Chapter 308: You Won’t Be Able to Live Well Either
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
In order to confirm the situation of the shops, Su Ying planned to go and take a look personally.
After Su Ying gave the three children their respective tasks, she had the guards prepare a small, inconspicuous horse carriage and went out of the manor with Bai Shuang.
They first went to the restaurant closest to Prince Qi’s Manor. It was the one with the best geographical location but was reportedly still losing money.
When they arrived, it was close to noon. The restaurant was as crowded as a marketplace, and even the dining hall on the first floor was almost full.
Su Ying and Bai Shuang walked to the entrance of the restaurant, and a waiter came forward to welcome them.
“Do you two ladies wish to dine here?”
“Mm-hmm. Just give us a table in the main hall.”
The waiter was stunned for a moment as if he hadn’t expected Su Ying to be willing to sit in the main hall. Those who could come to their restaurant to eat were either very rich or noble, so they would be more or less quite particular. Women rarely sat in the main dining hall.
However, the waiter still invited her in spite of Su Ying’s request. It so happened that there was an empty table near the corner of the main hall.
“What do you two ladies wish to eat? Please feel free to tell me.”
“Bring me all your signature dishes.”
“Oh, okay. Please wait a moment.”
While Su Ying and Bai Shuang were waiting, more and more people came to the restaurant. There was almost no room left, so the staff could only invite people to wait outside.
The restaurant’s kitchen was also very efficient. Very soon, the dishes were served.
“Madam, look. This is our restaurant’s signature crispy chicken. This dish is carp leaping over the dragon gate, and this is braised lion’s head…”
The waiter named a list of dishes.
“How much are the dishes on this table?”
After calculating, the waiter said, “Madam, your dishes cost five taels of silver.”
Su Ying nodded noncommittally and then gestured for the waiter to leave.
Bai Shuang looked at the dishes on the table and could not help but click her tongue. “Each dish costs about one tael of silver…”
These ingredients looked ordinary. All of them added up to only three hundred over copper coins.
With such exorbitant dish prices, how could the restaurant still incur losses every year?
Su Ying didn’t say anything. The food was already served, so how could she not eat?
After eating and drinking her fill, Su Ying put down her chopsticks and asked the waiter to bring the shopkeeper over.
The waiter smiled and called out to the shopkeeper who was doing the accounts to come to Su Ying’s table.
Shopkeeper Li was a little puzzled when he saw Su Ying. “Madam, may I know why you wish to see me?”
Su Ying said with a smile, “It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to talk to you about buying this restaurant.”
Shopkeeper Li was stunned for a moment before he laughed. “Madam, are you joking?”
“Do I look like I’m joking? I heard that your restaurant has been losing money for years and can barely support itself. It’s really a waste of such a good place, so 1 plan to pay a sum of money to buy it. What do you think, Shopkeeper Li?” Shopkeeper Li couldn’t help laughing when he heard Su Ying’s words and he mocked her, “Madam, don’t joke around. As you can see, how can such a big restaurant like ours incur losses? If you want to buy it, I’m afraid you won’t be able to buy this restaurant even if you empty your pockets.”
“I don’t believe you. I’ll pay a thousand taels of silver. Go get someone to prepare the contract.”
Shopkeeper Li concluded that Su Ying was here to stir up trouble. His smile gradually faded as he glared at Su Ying with disdain and said, “Madam, if you are here to cause trouble, then don’t blame me for not showing you any courtesy.”
“You guys lose money every year. Now, I’m giving you money and asking you to give me this restaurant. How can you say I’m here to cause trouble?”
Su Ying raised her voice as she said this, and the people around her laughed when they heard her.
“Madam, don’t joke around. This is Virtue Sunshine Hall. How can Virtue Sunshine Hall lose money? They earn a few hundred taels of silver every month. You want to buy Virtue Sunshine Hall with just 1,000 taels of silver? Isn’t this a joke?”
A diner at the side spoke up for Shopkeeper Li.
Shopkeeper Li gave Su Ying a smug look. “You heard that? I’m not the only one who says this.”
Su Ying nodded in realization, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on her face. “So… you have been falsifying the accounts.”
Shopkeeper Li’s expression changed slightly as he stared at Su Ying warily. “Who are you? What nonsense are you talking about?”
Su Ying stretched out her hand, and Bai Shuang threw an account book onto the table. “You’ve been working here for quite a long time, haven’t you? Then come and explain to me why Virtue Sunshine Hall has been incurring losses almost every year in this account book. Hmm?”
Shopkeeper Li’s eyes widened. “Who are you?”
“I’m the owner of this restaurant. Who do you think 1 am?”
Shopkeeper Li turned around and wanted to run upon hearing that.
Su Ying picked up the chopsticks on the table and shot them out.
“Argh!”
The chopsticks stabbed into Shopkeeper Li’s thigh viciously, causing him to fall to the floor in a pathetic state.
The diners in the restaurant were all startled by the sight, and many of them ran out. Su Ying immediately ordered the guards at the entrance to block them from leaving.
Su Ying’s gaze swept across these diners icily. “You haven’t paid yet, but you still want to run?”
Shopkeeper Li turned back to look at Su Ying, who was walking towards him step by step, and he backed away in fear. “You… you’re Princess Consort Qi!” During this period, Su Ying’s reputation for brutality had already spread throughout all quarters, and even Shopkeeper Li couldn’t help feeling apprehensive.
Su Ying walked up to him and looked down at him. “Who told you to falsify the accounts?”
“The losses… losses are not fake… No!” Shopkeeper Li suddenly stared behind Su Ying. “What are you guys still standing there for? Quickly take her down!” The hired thugs behind Su Ying whom Shopkeeper Li yelled to rushed up at once. They didn’t care who Su Ying was and only listened to whoever gave them money.
Su Ying’s eyebrows arced upwards as she grabbed a bench nearby. Pow! She smashed it viciously onto the bodies of the thugs.
A dozen thugs were smashed to the ground by Su Ying in less than a quarter of an hour.
Shopkeeper Li was so frightened that his face turned deathly pale. He desperately crawled toward the entrance, but Su Ying stepped on his thigh.
“I’ll give you two hours. Tell the person who swallowed the silver to send all the silver over immediately.”
Su Ying exerted force on her foot, and Shopkeeper Li’s scream echoed throughout the restaurant.
The diners were scared out of their wits. They took out their silver and paid up before leaving in droves. They were terrified that they would become embroiled in this dispute for no reason.
“Your Highness, spare my life! Your Highness, spare my life! It was Mrs. Prime Minister! It was Mrs. Prime Minister who told me to falsify the accounts.” Shopkeeper Li’s face was pale from the pain and even his voice had turned hoarse.
Su Ying lowered her eyes and dusted the fragments off her clothes. “I don’t care who it was. 1 want to see the banknotes in two hours. For every quarter of an hour of delay, I’ll crush one of your bones until all the bones in your body are crushed.”
“Yes, yes…” Shopkeeper Li shouted at the waiter who was hiding. “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and send a message to Mrs. Prime Minister! Be quick!” The waiter was scared out of his wits. He scrambled out of the restaurant and went to the Prime Minister’s Residence to look for the aforementioned person. Shopkeeper Li was a distant cousin of Little Madam Jiang. After Shopkeeper Li’s family received the news, they also followed the waiter to the Prime Minister’s Residence.
“Mrs. Prime Minister, you must save your older cousin. He has done a lot for you all these years!”
Little Madam Jiang’s face clouded over. She wanted nothing more than to crush Su Ying to death.
“If you don’t save him, you… you won’t be able to live well either!”