Chapter 214: It Seemed… He Really Was Living Off His Daughter
Once they arrived at their temporary martial arts training ground, Xun Feng stood there with his hands clasped behind his back. The children lined up neatly from shortest to tallest, and at Xun Feng’s command, they began practicing the fist technique he had previously taught them.
Seeing her young son standing there, punching with a face full of resolve, Qiu Rongrong was thoroughly filled with gratification.
“Yao’er, the most correct thing I’ve ever done was sending Yi’er to your house.” Only a child raised in this kind of environment could be resilient enough to protect himself.
Thinking of the Xie family’s pampered eldest young master, hmph, he cost her so much silver every year; she really wanted to see what kind of trash would ultimately be raised over there.
While the boys were performing with majestic vigor, the adults clapped and cheered from the side. Once the set of fist techniques was completed, Xun Feng had them begin practicing their basic skills, running and jumping around in high spirits.
Eventually, Old Madam Luo’s shout wafted over from the front courtyard, “Where is everyone? What did you all go do? Time to eat!”
Hearing this shout, the boys stopped instantly and looked at Xun Feng expectantly. Xun Feng found it somewhat amusing; truth be told, he wanted to go back and eat too.
“Alright, that’s enough practice for today. Go eat.” Xun Feng waved his hand, and the boys, along with Wen Ying, dashed toward the front courtyard, chattering away in a lively hubbub.
Since they were eating hot pot, then everyone would eat hot pot together. A small stove was placed on each of the tables, topped with a custom-made copper pot—and it was even a mandarin duck pot. Those who could eat spicy food ate the spicy side, while those who couldn’t eat spicy food ate from the bone broth soup base right next to it.
This was the very first time Qiu Rongrong had ever seen this style of eating. Under Old Madam Luo and Wen Yao’er’s enthusiastic hospitality, she quickly fell into the rhythm. What proper decorum, what rules about not speaking during meals—at the Wen family, there was absolutely no need to care about any of it. This single meal left her eating until she perspired thoroughly, never having felt so completely refreshed.
When her mouth felt unbearably burning from the spice, she would take a sip of the iced drink Wen Yao had made. That taste was truly both spicy and chillingly cool, yet it left a person constantly reminiscing about the flavor.
“This hot pot…” Qiu Rongrong had barely uttered three words when Wen Yao already knew what she was going to say.
“The chili peppers aren’t that plentiful, so I’m afraid we’ll have to wait a bit longer. I plan to use all the chili peppers harvested this time as seeds. As for the leftover chili pepper husks after peeling away the seeds, I will try my best to make as much base as possible. It certainly won’t be enough to sell in large quantities for the time being, so we can only limit the amount. Sister understands what I mean, right?” Wen Yao said.
Qiu Rongrong raised an eyebrow. “You mean… place it in Zui Xian Tower?”
Wen Yao nodded. “Mm, that’s pretty much what I mean. Limiting it to ten portions a day should be enough to last until the next season of chili peppers matures. When the time comes, I’ll just make the hot pot soup base directly and send it to Zui Xian Tower. They’ll just need to follow what Grandma did today—prepare the broth, put the hot pot soup base inside, and then serve it with the side dishes, and a beautiful meal of hot pot will be done.”
Qiu Rongrong felt that this was doable. Although ten portions was a bit few, it was still better than nothing.
However, she was also a bit worried. “But sister, once this hot pot of ours comes out, other establishments will bound to follow suit and imitate it. Won’t our business be affected by then?”
Wen Yao was still highly confident about this. She smiled mysteriously and said, “What’s there to fear? We have a secret weapon that other establishments don’t have.”
Without chili peppers, no matter how much they imitated it, they wouldn’t be able to replicate this exact taste.
With these words from Wen Yao, Qiu Rongrong felt reassured.
“Alright, then let me take ten blocks back today, and I’ll hand them over to Chef Chen as soon as I return,” Qiu Rongrong said.
Wen Yao nodded and had Nanny Shi wrap up twelve blocks of hot pot soup base for Qiu Rongrong.
“Ten blocks are for selling, one block is for Chef Chen to taste—there’s no reason to make this without ever having eaten it—and the remaining block is kept for Sister, so you can make it at home yourself whenever you want to satisfy a craving.” Wen Yao was very considerate; she was a sweet, thoughtful darling.
Qiu Rongrong really wanted to pull Wen Yao into her arms and give her a good kiss; she simply liked this sister far too much.
After Qiu Rongrong left, Li Yi called the few students to the study to begin guiding them in their schoolwork. Only a few idle people with nothing to do were left in the courtyard.
Wen Yao looked at Li Fu, who was huddled beside Wen Xiuyi, and pursed her lips. During this period, these two had truly become inseparable; even she, as his daughter, was starting to feel a bit jealous.
“Uncle Li, could I borrow my dad for a moment? I have a little something to look for him for,” Wen Yao popped her head out from behind the two of them and spoke.
“Huh?” Li Fu let out a sound. Your dad… why are you borrowing him from me?
Wen Xiuyi, however, understood Wen Yao’s reference. He shot her a glare and said to Li Fu, “Brother Li, I’ll be right back.”
With that, Wen Xiuyi led Wen Yao to the side.
“Stinky girl, you even dare to make fun of your dad.” Wen Xiuyi reached out and poked Wen Yao’s head.
Wen Yao giggled. “Dad, we have money! Sister Qiu delivered the money today. We need to hurry up and go ‘buy’ wine yeast.”
Wen Xiuyi had almost forgotten about this matter. The grain for brewing wine had been delivered one after another over the past few days and stacked in the winery’s warehouse. When he ran into Uncle Qin this morning, Uncle Qin was still asking about the wine yeast.
After some thought, Wen Xiuyi said, “Let’s go tomorrow, leave early and return early.”
“Okey-dokey.” Wen Yao flashed a grinning hand gesture and slipped away to watch Wen Di embroider flowers, planning to ask along the way if they wanted her to bring anything back for them from the prefectural city.
Wen Xiuyi returned to sit beside Li Fu again, continuing to crack seeds.
“What’s wrong?” Li Fu asked inquisitively.
Wen Xiuyi: “It’s nothing. Yao’er said she wants to buy wine yeast, so I’ll take her to the prefectural city tomorrow to have a look.”
Li Fu nudged closer. “Going to the prefectural city? Do you want me to accompany you guys?”
Wen Xiuyi cast a glance at him. Please, definitely don’t. If you go, how are we supposed to cheat?
“It’s a tiring journey by vehicle, so let’s forget about it. I’ll just take her; the two of us will come right back after buying the items,” Wen Xiuyi said, stopping just short of saying it would be inconvenient to bring him along.
Li Fu couldn’t very well force the matter, so he could only drop it. But with Wen Xiuyi away from home, what was he supposed to go do? Perhaps he should still go find Qiu Zhi to play chess.
Wen Xiuyi also made a special trip to the old residence to ask Old Madam Luo if she wanted anything brought back from the prefectural city.
The moment Old Madam Luo heard he was going to the prefectural city to buy wine yeast, she instantly recalled the money Qiu Rongrong had delivered this morning.
“Wait a moment.” After speaking, she went back into her room, and when she emerged, she held several banknotes in her hand.
“This is your money, take it. I’ve been busy all day and almost forgot. Today, Rongrong’s accountant came to settle the accounts with us. This is the money earned from the duck coop. How you and your two younger brothers split it is your own business to divide. It’s four hundred and sixty taels in total.” Old Madam Luo stuffed the banknotes into his hand and paid it no further heed.
Holding the banknotes, Wen Xiuyi wanted to stuff them back to Old Madam Luo.
“Mother, wouldn’t it be fine for you to keep this money? I have money to spend.” In Wen Xiuyi’s view, no amount of filial piety shown to his parents was ever too much.
Old Madam Luo, however, glared at him. “Spend what? Spend Yao’er’s money? Let me tell you, you used to live off your wife in the past, so don’t even think about living off your daughter now. The money Yao’er earns is for her own future dowry. As her father, it’s one thing that you don’t earn money yourself for the child to spend, but you actually think about spending the child’s money all day long. You really have the nerve.”
Wen Xiuyi: “…” No, wait, what do you mean by spending the child’s money? I have money too, alright?
But on second thought… he wasn’t receiving his retirement salary now, and his salary card wasn’t in Wen Yao’s hands either.
It seemed… he really was living off his daughter.
!!!!
This realization made Wen Xiuyi’s entire being feel far from good.
