Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 252

Chapter 252: 252

The siblings returned home just in time to meet Lin Ercheng, who had just brought his child home.

Seeing that they had only just arrived home, Lin Ercheng couldn’t help but wonder, "Why did you come back so late? Did you go to buy meat?"

"We ran into a little thief on the way, and took him to the authorities." Lin Yicheng said, pinching his son’s face as he spoke.

Lin Zihan had been pinched by his own father and showed some distaste, "Dad, I’m a big kid now!"

His son’s distaste for his affection left Lin Yicheng feeling slightly deflated. He turned his attention to Lin Jian and Shen Zhiyu who were nearby.

Seeing what his uncle was about to do, Lin Jian quickly trotted off to the kitchen, leaving Shen Zhiyu standing there dumbfounded.

"Oh, let uncle take a look at our little Zhiyu." Lin Yicheng’s tone softened immediately at the sight of the small child still standing there, and he picked him up.

"Did Zhiyu miss Uncle?"

"Uncle, your beard tickles." Little Zhiyu giggled, waving his little arm about.

Nanzhi, on the other hand, went into the kitchen with the meat.

Inside, Lin’s mother was cutting vegetables while Chen Qiulan was sitting by the stove, waiting to start the fire.

"Mother, sister-in-law." Nanzhi said, pulling her mother off to the side.

"Mother, you go rest, I’ll handle this. We’re having beef today." Nanzhi said, rolling up her sleeves and setting the beef down on the chopping block.

"How did you and Miaomiao get on today?" Her mother asked, naturally curious as to whether today went smoothly for her daughter.

She was naturally overjoyed that her daughter was being so thoughtful.

"Everything went pretty well today. We’ve hired two cooks so far, and we’ll likely need to hire more. We’ll also need to hire some busboys and dishwashers too." Nanzhi responded as she chatted and worked quite proficiently.

"That’s great, that’s great, if you need anyone from the family to help you just let us know, and don’t spend more silver unnecessarily." Her mother was pleased, but still couldn’t help worrying for her daughter.

Even if Wenchen had provided her with plenty of silver, she couldn’t just waste it. Saving some would be good.

Chen Qiulan, sitting by the stove listening to her mother-in-law and sister-in-law talk, didn’t join in. She was rather absorbed in recalling what Sun Cui had said at lunch.

She naturally hoped to open a shop too, but her sister-in-law’s ability to open a restaurant was a testament to her skills. Plus, over the past few years, she had managed to save several taels of silver. While that might not be enough to buy a store, it was enough to rent one.

Thinking about how she and her mother-in-law, along with the young ones, were always so exhausted from just running a small food stall, Chen Qiulan decided not to mention her ideas of opening a shop to her mother-in-law.

Life was good now. Little Doudou was in school. There was no need to stir things up too much.

Nanzhi was in high spirits. That evening, she prepared a dish of Cumin Beef. Generally speaking, her cooking wasn’t anything to marvel at. But when she added in the cumin, a dry pot dish came out just right.

Everyone at the dinner table praised the Cumin Beef. When everybody had eaten their fill, Nanzhi finally laughed and spoke up, "Dad, mom, brother and sister-in-law, everyone here enjoyed the Cumin Beef today. I’m thinking of making dishes with cumin a specialty in the restaurant when it opens."

Father Lin nodded when he heard this. This Cumin Beef was spicy and fragrant, and it made him sweat when he ate it. If it was served to a drinker, they would probably enjoy it.

"Daughter, this beef is more expensive than pork. If you serve it in the restaurant and add cumin, it’s going to increase the price." Lin Ercheng found the dish delicious, but he was still worried. After all, he had heard that cumin was being sold for three taels of silver per pound outside.

In his opinion, it would probably be better to just sell the cumin directly. After all, Zuitingxuan and Hongfu Building had already used cumin in their dishes. A small dish of meat with a bit of cumin was priced at eighty wen. His sister had originally bought the cumin at a hundred and fifty wen per pound. If the price of the dish was too low, wouldn’t that be directly challenging the competition?

"I’ve already done the calculations for this. It can make money. After all, not all the dishes will just be sprinkled with cumin. They need other ingredients as well, which will lower the overall costs once mixed together."

"But if we sell the dishes too cheaply, I’m afraid it might be remembered by those with ill-intentions..."

"This is also my concern. If it is too expensive, fewer people can afford it. But if it’s too cheap, it could easily cause problems." Nanzhi was worried about this. If her restaurant, picked up on the cheap, was just selling some regular food, those people might not necessarily come to cause her trouble.

But, if she doesn’t settle on the right price, she could undermine others’ businesses.

"If it really doesn’t work, you can just resell the cumin. The restaurant can hire some cooks to prepare their signature dishes." Her father Lin offered.

"But, who would go to her restaurant just for some ordinary dishes? It’s a restaurant she is running, not a street stall or a small shop." Mother Lin gave her husband a glance. Sun Cui, sitting nearby, began to feel somewhat unsettled, thinking the mother-in-law was criticising her.

"That’s enough, let’s talk about this with the accountant I just hired." Seeing her parents about to argue, Nanzhi quickly spoke up.

"I, I’ll go clean up the dishes."

Sun Cui stood up uneasily and began to clean up the dishes on the table. Lin Ercheng was somewhat baffled by his wife’s actions. Everyone hasn’t finished the meal yet, so what’s going on?

Mother Lin’s face turned cold. Fearing that something else might happen, Nanzhi quickly grabbed Mother Lin’s arm and spoke up, "Mother, I need to discuss something with you. Let’s go to your room."

Mother Lin originally wanted to say something, but shut her mouth when she heard her daughter has something to discuss. She followed her daughter back to her room.

Once Mother Lin and Nanzhi left, Sun Cui looked somewhat disheartened. Chen Qiulan noticed she was still worried about what happened at noon. She whispered to Lin Yicheng.

Upon hearing his wife’s words, Lin Yicheng wasn’t too pleased. But being pinched on the arm by Chen Qiulan, he begrudgingly said, "Ercheng, take your sister for a break. Your sister-in-law and I can take care of the cleaning tonight."

Having noticed his wife was somewhat off, and hearing his elder brother talk this way, with his sister-in-law nodding on the side, Ercheng promptly expressed his gratitude and took Sun Cui to their room.

"Darling, what happened to you today?"

As soon as Lin Ercheng asked, Sun Cui covered her face with her hands, collapsed into his chest, and started crying.

Once in the room, Mother Lin looked at Nanzhi, worried. "What is it, girl? What’s troubling you?"

"It’s nothing, mother. Don’t worry." Nanzhi shook her head as she sat next to her mother, then spoke softly.

"Mother, have you ever thought about opening a shop?"

As soon as Nanzhi’s words fell, Mother Lin’s face began to harden.

"Are you speaking on behalf of your sister-in-law?"

"Mother, what are you talking about?" Nanzhi shook Mother Lin’s arm coquettishly. "What do you mean speaking on behalf of my sister-in-law? I’m just thinking, if Father and my two brothers have a carpentry shop, and if you could lead our sister-in-laws to start a small food business, we wouldn’t have to carry dishes back and forth every day, right?"

"You, girl." Mother Lin gave her daughter a sidelong glance and sighed.

"Of course I’ve thought about these things. Your sister-in-laws have never had a good life since they married into our Lin Family. Although life is better now, they’re running around busy all day. I feel bad too."

"Then why are you still mad at my second sister-in-law?"

"What do you understand about it."

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