Chapter 266: Consider This My Farewell Meal to You
To meet with Wen Yao, Lady Liu had specially reserved the finest private room at Zui Xian Tower. After all, a superior establishment couldn’t be found anywhere else in Yunwu Town. It seemed that only here could she properly showcase her current status.
The carriage pulled to a stop at Zui Xian Tower’s entrance. Xun Feng, mounted on his horse, raised his head to glance at the restaurant’s signboard and quietly muttered to himself. It seemed the old lady’s worries had been completely redundant; inside Zui Xian Tower, who would dare lay a hand on Wen Yao?
Stepping down from the carriage with Nanny Shi, Wen Yao also paused for a moment. She had assumed Lady Liu would arrange to meet at some other location, never expecting it to be Zui Xian Tower.
The greeter at the door wore his signature, enthusiastic smile. Just as he prepared to offer a warm welcome, his eyes lit up the moment he recognized the person stepping off the carriage, his excitement far surpassing his usual reception for other guests.
“Miss Yao Yao! How do you have time to drop by today?” The waiter trotted over eagerly, without so much as a glance toward the elderly housekeeper serving Lady Liu.
Seeing the waiter run over, the housekeeper had intended to put on airs and act solemn, only for the young man to bypass her entirely and go straight to Wen Yao.
The housekeeper’s lips twitched, and she let out a cough.
Wen Yao cast a faint glance at her and replied to the waiter, “Someone invited me here for a meal.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! Which table invited you, Miss? I’ll go inform the shopkeeper to send up a few extra dishes.” The waiter spoke merrily, leading Wen Yao inside.
Wen Yao stopped beside the housekeeper, glanced at her, and said calmly, “Lead the way.”
The commanding tone made the housekeeper knit her brows slightly, but she still walked ahead.
Only then did the waiter notice the woman. Trying to recall which table’s guest she was, he saw her leading Wen Yao up toward the private rooms on the third floor.
The waiter hurriedly ran off to find the shopkeeper and Chef Chen.
When Manager Lu heard that the guest in that private room had invited Miss Wen Yao, and recalled the gossip he had overheard the other day, his heart for drama instantly flared up.
The person who had reserved that room was the wife of Lord Meng from the capital. Goodness gracious—Mrs. Meng was none other than Miss Yao Yao’s remarried mother!
“Quick, quick, quick! Tell Chef Chen to make a portion of all our signature dishes! I’ll deliver them upstairs myself,” Manager Lu instructed the waiter with gleaming eyes.
The waiter looked bewildered. “But Shopkeeper, the guests haven’t called to serve the food yet.”
Manager Lu glared at him. “Can Miss Yao Yao be counted as a mere guest?”
A light bulb went off in the waiter’s head. Of course not—Miss Yao Yao was practically half their owner!
With that realized, the waiter quickly ran off to the back kitchen to notify Chef Chen.
Standing behind the counter, Manager Lu glanced upstairs from time to time, unable to wait to head up and watch the spectacle.
Inside the private room, Wen Yao sat opposite Lady Liu. The moment Lady Liu saw her, tears began to fall as if she had suffered immense grievances, accusing Wen Yao of making things so humiliating for her in public.
Wen Yao truly lacked any remaining patience for Lady Liu. Had it been the original owner, she might have felt a pang of heartache—after all, this was her biological mother. But Wen Yao felt nothing of the sort.
“Did you call me here just to say all this?” Wen Yao asked directly.
Lady Liu’s sobbing paused, and she looked at Wen Yao through tear-filled, watery eyes. “Yao Yao… I am your mother.”
Wen Yao’s tone remained devoid of emotion. “I know. So?”
Wiping away her tears, Lady Liu adopted a pitiable, subservient tone: “I am doing this for your own good. I wanted to bring you to the capital because I didn’t want you to stay in a place like this and waste your life away, only to end up married off by the Old Wen family to some country peasant with his face to the dirt and his back to the sky, ruining your entire life!”
Wen Yao felt nothing but disdain in her heart. Her grandparents and her father would never do such a thing; even if she didn’t want to marry for her entire life, they wouldn’t force her.
“If you called me here just for this matter, then I don’t think we have anything left to discuss. Everything that needed to be said was said that day. I will not go to the capital with you. From now on, take care of yourself.” With that, Wen Yao rose to leave.
Lady Liu hurriedly stood up to grab her, saying anxiously, “Yao Yao, Mother won’t force you! Today, Mother just wants to share a proper meal with you. Once we part today, who knows when we’ll see each other again?”
Suppressing the discomfort in her heart, Wen Yao silently reminded herself that this was, after all, the original owner’s mother. Having taken over someone else’s body, she ought to settle the debts tied to it. Endure it… just endure it.
Sure enough, once they sat back down, Lady Liu brought up the topic of going to the capital no longer. She casually chatted with Wen Yao, mostly asking questions about Wen Yao’s life over the past two years, as well as inquiries about Wen Jun and Datou. Wen Yao picked a few safe details to share, and Lady Liu listened attentively, crying one moment and smiling the next, putting on the full act of a loving mother.
Until a knock at the room door interrupted their conversation. Lady Liu felt displeased and shot a glance at the housekeeper beside her. The housekeeper opened the door, intending to scold whoever was there, only to see the shopkeeper of Zui Xian Tower standing at the threshold.
“Shopkeeper, is there something you need?” the housekeeper asked with a frown. People in the countryside truly lacked manners; coming to the door before they had even asked for the food to be served.
Manager Lu cupped his hands, wearing his trademark hospitable smile, and spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly: “Pardon the intrusion, valued guests. I am looking for Miss Yao Yao.”
The housekeeper froze. From inside the room, Wen Yao spoke up, “Manager Lu, please come in.”
Manager Lu offered the housekeeper a faint smile, stepped past her, and respectfully cupped his hands to bow toward Wen Yao. “Miss Yao Yao.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he sized up Lady Liu, noting a slight resemblance between her and Wen Yao.
“Manager Lu, what is it?” Wen Yao asked.
Manager Lu smiled and said, “Chef Chen heard that you arrived and prepared a few of our signature dishes in the kitchen. Learning that the guests in this room invited you, he discussed it with me, and we decided to waive the bill for this order. I came up simply to ask whether we should serve the dishes now?”
Wen Yao smiled. “Then many thanks to you and Master Chen, Manager Lu.”
“Miss Yao Yao is too polite; this is only as it should be. Shall I have them bring up the dishes now?”
“Alright.”
Manager Lu bowed and withdrew.
Looking at the smile on Wen Yao’s face, Lady Liu found it glaring. In her eyes, Wen Yao’s smile toward this shopkeeper was far more genuine than any expression she had shown her.
However, she was even more astonished by Manager Lu’s respectful attitude, as well as Wen Yao’s natural acceptance of it.
“Since we won’t be seeing each other again in the future, consider this meal my treat to you—a farewell meal,” Wen Yao then said to Lady Liu.
Lady Liu had been fretting over how to steer the conversation toward the roasted duck shop, only for Wen Yao to hand her a stepping stone herself. This made Lady Liu’s heart leap with joy, though she showed nothing on her face, instead feigning surprise as she asked, “Yao Yao, are you really that familiar with the shopkeeper of Zui Xian Tower?”
Wen Yao didn’t deny it. “It’s fine, I suppose.” I’m on better terms with their boss, though.
Lady Liu asked again, “Earlier, I heard people say that the Yunwu roasted duck was created by you. Could that actually be true?”
Wen Yao sneered inwardly. Heard people say? Who are ‘people’? Isn’t it just that immoral piece of trash, Meng De?
There was no reason to hide this, so Wen Yao admitted it openly: “That’s right, I made it. That roasted duck shop is also a joint business between me and the owner of Zui Xian Tower.”
