Chapter 86:
The two walked through the uneven countryside fields path, one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Li Sanmao felt uneasy in his heart all the way, in no mood to appreciate the fragrance of flowers and birdsong.
He glanced at Luo Zhi’er, wanting to say something but stopping, until they reached the town, passing a bustling avenue, arriving at Yumian Tower, but Yumian Tower had already closed for the day!
The main door seemed to be waiting for someone, lightly ajar with a small gap!
Luo Zhi’er stood at the doorway, knocked on the door, and Li Sanmao nervously watched her…
Luo Zhi’er seemed to see through his thoughts and gave him a reassuring look!
Sure enough, soon the sound of footsteps running all the way came from far to near, and a head poked out from behind the door.
The servant saw that the visitor was her, followed by a familiar man carrying a bamboo basket.
Chang Qing smiled brightly: “Oh, it’s Luo Niangzi, we’ve finally been waiting for you. Shopkeeper Zhu has been waiting for you for a long time. Come with me quickly!”
“Good!”
Luo Zhi’er had Li Sanmao give her the bamboo basket, lifted her skirt hem calmly and followed Chang Qing inside, while Li Sanmao stayed in the hall waiting!
She was led to the second-floor office room she had visited before.
As soon as she entered, Luo Zhi’er placed the bamboo basket against the wall by the doorway. Shopkeeper Zhu was looking at today’s account book and received her politely.
“Luo Niangzi, sorry to trouble you to make another trip so late!”
“Hehe, no trouble at all. Thanks to Shopkeeper Zhu’s help, I, Luo Zhi’er, was able to come to town to make delivery…”
“Ah, no big deal, just a few words from Second Brother, no effort at all!”
Shopkeeper Zhu put down the account book in his hand and waved understandingly!
It turned out that on the day they signed the contract, Luo Zhi’er had vaguely mentioned that she might have difficulties with future deliveries, and this difficulty was that her family would obstruct her—specifically her mother-in-law Zhou Shi.
Shopkeeper Zhu was no fool, so he went along with it and deliberately made things difficult for her today to scare her.
“Just don’t say that Second Brother scared her too badly!”
Shopkeeper Zhu joked.
“Oh? What do you mean by that, Shopkeeper Zhu?”
Luo Zhi’er was a bit puzzled, after all, Zhou Shi usually didn’t look as downcast and frightened as she did today…
As if she had been stimulated by something!
She didn’t know that after Zhou Shi’s scare today, she probably wouldn’t interfere with her business anymore!
It turned out that at first, when Zhou Shi was standing outside the main door, they hadn’t noticed it was her, so there was a small mistake that couldn’t be helped…
At that time, Zhou Shi was taken to the backyard side room storage.
After she said she was Luo Zhi’er’s mother-in-law, she received a little respect!
Shopkeeper Zhu usually appeared gentle and approachable. Seeing his tone soften, it gave Zhou Shi some courage!
In a moment of hot-headedness, she boldly stated the idea she had just thought of!
She wanted to unilaterally breach the contract and raise the price.
The endless stream of customers earlier had made her eyes red, saying Yumian Tower had gotten a great deal and cheated them!
Luo Zhi’er was stupid, but she was not!
Shopkeeper Zhu’s face suddenly changed, like thunderous anger.
Then he nodded slightly, lowered his brows for a moment, and spoke softly at the doorway. Zhou Shi thought he was considering it and there might be a turnaround, overjoyed!
Who knew, suddenly several fierce-looking burly men rushed in.
The leader had a big mole on his face, full of pockmarks, holding a cleaver for chopping meat, and grinned maliciously at her.
“Yumian Tower eats both ways, black and white. Otherwise, how do you think Yumian Tower has stood firm in Taoyuan Town for decades?”
“You can breach the contract, but do you not know what happens to those who breach a contract with Yumian Tower?”
“What?…”
“Simple! You need to leave something behind, something like any organ from the human body.”
“Or… organ?”
She still thought it was a joke, but right before her eyes, “thud!” something was thrown down!
When she opened it, she saw with her own eyes on the ground before her that inside the hemp cloth was a freshly chopped-off finger, bloody and almost scared her to death!
“You’re lucky to run into this today. This is the organ of a disobedient little vendor today. You can give it a try!”
“Don’t think about running away. Your Zhao Li Village, Li Depei’s family has four sons and one daughter, the youngest son is Li Gui, studying at the East Lin Academy in town, right?”
“No!”
Zhou Shi was so scared her heart stopped!
When leaving Yumian Tower, she scrambled out, scared out of her wits—not an exaggeration!
Her nightmare, she never wanted to come to this place again in her life…
The dug-up termite mushroom oil naturally couldn’t be served to customers anymore, so Luo Niangzi needed to make another jar and send it over.
Hearing Shopkeeper Zhu say this, Luo Zhi’er couldn’t help but admire, brilliant, truly brilliant!
The older ginger is spicier; let the villain deal with the villain!
Did she think she was just after reward money? She still dared to come breach the contract? Raise the price?
“Hehe, I didn’t originally plan to do this to her, just an ignorant village woman. But, from Second Brother’s many years of experience, your mother-in-law is truly troublesome and needs to be dealt with thoroughly, cutting off her thoughts to avoid being tied up!”
“Shopkeeper Zhu, you did the right thing. I, Luo Zhi’er, am very grateful!”
“Hehe! So, so late, still troubling Luo Niangzi to make this trip!”
“No need for Shopkeeper Zhu to be polite. This is what I should do. Since the ingredients have been contaminated, they naturally need to be replaced. I hope today’s incident won’t affect Yumian Tower!”
She was referring to the ingredients being seen at the main door and tasted by someone!
“It’s fine! The impact shouldn’t be big. No one noticed what that jar was at the time, and your mother-in-law didn’t shout that she was delivering termite mushroom oil. The only mistake is that village woman from your village who tasted it. I’m afraid she’ll go back and study it!”
Luo Zhi’er furrowed her brows slightly.
“She seemed suspicious at the time…”
“She didn’t react much at the time, just said the thing tasted bad, thinking your mother-in-law was greedy for food and brought it to show off. I’m just afraid she’ll remember later and get suspicious, figuring out how to make this thing more or less…”
“At that time, it will inevitably cause incalculable losses to Yumian Tower. You may not know yet, but in the past few days, Yumian Tower’s business has been gradually improving, with guests coming in an endless stream every day, all thanks to Luo Niangzi providing the secret recipe and recipes!”
“I see, then I’m really happy for you!”
Their success meant hers too!
She could take this silver with a clear conscience!
“So, it might affect future business…”
Luo Zhi’er nodded.
“Shopkeeper Zhu, rest assured for now. Only I know the recipe for this termite mushroom oil. If others want it, they’ll have to research it themselves. Even if they do, it definitely won’t be the authentic taste, and there won’t be much impact. After all, ours at Yumian Tower is the genuine product…”
“Besides, in the future, we can’t rely on just this one ingredient for the dishes. We still need to develop other dishes!”
“Oh?”
Shopkeeper Zhu stroked his beard, understanding, and smiled like an old fox. “Luo Niangzi is absolutely right!”
Yumian Tower’s business revival was not just due to the termite mushroom oil, but also those recipes!
“Um…! Hehe! Shopkeeper Zhu, look, besides bringing termite mushroom oil today, I also brought a rare fruit!”
Luo Zhi’er took out the acorn from the bamboo basket.
“Acorn bean?”
“That’s right!”
When leaving home, she had brought not only termite mushroom oil, but also stir-fried pine nuts and dried acorn beans!
Just to let them taste them.
The stir-fried pine nuts were for Shopkeeper Zhu to try something novel, and she brought the acorn knowing the restaurant had utensils for grinding powder.
While Shopkeeper Zhu was upstairs looking at the account book and cracking the tasty pine nuts, she went to the kitchen.
It was now off-work time, so the kitchen had no cooks or workers, only her. She could work freely without restraint, using seasonings as she pleased!
She ground the acorn into powder, filtered out the coarse dregs…
Lit the fire, added the powder and stirred, scooped it out to cool, sliced it, pounded garlic, added chili oil, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other seasonings, making a large basin of acorn cool jelly.
