Chapter 96 Good News

Jiang Yanyi took out two plates of Houttuynia cordata from the lunch box and said, "What's wrong with Houttuynia cordata? Houttuynia cordata is delicious!"

She went to the market this morning to buy some fresh vegetables and found a farmer selling Houttuynia cordata dug from the ground. She immediately bought a few bundles and washed them after returning to the store to make a plate of cold salad to taste.

Houttuynia cordata will have a fishy smell when eaten raw, but it will be very crispy and refreshing when mixed with dogwood sauce, pepper oil and salt, and then drizzled with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and garlic water. The more you chew, the more you can taste the fragrance of the Houttuynia cordata itself.

She looked at Feng Shuo and said, "You'll know after you try it."

Under her expectant gaze, Feng Shuo had no choice but to take a bite. The moment he put it in his mouth, his expression became a little stiff. As soon as he chewed it, the fishy smell seemed to burst out from the tender root. Feng Shuo swallowed it whole and quickly drank two mouthfuls of chicken soup to suppress the smell.

Jiang Yanyi knew from his expression that he didn't like this dish. The audience of Houttuynia cordata is indeed polarized. Some people like it, while others avoid it. Feng Shuo obviously belongs to the latter.

She worriedly asked, "Are you okay?"

This was the first time Feng Shuo had such a big reaction to any of the dishes she cooked. Feng Shuo was afraid of hurting her feelings, so he gritted his teeth and said, "It's okay, it tastes pretty good."

Seeing Jiang Yanyi's suspicious expression, he reached into the plate with his wooden chopsticks again, as if to prove that what he said was true, but he didn't have the courage to pick up the zheergen again. Instead, he picked up a clove of flattened garlic accurately.

The garlic clove he had eaten before was sour and sweet, and tasted very good.

This garlic... The moment his teeth clenched, he realized something was wrong.

His face was just stiff when he ate the zheergen just now, but now his whole face was almost green.

The spiciness and garlicky smell burst out in his mouth almost at the same time, and the smell rushed straight to his head.

Feng Shuo couldn't figure out what went wrong, and under Jiang Yanyi's inquiring gaze, he had to swallow it as if nothing had happened. He wanted to use chicken soup to change the taste, but the chicken soup was hot, and the garlic taste was more obvious.

He picked up the kettle beside him and gulped down ten cups of warm tea. His mouth felt a little better, but there seemed to be a spicy taste of garlic from the root of his tongue to his throat.

Jiang Yanyi looked confused, not understanding why Feng Shuo wanted to eat the garlic as an ingredient raw. Could it be that the candied garlic she made yesterday misled him?

Although he was hesitant, Jiang Yanyi was not slow in his actions. He quickly picked up an orange from the fruit plate on the table, peeled it and gave it to him: "Eating an orange will make you feel better."

Feng Shuo took it and swallowed it whole. The orange was very sweet, and the light orange fragrance suppressed the garlic spiciness that made him feel uncomfortable.

Jiang Yanyi peeled another one and handed it to him. Feng Shuo waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want it. He coughed softly and tried to make amends: "This king... It was the first time I ate garlic yesterday."

The implication was that he had never eaten garlic before and didn't know what garlic tasted like.

Jiang Yanyi felt distressed and amused, and explained: "Yesterday's garlic was pickled garlic, which was pickled in the kimchi tank for nearly two months, so there is not much garlic flavor. Today's salad uses raw garlic, which has not been processed, so the taste is stronger."

Feng Shuo glanced at Jiang Yanyi and found that there was a hint of mockery between her smiling eyebrows, but she no longer doubted the reason why he ate raw garlic.

He pretended to be angry and said: "Is it so funny?"

Jiang Yanyi shook her head in fear for a moment, and looked at him with a stiff face, but she broke down in less than three seconds and fell on the futon with laughter.

Feng Shuo threatened: "Are you still laughing? Do you believe that I will kiss you now?"

Eating raw garlic and kissing, this is too devilish.

This threat was very effective. Jiang Yanyi quickly tightened her face, got up and sat up straight, trying to shift her attention to the travelogue she was reading.

However, she accidentally looked up and found Feng Shuo peeling an orange to eat. She was still broken and laughed.

Feng Shuo glared at her and threw down the orange as if he was going to catch her.

Jiang Yanyi was so scared that she hid all over the house. When she was finally blocked by Feng Shuo in the corner, she could only cover her mouth tightly and mutter: "No kissing, no kissing..."

Feng Shuo looked down at her, and meanly twisted her neatly combed hair into a bird's nest, saying: "You owe it first."

In the next few days, the chefs of Feng Mansion were unlucky. When their prince saw garlic in the dishes, he would return them and ask them to redo them.

The chefs couldn't understand why their prince, who used to only choose vegetarian dishes, suddenly refused to touch dishes with garlic?

The blacksmith was acquitted and Qiu Kui was going to pick him up when he was released from prison. Jiang Yanyi rented a bullock cart to take her there. When she saw the blacksmith Qiu Kui, she cried.

Uncle Qiukui was a skinny old man, with a hunched back from years of working in the fields. Behind him stood his son and daughter-in-law, who were holding a two-year-old baby.

Aunt Qiukui's body was wrapped in a straw mat and placed on a cart. Her uncle still had a look of sadness on his face, but her son and daughter-in-law only had annoyance on their faces.

When Uncle Qiukui came over, the blacksmith took a half step forward and protected Qiukui behind him.

Her uncle was a little embarrassed, with a yellow face full of wrinkles and grooves, and a few gray whiskers on his chin. His hands were rough from years of work, and his fingers couldn't close together when he bowed.

He said to Jiang Yanyi, "You are the boss of Qiu Kui, right?"

Jiang Yanyi nodded. His attitude was neither cold nor warm, but definitely made people feel distant.

Qiu Kui's uncle said, "Thank you for taking care of Qiu Kui. She is a child with a miserable life..."

Jiang Yanyi said coldly, "Since you decided to sell her, you don't have to say these things now."

Who are you trying to annoy?

Qiu Kui's uncle did not make any excuses, but his cloudy old eyes seemed a little wet, and he tried to force a smile on his face: "You should still thank him."

He turned his head to look at the blacksmith. The two of them looked at each other without saying anything. After a while, he set his sights on Qiu Kui.

Qiu Kui originally had a round face. After he came to Jiang Yanyi's shop, the food was good, and his face became rounder. His clothes were also decent. In comparison, his family seemed extremely poor and down and out.

He said, "I'm sorry for you. You have reason to hate me, but I still hope you can live a good life in the future."

After saying only these few words, he walked towards the cart with staggering steps. He pulled up the cart, hunched his back and walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow. His son pushed from behind, and his daughter-in-law followed beside him holding their crying young son.

The cotton shoes that he had worn for who knows how many years were soaked by the snow water. The coldness went up his feet. This road was as difficult to walk as his whole life.

The cold wind filled his throat, and Uncle Qiukui was choked and coughed. He buried his head too low, and his hot tears fell into the snow, leaving only a few small holes the size of beans, which were soon covered by footprints and wheel marks.

That year, the whole Daxuan was in a famine, and the family couldn't even open the pot. The eight-month pregnant daughter-in-law was so thin that she was just skin and bones. Qiukui was stubborn and followed her mother's words before she died and came to Xizhou to seek refuge with him. There was one more mouth to feed in the family, and his wife never had a good face for a day.

When his wife decided to sell Qiukui, he knew it, but on one side was the empty rice jar and the grandson who was about to be born, and on the other side was his niece who had lost her parents, he could only pretend not to know.

In years of famine, wealthy families would only drive away their maids, so why would they buy more? In addition, Qiu Kui was not very smart, so no one wanted her even if she was sold to do hard labor. Fortunately, Qiu Kui was pretty, so she could only be sold to a brothel...

Qiu Kui watched her uncle's family walking away in the snow, and her original complaints and hatred seemed to be washed away by something, leaving only a kind of confusion that she herself did not know.

Tears flowed out, and her heart was bitter.

Since her parents died, she has no home after all. Even if she still has relatives in the world, they will only be passers-by from now on.

The blacksmith said to her, "Don't cry."

Who would have thought that it was this sentence that made Qiu Kui cry like a child with a pout.

But now it was not Jiang Yanyi who helped her wipe her tears and comfort her.

Jiang Yanyi was also a little emotional watching from the side. All of Qiu Kui's sufferings started when her aunt was sold to a brothel. It is often said that when a person dies, it is like a lamp going out, and all the resentment should be gone. But her aunt sold Qiu Kui, and the family could not live a normal life. Now she has lost her life. Maybe this is retribution.

Once Qiu Kui's aunt died, there would be no evidence to accuse her of kidnapping Qiu Kui. The blacksmith had been busy for so long to help Qiu Kui regain her good name, and he had spent a lot of money to build up connections, but in the end, it was all in vain.

On the way back, when Jiang Yanyi asked him about his future plans, he said, "I still have some spare money. I'll renovate the house before the New Year so that I can get married after the New Year. I'll take on more jobs in the future and won't let Qiu Kui down."

Blacksmithing is about making money by selling labor. Jiang Yanyi has made many tools for him and knows that it is not easy to make money. Moreover, the older he gets, the fewer jobs he can take if he cannot become a famous craftsman, after all, his physical strength cannot keep up.

Thinking that Bing Shao was too busy to handle the noodle shop alone, Jiang Yanyi asked him, "If you don't want to work as a blacksmith, I am short of people here. As long as you work hard, you can earn as much as you do as a blacksmith."

The blacksmith also knew that blacksmithing depended on the market. He was the most famous blacksmith in Xizhou City, but he didn't earn much money. Each copper plate was hammered out with thousands of hammers. In the past, one person could feed the whole family, but if he wanted to get married, the expenses would be huge.

He was open and honest, and he said, "If you need me, Manager Jiang, I'd be willing to work for you. But you know I'm not good at talking, and I'm afraid I'll ruin your business."

Jiang Yanyi said, "No."

If the blacksmith came to work for her, he could make more money, and his and Qiu Kui's lives would be guaranteed in the future. Secondly, if he did something to let Qiu Kui down in the future, she could help Qiu Kui vent her anger.

The blacksmith nodded, as if he had agreed, and he said, "I still want to redeem Qiu Kui's contract of sale."

Qiu Kui was a criminal, and was different from ordinary slaves. Slaves could be cancelled by going to the local government as long as the owner was willing.

Criminals must be pardoned by the emperor himself.

Jiang Yanyi said, "I am just keeping Qiu Kui's indenture. I believe you really want to marry her now, but who can predict what will happen in the future. Leave it with me. If you dare to bully her, I can take her away at any time."

She held Qiu Kui's hand and said, "I am her family member."

The blacksmith said, "Manager Jiang has good intentions. I thank you on behalf of Qiu Kui. But from now on, she is my first wife. I think she should keep all her things. If you are worried about me, I can go to the government with you to sign the indenture."

He would rather sell himself than help Qiu Kui get the indenture back.

Jiang Yanyi nodded.

The ox cart turned back to the government office. After signing the contract, the blacksmith said that he would need a few days to go back and transfer the blacksmith shop, and then come back to work for Jiang Yanyi. Jiang Yanyi agreed.

When they got on the ox cart back to the antique soup shop again, Jiang Yanyi said to Qiu Kui: "Silly girl, this is all I can do for you."

Qiu Kui knew that the blacksmith's contract was in Jiang Yanyi's hands for her own good.

She said with red eyes: "Thank you, Huahua."

Jiang Yanyi touched her head: "Why are you crying? Go back and embroider a beautiful wedding dress. You will be a bride soon."

Perhaps it was close to the New Year, and good news continued. Chef Li sent a message that the military camp wanted her recipe. Xizhou was bitterly cold, and the sentinels in the sentry tower often couldn't eat hot food. Instant noodles could solve this problem very well.

Moreover, when the army is on a rush, ordinary soldiers can also use instant noodles to fill their stomachs temporarily, but the main combat troops will naturally have to eat food that is sufficient to satisfy hunger.

The recipe sold for a full 200 taels, but because the military camp did not have complete facilities and could not make noodles, and they had to distribute military rations to the soldiers in each sentry tower, they could only give the military supply list of 5,000 taels to Jiang Yanyi's noodle shop. Now

the noodle shop is very busy and has hired many new partners.

Just as Jiang Yanyi expected at the beginning, the method of making instant noodles could not be kept secret for long. Seeing such a huge market, other noodle shops also became interested and began to share this cake.

Among them, the noodle shop owned by Xu, the manager of Lai Fu Restaurant, was the most powerful. He followed suit. It was said that in order to win the business of Xizhou Camp, he even gave a valuable gift to a certain general, but unfortunately there was no response.

In order to attract customers, Xu's noodle shop simply lowered the price. The cheapest noodles in Jiang Yanyi's noodle shop were sold for one cent and one yuan, while his noodles were sold for two cents and three yuan.

Jiang Yanyi was busy with the orders of the military camp and had no time to take care of it.

All things are difficult at the beginning. Chu Shubao's rouge business has gradually improved after experiencing a downturn at the beginning.

She is a warm-hearted person. Even if the female customers who come to the store are not good at speaking, she can still make them chat with her.

It is the nature of women to love beauty. Chu Shubao invested a lot of money in rouge and powder. She got some of the products that were only available in Beijing. She opened a box and gave it to the female customers in the store for free. If anyone wanted to buy it, she would sell it at a 30% profit.

In order to try rouge, the number of female customers who came to the store increased significantly. Jiang Yanyi was more attentive in service. Not only did he set up a place for diners to put their cloaks, but he also went to the clothing store next door to order a lot of smocks. Wearing the smocks when eating hot pot can prevent oil from splashing on the body and dirtying the clothes.

There are also many women who want to learn some makeup from Chu Shubao. Some makeup that is popular in the capital is not known by many people in Xizhou.

It is inconvenient to put on makeup at the counter. First, the place is small and cannot accommodate many people. Second, there are many male customers in the store. Jiang Yanyi cleaned up the room in the backyard where she used to sleep and put in a lot of exquisite low cushions for Chu Shubao to teach the female customers how to put on makeup. At

first, there were only four or five people, but later there were more than ten people queuing up. The space is limited, and Chu Shubao only teaches once a day. The female customers often have to book a seat several days in advance.

As more female customers come to the store, more male customers also come.

In the past, only when you go on a boat trip or attend a banquet can you have the opportunity to see those girls from wealthy families, but now you can "encounter" them by chance when you have a meal.

The business of the antique soup shop is much more prosperous than before. If you don't want to lose these customers, you have to expand the store.

Jiang Yanyi took the huge amount of money in his hand and decided to open a store with a larger scale than Laifu Restaurant!

Who wouldn't know how to steal business!