Chapter 372 Stew
Indeed, there is no other He family in this world that can make Zhang Heming like this.

But why?
The He family is wealthy and powerful, and there are quite a few businesses in the clan. How about opening a snack stand in Changzhou City?
Cui Wendong was puzzled and could only look at Zhang Heming, "May I ask, Master Zhang, why does the He family want to open a food stall in Changzhou City?"

"To be exact, these food stalls were opened by the old lady of the He family." Zhang Heming said, "As for the reason, I don't know either. I only know that the old lady sent someone to the government office and asked me to take good care of these food stalls and not let them be bullied."

When Zhang Heming spoke, he emphasized the word "bully" very strongly.

When he saw Cui Wendong's face turn ugly, Zhang Heming sighed and looked quite conflicted. "I should have done my best to fulfill Master Cui's instructions, but the old lady also gave instructions. I really don't know how to do this."

"After all, this He family..."

That's an existence that's even more powerful than your Cui family.

Although Zhang Heming's words were not explicit, Cui Wendong understood the meaning and his expression became even uglier.

The purpose of looking for trouble with the bun stall was to build up the prestige for the Cui family, but now it has hit a wall with the He family, making the status of the Cui family seem even lower.

It's really embarrassing!
Cui Wendong felt extremely depressed and his anger rushed to his forehead. He wanted to tell Zhang Heming not to pay attention to the He family and just drive the bun stall out. But when he thought about offending the old lady of the He family, his fate would be unimaginable.

After all, he was just a concubine's son in the Cui family and was not taken seriously since childhood. However, as he grew older, he showed some intelligence and talent, which made his father notice his existence and gradually assigned him some things to do.

Whatever he does, he must put the Cui family first and his own interests first.

Don’t worry about anything else and just endure it!
Cui Wendong took a deep breath, and resolved all the frustration in his heart. He finally let out a breath, saying calmly, "I thought the owner of the Xia Ji Baozi stall was a troublemaker, but I never thought that it was the flood that washed away the Dragon King Temple."

"Since the old lady specifically told me about this Xia Ji, I will not pursue this matter any further for the old lady's sake."

It was clearly your Cui family that was causing the trouble, yet you are speaking so righteously now, as if you were the one who was forced to suffer injustice.

tsk...

The Cui family's education is really not that good.

Zhang Heming looked down on him in his heart, but smiled happily on the surface, "Mr. Cui is open-minded, which is admirable."

Cui Wendong felt relieved when he saw this and smiled slightly, "But there is one thing I still don't quite understand. Please explain it to me, Master Zhang."

"Mr. Cui, please speak."

"The old lady is of noble status. If she wants to do something to pass the time, why doesn't she use the He family's name but instead hang up the Xia family's sign? Is there any connection between this old lady and this Xia?" Cui Wendong asked.

"To be honest with you, Master Cui, I didn't know about this either." Zhang Heming answered truthfully, "And the He family never took the initiative to tell me, so I didn't dare to ask more, for fear that the He family would think I was spying, so..."

"I really can't answer this for you, Master Cui. Please forgive me."

"No problem." Cui Wendong raised his hand expressionlessly. "Thank you for coming here, Master Zhang. I have something else to deal with later, so I won't keep you here any longer."

"I won't bother you, Mr. Cui. Goodbye." After Zhang Heming walked out of the gate of Qinglian Villa, the smile on his face disappeared instantly. After getting on the carriage, his face became as gloomy as the bottom of a pot.

The servant next to him was also angry, "He is just a bastard of the Cui family. He really takes himself seriously and doesn't even look at his own status!"

No matter how powerful a noble family is, it is only a clan. It would be fine if the head of the family was a little arrogant, but you, Cui Wendong, are just a bastard, without even a single achievement, and yet you can be summoned and dismissed at will by a prefect.

He has absolutely no self-awareness at all!
"He can be as arrogant as he wants. As long as he doesn't do anything that touches the bottom line, just let him do whatever he wants." Zhang Heming said, "There's no need to offend him because of this matter, let alone offend the Cui family."

Now that the new dynasty has only been established for a short time, the emperor still has to rely on the aristocratic families to help him conquer the world and pacify the four seas. If he offends these families, he will definitely suffer the consequences.

He had finally gotten the position of prefect, and was able to realize his ambitions, do something for the people, and serve the country. He absolutely could not be delayed by such an idiot.

If you want to be a good official, you must first be an official, and a high-ranking official. Only in this way can you command a region and let your subordinates do things according to your ideas and principles.

In this process, he needs to see into the darkness and be able to accept the darkness. Only in this way, one day, he will be able to shatter the darkness with one blow!
Zhang Heming exhaled all the turbid air in his heart and instructed, "Have someone watch over Qinglian Villa. If there is any unusual movement, report it immediately."

"Yes."

"Send more people to keep an eye on Xia Ji's business to make sure nothing goes wrong."

To prevent Cui Wendong, a grown man with a heart as small as a needle, from doing something outrageous in private.

"Yes!"
-
Xia Ji’s business is continuing as usual, and franchisees of the cold pot skewers restaurant have been gradually opened up.

Manager Fu has found a suitable shop, bought it, and arranged for people to start renovating it in preparation for opening a braised food shop.

Xia Mingyue started to cook the braised soup and prepare a menu of braised dishes.

Needless to say, common foods such as braised meat, braised chicken, braised pork elbow, braised pork liver, and braised vegetarian dishes.

Xia Mingyue also prepared to make all the excellent fried fish, preserved eggs, braised donkey meat and other foods sold in the braised food shops in Jinqiu County.

Pork skin jelly is translucent and refreshing, and is best suited as a summer side dish. Although it needs to be refrigerated with ice when it is formed, it is not troublesome and has become one of the items on the menu.

In addition, Xia Mingyue also made egg skin meat rolls and steamed buns.

The former is made by chopping and pounding meat with a 50:50 fat-50 ratio into a puree, mixing it evenly with onion and ginger water, pepper powder, chopped vegetables powder, starch, salt, etc., spreading it on a large egg pancake skin made by mixing eggs and starch, and rolling it into a dense meat roll.

Then steam it, let it cool down, cut it into thin slices, and serve it on a plate.

The latter is made by mixing chopped meat with chopped green onion, chopped ginger, cornstarch, salt, soy sauce, chopped vermicelli, starch, etc., and then putting it directly in a mold and steaming it before eating.

Whether it is the egg skin meat roll or the steamed bun, both use plenty of meat. One bite will fill your mouth with the aroma of meat, which is rich and mellow and extremely delicious.

Whether you eat it directly or dip it in sauce, it is quite satisfying to devour it.