“Since Manager Qin is being so candid, I won’t beat around the bush either,” Yun Zhu said with a soft smile. “I notice that your restaurant’s signature dishes are mostly seafood. I have a few seafood recipes I’d like to sell to you. I wonder if you’re interested in buying them, Manager Qin?”
Despite his earlier subtle hints that he wasn’t interested in her wine, Manager Qin couldn’t help but feel a flicker of disappointment seeing that she truly had no intention of discussing the white wine business with him. “Madam, are you truly not going to discuss the grape wine business with me?”
Yun Zhu left room for future possibilities: “Longyan grapes are a new variety with limited yield, so for now, I fear they cannot meet Zuixiao Restaurant’s sales volume. If there’s an opportunity in the future, I will certainly seek you out for cooperation, Manager Qin.”
She indeed had stock in her pocket dimension, but she did not plan to sell it just yet.
Manager Qin said with deep regret, “Very well, then. May I take a look at the recipes you wish to sell me?”
“The recipes are right here!” Yun Zhu tapped her head with a smile. “I can teach your cooks on the spot.”
Manager Qin didn’t dare take her lightly—after all, she was someone who handed over wine in a glass bottle without blinking an eye.
He personally led Yun Zhu and her daughter to the back kitchen and summoned two head chefs to observe.
Yun Zhu prepared three dishes, two of which were seafood: Sake-Steamed Clams and Hibiscus Crab. The third was Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts with Vinegar.
For the last dish, what Yun Zhu was truly selling was the technique for sprouting beans.
No one in this dynasty knew how to sprout beans yet. Yun Zhu grabbed a handful of previously sprouted beans from her pocket dimension and whipped up a plate of vinegar-stir-fried bean sprouts.
As she cooked, Yun Zhu orally explained the sprouting method to Manager Qin, who personally picked up a brush to record the process in writing.
“These are mung bean sprouts, but the method for yellow soybean sprouts is exactly the same—only the texture differs,” Yun Zhu explained. “These bean sprouts can also be used in cold salads, soups, or stir-fried with meat. There are countless ways to prepare them, so you can experiment at your own pace.”
Manager Qin had met generous people before, but never anyone as open-handed as Yun Zhu.
This bean-sprouting method alone could serve as an heirloom secret for an ordinary family, yet she shared it with them just like that!
“Lady Lu, you are a straightforward person, so I cannot afford to be stingy either,” Manager Qin said. “Earlier, you mentioned selling the three recipes for three hundred taels. I will give you five hundred taels instead—consider the extra amount my purchase of the bean-sprouting method!”
At first, when he heard her quote the price, he had cynically assumed that she claimed to be selling recipes only as a cover to charge for her bottle of wine.
Now, he took back his earlier thought!
Consider this five hundred taels a gesture of goodwill, in hopes that she might sell her white wine to Zuixiao Restaurant in the future.
Indeed, Manager Qin now regretted putting on airs at the beginning.
“Lady Lu, if you have any good items in the future, you must come find me!” Manager Qin personally escorted the mother and daughter out of the restaurant. “And as for that white wine, if you have inventory, you must supply our Zuixiao Restaurant first!”
“Of course!”
After leaving Zuixiao Restaurant, Yun Zhu carried thirty to forty pounds of physical silver along with the packed food, leading her daughter to a deserted corner before storing the silver back into her pocket dimension once more.
“Mother, are we rich people now?” Lu Yiyi pressed her lips together and chuckled silently, not daring to speak too loudly.
Yun Zhu couldn’t help but smile: “That’s right, we are rich women now! Just tell Mother if there’s anything you want!”
The little girl thought long and hard before saying, “Now that I can eat my fill and stay together with Mother, I don’t seem to want anything else!”
“What a sweet little girl!” Yun Zhu smiled and pinched her daughter’s cheek.
When the mother and daughter returned to the inn, Lu Jinghai and the others happened to have just returned from the academy as well, with Lu Zimo driving the ox cart beside them.
“Eldest Brother~~ Yiyi missed you so much!” Lu Yiyi ran over.
Lu Zimo scooped the little girl up into his arms and tapped her head gently with his forehead: “Has our little poor thing been bullied again?”
Sixteen-year-old Lu Zimo bore some resemblance to Lu Jinghai, though he was handsomer, with clear features and a lean build.
He doted on his younger cousin Lu Yiyi from the bottom of his heart, yet his attitude toward Yun Zhu was far colder. He merely offered a faint greeting: “Second Aunt.”
On the way back, he had already learned about the events of the past two days from his parents.
He was grateful that she hadn’t sold Yiyi, and thankful that she had rescued Zifeng from prison.
Yet toward this Second Aunt—who had been weak, repeatedly compromised with Lady Zhao, and allowed Yiyi to suffer endless grievances—he had long moved from anger at her lack of spine to helplessness, and finally to not daring to hold out hope.
It wasn’t that he disbelieved his parents’ words; rather, a person’s character was forged over many years and could not be changed overnight.
He would just wait and see.
“Father, Mother, didn’t you stop by Huanglong Temple to ask for free vegetarian food on your way back?” Seeing the three return empty-handed, Lu Zifeng looked thoroughly disappointed. “I’m still starving!”
“Look what time it is! Where would we find the time to detour to Huanglong Temple?” Lady Yang grumbled in displeasure. “In a bit, I’ll go buy two flatbreads to tie us over!”
“Yiyi and I brought back some food, why don’t you try it?” Yun Zhu placed two food boxes on the table.
Lu Zifeng was overjoyed and limped over: “Huh, why do these food boxes look like the ones from Zuixiao Restaurant?”
Hearing this, Lu Zimo looked over at Yun Zhu.
Lu Jinghai and Lady Yang were bewildered; neither of them had ever heard of the name.
Yun Zhu looked at Lu Zifeng in surprise: “You know about Zuixiao Restaurant?”
Lu Zifeng said with a touch of pride, “There’s no place in Daliang County that I don’t know! A good brother of mine works as a waiter at Zuixiao Restaurant!”
Just because a brother worked as a waiter there, he could recognize Zuixiao Restaurant’s food boxes?
Yun Zhu didn’t quite believe it.
“Second Aunt, did you strike it rich?” Lu Zifeng served the dishes out of the food boxes one by one, shouting dramatically, “These dishes must cost at least fifteen taels of silver, right?”
Hearing this, Lady Yang felt a pang of heartache: “Second Brother’s Wife, you didn’t spend all the silver you got from the family division, did you?”
Although Lu Jinghai didn’t speak, his eyes showed unreserved worry as well.
With Second Brother’s Wife spending money so lavishly without planning ahead, how were they going to live their future days?
“It didn’t cost any silver,” Yun Zhu spoke truthfully.
She had originally intended to use the recipe money to offset the meal cost, but Manager Qin insisted that the meal was on him, so she didn’t stand on ceremony with him.
Meeting the strange expressions on Lady Yang’s and Lu Jinghai’s faces, Yun Zhu knew they had misunderstood, and hurriedly explained, “I struck a business deal with Zuixiao Restaurant today.”
Lu Zifeng’s eyes lit up: “What business?”
“I sold them some recipes!” Yun Zhu had no intention of hiding this from the eldest branch.
She needed a legitimate cover for the supplies in her pocket dimension.
Lu Zifeng didn’t believe a word of it: “Second Aunt, Zuixiao Restaurant is the most famous restaurant in Daliang County. Would they really want your recipes?”
It wasn’t as if he had never eaten his Second Aunt’s cooking before—it could only be described as very ordinary.
Yun Zhu cast a glance at him: “When I cooked at home, wasn’t that due to a lack of seasonings? With a complete set of ingredients, the dishes I make are by no means inferior to the chefs at Zuixiao Restaurant.”
Lu Zifeng impatiently arranged the dishes from the food box onto the table one by one, when suddenly—
“I don’t recall Zuixiao Restaurant having this dish, though,” Lu Zifeng picked up the dish of Hibiscus Crab, examining it again and again as he spoke. “Could it be a newly launched dish?”
“This Hibiscus Crab is precisely one of the recipes I sold to them, and this dish was cooked by my own hands. Why don’t you all have a taste?” After saying this, Yun Zhu asked curiously, “Zifeng, you’re even familiar with what dishes Zuixiao Restaurant serves?”
Lu Zibin chimed in while eating, speaking indistinctly: “He’s just stingy. Whenever he goes anywhere, he insists on finding out what’s being sold, how it’s sold, and at what price—all because he’s terrified of getting ripped off. Spending half a copper extra would make him miserable for days.”
“You bet!” Lu Zifeng said proudly. “I’ve thoroughly scouted every single alley in this Daliang County…”
“Yes, yes, yes. Why don’t you mention how you even fought over copper coins with the street beggars?” Lady Yang said in exasperation. “Just saying it out loud makes me feel embarrassed for you!”
A light flashed in Yun Zhu’s eyes.
*Knowing everything about every corner—isn’t he a walking encyclopedia?*