Jin Manniang picked up a dish of pork knuckle with a rich sauce and passed it past the noses of the people who were talking. They saw their necks shaking with the plate, and they wanted to swallow the plate in one bite.
"Does it smell good?"
Several people nodded repeatedly: "Smells, it smells so good!"
"Can your mother-in-law do it?"
Those people shook their heads at the same time: "It can't be done! It can't be done!"
Jin Manniang turned around and put the plate back on the table, ignoring the saliva at the corner of the diner's mouth.
"That's fine. As long as I can make money when I open a restaurant, I can entertain customers regardless of gender. If you come to eat, as long as the food is good and the wine is good, what does it matter whether the cook is a man or a woman?"
The diners stared at the food on the table, the aroma hit their taste buds, and they were almost confused by the aroma, and they all said in unison.
"no problem, no problem!"
The Lin brothers all knew how good Zheng's craftsmanship was, and they left with peace of mind when the shopkeeper supported her.
In the following days, Ms. Zheng never had time to go home, because the competition between Xiangmanlou and Yuelai Restaurant became more and more heated.
Originally, everyone thought that the venue for this year's lantern festival would be the up-and-coming Xiangmanlou. Unexpectedly, Yuelai Restaurant was back on fire, and the flames were getting stronger and stronger. It was like a fire that burned Xiangmanlou.
In the end, Yuelai Restaurant relied on Zheng's new dishes to successfully win the right to host the lantern festival in the first round of competition between the two companies. Jin Manniang was so proud that she was given a day off on the spot.
Mrs. Zheng was worried about her daughter, so she returned to the Lin family before she could inform her husband, who was a government servant.
Noon was supposed to be the time for Xiangyun to take a nap, but things were a little different at the Lin Family Medical Center today.
Qing Niang's eyes were red, and she sat in front of Mrs. Lin, holding Abao in her arms. There was a pile of boiled medicine residue on the table.
Xiangyun stared at her big round eyes, and the angry expression on her face, coupled with the hot air blowing out of her nostrils in winter, made her look more like a freshly baked bun.
The medicine residue on the table was found by Qing Niang at the door of her house.
At first she thought it was someone in the village playing a prank and was worried.
Who would have thought that another package would appear the next day, and this time it would be thrown directly into the dealer's courtyard. This was the case for several days.
Qing Niang found it strange and took it to Mrs. Lin to identify it. As a result, the dregs turned out to be boiled fetal medicine.
Almost instantly, she guessed who the person who threw the medicine dregs was.
The Lin family also guessed it.
Mrs. Zhang stood aside with her hands on her hips and said angrily: "She is watching you marry Ding Maoshan. She is disgusting that you are here. You are a shameless thing."
Old Mrs. Lin said: "I can't tell whether it's true or not. Qing Niang, if it's true, what are you going to do?"
Qing Niang lowered her head and clutched her trouser legs tightly with her fingertips. She refused to let go until her fingertips turned pale.
Zhang and Qingniang have a good relationship. Sometimes they meet on the road, and from time to time they help carry water and firewood.
After going back and forth, the two of them talked a lot, and she knew that Qing Niang didn't want to marry Ding Maoshan.
"I have nothing to plan. I'll break off the engagement with the Ding family! Doesn't Ding Maoshan like to steal people? Now that he's grown up, he can just marry into the family. Buy one, get two free, what a bargain!"
Mrs. Lin glared at her, and Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but say something even more unpleasant.
Qingniang's tears fell down and Xiangyun couldn't even wipe them away, she was so distressed.
This is the sister who loves her the most in the village. Whenever there is something delicious and fun to eat on weekdays, she always wants to bring her a piece.
With this intention, Xiangyun couldn't just watch her jump into the fire pit.
She dived into the space to look for usable medicinal materials. She considered whether to poison Ding Maoshan so that he would be unable to get out of bed. She was also afraid that the Ding family would take the opportunity to use Qing Niang to celebrate the occasion, which made her scratch her head with worry.
The medicine spirit that had been pretending to be dead suddenly appeared.
"Unless you poison him to death, or make him unable to get out of bed for the rest of his life, this method will treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and may get to the root of the disease. Qing Niang will have to serve him for the rest of her life."
When Xiangyun heard this, he thought it made sense and was already hesitating between cinnabar and arsenic.
Yao Ling's hair grew thick as if he saw the four characters "outlaw" on the host's forehead.
He finally waited for a new host, but he didn't want to send her to prison and sleep for another hundred years.
"As far as I know, in this era, women have almost no say in weddings and funerals between men and women. If you want the two to break off the engagement, it is better to focus more on getting the man to take the initiative to break off the engagement."
Xiangyun paused in his movements: "That guy Ding Maoshan is full of lust. Qing Niang is so beautiful, so he is so likely to agree to quit..."
She stopped mid-sentence.
If Qing Niang loses her beauty and becomes ugly, what will happen to Ding Maoshan?
Yaoling said happily: "Even if the engagement is not broken off immediately, the man will postpone the wedding and wait until she regains her beauty before considering the marriage. If it takes a year and a half, Widow Qian's belly will not be hidden, and the Ding family will naturally break off an engagement."
Xiangyun clapped her hands excitedly. She remembered that among the Chinese medicinal materials, there was a poisonous concoction of cat's eye grass. When applied to the skin, it would immediately cause redness, swelling, and even pus.
When she was a child, she saw cat's-eye grass while playing in the field. The juice got on her face when her friends were playing with it. The next day, her face was swollen like a pig's head, which made her look as ugly as she wanted.
Although cat's eye grass is poisonous, it is not life-threatening. After contact with it, rinse it repeatedly with plenty of water. The swelling will subside immediately and there will be no sequelae.
She immediately found medical gloves and squeezed out half a test tube of concoction.
Mrs. Zheng's thoughts had been focused on her daughter, and she saw that her eyebrows were twisted into knots with worry just now, and now she was like a sunflower under the sun, smiling so hard that her eyes were narrowed, and she touched Qing Niang's cheek with her little hand, rubbing it back and forth.
This was Xiangyun's way of showing his affection. Qingniang had long been used to it, but today she felt a slight sting where she had been touched.
With something on her mind, she didn't pay much attention.
When she got home, she told her mother that Widow Qian might be pregnant with Ding Mao's child.
Aunt Zhuang was so angry that she cried on the spot and rushed out to go to Ding's house to ask for an explanation.
She regretted arranging this marriage for her daughter so much that her intestines turned blue.
Qing Niang stopped her. It was very likely that Ding Maoshan already knew the existence of the child, but kept it secret. He just wanted to wait for her to get married before finding an excuse to take the child over to raise him.
By then, she had already married into the Ding family. Ding Maoshan just said that he didn't want to live without his own flesh and blood, so what else could she do besides agreeing.
"It would be great if the Ding family could take the initiative to break off the engagement." Qing Niang's tears flowed out again, running down her eyelashes to her cheeks.
Only then did I realize that the tingling sensation on my face not only hadn't disappeared, but was now even more severe. It felt like thousands of needles were pricking my face, it was itchy and painful.
She scratched it twice and heard her mother exclaim: "Son, why is your face swollen?"
There was no light outside the house at this time, and her daughter had her back to the door when she came back, so Aunt Zhuang didn't notice anything strange.
Seeing that Qing Niang was feeling uncomfortable, she immediately lit the oil lamp and was shocked when she got closer.
The daughter's face, which was originally as white as porcelain, was now red and swollen. The nail marks where she had just been scratched were obvious, and there were also a few strands of blood, which looked scary.
"It's amazing, it's the Lantern Festival soon. How can you get on the sedan with this face!"
Qing Niang, who was still a little worried at first, felt relieved after hearing this: "If you can't get on, it's better."
Aunt Zhuang was even more nervous than she was and knocked on the door of the Lin family courtyard all night long.
The Lin family, who were already preparing to fall asleep, were shocked to see Qing Niang was seriously injured.
When Mrs. Lin saw Qing Niang covering her head with a headscarf, she immediately drove away the men and boys who were watching in the courtyard: "Go to bed, what's there to see? From the boss and the third family, you stay to help and boil some hot water. .”
There happened to be some unused hot water in the kitchen. Zheng quickly brought it over, twisted the cloth and went to help Qing Niang wipe her face.
Xiangyun saw this and hurriedly stopped her, calling out at an inappropriate time. Mrs. Zheng thought she was sleepy, so she could only hand the cloth towel to Mrs. Lin and prepare to take her daughter to bed.
Unexpectedly, Xiangyun grabbed the hem of Mrs. Lin's clothes and refused to let go. He climbed onto her knees with all his strength, pinched her fingers and swung them back and forth.
This is a little secret between Mrs. Lin and her granddaughter, which means Xiangyun has something to say.
Mrs. Lin glanced between Qing Niang and her granddaughter.
I remembered that Qing Niang’s face was still fine in the afternoon, but she started acting strangely after hugging Xiangyun. Could it be her granddaughter’s fault again?
Soon, Mrs. Lin used the excuse of getting medicine to find a chance to be alone with her granddaughter. During the skillful drawing and guessing session between the two of them, they finally figured out what was going on.
She pinched the cat's eye grass, looked at it carefully, and applied a little mucus on the back of her hand. She soon felt a stinging pain, and soon the back of her hand became red and swollen.
After wiping it with clean water several times, the redness and swelling disappeared immediately.
When Mrs. Lin returned to the consulting room, Mrs. Zhang was comforting Aunt Zhuang. Qingniang was staring at something in a daze with empty eyes. There was no worry on her face, but a sense of relief.
If it can save someone from suffering, a white lie is not a bad idea.
Aunt Zhuang was anxious: "Sister, can my daughter's face be cured? She is still young and unmarried, and she will be laughed at if she has scars on her face."
Qing Niang also looked at her. Different from her mother's worry, her eyes flashed with another kind of expectation.
Mrs. Lin pondered for a long time: "It's a bit difficult. It takes time. It won't get better in a while."
Aunt Zhuang's eyes dimmed.
But Qingniang's eyes were shining brightly: "It's all fate. At most, you won't get married for the rest of your life. It's nothing special."
Aunt Zhuang begged her three times to stop her from talking nonsense and begged Mrs. Lin to prescribe medicine for treatment.
Mrs. Lin had never told a few lies in her life, and she felt a little worried. She kept her head down the whole time while taking the medicine. She took a prescription for strengthening the spleen and eliminating the stomach, and specifically told the affected area on her cheek not to touch water.
The banker, mother and daughter thanked them and left.
To the Lin family's surprise, the news of Qingniang's disfigurement spread in the village the next day. Someone saw Qingniang's face swollen into a ball on the field ridge. Women who loved to gossip spread the news throughout the village in a long time. Know.
At the same time, the news that Widow Qian had a dark knot in her bead quickly spread throughout Lianhua Village, as if she had grown legs.
For several days, everyone's after-dinner conversations centered around the two Dingzhuang families.
Ding Maoshan came back from having a drink in the next town. As soon as he arrived at the village gate, he was blocked by Widow Qian. The two were tugging and tugging, which was seen by many passing villagers.
Widow Qian was not afraid of wearing shoes when she was barefoot, and now that she had the Ding family's goods in her belly, her waist was even straighter.
Ding Maoshan opened her arms and avoided looking at the glances of passers-by.
He was a little angry and lowered his voice: "What are you doing here? Didn't I ask you to take good care of the baby at home?"
"The fiancée you love is disfigured, do you know?" Widow Qian sneered.
