bookcurios Chapter 305 A Painful Meeting
Chapter 305 A Painful Meeting
As soon as he entered the inn, Dongfang Ming's attention was drawn to a table of diners in the lobby.
Three men with very different styles: one was tall and mighty, with a physique similar to a tiger; another was slender and thin, but extremely handsome—no, almost too handsome.
There was also a boy who looked quite handsome.
Sun Guixiang also noticed the guests at that table, mainly because one of the boys was even more handsome than Dongfang Ming.
But when she saw the smile on Dongfang Ming's face, she frowned.
For some reason, she felt very uncomfortable looking at that very handsome young man over there.
I inexplicably dislike that person, especially when I see that bright smile on his face.
She wished she could gouge that smiling face out herself.
Shen Cao also noticed the group of people who had just entered the room.
She also felt inexplicably disgusted with these people.
Especially when her gaze met that man's, it felt as if she were being stared at by a dark, slippery, venomous snake flicking its tongue.
She called the waiter, paid the bill, and left.
As soon as she stepped out of the inn, she felt the pressure on her chest disappear instantly.
Even breathing became easier.
Inside the carriage, Shen Qing noticed Shen Cao's discomfort and his eyes were full of worry. "Sister, what's wrong?"
Shen Cao shook her head. "It's nothing. I just suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, but I'm fine now."
Seeing that Shen Cao's expression had eased somewhat, Shen Qing stopped asking questions.
At the inn, the waiter took the letter Shen Cao had written to Shen's parents and went out.
Dongfang Ming noticed the waiter's actions and beckoned him to stop. "Is this a letter from the customers who just left?"
The waiter nodded.
"May I ask why you are asking this, sir?"
Dongfang Ming gestured to his men to give the waiter a reward.
The waiter weighed the purse in his hand and said with satisfaction, "This table of guests is from Xin'an County, and it seems they are on their way to the capital on business."
“That young boy must have run away from home without telling his family, so he wrote a letter home and asked us to mail it for him, saying that he was afraid his family would worry.”
Dongfang Ming nodded; he knew about Xin'an County.
His mortal enemy, Ji Lingfeng, had previously disappeared in Xin'an County.
He was surprised to find such an extraordinary person in Xin'an County, and he immediately became curious about the county.
"What are you thinking about, Ming?" Sun Guixiang poured a cup of tea and handed it to him.
Dongfang Ming snapped out of his thoughts, waved his hand, looked at Sun Guixiang, and smiled, "Nothing?"
Sun Guixiang smiled in response and cautiously probed, "Does A-Ming know those people from earlier?"
Dongfang Ming shook his head. "I don't know them, but I felt they weren't locals, so I paid extra attention to them."
"What? Even a man like Xiang'er is jealous?"
Sun Guixiang said coquettishly, "Ah Ming always makes fun of people, I'm not going to tell you anymore."
It's getting dark.
Shen Qing took his package.
I searched inside for quite a while.
He took out a woman's cloak and handed it to Shen Cao.
“Sister, I noticed you were dressed too lightly this morning, so I deliberately looked for this in your closet.”
"It's getting dark and cold, put this on quickly."
Shen Cao took the cloak and looked at Shen Qing with interest. "Oh, you've grown up. You really know how to take care of people now."
“How thoughtful.”
Shen Qing blushed upon hearing Shen Cao's words.
Li, the guard, watched the two siblings with great interest. His mother had only given birth to him; he had no siblings and wondered if all siblings in the world got along like this.
The atmosphere between them made him feel very comfortable.
The sky turned a deep blue, and a row of the Big Dipper stars appeared in the sky.
They finally made it to the next county town before dark.
After getting off the carriage, Shen Cao looked up at the name of the inn: 'Tongfu Inn'.
When Guard Li saw Shen Cao looking up at the inn's name, he quickly introduced, "Miss Shen, this inn is amazing. Their meat sauce is famous far and wide, and it's said to be sold even in the capital."
“I used to buy their meat sauce often when I was in Xin’an County.”
"Today is the perfect day to enjoy a delicious meal."
Shen Cao nodded lightly, "Mm."
Li Huwei noticed that Shen Cao's reaction was somewhat indifferent.
Suddenly it occurred to me that Shen Cao was in the food business, so she probably wouldn't like people mentioning how delicious other people's food was in front of her.
He quickly stopped talking and followed Shen Cao inside.
"Please come in, sir. Are you here for a meal or to stay the night?" The waiter immediately came over.
Manager Ma, who was calculating accounts at the counter, also heard the noise and looked up.
He immediately noticed that the person who came was somewhat familiar. After taking a closer look, he realized that it was Miss Shen.
Although she was dressed as a man, he still recognized her.
He quickly got up, put on a smile, and walked over very enthusiastically.
Pointing at Shen Cao, she exclaimed excitedly, "Young Master Shen... it's you!"
Shen Cao smiled and raised her hand to her chest as she greeted Manager Ma, "Uncle Ma, it's been a long time!"
Manager Ma smiled and led her to the private room. "Cao'er, where are you going?"
Looking at the luggage Shen Cao was carrying, he knew they were planning a long trip.
Shen Cao smiled and said, "My elder brother in the capital has fallen seriously ill. We were worried about him, so we went to see him in person."
Manager Ma nodded. "I see."
"Alright, then you can rest well here tonight. Try our inn's cooking tonight."
"You don't know, the meat sauce business is doing exceptionally well these days. I was even commended by the county magistrate last year."
"Wow, this is something I never even dared to dream of before."
"Thanks to you!"
Shen Cao shook her head. "Uncle Ma is too modest. I only provided some recipes; you made everything else yourself."
"To be honest, I have to thank you, otherwise my meat sauce wouldn't be able to sell in so many places."
"I heard that you've been selling your meat sauce all over the capital?"
Manager Ma suddenly remembered something and slapped his leg hard. "Oh, wait a minute, I have something for you."
After saying that, he quickly got up and left.
A moment later, he came in carrying a box.
"Keep this. If anything happens, take it to Tongfu Meat Sauce Restaurant in Beijing. My son works there."
"I heard he's doing quite well in the capital these days."
Shen Cao opened the box, inside was a small and exquisite white jade pendant.
"this is?"
"I made these. There are two pieces in total, one for you and one for me. You can take this jade token to any meat sauce restaurant in the country and use it to withdraw money as you please."
Seeing this jade plaque is like meeting the owner of the meat sauce shop, allowing one to casually instruct the shopkeeper to do as he pleases.
Shen Cao never expected that Manager Ma would build such a large meat sauce business, with branches all over the Great Xia Kingdom.
She put away her jade pendant and thanked Manager Ma again.
Li, the guard watching from the side, was already shocked. He wondered why Shen Cao had such a calm reaction when he mentioned the meat sauce earlier.
So this meat sauce was actually Shen Cao's recipe.
She was one of the shopkeepers.