Zhou was stunned. She hadn't expected He Jiuniang to be here. Her mind went blank for a moment, and she didn't know how to react.
She was more focused on how to explain being kicked out of the restaurant and didn't realize that she had already been exposed to the Lu family.
Zhou's stupidity lies in treating everyone as fools, unaware that her own purpose is so obvious, and even believing that everyone is being kept in the dark by her.
If she were even slightly smarter, He Jiuniang wouldn't have dealt with her so openly.
"Girl, help me up! The people in this restaurant in town are awful! I just wanted to go in and take a look, and they beat me up and threw me out. I've never seen anyone so disrespectful!"
Her eyes darted around, and she quickly came up with an excuse, hoping to get away with it.
He Jiuniang couldn't help but click her tongue: "Really? I saw your young waiter smiling and inviting you in, and you seemed quite familiar with Manager Zhang inside!"
Zhou was taken aback. She saw it? How much did she see?
She finally became a little scared. If she fell out with Manager Zhang, she could still go to the boss, but if He Jiuniang found out about this, she might be kicked out by the Lu family.
"No! Sister, are you sure you're not mistaken? You must have mistaken him for someone else. If I knew him, why would I have been beaten up?"
She smiled awkwardly, gritted her teeth, and got up, not even daring to look at He Jiuniang's face.
He Jiuniang laughed and said, "Yes, sister-in-law, you were clearly invited in, so how did you get kicked out? Let me guess, it's probably because they didn't like the branches and stones I gave you. How can these people be so materialistic? They turned against you over a bag of branches and stones. That's really too much!"
Upon hearing this, Madam Zhou immediately looked up at her and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
She finally realized something was wrong, but she still found it hard to believe. She considered herself to be careful, and she had seen He Jiuniang take one out of a pile of cloth bags and give it to her with her own eyes. Even when she was kicked out of the restaurant, she did not suspect He Jiuniang.
But to her surprise, Manager Zhang was right; she had been tricked.
"That's exactly what you're thinking!"
He Jiuniang spoke very casually and naturally, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.
"You still haven't realized that my Lu Hei Ya was made from that bag of branches and stones? If that's the case, Sister-in-law Zhou, you're really something!"
As He Jiuniang spoke, she smacked her lips, her smile so obvious that every word she uttered felt like a knife stabbing into Zhou Shi's heart.
"Why? How could this happen?"
After a long while, Zhou Shi slowly murmured, unable to understand how He Jiu Niang had done it.
From the moment she was assigned to tend the fire, to the fight with those brats, and then to He Jiuniang coming to protect her, everything happened so naturally, without any trace of design.
Especially when He Jiuniang took her to browse the storeroom, and randomly picked one from so many cloth bags, they were all exactly the same. How could He Jiuniang be sure that the one she picked up was definitely fake?
Or is it that all of them are fake, just to fool her, so many fakes?
There were many things she couldn't understand, and didn't want to understand. She didn't believe that she had really been completely fooled by He Jiuniang.
She initially thought He Jiuniang was a good person, since she had at least helped her. She believed that if He Jiuniang became successful in the future and He Jiuniang faced hardship, she would still be willing to lend a hand.
In retrospect, He Jiuniang's heart is the darkest among the Lu family members.
In that instant, she suddenly understood why such a large family as the Lu family were all willing to listen to He Jiu Niang.
"No reason, we were originally planning to play along with you slowly, but you've been too slow, there's been no movement for days, so I gave you a hand! I didn't expect you to be so sensible, you just received the item and didn't even think to open it and check it before delivering it, otherwise we wouldn't know who your supplier is!"
He Jiuniang's voice was soft and pleasant, but her words were like frost in the dead of winter, making Zhou Shi shiver.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I don't understand."
Unable to argue with He Jiuniang, she decided to play dumb.
He Jiuniang was quite disappointed by her reaction, and crossed her arms and called out to the back, "Big brother and sister-in-law, come out."
Lu Laoda and Yu Shi had followed her there. Zhou Shi had just left when He Jiu Niang went to find them. Only then did Yu Shi learn why He Jiu Niang had asked the couple to come to the county town.
At first, Madam Yu didn't understand why Madam Zhou had come to the restaurant, but after hearing He Jiu Niang's explanation, she immediately understood.
The Zhou family was sent by the "Ten Miles of Fragrance" to steal the recipe!
No wonder I've been going to the food workshop every day, now I know why!
Yu admired He Jiuniang immensely. She hadn't understood He Jiuniang's meaning before, but now she did.
He Jiuniang had deliberately shown goodwill towards Zhou Shi to gain her trust, so that she would not check the contents of the cloth bag and would directly send over the fragrant offering.
The couple emerged from behind the wall and looked at Zhou with calm expressions.
The initial surprise had already passed, and what followed was a sense of relief.
During this period, Zhou had caused unrest in the Lu family. Yu felt disgusted, but for the sake of the workshop's reputation, it was inconvenient to directly drive them away. She felt guilty towards the Lu family.
Now that we know she has ill intentions and have caught her red-handed, this is the most direct reason to kick her out.
"Sister, I don't know what she's talking about. I didn't do those things. You talk to her, you explain it to her!"
When Zhou saw Yu, she hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and begged her for help in a flustered manner.
For the Zhou family now, the Yu family is definitely a lifeline.
As the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lu family, Madam Yu's words still carried some weight. As long as Madam Yu agreed to keep her, she would still have a place in the Lu family.
That way she'll still have a chance!
Madam Yu flung her hand away, looked at her with an expression as if she were an idiot, and asked, "Do you think I'm an idiot? From the moment you went in until you came out, we saw everything you did and said. And you still have the nerve to say you didn't know what your third sister-in-law was saying! I kindly took you in, but you're only thinking of harming our Lu family. I've never seen such an ingrate!"
"No, I didn't! I didn't do it! Believe me, they framed me, they framed me!"
Zhou kept shaking her head, crying uncontrollably. She didn't care that she was on the street or how many people were watching her, she just wanted to gain Yu's sympathy.
This sister-in-law is soft-hearted. She knows that as long as she cries a little more pitifully, she will definitely keep her.
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