The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

“Okay, I’m happy to do something to improve the restaurant’s reputation. Let’s go home and tell our families about it. We’ve almost finished preparing all the food we need for the New Year. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, so we should be able to finish in time.”

"Okay, when we get home, I'll have my husband write a notice, and we'll post it on the door of our restaurant. We'll start distributing dumplings tomorrow morning."

Xu Tingting interjected, "Let's just set up a big pot at the entrance of the restaurant and cook it, then have people make bread in the lobby. Let's hurry, cook it quickly, and we can finish it in time for the New Year."

"to make."

The matter was settled simply by the three women. When they returned home and told their families about it, they received unanimous approval.

It would be much easier if everyone supported this; everyone could just wait to do it the next morning.

That evening, Du Mingxian prepared the ingredients in her space. Before dawn, she quietly went out and soon placed the food in the restaurant lobby. She arrived early and lit a brazier inside, worried that it would be too cold for everyone when they came later.

She had just finished doing all that when Madam Zhou arrived with a large group of people.

Then everyone took turns cooking.

There were people chopping meat, washing and cutting vegetables, kneading dough, setting up pots and tables at the door, all working busily.

By daybreak, the preparations were almost complete, and everyone began making dumplings.

Du Mingxian stayed inside making dumplings with everyone. She didn't go out. Xu Tingting and Xiao Zhou were outside, and even Ling's father came along today.

Of course... the Zhou family also came. Little An'an was looked after at home by Ling Silang, while most of the others came to help.

With many hands making light work, they quickly wrapped up quite a few.

As soon as the pots were set up outside, someone came over to ask.

Xu Tingting explained clearly, "Our boss felt sorry for the candidates who came all the way to Beijing to prepare for the exams, only to have a lonely New Year, so he thought of treating everyone to a meal of dumplings."

"So good?" The person who asked the question subconsciously swallowed, as he could see that there were quite a few plump white dumplings inside.

"Of course, the owner is kind-hearted and this is his first time doing business in Jinglou, so he wants to make a good connection."

"Okay, I know a few candidates. Have them come over."

Some people in Beijing who weren't taking the exam asked, and Xu Tingting didn't say she wouldn't give them any. She just said they were for the students. Of course, they had already discussed it yesterday. If anyone saw that their clothes were tattered, they could give them some too, since they had prepared plenty.

It's Chinese New Year, all we want is to have a festive atmosphere.

Around noon, everything was ready, and groups of students dressed as test-takers began to arrive, some of them a little embarrassed.

Little Zhou called out from the side, "Did you bring any bowls? If not, you'll have to wrap them in oil paper. They'll be a bit hot, so you'd better hurry up, or they'll get cold when you get back to your lodgings."

"You can't eat cold dumplings like that. You have to scald them with hot water before eating them."

She spoke casually, already cooking dumplings in her hands, and would even ask if the examinee was alone or with a partner.

If it's for one person, give them a larger portion so they can have another meal after lunch. If it's for two people, give them a portion for both of them.

As soon as the first batch of dumplings was put into the pot, a lot of people came around, all of them dressed as scholars.

Some of them were already swallowing their saliva silently, but they did not do anything impolite, standing properly to the side waiting.

"Everyone, please line up and come over."

The scholars were very conscientious and quickly lined up, and Da Zhou Shi began to distribute the dumplings.

Xu Tingting and others helped from the side.

The scholar would always say "Thank you" when he received the dumplings.

Xu Tingting would reply, "Happy New Year, may all your wishes come true in the new year."

Then you can keep hearing these two sentences.

Du Mingxian and Da Zhoushi stood together making dumplings, and the two would occasionally look up at each other.

Zhou's eyes welled up with tears. "This is a good deed."

"Yes, it will also help increase the restaurant's reputation, and maybe business will be even better in the new year."

What Du Mingxian didn't know was that because of this act of kindness, the Ling family's restaurant was lifted up to become the best in the capital by these people. Later, every three years on New Year's Day, the restaurant would arrange for someone to deliver dumplings to the examinees.

The restaurant's reputation grew, and scholars came to know that it would deliver dumplings to everyone on New Year's Eve so that candidates from other places could have a hot meal.

If you ask what's most famous in Beijing, it's undoubtedly the "Zhuangyuan Dumplings" from restaurants.

These are all things for later.

At first, it was the examinees who came, but gradually one or two people from the capital appeared. They were obviously ordinary people who wanted to get a free meal. Everyone could tell, but no one said anything. Since they were doing this good deed, they gave them some.

There weren't many people arriving in the first half hour, but the number of people coming gradually increased, with many being test takers and people from the surrounding area.

The number of dumplings made decreased as they were made, one batch after another being sent away.

Du Mingxian estimated in her mind that quite a few people had come. She wondered how they had gotten the news, but it was a good thing nonetheless.

Another hour passed, and the line was still quite long, but there were hardly any examinees in the line; they were all ordinary people, and they hadn't prepared many dumplings.

Du Mingxian sent Chunfeng out for a stroll to see if there were any more examinees.

Chunfeng went for a stroll and said there were still a few examinees inside, the rest were ordinary people.

Du Mingxian went out, glanced at the line, estimated the last few dumplings made, and said to Xiao Zhoushi and Xu Tingting who were distributing the dumplings: "Give each commoner two dumplings to try, and give the scholars the normal amount. We've finished making the last batch of dumplings, and there's only one pot left."

"Okay, I understand." As she spoke, Xiao Zhou put two dumplings into the bowl of the man in front of her who was queuing up.

The man immediately became unhappy upon seeing the two dumplings and yelled, "What are you doing? Are you looking down on me? You only gave me two?"

"Look what that is?" Du Mingxian pointed to the piece of paper that Ling Silang had written on yesterday.

The man, who was illiterate, immediately frowned. "What are you looking at? Just because I can't read doesn't mean you can bully me."

"The reason we distributed dumplings was simply to give a little warmth to the candidates who came to Beijing for the imperial examinations. We could have not given them to others, but since you all came, especially during the Spring Festival, we didn't want you to have come empty-handed."

"So I'll give these two to you, so you can try them out. If you don't want these two, you can keep them." Du Mingxian's attitude was firm.

Before the man could say anything more, Du Mingxian interrupted him, "Think it over before you speak. Many other candidates have already received dumplings. We're giving out dumplings specifically to them today, not doing charity. If you say something negative, you'll offend these scholars."