Splendid Abandoned Wife

Chapter 368 Zhao Jinxiu

In the spring of March, the sun shines on the earth, like covering everything with a layer of golden thread, making people feel warm and a little lazy.

Liuping County is second only to Fucheng in terms of area and prosperity. It also has the world-famous Wei Family Restaurant, so Qi Mubai came to Liuping instead of Fucheng. No one felt strange after that. They were just thinking, Is Qi Mubai planning to open a restaurant, or is he simply delicious?

Not to mention, Zhiruo is really both. In modern times, she was a foodie, and she did not hesitate to do research to satisfy her appetite. Now that she is in a land rich in imperial chefs, she does not believe that she is not greedy.

However, it was not like she had never eaten at a royal palace banquet. When her parents were here before, every year on New Year's Eve, the emperor's dishes would always go to the Zhenbei General's Palace.Yu Chu has the skills and characteristics of Yu Chu. The recipes in her mind benefit from the inheritance of thousands of years of food culture and bring together many of the eight major cuisines, as well as the essence of Chinese and Western food. Naturally, she also has her own advantages, but it is not too much to satisfy the appetite of a few people. Pity?Therefore, it is imperative for Qi Mubai to open a restaurant.

Therefore, when she came here this time, in addition to satisfying her appetite, she also wanted to try her luck to see if she could find that person, Zhao Jinxiu.

Zhao Jinxiu was born as a maid, and later redeemed herself to marry a branch of the Wei family. It took more than four years after they got married to have a daughter.Originally, this didn't matter. As long as it could bear fruit, there were many plants that bloomed first and then bore fruit.The tragedy is that less than a month after the child was born, the father fell to death.

In this world, it is difficult for orphans and widowed mothers. Once brothers from the husband's family fight for property, and the mother's family has no help, there are nine out of ten cases where they will be separated from the family and expelled from the family, or even find an excuse to be expelled from the clan.The better ones might be able to take away the woman's dowry, and the more shameless ones could even swallow the dowry for various reasons.

Zhao Jinxiu is one of these miserable widowed mothers. Her daughter was slandered by her biological grandparents as the one who killed her father. The mother and daughter were thrown out of the house with a letter of divorce and a letter of renunciation. Fortunately, Zhao Jinxiu You can also take away your dowry.Although Zhao Jinxiu was born as a maid, she was deeply favored by her mistress and had saved a lot of money for her private life.If something had not happened to the master's family, Zhao Jinxiu and her husband would not have left the capital and returned to Liuping. They had been working in the master's shop since they got married.

It is said that after Zhao Jinxiu left the Wei family, she ran a small restaurant by herself to support her mother and daughter. Later, she even hired a son-in-law for her mother and daughter.Unexpectedly, less than five months after the daughter gave birth to her grandson, her husband-in-law died unexpectedly.At this time, rumors were flying that both mother and daughter were hard-working and cunning. Even the business of the small restaurant had plummeted. It could only be a business for poor people, such as the coolies at the dock. Things were extremely cheap, and the profits were naturally even higher. Nothing less.Fortunately, they own the shop. The mother and daughter, with their little baby, work from morning to night, saving money and money, and can barely make ends meet.

Perhaps God saw that the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren were really suffering. When the grandson was two or three years old, the mother and daughter finally met a noble person.A wealthy businessman surnamed Lin who had dined at Jinxiu Little Restaurant was particularly concerned about Jinxiu's craftsmanship. When he came to Liuping again, he went to Jinxiu Little Restaurant to have dinner.After learning about the tragic experience of Jinxiu's family, Lin Fushang, who was preparing to enter the catering industry, decided to hire Jinxiu's mother and daughter to Qiongzhou to run a restaurant for him with generous terms, which later became the Xiangman Restaurant that opened in Daying.

Why does Zhiruo know so much? Because when Xiangmanlou was at its most prosperous, the second owner Zhao Jinxiu was killed by the prince on the charge of being a traitor, and the big owner of Xiangmanlou also became the crown prince's wife. Her natal family is the Duke of Jingguo.

At that time, everyone knew that Zhao Jinxiu was originally the maidservant of the mighty general Zhao Jiangong's wife. Shortly after General Zhao died in the battle, Mrs. Zhao disappeared with her unborn child for unknown reasons. Some said she had a dystocia and killed two people, while others said that the mother and child Both of them were killed when they encountered bandits. Some people also said that Mrs. Zhao remarried and lived in seclusion in the mountains with her children...

The reason why Zhao Jinxiu was designated as a remnant of the traitors was that Mrs. Zhao's sister was the biological mother of the deposed prince Ouyang Jin, the former Concubine Li.It is said that Zhao Jinxiu had a treasure map belonging to the royal family, but she refused to hand it over to her death.

During that time, Zhao Jinxiu's origins, background, and experiences were passed around in the streets and alleys, and were even made into a story by a storyteller. Rudong told Zhiruoting with interest after hearing it.

After opening his eyes again in this life, Zhiruo had never thought of Zhao Jinxiu until that day at Zhaoyun Temple when he heard someone lamenting that the Zen Master, the former Emperor, was an infatuated lover.

The reason why the late Emperor decided to become a monk in his prime was because his most beloved Concubine Rong died young, and Concubine Li was Concubine Rong’s natal niece. Thinking of Concubine Li, Zhiruo somehow suddenly thought of Zhao, a superb cook. Jinxiu, and then thought of switching to Liuping.

Judging from the time, Zhao Jinxiu and her daughter should have started living a tight life at this time, because the business of the small restaurant was not good, and they had another baby. Zhao Jinxiu's grandson was almost a year old, right?

There is also Fujin Inn in Liuping County, so Qi Mubai and his three servants naturally chose the Tianzihao view room.

Sitting on the viewing platform, Zhiruo looked down at the county streets, houses, and people coming and going within sight, thinking about how many of the rumors in his previous life were true, and how the wealthy businessman surnamed Lin persuaded Zhao Jinxiu's mother. When the girl went south, did anything happen in the process?Can Qi Mubai find soldiers to take them away smoothly in this life?Mainly because she didn't want to spend too much time in Liuping.It's not easy to go out. She still has many places to go and many things to do.

The reason why I wanted to take away Zhao Jinxiu's grandparents and grandson was because, firstly, people always sympathize with the weak. According to those rumors, Zhao Jinxiu and her daughter were indeed pitiful. Secondly, since Zhiruo was planning to open a restaurant, her recipe resources would be limited. Someone needs to continuously develop new dishes and train chefs on this basis, just like the pastry chef system for ordering dim sum; thirdly, and most importantly, isn't Zhao Jinxiu involved with the deposed prince?Her father Yin Zhao's suspicion of treason is also related to the faction of the Duke of Ming Dynasty, the deposed prince.Zhiruo thought about whether there might be some connection between them, even a clue.Does Zhao Jinxiu have any so-called royal treasure, or any other secret that the prince wants to know?
As long as Zhao Jinxiu is willing to follow her and trust her, she will definitely be able to protect the three of them, her grandparents, and her grandson, and she will also be able to slowly find the answers to the above questions.

Fortunately, the reputation of Zhao Jinxiu and his daughter's husband was so great that not long after Luoshuang left, she found out the location of Zhao Jinxiu's small restaurant and the situation of their family, which was similar to what Zhiruo heard in her previous life.The reason why Luoshuang went out in disguise to inquire, instead of asking the innkeeper or waiters, was that Zhiruo didn't want to cause too much speculation before she found Zhao Jinxiu, and something would happen that would not have happened in the first place.

"I heard that the business of the Jinxiu Little Restaurant was very good before," Luoshuang said with an indignant look, "but now everyone says that mother and daughter are so lucky that it's bad luck to be close to them. There are even people specially guarding the door of the restaurant. It blocks out-of-town customers who want to enter the store, so the business is getting worse and worse. Only those poor people who only care about cheap and delicious food and don't care about bad luck will pay attention. Ah, what bad luck? I think someone is watching. Orphans and widowed mothers are easy to bully. By the way, Master, how do you know who Zhao Jinxiu is? I've never heard of you mentioning it before." Since we were looking for someone, why didn't we plan to come to Liuping when we made the route?Zhiruo smiled and said: "She is the sister of one of my father's former soldiers. I heard that her fate was very rough. Later she got rid of her slave status and got married, and then followed her husband back to Liuping County. I also suddenly thought of the Wei Family Restaurant. I remembered that she was married to a branch of the Wei family, so I wanted to ask how her life is now. After all, that soldier died because he was blocking an arrow for my father, and he only had one relative. If it weren't for Zhao Jinxiu, he would have been After she got married and left the capital, my parents still thought about taking her into the house to take care of her and then marry her off as a adopted sister. This is what my mother told me once when she was talking about my father’s autographs. , saying that most of my father’s men are loyal.”

Luoying and Luoshuang had "no wonder" expressions on their faces. However, they were not surprised at all by Zhiruo's last words. Looking at how their master treated them, they knew that her parents treated their subordinates in the same way as the servants in the mansion. .And if the master is good, his subordinates will naturally be loyal, except for a few people with inherently bad character.

When Zhiruo and the three of them found themselves near the Jinxiu Little Restaurant, coincidentally, someone happened to be making trouble, and there were many people watching the excitement in front of the shop.The two Luoying sisters stood beside Zhiruo, one on the left and the other on the right, quietly and carefully guarding him.Zhiruo was swinging a folding fan coolly and listened to the crowd express their opinions.What makes her extremely proud is that the hearing of people who practice martial arts is always better than that of ordinary people. Even if some people are afraid of getting into trouble and lower their voices, she can hear them clearly without leaning forward.

"Ms. Zhao is really tough-tempered. She would rather hold on to a store in such a good location than sell it to the Wei family. After all, she is from her husband's family. Mrs. Zhao's uncle is not. How can he treat them badly? ?”

"That's right, the Renwei family is not only willing to buy this shop alone and leave the small yard behind to them, but is also willing to hire Mrs. Zhao to cook for high wages. What else is she dissatisfied with? I heard that her cooking skills are also all in The Wei family learned it secretly."

"Hey, you just believe what people say? Who doesn't know that the Wei family has the worst cooking skills, and Mrs. Zhao's husband was also working as a grocery shopkeeper when he was still alive. Where did she go to learn from it? Besides, the whole family has Those who study seriously can't learn well and are eliminated by the main branch of the family, but this person who studies secretly can learn a good craft, who believes it?"

"Isn't it? Why are they saying that Mrs. Zhao and her daughter are unlucky? It turns out they want to occupy the shop and let others make money for them. Since they are unlucky, the shop will be transferred to the Wei family, and Mrs. Zhao will still be in charge of the cooking. Let's go in to eat Isn’t it bad luck?”

"What can I do? They blocked the door of the shop and talked about whether it was bad luck or not, so people didn't want to go in. Only the coolies at the dock were big and strong, and they thought other shops were expensive, so they ignored them and made trouble. . Now the goods sold in the shop are becoming more and more inferior, and the people coming in and out are all coolies, and other customers are even less willing to go in. "

"Well, it's just an orphan and a widowed mother with no one to support her. In the past, the county magistrate's wife had a close relationship with Madam Zhao. The young master of the magistrate's family loved to eat at the Zhao family restaurant. How dare the Wei family come to cause trouble after so many years? Now the magistrate has been promoted If she is transferred away, won’t Madam Zhao have no one to protect her?”

"Tsk, tsk, although some people were taboo about it before, the business was not as good as before, but it was still pretty good. Seeing that it has only been two or three months, and the Wei family has been messing with it, I think it is almost impossible to make ends meet."

"It's pitiful. I still have a little one-year-old baby to raise."

……

After standing there for less than a quarter of an hour, the store was still noisy. Zhiruo already knew Zhao Jinxiu's situation and the whole story.Luoying and Luoshuang were so angry that they gritted their teeth, wishing they could rush forward and fix those Wei family members. It was just too bullying, wasn't it?
Zhiruo raised his chin to the two of them, and the three masters and servants walked towards the shop. Luo Shuang muttered at the door of the shop: "Get out of the way, our young master wants to eat, the shopkeeper will come and order quickly."

The onlookers and the three old and young men of the Wei family who were arguing endlessly in the shop were all stunned. If it weren't for the extraordinary momentum and extraordinary appearance of the three Zhiruo people, the old man of the Wei family with an impatient look on his face would have almost opened his mouth to curse.

"Here we come, here we come." A 35-year-old woman took advantage of the opportunity when the three people turned around to watch and a gap appeared in the original "encirclement circle" and quickly broke through the obstacle and came forward to greet her: "Sir, please have a seat. Guest...sir... What do you want to eat? The store has limited ingredients right now, so it can only make some very...cheap side dishes. Do you want to go somewhere else..." The three people in front of me look like they are young masters and maids from a wealthy family. I'm afraid they have some background. Extraordinary, the golden mask on his face makes people’s eyes dazzled.How could such a person enter her shop now?

"No, it's your family," Luoying replied neatly, "Our young master listened to the recommendation of his friends and went to Liuping directly as soon as he arrived. Just make whatever ingredients are available. If it doesn't work, well, this is ten Two silver coins, let’s buy some simple ingredients first, if it’s not enough, you can tell me.”

After Luoying finished speaking, she handed a silver ingot to Zhao Jinxiu's hand, and then glanced at the three men: "If you are not a shop assistant or a dining guest, please get out of the way and don't affect our young master's appetite. ." As he said that, he took out two chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table and flicked them. Everyone turned around and were stunned. The chopsticks were deeply inserted into the brick wall, almost halfway in.

The faces of the three grown men of the Wei family all turned pale, and their voices trembled when they spoke: "Don't dare, don't dare. Master, please use it slowly... use it slowly..."

Rushuang smiled and tugged with two fingers, and easily took out the chopsticks: "Sister, you are serious, if you don't like other people, don't make the shopkeeper angry, or frighten the shopkeeper, the dishes you make are not good." What should I do if Mr. Zhang said it tastes so delicious? Don't be nervous, shopkeeper, it damaged the wall, we will leave two taels of silver for you to find someone to repair it later."

(End of this chapter)