Border Cook

At night, Xia Mingyue and others went to bed early.

At this time, the yamen was still brightly lit.

Pei Chenghe and Feng Maocai personally tried the case and were very careful.

In addition to the fact that Xia Mingyue is Lu Qiyan's wife, the more important thing is that Zhao Guangfu used such despicable means as bribing people to take Coptis chinensis water.

This matter can be a big deal or a small one.

To put it simply, it was just a matter of jealousy between merchants.

But to put it in a broader sense, if trouble is provoked, people will be unsettled and for a long time afterwards, they will worry about the safety of food.

At this moment, everyone was cursing Yueran Restaurant. If they were not severely punished, it would be difficult to appease the people.

Moreover, if this matter is dealt with hastily, there is no guarantee that someone will not follow suit and cause even bigger trouble.

In short, this matter needs to be handled with caution and punished severely.

Just as Pei Chenghe and Feng Maocai were discussing, someone reported that Zhou Zhiqing, the head of the county school, came to visit County Magistrate Pei.

Zhou Zhiqing has served as the principal of the county school for many years. He has always been diligent and prestigious. In addition, the county school has produced many talented people in recent years, and Zhou Zhiqing has made an indelible contribution to this.

Pei Chenghe respected Zhou Zhiqing very much. He asked Feng Maocai to deal with these matters for the time being, while he went to meet Zhou Zhiqing in person.

"It's been a long time since I last saw Principal Zhou." Pei Chenghe smiled very respectfully, "Principal Zhou, please come in and sit down."

"Come on, bring some tea!"

"Master Pei, you are welcome." Zhou Zhiqing bowed. "The county school is busy. It is the end of the year and there will be the Spring Examination at the beginning of next year. Therefore, there are many miscellaneous matters to be dealt with. I will not go in and have tea with Master Pei. I will make it short and tell you why I came here today."

"President Zhou, please tell me what you want to say." Pei Chenghe bowed.

"I have been in the county school for a long time, and I don't usually care about what's going on outside. The county school has always been isolated from the news, so I don't know much about many things. But today, the incident between Yueran Restaurant and Xia's has caused a sensation, and everyone in the city knows about it. Everyone in the county school knows about it."

Zhou Zhiqing said, "I am ashamed to say that Madam Xia, the owner of Xia's, is considered my student. She is honest and never causes trouble for others. She just does her business peacefully. However, she is targeted by Yueran Restaurant and plotted against one after another. It is really pitiful."

"As Madam Xia's teacher and elder, I think I should speak up, so I came here at midnight to ask Master Pei to handle the matter impartially. I must give justice to Xia Ji and Madam Xia, and also eradicate the unhealthy practices in the entire Jinqiu County."

Pei Chenghe's expression suddenly became complicated when he heard this.

Even without Zhou Zhiqing's pleading, he already knew what to do.

It's just that Zhou Zhiqing has always been highly respected and has a good status, but he also has some scholarly pride and doesn't like to make friends everywhere. But today he is willing to make a trip for Lady Xia...

It can be seen that Madam Xia has a good character and is virtuous, and is respected by others.

And he is respected by people like Zhou Zhiqing.

Power is something that can indeed make people fear and respect you, but if one possesses power as well as extraordinary qualities, then people will sincerely accept and respect you.

Pei Chenghe was in awe of Xia Mingyue and bowed deeply to Zhou Zhiqing, "Please rest assured, Mr. Zhou, I am the county magistrate of Jinqiu County and the parent official of the people. I will definitely speak for the people and seek benefits for them."

"This matter will definitely be handled impartially, and justice will be done to those who deserve it, to eliminate the unhealthy trends in Jinqiu County and warn all those who have evil intentions." "Since County Magistrate Pei has expressed his opinion in this way, I am relieved." Zhou Zhiqing bowed, "County Magistrate Pei is busy, I will not bother you any more, goodbye."

"Go slowly, Mr. Zhou."

Pei Chenghe saw Zhou Zhiqing off for a while, and then returned after he had gone far away.

His expression was serious and his fists were clenched.

The next morning, Xia Mingyue got up early and started to carry out her shopping plan.

Yesterday, Xia Mingyue had wasted a whole day because of the matter at Yueran Restaurant. She felt that she didn't have much time left, so she simply asked Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu, two half-grown laborers, to help push the flatbed cart while she looked everywhere for the ingredients and seasonings she needed.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, the county town is crowded with people. Many people take advantage of the year-end to go to the county town to sell their poultry and grain. The small stalls on the street are next to each other, and at a glance, you can't even see the end.

Xia Mingyue likes to pick out her favorite ingredients in the downtown area the most. Now that she sees a lot of fresh things, she wants to buy them all.

Live chickens, live fish, and live ducks were no problem. He also bought some fresh duck eggs and a can of pickled cabbage from the farmer's home. Seeing the freshly slaughtered mutton, Xia Mingyue also ordered a piece of shank...

The flatbed truck was soon filled up, but Xia Mingyue kept looking until she found a stall selling freshly slaughtered donkey meat. She rushed over and ordered a large piece.

Seeing that they had almost finished buying everything, Xia Mingyue, Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu pulled the flatbed cart back together.

After arriving home, I was busy again, packing up all the ingredients.

Soon, it was the day for the food tasting as agreed with Manager Ge.

Shopkeeper Ge still came with Wu Xiong, and when he came, he brought a jar of tea for Xia Mingyue.

"This is the newly acquired Biluochun, named after its clear green soup and snail-like shape. This tea tastes sweet and refreshing, and has an endless aftertaste. I like it, so I specially gave a can to Madam Xia."

"Thank you, Manager Ge." Xia Mingyue took it and opened the lid.

The unique fragrance of tea immediately wafted out, making Xia Mingyue sniff again and again, and couldn't help squinting her eyes, "It's really good tea."

"I heard that Biluochun is a very famous type of green tea. It needs to go through seven processes: picking, selecting, spreading, high-temperature killing, rolling and shaping, rolling to show the hairs, and slow-fire drying. It is also very important that the hands do not leave the tea leaves, and the tea leaves do not leave the pot. The kneading and frying are combined, and the frying and kneading are done continuously until the tea leaves are ready."

"The tea produced in this way can be regarded as the finest tea, very delicious, and very expensive. It really cost Manager Ge a lot of money."

Xia Mingyue is an expert in food. Although she doesn't know much about tea, she has tasted a lot of it and knows a little about it.

"As long as Madam Xia likes it." Seeing that Xia Mingyue also knew something about tea, Shopkeeper Ge knew that the gift he gave this time was not a hidden treasure, and he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

"Please wait here for a moment, Manager Ge and Brother Wu. The dishes will be served soon." Xia Mingyue bowed and then went into the kitchen.

Jiang Zhuguo also followed and helped Xia Mingyue.

Manager Ge and Wu Xiong were waiting in the main room, drinking tea and eating nuts.

Soon, the dishes were served.

Cold mixed egg, deep-fried salt and pepper mushrooms, spiced donkey meat, lotus root slices with ginger sauce, steamed fish with peacock tail, braised pork, mapo tofu, Dezhou braised chicken, Luoyang cabbage... (End of this chapter)