Chapter 44: Nothing More Than Thrown-Away Trash

Wen Yuan grabbed a bowl and immediately turned to leave.

Because most of their business had been stolen away, leaving only five or six sparse customers, Wen Ye and her mother were easily able to handle them.

After a while, Wen Yuan came back stealthily, holding a bowl of cold tossed dishes.

Once Wen Ye and her mother finished serving the customers right in front of them, they took a moment to sample it.

Lady Lin took a bite of the tossed noodles: "It really tastes very similar..."

After tasting it, Wen Yuan's expression changed: "It has the aroma of five-spice and star anise..."

Wen Ye said: "Even if outsiders know we added something to our soy sauce, at most they would guess sugar or salt. How would Second Uncle Wen know to put medicinal herbs in it?"

Lady Lin suddenly thought of something, and her heart trembled slightly. Could it be...

Wen Ye looked up: "Yesterday... did Father go to the old family homestead?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lady Lin's body swayed, and her heart instantly plunged into an ice cellar, turning bone-chillingly cold.

Yesterday, when he came back, he had been evasive and stuttering. She had simply thought he felt guilty about giving the old homestead a hundred copper coins, but who would have thought that he actually leaked their secret recipe as well!

Otherwise, how could the old homestead have made cold tossed dishes so similar to theirs just a day later?

Wen Yuan was so furious his head felt like it was steaming: "How could Father treat us like this? No, I'm going to settle scores with them!"

With that, he made to rush across the street.

Wen Ye grabbed him by the arm: "What evidence do you have? Besides, if the other party denies it, what can you do? If they admit it, what then?"

Wen Yuan's face turned ashen.

Wen Ye said: "Don't rush. Although the flavors of the two sides are similar, they are only similar, and we also put *that* in ours!"

Hemp-numb fruit! Wen Yuan's eyes lit up: "Right, right. Apart from me and Sister, no one else knows we put that in."

Wen Ye continued: "Besides, even if he knew our soy sauce contains spices, he doesn't know the finer details. They've only learned sixty percent of it."

Lady Lin clutched her chest. This business could still be run!

Before long, a few more people came to buy the cold tossed dishes.

With their minds wandering, Lady Lin and Wen Yuan began picking up and tossing the vegetables.

Customer A: "Even though the place across the street is one copper coin cheaper, your stall still smells better."

Customer B: "That's right. I'd rather spend one more copper coin and eat yours."

Lady Lin and Wen Yuan forced smiles and went back to work.

Previously, they could sell out in a little over an hour, but today it took two hours, and they still had about fifty catties left.

Lady Lin asked: "Should we lower our price by one copper coin?"

Wen Ye replied: "Don't lower it. We won't sell anymore, let's go home!"

Because she saw the stall across the street packing up.

The stall across the street was selling for the first time today, so they didn't dare make too much and prepared a hundred and fifty catties. Coupled with being one copper coin cheaper than this side, they had already sold out.

Lady Lin and Wen Yuan were burning with anger and were long past the mood to sell.

Like a race, both sides rapidly packed up their stalls.

Shortly after, Second Uncle Wen brought over a donkey cart, loaded their things, and rushed away in a huff.

Lady Lin's face was dark. Their recipe was incomplete; they must be rushing back to extract the remaining secret recipe from the master of the house!

Although the master of the house didn't know much, Lady Lin still harbored deep resentment!

Wen Ye and the others rushed to the vicinity of the cart-rental station, where many people parking ox carts usually gathered.

Old Futou was nowhere to be seen this time.

None of them were in the mood to wait, especially Lady Lin, who was harboring heavy thoughts and was on the verge of an emotional eruption: "Let's not wait, let's rent a cart!"

Wen Ye nodded: "Alright."

Wen Ye then spent ten copper coins to rent a donkey cart and hurried toward the village.

Halfway there, they saw Old Futou driving villagers in this direction.

Old Futou asked in surprise: "Why did you rent a cart yourselves?"

Wen Ye replied: "We have an urgent matter. Rest assured, the payment remains the same!"

She waved her hand, and the two carts passed each other, moving further and further apart.

...

Second Uncle Wen and the three others drove the donkey cart along the road.

Second Uncle Wen was in high spirits: "Who would have thought, just selling a hundred and fifty catties brought in over five hundred copper coins, and that was even at a discounted price! If we also sell three hundred catties at the same price as them, wouldn't we be able to make over a silver tael a day?"

Wen Liyue excitedly said: "Father and Mother together used to make only one tael and three hundred copper coins a month! If we can make this much in a day... Mother, can you buy me a pearl hairpin in a few days?"

Fang Shi shot her a smiling glare: "Day in and day out, all you think about is such things."

Yet, making over a silver tael a day truly made people's hearts warm and excited.

Wen Mei was both thrilled and nervous. One moment she was dreaming of the pearl hairpin, and the next she was terrified that the Second Branch would swallow all the money up.

No, when they got back, her First Branch would have to sell it too!

Second Uncle Wen said: "That Wen Duoshi is something else, making this much every day, and yesterday he only handed over a hundred copper coins—he was clearly treating us like beggars! Just wait until I get back and beat the stuffing out of him."

Fang Shi anxiously said: "Don't be impulsive. I heard customers say that our dishes aren't as fragrant as the ones across the street. They must have held something back. We need to get our hands on the rest of the recipe. Hurry, we must extract it before Third Brother's wife and that dead girl return."

Second Uncle Wen cast a sideways glance at Wen Liyue and Wen Mei: "Get off the cart. You're too heavy, we won't make good time."

Wen Liyue pouted her lips and acted coquettishly: "Father~~"

Second Uncle Wen glared at her: "Get off the cart! We're moving too slowly, jump down."

Fang Shi said gently: "Be a good girl, Liyue. This is a big deal involving over a silver tael a day."

Wen Liyue pouted, deeply unwilling, but Wen Mei knew the priorities of the situation and pulled her down from the cart.

With two people fewer, the donkey cart's speed doubled, and in no time it had raced far ahead.

Hardly had the donkey cart left when the sound of another cart echoed from the distance.

Wen Mei gave a start and hurriedly pulled Wen Liyue to hide behind a large tree by the roadside. Looking ahead, she indeed saw Wen Ye and the others driving a donkey cart toward them.

...

At Wen Ye's House—

Third Uncle Wen was absent-mindedly chopping firewood.

He wondered if the old homestead had gone to set up their stall, and whether they had run into Ye'er and the others.

Third Uncle Wen felt a supreme sense of guilt and unease.

Yesterday, when the old homestead asked him for the recipe, he had refused.

Yet, as soon as he stepped out the door, he was pursued by Wen Fengjuan, along with members of the First and Second Branches.

At that time, Wen Fengjuan had said: "The family is already so poor we can't even put food on the table. If we continue to have no income, we might not even have enough to eat. Chengwen's path to the imperial examinations will also be cut off."

"They have studied for a full ten years and more! If it's cut off now, won't a decade of painstaking effort go to waste? Can Third Brother truly bear to see that?"

"Besides, your family's business is so prosperous you can't possibly finish it all; why can't you share some of it?"

Third Uncle Wen had sighed, ultimately unable to harden his heart.

Fengjuan was quite right; his family had more business than they could possibly finish.

While others had to sell wontons the entire morning, they only sold for an hour.

When he used to set up the stall himself, looking at customers who wanted to buy but couldn't, he had felt a pang of pity, his heart aching as if scratched by a cat.

Right now, he was merely giving them things that would otherwise go to waste.

Thus, in the end, he had agreed.

Although he hadn't participated in making the soy sauce, he knew what ingredients were put in, and understood a bit about the proportions.

So he had told them everything he knew.

Last night when he got home, he had intended to speak up.

Yet the moment he brought up the hundred copper coins, their emotions had run high.

He had kept trying to bring it up, but... until this very morning, he had never dared to voice it aloud.