Undercurrents are surging.
Today is the 100-day celebration for the Xu family's daughter, which is being held at the Xu family's estate.
If the hot spring estate before Wang Pan'er's renovation was already exquisite and extraordinary, then the Xu family's estate was even more extravagant. It just so happened that it was springtime, and the flowers on the estate were in full bloom. Madam You invited the wives of the merchants who usually visited the estate to enjoy the flowers and stroll through the garden after the banquet, giving Wang Pan'er and her companions an opportunity to show off.
Madam You carefully drew up a list, wanting to invite core members of the Liuyun Chamber of Commerce who could speak with influence, but not so obviously.
When Wang Pan'er and her two companions arrived at the village in a donkey cart, there were already quite a few guests there.
The wealthy merchants, who usually traveled by horse-drawn carriage, all stopped to look at the people arriving by donkey cart, some with disdain and others with surprise.
"Who is this person? They don't even have a carriage."
"Yes, Madam You doesn't usually like socializing, so why would she invite them?"
"I remember that they also came to Madam Xu's birthday banquet. I think they were the two owners of Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant."
"I see. I heard that Madam You had a difficult childbirth and was saved by the female physician who works at Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant. It's not surprising that they were invited to the 100-day celebration."
The crowd was talking quite loudly, and Wang Pan'er heard it all clearly.
She never cared much about what outsiders thought of her. Even if they looked down on their donkey carts, they'd change their attitude when the medicinal cuisine restaurant was mentioned. From another perspective, didn't this also demonstrate the restaurant's solid foundation in Jinzhou Prefecture? That was a good thing.
She smiled slightly at the guests around her, nodded in acknowledgment, and then took out her visiting card and entered the manor.
As Wang Pan'er entered, she was invited to sit at the main table in the women's section.
Grandma Xu was resting at the main table when she saw Tao Shuo. She quickly got up, grabbed Tao Shuo's hand that was giving acupuncture treatment, and said with tears in her eyes, "Good girl, good girl, without you, how could I have seen my little granddaughter again?"
Tao Shuo blushed with embarrassment at the praise and waved her hand, saying, "This is also my first time saving someone. I only managed to save the lady's life because the senior from that day was there to guide me."
"Young lady, don't underestimate yourself." A hint of sadness appeared in the old lady's cloudy eyes. "If there had been a female doctor like you earlier, my sister... my sister wouldn't have ended up losing her life along with her unborn child."
Wang Pan'er gently closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and thought to herself that nothing could be more ironic.
Despite being heartbroken over her sister's death, she still raised her sickle to protect her daughter-in-law from the chains imposed upon them by the world.
Upon closer examination, the old woman was merely driven by outdated and harmful ideas; she didn't genuinely intend to harm her daughter-in-law. She was grateful that Tao Shuo had saved her. Unfortunately, in such a cannibalistic era, everyone valued a woman's chastity more than her life. In such a situation, no one could clearly distinguish right from wrong.
During the banquet, Wang Pan'er was depressed and unhappy. Even when Madam You held her daughter to show everyone, she was not interested.
Tao Shuo, perhaps because she was the first person the baby girl saw in this world, felt a natural affinity for her. When she approached the baby girl, the baby girl grabbed her thumb and wouldn't let go.
With so many people around, Madam You, who had been holding her precious daughter tightly, gently placed the swaddled baby in Tao Shuo's arms: "Doctor Tao, look at my little girl, she seems to know who saved her!"
Tianchengyuan is a powerful financial institution. Although the Xu family is only a branch manager, they are still sought-after by many merchants, as everyone needs to make money in times of emergency. In addition, the managers selected by Tianchengyuan have a unique investment vision as a basic quality, and the money exchange has natural information channels in the trade market, making the Xu family's business quite substantial.
Even though non-local merchants are not allowed to attend banquets at the Liuyun Chamber of Commerce, their intricate network of interests still has countless connections with the Chamber. Every time the Xu family hosts a banquet, the Liuyun Chamber of Commerce prepares gifts and makes an appearance.
Not far from the male guests, Wang Pan'er could vaguely see the "distinguished guest" being flattered by the manager of Yu Shi Zhai in Da'an Town.
With such exceptional assets and connections, the Xu couple were extremely friendly to the three guests from Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant, which was tantamount to sending a signal that Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant would soon be backed by Tianchengyuan Mountain Villa and would take off in no time.
Those with discerning eyes had already seen the situation clearly, and no one dared to look down on the three young women who had come to the banquet in donkey carts. In addition, given Tao Shuo's status as a doctor, some of the female relatives had already taken the initiative to start chatting with the three of them.
The banquet at the Xu family mansion was ostensibly to celebrate the 100th day of their youngest daughter, but its real purpose was to, according to Mu Chuan's plan, to bring Wang Pan'er into the public eye.
The fish have already been caught in the net; it's time to reel them in.
Madam You beckoned the three women to the center of the crowd and introduced them, saying, "These three are the young ladies from Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant, and they are also my and my daughter's saviors. If any of you ladies encounter any embarrassing illnesses, feel free to let Doctor Tao take a look. Doctor Tao is planning to specialize in gynecology in the future, so we women are truly blessed."
Look, everyone's happy, and Mrs. You doesn't keep the benefits to herself; she generously shares them with everyone.
Good things should be shared; sharing is an effective way to build relationships and create common ground.
The ladies were delighted and beamed with joy. Following Madam You's lead, they all chimed in with compliments, praising Wang Pan'er and the other two to the skies.
"You're exaggerating." A girl emerged from the crowd. She had round features and a round face, and could have been a cute and charming young lady, but she had an arrogant expression. Her silver-gray dress with a slit in the fabric exuded a dashing air. "This medicinal cuisine restaurant is good, but it has a fatal flaw."
The ladies standing between her and Wang Pan'er quickly moved away.
The scene fell silent for a moment, leaving Wang Pan'er and her two companions staring at each other.
She's probably a wealthy and spoiled young lady; otherwise, all the ladies present would have avoided the limelight and let her cause trouble.
The girl exuded an extraordinary aura. Wang Pan'er looked at her, then at Wang Xiaoyao, and inexplicably noticed a resemblance.
The girl looked back and forth between the three of them several times, and guessed that Wang Pan'er was in charge. She said with dissatisfaction, "The opening of the medicinal cuisine restaurant has been a long queue. In my opinion, you should open another shop, just for us who are not short of money. You can set high prices and rip us off. Spending money is a small matter, but making me queue and suffer is a big deal."
Wang Pan'er: !!!
Girl, don't use that "build-up" tactic, it's too much for my heart!
The young lady spoke quickly and loudly, which startled Madam You. After calming herself down, she saw that Su Lingya meant no harm and breathed a sigh of relief: "Miss Su is right. I usually have to rely on Pan'er's personal relationship with me to get some pastries from the medicinal cuisine restaurant."
The others chimed in, "Indeed, I wanted to try it, but there's always a queue at the medicinal cuisine restaurant, so I gave up."
Madam You smiled and said, "Then you sisters are in for a treat today. I specially asked Wang Pan'er to prepare nourishing beef tendon and medicinal duck."
Su Lingya immediately changed her target for complaint, running to Madam You: "Why didn't Madam You tell me earlier that you had a private relationship with Sister Pan'er? If I had known, I would have asked you to order me a separate beef shank. My father always says that girls shouldn't eat too much meat, because men won't like it. If the doctor hadn't diagnosed me with qi and blood deficiency and allowed me to eat the qi-tonifying beef from the medicinal cuisine restaurant to replenish my energy, I definitely wouldn't have been able to get up for the banquet today, even though I only had a cup of brown sugar water. Who would have thought that even though I send my servant to queue up every day, I still can't eat it often?"
Some were surprised, some didn't believe it, and some wanted to give it a try, as if they had no other choice.
Wang Pan'er sneered inwardly. The little bit of iron stuck to the iron pot in the brown sugar water couldn't compare to the hemoglobin in beef and mutton. She gave Tao Shuo a look, signaling for her to explain.
Tao Shuo received the signal and explained to everyone, "Beef is a warming and nourishing food. We are simply adding medicinal herbs to braise it to enhance its effects. Whether you are weak or frail, as long as you are not too weak to tolerate the nourishment, beef and mutton are both good things. They do not discriminate between men and women. Women should also be strong and healthy."
This statement undoubtedly overturned everyone's understanding, and Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant became famous, with everyone eager to try it.
Seeing that it was almost time, Madam You invited the ladies of the various families to take their seats.
Last time, for Old Madam Xu's birthday banquet, Wang Pan'er was only asked to prepare medicinal dishes and pastries. This time, however, the main dishes were served. After everyone savored them carefully, they were genuinely moved and echoed Su Lingya's suggestion that Wang Pan'er should open a shop in the East Market again.
To join the Chamber of Commerce, one must expand the scale of the shop. Since this opportunity has arisen, why not seize the moment and open the medicinal cuisine restaurant in the East Market?
In the East Market, she would rent a small shop, focusing on high-end goods, and hire deliverymen to prepare exquisitely packaged meals for door-to-door delivery. The most important thing was to make the nobles and gentry feel that commoners couldn't enjoy such things, to create a sense of class difference. Just as Su Lingya said, pricing didn't matter; spending money was a small matter, but the effort was much greater. They valued emotions and feelings more.
Having made her decision, Wang Pan'er immediately began searching for a shop. Since her career had taken off, her procrastination had miraculously disappeared; the fact that hard work always yielded results was incredibly motivating for anyone.
Every morning, Wang Pan'er gets up to check on the growth of the plants in the pots. Then she checks to see if the little mute girl is alright before going out to tidy up her new shop.
Having gained experience from the two shops, Wang Pan'er was already quite adept at the process. Within three to five days, she finalized the location and layout of the shop, and began hiring craftsmen to decorate her boutique in a style reminiscent of a traditional Chinese medicine restaurant. However, the boutique only had private rooms, ensuring that each room was spacious and that each table was staffed with a lady to provide exclusive service.
Today she met with the owner of the ceramics shop to order a batch of porcelain for use in her boutique.
The little mute girl adored the plants on the windowsill, tending to them meticulously every day, saving Wang Pan'er a lot of trouble. Today, when Wang Pan'er was about to go out, she was unusually obedient, clutching her stomach with one hand and clutching Wang Pan'er's clothes with the other, her face pale and covered in cold sweat.
Wang Xiaoyao, who was about to go out with Wang Pan'er in the donkey cart, was also surprised by the little mute girl's expression and asked, "Did she eat something bad?"
"She's not having diarrhea or vomiting, so it doesn't seem like she ate something bad. She's clutching her lower abdomen, so maybe it's her period and she's having cramps."
The mute girl didn't know what menstrual blood was, and Wang Pan'er explained it to her for a long time, but she still looked confused. Helpless, Wang Pan'er had no choice but to lift the mute girl's skirt to check her condition.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she reached out, the little mute girl suddenly jumped back, ignoring the pain in her abdomen, curled up in a corner, and let out a hysterical, broken howl.
The little mute girl was stressed; whenever Wang Pan'er approached, she would cover her head and tremble like a leaf.
The little mute girl looked rather frightening, so Wang Pan'er quickly climbed onto the donkey cart: "Xiaoyao, carry her, let's hurry and find Doctor Tao!"
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