Chapter 116: It’s Easy to Invite a Guest, But Hard to Send Him Away
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I’m giving you all a chance. Make good use of it. As for Liu Hai, he can come along when the time is right. In the next few days, I’ll see if I can find him some work in our town. But if you dare to have close dealings with Qiao Shicheng, don’t blame me for cutting ties with you.”
“Oh, no, we won’t.”
The family listened to her words, their eyes welling up with tears. They escorted her to the carriage and then wiped away their tears and turned back.
Once in the carriage, Qiao Mai’s expression wasn’t much better either.
She was willing to do all of this for the host of her body. After all, they were family, and even if Qiao Cuihua could offer her only a bit of warmth, she wanted to repay that kindness.
The carriage entered the town, and she asked the coachman to go straight to Jingtai Restaurant.
Shopkeeper Tong was busy tallying accounts behind the counter. She walked directly to him and knocked on it. The shopkeeper looked up and smiled immediately upon seeing her.
“Madam Qiao, you’re a rare guest.”
“Can you arrange a position for someone in your shop?”
“What’s their relationship with you?” “My cousin!” “Well, I can, but I have a request.”
“Go on.”
“Can you sell me a few recipes? I’ll pay a high price.” Qiao Mai squinted. “Sure, how much are you willing to pay?” “It depends on the recipes.”
“Alright, fine. I haven’t had lunch yet. Is the kitchen still open?”
“Yes.”
Qiao Mai took off her cloak and hung it on the back of a chair, then went straight to the kitchen with Shopkeeper Tong following closely behind.
She glanced at the ingredients and had an idea.
She decided to exclude the recipes she had sold to the Wang family. In a small town, there wasn’t much demand for extravagant dishes. Simple stir-fries were more suitable.
She quickly started to prepare the ingredients. Her exceptional knife skills left the shopkeeper dumbfounded.
With the ingredients ready, she heated the oil in a pan, and every step she took was skillful. It seemed Qiao Mai had a lot of experience in cooking, probably from doing it frequently at home.
In no time, she had prepared a plate of shredded pork in garlic sauce, mapo tofu, braised chicken pieces, and sautéed fish segments.
“Do you have rice?”
“Yes!”
Shopkeeper Tong personally served her a bowl of rice, and she set the chopsticks on the kitchen table.
“Come on, try it. I need to eat. I’m starving.”
Shopkeeper Tong, his mouth-watering, picked up the chopsticks. Although the dishes looked like ordinary home-style stir-fry, they tasted incredibly delicious.
He watched Madam Qiao enjoy her meal so much that he served himself a bowl of rice. In no time, the two had polished off all four dishes.
“How is it?”
“Delicious. ”
“What’s it worth? Give me a number.” “Fifty taels for each dish. How about that?” “What about my cousin?”
“He can come whenever he wants. My shop has been short of a helper for a while now. Once these four dishes are added to the menu, the business will definitely pick up.”
“You’re a shrewd one. Get some paper and a pen.”
She wrote down the recipes for the four dishes, and the shopkeeper gave her two hundred taels of silver.
“You really know how to make money. You came here to have a free meal and ended up making a profit.”
“I brought you a diligent helper and sold you four recipes. You’re the one who benefited the most. Remember, if any of the ingredients mentioned in the recipes are unavailable, you can buy them from the apothecary.” “Alright. I heard you’re growing greenhouse vegetables?”
“Yes, they’ll be ready by the end of the month. But the variety is limited. If I want to grow more types, I’ll have to wait until the middle of the twelfth month.”
“Is it a fixed quantity every day?”
“Yes, my land is limited to a few acres, so I can’t produce a variable amount daily.”
“Alright, I’ll send my helper early to grab some.”
Qiao Mai smiled. “Deal. If you ever need anything, talk to Shopkeeper Niu first.
If he can’t handle it, then talk to me.’
“Sure.”
After Qiao Mai left, Shopkeeper Tong sighed in self-pity as he watched her retreating figure.
The chef behind him poked him and said, “Bring the recipe. I’ll hurry to try making it, and we can add it to the menu tomorrow.”
Shopkeeper Tong rolled his eyes. “You’re not as good as Madam Qiao. Look at her. She arrived in town a little over a year ago and had built such a large mansion. She even befriended the mayor, and I heard she knows important people who are living in her house.” “She’s not just a regular person.”
“Then what is she?”
“A goddess.”
“Haha, that’s an interesting way to put it. She’s become a legend in our small town.”
Qiao Mai returned home and took off her outer clothes. Yuan Jiaqi came over shortly after.
“How is your aunt’s family doing?”
“They’re fine, just dealing with a shortage of food and clothing. But I’ve sent them supplies.”
“If it gets tough, why don’t you bring them here to live?”
“No. We don’t know each other well enough. What if they turn out to be like the Qiao and Tian family or your parents? You should know that inviting a guest is easy, but sending them away is difficult.”
“You’re right. It’s been so many years; you don’t really know them.”
“I’ve arranged for my cousin to learn embroidery at Sister Lu’s place. It’s a useful skill. As for my male cousin, I’ve arranged for him to work as an assistant at Jingtai Restaurant. Let’s start with this, and I’ll observe their characters as we go.”
“That makes sense.”
Chuan’er looked at her. “Mom, you look so tired with all this going on.”
Qiao Mai smiled, bent down, and hugged him, kissing his little cheek.
Chuan’er’s face turned red.
“Mom, I’m almost six years old after the New Year. You can’t kiss me anymore.”
“That’s only for strangers. You can still get kisses from your family, especially your parents.”
“But other people don’t.”
“Alright, from now on, I won’t kiss you anymore. Have you and your siblings been practicing martial arts diligently?”
“We’ve been practicing every day.”
“Good. After the New Year, you can pair up and spar. Just practicing punches won’t cut it. You need to learn how to dodge and strike your opponent’s weak points. I’ll teach you when the New Year comes.”
“Great! Nobody dares to bully us now.”
“That’s because you haven’t played with other kids yet.”
“But Mom, we did play with other kids. We played with the kids from Aunt Lu’s family.”
Qiao Mai was surprised. “How did you play with them?”
“We played in the backyard playground. When they wanted to play, we let them have a turn, and when they wanted to play something else, we let them. But they always grabbed whatever we were playing with. Even the snacks on the table, they wouldn’t let us have any. So we fought.”
“This happened?”
“Yes, but we beat them.”
“You must have felt wronged.”
“Not at all. In our house, they were guests, and we were the hosts. We should have been accommodating. But if they didn’t act like guests, we couldn’t give them face either.’
“You did the right thing.”
She praised the children and also gave each of them a silver ingot.
“Go and play now. Mom is tired. I won’t be joining you for dinner tonight.”
After seeing off Yuan Jiaqi and her three children, she lay on the heated bed and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.
Two days later, her maid reported that someone from the Liu family had arrived.
Setting aside her work, Qiao Mai went to the courtyard. It had been agreed upon with Shopkeeper Lu yesterday that she would take in Liu Ye, provide her with food and shelter, and have her learn from Xiu Hong. There would be no wages for now.
Shopkeeper Lu agreed. In plain terms, she was responsible for providing food and shelter.
Liu Ye was dressed in old clothes without any patches and was brought into the shop by Lu Sanniang.
Liu Hai followed Qiao Mai to Jingtai Restaurant. She placed him there and left after a few words with Shopkeeper Tong.
Both Liu Ye and Liu Hai had free food and shelter, which saved the Liu family two mouths to feed. One will be learning a craft, and the other can bring back some money for household expenses each month. This year should be more manageable for them.
In the evening, Shopkeeper Lu came to visit.
Instead of discussing Liu Ye, she brought up another matter.
“Sister, there are rumors in town that this house belongs to you, not me. What should we do if the secret is revealed?”
“Let it be. I haven’t planned to hide it for long anyway. Just ignore the rumors.” “Did I accidentally reveal it?”
“You don’t need to blame yourself. This matter will surely come to light sooner or later. Whether we admit it or not, let them speculate. Do you think I should produce property deeds to prove this house is mine?”
“Hehe, you’re right. I’m just concerned that those two families might cause trouble for you..”
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