Su Jiu slept until late morning. When she got out of bed and washed up, she went straight to lunch. After eating, Su Jiu took Chang Huan and left the manor.
They arrived at the tavern, and Li Tai saw the boneless ginseng in Su Jiu’s hands. He fell straight to his knees and choked out the words, “I could never repay this debt, even if I worked as hard as an ox. From today on, I am your faithful servant. I will work for you as long as I live and never ask for a single coin!”
“No, no. This is a trivial thing. Hurry and take this ginseng to the physician!”
“Yes, yes!” Li Tai cradled the ginseng in his shaking hands, then quickly made his way out the door.
It was also the physician’s first time seeing the ginseng, and he was excited beyond measure. He examined it left and right, inspecting it like a precious treasure for the length of time it takes a stick of incense to burn. He smiled, “This time, your daughter can be saved. I will make a prescription using this ginseng. It will produce a month’s worth of pills. Have your daughter take one pill each day. After a month, the coldness will disappear.”
“Thank you! Thank you, doctor!” Li Tai repeatedly bowed in thanks. He returned to the tavern to update Su Jiu, Qiao An, and everyone else. Everyone was happy to hear the news.
As Li Tai busied himself with other work, Qiao An looked at Su Jiu with a smile, shook his head, and said, “Chief, what did you promise me just yesterday?”
To not act recklessly? In the end, the ginseng had been obtained that very night! If Su Jiu weren’t sitting pretty right here, perfectly intact, then the rest of them would have to find a way to charge into Prince Rui’s Manor and break her out or flee to the end of the world!
Su Jiu cradled the teacup in her hands, frowning guiltily. “Actually, I just meant to take a look. But since the traps at the manor were broken anyway, I stole it!”
“Broken?”
Qiao An frowned. How could that be? Moreover, even if Su Jiu had gotten super lucky and found that the traps were broken, the boneless ginseng had been stolen from Prince Rui’s Manor. Why was there not so much as a peep about that? Could it be that they hadn’t found out yet? Were the guards at Prince Rui’s Manor all on a white rice diet? There was something strange going on!
Qiao An pondered this, when, suddenly, a young man burst in yelling loudly, “Shopkeeper, something’s wrong!”
He hurriedly rushed into the back of the shop and saw Su Jiu and Qiao An standing there. He came to a sudden stop and hesitated. “Young Master!”
Hu Dapao was at the restaurant on Yong’an Street watching the carpenter work. Ah Shu and Chang Huan were both in the back helping. Hearing the cries, they all stood up.
“What happened?” Su Jiu asked.
The young man wiped the sweat off his face. “Young Master, g-go outside and have a look!”
Su Jiu frowned and exchanged a look with Qiao An. She went quickly into the main hall. It was already past noon, and there were only a handful of people in the tavern, maybe two or three. They were eating when Su Jiu and the rest entered. They saw some tables and chairs flipped over, dishes in complete disarray, wine on the ground, and a few big burly fellows that reeked of alcohol sitting on a chair, shouting, “Call your boss out here!”
Two workers were hiding behind the podium. When they saw Su Jiu and the rest come in, they called out fearfully, “Young Master!”
The burly men all turned. One of them was the leader. He had a particularly fierce gaze and a long scar on his face. He looked Su Jiu up and down and said, “You’re the boss of this restaurant?”
Su Jiu and the rest watched the scene, dumbfounded. Ah Shu shouted, in shock, “Hu Bazi, you bastard, what are you doing here?”
Scarface was taken aback. He looked back and forth between the several people and asked, “Who are all of you, and how do you know my name?”
“I’ve seen you prancing around pretending to be big. I’m tired of you being alive!” Ah Shu shouted coldly.
Qiao An stepped forward with a smile. He pointed at Su Jiu, and said, “This is our Su Jiu Ye. Hu Ye, I trust that you’ve been well since last we met!”
Scarface, with a completely shocked expression, looked at the people in front of him. He stuttered, “D-d-dragon Conqueror Gang’s Ninth Master Su?”
“That’s right!” Qiao An nodded.
“W-why do you look like this?” Scarface said, surprised. There was no hint about him of how a proper bandit should look!
The Eight Dragons Gang and the Dragon Conqueror Gang both worked at the foot of Yuhu Mountain. They grappled over territory, stole money, and had more than a few dealings. To be honest, this was Hu Bazi’s first time seeing their real faces. Before, he’d only seen them with unkempt hair and dirty faces, like beggars.
“That’s none of your business!” Su Jiu threw a leg up onto a wooden bench, the eyes on her delicate face full of anger. “I’m only asking you this one thing. What are you doing here?”
Hu Bazi subconsciously stepped back, watching Su Jiu warily. A Dragon Conqueror Gang with only five members was able to hold its own against the Eight Dragons Gang, which was over one hundred strong. Because of this, Ninth Master Su had a resounding, powerful reputation in Yuhu Mountain.
“A few days ago, our Chief Cao ate noodles at this restaurant. When he came back, he had diarrhea for two days. We came to take revenge for him. If you don’t give us an explanation, then, even if this is Ninth Master Su’s territory, our business will be unfinished!” Hu Bazi glanced at the men that he had brought and squared his shoulders courageously.
“Big Cao?” Su Jiu snorted. “So, if I don’t go seek him out, he comes out here to bug me?”
Big Cao was the current chief of the Eight Dragons Gang. In fact, he’d once been one of Su Jiu’s men. On top of that, when he was still part of the Dragon Conqueror Gang, Su Jiu had once saved his life. Su Jiu had killed the previous leader of the Dragon Conqueror Gang and taken over his position. Big Cao had followed Su Jiu for one year then betrayed her, taking more than twenty members with him to the Eight Dragons Gang. He’d followed in Su Jiu’s footsteps as far as killing the leader of the Eight Dragons Gang to become the chief himself.
For the past few years, no matter how the underlings squabbled, Big Cao kept nipping at Su Jiu’s heels. Once Su Jiu left, he immediately became hostile and incited his specialized men to make trouble with the Dragon Conqueror Gang. Su Jiu could not be bothered to pay him any heed and had yielded to him for those few years. She’d never thought that, after leaving Yuhu Mountain, they would meet again.
“Chief, don’t mind his long-winded blather! We’ll go by the same old rules, beat the sh*t out of him, and send him crawling out the door!” Ah Shu hated the Eight Dragons Gang’s guts. If he saw the face of an Eight Dragons’ member, he’d go beat it up. Without another word, he grabbed a wooden stool from the ground and advanced.
Seeing that Su Jiu did not stop him, Chang Huan rose and flew over, tapping a foot lightly on the stool in Ah Shu’s hands. He sent a leg flying in a cross-kick across Hu Bazi’s face. Without Su Jiu or Qiao An even lifting a finger, the men from the Eight Dragons Gang were soon all laying on the ground, howling.
Su Jiu went over and put one foot down on Hu Bazi’s wrist. The bone split with a cracking noise, and Hu Bazi began to wail at the top of his lungs, “Ninth Master, Ninth Master, please spare me!”
“Tell me the truth! Why are you here?” Su Jiu asked with a cold smile, her white teeth a glistening forest.
“Our chief got sick from the food—”
“He ate your grandmother’s leg!” Su Jiu snorted and raised her leg to kick. With a bang, all two hundred of Hu Bazi’s catties flew through the air, slammed against the wall, and fell along the tables and chairs!
The other Eight Dragons Gang members stared at the scene, all wearing the same look of alarm as they watched Su Jiu. Not a single one of them dared to move on her. Ninth Master Su, in the eyes of these mountain bandits from Yuhu Mountain, was the King of Hell himself!
Su Jiu took two steps forward and placed her foot up against Hu Bazi’s chest. With just a bit of her force, Hu Bazi began to cough up fresh red blood.
He began to beg continuously, “Ninth Master, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! It was the Bai family brothers of the Hongyun Martial Academy who sought out the chief. They said that the shopkeeper of this restaurant did them wrong, and they wanted us to come out to settle the score. They even gave the chief two hundred taels! We truly did not know that this tavern was yours, Ninth Master. Otherwise, we would have never taken on that deal!”
Hongyun Martial Academy? The Bai family? Su Jiu turned to look at Qiao An and curled her lips into a smile. So, that’s what was going on!
The Bai family had lost to Su Jiu so many times that they didn’t dare be upfront anymore when causing trouble. They still couldn’t live with it, though, so they’d gone all the way outside the city to find mountain bandits to stir up trouble and take revenge!
Su Jiu put down the foot she had on Hu Bazi’s chest and said coldly, “Go back and tell Big Cao that this tavern is my, Ninth Master Su’s, territory. If he wants to smash it up, he needs to come himself!”
“We wouldn’t dare!” Hu Bazi pulled himself up, smiled sheepishly, and took his men away.
“One moment!” Su Jiu said suddenly.
Hu Bazi’s whole body shook, and he turned his head back timidly. He smiled and said, “What are your orders, Ninth Master?”
“You smashed up my shop. Are you just going to leave like this? Put all of your money down!”
“Yes, yes!” Hu Bazi immediately fished out all the money he was carrying and called out to the others, “Didn’t you hear what Ninth Master said? Hurry up and take all of your money out!”
The seven or eight mountain bandits all scurried to dig out their money. Altogether, they scrounged up about a dozen silver taels. Hu Bazi placed it carefully on a table. “Ninth Master, you see. Our brothers came out in a rush, and we only had this much on us!”
“Mm!” Su Jiu nodded, “Get out!”
“Yes, we’re getting out!” Hu Bazi responded, and hastily ran away.
“Chief!” Ah Shu’s expression was ice cold. “Chang Huan and I are going to kill our way to the Bai Family Martial Academy. We’ll kill them, even through their armor!”
“Stop!” Qiao An cleared his throat and looked back at Su Jiu, “Chief, even if we beat up the Bai brothers, it would be no of use to us. Our influence in Shengjing City is less than the Bai family’s. Rather than pitching a life or death struggle, let’s wait to earn some more money, gain some more influence, then we’ll even the score with them!”
Su Jiu pondered this for a moment and nodded lightly. “Master An is right. In Shengjing City, force is not the way to solve our problems. This score, we’ll put it on record!”
“I’ll listen to you, Chief. This time we’ll let the Bai family off the hook. Next time they come to bother us, I’ll chop his arm off!” Ah Shu snarled.
Su Jiu called the waiters out, cleaned up the place a bit, and asked Qiao An, “When does the restaurant open?”
Qiao An said, “It’s almost ready. The day after tomorrow is auspicious. How about having the opening then?”
“Alright. It’ll be the day after tomorrow!”
The day they opened the Qingyuan Restaurant to the public, the weather was particularly lovely. There were no clouds to be seen. The sound of firecrackers resounded through the sky. Qiao An became the provisional owner of the restaurant while Su Jiu, Dapao, and the other two worked as waiters, welcoming guests.
At the front of the restaurant, they had set up two long wooden tables. On them, they had set up some perfectly stewed beef and beautifully roasted chicken. The fragrance overflowed and traveled down half the street, stopping people in their tracks. The beef and the roasted chicken were both free to try. Since it was free, the public suddenly surged at them, scrambling to get a taste. It was a big sea of people, and the place was extraordinarily lively.
However, there were more people than meat available, so each person could only have one piece. Once they ate the bait, they were hooked. One after another, they squeezed into the restaurant, until both the upper and the ground floors were completely full. They had hired ten workers in addition to Su Jiu’s four, but they were still stretched thin. In the kitchen, besides the cook that came from the tavern to stew the beef, an old beggar who put on some clean clothes, they had also hired a few other cooks. They were all frying and cooking and deep-frying. The kitchen was in full swing.
Hu Dapao and Ah Shu were serving up the dishes with half of their attention; the other half focused on the money flowing like water into the ledger. Their smiles were so wide that their mouths couldn’t close! They worked busily all through the afternoon until the guests all left. The restaurant finally settled back down. Then, they had to prepare the dinner menu. Su Jiu and the rest were so tired that they sat directly on the ground. Qiao An crackled and rattled the abacus as he made his calculations, and then he came over with a smile.
He asked, “Ninth Master, take a guess. How much money do you think we earned this first half of the day?”
They looked up at Qiao An, faces full of anticipation. Qiao An stretched out his palm towards Su Jiu.
“Fifty taels?” Su Jiu asked.
“Five hundred taels!”
Everyone was in shock, their expressions showing disbelief giving way to a happy surprise. Hu Dapao, Ah Shu and Chang Huan jumped up, threw aside the rags in their hands, then hoisted Su Jiu up, cheering and skipping around. Su Jiu was thrown up into the air, and her laugh was unrestrained and cheerful.
Five hundred taels of silver! Before, they could never have imagined that they would one day get so much money that wasn’t stolen but earned with their own work! Even though it was just the beginning, and the future was still very unknown, at least it was achievable. The most important thing was that, even without looting, they would never go hungry again!
The day was not young, and Qiao An and Hu Dapao stayed to attend to the restaurant. Ah Shu found a carriage to take Su Jiu and Chang Huan back to Ji Manor. The carriage stopped in front of the manor’s doors. Su Jiu stepped out of the carriage in a lake green brocade dress and went up to the gate.
“Young Madame, hello!”
The two guards at the gate greeted her one after the other.
“Hello!” Su Jiu greeted them happily. She stepped through the doors, and her mood was particularly upbeat.
“Chang Huan, once we have even more money, we’ll open a restaurant that’s just as stylish and impressive as the Jingqin Restaurant!” Su Jiu crooked her head to smile at Chang Huan.
“Then will I be the owner too?” Chang Huan’s eyes shone brightly on his handsome face.
“Of course!”
“Then, when the Eight Dragons Gang comes to eat, I’ll steep some young ginseng for them. A kettle for each one!” Chang Huan said happily.
“They won’t be allowed to leave until they finish it all!”
“Haha, who knows? Maybe they’ll like it!”
The two walked as they talked, imagining the expressions of each member of the Eight Dragons Gang clasping a teapot full of urine and drinking it up. They laughed loudly.
It was getting dark, and as the two of them walked through the garden, the flowers and trees and rocks impeded their view. They couldn’t see the people walking up the little side roads until an elegant voice rang out, “What wonderful thing happened today that Madame is so happy?”
Su Jiu’s laugh came to an abrupt stop. At her side, Chang Huan imperceptibly lowered his head and stepped back.
“Why aren’t you laughing anymore?” Ji Yuxian came forward, leaning over to look at Su Jiu. The setting sun made his wonderful eyes even more beautiful. Like light reflecting off the water of a lake, they sparkled with full clarity.
Su Jiu stood pencil-straight, slightly easing away from his eyes. She said lightly, “I’m done laughing!”
Ji Yuxian lowered his eyebrows with a smile, not pursuing the questioning. His warm breath blew over Su Jiu’s eyes. He said softly, “Tonight, you will eat with me.”
Su Jiu looked at his handsome face, which was very close, and shook her head. She said, “No, I will not. I don’t like to eat while being watched.”
Ji Yuxian blinked and smiled at her. He said quietly, “Madame, a lowly servant is enough to scare you off?”
Su Jiu’s head popped up and she looked directly at him for a long while. Then she suddenly laughed. “Afraid of her? That’s a big joke! Fine, I’ll go. I want to eat braised meat tonight!”
Ji Yuxian straightened up, took her by the hand, and headed for the main courtyard. He quietly called out, “Did you hear that? Madame wants to eat braised meat! Go have the kitchen prepare it!”
From behind him, Jin Feng immediately answered, “Yes, sir!”
He pulled Su Jiu along with him, and she had no choice but to follow.
Su Jiu slept until late morning. When she got out of bed and washed up, she went straight to lunch. After eating, Su Jiu took Chang Huan and left the manor.
They arrived at the tavern, and Li Tai saw the boneless ginseng in Su Jiu’s hands. He fell straight to his knees and choked out the words, “I could never repay this debt, even if I worked as hard as an ox. From today on, I am your faithful servant. I will work for you as long as I live and never ask for a single coin!”
“No, no. This is a trivial thing. Hurry and take this ginseng to the physician!”
“Yes, yes!” Li Tai cradled the ginseng in his shaking hands, then quickly made his way out the door.
It was also the physician’s first time seeing the ginseng, and he was excited beyond measure. He examined it left and right, inspecting it like a precious treasure for the length of time it takes a stick of incense to burn. He smiled, “This time, your daughter can be saved. I will make a prescription using this ginseng. It will produce a month’s worth of pills. Have your daughter take one pill each day. After a month, the coldness will disappear.”
“Thank you! Thank you, doctor!” Li Tai repeatedly bowed in thanks. He returned to the tavern to update Su Jiu, Qiao An, and everyone else. Everyone was happy to hear the news.
As Li Tai busied himself with other work, Qiao An looked at Su Jiu with a smile, shook his head, and said, “Chief, what did you promise me just yesterday?”
To not act recklessly? In the end, the ginseng had been obtained that very night! If Su Jiu weren’t sitting pretty right here, perfectly intact, then the rest of them would have to find a way to charge into Prince Rui’s Manor and break her out or flee to the end of the world!
Su Jiu cradled the teacup in her hands, frowning guiltily. “Actually, I just meant to take a look. But since the traps at the manor were broken anyway, I stole it!”
“Broken?”
Qiao An frowned. How could that be? Moreover, even if Su Jiu had gotten super lucky and found that the traps were broken, the boneless ginseng had been stolen from Prince Rui’s Manor. Why was there not so much as a peep about that? Could it be that they hadn’t found out yet? Were the guards at Prince Rui’s Manor all on a white rice diet? There was something strange going on!
Qiao An pondered this, when, suddenly, a young man burst in yelling loudly, “Shopkeeper, something’s wrong!”
He hurriedly rushed into the back of the shop and saw Su Jiu and Qiao An standing there. He came to a sudden stop and hesitated. “Young Master!”
Hu Dapao was at the restaurant on Yong’an Street watching the carpenter work. Ah Shu and Chang Huan were both in the back helping. Hearing the cries, they all stood up.
“What happened?” Su Jiu asked.
The young man wiped the sweat off his face. “Young Master, g-go outside and have a look!”
Su Jiu frowned and exchanged a look with Qiao An. She went quickly into the main hall. It was already past noon, and there were only a handful of people in the tavern, maybe two or three. They were eating when Su Jiu and the rest entered. They saw some tables and chairs flipped over, dishes in complete disarray, wine on the ground, and a few big burly fellows that reeked of alcohol sitting on a chair, shouting, “Call your boss out here!”
Two workers were hiding behind the podium. When they saw Su Jiu and the rest come in, they called out fearfully, “Young Master!”
The burly men all turned. One of them was the leader. He had a particularly fierce gaze and a long scar on his face. He looked Su Jiu up and down and said, “You’re the boss of this restaurant?”
Su Jiu and the rest watched the scene, dumbfounded. Ah Shu shouted, in shock, “Hu Bazi, you bastard, what are you doing here?”
Scarface was taken aback. He looked back and forth between the several people and asked, “Who are all of you, and how do you know my name?”
“I’ve seen you prancing around pretending to be big. I’m tired of you being alive!” Ah Shu shouted coldly.
Qiao An stepped forward with a smile. He pointed at Su Jiu, and said, “This is our Su Jiu Ye. Hu Ye, I trust that you’ve been well since last we met!”
Scarface, with a completely shocked expression, looked at the people in front of him. He stuttered, “D-d-dragon Conqueror Gang’s Ninth Master Su?”
“That’s right!” Qiao An nodded.
“W-why do you look like this?” Scarface said, surprised. There was no hint about him of how a proper bandit should look!
The Eight Dragons Gang and the Dragon Conqueror Gang both worked at the foot of Yuhu Mountain. They grappled over territory, stole money, and had more than a few dealings. To be honest, this was Hu Bazi’s first time seeing their real faces. Before, he’d only seen them with unkempt hair and dirty faces, like beggars.
“That’s none of your business!” Su Jiu threw a leg up onto a wooden bench, the eyes on her delicate face full of anger. “I’m only asking you this one thing. What are you doing here?”
Hu Bazi subconsciously stepped back, watching Su Jiu warily. A Dragon Conqueror Gang with only five members was able to hold its own against the Eight Dragons Gang, which was over one hundred strong. Because of this, Ninth Master Su had a resounding, powerful reputation in Yuhu Mountain.
“A few days ago, our Chief Cao ate noodles at this restaurant. When he came back, he had diarrhea for two days. We came to take revenge for him. If you don’t give us an explanation, then, even if this is Ninth Master Su’s territory, our business will be unfinished!” Hu Bazi glanced at the men that he had brought and squared his shoulders courageously.
“Big Cao?” Su Jiu snorted. “So, if I don’t go seek him out, he comes out here to bug me?”
Big Cao was the current chief of the Eight Dragons Gang. In fact, he’d once been one of Su Jiu’s men. On top of that, when he was still part of the Dragon Conqueror Gang, Su Jiu had once saved his life. Su Jiu had killed the previous leader of the Dragon Conqueror Gang and taken over his position. Big Cao had followed Su Jiu for one year then betrayed her, taking more than twenty members with him to the Eight Dragons Gang. He’d followed in Su Jiu’s footsteps as far as killing the leader of the Eight Dragons Gang to become the chief himself.
For the past few years, no matter how the underlings squabbled, Big Cao kept nipping at Su Jiu’s heels. Once Su Jiu left, he immediately became hostile and incited his specialized men to make trouble with the Dragon Conqueror Gang. Su Jiu could not be bothered to pay him any heed and had yielded to him for those few years. She’d never thought that, after leaving Yuhu Mountain, they would meet again.
“Chief, don’t mind his long-winded blather! We’ll go by the same old rules, beat the sh*t out of him, and send him crawling out the door!” Ah Shu hated the Eight Dragons Gang’s guts. If he saw the face of an Eight Dragons’ member, he’d go beat it up. Without another word, he grabbed a wooden stool from the ground and advanced.
Seeing that Su Jiu did not stop him, Chang Huan rose and flew over, tapping a foot lightly on the stool in Ah Shu’s hands. He sent a leg flying in a cross-kick across Hu Bazi’s face. Without Su Jiu or Qiao An even lifting a finger, the men from the Eight Dragons Gang were soon all laying on the ground, howling.
Su Jiu went over and put one foot down on Hu Bazi’s wrist. The bone split with a cracking noise, and Hu Bazi began to wail at the top of his lungs, “Ninth Master, Ninth Master, please spare me!”
“Tell me the truth! Why are you here?” Su Jiu asked with a cold smile, her white teeth a glistening forest.
“Our chief got sick from the food—”
“He ate your grandmother’s leg!” Su Jiu snorted and raised her leg to kick. With a bang, all two hundred of Hu Bazi’s catties flew through the air, slammed against the wall, and fell along the tables and chairs!
The other Eight Dragons Gang members stared at the scene, all wearing the same look of alarm as they watched Su Jiu. Not a single one of them dared to move on her. Ninth Master Su, in the eyes of these mountain bandits from Yuhu Mountain, was the King of Hell himself!
Su Jiu took two steps forward and placed her foot up against Hu Bazi’s chest. With just a bit of her force, Hu Bazi began to cough up fresh red blood.
He began to beg continuously, “Ninth Master, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! It was the Bai family brothers of the Hongyun Martial Academy who sought out the chief. They said that the shopkeeper of this restaurant did them wrong, and they wanted us to come out to settle the score. They even gave the chief two hundred taels! We truly did not know that this tavern was yours, Ninth Master. Otherwise, we would have never taken on that deal!”
Hongyun Martial Academy? The Bai family? Su Jiu turned to look at Qiao An and curled her lips into a smile. So, that’s what was going on!
The Bai family had lost to Su Jiu so many times that they didn’t dare be upfront anymore when causing trouble. They still couldn’t live with it, though, so they’d gone all the way outside the city to find mountain bandits to stir up trouble and take revenge!
Su Jiu put down the foot she had on Hu Bazi’s chest and said coldly, “Go back and tell Big Cao that this tavern is my, Ninth Master Su’s, territory. If he wants to smash it up, he needs to come himself!”
“We wouldn’t dare!” Hu Bazi pulled himself up, smiled sheepishly, and took his men away.
“One moment!” Su Jiu said suddenly.
Hu Bazi’s whole body shook, and he turned his head back timidly. He smiled and said, “What are your orders, Ninth Master?”
“You smashed up my shop. Are you just going to leave like this? Put all of your money down!”
“Yes, yes!” Hu Bazi immediately fished out all the money he was carrying and called out to the others, “Didn’t you hear what Ninth Master said? Hurry up and take all of your money out!”
The seven or eight mountain bandits all scurried to dig out their money. Altogether, they scrounged up about a dozen silver taels. Hu Bazi placed it carefully on a table. “Ninth Master, you see. Our brothers came out in a rush, and we only had this much on us!”
“Mm!” Su Jiu nodded, “Get out!”
“Yes, we’re getting out!” Hu Bazi responded, and hastily ran away.
“Chief!” Ah Shu’s expression was ice cold. “Chang Huan and I are going to kill our way to the Bai Family Martial Academy. We’ll kill them, even through their armor!”
“Stop!” Qiao An cleared his throat and looked back at Su Jiu, “Chief, even if we beat up the Bai brothers, it would be no of use to us. Our influence in Shengjing City is less than the Bai family’s. Rather than pitching a life or death struggle, let’s wait to earn some more money, gain some more influence, then we’ll even the score with them!”
Su Jiu pondered this for a moment and nodded lightly. “Master An is right. In Shengjing City, force is not the way to solve our problems. This score, we’ll put it on record!”
“I’ll listen to you, Chief. This time we’ll let the Bai family off the hook. Next time they come to bother us, I’ll chop his arm off!” Ah Shu snarled.
Su Jiu called the waiters out, cleaned up the place a bit, and asked Qiao An, “When does the restaurant open?”
Qiao An said, “It’s almost ready. The day after tomorrow is auspicious. How about having the opening then?”
“Alright. It’ll be the day after tomorrow!”
The day they opened the Qingyuan Restaurant to the public, the weather was particularly lovely. There were no clouds to be seen. The sound of firecrackers resounded through the sky. Qiao An became the provisional owner of the restaurant while Su Jiu, Dapao, and the other two worked as waiters, welcoming guests.
At the front of the restaurant, they had set up two long wooden tables. On them, they had set up some perfectly stewed beef and beautifully roasted chicken. The fragrance overflowed and traveled down half the street, stopping people in their tracks. The beef and the roasted chicken were both free to try. Since it was free, the public suddenly surged at them, scrambling to get a taste. It was a big sea of people, and the place was extraordinarily lively.
However, there were more people than meat available, so each person could only have one piece. Once they ate the bait, they were hooked. One after another, they squeezed into the restaurant, until both the upper and the ground floors were completely full. They had hired ten workers in addition to Su Jiu’s four, but they were still stretched thin. In the kitchen, besides the cook that came from the tavern to stew the beef, an old beggar who put on some clean clothes, they had also hired a few other cooks. They were all frying and cooking and deep-frying. The kitchen was in full swing.
Hu Dapao and Ah Shu were serving up the dishes with half of their attention; the other half focused on the money flowing like water into the ledger. Their smiles were so wide that their mouths couldn’t close! They worked busily all through the afternoon until the guests all left. The restaurant finally settled back down. Then, they had to prepare the dinner menu. Su Jiu and the rest were so tired that they sat directly on the ground. Qiao An crackled and rattled the abacus as he made his calculations, and then he came over with a smile.
He asked, “Ninth Master, take a guess. How much money do you think we earned this first half of the day?”
They looked up at Qiao An, faces full of anticipation. Qiao An stretched out his palm towards Su Jiu.
“Fifty taels?” Su Jiu asked.
“Five hundred taels!”
Everyone was in shock, their expressions showing disbelief giving way to a happy surprise. Hu Dapao, Ah Shu and Chang Huan jumped up, threw aside the rags in their hands, then hoisted Su Jiu up, cheering and skipping around. Su Jiu was thrown up into the air, and her laugh was unrestrained and cheerful.
Five hundred taels of silver! Before, they could never have imagined that they would one day get so much money that wasn’t stolen but earned with their own work! Even though it was just the beginning, and the future was still very unknown, at least it was achievable. The most important thing was that, even without looting, they would never go hungry again!
The day was not young, and Qiao An and Hu Dapao stayed to attend to the restaurant. Ah Shu found a carriage to take Su Jiu and Chang Huan back to Ji Manor. The carriage stopped in front of the manor’s doors. Su Jiu stepped out of the carriage in a lake green brocade dress and went up to the gate.
“Young Madame, hello!”
The two guards at the gate greeted her one after the other.
“Hello!” Su Jiu greeted them happily. She stepped through the doors, and her mood was particularly upbeat.
“Chang Huan, once we have even more money, we’ll open a restaurant that’s just as stylish and impressive as the Jingqin Restaurant!” Su Jiu crooked her head to smile at Chang Huan.
“Then will I be the owner too?” Chang Huan’s eyes shone brightly on his handsome face.
“Of course!”
“Then, when the Eight Dragons Gang comes to eat, I’ll steep some young ginseng for them. A kettle for each one!” Chang Huan said happily.
“They won’t be allowed to leave until they finish it all!”
“Haha, who knows? Maybe they’ll like it!”
The two walked as they talked, imagining the expressions of each member of the Eight Dragons Gang clasping a teapot full of urine and drinking it up. They laughed loudly.
It was getting dark, and as the two of them walked through the garden, the flowers and trees and rocks impeded their view. They couldn’t see the people walking up the little side roads until an elegant voice rang out, “What wonderful thing happened today that Madame is so happy?”
Su Jiu’s laugh came to an abrupt stop. At her side, Chang Huan imperceptibly lowered his head and stepped back.
“Why aren’t you laughing anymore?” Ji Yuxian came forward, leaning over to look at Su Jiu. The setting sun made his wonderful eyes even more beautiful. Like light reflecting off the water of a lake, they sparkled with full clarity.
Su Jiu stood pencil-straight, slightly easing away from his eyes. She said lightly, “I’m done laughing!”
Ji Yuxian lowered his eyebrows with a smile, not pursuing the questioning. His warm breath blew over Su Jiu’s eyes. He said softly, “Tonight, you will eat with me.”
Su Jiu looked at his handsome face, which was very close, and shook her head. She said, “No, I will not. I don’t like to eat while being watched.”
Ji Yuxian blinked and smiled at her. He said quietly, “Madame, a lowly servant is enough to scare you off?”
Su Jiu’s head popped up and she looked directly at him for a long while. Then she suddenly laughed. “Afraid of her? That’s a big joke! Fine, I’ll go. I want to eat braised meat tonight!”
Ji Yuxian straightened up, took her by the hand, and headed for the main courtyard. He quietly called out, “Did you hear that? Madame wants to eat braised meat! Go have the kitchen prepare it!”
From behind him, Jin Feng immediately answered, “Yes, sir!”
He pulled Su Jiu along with him, and she had no choice but to follow.
