Chapter 59 Do You Know Who I Am

The next day.

Wen Ye slept until the sun was high before getting up. Just after washing up, she was contemplating life (spacing out).

"Humph, little girl, you made me search high and low for you!" A loud voice rang out.

Wen Ye turned her head and unexpectedly saw Shopkeeper Wang driving a donkey cart over.

"Why is Shopkeeper Wang so free today? To take a stroll all the way to our village," Wen Ye said while opening the wooden fence gate.

Shopkeeper Wang did not look too pleased. He led the donkey cart in, sat down in the courtyard, and said with a stern face:

"We paid you one hundred and fifty taels for that recipe, but barely half a month later, the entire Sheng'an County knows it."

Wen Ye sneered. As she served him tea, she said, "Shopkeeper, don't try to pull a fast one on me. Even if cold dressings are sold in the county, they are just following your lead. The chefs in other restaurants are no fools; after trying for a while, they were bound to figure it out."

Shopkeeper Wang's face remained gloomy. "Let's leave the county aside for a moment, but we had an agreement from the start that after selling the recipe to us, you could only sell it in the town for a month. Yet now... the most crucial spices in the recipe are known to everyone. Once the time limit expires, can you stop them from continuing to sell it?"

"So... Shopkeeper, you came looking for me to..."

Shopkeeper Wang stayed silent and just stared at her.

Wen Ye said, "Let me ask you this: relying on my recipe, did your restaurant make money? Did you recoup your capital? Did your business surge? Did you make a name for yourselves? Did you get the upper hand against your rivals? Answer me! Look into my eyes! Tell me why! Why!"

Shopkeeper Wang widened his eyes. "What did you say?"

Wen Ye: "I said... Answer me! Look into my eyes! Tell me! Did you make money? Did your business surge? Did you stand out in the spotlight?"

Shopkeeper Wang was so startled by her that he stammered, "I—I did! Business is better than before!"

"Then that settles it!" Wen Ye clapped her hands. "You made money, your business is flourishing, and you stole the spotlight. What else do you want?"

"If I hadn't sold the recipe to you, but instead waited for it to spread to your doorsteps, would you have been able to make this much money? Would you have been able to bask in this glory?"

Shopkeeper Wang: She makes a lot of sense!

Wen Ye continued: "What I sold you was the first-mover advantage! It's the foundation that sets your restaurant up to reach even greater heights."

Shopkeeper Wang: She is so eloquent!

However, he was not so easily fooled. After listening to her flowery speech, he said, "Your words sound nice, but..."

"Shopkeeper, the recipe I sold you has other miraculous uses. The medicinal herbs used to simmer the soy sauce can actually be used directly to stew meat. First, blanch the meat to remove the gamey smell, put it in water, then add appropriate amounts of herbs and seasonings, and stew it for about an hour. Once the meat absorbs the flavors, it's called stewed meat, and it is exceptionally fragrant."

Shopkeeper Wang's eyes widened. "Really? Stewing meat with those herbs?"

"Yes, yes! Trust me, it's bound to be delicious. By then, it will be another signature dish for your restaurant."

Shopkeeper Wang could not wait to go back to the restaurant to try it out. "How many herbs should I use?"

"That is something you will have to figure out for yourselves. Once, I accidentally stewed fragrant meat using these herbs. Later, when I tried to replicate it, my cooking skills fell short, and the taste was just mediocre. How much to use depends entirely on your head chef's proficiency."

Anyway, she only taught the method; she didn't know how to make stewed meat either.

Shopkeeper Wang looked excited. "Alright, alright. If this dish succeeds, your benefits will not be lacking."

Wen Ye smiled brightly. "Then I won't be overly modest."

Shopkeeper Wang finished his tea, turned around, and drove away on his small donkey cart.

Wen Ye looked at his retreating figure and let out a soft sigh of relief.

At the time she sold the recipe, she had already broken the agreement because Third Uncle Wen had long since leaked it to the old family home. Although incomplete, it still originated from her.

Not to mention that she had also taught Sister Yu, the Village Chief, and others, and it had spread throughout Dahe Town.

Yet given the circumstances at the time, she had no choice but to sell it.

Defcai Restaurant had indeed recouped its capital and made a profit upon receiving her recipe.

However, she was left with a vulnerability.

Defcai Restaurant wasn't necessarily angry, but rather felt a bit awkward. Shopkeeper Wang's visit was likely meant to squeeze some money back out of her.

And she had long prepared a countermeasure—this stewed meat recipe.

She wouldn't suffer a loss.

Because once a principle is understood, everything connects. Even if she hadn't said anything, she believed that in a few days, the chef at Defcai Restaurant would have thought of using those spices for meat anyway.

It was better for her to give a hint, completely smoothing over the awkwardness with Defcai Restaurant while also earning their favor.

Up to this point, the matter was considered perfectly resolved!

As for what business to do next, she already had an idea.

It was to make old-fashioned bread.

In her past life, she had a slight interest in baking, knew how to make simple things, and especially loved browsing baking tutorials. Although she was too lazy to do it herself, she enjoyed watching. She still knew how to make the most basic bread.

As for more complex ones, a few more trials should make them work.

"Little Ye." At this moment, Wen Lan and Wen Yu'er walked in from outside.

The two of them were holding a pile of new clothes.

Wen Lan said, "We've unpicked all the different-colored double-sided embroidery on the clothes."

Wen Ye smiled. "So fast. Unpicking things is indeed much easier than weaving them."

Wen Lan and Wen Yu'er instantly felt depressed. How much care went into the embroidery, and how much heartache into the unpicking—it was all tears.

Wen Lan said, "The silk threads have run out."

"That's easy, we'll go buy some first thing tomorrow morning." Moreover, she also needed to find out where milk or goat's milk was sold.

In the evening, Third Uncle Wen and the others all returned home.

Wen Ye brought out the completed clothes, and everyone was overjoyed, eagerly trying them on.

Third Uncle Wen, his son, and Mrs. Lin all wore gray coarse cloth garments, while only the Wen sisters had cotton ones—one set in light red, and the other in light apricot.

Third Uncle Wen held the brand-new clothes, feeling at a loss. Having lived for over thirty years, this was the first time he had ever worn new clothes.

Wen Yuan's eyes shone brightly. He put the clothes on, then took them off, hugging them to his chest like a precious treasure, saying he wanted to save them to wear for the New Year or when visiting relatives.

Even when going to sleep at night, he hugged them to sleep.

...

The next day, after the Chen hour (around 8:00 AM), Wen Ye was dragged out of bed slowly by Wen Lan.

She happily put on her new clothes, then met up with Yu'er to take a ox cart from another village into town.

After getting off the cart, Wen Lan anxiously said, "Let's go check on Mom and Yuanbao first."

"Alright."

The three of them headed toward East Street.

Last time, wanting to avoid a conflict with Old Mrs. Wen and the Eldest Branch, Mrs. Lin had moved her stall to West Street.

However, business had turned poor after the move, and with the Second Branch running the stall at the old location these past few days, Mrs. Lin and her son had moved back.

Therefore, they were back at their original spot, with the old family home right across the street. Yu'er's family, Old Man Fu, Village Chief Wen, and Tiezhu's family were all in their original places as well.

Coupled with others who had somehow learned the recipe and came to follow the trend, East Street had almost become "Cold Dressing Street."

The three of them arrived at their respective stalls.

Mrs. Lin and Wen Yuan were busy serving sparse customers.

Wen Lan wanted to go up and help, but Mrs. Lin hurriedly stopped her, "You're wearing new clothes, don't ruin them. It's not that busy, go play."

Wen Ye asked, "How is business these days?"

"Just as you see. We can sell seventy or eighty catties a day. More and more people are selling it, and the opposite stall lowered their prices again, so we had to lower ours too, otherwise we wouldn't sell anything. After deducting the donkey cart rental fee, we make about fifty or sixty cash a day."

Wen Lan gasped inwardly. Previously, it used to be over a tael a day, but now it had been driven down to cabbage prices.

Mrs. Lin said, "Anyway, we don't have any other livelihood, and fifty or sixty cash is already very good. We can't always compare to our heyday. Other people carrying heavy loads only make thirty cash a day!"

Wen Yuan hurriedly nodded, "We aren't greedy."

Seeing they had such a good mindset, Wen Ye couldn't help smiling.

"What kind of garbage is this? Is this pig slop?" A sneering voice rang out, followed by a "crash" as a table was overturned.

At Second Uncle Wen's stall, someone was causing trouble.

The troublemaker was a handsome young master accompanied by five or six attendants standing there, looking wealthy and noble at a glance.

Passersby were startled and looked over.

The expressions of Second Uncle Wen and the other three changed drastically. Their business was already wretchedly bad, making barely a few cash a day and sometimes even running at a loss.

If not for competing with the Third Branch, they would have stopped setting up the stall long ago.

Second Uncle Wen and Mrs. Fang, who were usually quite overbearing, looked terrified at this moment and dropped to their knees with a thud:

"Young Master Liu... This humble person sells common street food... Naturally, it cannot catch your noble eyes... Please, please forgive us, Young Master!"

This Young Master Liu was Liu Chengzhou, the eldest grandson of the wealthiest family in town, Liu family. Second Uncle Wen and his wife had originally worked for his household.

Young Master Liu had been away traveling during this period. Upon returning, he heard about the cold dressing snacks and came out to have a taste. Instead, he found it unpalatable and directly overturned the table.

Seeing the former employees kneeling on the ground, he found it utterly boring and turned to leave.

"Hey, why are you like this! What did our stall do to you? How could you overturn it!" An indignant voice rang out.

Wen Liyue put her hands on her hips and glared angrily at him.

Liu Chengzhou turned his head and, seeing the young girl who looked like a little wildcat, couldn't help pausing and sneering, "Woman, do you know who this young master is?"