Blissful Days After Widowhood

    Hanxianglou launched a new VIP treatment. Within a few days, the shopkeeper Zhou got the news and told Gu Yin.

    After that, Shiweitian's business really declined a bit. However, after inquiring again, to their surprise, the lost customers did not go to Hanxiang Building, but Wangyue Building.

    Wangyuelou quietly launched Malatang along with Shiweitian, but the price of the same thing doubled several times when it arrived at his house. His family has been frowning not once or twice, and each time there is no good end. This time it was actually successful, and the business was full, which is really unexpected.

    Manager Zhou went to inquire about it, and when he came back, he said, "Wangyuelou has neither launched any new food, nor has it changed any great cooks. I also specifically asked former regular customers, and they said that Wangyuelou The Mala Tang doesn't seem to be particularly delicious, just thinking about it makes people drool and can't eat enough."

    Gu Yin couldn't understand what she said, "Could it be that I changed a secret recipe and hid it so that no one would know?"

    Treasurer Zhou couldn't tell the reason, and later made people buy a copy to taste.

    Gu Yin vomited after taking a bite. Manager Zhou and Chef Xu couldn't eat it. For them with a keen sense of taste, this food was not only unpalatable, but unpalatable. .

      It has increased a little, but it is only about 10% or 20% less in turnover. The vast majority of the customers that Mochizukilou is robbing are Hanxianglou's customers.

    The most important thing is that the Wang family can go to Wang Dafu for the account!

    Seeing that the twelfth lunar month is coming soon, and the lunar month is the new year, Wang Dafu still owes two hundred and fifty taels of silver and has not paid it back.

    Wang has asked him a few times before, but Wang Dafu has shied away from the bad business, and his restaurant is indeed a mediocre business, and Wang also has his own work to do. Sora entangled with him, and never asked for the follow-up money.

    Now that her business has declined a little bit, she can make some free time, and she heard that the business of Wangyuelou is booming, so naturally she has to ask for this large sum of money back.

    It happened that Gu Yin also wanted to check the situation of Wangyuelou, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went straight to Wangyuelou when they were free.

    Mochizuki Tower was full, and the waiter and the second were too busy to do anything.

    Gu Yin and Wang Shi stood for almost a quarter of an hour, and finally someone had time to greet them.

    It was not a stranger, it was Li Cheng.

    "The guest officer, please come in..." Li Cheng said his usual opening remarks, when he saw that it was Wang Shi and Gu Yin, his half-bowed back immediately straightened, and he was not angry. : "What are you doing here?"

    Wang shi didn't talk to him, and immediately said: "Where is Wang Dafu? Let him come out for me, my aunt will come to ask for the account!"

    Gu Yin didn't answer his words, she just looked at him from head to toe, her eyes were full of teasing.

    Not long ago, this person boasted that he was a small butler of Wangyuelou, but now he is only doing chores. Although Gu Yin didn't take this character to heart, she was quite happy to see him like this now.

    Wang's loud voice shouted, and Wang Dafu came out of the kitchen after a while.

    Seeing it was her, Wang Dafu slapped Li Cheng away with a bitter face, and said, "Sister, what's the trouble with this?"

    "When the sun hits the west side, you will still enter the back kitchen?" Mrs Wang sneered, "No trouble, you pay back!"

    "Oh, my sister also knows that your two nephews mortgaged our Mochizuki Building at that time, and the money was intercepted by the bandits. After that, they emptied the property and mortgaged the old house. This restaurant has been redeemed. Our restaurant management is not easy, one side is the Hanxiang Tower, and the other side is the food of the sister's family, we are trying to survive..."

    This kind of rhetoric, Mr. Wang's ears are almost full of cocoons. In the past, what Wang Dafu said was not all lies, but now he is a fool and won't believe his words.

      If you don't pay it back, I'll go and invite the yamen to invite the eldest master and Guan Zhaotou to call the shots!"

    There was a trace of panic on Wang Dafu's face, and he quickly smiled and said: "Where are you going to disturb the people in the yamen? It's not that you don't know, our business has only been good in the last half month. When I got up, it was really on the books…”

    He took out an account book and looked fake.

    "Look at the account book, my daughter-in-law is good." Wang Shi took out the account book in his hand and stuffed it into Gu Yin's hand.

    Gu Yin has learned from shopkeeper Zhou to read the account book and plan of this era. Just after turning two pages, Wang Dafu has hurriedly grabbed the account book back.

    "Fifty taels, shall I pay you back fifty taels?"

    This was smoother than Wang's expectation, but she still said: "No, the bad debt is not a year old, it must be paid off!"

    "It's really not that many! Your nephews still need to study, and your children also study. You should know that it is very expensive. I really want to give you all the money, not to mention your nephew, My niece-in-law and grand-nephew have a bad year, I'm afraid that next year the whole family will have to eat chaffy dishes, and they won't be able to study..."

    After some bargaining, Mr. Wang asked for one hundred taels of silver, and immediately wrote a receipt to Wang Dafu.

    Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came out of Wangyuelou, Wang Shi looked around vaguely to see that no one was following, and then laughed, "One hundred taels, this Wang Dafu is not too bad. For the first fifty taels, half of the account has been paid back."

    It was a hundred taels more, but before the time was left, the Wang family was too happy. Although the horizon is high now, it can also be called a happy event.

    Gu Yinwu pondered, and Wang stopped laughing and asked her in a low voice, "What's wrong? Are their accounts tricky and tax evasion?"

    Gu Yin laughed when she asked, "I took a look at it twice, if this can tell that their accounts are wrong, I'm too good. It's not that the accounts themselves are tricky, but other Something is wrong. Their Mala Tang at Wangyuelou is ten times as expensive as ours. A vegetarian dish is ten cents. But the business is really good, and the list of VIPs who save money for the Mala Tang can’t be seen at a glance.”

    "My dear, it turns out that his business is so good! If he knew he shouldn't only need this one hundred taels, he should have all of them back."

    Wangyuelou Handan is not the first time to learn to walk, but this time, it is actually overtaken by the sky, which is too abnormal.

    An endless stream of guests came to the door. When they arrived at the door, they heard that there was no room. They sniffed and said, "How can there be no room for such a big restaurant? Oh, forget it, your home This Mala Tang is really delicious, I'm panicking if I don't eat it for a day."

    Then Li Chengyi pointed out: "Our Mala Tang is spicy and spicy, and the taste is very rich! It's not like some small restaurants, which cost more money for seasoning!"

    The guest didn't answer him, but just stretched his neck and looked inside, waiting for his turn.

    There were more and more guests queuing outside the Moon Moon Building at the back, and the door was so crowded that there was no place to stand, and Gu Yin and Wang Shi did not stay much.

    When they left, Li Cheng immediately went in and informed Wang Dafu.

    One hundred taels is not a small sum of money for anyone. Wang Dafu is heartbroken and can only comfort himself. Anyway, the business is good now. According to this trend, he will soon be able to earn it back.

    Before Laba, Gu Yin cooked Laba porridge again.

    Last year in the twelfth lunar month, her Laba porridge caused a turmoil in Wangyuelou, and its deliciousness can be imagined.

    She did a tasting event in the store, and it was unanimously praised, and she ordered hundreds of copies before Laba. On the first day of Laba, one or two hundred bowls were sold effortlessly.

    On this day, Gu Yin was greeting guests by the half-height large window, and when she looked up, she saw Bai Zixi, who was lost and lost, walking past the window.

    She hurriedly put down her work and went out.

    "Guest officer, do you remember saving a sum of money in the store in April?"

    At that time, Bai Zixi was the first person to take the lead in depositing silver. It can be said that it was because of him that Shiwei Genius got through the initial turnover difficulties. Gu Yin was so impressed with him that she specially made five characteristics for him the next day. However, Bai Zixi, who had promised to arrive earlier the day before, did not come.

    Not only did he not come that day, but when the last two big restaurants launched VIP discounts, all the customers who deposited silver came to refund their money, and Bai Zixi did not come. Gu Yin still kept in mind the 12 taels of silver that he had put in his account for the first half of the year.

    Bai Zixi stopped when she heard the words, "It's a little lady."

    As he spoke, he raised his head and looked around blankly, then mumbled to himself, "How did you get here?"

    "Today our shop has made Laba porridge. Would you like to come in and have a bowl to warm up?"

      Your porridge is really good."

    After he finished speaking, his eyes fell on the other customers in the store.

    In such cold weather, the occupancy rate of Shiweitian is still 90%, and there are only a few vacancies in the entire store.

    When I think of my own restaurant again, since Wangyuelou followed the trend and made a heavy and spicy Mala Tang, the number of guests at Hanxianglou has been decreasing. Although his uncle followed suit, the price is still cheaper than Wangyuelou Some, likewise generously added a lot of chili, but with little success. In this month, Hanxianglou launched Laba porridge, which is considered to have achieved some business, but this is only a return to the light, and after all, it will return to the state of being left out in the courtyard.

    Although this restaurant is now operated by a large house, it is an industry operated by several generations of the family. Now that it has reached this point, it always makes people sigh and feel uncomfortable.

    "This porridge is accounted for, and the rest of the money will be put away first. I will visit again when I have time." Bai Zixi let out a long sigh and left with his thoughts in mind.

    After he left, Mrs Wang went to clean up the table, only to find that he had left the food box, and hurriedly chased out.

    Bai Zixi had already gone out for a while, so he simply waved his hand and said, "I don't want this anymore, please help the store to throw it away."

    The food box contains the Mala Tang bought by Wangyuelou. He has bought it several times on and off, but every time I eat it, I feel that it is not delicious. I really don’t understand why Mochizuki With this thing, Lou Neng completely suppressed their Hanxiang Lou.

    This time it was a dead horse as a living horse doctor. He went to buy it again, but he couldn't find the reason, so he just didn't want it.

    "What a good food box, if you say no, you don't want it." Wang Shi didn't want to, so she put the food box next to the counter first.

    Not long after, Wu An and Gu Ye returned to the store one after another.

      Open dinner, eat hot pot.

    The two little guys helped with the bowls and chopsticks, saw a beautiful food box in the corner of the counter, Gu Ye crouched down and opened it curiously, and then coughed violently by the spicy smell .

    Gu Yin pulled him up with one hand and put the food box on the counter with the other.

    Gu Ye didn't cough anymore, he just muttered uncomfortably: "What, choke me to death!"

    Wang's probe looked at it, and explained that it was something that Bai Zixi didn't want, and said unfortunately: "Wangyuelou is written on this bowl. Mala Tang for a piece of money?"

    These words attracted the attention of other people in the store.

    Not as big as the Bai family, who can buy a bowl to taste at every turn People are even more reluctant. Until now, they have only heard of it, but have never tasted it.

    "It's all cold, take it to the kitchen and dump it." Gu Yin said.

    Song Shiliu, who always regarded herself as a maid, rushed to do the work.

    Two small red clay stoves were placed on the two tables, and two large casseroles were placed on the stoves, one for bone broth and one for sauerkraut soup.

    Now her own business is on track, especially since it is still a holiday, Gu Yin is not a stingy boss, so everyone can eat with an open belly.

    As soon as these words came out, the guys cheered and scrambled to get the side dishes and seasoning.

     Chef Xu first took two parts of chili oil, poured two parts of sesame paste into his bowl and mixed it up. He didn't count it after mixing it himself, and shouted Song Pomegranate: "Come on pomegranate, I'll bring you more Two servings of chili oil."

    Song Shiliu and Chef Xu are a generation apart in age, but they are equally edible.

    After adding her to join, Shiweitian never sold any leftovers and had to dump them, so the two of them made it all together. They also got along some friendships to grab food and eat.

    Song Shiliu shook her head and said, "I don't seem to be very hungry today."

     Chef Xu no longer cares about her, and joins the army of grabbing vegetables.

     Put the sausages, chicken balls, fish balls, lion head, egg dumplings, put a chopstick on the hot dishes that are full of soup, put them in your own seasoning bowl, mix them with fine sesame sauce and chili oil according to your personal taste. The fragrance is amazing!

    After a hot pot meal, everyone was sweating.

    It was also dark outside, Gu Yin let everyone off work.

    Manager Zhou and Chef Xu lived in the backyard and were responsible for the final finishing work.

    I have been busy all day, and when I get home, I wash up and rest.

    I slept until midnight, when Gu Yin was woken up by the sound of "banging" in the yard.

    She approved the clothes and got up, and met Wang who also got up to check.

    The two went to the yard to take a look, and it turned out that Song Shiliu was chopping wood in the yard.

    "Why did you chop wood in the middle of the night, girl?"

    Song Shiliu blushed and said apologetically, "I thought there was a strong wind outside and it wouldn't bother you."

    The wind whimpered, and other people might not hear her chopping wood, but Gu Yin and Wang Shi were used to being alert, so they could hear it naturally.

     .

    Get up as usual the next day, Song Shiliu looks slack and has no appetite to eat.

    When Mr. Wang saw it, he would inevitably nag: "I made you sleep well at night, and the firewood in our house made you chop up into a hill. There is no shortage of firewood to burn. It’s not fragrant, but it’s not good anymore.”

    Song Shiliu was silent. In fact, she didn't know what was going on, but in the middle of the night, she felt that the whole person was in a panic, and it was uncomfortable not to do anything. She obviously liked the food in the store very much before, but now she always feels that it is tasteless and tasteless, like something is missing.

    After two days, Song Shiliu still did not recover.

    However, after looking around in the store, I didn't see this girl.

    She also regards herself as a maid, rushing to work in the store, and has never been lazy to find anyone. Gu Yin didn't think about it anywhere else, she just thought she had her own business and went out temporarily.

    After waiting for about two quarters of an hour, the little girl came back from the outside in a panic.

    She is young and has a sincere personality, so she almost wrote the word guilty on her face.

    When she saw Gu Yin waiting at the door, she was even more frightened and turned pale.

    "I'm looking for you, remove my coat..."

    Since you are going to see a doctor, you must change the light yellow work clothes that are uniform in the store.

    However, when Song Shiliu heard this, she knelt down with a thud and begged: "I was wrong, I will never go to Wangyuelou again. Madam, don't want me..."

    She called Wang Shi in one voice. Seeing her kneeling outside, Wang Shi stepped forward and pulled her up, and said with a smile, "What do you think? My son is Seeing that you don't want to eat and drink these days, I'll take you to see the doctor, why don't you want me?"

    Gu Yin heard something else and asked her, "What do you mean when you say 'never go to Wangyuelou again'?"

    When she heard this, Mrs. Wang became stern. She had already made up for Song Shiliu's "cooperating with the enemy and betraying the country". She immediately released her hand and asked in a cold voice, "You and Mochizuki. Did you get in touch with the people over there?"

    Song Shiliu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Wang's explanation, then immediately shook her head and said, "No, I didn't contact anyone over there!" Her voice lowered as she spoke. , "I just went to buy their food."

    "You girl!" Wang pinched her ears, "Why are you so greedy when people say you are good?"

    Wang didn't make any effort, Song Shiliu didn't feel any pain, she just panicked and explained in a low voice: "It's just that I'm panicking if I don't eat a meal, and eating anything else doesn't taste good. I know I'm wrong. , never again."

    She has always been greedy, Wang Shi didn't find it strange, and Song Shiliu used her wages to buy food from other places, and it was not a big sin.

    Gu Yin still felt something was wrong. Although Song Shiliu was greedy, she was also loyal. When it came to Wangyuelou and Hanxianglou every day, she spurned them more than anyone else. I knew before that Wangyuelouxue launched Mala Tang and made a lot of money. The little girl was so angry that she wanted to smash the field, she was like a replica of Wang's. And she is also frugal, so she is willing to buy such expensive Mala Tang?

    It's not that Gu Yin is arrogant, the food in Wangyuelou is really not worth the price in her opinion. Song Shiliu eats all the food that is good for the sky, can he not even have the basic ability to taste?

    Of course, the most suspicious thing is her description of feeling sick all over without eating.

    Gu Yin called her to the back kitchen and asked her carefully.

    Song Shiliu explained that on Laba day, Gu Yin asked her to help pour out the Mala Tang in the food box. She knew that it was expensive and was not willing to pour it out. She ate it all in the back kitchen. At the time, I thought it was delicious, but I wanted to eat it again later. In the past two days, she couldn't eat anything else, so when she had time, she sneaked to Mochizuki Tower to buy food, and she felt comfortable after eating.

    "It cost me hundreds of pennies in two days, and I will never go again." Song Shiliu drooped his head, looking like he was beating and scolding.

    "It's not your fault."

    Gu Yin had already guessed what it was, and later she had people go to Wangyuelou to buy a few Mala Tangs. This time, instead of simply tasting it, she poured all the soup and vegetables. Go out, and then use a strainer to filter out the last residue of the soup base and check carefully.

    Straining all the way to the tenth bowl, Wang Shi and Chef Xu were all watching and they were so distressed that they gasped. Gu Yin finally saw the brown husk in the residue—

    Damn Wang Dafu, actually put poppies in the food!

    …

    The county magistrate is very worried these days.

    He knows that he has no ability, and just wants to work hard to be a good official with integrity.

    The county magistrate's annual salary is 42 taels of silver and 20 shi of lumi, which is enough for their family of three to chew.

    But there are too many places to spend money in the town. The front of the Mid-Autumn Festival gave a hundred moon cakes for the sky, and let him distribute them to the Hukuai Heshantang, which has greatly reduced the burden on the yamen.

    Especially when the Chinese New Year is coming soon, there are more places to spend money. The people below came to report that a strong wind had blown a wooden bridge in a nearby village crooked. These few days It was snowing heavily again, and the wooden bridge was overwhelmed and could not pass people. Rebuilding the bridge is a huge expense.

    Although there are many wealthy squires in the whole county, there is no county seat in this county. It is all towns and villages. The money that comes is always not enough, and he has to subsidize part of it from his salary.

    While she was in a rush, the county magistrate found that his daughter-in-law had been sneaking out these days.

    After inquiring, she found out that she was fascinated by the food in Wangyuelou.

    The business of Wangyuelou has been booming recently, and the county magistrate has also heard about it.

    The same thing I heard about, and the expensive price there, ten cents for a small vegetarian dish, thirty cents for the same meat dish, and no one sells a serving of less than fifty literati!

    The county magistrate's wife is the first wife of the county magistrate. The two shared weal and woe along the way. They have come through ups and downs. In the past, she was only more frugal than the county magistrate, and she had to think about buying new clothes and new jewelry Think again. Even last time she ate the moon cakes sent by Gu Yin and thought it was very delicious, but she heard that it cost eight cents a piece, so she was not willing to buy it again.

    The county magistrate didn't have the heart to scold her, but the county magistrate's wife hated her so much, and regretted: "I know best that our family is not well-off, and I was not a greedy person before. . But since the last time I had a dinner party, I have been thinking about it since I came back... I have spent hundreds of pennies before I knew it, so my husband should scold me."

      "

    After comforting his wife, the county magistrate looked at the money left in the family and was so worried that he didn't sleep well for several nights. A meal costs dozens of dollars. With this kind of cost, let alone repairing bridges and paving roads, there will be problems with chewing in the future.

    The county magistrate immediately paid attention and asked the arrest to bring people in.