Qiao Jinniang was about to give birth. Usually, she would only go to the restaurant for a stroll before returning. She was supposed to give birth on the first day of August, but the child refused to come out.
It was not until August 15th, which happened to be the mid-autumn Festival, that she gave birth to a son.
Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chenchu were father and mother. They were still young, so they were somewhat cramped.
Qiao Jinniang was not a person who believed in ghosts and gods, but when it came to naming her child, she had no choice but to believe in ghosts and gods. She invited a fortune-teller to read the child’s name.
The Fortune-teller said that it was best to give the child a name after the age of three, so Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen named the Child Brother Tuan.
Lu Chen clearly discovered that after Brother Tuan was born, Qiao Jinniang did not even read her favorite speech book every day. She could often look at Brother Tuan in a daze all day long.
She did not forget to pull Lu Chen along to look at Brother Tuan.
The child who had just reached the full moon was very soft and cuddly. As new parents, the two of them could not wait to give everything to the child.
When Brother Tuan made a fuss in February, Qiao Jinniang’s most maternal love was still to leave the crying child to the wet nurse to take care of.
Lu Chen was very happy. He could finally monopolize Qiao Jinniang again. It must be known that during this month, Qiao Jinniang was afraid that he would pressure brother Tuan, so she did not allow him to lie down beside her.
After the full moon, Qiao Jinniang went to work in the restaurant while Lu Chen was busy with the new shops in private. Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen did not plan to let others know about the new shops, afraid that the Qiao family would cause trouble.
Moreover, they were merchants after all. A big tree attracts the wind, attracting the attention of some people with good intentions. Xie Yun might not be able to protect them.
After closing for the night, Qiao Jinniang, Lu Chen, and the employees of the Hundred Savory restaurant ate together.
Glutinous rice smiled and said, “Master, something happened today to vent my anger. Outside the Feng family restaurant, there are a lot of merchants and growers who came to ask for money for wine and vegetables.”
Qiao jinniang asked, “What’s going on?”
Glutinous Rice said, “The Feng family restaurant is rented. The annual rent is 500 taels of silver. They didn’t earn so much silver in Yangzhou these two years, so they reluctantly borrowed money from the people on the street to pay the rent for a year.
How could they afford to buy any vegetables or meat? It was just that the vegetable farmers and meat merchants were willing to give them credit for half a year when they saw that their restaurant was doing well.
However, they put up a sign that they would buy one and get one free. Although their business was good in the first half of the year, they were losing money. How could they pay back the money.
“After the buy one and get one free, they raised the price, which was close to the price of our hundred savory restaurant’s vegetables. However, their dishes were not as exquisite as our hundred savory restaurant’s, and their ingredients were not as good as our hundred savory restaurant’s, so their business plummeted, “I heard that Feng Jie and Mu Liuliu have been quarreling non-stop!”
Qiao Jinniang smiled. “What do you mean by self-destruction? This is it. They clearly don’t have any capital, yet they still want to fight with the restaurant. They really deserve it.”
Qiao Jinniang felt that she had vented a lot of her anger.
Lu Chen said, “They also owe the government some taxes. If they go to the magistrate’s office, they will have to go to jail!”
“It’s better for them to go to jail now. Those people who give out money are not to be trifled with. Some of them are better off as husband and wife.”
After Qiao Jinniang said this, she fiercely bit a piece of meat.
Qiao Jinniang, Lu Chen, and glutinous rice came out of the Hundred Savory restaurant and went back to the Qiao family’s small courtyard. On the way, Qiao Jinniang saw Feng Jie, who was dressed in embroidered clothes, coming over.
Feng Jie was holding a lantern. Under the light of the lantern, his small eyes looked more like a small green bean.
“Jinniang, Jinniang, I’m your brother Jie! Do you still remember me? I was deceived by that woman Mu Liuliu… back then, master said that I would be his son-in-law. Jinniang, I’m willing to marry that Mu Liuliu and marry you.”
When Qiao Jinniang heard Feng Jie’s words, she almost vomited the rice she had just eaten.
Lu Chen frowned. Did she think he was dead? Lu Chen stepped forward and punched Feng Jie, causing him to fall to the ground.
Qiao Jinniang looked at Feng Jie on the ground and said, “Mu Liuliu lied to you? Did she put a knife to your neck? Shameless? With your green eyes, don’t joke around.”
Feng Jie knelt down and said, “Jinniang, please give me some silver to save my life. Master loved charity before he died.”
“Charity also depends on the person. You, don’t come in front of me to disgust people.”
Qiao Jinniang held Lu Chen’s hand and said, “Fortunately, I have already given birth to Brother Tuan. Otherwise, if brother Tuan was still in my stomach and saw such an ugly person, I’m afraid he wouldn’t want to come out.”
Lu Chen smiled faintly. “That’s true.”
After the Feng family’s restaurant closed down, the business of the Hundred Savory restaurant was much better than before. In the twelfth lunar month, the neighbors who came to the Hundred Savory restaurant to buy preserved meat were all queuing up.
At night, Lu Chen dreamed of eating duck legs with soy sauce.
When he opened his eyes, the moonlight shone in from the window and he saw Qiao Jinniang looking at him with resentment.
“Brother Chen, why are you holding my hand in the middle of the night? I’m not a braised duck leg!”
Lu Chen’s stomach growled. At eighteen years old, he was still growing. Even though he had eaten a lot of dinner, he had already digested a lot of the gift from Duke Zhou.
Qiao Jin put on a cloak and said, “What Kind of supper do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.”
Lu Chen said in a daze, “No need. Let the catering company make it.”
Qiao Jinniang frowned. “Who is Dian Shansi? Is it as good as my cooking? You should know that everyone in Lin ‘an city wants to eat my cooking now, but they don’t mind adding a tael of silver to each dish. How can you not cherish it?”
Lu Chen woke up. He did not know why he blurted out the word catering company. He replied, “I don’t know who it is either. I just remember that if I was hungry in the past, I would always look for the catering company. Maybe it was my former chef?”
Qiao Jinniang cupped her face and moved closer to Lu Chen. “Remember this. In the future, you can only remember Qiao Jinniang!”
Lu Chen looked at Qiao Jinniang who was moving closer and said, “There’s no need to get up at night to move the firewood. Why Don’t you come and eat the Little Rabbit?”
Qiao Jinniang:”…”
Not only was she cheated by being treated as a sauce duck leg, but she was also eaten as a sauce rabbit. How Pitiful.
Winter passed and spring came. The businesses that Lu Chen and Xie Yun worked with gradually gained a lot of stable income.
Lu Chen gave a large amount of silver notes to Qiao Jinniang every month. He did not leave a single cent for himself. Little Tuan would gradually stagger and call out to his mother and father.
Qiao Jinniang’s favorite thing was to follow Little Tuan. Lu Chen also took time out to take Qiao Jinniang to play around Lin ‘an.
Before they knew it, another year had passed. It was the Lantern Festival of the previous years.
This year’s lantern festival was even livelier than the previous two years. The three of them were wearing masks that they had just bought on the street.
Qiao Jinniang held Tuan’s hand. Tuan, who had just turned two years old, could not speak clearly, except for the two words ‘Don’t speak to me’.
There were many people by the Golden Ox Lake. Coincidentally, Feng Jie, who had just been released from prison, saw Qiao Jinniang, who had just opened her mask.
Feng Jie remembered the humiliation he had suffered from Qiao Jinniang that day, and how she had left him to die. He suddenly rushed forward, wanting to take her down with him.
After Lu Chen saw Feng Jie, he pulled him into the Golden Ox Lake. Unexpectedly, he was pulled down as well..
Seeing Lu Chen fall into the water, Qiao jinniang shouted worriedly, “Brother Chen! Someone, someone fell into the lake!”
