Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Mother

After the corn and pork rib soup was ready, Xu Zhu filled two jars with the soup and took a lot of rice noodles, leading Li Baobao out of the house. Beforehand, Xu Zhu had made sure to straighten Li Baobao's clothes.

“A gentleman straightens his clothes and hat, and looks with dignity. He is so dignified that people look up to him and fear him. Is this not dignified without being fierce?” Xu Zhu said a sentence in classical Chinese. She knew that her son would not understand it, but he would have to learn it sooner or later.

"What does that mean, Mom?" The curious child was on the verge of exclaiming.

"A gentleman is well-dressed and does not look away from anything, which inspires awe in others. Isn't this dignified without being fierce?" Xu Zhu explained to him very seriously, without being perfunctory just because he was a child. After all, her son was a rare child prodigy.

"Oh"

"You understood?" Xu Zhu was surprised by his son's comprehension ability. He understood the obscure sentence so quickly?

"No." Li Xiaobao shrugged.

"Then what are you talking about?" Xu Zhu asked, his face darkening.

Li Baobao: "..."

When I went to Aunt Zheng's house, Aunt Zheng, her husband, and Er Gouzi were eating together. Aunt Zheng's son and daughter-in-law both worked at the dock, and her daughter was married to someone from the next village, so only Er Gouzi lived with them.

"Auntie, I brought you some homemade soup and noodles. Try them." Xu Zhu put the jar on the table, opened the lid, and then brought out the rice noodles.

When Aunt Zheng saw that it was pork rib soup, she immediately wanted Xu Zhu to take it back. Ordinary farming families couldn't afford pork rib soup, let alone Xu Zhu's family, which was in such a difficult situation. How could she have the nerve to leave it?

"Auntie, please accept this! We can't possibly eat all of this, Li Baobao and I are buying too much," Xu Zhu urged.

The two pushed and shoved each other for a while, but Er Gouzi's eyes remained fixed on the jar. Aunt Zheng chuckled and scolded him a few times.

Xu Zhu then shook Li Baobao's little hand, "Er Gouzi, Li Baobao has something to tell you."

"I'm sorry, Brother Er Gou." Li Baobao said dejectedly. After apologizing to Er Gouzi, Li Baobao looked at Aunt Zheng with wide eyes, full of hope: "Grandma Zheng, you won't force Mother to remarry like Grandma did, will you?"

Aunt Zheng was extremely embarrassed. Although she intended to arrange another marriage for Xu Zhu, she hadn't had a chance to tell Xu Zhu or Li Baobao yet. How did Li Baobao find out? In a flash, she realized it must have been her grandson who told him. She glared at her grandson angrily several times.

"Actually, I shouldn't have said that to you. I'm sorry." Er Gouzi felt a little embarrassed after seeing his younger brother apologize to him, and scratched his head as he spoke.

"It's okay, but don't call me Li Gou Shit anymore." Li Baobao very "magnanimously" forgave Er Gouzi.

After hearing what Li Baobao said, Aunt Zheng glared fiercely at Er Gouzi again. Er Gouzi was so frightened that he leaned against the door.

Xu Zhu felt like every word his son said was a trap.

The two then took the items to Xu Daniu's house, but didn't even enter the courtyard; they handed the items over at the door and asked him to go to town again the next day.

Xu Daniu looked at the pitiful orphan and widow with pity; it was truly a difficult situation for them.

After all, a widow's door is always a source of gossip. Now that she's "husbandless," how could she possibly go to an unmarried man's house at night?

Finally, they went to the village head's house.

Over the past few days, Xu Zhu had learned that almost everyone in the village, unless they were extremely lazy, owned land. Li Qian was a capable man. Before their marriage, he had several acres of land, which should have been enough to keep Xu Zhu and Li Baobao from starving. It was obvious that his wife's family had taken it all!

She went to the village head's house hoping to get the land back. Originally, she didn't really care about the land, since she didn't know how to farm. But Wang Chunhua bullied her son, and she wasn't stupid. Why should she be bullied and have to let others farm the land?

“Village head, I want to sell my family’s five mu of land. I hope you can find a buyer for it. It’s all top-quality paddy fields.” Xu Zhu took out the land deed that he had been hiding in his sleeve and showed it to the village head.

"Okay, if someone buys it, I'll keep an eye out for it. I'll let you know when I get back." The village head tapped his pipe on the table twice and started puffing away.

"Then thank you very much, Village Head." Xu Zhu said with a beaming smile.

When they got home, the two of them picked out rice noodles, served soup, and brought out sauce. Li Bao and Xu Zhu ate with their mouths full of oil.

"Li Baobao, clean up the table after you finish eating. Mommy will boil some water for you to take a bath tonight. How about you come with Mommy to sell rice noodles tomorrow?" Xu Zhu finished eating first; she still needed to prepare things for tomorrow.

"Okay." Li Baobao waved her little hand excitedly when she heard that she would be going to town with her mother tomorrow.

The next morning, Xu Zhu dragged Li Baobao out of bed.

"Mommy" Li Baobao rubbed her eyes and very sensibly dressed herself.

Xu Zhu put the dried rice noodles into a jar, then took out her homemade sauce. She led Li Baobao out of the house.

There were two well-known restaurants in the town: Youjulou and Mantangcai. Initially, their food was similar in taste, and they were evenly matched. Later, Youjulou somehow acquired a new recipe, the most famous dish being Beggar's Chicken, and it became incredibly popular. The two restaurants weren't far apart, separated by a street. One was always packed, while the other was deserted.

Xu Zhu entered the restaurant without hesitation, and as expected, there were very few customers. The waiter was also lounging lazily on the table. Seeing Xu Zhu enter, he was very happy: "Sir, are you here for a meal or to stay the night?"

"I'm looking for your shopkeeper." Xu Zhu led Li Baobao with his left hand and carried a jar with his right.

"Sir, just tell me what you need, and I'll take care of it for you!" The waiter said with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.

"Please tell the shopkeeper, brother, that we will definitely not let you down!" Xu Zhu was very polite, thinking that they would be frequent visitors in the future.

"Well, to be honest, our manager's been in a bad mood lately..."

"Just tell your manager that I have a good medicine to make him happy," Xu Zhu interrupted the shop assistant before he could finish speaking.

The waiter hesitated for a while but still didn't dare to go. Later, Xu Zhu dipped his finger in water and wrote a few words on the table. The waiter then ran off to find the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper of Mantangcai was over forty years old, overweight, with a round face and small eyes, and appeared to be very kind on the surface.

He wasn't in a hurry after listening to his friend's words. After all, in the past few months, quite a few self-proclaimed experts had come to give him bad advice.

"I wonder if the young lady has any brilliant plan?" He cupped his hands in greeting to Xu Zhu. Although the woman in front of him was dressed simply, she was generous and neither humble nor arrogant.

"I need to borrow the shopkeeper's kitchen for a bit!" Xu Zhu smiled confidently.

"This way, please!" The manager wasn't afraid of Xu Zhu playing tricks on him at all. At worst, it would just take a little time, but if he really had a good prescription, he could definitely revive the restaurant.

The shopkeeper stood aside, watching Xu Zhu take the contents of the jar out one by one. The noodles were dry—no, they didn't look like noodles. What were these things?

Xu Zhu seemed to notice the shopkeeper's confusion, and while boiling water in a pot, he explained, "This is rice noodles."

After cooking the rice noodles, she adds greens, quail eggs, and her homemade sauce. The fragrant rice noodles are ready.

The shopkeeper had been eagerly waiting, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily.

"Shopkeeper, would you like to try some?" Xu Zhu handed the bowl of rice noodles to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper picked up his chopsticks, selected a few strands, put them in his mouth, and savored them gently. "Not bad, really not bad," he thought, "the rice noodles are delicate and chewy. Much better than regular noodles." After the first bite, he slurped them down.

The rice noodles were devoured in no time. Only after finishing did the shopkeeper realize that Xu Zhu and Li Baobao were staring at him. The two, one big and one small, looked so alike, and their movements were identical. He couldn't help but blush, but it wasn't his fault—it was just too delicious!

"One hundred taels?" Knowing that Xu Zhu had come to discuss the money, the shopkeeper got straight to the point!

Xu Zhu smiled but remained silent.

"Two hundred taels!" the shopkeeper gritted his teeth.

Xu Zhu continued to stare at him.

"Three hundred taels, that's the most I can offer!" Three hundred taels for a recipe is expensive, but worth it.

"I'd like to do this: I don't want the recipe for a single penny, but..."

The shopkeeper suddenly opened his eyes wide in disbelief.