Chapter 250: Aftermath of Becoming Famous (1)
What? Third Young Madam wanted to give her away to the Zheng Estate?
Mingyan’s eyes almost popped out in shock and disbelief.
Taking the initiative to abandon someone and getting abandoned were completely different matters.
Old Duke Zheng looked at Chu Lian with a thought-provoking expression.
He had been involved in politics for many years, so he could see the real reason behind Chu Lian’s actions without much effort. He thought that Chu Lian would feel awkward or ashamed under his stare, but unexpectedly, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a blush on her face. Conversely, her eyes remained bright and clear and even carried some amusement. When their gazes met, it was he who felt uneasy first.
After freezing for a moment, Old Duke Zheng burst out into laughter. “Fine. Since it’s a token of Jinyi’s regard, this old man will accept it!”
Chu Lian bobbed slightly towards Old Duke Zheng. “Mingyan is blessed to be able to take care of Your Grace.”
“Alright, child. There’s no need for all those wishy-washy pleasantries at my age. If that girl serves me sincerely, then I’ll treat her fairly. Now, Jinyi, you’ll have to leave a small court for me here at your new restaurant.”
Chu Lian smiled and agreed to it with a nod.
Marquis Weiyuan wanted to ask Chu Lian for a court here as well, but unfortunately, with Old Duke Zheng sitting at the same table, he didn’t dare to speak up. He could only scratch his ear and wait for a chance to ask He Dalang later instead.
While the people inside the parlour were chatting away warmly, Mingyan was slowly freezing over outside.
She was really going to be one of the servants of the Zheng Estate from now on.
When she thought back to the past few months at Songtao Court, they didn’t seem real now.
Mingyan pressed her lips together and raised her head. The glint in her eyes shone with resolution. This was the road she had chosen for herself and there was no longer any space to retreat! Compared to living in that small courtyard in the Jing’an Estate and serving a living widow, why not try her luck in the Zheng Estate? She still had Third Young Madam’s secret recipes anyway!
Once she gained a foothold in the Zheng Estate, she would be able to stand up straight in front of Third Young Madam in the future. She was going to make sure that Third Young Madam regretted abandoning her today!
A trace of hatred flashed across Mingyan’s eyes.
After getting rid of a burden, Chu Lian felt refreshed. She returned to Earth Court 1 accompanied by Wenqing and Wenlan.
The days of an empty main hall and deserted entrance were gone. A huge crowd was gathered outside Guilin Restaurant’s plain entrance, drawing a striking comparison with the past. If not for the servers constantly reassuring the crowd outside, the customers would all have charged into the restaurant by now.
The thirty lucky customers who had drawn the winning lots had already been ushered in and given seats.
The servers were shouting in a lively manner as they passed back and forth between the tables and served up food. Four cold dishes and eight hot ones, together with one soup, were all placed on the tables in just a few moments.
There were thirteen dishes representing the Thirteen Great Guardians for an auspicious opening.
This was the first time most of the common folk had seen such a luxurious spread for a banquet.
There were all sorts of methods of cooking represented by at least one dish on the table: steaming, boiling, frying and even grilling. Two dishes drew everyone’s attention; a large plate of poached fish swimming in chilli oil and a plate of golden brown, crispy fried chicken.
The spicy fish dish was extremely new to the commoners, so the servers gave a short introduction for the dish when it was served.
De’an Restaurant’s Mr Wang loved hunting for and trying out new dishes. As he listened to the server introducing this strange-looking dish, his eyes almost popped out of his head.
On the way here to Guilin Restaurant, he had already gotten one of his servers to investigate the owner of this restaurant.
It was one of House Jing’an’s businesses, but it wasn’t clear who the real owner was. However, his server had mentioned spotting House Ying’s carriage outside just now, so Mr Wang had a good guess as to who the owner of Guiling Restaurant was.
Looking again at this table of novel dishes, Mr Wang was ninety percent certain that it was that person.
He had heard about the incident with the longevity peach buns at the Dingyuan Estate. Since he had been the one to make those longevity peach buns, it wasn’t weird at all that he knew about what happened then.
He had always wanted to meet this Third Young Madam of House Jing’an- that is, the current Honoured Lady Jinyi. If all these brand new dishes had come from that Honoured Lady, then there was nothing unjust about this whole situation. He would willingly admit his loss.
Mr Wang reached out and grabbed a piece of poached fish with his chopsticks. Chu Lian had been afraid that the people in this era wouldn’t be accustomed to eating spicy flavours, so she had prepared the chillis accordingly. After drying the chillis, they wouldn’t be as spicy when used in cooking. There was only a mild spicy taste to the fish, but that was already enough to shock all the foodies present.
The snow white fish slices were smooth and tender. They practically melted in the mouth without any chewing required and carried a faint fragrance of chilli. It was very appetising.
Mr Wang’s eyes widened as he savoured this new sensation. He couldn’t wait to try all the other dishes. As he tried each and every one, the pleasant surprise in his eyes only grew heavier. By the time he had tasted all the dishes on the table once, he had already lost all traces of his previous calm.
Amazing! Amazing! Who could have known that such normal ingredients could bring out such an addictive taste? He was starting to believe that Guilin Restaurant could really live up to its reputation.
The boasts that Manager Qin had made earlier to attract the attention of the crowd weren’t too exaggerated at all. He believed that the name of this old restaurant that had been hidden for more than ten years in this old west market would be spread all across the capital by tomorrow.