Chapter 551. Too Happy to Think of Home (2/2)
Ning Donglan was embarrassed by his younger brother’s stupidity. He glared at him and said, “There are so many branches of Zhenxiu Restaurant in the capital. Have you ever heard of them letting outsiders reserve a private room? If it was possible, with so many rich and influential families in the capital, wouldn’t all the private rooms already be taken? Can’t you use your brain before speaking?”
With a puzzled expression, Ning Donghuan scratched the back of his head and asked in confusion, “Then how did she get a private room? Could it be that she used her beauty…Ouch!!”
Ning Donglan retrieved his fan and didn’t want to pay attention to him anymore. Ning Donghuan continued to murmur. Even when they had sat down in the private room on the third floor and was drinking the fragrant tea, he still pestered Xiaocao to ask her how she managed to get such a high-class private room.
Yuan Xueyan reminded him in an indifferent tone, “Has anyone ever seen Zhenxiu Restaurant open the third floor to outsiders?”
Indeed! Yuan Xueyan’s words enlightened everyone present. The third floor of Zhenxiu Restaurant had always been very mysterious, and it was said that it was specially used to entertain close friends and relatives. Could it be…
Ning Donghuan looked at Yu Xiaocao with bright eyes, as if he was a puppy begging for a bone, “Xiaocao, are you the illegitimate daughter of the Zhou Family…Aiya, Second Brother, why did you hit me again?”
Ning Donglan shook his head in disappointment and said, “I told you to use your brain before speaking, but it seems like that was a rather difficult request because you don’t have one at all!!”
Seeing that everyone had looked over curiously, Yu Xiaocao quickly smiled and explained, “I found a tattered recipe book by chance, and made several dishes according to the book. The third young master of the Zhou Family took a fancy to the dishes and bought several of the recipes at a high price. Third Young Master Zhou, who is generous and treats me like a friend, gave me the rights to use the private rooms on the third floor…”
Hearing this, Yu Wanqing looked at Xiaocao with admiration and exclaimed, “Older Sister Xiaocao, you’re so amazing! You’re good at everything!!”
Ning Donglan, on the other hand, had a thoughtful look on his face and said after a long time, “This Zhenxiu Restaurant was originally just a common restaurant in Tanggu Town. I heard that it barely managed to survive the competition of other famous, long-established restaurants. Later, the restaurant released oyster sauce dishes, roasted chicken, roasted duck… Only then did it gradually gain a firm foothold. Allegedly, these dishes were recipes given to them by a mysterious person. This mysterious person wouldn’t just happen to be Xiaocao, right?”
Yu Xiaocao hadn’t expected that Ning Donglan knew all these things, but the history of the establishment of Zhenxiu Restaurant wasn’t a secret. Anyone who wanted to inquire about it could find out. She replied humbly, “It just so happened that those dishes were in the book. At that time, my family was in a situation where we didn’t have enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear, so we sold the recipes in order to improve our living conditions.”
Ning Donghuan beat his chest and lamented, “Aiya! What a pity! Isn’t that the same as selling a chicken that lays golden eggs? If you still had them now, we could cooperate to open a restaurant with these signature dishes. It will definitely be better than Zhenxiu Restaurant!”
Yu Xiaocao had endless recipes in her hands, so opening a restaurant wasn’t a problem for her. However, in the past two years, she had been in the limelight enough in the capital. She didn’t want to attract more attention so as to not attract the jealousy of others and bring disaster to herself.
After the group casually washed up, they had a good meal at Zhenxiu Restaurant and a short rest before they rushed to Dongshan Village. The villagers of Dongshan Village were stunned by the sight of the group of over a dozen people, who were all dressed in brocade robes and accompanied by fine horses and myriads of servants.
Who said Yu Xiaocao couldn’t succeed because she had no roots in the capital? Look at how she was accompanied by a royal princess and noble young masters and misses. They were truly the children of wealthy and influential families. Those who boasted about being noble young misses in town were far inferior to these people!
As for their accommodation, Zhu Junyang had already thought it over for Xiaocao. The Yu Family’s old residence was built to appear spacious and grand. However, it might be too crowded to entertain over a dozen children of noble families, and dozens of servants and guards. Fortunately, Prince Jing household’s mountain manor on the West Mountains was currently vacant. After Zhu Junyang got permission from his lady mother, he had servants clean up the empty rooms in the manor to entertain the group of noble young maidens and masters.
The problem of their lodging had been resolved, and there was no need to worry about food. Those who lived on the mountain lived off the mountain, while those who lived near the sea lived off the sea. If they wanted to eat game, then they should go hunt for some in the mountains. If they wanted to eat seafood, then they should go fishing. Would they starve with Xiaocao around?
For the next several days, the young masters and maidens who had never been to the sea played like crazy. Every morning, they followed Xiaocao to set traps in the mountains. When the tide was low, they went to gather seafood at the beach with the half-grown children in the village.
The young masters, who thought that they were good at swimming, had even borrowed Yu Hai’s and Yu Hang’s sharkskin diving suits. They swam around in the sea, and then dived into the shallow water to catch some small fish and shrimps. At dusk, they went back to the mountains to retrieve the pheasants and wild hares that were caught in the traps. Then, in the evening, they filed their stomachs with the delicacies from the mountain and sea.
Sometimes the young maidens also envied Ning Donghuan and the others for being able to experience the joy of playing the water, but they could only watch and sigh because they had poor swimming skills. Although they couldn’t swim, Xiaocao knew how to swim ah! Thus, He Wanning pestered Xiaocao to teach her how to swim.