Henyee Translations

  Henyee Translations

  Hearing the words, Mrs. Qin said with a smile: “Congratulations, Duchess. The Duke has two children at the same time! You must be very happy, aren’t you?”


  Qiao Jinniang saw the undisguised gloating on the face of Mrs. Qin.

  Very annoyed, she asked coldly, “Mrs. Qin, do you know Princess Jinghua?”


  Lin Mo never concealed his relationship with Princess Jinghua.

  The Qin family had definitely known about Lin Mo’s affair with Jinghua.

  Sure enough, after hearing this, Mrs. Qin smiled awkwardly and said, “Yes?”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just think that we should put ourselves into other people’s positions and not do what you don’t want others to do to you. Mrs. Qin, don’t you think so?”


  Mrs. Qin forced a smile and said, “Yes, you’re right. Oh, one of my husband’s concubines is not feeling well. I must go now.”


  Qiao Ruoyun saluted and followed her away.

  The Duchess looked a bit gaunt, even her lips were pale. She said, “Mrs. Qin’s mother-in-law likes to give her son concubines, and those women gave birth to a lot of children for her husband. Her life is not easy.

  “It is only recently that her son has gained the favor of the Emperor that her life has become easier. Although she has a poisonous tongue, she is not a bad person.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Mother, I know, but since she’s been through all this, why should she make fun of you? You are also a victim!

  “What’s more annoying is Father. His guilt is only a word.”


  The Duchess’s face paled. “Jinniang, it’s all my fault. I’m too useless.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Do you want to divorce him?”


  The Duchess shook her head and said, “Jinniang, if I divorced your father, he’ll have a new wife soon. He never likes me anyway. Plus, if he marries a woman from a powerful family, what will happen to Luer and Ah Li?

  “And you, you haven’t entered the East Palace yet. With the Duke Mansion behind you, your life would be much easier in the East Palace. ”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Lu’er has been recognized as the heir to Father by His Majesty, and he is already sixteen years old, and you can take Ah Li away with you because he is still a child and can’t leave his mother.

  “Mother, if you worry about your future life after divorce, I have some savings, which should be enough for you and Ah Li to live comfortably for a lifetime, unless you are reluctant to leave Duke Anyuan.”


  ‘The Duchess said with a sarcastic smile, “How could I be reluctant to part with him? I endured so much just for the sake of my children and the Zheng family. Now that the Zheng family is gone, I am just worried about you and your brothers.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Mother, I don’t need you to sacrifice yourself for me. As for my brothers, I don’t think they want you to continue to suffer.”


  The Duchess sighed and said, “Let me think about it…”


  ‘There was a great uproar in Furong Garden, but none of the masters of the Duke Mansion gave any response, so the maid could only hire a doctor herself to take the pulse of Qiangian.

  Yuyan came back after inquiring about the news. “The doctor said that Qiangian’s baby is safe, but she needs to take a good rest and keep a good mood.

  “Miss Qiangian’s mammy went to kneel at the door of Madam’s courtyard, begging Madam to drink Miss Qiangian’s tea to accept her as the Duke’s concubine, so that Miss Qiangian could take care of her and her baby in peace.”1

  Qiao Jinniang snorted coldly. “Where’s the Duke?”


  “He is busy with work. It’s said that a small tribe in the Southwest rebelled recently… After the Duke brought Miss Qiangian back to the Duke Mansion, he never came back.”


  Qiao Jinniang hadn’t seen Duke Anyuan for a long time. Even when the Zheng family’s matter was floating about, Duke Anyuan didn’t return to the Duke Mansion.

  ‘The Guest Welcoming Building was still closed, so the business of Tasty Pavilion was ridiculously good.

  ‘There was a long queue in front of its gate, and the pastries were sold out as soon as they came out of the oven.

  Expectedly, the diners scrambled to buy the pastries and had a fight.

  Receiving a message from Bajiao in the Duke Mansion, Qiao Jinniang went to Tasty Pavilion.

  ‘What she saw was a crowd gathering around the door of Tasty Pavilion, trying to push themselves inside.

  Bajiao almost cried at the door. “Customers, customers, we’re truly sorry, but we’ve run out of ingredients. It’s not that we don’t want to entertain you!”


  “Can’t we bring our own ingredients?”


  1

  “Exactly, Tasty Pavilion is just a restaurant. Why do you not allow us to enter? You’ll cry if your customers are all gone!”


  Qiao Jinniang came up and said, “Customers, I am the owner of Tasty Pavilion.

  “Please listen to me, our business was not good a few days ago, so we didn’t prepare enough ingredients. But in the past two days, we’ve accelerated the purchase of ingredients in Chang’an.

  “Of course you can bring your own ingredients, but you came to the restaurant for the most delicious dishes, didn’t you? So the ingredients we use are all first-class.

  “Many kinds of meat can’t be used for cooking before they are specially processed. Please understand us, dear customers. Although I want to make money, I can’t serve you with substandard food.”


  The diners clamored, “Not only are you out of meat, you don’t even supply pastries. There are only a few sweet-scented osmanthus cakes with egg yolk filling served every day.”


  “There’s never a shortage of pastries in other restaurants, but what about your restaurant? Your pastries are not only expensive, but there are so few portions!”


  “Why are the fresh meat mooncakes not for sale after the Mid-Autumn Festival?! Why is magnolia tofu not for sale too?! What kind of restaurant is this?!”


  Qiao Jinniang: “…”


  ‘The Mid-Autumn Festival has passed. Why should we continue to sell mooncakes? And magnolia tofu is a summer snack. Eating it in autumn will give you diarrhea.

  Surrounded by these diners, Qiao Jinniang was quite helpless.

  Sometimes, being too popular could be an annoyance too.

  All of a sudden, the diners who were complaining dispersed. Qiao Jinniang looked back and found that it was Lu Chen.

  She pretended to complain, “You scared all my guests away.”


  Lu Chen said, “They are just here to make trouble. You didn’t add Minanghua Fruit in the pastries. How could they be so idle as to make a fuss about mere pastries?”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “No, they are all regular customers, and what they said is true. My restaurant always runs out of ingredients indeed.”


  ‘When Qiao Jinniang was young, Myriad Taste’s customers were mostly common people, so it used all kinds of ingredients.

  And gradually it had more merchants and officials as customers, so they began to use better ingredients.

  And after the death of her adoptive parents, Qiao Jinniang simply used the best ingredients.

  ‘Whether it were vegetables or meat, she always used the best ingredients, never cheating on workmanship and materials.

  In this way, the food in her restaurant would always be very delicious but the supply was always low.

  Qiao Jinniang said to Lu Chen, “I want to open another Myriad Taste in Chang’an, which will specialize in ordinary dishes without using those first-class and expensive ingredients.

  “But Tasty Pavilion will still supply those delicate and expensive dishes. In this way, the diners don’t have to all crowd to Tasty Pavilion. What do you think?”


  Lu Chen said, “It doesn’t matter to me. You’ll live in the East Palace anyway.

  “If you run a restaurant outside, you can’t manage it yourself. Even if you entrust it to others, they may not manage it as you want, and your enemies may use it to cause trouble for you.

  “One Tasty Pavilion is enough. It’s enough to give Huixiang, Bajia and the others a place to settle down.”