Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 411: Trouble

Chapter 411: Chapter 411: Trouble

Shen Yuntian left, Shen Miaomiao left too, and Chi Sheng returned to Qing Fenghan with Yuanbao. The days seemed to pass exceptionally quickly.

Nanzhi fully devoted herself to her business, and Wenchen was even busier, out of sight day after day.

Even the young children were sent off to the academy.

By the time September arrived, the wind in Yan City began to carry a hint of chill.

The cold drink shop had to stop business early, now only selling some tea and snacks.

They could make a few dozen taels each month.

The business at Sanwei Residence was still decent, but could not match the thriving days when it first opened.

Zuitingxuan and Hongfu Building’s business were stable; Sanwei Residence could only just keep up with them.

The carpentry shop that Father Lin managed could earn between ten to twenty taels monthly while Mother Lin’s food shop could make twenty taels a month.

"Master, I heard that a new restaurant opened in the city, many of our old customers have gone there."

Liao Da only rushed over to greet Nanzhi when she came from the adjacent courtyard.

The business in the restaurant had been getting worse these few days, even the old customers who used to frequent every other day had vanished.

The owner wasn’t worried, but they, the servants, were very concerned.

Nowadays, a servant in the restaurant could earn around two taels of silver a month. As long as the restaurant’s business improved, they would earn more.

Now that the business had been snatched away by other shops, they were naturally panicked.

"Is that so?"

Nanzhi had been busy handling the affairs of the few girls from the neighboring courtyard these few days, so she was feeling overwhelmed.

She had initially thought that buying the girls back would save her a lot of trouble, but now she was starting to face problems.

The girls she bought were all around fourteen to sixteen years old, just at the age of becoming aware of love.

As the days grew colder, the Zeng Family’s ice shop had long stopped selling ice. The small courtyard had changed to selling snacks and tea. With their work slacking off, the girls started to have more idle thoughts.

A few days ago, someone discovered a maid sneaking out of the backyard for a secret tryst.

When Nanzhi thought of these issues, she felt a headache.

The lover of the maid was a worthless ne’er-do-well. Judging by their actions, she feared that the girl had already given her body to him.

The matter was neither big nor small. If not handled properly, it would harm the restaurant’s reputation and the maid’s future.

Nanzhi spent seven taels of silver to buy the maid. She didn’t ask for much compensation, just demanding ten taels of silver as a betrothal gift from the man.

If he paid, she would give half of the ten taels to the maid as her dowry and keep the other half as redemption money.

However, the maid cried and begged Nanzhi to let her go, claiming that she was deeply in love with the ne’er-do-well and didn’t want to stay here as a maid anymore.

If she hadn’t said that, it would have been fine, but once she said those words, Nanzhi became angry.

She had thought of treating them better, but did not expect to raise a thankless wretch.

Which household’s servant only needs to work four hours a day?

Which household’s servant can have four days off a month?

Which household’s servant can earn a monthly wage of one tael of silver?

Just now, she had given the maid a final ultimatum.

To buy her freedom for ten taels of silver, otherwise, she would not release her indenture.

"I heard they are selling something called hot pot! Their business is really good, so many people are seen entering every day!"

As he spoke, Liao Da furrowed his brows and continued after a moment’s thought.

"That restaurant is just two streets away from us..."

Nanzhi kneaded her temples and couldn’t help sighing.

Could it be that, this is Su Tao’s business?

She feared nothing but was worried that this hot pot shop might be Su Tao’s doing.

She remembered the events she had incited before. She had already experienced the power of drama, and she didn’t want to have any more dealings with Su Tao.

"Master, should we check it out?"

Liao Da licked his lips, carefully asked this question.

As competitors, they should still probe the other party’s strength.

"You all go, the restaurant will be closed tomorrow. Have a good rest and use the money returned for dinner. You can get the money from Uncle Ping as a treat," Nanzhi said.

Nanzhi has always been generous to her employees.

Every month, she would arrange a dinner party for all at the company’s expense. It happened to be close to this time, so she let them go and check out the situation.

"Are you not going, boss?"

"I’ll go next time."

Nanzhi waved her hand, displaying a sense of fatigue.

Somehow, in these past few days, she felt extremely sleepy.

The moment she returned home every day, she just wanted to stay in bed and not get up.

Watching Nanzhi leave, Liao Da scratched his head in confusion.

Did the boss get angered by that little girl next door?

The next day, Liao Da led the team of workers from the Three Flavors Residence to the newly opened hot pot shop.

The name of the shop was also simple, just called the Hotpot Building.

Just standing outside the door, you could smell a spicy scent.

"Uncle Ping, shall we go in?" An Wazi, who had been coughing recently, only had to smell this scent, and he felt a slight suffocation.

But looking through the window into the shop, seeing the customers eating vigorously, he was curious.

What exactly was this hot pot?

"Go in." Uncle Ping looked at the chili and garlic hanging at the door and was the first to enter.

The waiters in the Hotpot Building were all dressed in white short gowns and matched with red trousers, which always made people feel like the chili peppers hanging at the door.

"Welcome, gentlemen..." The wlecoming waiter was a man in his twenties, now with a full smile on his face.

"May I know how many of you are there?"

Uncle Ping just looked at him and nudged his mouth behind him.

"We’re all together."

The waiter turned his head to look, but upon seeing the crowd behind Uncle Ping, his smile somewhat stiffened.

"I wonder if there’s enough seats?"

Liao Da looked around before making that comment.

There were ten or more of them in their group.

And this did not include those in charge of delivery and the maids in the neighboring courtyard.

"A single table might not be enough. But we have more space in our backyard. We can open three tables for you!"

The Hotpot Building had two floors. The downstairs was the main hall with more than a dozen tables. Upstairs were six private rooms, and there were five or six tables in the backyard. It was considered large.

With a cool breeze, a group of people sat in the courtyard eating hot pot and chatting, feeling quite refreshed.

It wasn’t until the bill was settled that Liao Da became sober.

The taste of this hot pot was indeed new, but the price was a bit high.

The fifteen of them had spent four taels of silver, and this was already a discounted price.

Looking at the solid four taels of silver that were handed out, everyone else also began to wonder.

Each of them had eaten more than 260 wen, but they hadn’t seen that they had eaten a lot of food.

"This hot pot is really expensive."

Someone commented.

Each of them earned about two taels of silver a month, and it would take four days’ wages to afford this meal.

"Their plate of beef slices alone cost fifty wen." Lun Daliang had just been enjoying the meal, and now he found the accounts a bit outrageous.

For all their plate of beef slices, together they probably didn’t have half a pound of meat. The current price of beef was sixty wen a pound, but the restaurant was only forty-three wen. This Hot Pot Building was truly making money.

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