Chapter 219 Getting on the Right Track
The man in the short shirt was named Zhou Sizhu, and the woman was his wife, Juanniang, who lived in a village under Qili County.
The couple had one son and two daughters. They originally opened a snack bar in Pingyang Prefecture, selling local noodles. The business was good. In addition to being able to provide food and clothing for the family, they could also ask people to send a few taels of silver back to their hometown to support their parents during the New Year and other festivals.
But since last winter, refugees have gathered outside the city, prices have risen, and no matter how strict the government's inspections are, there are still refugees who sneak into the city.
It's okay in the downtown area, but in the poor streets and alleys, there are more and more robbers and extortionists.
The small shop opened by Zhou Sizhu is located in a remote place. At the beginning, he was kind enough to give some food to beggars. But as time went on, those beggars and thugs started to extort money from him in different ways.
She came to his house every few days, not only disrupting his business, but also almost kidnapped his two-year-old daughter.
Some of his colleagues even took advantage of his misfortune and hired some ruffians to extort a large sum of money from him on the pretext that the food he had eaten was unclean, forcing him and his wife to sell their property and return to their hometown to farm.
It’s just that Zhou Sizhu has a straightforward temper, and he feels uncomfortable holding this anger in his heart.
Song Liyun also found out that Juanniang had always had the habit of eating peppercorns since she was a child, and her family was also good at making spicy dishes.
However, because a fire broke out at home while smoking and barbecuing meat, her parents died in the fire and her eldest brother was also burned. She sold herself into a slavery in exchange for silver to treat her brother's illness.
She met Zhou Sizhu when she was a slave in a wealthy family. After they got married and were freed from slavery, she opened a small shop with Zhou Sizhu. The good business attracted covetousness, and ended up in the current situation.
Song Liyun thought that it was indeed a bit monotonous for Tianxianglou to only sell barbecue now. It would be better if it could be paired with some other foods, such as porridge, soup and snacks, and if it could make spicy dishes in the future.
It’s a pity that no decent chef in Qili County dares to come to Tianxianglou.
Although Sun Wencheng and his friends know how to barbecue, they are self-taught after all.
Barbecue prepared in the wild is barely edible. To achieve high-end perfection, professional guidance is needed.
When Zhou Sizhu and his wife heard that Song Liyun wanted to hire them as chefs and asked if they were willing to stay, they agreed almost without hesitation.
Tianxianglou used to have more than a dozen waiters, cooks and handymen, and in order to accommodate errand boys, they specially set up a few small rooms in the backyard, which are still empty now.
Zhou Sizhu, Juanniang and their child moved in that same day.
Now the couple works in the kitchen, while their ten-year-old son Xiaozhu and eight-year-old Dahua do the easy work of running errands in the building, and two-year-old Xiaohua usually stays in the backyard where it is safe.
With the addition of this couple, the kitchen of Tianxianglou had a backbone. With Lin Tao as the manager, the subsequent business went smoothly and got on the right track.
Besides, Lord Jiang in the county government office, after receiving the six thugs sent by Zhou Xiang, took the opportunity to dig up a lot of money.
As expected of him being from the Dali Temple, his ability to investigate cases was first-rate. As soon as the ruffians came to court, they confessed the truth that the one who ordered them was Huang Changsheng from Zuichunlou.
However, when the yamen runners called Huang Changsheng in for verification, these thugs were unable to produce any evidence and had to let him go.
Zhou Xiang was still a little annoyed when he said this: "I don't know what Jiang Feng meant. He just asked one question, and then he let the person go when he didn't admit it.
It's ridiculous that they still want us to be generous. It's obvious that these people are making things difficult for us, yet they still want us to show mercy to these evil-minded villains."
It turned out that although Huang Changsheng did not admit to instructing others to blackmail Tianxianglou, he admitted that he had gone to the county government office to inquire about the purchase and had spent a lot of money to bribe several clerks.
However, this cannot be cited as evidence that he committed blackmail.
Zhou Xiang complained before adding, "Master Jiang also said that Tianxianglou was the target of hostility from several restaurants in Qili County. If we punish Huang Changsheng now, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the culinary community. He asked us to keep a low profile for now!"
Is this a case of the law not punishing everyone? Or is it about maintaining order in Qili County?
Song Liyun thought for a moment before saying, "It can only be said that the way civil officials handle things is different from that of military commanders. Lord Jiang has his reasons for doing what he wants to do. We just need to be careful."
Jealousy is like weeds in spring. If you pull out one, there will be another. Now we know that Huang Changsheng and Shen Leyan are the leaders, so we just need to be on guard.
Tianxianglou is going to open for business, and harmony is the key to making money.
In the past, people were not afraid of wearing shoes when they were barefoot, but now they have to restrain themselves and can no longer fight and quarrel with each other.
Moreover, the rumor that Tianxiang Tower is a property of the garrison has spread privately. Does Jiang Feng want to avoid suspicion?
These are just speculations of Song Liyun and others.
No one knew what tricks Jiang Feng and Captain Luo had used, but Qili County suddenly became peaceful.
A few days passed, and apart from the first ruffian who wanted to extort money to make trouble, now even the cats and dogs didn't come to the door.
The culinary industry is also dead.
However, Song Liyun had no intention of letting these people go. Whatever she did, there would be consequences.
There is still a long time to go, and you will get back what you did when you first opened your business!
Jiang Feng's work focus these days is indeed on maintaining stability. After all, he came here not only for this small county, but also for other matters.
It was said that a month ago, Qing'an Prefecture was captured by the Di Lu on horseback, and the refugees scattered and poured into Pingyang Prefecture, causing the pressure here to increase sharply.
Under the scorching sun, the refugees' lives were even more miserable than in the cold winter. Often, the stench of death had spread before people died, and plagues would follow.
Qili County and Suijin Town are closer to the Dilu grassland than the provincial capital.
Moreover, due to the backward communication, more than half a year had passed before the news of the Di Lu tribe attacking the Suijin Pass wall during the New Year's Festival spread throughout Yunzhou.
Out of fear of the Di Lu people, those who fled did not come here, and this county town became a pure land instead.
Seeing that the country was falling, the Xuanwei Army could no longer be relied upon. The Zhenbei Army in Hecheng had already dispatched troops, trying hard to drive the Di Lu on horseback towards the grassland.
However, the Wu Dynasty was experiencing a time when there was abundant grass and water, and the granaries were full of grain. The Di Lu cavalry did not even need to bring horse feed, and could gallop freely in the fields and villages.
This is also the reason why the Zhenbei Army tried every means to build garrison castles in an attempt to keep the Di Lu people outside the pass.
Once they enter the Wu Dynasty, the situation will become bad for the Zhenbei Army.
The Di Lu rode their horses as swiftly as the wind, with unpredictable directions. No one could stop them wherever they went. Moreover, they could take a large number of Wu Dynasty villagers as hostages, making it difficult for the Zhenbei Army to catch up with them and making it difficult to attack them.
This kind of job where you have to be cautious and careful is not easy to do. If you are not careful, not only will you fail to save others, but you will also lose yourself.
Food can be looted and then harvested again, but heavy casualties will seriously damage the foundation.
The Zhenbei Army could not launch a strong attack on the Di Lu cavalry that occupied the village, so they could only slowly shrink their defense line, block the road ahead, and force the Di Lu people to retreat to the grassland after looting before taking action again.
In the imperial capital of the Wu Dynasty, the weather was scorching in June. Under the scorching sun, even the cicadas hid in the shade of the trees and hummed softly.
In the court, all the officials were wearing formal court robes but were sweating profusely and remained silent.
(End of this chapter)
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