Transmigrated into the fat wife of the future prime minister

Chapter 61 Imitator

Xu Qingmeng comforted her, "Mother, Young Master Huang is also taking the imperial examination. Now is a crucial time, so he must be studying at home just like Yunyi."

Upon hearing this, Madam He agreed, saying that the imperial examination could not be delayed.

The next morning, business was as good as usual. The eatery was very busy, and the soy milk and tofu pudding sold out quickly, as did the steamed buns and pies.

After everyone rested for a while, Xu Qingmeng began to prepare the lunch set meal. She planned to stir-fry some greens, make braised eggplant, and braised pork. She had made these before and they were very popular with the workers.

After stir-frying the vegetables, she started making braised eggplant.

Wash the eggplant and cut it into diagonal slices. Cut the green bell pepper into slices as well.

Heat lard in a wok, add garlic cloves and sauté until fragrant, then add eggplant and green peppers, and stir-fry over medium-low heat until they change color and become soft and tender.

Then drizzle a little Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sugar along the edge of the pot, stir-fry evenly, cover and simmer for a while, add an appropriate amount of salt to taste, and the braised eggplant is ready to serve.

Based on her previous experience, Xu Qingmeng left lunch for her family after making the braised pork, otherwise she wouldn't be able to leave any more food for the workers when they arrived.

Soon the workers finished work. Originally, Madam He, along with Xinting and Xun Ge'er, had prepared for a tough battle, but to their surprise, there were far fewer workers than usual today.

"Mengniang, I don't know what happened today, but there were far fewer people at noon. Usually, the restaurant would be packed, but today it was full." Madam He couldn't understand it; this was the first time such a situation had occurred since the restaurant opened.

"Maybe they're just tired of eating our food every day?"

Xu Qingmeng couldn't think of any other reason besides this.

"My aunt's cooking is so delicious, I can eat it every day and I never get tired of it."

"Yes, your cooking is so delicious."

Mrs. He couldn't figure out the reason either, but she felt it definitely wasn't what Xu Qingmeng had said.

"Sister-in-law... Mother, oh no... something bad has happened!" Yun Sheng ran back quickly with her short legs.

"Take your time, don't be in a hurry."

Yun Sheng was panting heavily, her little face flushed.

"Several restaurants on the street have started selling set meals."

"What?" Mrs. He exclaimed in surprise.

One of the workers who came to eat said, "Aunt He, don't you know? Several places are selling it too, one meat and two vegetable dishes, but they're cheaper than yours. They say it's sixteen coins a serving, but today is the first day of the special, so it's twelve coins a serving. A lot of workers have gone to those places to eat."

“No wonder. We were just saying that there seemed to be fewer people today. Mengniang even said that maybe they were tired of her cooking.”

"How could I possibly get tired of it? Madam Gu's cooking is so delicious. I was tempted when I heard that other places were selling it for much cheaper, but when I thought about Madam Gu's cooking skills, I decided to come here instead."

"Thank you for trusting my Mengniang's cooking skills. Today's set meal is braised pork. Please wait a moment."

After finishing her speech, Madam He instructed Xinting to serve them food, and then went to the kitchen to tell Mengniang what she had overheard outside.

"Mengniang, what should we do? They're selling it so cheaply, the workers will definitely be more willing to go."

“If we don’t come because other places are cheaper, we don’t need to worry. I have faith in my skills, Mom. Let’s get busy first, we can talk about other things later.” “Okay, let’s get to work. There are still customers outside.”

"What is this? Such a big piece of meat!"

"This is braised pork made by Mengniang. You should try it, it's delicious."

"Wow! This meat is delicious, it's even salty and sweet, and it's not strange at all, the flavors blend together perfectly."

"Yes, with such a big piece of fatty meat, I was worried it would be too greasy, but it turned out to be fatty yet not greasy, lean yet not dry, delicious!" another worker said.

"This eggplant is also extremely delicious, soft, tender and flavorful. I knew I made the right choice coming here."

The workers eating their set meals all agreed with this. They hadn't made a mistake coming here. They had eaten at those other restaurants before, and they were expensive and not very tasty. At such a cheap price, they probably saw that the Gu family was making money and were just following suit out of envy.

As the workers were enjoying their meal, some of them who had bought set meals from other restaurants appeared at Gujia Restaurant.

"Today's set meal is braised pork, and such a big piece of it? Sigh, it's all my fault, why did I have to be greedy for cheap things?" a worker said with deep regret.

"Aunt He, give me a bowl of noodle soup."

"What happened? Didn't you get enough to eat at the Li family's?" a worker asked curiously.

Madam He also found it strange. Hadn't they already eaten? Why did they need to eat again? She instructed Xinting to go to the back and have Mengniang cook the noodles, while she stopped to listen to what the worker had to say.

The worker pulled up a stool, sat down at the table, and said, "Alas, it's all my fault. I was tempted by the 12-coin set meal, and when the owner of the Li family's shop called out from the door, I went over and bought one."

"Who knows what kind of rubbish was served? The worst rice, which was even black, the vegetables were just boiled radishes and greens with no oil, and the meat dish was just five slices of pork belly. It's just a complete rip-off."

“I was so angry that I argued with him for a bit. Not only did he deny it, but he also slandered Gu Family Restaurant, saying that Gu Family Restaurant used stale food. When I heard this, I got even angrier, so I just put the food down and came over.”

He Shi, who was listening nearby, was immediately displeased. "What's wrong with the Li family? It's one thing to steal business, but how can they slander us? You may not know, but our meat is delivered by Boss Liu every morning. You can ask him anything. Besides, they are all neighbors. My Gu family would never do something so heartless."

"Of course I believe him, so as soon as he said that, I came to your shop without even eating. You must ask Madam Gu to give me more noodles, I'm still hungry."

"Yes, definitely."

Mrs. He went to the kitchen, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

Xu Qingmeng comforted her, "Mother, don't think about it. There are still guests outside. Let's take care of them first, and we can talk about the rest after we're done."

"Okay, okay, I won't say anymore."

While collecting money, Mrs. He chatted with the workers. The not-too-busy lunchtime passed by like this. Although business wasn't great that lunchtime, they still sold about sixty set meals.
The fried rice and noodle soup options have decreased in number, but the meat pies are still selling well, as only Gujia in this area offers such meat pies.

After the workers left, He Shi, Xin Ting, and Xun Ge'er were noticeably less enthusiastic than before.

Gu Yunyi came out at this moment, having already learned the truth from Xu Qingmeng.

"Mother, you must believe in Mengniang."

(End of this chapter)