run over with their short legs.
Rong Yin held all five puppies in her arms, petting one after another, and even asked Zong Zhengxiao to pet them as well, saying that it was to rub together the blessings of the newborns.
Zong Zhengxiao was afraid that if he refused, Rong Yin would be unhappy, so he held back his laughter and shared in the puppy's good luck.
But what he didn't expect was that this method seemed to be really effective, because less than half a month after he touched the puppies, good news came from the family.
Of course, it was good news for them, but bad news for the aristocratic families, especially the Chen family.
Because Chen Ershao is dead.
He died of poisoning at a banquet hosted by a noble family.
This story started half a month ago.
The Cui and Chen families lived in peace, but it wasn't just Young Master Cui who was anxious; Young Master Chen also felt very frustrated.
His father was afraid that he would go out and cause trouble, so he took away his power and made him a leisurely person. Every day, apart from staying at home to sleep, he would go out to walk the cat and play with the dog. In short, he had nothing to do.
After treatment and recuperation, Mr. Chen's legs are now able to get out of bed and walk, but it will take some time for him to recover to his original state of being able to jump around.
Every day when he saw his third brother limping and thought of the faces of those people in the Cui family, the second young master Chen felt very angry.
The circle of powerful people in Beijing is so small that when Young Master Chen goes out to play, he is bound to run into members of the Cui family.
The direct descendants of the Cui family are relatively low-key, but the illegitimate sons are not so friendly. They always make sarcastic remarks in front of the second young master Chen, implicitly calling the Chen family cowards. Their third young master broke a leg, but the Chen family couldn't even catch the murderer.
Young Master Chen thought about his family's instructions and endured it every time, but a tremendous rage was gathering in his heart, just waiting for an opportunity to explode so that he and his enemies would be blown to pieces.
And, this opportunity will come soon.
Today was the 70th birthday banquet of an old patriarch of a small family. The second young master Chen was taken by his eldest brother to celebrate the birthday. When they arrived, the birthday banquet had not started yet, but the eldest young master Chen took his younger brother around to socialize.
Although they are brothers, Chen Ershao cannot play with his eldest brother's friends. Seeing that he is bored, his eldest brother lets him play with his own friends and only reminds him to be good and not cause trouble in other people's homes.
Young Master Chen agreed all right and had no intention of causing any trouble. However, man proposes, God disposes. He followed his companions to the backyard and unfortunately ran into the Cui family again.
The Second Young Master Cui was also present this time. He was quite kind to the Second Young Master Chen, but the same was not true for the other illegitimate sons of the Cui family and those who wanted to curry favor with the Cui family.
Sarcasm and ridicule were just appetizers. Later, they not only talked about the Third Young Master Chen, but also mocked the Chen family's previous humble attitude in front of the Cui family, as if they did not take the Second Young Master Chen seriously.
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.
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