Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 205 - 203: Can’t Restrain

Having originally planned to participate in two family matters after the emperor’s departure tomorrow, Shen Chengyao did not expect the emperor to delay his departure, wanting to attend a wedding banquet he had been longing for.

Shen Chengyao found himself in a dilemma. Organizing a banquet in the village required a great deal of help from villagers, like slaughtering chickens, ducks, pigs, borrowing bowls and tables, and entertaining guests. Such a function implied a great deal of planning and execution.

Moreover, he had a strong relationship with the village chief since childhood, who had helped him a lot. Shen Chengyao did not feel it would be appropriate to only attend the banquet when the chief’s daughter was getting married.

Also, his elder uncle was getting his daughter married on the same day. He was already under pressure, and now he also had to take care of the emperor, a fact he could not disclose to others.

With the emperor by his side, he felt as if he was left free to do nothing.

"Father, there is nothing to worry about! The village is not far from the town. We can arrange for the banquet to be catered by our tea house. This will serve as our family’s wedding gift. They are going to start buying food ingredients tomorrow. You can go to the village chief right now and it won’t be too late," his son suggested.

"He’s right. This way, we can also let the villagers taste the dishes from our restaurant. You won’t have to feel guilty for not being able to help the village chief," the child added.

The restaurant also accepted bookings and catering services. On that day, her restaurant had already accepted five banquet orders, three of which were catered.

Fortunately, the restaurant had two large kitchens, a total of thirty stoves, not to mention grills, ovens, coal stoves, small stoves.

And with fifty chefs (fifteen of whom were recruited from the prefecture city restaurant for training, twenty were recruited from the Imperial Capital, who would report to the main store in the Imperial Capital at the end of the month), they didn’t have to worry about not being able to keep up with the workload.

"Why didn’t I think of that? Fine, let’s do it this way. I’ll go to talk to the village chief about this," said Shen Chengyao as he walked out, ignoring the fact it was already dark.

"Remember to take the lantern!" Mrs. Liu reminded him.

"No need. The moonlight is bright tonight, and the village road is smooth," Shen Chengyao waved his hand.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Liu went to the village chief’s house and gave Shen Nirui a gift: a full gold headdress, a pair of dragon and phoenix bracelets, and a pair of jade bracelets.

The jade bracelets were so exquisite and flawless after being purified in the space that they could be considered as heirlooms now.

Who could have guessed that Xiao’er bought these bracelets as damaged items from a vendor for only two taels of silver?

The wife of the village chief saw the gift and hurriedly refused, "This won’t do! The jade bracelets are too valuable.

"Jade can ward off disasters and ward off evil spirits. Jade bracelets can help the owner ward off all negative influences and guard the owner’s luck. These bracelets are beneficial! Nirui is just like my own child. I have prepared a pair for my niece as well. Take it, don’t be polite! Tomorrow I won’t be able to come, I have to go back to my parents’ house, it’s a coincidence that both of your families are having weddings at the same time, so I can only come here in advance today. This is a personal gift from me. Tomorrow I’ll have another gift delivered on my behalf, please don’t blame me for not coming tomorrow."

"How could we! There’s no such thing as not going to your parents’ house when they are getting a daughter married, it’s like cutting off one’s backbone! The village chief’s wife was very touched, not just because of Mrs. Liu’s thoughtfulness. In the past, their two families had a good relationship. Her husband always helped Shen Chengyao and she also helped Mrs. Liu a lot. Even when Jingrui visited, they always provided lots of food. Unexpectedly, it returned to them as a blessing today.

Her son had said that on the way to the Imperial Capital, both he and Ming Zhijie fell ill. If it weren’t for Xiao’er giving them a bottle of medicine, declaring it a cure for illness, and asking them to eat confidently when they were not feeling well, both of them wouldn’t have been able to take part in the Imperial Examination.

Many scholars were also unable to perform normally in the exam due to maladjustment to the environment, fever, and other illnesses, and many gave up halfway.

The family of Shen Chengyao was perfect in repaying kindness with kindness.

The moonlight tonight was like water, illuminating the ground brightly.

Two night messengers simultaneously landed on two windowsills of Xiao’er’s house.

Xiao’er opened the letter and took a glance before putting it into the space.

After probing for so long, they finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

Such good timing! Xiao’er laughed.

She didn’t believe that her dog’s sniffer couldn’t sniff him out!

Shangguan Xuanyi also opened the letter and had a look, then burned it on the stove, leaving only some ashes.

"What’s going on?" Di Shaowei pointed at the pile of ashes.

"The fish is hooked!"

"Hooked?! Ha ha! They can’t resist anymore! The flipping of those ships wasn’t in vain after all!" Di Shaowei straightened up instantly.

Yeah, how could it be in vain!

Even if that person could escape to the ends of the earth, he would dig three feet deep to strip him out!

Recently, many areas were suffering from a salt shortage. The price of salt kept increasing every day. Many people who had money started hoarding salt, while those without money couldn’t afford to buy salt.

Shengping County was not affected much, but rumors had started to spread. Some people bought a lot of salt and brought it home.

All this happened because several large ships transporting official salt were overturned by a strange wind.

Tens of thousands of tons of official salt were lost on the bottom of the sea, with nothing left!

The next day, Xiao’er went to see Shangguan Xuanyi to discuss the matter, and then decided to act separately.

Shangguan Xuanyi and Di Shaowei, along with a dog, went to attend Ming Zhijie’s wedding banquet.

Along the way, they attracted all kinds of strange looks, with many people getting scared and staying away.

Some even thought they were there to cause trouble.

"This is the first time I’ve been looked at like a fool in my life!" Di Shaowei felt like following the brides and covering his head with a piece of cloth.

Shangguan Xuanyi was unmoved, treating the gaze of the crowd as thin air and the words of others as wind in his ears.

He leisurely strolled around with the dog in the outer courtyard of Ming Mansion.

Shangguan Xuanyi didn’t apply force to lead it. Xiao’er had said that this dog was intelligent and would not bite people indiscriminately. If it came into contact with someone who had touched the thing, it would bark in front of them. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Suddenly, the dog ran out quickly. Naturally, the rope in Shangguan Xuanyi’s hand fell.

The dog ran into the inner courtyard and kept barking at a lady, scaring her into running and screaming everywhere.

"Wangcai!" Shangguan Xuanyi shouted, and the dog immediately came back, wagging its tail in front of Shangguan Xuanyi.

Magistrate Ming and Mrs. Ming also came out.

"I apologize. This dog is usually very obedient. I didn’t expect it to scare someone. I’ll have it caged right away," Shangguan Xuanyi said.

Mrs. Ming did not know who Shangguan Xuanyi was, but Magistrate Ming knew from his son!

What could he say? He could only smile and say, "It’s okay. This dog is indeed obedient. As soon as you called it, it came back."

Shangguan Xuanyi nodded, but still put it in a cage, gave it a few pieces of dried meat to eat, then left it at the entrance of the front door and ordered someone to guard it.

"I apologize for scaring the ladies earlier. Mrs. Ming, could you please apologize to them on my behalf?"

Mrs. Ming originally wanted to complain, but Magistrate Ming gave her a warning look. She had to pretend a pleasant demeanor, replied okay, and went back to the inner courtyard.