Chapter 158: Someone Causes Trouble at the Braised Delicacies Shop

"Gentle? What kind of gentle are you looking for?" Wei Ruo wanted to laugh.

Wei Yilin thought for a moment and replied, "Just like Wanwan Sister's gentleness! You should learn more from her. When she speaks, her voice is soft, she's always so mild, and her smile is very sweet."

This time, Wei Ruo truly laughed, and she gave Wei Yilin a two-word reply: "Keep dreaming."

"What did you say?"

"I said you are daydreaming in broad daylight. If you like someone like Wei Qingwan, go find Wei Qingwan. Anyway, I don't care to deal with you, let alone be gentle to you."

When other people were around, Wei Ruo would put on a facade for Wei Yilin, but now there was no outsider present, so Wei Ruo didn't bother beating around the bush with him.

"Wei Qingruo, you... you're too terrible! How can you act like an older sister! You have no resemblance to an older sister at all!"

Wei Yilin stamped his feet in anger, his little face flushed red, and his eyes opened wide.

Wei Ruo gave a light snort, and ignoring Wei Yilin's dissatisfaction, she strode back to her own courtyard.

Left behind, Wei Yilin could only stamp his feet angrily in the same spot.

"Jerk, bad guy, rotten egg." Wei Yilin kept stomping the ground, as if the ground were Wei Ruo herself.

Xiumei was waiting at the doorway for Wei Ruo to return, and from afar she saw Wei Yilin stamping his feet.

"Miss, what did you say to make the young master that angry?" Xiumei couldn't help asking out of curiosity.

"Didn't say much, just that I don't want to bother with him. And he wanted me to be as gentle to him as Wei Qingwan is. He's probably out of his mind," Wei Ruo replied.

Once she saved up enough silver, she would find some short-lived sickly guy to marry, slip away like a cicada shedding its shell, and he wouldn't even be able to see her face if he tried. Gentle? Gentle my foot!

***

Two days later, Wei Ruo received news sent to her from the prefecture city.

Something had happened to the braised food shop.

The shop itself was fine; business was quite good, and Chen Qing and the other errand boy were both quick and efficient at their work, making the daily profits quite substantial.

However, precisely because the shop was doing so well, it must have made someone envious, prompting them to send people to make trouble at the shop.

The first time they came to cause trouble, they didn't succeed, but the second time, they actually brought a group of people to smash the store.

Chen Qing tried to protect the shop, but two fists could not match four hands, and she ended up getting beaten and injured.

Upon receiving the news, Wei Ruo immediately took Xiumei and rushed to the prefecture city.

Before leaving, she only told Wei Mingting that she had matters to attend to in the prefecture city. Wei Mingting did not ask in detail, only telling Wei Ruo to take a couple of extra people and mind her safety.

Wei Ruo declined the offer under the pretext that Madam Yuan would send people to meet and assist her.

The business she was going to handle in the prefecture city could not be let known to the Wei family just yet.

Upon arriving in the prefecture city, Wei Ruo first went to Chen Qing's residence to check on the situation.

Chen Qing currently lived in a small alley in the city with her aunt, who was a cook.

When Wei Ruo and Xiumei found Chen Qing, she was lying in bed recovering from her injuries.

Seeing Wei Ruo arrive, Chen Qing tried to get up, but Wei Ruo pressed her back down. "Lie still, don't move around."

"Miss, I'm sorry, I failed to protect the shop..." Chen Qing said with a face full of apology.

"There's nothing to apologize for. Next time you encounter such a situation and the other party outnumbers you, just run. A smashed shop can be redecorated, but if something happens to you, there's no fixing that."

"But Miss, that was a shop you worked so hard to open..." Chen Qing looked distressed and full of self-blame.

"It's fine. Once this matter is sorted out, we can just reopen. It's no big deal; your safety is what matters most," Wei Ruo comforted Chen Qing.

"But..."

"Don't dwell on that. You just need to focus on recovering your health, and I'll handle the rest."

As she spoke, Wei Ruo reached out to check Chen Qing's pulse.

Then she examined her injuries.

A used medicine bowl still sat on Chen Qing's bedside table, and Wei Ruo picked it up to take a sniff.

It seemed the cook truly cared for her niece; she had invited a doctor and prescribed medicine for her. Although the therapeutic effect of the prescription was mediocre, she had done her absolute best.

Wei Ruo had Xiumei fetch paper and brush, wrote out a new prescription, and directly sent Xiumei out to purchase the medicinal ingredients, while also leaving behind a special medicinal ointment for Chen Qing.

"Stop taking the medicine the previous doctor prescribed for you. Later when Xiumei returns, use the medicine she brings back, and apply this ointment to the healing wounds once every morning and evening," Wei Ruo instructed.

Chen Qing looked at Wei Ruo in utter astonishment. For as long as she could remember, apart from her aunt, this was the first time anyone had ever treated her so well and shown her such care.

"Miss, you are too good to me," Chen Qing said, her voice choking with emotion.

"You got hurt because of my shop, so it's only right that I do these things."

Chen Qing's eyes suddenly turned red as she looked at Wei Ruo. She hadn't cried when she was being beaten, but now, touched by Wei Ruo's care, she felt a sudden urge to weep.

"Miss, you're truly a wonderful person..."

"Alright, don't think about all that. Get some good rest, and I'll go take care of that matter first."

After giving Chen Qing a few more instructions, Wei Ruo left. She needed to get to the bottom of the matter and find out who was pulling strings behind the scenes!

Wei Ruo and Xiumei arrived once again outside the Xu Family Braised Food Shop, where the wet nurse was already waiting for her inside.

"Miss, I'm sorry, I couldn't rush back in time," the wet nurse said apologetically.

"Wet nurse, you don't need to blame yourself. You and Uncle Xu have to manage many things and can't possibly stay at the shop all the time. Besides, didn't I fail to rush here immediately as well?"

Not giving the wet nurse a chance to continue shouldering the blame herself, Wei Ruo asked, "Do you have any clues about the people who came to make trouble?"

"The people who came claimed to be from the Immortals' Abode Restaurant," the wet nurse replied.

The wet nurse had no idea how they could have offended people from the Immortals' Abode Restaurant. Although both sold food, theoretically there shouldn't have been any conflict between them.

Xiumei asked Wei Ruo, "Miss, should we go to the Immortals' Abode Restaurant to settle accounts?"

Xiumei had already rolled up her sleeves, ready for a fight.

"We can't be rash. Even if they truly are from the Immortals' Abode Restaurant, just the two of us going in single-handedly would put us at a disadvantage."

While answering Xiumei's question, Wei Ruo pondered a countermeasure.

"Here is what we'll do, Meimei: let's go back, disguise ourselves, and prepare some braised food. Tomorrow, we'll set up a stall right outside this shop to sell it," Wei Ruo said.

Her plan was to wait by the stump for the hare. Since the other party wanted to prevent her from doing business in peace, she was going to do business all the more.

"Alright!" Xiumei agreed with both hands.

Hearing this, the wet nurse offered, "Miss, should I call Xiaoyong back? He only returned to Xingshan County a couple of days ago and hasn't reported back to the military camp yet."

"Don't disturb Brother Xiaoyong. His injuries have just healed, and he has to return to the military camp in a couple of days. Let him rest properly instead of running back and forth," Wei Ruo said.

"But I'm worried that if too many people come, Meimei won't be able to handle them alone..." the wet nurse worried aloud.

"I'll go borrow a couple of people from Madam Yuan. This is a bustling area of the prefecture city; if people are causing trouble, the prefectural magistrate's office still has to uphold the law."