Chef Li and his wife Ms. Ge are both Mrs. Zou’s people. After Mrs. Zou took over Fugui Building, she effectively had control over the Lu Family. If the Lu Family dared to cause trouble in Qingfu Town again, Mrs. Zou would use the matter concerning the Lu Family to bring down Concubine Lu.
Mrs. Zou also said that if the Lu Family or the siblings Zou Yuzhen targeted the Qin, Gu, and Luo families, she wanted her own husband and wife not to get involved. Let the Lu Family dig their own graves while they themselves should foster good relations with those families, playing the good guys.
"Today I ca especially to discuss this with you, so that you can be at ease. In the future, the affairs of Fugui Building will no longer be managed by Manager Zeng. Our lady has ordered that Fugui Building will only do clean business, and will not interfere in other matters."
Chef Li was slightly overweight, with a simple and honest face, and spoke in a very credible manner. He continued, "The lady is the principal wife, and has always disliked concubines and mistresses."
After saying this, Chef Li stopped talking, smiled, and nodded at Third Grandpa, then went back to join the queue.
Chef Li was telling them that Mrs. Zou and Concubine Lu were at odds, so she would not help the Lu Family harm them.
It was a gesture of goodwill.
However, Gu Jinli and the rest did not take Chef Li’s word for it. When Chef Li was in queue to get the white tofu and spices, Father Luo still took out a ledger for Chef Li to leave his fingerprint. If anything went wrong with the tofu or spices, Fugui Building itself would have to take responsibility and not co looking to them.
Helplessly, Chef Li left his fingerprint as usual.
He was neither Manager Zeng nor his own wife Ms. Ge; he was just a chef who wanted to cook properly and did not want to involve himself too much in other matters.
"One load of white tofu, one hundred and sixty jin, plus three jin of Wufu spices, is a total of three taels and one hundred copper coins," Father Luo said, as he brought out the white tofu and spices to Chef Li.
The assistant who ca with him complained when he heard this amount, "Uncle Luo, why only three jin of spices? We asked for ten jin."
Before Father Luo could speak, another custor queuing up said, "Three jin is enough for you. You still want ten jin? This spice is in high demand. If you take ten jin, what will be left for us? Be content."
Nowadays, everyone in the town knew that the food cooked with spices was delicious. Not to ntion the eateries, even ordinary families in ten miles and eight villages, and even people from neighboring towns ca to buy, and there was never enough to go around.
The assistant retorted, "First co, first served. Whose fault is it that you queued behind us?" They from Fugui Building were in line since dawn.
Chef Li stopped the assistant and said, "Stop talking, why are you so hot-tempered? You need to change that. Move the goods quickly back to the kitchen; the kitchen is waiting for these to prepare for the noon feast."
Upon hearing this, the assistant had no choice but to keep quiet and, together with another assistant, carried back the white tofu and spices to Fugui Building.
Chef Li took out three taels and one hundred copper coins and handed them to Father Luo: "Brother Luo, please accept the paynt."
After Father Luo took the silver coins, he said "Take care," and turned away to serve other custors tofu.
"Your two servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and four golden bean pancakes, total twenty-two copper coins." Uncle Tian finished packing the fried tofu and bean dregs cakes for the custor, handed them over, then took the silver coins from the custor and placed them in a box beside him.
"Hui Niang, your five golden bean pancakes, two jin of white tofu, and the half jin of spices you ordered a few days ago, all together is two hundred and seventy-five copper coins," Luo Huiniang said efficiently as she put the items into Sister-in-law Yao’s basket.
Sister-in-law Yao handed the silver coins to Luo Huiniang: "I finally got the spices. I’m so used to cooking with them that the dishes haven’t tasted good these past few days without them. Even Yinbao hasn’t been enjoying his als."
An Auntie nearby also said: "The sa for my grandkids, they’re so used to eating dishes with the spices that they’re reluctant to eat if there’s even one al without it."
""
Gu Jinli helped out while listening to the custors’ chatter, feeling very pleased with himself; seasoning spices were indeed a long-term good business.
After being busy for about half an hour, they finally finished the morning rush and sold out all the tofu and seasoning spices, leaving only four loads of bean dregs cakes still unsold.
"Third Uncle, if you have things to do, go ahead, we can keep an eye on things here," Ms. Chu said as she fried the bean dregs cakes, "Let Tie Zhu go with you, he can help if sothing cos up."
"Mother, can I go too?" Luo Huiniang enjoyed the bustle and wanted to go see the shop with Third Grandpa and Xiao Yu.
Considering that Luo Huiniang had been working hard lately, Ms. Chu nodded and agreed: "Go ahead, rember to be careful, don’t chat carelessly, and don’t cause any trouble for your Third Grandpa."
"Eh, got it, Mother." Luo Huiniang was overjoyed, ran over and took Gu Jinli’s hand, saying, "Xiao Yu, I can go with you guys too."
"Mhm~" Gu Jinli answered with a smile, whispering to Luo Huiniang quietly.
"Third Uncle, let’s hurry up and go, or it will be too late," Mrs. Chen couldn’t wait any longer, as she had dressed up specially for the trip to see the shop.
"Alright, let’s go." Third Grandpa took the cloth hanging from the cart, dusted himself off, and led Gu Jinli and the others towards Xuanhu Fang.
Both Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang’s hands were each carrying two packs of bean dregs cakes and Fried Five-Spice Tofu.
A short while later, they arrived at Xuanhu Fang.
Inside Xuanhu Fang, the air was filled with the scent of dicine and the sound of coughing. Many people had caught coughs due to the change of seasons and ca to seek treatnt.
The attendant Mai Dong saw them and greeted with a smile, "Elder Gu, you’ve arrived. Doctor Du isn’t in; he’s out on calls. His master is in the backyard preparing dicine; if you need anything, just go find him."
"Mai Dong, this is for you, share it and enjoy," Gu Jinli placed one of his bags of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and bean dregs cake on the counter before following Third Grandpa towards the backyard of Xuanhu Fang.
In the backyard, Doctor Wu was sitting on a Taishi Chair, drinking dicinal tea, and instructing Du Xusheng and Du Dingxiang, "The fire is too strong; it needs to be on low heat, slowly simr the herbs."
"The second pot in the fourth row, it’s ti to add licorice."
Du Xusheng hurried over and added the soaked licorice into the pot.
"Doctor Wu, there are quite a few people coming down with coughs lately," Gu Jinli said as he walked under the corridor in the backyard, placing a pack of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and bean dregs cake on the table.
"Yes, the seasons are changing, hot and cold alternate, so there are quite a few cases of cold-induced cough," Doctor Wu was familiar with them and didn’t stand on ceremony, he unwrapped the paper and picked up a bean dregs cake to eat, then called Du Xusheng and his sister, "Co and eat sothing, take a break."
"Grandpa Wu, you eat first, we’ll eat later; these two pots of dicine need to be taken to patients soon," Du Xusheng was young but sensible, and didn’t let hunger distract him from his duties.
"As you wish." Doctor Wu looked towards Third Grandpa, motioning for him to sit down, "Brother Gu, what brings you here at this ti? Is there sothing you need?"
Third Grandpa explained the purpose of their visit.
"You want to buy a shop?" Doctor Wu bit into a bean dregs cake, chewed it, and then said, "That might be a bit difficult to handle."
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