Travel back to ancient times and open a Sichuan restaurant

"Auntie, someone just delivered two baskets of water melons from the back door and placed them in the hall. Do you want to go take a look?"

The maid stood by the bed and spoke softly to the young woman lying on the bed.

"Are there water melons at this time of year?" The young woman, who was not asleep, opened her eyes when she heard this.

Seeing this, the maid lifted the thin gauze curtain, carefully helped her out of bed, and said in a gentle voice, "Maybe Mr. Mei got this new thing from somewhere to make Aunt happy. He always loves you the most."

Aunt Mei smiled faintly and let the maid help her change her clothes and do her makeup and hair.

When the two arrived at the hall, the young master of the Feng family was curiously touching the two baskets of water melons.

When the young master saw her coming, he immediately stood up and called her "Auntie".

Aunt Mei loved children very much, and was especially fond of this delicate and graceful young master. "Why didn't Master You attend class today?"

Feng You said honestly, "The teacher has something to do today so there is no need to attend class. Auntie's melon looks so weird."

He touched the cool melon rind with his little hand and felt somewhat comfortable, so he simply kept his hand there without moving.

Aunt Mei took a look at the melon and felt that it was very different from the water melons she had eaten in previous years. She asked the servants to take one downstairs, cut it, and bring it back. She held Feng You's hand and spoke to him in a soft voice.

The servant worked quickly and cut a watermelon into more than a dozen pieces and placed them on a white porcelain plate. The red flesh and the white plate looked particularly beautiful.

"Wow!" Feng You exclaimed, "So beautiful!"

Aunt Mei reached out and took a piece for him, "This was sent by Aunt's brother. Master You, try a piece and see if it tastes good."

Feng You thanked him and took it. After taking a bite, he praised him repeatedly, "My aunt's brother is so great. Everything he sent is delicious!"

Originally thinking that the child was greedy, Aunt Mei was going to give him another piece, but was rejected on the grounds that the prefect's wife did not allow him to eat too much at one time, and she was afraid that the child would not know when to be full and would get an upset stomach.

"Then have someone send it to your yard. Just cut a piece and eat it whenever you want."

Aunt Mei then asked the maid to divide the two baskets of watermelons. Just like last time, two were given to the wife of the prefect and the eldest lady and the eldest master, one each to the two aunts and the second lady and the young master, and the remaining two were kept for themselves.

The maid opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but held back because they were not in Meixiangyuan.

The melons sent out naturally attracted the admiration of everyone in the magistrate's house. The eldest daughter of the Feng family even went straight to Meixiangyuan and asked, "Auntie, do you still have these melons? Can you sell some to me?"

Aunt Mei shook her head apologetically. "These watermelons were sent by my brother from Yunzhou. There are only twelve of them. If you like them, Miss Bao, I have two more for you to take back."

"Forget it, you only got a few." Feng Bao refused angrily.

Boss Wang first asked someone to drive two empty horse-drawn carriages to take him back to Jixiang Town. The people who were secretly following him thought that he did not transport any goods this time, so they reported it to their master.

It was not until the afternoon that the large group transporting goods returned, and more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages entered the city gate in a grand manner.

The people around made way to allow the carriage to pass smoothly.

A tall and thin man on the second floor of the inn looked at the dozen or so carriages on the road and angrily threw the cup in his hand. He became even more angry when he learned that Boss Wang came back not only with apples but also with 500 water melons.

"Didn't he say he came back empty-handed this time?"

In fact, he knew it very well. It was just a trick played by Wang Binghan to deceive them.

Boss Wang’s newly opened shop is located on the street with the heaviest traffic in Jixiang Town, and all the people living around it are wealthy people.

He happily watched his men carry in baskets of apples and watermelons. After instructing them to be careful, he turned to look at Shen Hong who had come to see him on purpose.

"Boss Shen, what brings you here?"

The tall and thin man, Shen Hong, said with a forced smile: Didn’t I come here specially to see what good things you have brought back, Lao Wang?

"Old Wang, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but it's not a good thing to be the only one dominating the business. Sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone. If you tell me where these good things come from, I will definitely not open a store across from yours!"

Boss Wang stroked his beard and pretended to think, "Let me think about it."

But his words were obviously just perfunctory. Shen Hong had already said it many times, both openly and secretly, and had tried to make peace, but the other party didn't fall for it.

He gritted his teeth and said, "How about this, you have your eyes on that restaurant on West Street, right? I'll give it to you at half price." That restaurant didn't have much business anyway, so he might as well use it to exchange for something else.

Boss Wang rolled his eyes and said, "Give me a day to think about it."

He smiled and invited Shen Hong to come into the store to see what he brought back this time, "You will know when you see it."

Shen Hong thought, "Isn't it just apples? Since your store started selling them this month, we've been eating them every day at home."

But when he saw the emerald-green watermelons placed on the wooden box, he was speechless.

It took him a long time to find his voice, and he stammered, "This is water melon? Where did you get so many water melons?"

Boss Wang was very proud and enjoyed seeing the other party's naive look.

He pretended to be modest and said, "I met a new partner last year. She promised to sell apples to me first. This time, I happened to go there and saw that the watermelons were ripe! Don't you think this is a coincidence?"

He waved his hand and asked the servant to cut a melon and bring it over, "Boss Shen, please!"

Shen Hong took a bite of the watermelon in a daze. It was sweet and juicy, not at all like the watermelons he bought from Xunwei Pavilion in previous years, which had no sweetness at all. He could only eat the slightly red core in the middle, and the white flesh next to it was not edible at all, after all, it had no taste.

The melon skin is very thin, and the flesh is redder than the lip balm my wife put on this morning. It is sweet and crispy!

He no longer called him Boss Wang, but called him Big Brother Wang and Old Brother Wang, asking repeatedly, "Where did you get this melon? Can you show me a way for me, too?"

Boss Wang's chin was almost raised to the sky, and it seemed like there was an invisible tail swinging behind him.

After serving for a long time, Shen Hong saw that sweat was coming out of his forehead due to anxiety, but he didn't say anything. He just picked up the teacup and drank the tea.

Shen Hong suddenly had an idea, "I'll give you the restaurant on West Street as a gift from me, Brother Wang! How do you think it is?"

"Hey, you make me feel so embarrassed!" Boss Wang said righteously but did not refuse.

Finally, after much arguing, Boss Shen promised that he would never open his store opposite Boss Wang's store to steal his business, and Boss Wang agreed this time.

"I'm only telling you, don't tell anyone else!"