Wen Yunling went to Raozhou City to see the spices and rice shops there. Dasheng Dynasty spices are expensive, but spices are too expensive and may not sell well in small places.

She also doesn't have a caravan. If the cost of the spice shop is too high or it is not easy to sell in the town, she will look at the rice shop. There are only rice shops in Yuanbao Town, and the big ones are called rice shops. It's easy to do, the bigger rice shop in Yuanbao Town seems to work, maybe there is no spice to make money. She did not rent the restaurant, but bought it, and she is not afraid of losing money in the business of rice shops.

She vaguely had other thoughts in her mind. She felt that the rice trade was not necessarily selling rice, but other kinds of grains, game, vegetables, meat, etc...

But this is just a thought that came out of the bottom of my heart, and it still needs to be perfected. In short, she is not in a hurry.

Now she bought the restaurant. Even if she can't make a living, she can make some money by renting it out every month. Woolen cloth.

She still felt that making a living had to be related to food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Although her restaurant did not make a lot of money, at least it was profitable.

Wen Yunling, after being hit by opening a restaurant for more than a year, did not blame others blindly. Although she initially blamed Xu Qinyu, she also blamed Sanfang. She felt that Sanfang's Cheng brothers and Gong brothers After eating inside and out, she clearly knew that Xu Qinyu was good at cooking, and she also mocked her, causing her to miss the opportunity to cooperate with Xu Qinyu.

Over the past year of opening the restaurant, she has experienced a lot. Diners are looking for trouble, and making a living is difficult, which has made her temperament a lot. She also began to reflect on some things, and gradually saw the current situation of the Wen family.

When he was exiled at the beginning, he really complained about his aunt and his fourth cousin, thinking that if the elder cousin poisoned the late emperor and wanted to usurp the throne, the Wen family would not have been implicated.

But thinking about it now, the eldest cousin had to fight for that position, and if he won the fight, he could even bring the Wen family to the sky, but the eldest cousin failed in the struggle for imperial power. , She has seen a lot of things in the past two years, and she also has a little guess that the first emperor was poisoned at the beginning, maybe it was not the work of the big cousin at all, but the new emperor and the empress dowager Fu.

My aunt and two cousins ​​couldn't do such a thing.

She has only been spoiled since she was a child. When she was born, her second aunt had already entered the palace to be the concubine of the late emperor. Although the Wen family was still the uncle's mansion, because of her aunt, the uncle's mansion in the capital was regarded as a high-profile person. She He was also held by girls of the same age since he was a child.

Later, the aunt became the fourth concubine, and the uncle's mansion became the public mansion, and the status rose.

She was also raised more and more delicate.

Now I'm gradually looking at it, although I still feel uncomfortable for a while.

Wen Yunling came to Raozhou City, asked the driver to park the carriage in the alley, and followed the maid to the largest spice shop in Raozhou City.

Since the third room left, the family has bought maids and wives one after another.

In the beginning, only the sweeper and the kitchen were used, which was not enough at all.

Later, the mother really didn't want to do this, so she also bought some maids and grandma to wait on her.

There is also a maid next to her, who is a bit dull, called Pomegranate.

When he was about to get out of the carriage, Shiliu looked at Wen Yunling and didn't know how to help open the curtain of the carriage.

Wen Yunling glanced at her stupid maid, and opened the curtain to prepare to jump down, but Pomegranate finally reacted and jumped out of the carriage before her, Wen Yunling's nose almost crooked!

Wen Yunling felt that her temper was subdued, and this little maid must also be credited!

After pomegranate jumped out of the carriage, he looked at his girl.

"Pomegranate! Help me tie the curtain of the car." Wen Yun said spiritually.

Pomegranate finally reacted, ooh, and helped with the curtain.

When Wen Yunling first found out about Pomegranate, she wanted to sell her back to the tooth shop, but if the pomegranate is sold again, it might be sold somewhere. This kind of maid who has been returned all the time will not be sold. It's a good place. She felt a little soft-hearted, so she didn't sell anyone. Now that she's used pomegranate for almost a year, she's used to it.

Wen Yunling asked Pomegranate to hold his hand, jumped out of the carriage, and the two walked towards the spice.

She made an appointment with the owner of Raozhou City Spice Store a few days ago, so the spice store was not closed as the New Year was approaching.

Just out of the alley, Wen Yunling saw a middle-aged man in his early forties. The middle-aged man was still supporting a pregnant woman. With two gold hairpins in it, her belly was quite high, and it looked like she was about to give birth.

She frowned, feeling that the middle-aged man was a little familiar, but she couldn't remember who it was for a while.

Just as he was about to continue walking forward, a figure suddenly appeared in his mind, Wen Yunling couldn't help but gasped and looked at the middle-aged man in surprise.

She murmured, "No way..."

Pomegranate blinked and asked, "Girl, why not?"

Wen Yunling rolled her eyes at Pomegranate, "Don't ask more."

She recognized the middle-aged man, the chef of Donglaiju, who she remembered was Yue Weimin.

Since she also opened a restaurant, she has checked the identity of the owners and chefs of the major restaurants and restaurants in Yuanbao Town. She naturally knows who the owner of Donglaiju and the chef are, and who is Donglaiju. The owner of the company is the chef, and know that this Yue Weimin is considered to be living in the east.

The real owner of Donglaiju is a woman, surnamed Dong, who is the real head of the Dong family's recipes.

Because there is only one daughter of the Dong family left in the Dong family.

Dong's family doesn't have any talent for cooking, so Mr. Dong chose an apprentice among his apprentices who was willing to join Dong's family and recruited him as his son-in-law. This person was Yue Weimin. Mr. Dong gave all his cooking skills to his son-in-law. , Mr. Dong also passed away, and the chef of Donglaiju became Yue Weimin.

However, although Yue Weimin was the son-in-law of the Dong family, the second son of the Dong family still took his surname.

This Yuanbao Town knows the situation of the Dong family, who doesn't praise Dong's generosity and affection.

When a woman recruits a son-in-law, it is also extremely strict. The children born will only follow the woman's surname, and will never follow the man's surname.

Wen Yunling did not expect that he would meet Yue Weimin in Raozhou City.

How is he now? The pregnant woman who was holding her was not the Dong family. Seeing the way he was helping her carefully, and the pregnant woman's angrily grabbing him, it was obvious that the two had a very close relationship. Could it be that Yue Youwei had an affair with other women in Raozhou City? Or is it Yue Youwei's outer room?

Wen Yunling knew that Yue Weimin's eldest son went to Xuji Restaurant to be a helper.

At the beginning, she thought Xu Qinyu was stupid, and even dared to let Donglaiju's Shaodong's family go to her restaurant to help cook. This was not to break Xu Ji, otherwise she would teach Donglaiju's Shaodong's cooking skills. Qian left Xu Ji and took the dishes he learned to Donglaiju. Wouldn't all of Xuji's diners go to Donglaiju? Xu remember not collapse?

She's actually a little bit gloating...

As a result, after half a year, Donglaiju did not even have a dish of Xu Ji.

Wen Yunling is still a little disappointed...

Now that I see the chef from Donglaiju appear in Raozhou City, and he is so close to a pregnant woman, I am more and more curious.

She tugged at Pomegranate's sleeve, secretly pointed at Yue Weimin and the pregnant woman beside him, and whispered, "Pomegranate, you don't have to go to the spice shop with me, you go follow the man and the pregnant woman in front and see what they are going for. Things, where do you live, remember, you must not be found by two people, if you are found by two people, you will go back with me at night and don’t want to eat dinner!”

Pomegranate has a large amount of rice, and the most fearful thing is not to eat it.

But Wen Yunling usually scare her, and wouldn't really make her hungry all night.

When Pomegranate heard this, she was afraid to say, "Don't worry, girl, the servants will follow, they will never find out."

Wen Yunling waved her hand, and Pomegranate followed secretly. At this moment, she was also very cautious for the evening meal, and followed Yue Weimin and the pregnant woman secretly, keeping a short distance.

Wen Yunling stood there and watched for a while before entering the spice shop.

She talked with the shopkeeper of the spice shop, and carefully memorized the prices of various spices, as well as their respective origins and so on.

In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed, and Wen Yunling forgot for a while that he had asked Pomegranate to go with someone.

It wasn't until she left the spice shop that she remembered it.

She stood at the door of the spice store and waited for a while, and after a while, she saw pomegranate trotting back.

Seeing Shiliu's panting appearance, Wen Yunling patted her on the back and asked, "How is it? Do you know what is the relationship between those two and where do they live?"

Shiliu gasped and said, "Girl, those two people live in the Shijing Lane in front, they seem to be a family, the servants followed them all the way, and when they entered the house, they hurried over, lying on the door and heading in, I saw a boy who was about ten years old and called Daddy at the man..."

She followed the man and the pregnant woman carefully along the way, and followed them into the alley. When she saw the two entered a second-entry house, she hurriedly followed, lying on the door of the house, looking in through the gap, just in time to see a man about twelve or three years old. The 20-year-old brother passed the screen wall, and when he saw the man happily yelled at him Daddy, the man also went over and touched his brother's head with a kind face, and then the three of them went around the screen wall and went inside, and she couldn't see it either. Clear the situation inside. He stayed at the gate of the house for a while and then left.

Wen Yunling frowned upon hearing this, showing an indescribable and slightly disgusted expression.

She could see clearly that the man was the shopkeeper of Donglaiju. This disgusting thing seemed to have been raised outside, and the children were all in their teens, so it was obvious that they had been raised outside more than ten years ago.

He is obviously the son-in-law of the Dong family. If he hadn't married the Dong family, Mr. Dong would not have handed over his cooking skills and recipes to Yue Weimin.

At that time, Mr. Dong was a famous chef here, and the Dong family was a family of famous chefs.

The ancestors still had imperial cooks, and they even had recipes.

A culinary family with recipes means that they have been accumulated for decades or centuries.

Not every apprentice who learns from a famous chef succeeds.

Because the master can't teach everything, a famous chef with many apprentices can only teach some common eating methods.

After most of the apprentices left the master, they only went out to set up a snack stall to support their families.

The Dong family's recipes were handed over to Yue Weimin, and he leaped into the dragon's gate with a carp. With his current achievements, he became the chef and shopkeeper of Donglaiju. He has all the glory and wealth, but he is so ungrateful. big!

This matter is really disgusting, Wen Yunling waved his hand, feeling unlucky, "Go, hurry up and go to Mihang to have a look, we have returned to Yuanbao Town after seeing it."

Pomegranate snorted, and didn't ask too many questions. She didn't care about anything but food.

After coming out of Mihang, Wen Yunling got into the carriage and set off back to Yuanbao Town.

On the way back to Yuanbao Town, Wen Yunling frowned all the time, full of discomfort.

She is seventeen now, and she will be eighteen next year, which is the age to say goodbye.

In the past, my grandmother and grandfather thought that maybe she could enter the palace to be the new emperor's concubine, but she herself had some ideas, either because she liked the new emperor, or because she wanted to climb up, and she didn't want to stay in Yuanbao Town as a commoner for the rest of her life.

But after these two years, she can see clearly that it is not wise to enter the palace to be the new emperor's concubine. First of all, because of her status, the queen mother has to guard against her. There are many women in the palace, and she has no brains. don't know if can beat those concubines, if can't fight and die in the palace, the gain will not be worth the loss, so she also gave up the idea of ​​entering the palace.

But she was a little unwilling to be married to other ordinary people or country gentry, and the marriage was delayed again and again.

He also thought that if he got married in the future and met a man like Yue Weimin, wouldn't it be disgusting.

Really no idea of ​​getting married at all.

After Wen Yunling returned to Yuanbao Town, she originally wanted to go to Laixi Lane and tell Xu Qinyu about it. Dongqian is now working as a kitchen assistant in Xu Ji. The recipe was fooled by Yue Weimin...

Since that Yue Weimin has raised a foreign room and has a child with his own surname, he will definitely have other thoughts. At that time, Xu Ji's signature dishes and Dong's recipes will not become Yue Youwei's signature dishes...

But thinking that every time Xu Qinyu sees her cold look, she doesn't want to be rejected.

Besides, what does Donglaiju and Xu Qinyu's affairs have to do with her.

Wen Yunling finally returned to Wen's house, but when she was halfway there, she couldn't help opening the curtain and looking back...

...

And Shijing Lane in Raozhou City.

Yue Weimin didn't know that he was seen and followed to Shijing Lane.

After entering the house, he saw himself and Liu Niang's eldest son coming out to meet him, with a smile on his face unconsciously, seeing the eldest son calling him daddy, he was filled with tenderness, unlike when facing Dong Shi and his three sons. Son, even if the second son takes his surname, when he sees the second son, he will still remember that he is just the son-in-law of the Dong family, and everything he brings to the Dong family has nothing to do with him.

So even for the second son, he didn't have much affection.

Perhaps when the second son was just born, before he met Liu Niang, he was also full of joy, thinking that after the second son took his surname, it would be fine to leave all that he did for the Dong family to the second son.

But after meeting Liu Niang, Liu Niang also gave birth to a child for him, and he only had Liu Niang and the eldest son in his heart.

He felt that this was his blood, a blood without humiliation, and wanted to leave everything about him to them.

Now that Liu Niang is pregnant again, he comes to Raozhou City more frequently.

Liu Niang met more than ten years ago when he came to Raozhou City to taste dishes. Every year, Raozhou City held cooking discussions to taste the dishes of other cooks, but the cooks voluntarily participated. At that time, Liu Niang was only fifteen On the way, met Liu Niang's aunt who wanted to sell her to Xiangmanlou.

Liu Niang's parents passed away when she was a child, and she was left alone to earn a living at her uncle's house. Now that Liu Niang has grown up, she has some pretty looks, so her aunt began to think about it.

Liu Niang cried all the way, but no one helped her.

It was Yue Weimin who couldn't see it anymore, stopped Liu Niang and her aunt, and when he learned the reason of the incident, he scolded Liu Niang and aunt severely.

The aunt said angrily, "Do you know what she did? Just help her out? She seduced her cousin's man! Shameless."

Liu Niang cried and begged him, saying that it was her aunt who wronged her, she didn't seduce her cousin-in-law, it was her cousin-in-law who did something to her, she didn't expect her aunt to find out, in order to protect her daughter, she wanted to sell her .

The aunt was so angry that she yelled at Liu Niang, calling her a vixen, since she likes to seduce men, she might as well go to Xiangmanlou to be a whore.

Mrs. Liu was crying, Yue Weimin thought it was an excuse for the woman to sell her niece, argued with the woman, and then bought Liu Niang.

In the end, the woman took the money and said with a sneer: "I think you are thirty years old, right? I think you are already married and have children. Be careful that your family will be ruined by this vixen!"

Of course Yue Weimin didn't believe it, when the woman took the silver and left, he also planned to return the deed of sale to Liu Niang, and gave her a few taels of silver to let her leave on her own.

But Liu Niang kept looking at him and crying, pear blossoms brought rain, and begged him to help her, saying that she was a weak woman, and she didn't know what to do in the future, and if she found out to her aunt that he returned the deed of sale to her, she would definitely do it again. Continue to sell her.

Yue Weimin felt sorry for Mrs. Liu, so he could only rent a small yard in Raozhou City for Mrs. Liu to live in.

Fortunately, the Liu family is not from Raozhou City, but from a nearby village, and will not be discovered by the uncle's family.

The Liu family lived in Raozhou City.

Yue Weimin was also worried that she would be bullied alone in Raozhou City, so he often came to Raozhou City to visit Liu Niang.

They came and went, the two exchanged emotions, and he didn't tell Liu Niang about his situation.

After hearing this, Liu Niang felt sorry for her and comforted him, saying that he is a man who stands up to heaven and earth, and that Dongshi doesn't respect him, but she respects him all her life.

Then the two fell out.

Over the years, Yue Weimin often came to Raozhou City to accompany Liu Niang for various reasons.

Even when the new year is approaching every year, he will stay in Raozhou City to accompany Liuniang and his eldest son to celebrate the new year on the grounds of going back to his hometown to pay homage to his deceased parents.

Later, he bought a second house and some shops for Liu Niang, and hired a maid to take care of her.

The three entered the house, the eldest son went down after talking with them for a while, only Yue Weimin and Liu Niang were left in the room.

Liu Niang frowned and said sadly: "Master, when will you be able to reconcile with Yuanbao Town? Otherwise, Ji Ge'er has always been in a bad name, and the child in my stomach, I don't want to. When he was born, people called him a wild seed. Even if I told the neighbors around me every day that you were going to work outside and rarely came back, everyone looked at me with shame and thought that I was raised outside. Room, even Brother Ji has suffered a lot of grievances."

Because he was afraid that someone in Raozhou City would recognize him, Yue Weimin never showed up in Shijing Lane, and he always came and walked quietly every time.

Yue Weimin said: "Liu Niang, don't cry, I originally planned to reconcile within a year or two. I have thoroughly studied the Dong's recipe. Even if there is no Dong's recipe, I will open a restaurant based on the new recipe I have researched, but Dong's recipe is not available. Qian recently went to a small restaurant to learn from a little cook. She has some skills. She has a few signature dishes and her 'seasoning' recipe that I want. If I can get it, mine Cooking skills will also improve, so wait two more years, Dong Qian will leave Xu Ji and give me the recipe and the 'seasoning' recipe, I will reconcile with Dong Shi, and then take you away and fly to the capital. Restaurant, we have made a lot of money, so that you, Brother Ji and the child in your womb will have a better life."

Dong Qian had told him that the little cook at Xu Ji Restaurant was willing to teach him for three years.

He will be let go in three years.

So now Dongqian is unwilling to give him the recipe of Xu Ji Restaurant that he knows, so he can only wait; after more than two years, when Dongqian leaves Xu Ji, he will naturally be willing to give him the recipe.

"Isn't it just the food made by a little cook, can it be better than the food made by the master?" Liu Shi cried, "Master, I don't want anything, I just want you to hurry up and leave, and I want to be your wife. , I want Brother Ji and the child in my stomach to not be wild."

Yue Weimin couldn't do anything, so he coaxed Liu Niang for a long time, and promised to buy her a set of a few hundred taels of silver, and Liu Niang laughed.

...

Xu Qinyu didn't know that Wen Yunling bumped into Yue Weimin's idea of ​​ruining his morals. She had just finished her work these days, and Xu Ji also took annual leave.

Last night, she had an early reunion dinner with the big guys in the restaurant, and gave everyone a red envelope.

This year, the winery earned 20,000 taels of silver, so she also gave a lot of red envelopes this year, each giving a red envelope of 20 taels of silver.

Dongqian also took the red seal of 100 taels of silver. Xu Qinyu felt that he had helped him a lot, so that he could have a lot of leisure. So far in the twelfth lunar month, he has marinated more than 800 hams.

It was only then that Dongqian realized that Master was so kind to the guys in the restaurant, and they were given more than 20 taels of silver a year. No wonder they worked so hard and didn't have a heart at all.

He did not refuse the one hundred taels of silver and red seal, and took it. He was unwilling to ask for the wages that Master gave him on weekdays.

Xu Ji took her annual leave, and Xu Qinyu also returned to Laixi Lane. She and her fourth brother drove the stove and went to the workshop to get ten hams.

The fourth brother arrived at the house two days ago. It was said that the New Year was coming, and the caravan had to rest. He is also celebrating the New Year at home this year, and he should be able to finish the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Of these ten hams, two were reserved for the family to eat, and the remaining eight, Xu Qinyu, planned to entrust other caravans to take them to the capital to eat for their parents and uncles.

Now the workshop is full of hams, but all that can be eaten is the hundred pickled last year.

I went to get ten hams first, and there are still 90 hams left, so can have some new ham dishes in the spring restaurant, but she plans to keep 30 hams for this batch of hams, so that the 30 hams will be fermented for two years next year. , the fermentation conditions for the rest of the year are good, maybe it can meet the standard of raw eating, and you can eat raw ham meat.

The raw ham is called the golden meat. The skin of the ham is cut off. The ham meat is fat and thin. The sliced ​​ham meat is as thin as cicada wings. It tastes charming salty and rich meat flavor. The lean meat is tender and fat. The part is not greasy, and it tastes full of fragrance.

When Xu Qinyu thought of the taste of raw ham, she was a little distracted.

As soon as the two returned to Xixiang, they saw a carriage parked in front of the door.