CHAPTER 349: CHAPTER 349: DISHONEST

Old Man Xue and the others hadn’t left long when Gu’s Restaurant sold out all of today’s braised delicacies, roast duck, seasoning spices, and various soy products.

Some customers couldn’t buy the braised delicacies and wanted to place a pre-order but were turned down.

The shop had signed contracts with three restaurants to supply goods to them every day, and what it sold in-house was just extra; there really was no capacity to take pre-orders.

The customers, upon hearing this, were quite disappointed, exclaiming, "The Gu Family really has some kind of luck, whatever new delicacy you guys make becomes a hot sale, and we can’t even buy it if we want to."

Compared to these customers, Chef Li felt like he was dying inside. He purposefully came to find Gu Jinli and asked accusatorily, "Little Xiao Yu, didn’t you say before that once the shop opened, you would supply braised delicacies and roast duck to our Fugui Building? Why can’t we buy any from Fugui Building now?"

Gu Jinli saw him and chuckled, "Chef Li, isn’t Fugui Building recently using seasoning spices to make braised food? Why don’t you just sell what you make yourself, why bother coming to our shop to buy?"

Speaking of this, Chef Li’s chubby face turned red: "Little Xiao Yu, your uncle isn’t trying to steal your stuff, it’s just out of curiosity to see how the braised food is made, so I tried a few recipes with the seasoning spices."

The result was that the flavor of the braised food he made was far from that of Gu’s Restaurant.

But when his wife became aware of it, she said that the taste of his was not bad, and he might as well stop buying from the Gu Family and just sell his own version. If the taste wasn’t as good as the Gu Family’s, then they could just sell it cheaper.

Unexpectedly, the Gu Family found out about this and now Gu Jinli brought it up to his face, leaving Chef Li full of remorse.

"Little Xiao Yu, this is my fault; I shouldn’t have been sneaky, I promise I won’t make braised delicacies again, can your shop supply to our Fugui Building every day?"

Fugui Building has more than one location -- there’s one in the county town too. With Gu’s Restaurant around, braised delicacies and roast duck can’t sell well in Qingfu Town, but they can sell in the county’s Fugui Building.

And he heard that the county’s Futai Building was already buying braised delicacies and roast duck. If their Fugui Building didn’t have any, they would become the laughingstock of the county.

Gu Jinli still said the same thing: "Our shop has already signed contracts with three restaurants, and we won’t be signing with any other ones for the time being. If Fugui Building wants to buy, you can come and buy when the shop opens like the townspeople do."

"How much can we buy?" Chef Li was extremely anxious. Little Xiao Yu didn’t allow much braised delicacies and roast duck for their Fugui Building; even if they came early to line up every day, at most they could only get two roast ducks and a few pounds of meaty and vegetarian braised stuff. The Fugui Building in the county needed hundreds of roast ducks and hundreds of pounds of braised delicacies.

Qin San Lang, cleaning up tables nearby, saw Chef Li pestering Gu Jinli for goods and came over, gesturing with a hand to usher him out, "Chef Li, our shop’s goods are sold out. If you want to buy, please come early tomorrow. No need to see you out."

"San Lang, why are you shooing away customers?" Chef Li was quite dissatisfied.

Qin San Lang held onto his arm, half-dragging and half-pulling Chef Li out the door: "Please leave."

Chef Li’s face darkened, and he couldn’t help but scold Qin San Lang a few times. Seeing Qin San Lang turning away, he had no choice but to leave.

Qin San Lang returned to the shop, his first words being, "Chef Li is dishonest, sneaking around making braised food. If you agree, I’ll help you get revenge."

Elder Qin, sitting inside the counter, glanced at Qin San Lang upon hearing this.

Gu Jinli said, "You don’t have to be angry; his is just for show, the taste is much worse than ours."

Marinated delicacies are something anyone can learn to a basic degree, but even if you’ve mastered the technique, if the recipe’s not right, the flavor can vary enormously.

And the Peking duck, she was certain that Chef Li wouldn’t be able to replicate it.

"San Lang, take these marinated delicacies and this duck to Xuanhu Fang," Ms. Chu said as she came out holding two baskets, one of which contained marinated delicacies and a duck, and the other full of bean dregs cakes.

"Eh." Qin San Lang walked out toting the two baskets to return the favors to Xuanhu Fang.

Luo Wu and Gu Qingtian each also carried two baskets, heading to Old Kong’s and Elder Mi’s families to give back gifts.

Today was the shop’s grand opening, and Doctor Wu, Doctor Du, Old Kong, and Elder Mi had all sent congratulatory gifts. However, it was too chaotic at the time to entertain them properly. Now that things had settled down, Ms. Chu and Mrs. Cui prepared some return gifts to send over.

Scholar Shang and Village Chief Shang had already been in the shop for half a day, and seeing that Gu’s Restaurant had finished its opening rush, they stood up to take their leave.

Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan saw Scholar Shang and the others to the door, with Third Grandpa expressing his gratitude, "Wenyuan, Brother Shang, thank you so much for today. Having you both there has truly added luster to our establishment."

Third Grandpa and Village Chief Shang talked for a while, with the address shifting from Village Chief Shang to Brother Shang.

Village Chief Shang, pointing to the marinated delicacies the servants were carrying, joked, "What’s there to thank for, with these marinated delicacies as the thank you gift, we’d happily sit for half a day more."

The Gu Family was generous; although the marinated delicacies were costly, they always sent over a full basket with a guaranteed Peking duck included.

Third Grandpa replied with a smile, "That’s an easy fix. If Brother Shang is willing, you’re welcome to visit and stay for half a day anytime. I’ll keep you company."

Village Chief Shang broke into laughter, "I’ll remember those words. If I come over to freeload, make sure you don’t chase me away."

"We’d drive anyone away but Brother Shang," affirmed Third Grandpa, relieved to have encountered a village chief like Shang Youcang who was open-minded and capable, and wouldn’t try to take away every good thing in sight.

After chatting with Third Grandpa, Village Chief Shang departed with Scholar Shang and his two grandsons.

Shang Zimao and Shang Zisheng, who studied under a scholar in the county, weren’t often in the village and were Gu Jin’an’s schoolmates. Before departing, they said to him, "Brother An, next time we return to the village, let’s compete again."

"Sure, next time I definitely won’t lose to you two again," Gu Jin’an, although intelligent, started his education late and couldn’t compare with Shang Zimao and Shang Zisheng. Today, whether in writing or poetry, he faced a dismal defeat.

"You should not underestimate yourself, Brother An. Your memory is indeed much better than ours, and we can’t help but admire it," said Shang Zimao.

As long as it was text from the Four Books, Gu Jin’an could recite them from memory. Conversely, Shang Zimao and Shang Zisheng had recently been focusing on poetry and neglected the Four Books, with some passages they couldn’t recall.

Gu Dexing, watching their exchange, felt his face burning with embarrassment, thinking he had lost face.

After Scholar Shang and his party left, the Yuan Family People also got up to say goodbye.

Mrs. Chen, taking Gu Yumei with her, escorted the Yuan Family women to the front of the shop. Holding Yuan Lao Rong’s wife’s hand and looking reluctant to part, she said, "Sister-in-law Yuan, today was hectic with the shop opening, and we couldn’t entertain you properly. When you have the time, come over to our house. I’ll have Sister Mei cook some good dishes, and we can have a proper meal together."

Mrs. Chen’s words carried an obvious hint, reminding the Yuan Family to come with a marriage proposal.