The Second Sister of a Farmer's Family's Path to Imperial Destiny

"Who among you is the owner of the hotpot restaurant?" A yamen runner walked into Shunan Hotpot Restaurant, looked around and shouted.

Liu You ran out from the kitchen. Although he hadn't opened the store in the past few days, he still needed to investigate what went wrong in the kitchen.

Hearing the voice, he ran out and said, "I am here. I wonder if the officer has come here to solve the case?"

The bailiff nodded, handed over a document, and said, "The truth has been revealed. The deceased man's wife took the initiative to tell the truth. It was the hand of the people downstairs in Haoyue Tower. The details of what happened are written in the document."

Liu You nodded, and felt around, only to find that he had no money on him. The restaurant had not been open for the past few days, and he had been busy in the kitchen, forgetting to prepare the money. He said awkwardly, "Brother, wait a minute, I'll get you a few bottles of wine."

The yamen runner quickly shook his head and said, "You are not allowed to drink alcohol during your shift. This is the rule. If you have nothing else to do, I will leave first and the restaurant can be ready for opening."

Seeing that he was about to leave the hot pot restaurant, she hurriedly picked up a food box and handed it to him, saying, "Brother, these are some new braised foods made by our restaurant. They are all made for our own consumption and have not been sold to the public. I guarantee they will taste good. Please accept them."

The bailiff weighed the food box and found it was very heavy, which must be filled with a lot of good things.

The food at Shunan Hotpot Restaurant is famous for its deliciousness, but unfortunately he is short of money and cannot come here to eat every day. Moreover, this is newly released braised food. If he can be the first to have a bite, and it is free, he wonders how envious he would be of that guy.

"Then I'll take it. Thank you~"

……

During the time that Liu You was the shopkeeper, he learned a lot of words. He opened the document and read it word by word.

As he watched, Liu You began to laugh.

He had been searching the kitchen for so many days but still couldn't find any loopholes. He then asked the cooks and waiters in the kitchen, and they all looked confused. He couldn't sleep every night these days because he was worried that such a thing would happen again in the future.

However, the document clearly stated that the man was bribed by Haoyue Tower, which promised to help him and his wife and children move to a big house, give him 100 taels of silver, and also help give his wife a job in the kitchen.

The man took the poison and brought it to the hot pot restaurant. He secretly hid it in the lining of his clothes. When he needed to use it, he took it out and smeared it inside the quilt. In order not to be noticed, he also smeared the poison on his fingers on the tablecloth. If the coroner had not checked carefully after returning to the government office, the poison would not have been found.

Now that the truth has been revealed, the hot pot restaurant should be opened as soon as possible, so they immediately went to Guo Xin's house.

……

Guo Xin looked at the document in his hand and was not as happy as he had imagined.

Ever since the incident at this restaurant, diners have all moved to other restaurants, and those restaurants have been offering discounts in order to attract customers.

Therefore, this document was posted so that everyone could understand that this was not a problem with the hot pot restaurant. However, since the incident had already happened, everyone still had some reservations in their hearts, and the guests had all gone to other restaurants to try new things.

And if we fail to successfully attract customers back, I am afraid we will suffer a lot of losses.

So how to win back customers?

However, I am afraid that not many customers will come back for the regular discounts. After all, most people who can afford to eat hotpot every day don’t care about that little money, so there must be a gimmick.

Haoyue Tower has always had literati and scholars as its main customers, and its main focus is on being pretentious and looking down on restaurants like mine, but they have snatched away some of their customers.

Literati and scholars usually have various gatherings, and when the hot pot restaurant is closed, they naturally go to Haoyue Tower.

But after Shunan Hotpot opened, they found that a group of people gathered in front of a boiler. The distance between them seemed closer, and they could personally experience the process of cooking the dishes from raw to cooked, and then write a poem based on it.

Very interesting!

Guo Xin licked his teeth with his tongue, swallowed his saliva and said: "Since Haoyue Tower has done us a terrible thing, let us return the favor to them."

"Ah?" Liu You looked at Guo Xin in confusion.

"Their guests are mainly scholars and literati, so we can hold a poetry recitation meeting specifically for scholars and literati, allowing them to bring their own food. If they win, we can let them have a meal in this restaurant, and hang their poems in the building for diners to appreciate."

When Liu You heard this, he immediately stood up excitedly and clapped his hands.

……

After a few days, Shunan Hotpot Restaurant changed from its usual simplicity to a very elegant one. As soon as you enter, you will feel that your body and mind are enlightened. The yamen runner who came here to deliver a letter a few days ago was also on vacation, so Liu You invited him over.

Firstly, it is to express my gratitude for coming to deliver the letter last time.

Secondly, with a yamen runner as the representative of the government office, the literati and scholars would feel more at ease when eating.

Thirdly, this time he was planning to sell the newly made braised food, and this yamen runner could just serve as a cover for him.

After all, if there are many people eating so happily around, no matter how worried and reserved you are, it would be hard to resist the temptation of delicious food and you would definitely have to order one.

Not long after, many literati came together, carrying food boxes from Haoyue Tower in their hands. When they heard about Shunan Hotpot Tower, they were a little indifferent, but when they thought about it carefully, they realized how exciting it was to have their calligraphy works displayed in a place where so many people could see them.

I also heard that gentlemen from Yuanlin Academy were invited to be judges for this poetry competition, and they are the most talented ones.

"Everyone, today the poetry writing competition of Shunan Hotpot Restaurant begins. The judge this time is Professor Lu from Yuanlin Academy." Liu You said while standing on a chair.

Hearing this, there was a lot of chatter below.

Professor Lu is a great figure. He wrote many famous poems. When someone asked him to work as an aide in the capital, he declined.

Professor Lu stood up and smiled at the talented scholars, saying, "I was invited by a good friend today to be a judge and to try the food at this hotpot restaurant. Please enjoy writing poems for me to see."

Liu You added: "This poetry contest is themed 'food'. Anything related to food is welcome. Please feel free to write a poem. If you think of anything, please stand up and speak."

Less than an incense stick of time later, a man in a plain long gown stood up and said.

"Who picked the purple jade buds from Kuang Lu and traveled 2,000 miles to my home? I cooked them in a brick stove and stone pot, and the clear and falling poems turned into snowflakes."

"Good poem! It talks about tea leaves, but it also talks about your yearning for a peaceful life. If the people of our dynasty could have such a life, how comfortable it would be. This is also the dream of us scholars." A scholar holding a piece of meat said, "But I also have a poem here."

"The perch is fat and the rice is crispy, making it delicious in a spoon. The buckwheat is ripe and the cakes are freshly made with oil. Since ancient times, the wise have despised wealth and fame, but instead missed their hometown because of the local flavors."

……

The yamen runners sat at a table nearby, listening to the sour poems spoken by the literati. Their minds felt like a mess, so they had to concentrate on eating the hot pot and braised dishes, making constant chewing sounds.

The aroma gradually spread to the table next door...