Ever since Wang Zhongyi conceived the idea of taking over the medicinal cuisine restaurant in Jiangbai, he has been going there more often, almost once a day.
What he feared was not Jiang Bai, but Zhao Yi behind Jiang Bai.
He had seen Zhao Yi before and even asked him who he was.
Jiang Bai was busy at the time and didn't want to explain further, so he simply said, "They're just irrelevant people."
Therefore, Wang Zhongyi assumed that this person was a pursuer of Jiang Bai who had been unable to obtain her.
He even went back to the village to see Granny Wang and inquire about the relationship between Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai.
When Aunt Wang saw her son return, she was overjoyed and prepared a table full of dishes. But when she heard his probing questions, she became wary: "Why do you keep asking Jiang Bai?"
Wang Zhongyi cleared his throat and said seriously, "I found out a few days ago that Zhao Yi has some rare ingredients. I was thinking about whether I could use Jiang Bai's connections to get some help."
Aunt Wang breathed a sigh of relief: "I thought you had your eye on Jiang Bai. Let me tell you, Jiang Bai is beautiful, but she's a married woman. You should stay away from her and treat your wife well. She gave birth to three sons for you; it wasn't easy for her."
Wang Zhongyi looked incredulous: "How could this be, Mother? Don't you trust your son's character?"
“Besides,” he stroked his chin, “is Jiang Bai handsome? I don’t think he’s as handsome as my wife, or even as handsome as my mother when she was young.”
Aunt Wang was all smiles when he blushed, and naturally, she said whatever came to mind.
She sighed, "Jiang Bai is also unfortunate. Since they got married, Zhao Yi has never come back, and she has to raise two children on her own."
“Zhao Yi used to send money home, but these past few months he hasn’t sent a single penny. Otherwise, Jiang Bai wouldn’t be so exhausted and inexplicably open a medicinal cuisine restaurant in the county town.”
In Aunt Wang's mind, a woman's role is to support her husband and raise her children. She would never go out to do business unless she was truly desperate to survive.
That kind of life, where you encounter other men every day and are pointed at and gossiped about, is like going to hell.
Having learned the inside information, Wang Zhongyi felt more confident and finally included the medicinal cuisine restaurant in his plans.
He was making plans, but Madam Wang couldn't wait any longer.
Wang Zhongyi frequented medicinal cuisine restaurants, and some of her girlfriends began to secretly remind her: "Has your man been coming home lately? Keep an eye on him; there are too many women out there who have too many tricks up their sleeves and will corrupt him."
"I often see him hanging around Anle Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant. That proprietress is obviously no good; she's a vixen who knows how to seduce people."
You'd better be careful.
Madam Wang began to have doubts.
She was already puzzled. Jiang Bai was an orphan and a widow with no powerful backing. At most, she was good at social maneuvering and had a few suitors who were after her beauty.
When she takes over the medicinal cuisine restaurant, those customers will naturally come to her.
However, she wouldn't flirt with others like Jiang Bai; she was devoted to her man.
Logically speaking, someone with Jiang Bai's background should be able to be driven away easily. Wang Zhongyi has been dragging his feet for so long, and he even made an excuse to go there every day. Could it be that he's really softened?
Thinking about this, she couldn't sit still any longer.
And that's how this dispute came about.
Wang Zhongyi had already fought back; the broken relationship couldn't be mended, so he could only accept his fate. Fortunately, Jiang Bai had agreed to move out, so in a couple of days, their own medicinal cuisine restaurant could finally open for business.
Therefore, Wang Zhongyi sighed and said, "Now that we've gotten the house back, we should do business properly if we want to."
Madam Wang asked, "Jiang Bai didn't make any unreasonable demands of you, did he?"
Wang Zhongyi repeated Jiang Bai's words.
Madam Wang didn't think it was a big deal. She said happily, "I originally wanted to bring Mother back. If the medicinal cuisine restaurant opens, I won't be able to manage it all by myself. I'll definitely need her to keep an eye on it for me."
Wang Zhongyi nodded.
Mrs. Wang added, "Go and watch them move tomorrow. Since she said we'll pay for the renovations, don't let her take anything. Also, make sure you get the renovation bills; don't give her a chance to falsify accounts and cheat money."
"Okay, got it." Wang Zhongyi replied impatiently.
Madam Wang couldn't tell that he was gradually losing patience. She leaned close to him and whispered, "Let's bring your mother over tomorrow. From now on, our family can live together happily."
When his mother was mentioned, Wang Zhongyi breathed a sigh of relief and answered with a nasal "Mmm".
This matter will be put on hold for now.
The next day, when Wang Zhongyi arrived, Jiang Bai was chatting with the people she had hired.
When Wang Zhongyi heard Jiang Bai say, "I'm sorry for the sudden closure, so your salaries will be paid until you find new jobs," he was deeply moved.
Jiang Bai had hired several young men who were seventeen or eighteen years old. They usually joked around and played together, and had a deep bond with each other. At this moment, they couldn't help but shed tears.
The "golden boy and jade girl" standing at the door to greet guests asked with nasal voices, "Boss lady, are you closing down? I still want to work for you."
Jiang Bai spoke frankly: "I'm not sure if it will open or not. I might need some time to adjust."
"If you find other job opportunities, I'll be happy for you. If you want to wait for me, I can only say that I'm not sure when I'll return, but I'll be happy."
Wang Zhongyi immediately entered the room and said, "This place will still be a medicinal cuisine restaurant, but the name will no longer be Anle. You can work for me, and the salary and benefits will be the same as before."
Jiang Bai laughed. She and Zhao Yi had already guessed that Wang Zhongyi and his wife were probably envious of her business. They didn't expect that the other party wouldn't even bother to pretend anymore.
She said sarcastically, "What a coincidence, Brother Wang. So you kicked me out because you wanted to open a medicinal cuisine restaurant."
Wang Zhongyi didn't want to say it now, but these service personnel were already in place and had been trained by Jiang Bai. If he didn't speak up now, these people would soon go looking for other jobs, and he would have to put in a lot of effort to recruit new people.
He scratched the back of his head, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Yes, my wife suddenly thought of it yesterday, but she didn't have time to tell you."
"No need to say anything, this is your yard. You can do whatever business you want here." Jiang Bai shrugged.
She returned to her former bedroom, took out an account book, and handed it to Wang Zhongyi: "This is the cost of the renovations."
When Wang Zhongyi opened the box, he found that even including the table, benches, pots, pans, and other utensils, the total amount was less than seventy taels.
She rented the place for six months, and the Wang family had already spent all ninety taels of silver. Now they had to return half of it, which was forty-five taels, plus seventy taels for renovation costs, for a total of more than one hundred and twenty taels.
Wang Zhongyi did the calculation and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
There simply isn't that much money at home.
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