border cook

Every year at the end of the year, when shops change hands, Jiang Yanyi made some inquiries and finally chose a teahouse that originally belonged to the Hu family's property.

The Hu family used to be a local snake. After colluding with the Turks and being copied, the money copied was very considerable. The best part of Xizhou, almost all of the shops and houses were theirs.

Some of the land deeds have been resold by the government, and there are still some large land deeds backlogged.

After Shopkeeper Xu became the head of the chamber of commerce, he has been trying his best to encroach on the Hu family's property. Speaking of which, Chu Changping bought the house of the Hu family, and he also had an affair with Shopkeeper Xu.The main house of the Hu family has a flower farm attached to it. Shopkeeper Xu wanted to take over the business of the flower farm, but the house was bought by Chu Changping, and he could only bear with it if the businessman did not fight with the officials.

What makes Yuanjia Road narrow is that shopkeeper Xu has also taken a fancy to the teahouse that Jiang Yanyi has taken a fancy to.

Jiang Yanyi had been sending people to follow her before, but shopkeeper Xu didn't guard against her. Knowing that she was a young lady of the Chu family, he tabooed that Chu Changping was an official, and was also afraid of the power of the Liaonan palace behind her. So shopkeeper Xu planned to come He first handed out invitations to Jiang Yanyi, inviting her to join the chamber of commerce.

A lot of trade news will only be communicated within the chamber of commerce, this is to avoid being divided.Whenever there is a natural or man-made disaster, the merchants have to donate money, and after collecting the money, the chamber of commerce will negotiate with the government.

And if there is any new decree issued by the government, it will also inform the chamber of commerce in advance. The more powerful people in the chamber of commerce, the more dividends they will get from it, because they will take over all lucrative jobs. Others in the Chamber of Commerce can also make a fortune by taking advantage of this wind.

Businessmen who have not joined the association have no way of knowing the news, so they can only ponder it with black eyes.

"As long as shopkeeper Chu doesn't grab the land of the tea house from Xu, Xu promises that after joining the association, shopkeeper Chu can also get [-]% of the chamber's bonus." Shopkeeper Xu is a businessman, shrewd and calculating from head to toe.

Jiang Yanyi now claims to be Chu, the shop of "Jiang Ji". She didn't change the name at the beginning.The second "Jiang" was her surname in her previous life. She wanted to use this surname to carry forward the old hot pot here, and it was the only fetter with her previous life.

But when Chu Shubao asked her why the plaque in the antique soup shop was called "Jiang Ji", Jiang Yanyi could only prevaricate with the former reason.If she didn't change the name of the restaurant, the Chu family would always be suspicious. Jiang Yan thought about it all night, and finally decided to redo the name of the restaurant when changing the restaurant.

Hearing Shopkeeper Xu's words at this moment, she smiled and said, "I'm afraid Shopkeeper Xu will be disappointed."

Shopkeeper Xu's elegant face put away a smile, leaving only the businessman's indifference for profit: "Why does Shopkeeper Chu hit a stone with an egg? Can you beat the Chamber of Commerce in the entire Xizhou City with a small antique soup shop?"

Jiang Yanyi said: "I can't fight."

Shopkeeper Xu's expression softened a little, but she heard her say again: "But since Shopkeeper Xu taught me to open an antique soup shop from the beginning, and now he also learns from my noodle shop, it proves that my method is still profitable, isn't it?"

Being exposed by her so mercilessly, Shopkeeper Xu made an ugly face, said "Farewell" and got up to leave.

When the people left, Aunt Guo said: "Master, if you insult him like this, aren't you afraid that he will retaliate with a grudge?"

Jiang Yanyi took a sip of tea and said, "As long as I don't let me out of the teahouse, it's inevitable for him to hold grudges. But when you bow your head, there will be a second time if you bow your head. Shopping malls are like battlefields. It's easy to talk at the beginning. , will only be pinched as a soft persimmon in the future."

Shopkeeper Xu was willing to make this trip himself, because he knew that he might not be able to take down the teahouse, so he wanted to let go of his side.

Aunt Guo has been with Jiang Yanyi for so long, and she only thought that Jiang Yanyi had a lot of business ideas, but this is the first time she has shown her sharpness, and said: "It's better for the boss to take a long-term view."

Jiang Yanyi said: "It's just that the ways are different and we don't conspire with each other. How about the noodle shop?"

"In the past, Bing Shao had to manage the purchase of flour and the sale of noodle cakes alone, and he didn't have time to go to the back kitchen to watch the guys. Occasionally, it was difficult to find out the amount of noodle cakes that were falsely reported by one or two tricksters. Now Blacksmith Luo used to watch The back kitchen, the guys below are much more honest." Aunt Guo said.

Jiang Yanyi rubbed the center of his eyebrows and said, "The tents at the noodle shop are too complicated, so I still have to hire another accountant."

Moreover, the dough cakes made by the noodle shop are limited by technical conditions, and the size of each piece is not uniform, and a lot of waste will be wasted when cutting with a guillotine.

The instant noodle factories of later generations have special mechanical noodle presses, which can squeeze the reconciled dough into thin slices, and then cut them into thin strips with a roller cutter.This can not only solve the problem of the uniform size of the dough, but also achieve a curvature that injects the soul.

Jiang Yanyi drew a sketch, and wanted the blacksmith to make a noodle press and roller cutter that could be manipulated by humans, but the sketch was different from the real thing, and the blacksmith had never seen the instant noodle factory of later generations, so he was stunned. Understand what she draws.

After Jiang Yanyi's explanation, the blacksmith probably understood what she wanted, and bluntly said that it was too difficult to build, so he could try it when he had time to see if he could make it.

If this thing can be made, the efficiency of making instant noodles will be greatly improved without the effort of winding the noodles.

***

When the bidding for the teahouse started, not only Jiang Yanyi and shopkeeper Xu were interested in this prime location, but also the merchants nearby were eager to try it, and there were not a few of them looking for connections to give generous gifts.

Jiang Yanyi took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, and asked Chu Shubao to act as a middleman, and sold two pots of the chili peppers she had grown, with few fruits, at a sky-high price of 800 taels per pot, which made her very happy.

Peppers came from outside the customs and are regarded as rare flowers and plants. It is even rarer to bear fruit in winter. Many famous flowers like to be collected by rich families.

To her surprise, the two pots of peppers went out for a walk, and finally they were given to Feng Shuo as a generous gift, and Feng Shuo planted them back in the ground for her.

Jiang Yanyi made a profit of 600 taels for the white wolf with empty gloves, but in the end the teahouse was still offered to her.

Feeling guilty, she cooked a dish of peppery chicken and went to find Feng Shuo. After talking about it for a long time, she finally talked about the teahouse: "Well...someone gave you a big gift, You gave me the tea house, wouldn't it be too good?"

Feng Shuo handled the official documents without raising his head, and said, "I don't have the time to take care of these trivial matters. Those two pots of peppers were also presented by the people below. You don't have to feel sorry for these merchants. Most of their money comes from the bottom. It is collected from the common people. There are not many opportunities for them to voluntarily pay, and the money will be spent on the common people.”

When he said that, Jiang Yan understood. The gifts were delivered layer by layer, and the two pots of peppers were handed over to Feng Shuo. The officials at the middle layers must have been given a lot of benefits.

After Feng Shuo took over Xizhou, he didn't suppress this bad habit in time, he just wanted to let the merchants pay for it first.

It's just that the money that was drawn out did not go to the hands of various officials, but was centrally managed by the government.

This is a blow from the government to merchants.

After he finished speaking, he raised his head, and said with a smile that was not a smile: "Why, I'm afraid that this king will play favoritism for you?"

Before he said these words, Jiang Yanyi still had such an illusion.

She nodded.

Unexpectedly, Feng Shuo's next sentence was: "Then it's my king doing favoritism for you."

He leaned against the back of the chair, half-raised his long and narrow phoenix eyes: "What benefits do you plan to do to this king?"

Jiang Yanyi: "..."

Can it be like this?

She thought about it, took out the pepper chicken from the food box, and put it in front of him: "Hey, it's good."

Feng Shuo: "..."

The chicken on the plate is slivers, dripped with cornel and sesame pepper oil, the color is bright orange, and the chicken is decorated with green diced green onions.

The sauce is full of numbness, which greatly increases people's appetite.

Let's just say it's a good thing.

He read the official documents for a long time, feeling a little hungry in his stomach, took out the gold-inlaid ebony chopsticks, picked up a piece of chicken, and tasted it in his mouth. The fragrance of the meat itself is more obvious under the sesame oil.

Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "Isn't it delicious? The chicken is boiled in big bone broth and then served cold, the original umami taste is not lost at all."

It was delicious, but not what he most wanted to eat.

Feng Shuo put down his chopsticks, poured a cup of tea, and said, "Your uncle will be back soon."

Jiang Yanyi was taken aback for a moment before realizing that he was talking about the marriage proposal that he had discussed before.

Feng Shuo raised his hand to pinch her earlobe, and rubbed it with a little force, his voice was slightly hoarse: "It will be better soon next year."

Jiang Yanyi's earlobe was itchy from his pinching, she hid for a while, but Feng Shuo clasped her hands and pressed her in front of the desk.

Jiang Yanyi was a little flustered, lowered his voice and scolded: "Don't make trouble."

"As I said before, I owe it first. Jiang Yanyi, I have to pay it back now."

He seemed to be joking with her, but his breath was not as steady as his tone.

The rough fingertips slid down from her earlobe and across the long snow-white neck, causing her to tremble.

His gaze fell on the porcelain-like skin on the side of her neck, his eyes completely darkened, he brushed aside the thick black hair that hung down the back of her neck, and kissed her vigorously.

*

That night, Jiang Yanyi lit three candles before going to bed, looked at the long hair in the shawl in front of the bronze mirror, and found that the area near the back of the neck was full of red spots, and there was a faint tooth mark.

It didn't hurt, but when she thought of Feng Shuo's wild and restrained eyes at that time, her heart skipped a beat twice for no reason.

This guy... still doesn't know how to deal with it in the future.

***

When Jiang Yanyi started to renovate the teahouse, Chu Changping also brought Chu Chengmao and Chu Chengbai back to Xizhou, and the Marquis of Xing'an who had just formed an alliance with Fengshuo also came to Xizhou.

After the servant of the Chu family came to report the letter, Jiang Yanyi took Chu Yan back there.

The whole Chu family hid old lady Chu very well, Chu Chengmao and Chu Chengbai were also confessed after returning home, and never mentioned the matter of being captured in front of old lady.

When Jiang Yanyi and Chu Yan returned to the house, Mrs. Chu saw her eldest grandson and her newborn great-grandson weeping with joy. Seeing them, she said to her grandson and grandson-in-law: "Your aunt has gone, and now your cousin Yanyi and Yanyi Cousin Gui was adopted at Changping's knee, and you are all brothers and sisters."

The slender young man with the air of a soldier is Chu Changping's son Chu Chengmao, the thinner and haggard young man is Chu Chengbai, the son of Uncle Chu, and the young woman standing next to him is her first wife Xue Shi.

Jiang Yanyi saluted one by one, this time Mrs. Chu raised her mouth, and she remembered to change her words, "Brother, sister-in-law."

Chu Yangui also called for someone, his legs were still not fully healed, Jiang Yanyi asked a carpenter to order a wheelchair for him, now Chu Zhong has to carry it when he doesn't have to go anywhere.

Chu Chengmao glanced at their brothers and sisters, then nodded, his eyes were indifferent.

In Yuanchen's memory, this cousin didn't like Yuanchen brothers and sisters very much because they did many stupid things, Jiang Yanyi is not surprised that Chu Chengmao has such a reaction now.

Chu Chengbai's face was haggard, and he didn't even look this way, but she sent his wife Xue to return the gift to Jiang Yanyi.

Looking at this scene, Chu Yangui twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, and lowered his slender eyelashes to cover all the emotions in his eyes.

Mrs. Chu hugged her great-grandson and asked Chu Chengbai: "Brother Bai, have you named the child yet?"

"The big name hasn't been chosen yet, I'll wait for my father and grandfather to decide. The nickname... Huanping..." Chu Chengbai said, with a choking sound in his voice.

His biological mother Liu saw it from the side, and scolded: "Brother Bai, why are you crying in front of your grandmother!"

Mrs. Chu asked: "What's the matter?"

Mrs. Liu hurriedly said: "Yueniang in his room gave birth on the road, and she didn't make it through."

Chu Chengbai's concubine was arrested by the court because of dystocia on the road. She couldn't sit well on her confinement, broke her body, and died on the road.

Mrs. Chu sighed and said, "It's also a child with a hard life."

Then asked: "Have you found a wet nurse for the child?"

Chu Chengbai's first wife Xue Shi replied: "I found one on the road."

Mrs. Chu nodded: "This child lost his mother when he was born, so you can raise him as your own from now on."

Xue should be.

Seeing that Chu Chengbai's spirit was really poor, Mrs. Chu felt sorry for her grandson, so she gave the children to Mrs. Xue and asked Mrs. Liu to take them back to the yard to rest.

Chu Chengmao was brought up by Chu Changping. He is good at martial arts. To protect Chu Chengbai when he fled, his face was cut. Added a bit of wildness.

When Mrs. Chu asked about the injury on his face, he smiled nonchalantly: "There is chaos in the south, and the road is not smooth."

"You child, you still have to be more careful in everything." Mrs. Chu said earnestly: "This is out of shape. In the future, other girls will be afraid of you. You see, Brother Bo has children, and you are now You are still alone, wait for the Chinese New Year, grandma has to find a daughter-in-law for you."

Chu Chengmao said: "Small wounds, the scars will disappear after a while. Grandmother, don't worry about the grandson's marriage. The world is in chaos now. The grandson has no intention of starting a family and wants to make contributions with his father."

"You..." Mrs. Chu said helplessly.

He talked to Mrs. Chu for a while, before Mrs. Chu asked him to go down to take a bath and change clothes.

The juniors in the room also went down.

Jiang Yanyi helped Chu Yangui push the wheelchair out, and now Chu Shubao wished she could cling to Jiang Yanyi all day long, throwing aside her own brother and her former favorite second cousin, and walked away with Jiang Yanyi.

Chu Huibao is Chu Shubao's little tail, and he followed after seeing this, and even said to Jiang Yanyi: "Second sister, do you want to eat pickled fish tonight?"

Chu Chengmao, who was waiting to catch up with his sisters, finally realized that something was wrong, and he looked around.

Fortunately, Chu Jiabao was still in the room, holding a freshly embroidered purse in his hand. Although the purse was lake green and looked a bit feminine, there was finally a younger sister who remembered her and prepared Chu Chengmao was very relieved by the gift.

He intentionally lagged half a step behind and waited for Chu Jiabao, but Chu Jiabao stopped when he chased to the door.

Chu Chengmao looked back at her.

Holding the purse in his hand, Chu Jiabao said expressionlessly, "Second Brother, Rang Rang, you are blocking my way."

Chu Chengmao gave half a step away, and Chu Jiabao ran away clutching his purse.

Well, it was heading in the direction where Jiang Yanyi's brother and sister left.