Chapter 46 It's her turn to climb the wall

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.

Jiang Yanyi felt that after the hot pot restaurant was stable, whether there were mice or not, he would have to raise a cat, at least so that outsiders would not find any reason to find fault.

However, there were basically no cats for sale on the market that caught mice. Usually, they were caught by neighbors when someone's cat gave birth and grew to one or two months old.

A female cat gave birth to many cats in a litter, and ordinary people would not raise so many cats at home. If he gave one to someone, it could be considered a favor.

Jiang Yanyi secretly kept the matter of raising a cat in mind.

The business on the opening day was much more prosperous than she had imagined. After selling the two newly slaughtered sheep, they went to the butcher to slaughter two more to make up for the number. The store was not idle until the afternoon.

However, some dignitaries living nearby did not order a pot for lunch, so they left a message to ask them to make one later. The servants of the mansion came to pick it up after 3 p.m. and ordered that there must be roasted meat, even if they paid more.

Jiang Yanyi had no idea whether these dignitaries simply wanted to eat delicious food or saw the new "antique soup" business and wanted to try it out. She had money to earn and had no time to guess what the dignitaries were thinking.

She cleared the tables outside, prepared three more pots, cut several large plates of mutton slices and brought them out.

"Thanks to everyone's help today, I won't say any polite words, just eat to your heart's content!" She called to the firemen who helped today, "The dishes are all in the kitchen, add more if you're not enough."

"That's enough, Master Jiang. The mutton is expensive. We are all rough people and are not used to eating it. Instead, we think pig offal is more delicious."

"Don't call me Master Jiang, you should call me Shopkeeper Jiang!" Someone nearby laughed, "Stop working, Shopkeeper Jiang, just sit down and eat. We are all friendly, so there's no need for you to greet us in person!"

Jiang Yanyi smiled and let them eat first, and went to the kitchen to call Chef Li out for dinner.

Chef Li used the removed lamb bones and white radish to stew a large pot of soup. While he ladled the mutton and carrot soup into the basin, he scolded Jiang Yanyi:

"Girl, you let people eat everything you want. Are you still going to run your business? Do you think the business in the store can be so good every day? Those bastards are not picky. They can let you drink up the soup of this lamb bone stewed with white radish."

Jiang Yanyi sprinkled the chopped coriander into the soup basin. The lamb soup mixed with the coriander had a stronger aroma.

She smiled and said, "It's all my fault. I'm so grateful to you and the brothers today. Otherwise, I'd be so busy opening the shop and I don't know what to do."

Speaking of manpower, Chef Li spent the longest time at the stove. No one knows better than him how much manpower is needed for the workload in the kitchen.

He said, "You have no experience in opening a shop for the first time, but I see that your business will not be as busy as it is today, but you will not be idle. You can prepare the soup yourself in advance, but you still need to find a chef to cook at the stove so that you can keep busy."

"At least one person is needed to serve dishes. Let the girl named Qiu Kui do the work of pouring tea and cleaning the table. You are the shopkeeper, so you should sit at the counter and look after the bill. If you want to continue roasting the meat in the future, you still have to hire someone else."

When he said this, Chef Li felt distressed again, "Today is over, but don't eat hot pot and send roasted meat skewers in the future. What do you want the master to say about you? Can't you use pork to roast meat? You're giving away so much mutton for nothing!"

Jiang Yanyi knew that Chef Li said this for her own good. She originally planned to hire two waiters who knew kung fu, but after standing at the door all day today, she was surprised that this restaurant was busy, just like when she was in Huotouying.

The staffing analysis given by Chef Li was the most reasonable.

She nodded and said, "I won't send roasted lamb in the future. I only sent it today to make a name for myself. But as for the waiters you mentioned, Master, I want to ask if you have any connections. I want to recruit two people who know martial arts."

Chef Li saw the Hu family coming to make trouble in the morning, and understood Jiang Yanyi's concerns. He said, "Dunzi, I can find you several, but as for the waiters who know martial arts, I have to go back and ask Lao Zhao."

Jiang Yanyi smiled flatteringly, "Thank you, Master."

"Master and disciple, let's not talk about these polite things. You have the ability to run a restaurant on the main street of the Protectorate. Master, I will be proud of it when I tell others about it."

At this point, Chef Li sighed again: "But sometimes people have to look at the long-term. When you stand out, there will always be people who are jealous of you and use tricks to mess with you in secret. Today it was the Hu family who came to make trouble, and tomorrow it is unknown which family will come. The wall is the Protectorate. As the old saying goes, 'a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor'. If you go out more often during the holidays, and establish this connection, those who hide in the dark and can't bear to see you do well will not dare to act rashly. "

Jiang Yanyi thought of Feng Shuo's gesture of passing her tea before, and felt a little uncomfortable, but still nodded: "I remember it."

The firemen outside came in to serve the dishes, and Chef Li didn't say anything more to Jiang Yanyi, and left the kitchen with his hands behind his back. The firemen

sat at two tables, and they were already sweating profusely. When they saw Jiang Yanyi and Chef Li, they quickly asked them to sit down and eat.

Zhao Tou'er, who was sitting at another table, urged him, "Old Li, you've been dawdling for so long that the pot is almost cold."

Chef Li glared at Zhao Tou'er, "How can the pot be cold when there's charcoal burning under it? You're so greedy at your age and you're not ashamed."

The two were old friends. They often quarreled with each other when they were in Huotouying. People in Huotouying were used to it.

Jiang Yanyi went out to call Chen Niangzi and her husband to come over for dinner. Chen Niangzi refused, saying that she had already had dinner and refused to come over. Jiang Yanyi sent her a bowl of roasted lamb. Jiang Yanyi

had no idea that Chen Niangzi felt bad after receiving the bowl of roasted lamb, and she hurriedly gave her a dress as a return gift a few days later.

After finishing the meal, Chef Li and his men returned to the barracks. After all, they still had to walk some distance from the city back to the Xizhou camp on the outskirts of the city.

Jiang Yanyi glanced at the time. It was just the Shen time, which was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Those who had reserved the pot for the evening had to come and pick it up after the Shen time. In ancient times, one hour was equivalent to two hours in later times, which means they would not come until after five o'clock in the afternoon.

Jiang Yanyi remembered that she was busy today and had not had time to go to the greenhouse to check on the pepper seedlings. She was afraid that if there were customers in the store, she would not be able to greet Okra, so she half-closed the store door and went to the Protectorate to water the pepper seedlings.

She went there once in the morning and evening these days. When the doorman heard the knock on the door at the appointed time, he knew it was her. He always greeted her with a smile and was very warm, and this time was no exception.

After opening the door, he said, "Manager Jiang, you didn't come this morning. I thought you were too busy today to come."

Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "Today, the restaurant is open for business. I'm a little busy. I'm free now."

The doorman bowed and congratulated him, "Good luck in opening the business. I wish Manager Jiang a prosperous business."

Jiang Yanyi thanked him and went to the flower room.

Although the Feng Mansion was large, Jiang Yanyi had been in and out so many times and had basically never met a maid on the way. Rough work such as sweeping and cleaning were done by servants or older maids.

She had heard vaguely that the King of Liaoning was not interested in women, and before the Grand Empress Dowager came to retire, there was not a single young maid in the mansion.

Now that there are maids in the mansion, they all serve the Grand Empress Dowager and are not allowed to leave the courtyard where the Grand Empress Dowager is.

Jiang Yanyi recalled her impression of Feng Shuo and felt that either she or the world must have some misunderstanding about Feng Shuo.

She arrived at the door of the flower room and found that the servant who used to work here was not there, and she felt a little strange.

When she walked into the greenhouse carrying a half-bucket of water, she was stunned when she saw a figure squatting beside the field where she was growing pepper seedlings.

The sunlight shone through the glazed tiles on the roof, casting a hazy glow on everything in the greenhouse. Feng Shuo was half-squatting on the ground, with the hem of his clothes embroidered with dark red rolling clouds and snakes hanging down to the ground. There was a bucket next to him, and the hands that were suitable for holding a pen and a sword were now holding a wooden ladle, carefully watering the pepper seedlings that had already sprouted green buds.

Hearing the movement at the door, he turned his head slightly, and when he saw Jiang Yanyi standing at the door, his expression changed slightly.

Jiang Yanyi greeted awkwardly: "Prince, are you here to water the flowers as well?"

Feng Shuo nodded hesitantly, stood up and poured the remaining half bucket of water on the four-season peony that was in full bloom, and said with a cold and noble face: "Well, seeing that these green buds are growing well, I watered them."

Jiang Yanyi glanced at the pots of four-season peonies placed beside the greenhouse and found that only the pot he had just watered had moist soil at the bottom.

If he didn't know that the pepper seedlings were his, why would he bother to explain.

Jiang Yanyi was suddenly filled with thoughts. She did not expose his lies. She bowed and thanked him: "Thank you, Your Majesty. This is a piece of land I rented from the housekeeper of your mansion. I plan to grow some small things."

Feng Shuo threw the wooden ladle back into the bucket and washed his hands with the water in the bucket: "Oh, that's why. What are you growing?"

Jiang Yanyi was afraid of causing him to misunderstand, so she did not say it was pepper directly: "It's a seasoning. With it, the dishes made can be more delicious."

Feng Shuo was silent for a while.

He thought she had gone to great lengths to find a greenhouse and grow some precious flowers and plants, but it turned out to be just a seasoning for cooking.

This answer was really...unexpected, but reasonable.

Jiang Yanyi also realized that her answer was indeed a waste of the greenhouse, and she didn't want to say more. Fortunately, the pepper seedlings had been watered, and she didn't need to stay here any longer, so she said, "I'll take my leave."

Feng Shuo half-lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. When she was about to reach the door of the greenhouse, he asked, "You... still want to continue looking for your fiancé?"

Jiang Yanyi's steps froze, thinking that he didn't know her identity, and his behavior had been abnormal in recent days. Asking herself this question was probably to test her attitude.

Her true identity was so tricky, and she had been deceiving Feng Shuo before. If he knew all this, who knows how he would change his face. Even though she knew that he had some affection for her, Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to gamble on such a matter that concerned her life.

She said, "Of course I will look for him."

She knew very well that she mostly admired and respected Feng Shuo, and these feelings were far from love.

Not to mention the difference in their status now, even if she restored her status as the legitimate daughter of an aristocratic family, it would be impossible for her to have an equal relationship with Feng Shuo.

It was normal for the ancients to have three wives and four concubines. Maybe he was interested in her today, but who knows, tomorrow his eyes might fall on other women.

If she let herself fall into it, in the future she might become a resentful woman out of jealousy, or she might seek perfection in a mansion for the sake of her children, or she might be desperate and ask for a letter of divorce... No matter which one it is, it is not the ending she wants to see.

This is the trend of thought in this era. Coming from another world with that world's view of love, it is undoubtedly absurd and ridiculous to want to realize a lifelong relationship with one person here.

She couldn't believe that she would meet a man who would only be good to her in her whole life just because she had read a lot of romance novels where the male and female protagonists would never part with each other until death.

Once you take the wrong path, it will be difficult to turn back.

Therefore, it is better to abandon some feelings that have not yet sprouted.

Feng Shuo listened to her words and twisted a petal of Four Seasons Peony in his hand. The strength of his fingertips had already pinched the petals to pieces, but his tone was extremely calm: "I have such a long love. What if he has no intention of you?"

The word "long love" was used delicately. Unfortunately, Jiang Yanyi was very confused now. All he could think about was that he was a prince. Is this appropriate to ask himself?

She vaguely guessed what Feng Shuo wanted to say to her, and her hands under her long sleeves pinched the corner of her clothes nervously, "If he doesn't care about me, it's fine for me to continue running the restaurant alone for the rest of my life."

The implication was that she would no longer consider marriage.

After hearing what she said, Feng Shuo remembered the day when Lu Linyuan bowed to her outside the store and she knelt down to return the greeting.

After that greeting, she let go of the past and only wanted to be a cook in this remote place. Was she deeply hurt by Lu Linyuan?

Throwing away the crushed petals in his hand, he looked at Jiang Yanyi standing at the door of the flower room. The darkness in his eyes slowly rose up, deep and suppressed, but the words he said were calm and light. He said, "Very good?"

The two cold words fell into Jiang Yanyi's ears, and inexplicably made her heart palpitate.

She tightened the hand holding the bucket, almost running away: "I'll take my leave."

Days passed, and since the hot pot restaurant became famous on the opening day, Jiang Yanyi's business has been good. It

's hard to find a waiter who knows martial arts for a while, after all, being a waiter doesn't make money. People who really have such skills either go to the escort agency or go to the rich mansion to be a guard.

The chef Li, the master of Dunzi, did introduce a Dunzi chef to Jiang Yanyi. The chef was a woman in her early thirties, surnamed Guo. She was big and strong, but not as fat as Mrs. Hu. She was really strong.

It was said that the husband in the family was a butcher, and died of illness last year. Aunt Guo ran a pork shop for a while, but it didn't work out. She wanted to work as a Dunzi chef in a restaurant, but the restaurant thought it was unlucky because her husband had just died, so they didn't want her.

Jiang Yanyi didn't mind these things, as long as the other party was capable.

What really made Jiang Yanyi realize the ability of Aunt Guo was when they went to buy meat one time. The butcher was busy slaughtering sheep for another family and had no time to pay attention to them. Aunt Guo went up to kill a sheep herself. Her movements were even more skillful than that of the butcher.

With such a capable helper, Jiang Yanyi is indeed much more relaxed.

The store has not hired waiters for the time being, so the three of them have to work harder. As long as they are not greedy and take on too much business every day, they can still get by.

Old customers know that their store is busy. After Jiang Yanyi launched the ordering system, if they want to eat in the store, they are willing to make an appointment in advance, get a number, and set a time to go, so as to avoid queuing. It

can be regarded as a coincidence. After the reputation was established, a wave of "hunger marketing" made Jiang Yanyi's hot pot restaurant more famous in the circle of dignitaries in Xizhou City. After

all, everyone knows that the pots in this store are in short supply. Which dignitaries get the number and which ones don't get to eat, it has become a kind of comparison invisibly.

Jiang Yanyi has always been worried that her store would become a thorn in the eyes of her peers. Although the hot pot restaurant is thriving, she has not let down her guard.

She consulted Zhao Tou'er on the purchase of ingredients to ensure that all ingredients are fresh. She also checks every part of the store herself, fearing that there will be cockroaches and mice.

Jiang Yanyi has never forgotten about raising a cat. She asked Mrs. Chen to help ask, but winter is coming soon, and basically no female cats give birth.

Jiang Yanyi simply spent money to find a farmer and bought a local cat, but this local cat did not catch mice. Instead, it tried to steal the snacks in her store and even the mutton in the kitchen. It has a wild temperament. Maybe it's because she raised it since it was young. It doesn't get close to people at all. Jiang Yanyi saw that it was dirty and wanted to wash it, but she had no chance to get close to it. Even if she wanted to touch it occasionally, she had to risk being scratched.

The local cat basically didn't stay in the store all day. It was always elusive. Every time Jiang Yanyi saw it, it was when it was stealing meat in the kitchen.

After barely raising it for two days, Jiang Yanyi was very troubled. She couldn't catch the cat. Later, she watched the meat and snacks very carefully. The cat had nothing to eat, so it ran away from home in anger and never came back.

Jiang Yanyi realized later that raising cats and dogs is all about fate.

The only comfort was that the parrot Feng Shuo had given her was particularly sensible.

But this perception was quickly denied by Jiang Yanyi.

When Jiang Yanyi got up that morning, she felt that it was much colder than usual. She opened the door and found that a layer of frost had condensed on the bluestone floor tiles in the yard, and it made a crackling sound when she stepped on it.

She went to check on the parrot that had been placed next to the stove all night, and found that except for some dust on its beautiful green feathers, the parrot was still energetic, so she felt relieved.

When it got cold at night a few days ago, Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to hang the parrot under the eaves, for fear of the temperature dropping at night. So he kept a fire in the stove every night and put the parrot cage next to the stove. He got up at night to add charcoal. At dawn the next day, the stove was still warm and the parrot would not be frozen.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, the parrot jumped up and down in its cage, complaining: "It's starving! It's starving!"

She took out some barley from the cupboard and put some in its trough, "You're not starving yet."

The parrot was pecking at the barley in the bowl very quickly, but stopped when it heard Jiang Yanyi's words, and continued to complain with its head tilted up: "It's starving! It's starving!"

Jiang Yanyi used a small brush to gently clean the dirt on the parrot's feathers: "You're not starving, you're dirty."

Jiang Yanyi had never raised a parrot before, so she didn't know whether to bathe the parrot on weekdays. However, the weather was getting colder and colder, so she didn't dare to take the risk even if she wanted to bathe the parrot.

The parrot tilted its head, obviously it hadn't learned how to say "so dirty".

It waited for a while, and when it found that Jiang Yanyi had no intention of continuing to teach it, it lowered its head and continued to peck at the barley in the bowl.

Jiang Yanyi thought this parrot was quite smart. When it wasn't so cold before, he hung the bird cage at the door of the store and only taught it a few times. Whenever someone entered the store, it would say "Welcome", and when leaving, it would say "Come again next time".

Many diners said that this parrot was smart, and some even offered a high price to buy it, but Jiang Yanyi refused to sell it.

It's always a matter of time before you raise a small animal, and you develop feelings for it, and it's not something that can be replaced by a few dollars.

After the parrot finished eating the barley, Jiang Yanyi opened the cage and poured warm water into the special bowl for it to drink. The parrot drank some water, flapped its wings quite contentedly and went to the yard.

Jiang Yanyi was not worried that it would fly away. The parrot would fly around the yard every morning and fly back on its own at a certain time.

She lit a fire and prepared to make breakfast.

The hot pot restaurant only does business at noon and in the evening, so they can take a nap in the morning.

Aunt Guo has a house in Xizhou City. She does not stay in the store at night, but just waits until noon to come to work. Jiang Yanyi and Qiukui are still the only ones living here.

Jiang Yanyi was kneading dough in the kitchen to prepare steamed dumplings when Qiu Kui suddenly called out from the yard: "Huahua, the parrot seems to be stuck on the wall and can't get down!"

Jiang Yanyi put down his work and went out to take a look. Sure enough, he saw the stupid parrot standing on the wall of the yard, not moving for a long time, with its eyes opening and closing as if it was dozing off.

This was obviously a sign of being severely frozen.

Jiang Yanyi hurriedly went to find a ladder and put it on the wall. He asked Qiu Kui to stand firmly underneath, and he climbed up and brought the parrot down.

"Huahua, be careful."

The bluestone floor tiles were frosted and a little slippery, and Qiu Kui was very worried.

The stupid parrot was quite good at choosing a place to land. The place where it stood was facing the flowerbed, and the ladder could not be put down at all, so it could only be put on the side. After climbing up the wall, it had to walk a few steps forward to catch it.

Jiang Yanyi was not afraid when she climbed the ladder, but when she stood on the top of the wall and could see the ground at a glance, she felt scared.

The wall was made of blue bricks and was about one foot thick. As long as she was careful, nothing would happen. But there was frost today, and it was a little slippery to step on. Jiang Yanyi took every step carefully.

When she was about to walk to the parrot, the parrot suddenly woke up as if it was dozing off, and flew down by flapping its wings.

Jiang Yanyi almost vomited blood in anger. She was worried that the stupid parrot was frozen and couldn't fly down, but it turned out to be dozing off on the wall!

She was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly she felt something was wrong. She glanced at the courtyard on the other side of the Protectorate, and found that Feng Shuo had stood at the gate of the west wing without her knowing when, looking at her with a faint gaze and an unpredictable expression.

Since that day when they met by chance in the flower house, she never ran into Feng Shuo again when she went to the Protectorate to look at the pepper seedlings, and he never came to the store. Only the housekeeper of the mansion came a few times, saying that the Grand Empress Dowager liked to eat hot pot and roasted meat, and asked to send some to the mansion.

Jiang Yanyi had no time to care about why Feng Shuo appeared in the idle courtyard of their mansion. She only felt that all the embarrassment in her life was at this moment.

When her eyes met Feng Shuo's, she miraculously understood what he was thinking at this moment, and quickly explained: "I didn't want to climb over the wall, I came up to save the parrot!"

But besides her, there was not even a parrot's feathers to be seen on the bare wall.

Feng Shuo just stared at her, his eyes full of "You don't need to explain, I understand everything."