Chapter 182

Whether it was cured meat or cured sausage, as soon as You Ran House brought it out, it immediately attracted the attention of the vast populace of Fengjing.

Those with great wisdom pointed out at the time, "This is cured flavor from the Sichuan region."

Although Fengjing was blessed with fine terrain and abundant talent, after all it was very far away from the Sichuan region.

To be able to eat exotic foods locally, which were also uniquely delicious, was truly something worth boasting about.

In addition, with You Ran House's intentional and unintentional promotion, cured meats quickly secured a place in Fengjing, and business at the restaurant became several degrees more popular as well.

The head shopkeeper stroked his beard and nodded, "That lad didn't cheat me, these cured meats do have some ability."

After expressing this feeling, he looked towards Xiao Erge, "Have we sent someone to the Sichuan region to purchase cured meats?"

It had to be said, the shopkeepers of Fengjing were still smarter than those of small towns.

In the past, Bai Shopkeeper had wanted to bypass Zheng Ruqian to purchase cheaper cured meat, but couldn't find the right place, and could only reluctantly make the purchase from Zheng Ruqian.

Now the shopkeeper of Fengjing also wanted to bypass Zheng Ruqian, and had directly sent someone to Sichuan, showing some cunning.

"Boss, someone has already been sent," Xiao Erge reported.

The head shopkeeper stroked his beard, his eyes full of satisfaction, "Take some of the best sausages and cured meat and send them to the master's home."

Xiao Erge acknowledged the order.

Soon, the most exquisitely shaped cured sausages and cured meat were delivered to the Jiang family's dinner table.

Because they were trusted subordinates, the Jiang family head chef did simple processing before serving the dishes.

At the Jiang manor.

To put it one way, like the Fang family, the Jiang family was also a military family that had shed blood for the Dayu Dynasty to protect their family and country.

It was just that the Jiang family's top general was still stationed with the army, while the Fang family's top general had already fallen in the northern borderlands, and the family had declined slightly as well.

At present at the dinner table, the Jiang family women inevitably gossiped a bit.

"I heard that the Fang family's boy is already preparing for the imperial examinations?" Old Lady Jiang's expression was solemn, with prestige in her brows and eyes, "General Fang was a warrior for a generation, but in the end didn't even leave an heir, truly regretful." Lady Jiang pursed her lips, somewhat disapproving, "The examinations are a good path, definitely better than the unpredictable danger on the battlefield, and more reassuring as well."

The Fang family only had one heir left, Fang Yuan.

The Jiang family also only had one heir, Jiang Chengyuan.

Lady Jiang spoke this way, clearly hoping that Jiang Chengyuan would take the path of the examinations and remain in the peaceful and prosperous Fengjing to live a stable life.

Old Lady Jiang's expression sunk slightly.

Fortunately the Jiang family still had a clever youngest daughter.

Jiang Chenghua nimbly stood up and placed two cured sausages on the elders' bowls, "Mother, grandmother, didn't Chenghua hear a few days ago that Fengjing also had Anshui Prefecture's cured meats now? Try them and see if you like the flavor?"

This timely interjection defused the tense atmosphere.

Old Lady Jiang picked up a piece of cured sausage and put it in her mouth, tasted it briefly, then nodded, "Truly not bad."

"It's good if grandmother likes it. I'll have You Ran House deliver more later, since it's our family's property anyway," Jiang Chenghua said with an ingratiating smile.

Old Lady Jiang put down her chopsticks, her tone subtle, "Who knows if Chengyuan has found that person after being gone for so many days."

Found who?

The Jiang family's true bloodline!

To say this now, Old Lady Jiang was clearly not respecting her existence.

Jiang Chenghua was instantly aggrieved. She didn't understand why she had already tried her best to please grandmother, yet grandmother was still obsessed with finding the true daughter - was blood relation really that important, more important than over a decade of companionship?

Moreover, if the child was found, how could they be sure she was real?

She opened her mouth to speak several times, but swallowed her words when she saw Lady Jiang's look.

There was no helping it. With father not in Fengjing, grandmother was the most prestigious person in the household, not even mother could talk back, let alone her, a child without Jiang blood.

The atmosphere stagnated again.

At this critical juncture, Jiang Chengyuan rushed in looking travel worn, still carrying a small bundle on his back as if he had rushed back from thousands of miles away.

He didn't notice the food on the table, also didn't notice the tears welling up in his sister's eyes, but presented himself on bended knee before Old Lady Jiang like he was making an offering, "Grandmother, look what I've brought back for you!"

Old Lady Jiang's expression softened again, "What rare treasure is it?"

"It's cured sausage and cured meat." Jiang Chengyuan opened the bundle, and inside were three cured sausages and two cured meats, "This is the delicacy I tasted in Anshui Prefecture, I specially brought some back for grandmother."

The entire room suddenly went silent.

Old Lady Jiang's expression was very strange, like she was happy but also helpless.

Her attendant kindly reminded, "Eldest young master, take a look at what's on the table." Only then did Jiang Chengyuan raise his head and see the plates of cured sausage, cured meat, and cured fish on the table.

Identical to what he had in his arms, or even better quality.

He stared wide-eyed in shock.

The next day, Jiang Chengyuan went to You Ran House and saw the cured sausages and cured meats filling the storage room, exactly the same as what he had seen at You Ran House in Anshui Prefecture.

He found the head shopkeeper and asked, "Were these goods transported from Anshui Prefecture?"

The head shopkeeper was startled.

People could do things that weren't upright, but would never want others to know about it.

After deliberating briefly, the head shopkeeper chose to lie, "They were bought in the Sichuan region."

So they weren't goods from Anshui Prefecture, and weren't brought by people from Anshui either.

Jiang Chengyuan felt somewhat inexplicably disappointed. He had thought he could see little Jiang Zhuang in Fengjing.

That girl with the round face, about the same age as his sister, but surprisingly resilient.

"Oh well, this is Fengjing after all."

He sighed deeply, then turned and left.

But the head shopkeeper misunderstood, and immediately instructed Xiao Erge after, "Have the person who went to Sichuan hurry back with the cured meats."

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

You Ran House had just sold out of its cured sausages, and the person who had gone to Sichuan came back, also bringing cured sausages and cured meats unique to Sichuan.

The head chef did a test run as usual, and his expression changed after tasting.

It wasn't that they didn't taste good, the flavor was just different.

Especially the sweet cured sausages, there wasn't a single one.

Laymen might not think much of it, feeling that changing ingredients wasn't a big deal and some change in flavor wasn't important, they were still cured meats after all.

But insiders understood that in this world, especially with food, what was emphasized was preconceptions.

The people of Fengjing had already accepted the initial cured meats, hastily changing ingredients would only affect You Ran House's reputation. Moreover, the popularity of the sweet cured sausages exceeded the total popularity of the other cured sausages and meats, and over the past few days customers had already started asking when the sweet cured sausages would be back in stock.

Having lived thirty or forty years, this was the first time the head shopkeeper understood what it meant to lift a rock only to drop it on one's own feet.

And he had been too arrogant before, not even leaving the Jiang siblings' contact information, so he couldn't buy the previous cured meats even if he wanted to now.

Just as You Ran House was on the verge of catching fire.

Hidden in the corner, Jiang Sheng and Zheng Ruqian snickered. Carrying several pounds of cured sausage and cured meat, they casually rented a market stall for a couple days and started selling.