After Xiao Fubao's life was stolen, she became the favorite of the Beijing group

"I have inquired about it. The youngest son of the Huang family is a peddler. He delivers things to all directions. The braised food is not selling well in our county. We can sell it to the next county." Old Mrs. Gu said excitedly.

Zhang Yunniang was helpless and said, "Mom, who will go to the next county to sell it? What if it can't be sold? A pot of braised food is not light. Should we use a cart to deliver it, or rent a cow?"

Old Mrs. Gu frowned immediately. She and Old Father Gu were old, of course they couldn't do such a thing. Gu Mingda had to study and prepare for the autumn examination, and Zhang Yunniang and Liu Xiaoru had to take care of the shop, so naturally they couldn't do this.

"Mom, we used to sell five pots a day, but now we sell three pots a day. We just make less money, but we can still live. Why are you so anxious?" Zhang Yunniang gently persuaded her mother-in-law.

Old Lady Gu shook her head and said, "The good business is getting worse and worse. There must be a reason, especially for the braised food business. Five stoves were built in the first month of the year, but now two are empty. This is a bad omen. If it continues for a long time, I am afraid it will be the same as my tofu shop."

The Gu family's tofu shop had gone bankrupt once before due to the malicious run of the Liu family. Old Lady Gu had experienced the process of business going bad once, so naturally she couldn't help but worry.

As she was talking, Gu Mingda walked in from outside.

He went to the government office in the morning, and the first thing he did when he came back was to talk about Zhang Guangzong's recent situation.

"He is not a tight-lipped person. After a few strokes, he confessed everything. After signing and stamping, even if it has been several years, the cheating in the imperial examination is a foregone conclusion." Gu Mingda said.

Old Lady Gu had always disliked Zhang Guangzong and wanted to scold him, but because her daughter-in-law was beside her, she held back and asked, "Second brother, will he cause trouble for you if he commits a crime?"

Gu Mingda shook his head and said, "He is him and I am me, we will not be involved, but unfortunately, a few people got the news in advance and ran away."

Old Lady Gu said, "Let them run away, as long as they don't involve our family."

Zhang Yunniang understood her husband and heard the unusualness in his words, so she asked, "Which important person ran away?"

Gu Mingda said, "A guy named Ren Liu. It is said that many things of County Magistrate Gou's master were entrusted to Ren Liu in the past. In the past, all matters in the government office had to go through Ren Liu's hands."

Gu Mingda spoke vaguely and did not mention that Ren Liu had a wide range of business, and human trafficking was also one of his businesses.

But Mrs. Gu suddenly said, "Ren Yanwang! I've heard of this man. My sister-in-law's nephew's leg was broken by him!"

The relationship was far-reaching, but Gu Mingda had also heard about it vaguely. The person involved was a gambler who lost everything and finally couldn't pay the money, so he was broken in the casino.

"If he ran away, the casino should also be closed, which is a good thing." Zhang Yunniang said.

Gu Mingda shook his head and said, "It won't close. It will probably be taken over by someone else."

After listening to the excitement, Mrs. Gu remembered that her son had come back from outside and asked, "Have you eaten? If not, I'll make you a bowl of noodles."

Gu Mingda waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary, and explained, "I had lunch with the people from the government office at Chunfenglou at noon."

Zhang Yunniang smiled and said, "Then you should have tasted our braised food. Manager Cheng has to buy two pots from us every day."

Gu Mingda's expression became serious, and he said, "Chunfenglou's business is still very good. They no longer sell braised food separately, but give each table of guests a plate of braised food platter, but this plate of braised food is not entirely our braised food."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Gu didn't understand.

Gu Mingda said: "This dish of braised food platter is poured with sesame oil, mixed with fermented bean curd sauce, and added with sesame and peanuts. The taste is not exactly the same. I also asked the waiter, and the waiter said that this braised food is their own secret recipe."

Old Mrs. Gu was instantly furious and said: "Why is Chunfenglou like this? It's obviously my stuff, but they say it's theirs!"

It's not a big deal to say it's theirs, after all, they are also afraid that customers will skip Chunfenglou and go directly to Gu's shop to buy it.

"They said it was made by themselves, but it's not completely fake, because they also mixed it with braised food made by their own kitchen. The two pieces of braised meat I ate have different tastes." Gu Mingda explained.

Zhang Yunniang asked: "Is the taste very different?"

Gu Mingda shook his head and said: "One of them is very sure that it's ours, and the other is 50% to 60% similar to our braised food."

It's clear what Chunfenglou wants to do.

Now they are still 50% or 60% similar. When they are 70% or 80% similar, Chunfenglou will probably stop buying the stewed food from the shop, and the business will only get worse.

As for why they can get 50% or 60% similar now, the reason is simple. Any experienced chef can guess the seasoning 70% or 80% after eating a lot. Previously, Chunfenglou bought it together with the stewed soup, which made it easier to guess.

Zhang Yunniang thought more at this time.

"Boss Cheng has been very attentive to Xiaoru in recent days. Boss Cheng lost his wife the year before last and has never remarried. I saw that he was attentive and was a big customer in the shop, so I wanted to match the two of them." Zhang Yunniang said.

Gu Mingda frowned slightly when he heard this and said, "This man is thoughtful. You should be more careful."

Cheng He's pursuit of Liu Xiaoru now seems to be impure. They can't even tell whether the fewer individual customers in the shop during this period are because of what Cheng He did.

Zhang Yunniang said, "I will talk to Xiaoru later."

The recipe for the braised food is indeed important, but in Zhang Yunniang's opinion, Liu Xiaoru is the most important. She had already vaguely sensed the slightly ambiguous atmosphere between Liu Xiaoru and Cheng He, and was very afraid that Liu Xiaoru would be hurt.

Gu Mingda looked at Old Lady Gu again and said, "The yamen is now in great need of people, and we are recruiting a lot of strong teams. Master Chen said today that he could let me recommend one person to go there, and he would not be a lowly person. The silver money he would get a year is about eight taels of silver, which is less than that of ordinary constables."

The so-called "strong team" sounds awkward, but it is actually a kind of yamen runner, but it is an emergency temporary worker. Usually, the yamen has enough staff and does not need to work.

The runners look glorious on the surface, but they are lowly people, and they are not allowed to take the imperial examination for the next three generations.

The strong team is a temporary worker, without the trouble of lowly people.

During the entire Chinese New Year, the yamen was busy with the imperial examination fraud case. Many people were involved in the Guang'an County Yamen because of this, and there was a huge shortage of runners. The strong team recruited this time was to work like runners, and the treatment was relatively good.

County Magistrate Wu originally thought that the old-timers in the county yamen were annoying, so of course he took this opportunity to insert many of his own people.

Gu Mingda, who was considered by Wu County Magistrate as his own, also got an internal recommendation quota.

Eight taels of silver a year may not be a big deal for city people, but for country people who work hard, this money is much easier to earn than farming.

Old lady Gu asked: "There is only one quota. If you give it to your eldest brother or third brother, I'm afraid they have some ideas in their hearts."

Gu Mingda said: "There are many things at home. My eldest brother or third brother may not be willing to enter the yamen. Do you know who is most suitable for this quota?"

Old lady Gu certainly knows who is most in need of this job now.

But if it is really assigned to this person, the first and third wives will definitely have a rift.

Gu Mingda sighed and said, "I do have an idea, it depends on whether you are willing to accept it."

First update