The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The business of the dim sum shop was better than expected, and Diego, Aunt Luo and the other two were simply too busy to handle it. Min Xi asked Aunt Luo to hire two more people to help, one to serve as a waiter and the other to help in the kitchen. They also hired people who knew the ins and outs of the business, and they also had to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Not long after the snack shop opened, Feng Hao brought Yun Ji a piece of news: "We have found out the cause of Meng Jia's death. He was murdered after drinking with someone, and froze to death while drunk outside. The person who invited him to drink that day was the accountant of Yunxiang Gold Shop. The accountant resigned and moved after Meng Jia's accident. Because the gold shop changed hands and was sealed, it was difficult to find the relevant people. It took us so long to find the whereabouts of the accountant. Now he has been found. After interrogation, he confessed that someone asked him to go to Meng Jia to drink and deliberately got him drunk."

"So Meng Jia was indeed framed?"

"Yes. In the twelfth month of last year, someone instructed him to go to Meng Jia for a drink and then leave before curfew. It was already dark by then, and it would only take Meng Jia a quarter of an hour to walk home, but he died on the way home. In order to meet the curfew, he did not take the main road, but walked a small path and finally died in a small woods. He drank a lot of alcohol at the time, and his family believed that he froze to death after falling asleep on the side of the road while drunk, so they did not report to the police." Feng Hao said.

Min Xi was puzzled and asked, "Why don't you report it to the police? Even if he died of drunkenness, the person who invited him to drink should bear the responsibility."

Yun Ji said: "I guess the Yun family paid to shut them up."

Feng Hao nodded, "Indeed. In order to prevent the Meng family from making a big fuss, the Yun family gave the accountant 1200 taels of silver and asked him to give it to Meng Jia's family to settle the matter."

Min Xi asked: "So who asked the accountant to find Meng Jia?"

"Yunxiao's uncle Yun Nongzhang."

"It's indeed him!" Yun Ji snorted coldly.

Min Xi thought of something: "Did he buy the gold shop? 1000 taels of silver?"

"Yes!" Yun Ji's face was frosty.

Min Xi analyzed, "Even if Yun Nongzhang had the motive and intention to murder Manager Meng, Meng Jia was frozen to death in the end. Even if he was drunk, they would say it was just a coincidence, not intentional murder. At most, it could be considered manslaughter, and they would just pay compensation to settle the matter."

Feng Hao shook his head. "The accountant said that Meng Jia could drink a lot, and he was still sober when he left. That's why he took the small road after he went out. He was hit by a club while taking the small road, and then he fainted and froze to death. We searched the area around him for a long time before we found a witness. At that time, a family near the woods heard their dog barking loudly, and thought they were robbed, so they opened the door to see what was going on, and saw a man running out of the woods quickly. He thought he was just passing by, but he didn't expect that a drunkard would freeze to death in the woods the next day."

"Didn't he report to the police?" Min Xi asked.

Feng Hao shook his head: "Meng Jia's family didn't report it to the police, and he didn't see the man's face clearly, so how could he report it to the police? If the murderer is not caught, it will bring trouble to himself."

"What should we do? There is no clear evidence to prove that Yun Nongzhang is the murderer." Min Xi said unwillingly.

Feng Hao said: "We caught the murderer!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji were overjoyed: "How did you catch him?"

Feng Hao said, "Since we knew that it was Yun Nongzhang who asked the accountant to find Meng Jia, we started by investigating the people around Yun Nongzhang. As a result, we actually found one. He had a servant who bought a house in South City and kept a prostitute as a mistress. It was unusual for a servant to have such a large sum of money. We started with this servant, and then found out the cause of Meng Jia's death and Yun Nongzhang, the mastermind behind it."

This process was full of twists and turns. Min Xi and Yun Ji finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Has Yun Nongzhang been arrested?"

Feng Hao shook his head: "Not yet. This matter is under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. Yun Ji must come forward and go to Shuntian Prefecture to appeal for Meng Jia. Then we can transfer the witness files to Shuntian Prefecture."

"Can I go and appeal for justice?" Yun Ji asked.

"Of course, you are his young master and you are in an employment relationship with him, so you naturally have the right to seek justice for him. If you can persuade his family to seek justice, it will be even better."

"Okay, I'll go find Meng Jia's family." Yun Ji agreed readily. This matter involved Yun Xiao's uncle. Although he was not Yun Xiao himself, he was definitely a member of their interest group. Yun Xiao said that he would take over the position of the head of the family. Who could say that he was not a spokesperson for the interests put forward by that group of people?

Min Xi bowed his hands and thanked Feng Hao: "Thank you, Brother Feng, for your help! If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid there would be no time to redress my injustice."

Yun Ji also said: "That's right. This matter is complicated and involves many people. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. It must have taken a lot of effort from Brother Shiyuan. I will remember this kindness in my heart."

Feng Hao waved his hand and said, "It's not that bad. My brothers did it. It just took some time and a lot of running around and talking."

"That took a lot of effort." Yun Ji went to get two hundred taels of silver and gave it to Feng Hao, "Brother Shiyuan, take these and drink with your brothers."

Feng Hao only took out four ingots of silver and forty taels of silver: "You don't need to give so much, just give them a few taels to buy them some wine."

Yun Ji said: "Brother Shiyuan is so kind, if you need me in the future, just ask."

Feng Hao looked at Min Xi and said, "I do have something I want to trouble you with, Brother Min. My father's birthday is in two days, and I plan to have a family dinner. I would like to ask Brother Min to make a birthday feast for my father. I wonder if you can do that."

Min Xi said hurriedly: "Of course no problem. How many people are there? I'll go and help you cook a few dishes."

Feng Hao was overjoyed: "Will that be too much trouble for you?"

"How could that be! You've helped us so much. It's just making a meal. It's a piece of cake." Min Xi agreed readily.

"Thank you very much!" Feng Hao stood up and clasped his fists towards Min Xi to express his gratitude.

Min Xi said, "I'll draw up a few menus, and you can see if they're feasible. If they are, I'll follow the menus."

Feng Hao asked: "Please list the ingredients and I will ask someone to buy them."

Min Xi hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll buy the ingredients myself. After some time, Yunxiang Restaurant will reopen and these dishes will appear on the restaurant's new menu, so the menu must be kept secret."

Feng Hao was delighted when he heard this: "Can we eat those dishes at Yunxiang Restaurant in the future?"

Min Xi nodded: "Yes. But I won't make it. I will teach the chef of the restaurant how to make it."

"That's good. After eating the meal made by Brother Min that day, everything else I ate for three days tasted bland. I told my colleagues about that meal, but they all didn't believe it. I will take them to Yunxiang Restaurant to broaden their horizons later." Feng Hao smiled very proudly.

Yun Ji clasped his fists and said, "Then I would like to thank Brother Shi Yuan for his support."

Yun Ji went to find Meng Jia's family and tried to persuade him to report to the government. Meng Jia's son Meng Shan hesitated for a long time before saying, "I accepted their money, and now I am reporting to the government again. Will they take the money back?"

Yun Ji looked at him with some surprise. Shouldn't he be avenging his father at this time? Why did he think of silver first? Yun Ji suppressed his displeasure and said, "They murdered your father and should pay for their lives. You let your father die unjustly for a few pieces of silver?"

"But I have almost spent all the money." Meng Shan said hesitantly, not daring to look Yun Ji in the eye.

Yun Ji sighed: "Go report to the authorities. If the authorities decide that you have to return the silver, I will pay for you."

Meng Shan heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this: "With the words of the young master - no - master, I feel relieved. Don't worry, I will definitely seek justice for my father."

Two days later, Yun Nongzhang, who was playing with birds in the yard, was taken away by the officials of Shuntian Prefecture in a pair of shackles. The wives, concubines and children in the room were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground. After a long time, Yun Nongzhang's wife Pang Shi came to her senses and cried to the sky: "Oh my God, what happened? Someone come quickly, tell the master and the clan leader! Tell them that the master has been taken away by the officials."

When Yun Nongzhang was arrested, Min Xi did not see much joy on Yun Ji's face. They were of the same root, but they regarded human life as worthless for the sake of money and other external things. How could it not make people feel sad and angry.

Yun Ji went to the ancestral hall to burn incense for his parents and did not come out for a long time.

Min Xi prepared lunch and served it to Yun Lin to eat first. Before he saw Yun Ji come out, he asked, "Where's Seventh Brother?"

Tao Xing replied: "My cousin is still in the ancestral hall."

Min Xi thought about it, and then went to the ancestral hall, where he saw Yun Ji still kneeling in front of the spirit tablet. Min Xi sighed, knowing that he must be blaming himself, and called out softly, "Seventh Brother!"

Yun Ji came back to his senses and looked back at Min Xi: "Here it comes." He had been kneeling for too long and staggered when he stood up.

Min Xi subconsciously ran in to help him up. He had already stood firmly: "It's okay, I just knelt for too long, and my legs are a little numb."

After leaving the ancestral hall, Min Xi looked back and said, "Seventh brother, you don't have to blame yourself. This is not your fault."

Yun Ji smiled bitterly: "If I hadn't gone out to sea, my parents, Uncle Meng and Uncle Zhong would not have left so early."

"It's my fault too. I shouldn't have stayed in Portugal. If we had come back earlier, maybe there wouldn't have been so many tragedies." Min Xi sighed.

Yun Ji said hurriedly: "Don't say that, this has nothing to do with you. In fact, it's all thanks to you for insisting on staying. If we had come back on the Shark, we might all be a pile of bones now."

"So we can only know blessings and disasters after things have happened. If you hadn't gone out to sea, the situation would be different, but I would definitely be dead," said Min Xi.

When Yun Ji heard this, he suddenly realized, yes, if he did not go out to sea, the Yun family’s ship would definitely go out to sea, and Min Xi would follow, then Min Xi would most likely have been buried in the sea.

Thinking of this, Yun Ji grabbed Min Xi's hand, and the obsession in his heart dissipated a lot. Perhaps, this is probably fate. No matter what choice you make, there will always be regrets. In this case, let's look forward firmly.

Yun Ji patted his forehead and said, "I am obsessed. From now on, I will take good care of Yun Xiang and take care of Lin Er, so that my parents can rest in peace."

Min Xi said: "That's right!"