Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 263

Chapter 263: 263

"I don’t care what your signature dish is, how could you possibly serve me a portion of sheep offal?" The man was entirely unreasonable, only harping on about the sheep offal.

After all, offal is not only cheap but also stinky. As long as he could taint the reputation of Sanweiju by claiming their food was unclean, he wouldn’t be on the receiving end of criticism.

How could these two women dare to take his business away?

He’d long been considering purchasing Baiweizhai, thinking that the price of a thousand taels of silver could decrease even further. Who would have thought that two women would disrupt his plans?

"Our dishes are all washed thoroughly. If you don’t want to eat the sheep offal, we can take it away."

The man suddenly had no response.

He was angry that such a plump piece of meat was picked up by others. But how could he respond to that?

The customers nearby exchanged glances as the dish, still steaming hot, was served. Some hesitated to pick up their chopsticks – the offal was notoriously dirty and smelly. If it wasn’t cleaned properly, the mere thought of it was nauseating.

Some who were more bold stretched out their chopsticks.

There wasn’t any distinctly foul smell, just an unusual aroma. Perhaps they should just give it a try.

As soon as a piece of sheep offal entered his mouth, the man was surprised. Ignoring the astonished looks of his tablemates, he called out, "Waiter, waiter, bring us a pot of wine!"

"Brother, what are you doing?" His tablemate was puzzled. It was morning; was his companion planning to drink wine already?

"Taste it, taste it. This is delicious!"

The man took another piece with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth, gesturing for his companion to taste the dish.

Aze responded and just went to get a pot of wine.

The people at that table began drinking their wine and eating their food, inspiring others to pick up their chopsticks in turn.

The subsequent praises only bewildered the man causing the trouble. It was only a plate of offal - how delicious could it be?

"Sir, is there anything else you require?" Nanzhi asked with a smile.

"What a terrible place you have here! Serving offal for us to eat! It’s truly disgusting! No one knows if the food is clean, I’m not eating!" The man left in a huff, leaving behind the plate of sheep offal.

"Boss!" Liao Da wanted to go after him, but Nanzhi stopped him.

"Boss, he ordered a lotus root slice and hasn’t paid yet," Liao Da said, somewhat anxious. A single wen coin wasn’t much, but they couldn’t let the man get away with it.

Nanzhi looked at the table, then shook her head. "He hasn’t eaten the lotus root slice yet. Tell the kitchen not to roast it and take the dish away."

"Oh, okay."

Liao Da nodded, cleaned up the table, while Nanzhi pulled Shen Miaomiao aside.

"Sister Nanzhi."

"Miaomiao, don’t be afraid when you encounter such people in the future. Even if you’re right, don’t push them too hard, you understand?"

"Why, Sister Nanzhi, it’s clear that man did it on purpose!" Shen Miaomiao was a bit anxious. It was an unfortunate turn of events to encounter such a person on their first day of opening.

"Doing business means welcoming everyone with a smile. He came to cause trouble, but the customers didn’t. It’s still them spending their silver and us earning it." Nanzhi patted the young girl’s shoulder and explained.

"Alright, alright." The young girl pouted and nodded.

Looking at the main hall filling up, Nanzhi sighed. Her previous attitude wasn’t entirely friendly. If it were the boss of the food stall back then, they’d probably apologize first and then send a plate of fruit.

But ultimately, she couldn’t do that.

As soon as Nanzhi returned to the main hall, a table called her over.

"May I ask for the proprietor’s name?" The man’s eyes were full of excitement, and his tone was unable to hide his excitement.

"Lin."

Nanzhi responded with a smile, though she was wondering why he had called her over.

"Boss Lin, I wonder where this wine comes from?" The man asked, pointing to the wine on the table.

"This is the Xun Family’s wine from the Western City. Is there a problem?"

The wine was from a source left over by Manager Lu. It was good wine, and apart from being a bit expensive, there was really no other problem.

The old man who made the wine disdained the fact that their restaurant was run by women and feared that it would tarnish his wine’s reputation. The few jars of wine in the restaurant were only purchased after she had made several visits.

"No, no, the wine tastes good. I just wanted to ask about its origin." The man paused for a moment before he asked again, "But I also wanted to ask, did you add some spice to your dishes?"

Nanzhi’s smile grew a bit brighter as she nodded generously, "We added anise from the Western Region."

"Is, is that really anise?" The pupils of the man’s eyes suddenly shrank and his voice trembled a little.

He felt something was off when he tasted the sheep offal. The spice had a unique taste, similar to the new dish in Zuitingxuan, but also slightly different.

After his ordered skewered meat arrived, he recognized the flavour of the spice after tasting it.

It was the Western Region spice, anise, which was now sold in Yan City for several taels of silver a pound!

"Naturally, we wouldn’t sell a dog while hanging a sheep’s head. That would be self-destructive."

The man was speechless for a while. Zuitingxuan and Hongfu Building had both introduced new dishes a half month ago. They charged three hundred wen for a small butterfly meat dish which they claimed was added with expensive Western Region spices. He had eaten it too, and although the taste was good, he couldn’t put his finger on what was strange about it.

But he never thought that in Sanweiju, he could taste it for just one wen!

"Boss Lin, I have a favor to ask."

These words bewildered Nanzhi. The man had just come to her restaurant to have a meal. Now he needed a favor?

"I’m not sure if I could possibly buy some of your anise?"

When the man said this, his eyes were sincere. However, his companion didn’t understand.

Why was he planning to buy spices from her?

"This..." Nanzhi paused for a moment and then apologetically shook her head. "I don’t have much left in my shop. Even the amount I add to my dishes is small due to the unavoidable constraints."

"That’s too bad." The man gave a slight bow, looking disappointed, and sat down to continue his meal.

Nanzhi nodded and walked away, not saying anything more.

"Brother, what are you buying spices for?" The man’s companion asked in puzzlement. Their family ran a bookstore, what was he planning on doing with the spices?

"You don’t understand anything, just eat your food." Qingyan glanced at his naive younger brother. He watched Nanzhi’s figure, lost in thought.

The price of anise was so high now, and yet the proprietor of this restaurant was willing to use it in her one-wen dishes. Could it be that the proprietor had a significant background?

He looked at the substantial amount of sheep offal that had already been eaten, and Qingyan’s eyes deepened further.

The person who could come up with such methods was indeed somewhat capable.

Perhaps even more so than Su Tao.

When the roast whole lamb was ready, the aroma caused people’s mouths to water. Most people spent twenty wen for a portion of the roast lamb.

Nanzhi had arranged for Xu Chou to first put two lamb legs on the table of the invited guests.

Xiaohe enjoyed the meal greatly; it was the first proper food he had eaten since transforming. He didn’t expect it to taste this good.

By midday, Sanweiju was already full. Many people had heard that they could try the taste of anise here, and they didn’t have to spend a hefty sum at Zuitingxuan. They could taste it in a vegetarian dish here for just one wen.

Many people also came to the restaurant attracted by the lure of cumin.