LGSLAW : Chapter 54 – Recipe

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the families busy with farming returned to their work. For Miao He’s family, who focused on growing vegetables, life remained unchanged except for saving a lot of time on fertilization. Any free time was spent planting saplings on the hillside. Miao He even had Yang Dalang drive the donkey cart more often, ostensibly to transport saplings back, to cover their tracks.

Having a cart was truly convenient. Delivering vegetables and cakes to both the Liang mansion and the teahouse was no longer tiring. The new member, Xiao Bai, was very well-behaved. As long as he had his favorite carrots, he would go east if asked and run when called, showing no typical donkey stubbornness.

However, perhaps because of this, Miao Liang eventually noticed that Miao He’s family was delivering vegetables to the teahouse. One day, Miao Liang saw Yang Dalang driving the donkey cart through the east street of the town and couldn’t resist following him, finally confirming the matter!

“Could it be that the teahouse really gets its vegetables from them!? My initial suspicion was correct!?” Watching the donkey cart drive into the teahouse and not come out for a long time, Miao Liang bit his lip, feeling a deep resentment.

But even if he reported this to the Dahe Restaurant now, there would be no reward.

Recently, the Yangshui Teahouse had been launching various seasonal dishes, ice green bean cakes, and some chicken dishes, all praised as top-notch. Besides, they seemed to use ice as if it cost nothing! Ice fruits, ice dishes, and all these attracted guests in droves, completely overshadowing the Dahe Restaurant in both reputation and business!

As the teahouse continued to pursue a high-end, refined route, the restaurant had to lower the prices of its tofu products, widening the gap in class. Now, no one even mentioned the Yangshui Teahouse and the Dahe Restaurant in the same breath. The restaurant owner seemed to have lost his ambition, focusing instead on small profits and quick returns, and seeking compensation from the workshop to make up for the lost profits.

The workshop had more work but not more wages! The restaurant kept pressing down prices, and with a contract in place, the workshop could only sell its products to the restaurant. The Miao family didn’t dare breach the contract for fear of offending the restaurant, which surely had some background to run such a big establishment in town. Hence, the workshop had to swallow the losses.

Now discovering this fact only made Miao Liang more furious!

If he had had the courage to report the vegetable supply deal earlier, perhaps everything would have been different…

Watching the growing wealth slip through his fingers, Miao Liang’s heart grew darker. If he couldn’t benefit, he couldn’t stand seeing Yang Dalang’s family doing well either!

***

Unaware of the envious and spiteful thoughts directed at them, Miao He’s family continued their peaceful daily routine of planting vegetables and trees.

Meanwhile, Miao He’s belly gradually grew, like an expanding balloon. The four puppies grew just as quickly, nearly the size of Da Bai in less than a month. However, the little black cat maintained its absolute authority. Whenever a puppy got too playful, it would slap them down without mercy, and the puppies would only bark in response, never retaliating.

During this period, Yang Dalang also went hunting several times. Autumn was the season when game was fattest. Although the chickens they raised had increased to a hundred, most were still too young to be eaten. So, Yang Dalang called on his second aunt to look after Miao He and went hunting with Miao Ping and others. The most recent hunt yielded a particularly large wild boar.

Since he wanted to keep the best parts, Yang Dalang decided to butcher the boar in the village instead of selling it in town.

So, on the day of the butchering, the village was bustling with activity.

Not only did the village chief accompany Yang Dalang throughout, claiming to be there to maintain order, but many aunts also brought their basins to buy pork. Eating affordable meat outside of holidays was rare. Yang Dalang used to do this often, but hunting had become less frequent since starting the hillside vegetable garden. Hearing there was meat for sale, everyone rushed to get some.

Even Miao He’s mother, Li Zhaodi, came, not forgetting to bring money as was proper. Seeing her son for the first time in a while, with his round belly and well-nourished appearance, just as the villagers had said, Li Zhaodi felt a mix of complexity and regret, but more than anything, a determination.

After the bride price incident, life at home had been very difficult for her and her husband.

The old lady and the second household constantly gave them cold looks and spoke with sharp sarcasm. Li Zhaodi had no retort and endured it all. Their entire savings had been taken, leaving them with nothing. Any expenditure had to be requested item by item from the old lady. These days, the couple tasted the bitterness of family disputes over money, reflecting on things they never had before.

She had to think about Xiaobao’s future. With the family relations as they were, there was no hope of support from the brothers. If they wore out their ties with Miao He, who would help Xiaobao in the future? Thinking of this, even hearing that Miao He was doing well, she refrained from seeking him out.

Now, looking at her basin filled with meat and ribs, paid for with money borrowed from her second brother, Li Zhaodi lowered her head to hide her watery eyes.

“He, I was wrong before. From now on, as long as you and Dalang are well, the family won’t treat you like before.”

The village chief immediately chimed in, “That’s right, Aunt Zhaodi, it’s good that you’ve come to your senses. See, you brought money to support Dalang today, and he gave you extra meat without a word. Family should help each other out; that’s the way to stay close.”

Miao He didn’t say much, just nodded in response to Li Zhaodi. Her tense face relaxed a bit, and she turned to ask Yang Dalang about Miao He’s condition. But just as she started talking, Miao Liang approached with a peculiar expression, followed by Miao Min, who also came to buy meat.

Miao Liang raised his voice slightly, “Dalang, your hunting skills are impressive, catching such a large boar. Truly remarkable! But why didn’t you sell this fine boar to the Yangshui Teahouse? You could’ve gotten a better price! Just like how you’ve been selling vegetables to the Yangshui Teahouse, earning enough to build a brick house.”

Silence fell over the crowd. Miao Liang sneered inwardly.

He deliberately brought this up in public, hoping to stir up resentment among those who grew soybeans. After a few more words, surely the villagers would blame Yang Dalang. Wasn’t the village chief, a staunch supporter of the workshop, present? If the Dahe Restaurant’s business suffered, they would naturally buy fewer soybeans. The blame for supplying vegetables to their competitor, the Yangshui Teahouse, couldn’t escape Yang Dalang.

However, before the villagers could react, someone came running from a distance, shouting, “News!! Big news!! The tofu pudding recipe, they say it’s been leaked!! The restaurants in town are in an uproar!!”

The village chief’s face turned pale at the news and he rushed over. “What did you say!? What happened!? Explain quickly!!”

Before the man could respond, an aunt exclaimed, “The recipe leaked!? Oh no, I just planted extra soybeans this season! Is the workshop still going to buy soybeans!?”

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the crowd began to shout, “My family too!!” “They said they would definitely buy them!! Are they going to buy or not!?” “What does the Miao family say about this!? Is anyone from their family here!?”

The village chief was surrounded by anxious villagers. After struggling to maintain order, he finally got the full story.

Apparently, another shop selling tofu pudding had opened in town! The shop owner claimed that their recipe was also found in an old book, just like the Dahe Restaurant’s, but their tofu pudding was richer and better!

As the news spread, all the curious customers flocked to the new shop to try it out. Many agreed that it was indeed tastier and cheaper than the Dahe Restaurant’s, though limited in quantity, suggesting they hadn’t yet scaled up production like the workshop.

This raised suspicions that the recipe might have been leaked from the workshop, creating a huge uproar. The Dahe Restaurant’s manager, Zhang, was furious and immediately went to confront Miao Yuan at the private school. According to their contract, if the recipe leaked, the restaurant could demand a hefty compensation from the workshop.

Miao Yuan was shocked by the news. Only he knew how the recipe had been obtained. Could it be that someone had stolen it from Min Chun’s work process? Holding back his anxiety and confusion, he temporarily appeased Zhang and sent someone to notify Miao Jue. But the news had already spread in the town and reached the village, being reported right at this gathering!

The village chief was now panicking. If the workshop suffered, it might not affect him directly, but all his previous support would become a joke. If the villagers demanded compensation for their soybeans, what would he do!?

The village chief stomped his foot, “Ah! Why didn’t the Miao family discuss this with me!? Forget it, I’ll go to their house right now. Everyone, stay calm!! Wait until I get to the bottom of this!! Don’t go causing trouble, or the workshop might stop buying soybeans altogether, understand!?”

Leaving these stern words, the village chief ran off, leaving behind a crowd of anxious and gossiping villagers.

Naturally, Miao Liang’s earlier “good intentions” were now forgotten.

However, Yang Dalang gave Miao Liang a meaningful look, catching him in the act. Miao Liang quickly averted his eyes.

Yang Dalang could now clearly see through his schemes.

Turning to the slightly frowning Miao He, Yang Dalang patted his head, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing.”

Even if the villagers tried to pit them against the workshop, they were now shareholders in the teahouse, with closer ties. Besides, the workshop would be too busy dealing with this mess to cause them trouble.

Perhaps fate was kind, making those with ill intentions suffer their own consequences first.

***

While Miao He and Yang Dalang were gradually planting fruit trees on the hillside, the tofu pudding recipe scandal continued to escalate. Rumor had it that the restaurant was demanding a large compensation from the workshop, which denied leaking the recipe, claiming the new shop must have also found it in an old book.

This explanation cleared their immediate responsibility.

Then the new tofu pudding shop was suddenly vandalized by local thugs. The brothers running the shop got angry and announced that they would sell the recipe to anyone with money, claiming that everyone should profit from it. This infuriated the Dahe Restaurant even more, leading to frequent confrontations at the Miao family’s house.

This even affected Miao Yuan’s exams in mid-October.

It was said that when he came out of the exam hall, his face was pale, and he was shaky, a bad omen indeed.

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