Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 11 Have you found out about this?
In the blink of an eye, it was a month later.

Spring is here, good fortune is coming back, and it's time for an outing.

Five miles outside Kyoto, beside the Yongding River.

Xiaomei sat behind a stove with tears in her eyes, grilling fish. The smoke seemed to be targeting her and kept floating towards her face. She changed positions several times but to no avail and could only accept her fate.

On the other side, four people were playing mahjong around a square table.

Mei Chengan: "Nine cakes."

Xiaolan: "Bang! Three."

Mei Chengan: "Damn, you're touching this. Aren't there already nine cakes underneath? Why didn't you touch it just now?"

Xiaolan's expression was calm: "I just touched it!"

Mei Chengan snorted, looked at Xiaozhu and Xiaoju below and said, "Does anyone want the three strips? If no one wants them, I can touch them. I can touch them by myself."

Xiaoju and Xiaozhu shook their heads.

Mei Cheng'an rubbed his hands together, and while shouting "Seven Cakes" in his heart, he carefully touched a card, put his finger on the ground, and cursed in his heart.

It’s a ten thousand, fifty thousand.

If you play it, this is a typical cannon card. If you don’t play it, at least you have stopped the card, although the stop is a bit off, it is a stuck seven-cake. After hesitating for a long time, I still played 50,000.

"Five, fifty thousand!"

What you fear will come to you. Xiaolan pushed the cards down one by one. She got a pair of 30,000, one 60,000 and one 70,000, making a total of 580,000.

Mei Chengan was anxious: "You don't want to touch yourself with 50,000 or 80,000? You're also a fool? Can you be more ambitious? Isn't it better to earn money from three companies than from one?"

Xiaolan: "I'm sorry, I don't have a big appetite, so I'll stop while I'm ahead! Give me the money!"

Mei Cheng'an looked down and angrily threw the last five taels of silver on his desk over there.

"I don't want to play anymore. I lost everything. Someone is targeting me!"

Xiaolan watched with concern, lowered her head and silently collected the silver that had piled up like a small mountain in front of her.

Xiao Zhu finished off the enemy with a somewhat resentful look.

"Xiao Lan didn't target Master. It was you who fed Xiao Lan the cards crazily, causing her to clash with cards and help others to stop the cards. Then, Master either pointed the finger at Xiao Lan or Xiao Lan drew by herself. Master not only lost money, but also implicated us..."

"That's right." Xiaoju was no less enthusiastic.

Mei Cheng'an almost couldn't hold back his smile after hearing the two people's complaints. He touched his nose awkwardly and said, "Okay, it seems to be true."

But he could swear that he really didn't mean it!

……

The three of them just stared blankly at Xiaolan putting the silver into the bag one by one, their eyes turning red.

Finally, Mei Chengan slammed the table.

"Forget it, forget it. We are not as skilled as others. We should reflect on our own actions. The food is our original sin. There is no point in blaming anyone. Just accept it and eat!"

Lan, Zhu, and Ju put away the mahjong. Xiaomei brought up the grilled fish and the headless rabbit, a few cups, and finally a small bucket of burping wine. She poured a glass for Mei Chengan first.

Mei Chengan took a bite of the grilled fish with great relish. The fish meat was tender and delicious, and it was brushed with honey and sprinkled with salt, cumin and chili. The first bite gave her a mixture of fresh, salty, spicy, cumin and sweet flavors, which was so rich that her taste buds almost exploded.

Take another sip of refreshing beer, the taste is so good, it’s so satisfying.

With the trees, flowers and plants behind, and the Yongding River in front with flying fish jumping out from time to time.

This scene, plus the presence of so many people, makes it a perfect picture of a spring outing.

"Who's there?" Xiaomei shouted! Before she finished speaking, she floated away.

Everyone looked back and saw Xiaomei stopping a man a few feet away.

After seeing the man clearly, Mei Chengan asked in surprise: "Old Wang?"

The person who came was Wang Qinian.

Wang Qinian was stopped by Xiaomei and had to salute from a distance.

"Mr. Xiaomei, it's none other than Mr. Wang!"

Mei Cheng'an waved his hand, and Xiaomei moved aside, letting Wang Qinian come over.

"Old Wang, are you... coming for a picnic?"

"I came here specifically to see Master Xiaomei. You guys...are having dinner."

Mei Chengan's lips curled up.

"Let's eat something together?"

"It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate!" He said this while sitting down unceremoniously and reaching out for the grilled fish.

"Mm, Master Xiaomei's cooking skills are beyond reproach. This grilled fish is a delicacy. Mm, so fragrant!"

"I didn't bake it. Sister Xiaomei did."

Wang Qinian was stunned, looked at Xiaomei and gave her a thumbs up
"Miss Xiaomei's craftsmanship is amazing!"

Xiaomei rolled her eyes.

Mei Chengan gave Xiaolan a look, and Xiaolan went to get a wine glass for Wang Qinian and filled him with a glass of burping wine.

Wang Qinian took the wine, said thank you, and drank a few gulps.

"How did you know I was here?"

After drinking, Wang Qinian burped and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"I went to the mansion first, and the servants there told me that Master Xiaomei had gone out for a trip to the suburbs, so I followed you all the way here."

Wang Qinian was a master of tracking, and they had not tried to hide their tracks, so it was not surprising that they were found by Wang Qinian.

"What's the hurry?"

"Hey, I'm here to give you an invitation," he said, pulling out a red invitation from his arms, "I'm getting married!"

Mei Cheng'an took the invitation, glanced at it, and put it aside.

"There's no need to be so anxious. It won't be too late to check it out when I get back."

"I'm anxious. I have something to discuss with Master Xiaomei. I can't wait that long."

"Oh? Tell me."

"It's like this. Mr. Wang is getting married and he needs food and wine. Recently, the most famous thing in Kyoto is the special stewed food, barbecue, spicy rabbit head and burping wine of Master Xiaomei. So he wants to order a batch of goods for the wedding banquet. It will be very prestigious if he tells others about it." "Well, why don't you just tell the shopkeeper about this? Can he chase you away if you come to buy things?"

Wang Qinian smiled bitterly, "Master Xiaomei, don't you know how popular your four specialties are? Not only are there huge crowds of people in the store, but even the reservations from the various prefectures have to queue up. I have little influence and my position is not high, so the shopkeepers are naturally unwilling to treat me with any preferential treatment. If you want to make a reservation, you have to queue up honestly. I have visited eight shops and received similar responses. I can only ask Master Xiaomei for help."

Mei Cheng'an glanced at Xiaolan.

Xiaolan bowed and replied, "Indeed!"

"That's nothing, Lao Wang. With our relationship, I will definitely do anything you ask. Do you have a list?"

Wang Qinian was prepared. He took out a list from his sleeve and handed it over.

Mei Cheng'an took a quick look and handed the list to Xiaolan.

"Go and coordinate and allocate this batch of goods to Lao Wang."

"Yes!"

"By the way, when are you getting married, Lao Wang?"

"March 28th, which is tomorrow."

"No wonder you were so anxious. It's okay now. I'll have the things delivered to your house in advance. By the way, I don't even know where your home is. Remember to tell Xiaolan the address later."

Wang Qinian clasped his fists and bowed: "Thank you, Master Xiaomei."

Mei Chengan raised his hand to support him.

"We don't need it. Is there anything else?"

"Well, ahem, there is one more thing, but I don't know how to start it."

Mei Cheng'an looked him up and down carefully.

"Are you still the old Wang I know? And what are you embarrassed to say?"

"Hehe, Master Xiaomei really understands me. Let's not talk about the stewed food and barbecue. The price of this spicy rabbit head and burping wine... is really expensive! Master Xiaomei, you know my strength. Can you give me a discount, hehe?"

"Okay, how much discount do you want?"

Wang Qinian struggled for a long time, his fingers kept changing, and finally settled on the gesture of eight.

"Eighty percent off?"

Xiaomei at the side widened her eyes. This guy really dared to open his mouth. When Mei Chengan was looking at the list just now, he had also taken a rough look. Not counting other things, the two large barrels of burping wine alone were worth one thousand taels. He cut down two hundred taels without even opening his mouth. This was only for the wine. If the rest were included, there would be more.

What surprised her even more was that the young master actually agreed.

"Okay, 20% off is 20% off, minus the 80% off and it will be my gift money."

Wang Qinian was stunned for a moment. He was just testing the waters. In fact, his psychological bottom line was 90% off. He never expected that Young Master Xiaomei would agree to it right away.

He was stunned for two seconds, then reacted and bowed to express his gratitude.

This gift is not cheap, this favor is even more valuable!
Wang Qinian was no longer smiling at this time. He was sincerely thanking Master Xiaomei.

Mei Chengan pulled him up.

"I say, Lao Wang, what's wrong with you? Why are you bowing so much? Hurry up and get up. Is there anything else?"

Wang Qinian nodded.

"Then sit down and continue eating. I just ate a few bites of fish and I'm still hungry."

After eating and drinking, the maids cleared the table and the food residues, put away the table and replaced it with a small tea table. There were two bamboo chairs on both sides of the tea table. These bamboo chairs were foldable and easy to carry. There was a pot of tea and a plate of grapes on the tea table.

Mei Cheng'an was half lying on a bamboo chair with a fishing rod in front of him, reading a book and occasionally putting a grape into his mouth.

Wang Qinian lay comfortably on another bamboo chair, with sleepy eyes.

The maids also returned to the carriage to take a morning break.

It was a spring afternoon, neither too hot nor too cold, the sun was warm, and from time to time there were bird calls from the woods behind me, creating a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere.

The whole world has become lazy.

"Young Master An."

"Ok?"

“This world is beautiful!”

"Well, the world will be a better place tomorrow when you get married!"

"Of course, my wife is so beautiful."

"How did you two meet?"

"Through an introduction."

"Dean Chen?"

"Yeah, huh? How did you know?"

"I've read your information. My father investigated you when you were applying for a job in the mansion."

"Oh, that's true... Oh, that's not right. He read my information and Dean Chen introduced his wife to me. Is there any connection between the two?"

"How old are you, Lao Wang?"

"Thirty-two."

"Is your wife beautiful?"

"That's for sure. I'll tell you... um, keep talking."

"If it were someone else, your wife is so beautiful and young, and you are a low-ranking official with wrinkles all over your face. Why would I introduce such an outstanding girl to you? Are you worthy of her?"

"Hey, what are you talking about? What's wrong with Wang? Back then, he was a handsome man, a white dragon in the waves. How come he is not worthy of this?"

"You also said that you were thinking about the past. Don't you have any idea of ​​what the situation is like now?"

Wang Qinian was silent for a moment.

"So according to what you said, it's impossible for me to introduce others, but it's possible for Dean Chen?"

"That's right. Others don't know your abilities, but Dean Chen does. After all, it was Dean Chen who conquered you personally, so he knows your abilities very well. Introducing a wife to you can also win over the hearts of a master like you. What a good deal."

"Has the prefect found out about this?"

(End of this chapter)