Chapter 584 - 584 Her face was hurting a little
584 Her face was hurting a little
Shi Qingluo did not care about the commotions outside.
She was focused on decorating the largest wine shop under Nanxi Winery.
She also wrote a lot of recipes for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to study.
At the same time, she also invited the royal chef that Prince Yi had brought from the capital to join.
She had planted a lot of chilies at the northern border last year, but she had not been able to promote them.
This buffet was also an opportunity.
The Fang family’s largest wine shop was connected to a large courtyard at the back.
It was also the place where the Fang family lived when they first started.
Later, they developed and rebuilt their residence and moved away.
Hence, Shi Qingluo ordered the kitchen to be expanded and renovated.
Two more ancient kiln roasting rooms and an oven would also be built.
The barbeque pit would be for baking pastries and roasting meat, while the grill would be for roasting duck.
There was no oven yet, so the traditional desserts were all steamed, fried, and baked.
A hanging furnace would be used for baking.
It was suitable for making mooncakes or scone cakes.
However, it wasn’t suitable for the egg tarts and cakes that Shi Qingluo wanted to make.
Only then did she renovate the barbecue room.
There were very few people who could refuse good food, so she was prepared to have a buffet at this shop every ten days or half a month.
She could also make a fortune while promoting wine.
As for why it was only held once every ten days to half a month, it was obviously for hunger marketing and to improve the quality of buffets.
Shi Qingluo had been to a few decent Chinese buffets in the modern world, so she knew how to decorate the place.
She had a rough direction on the food choices at the buffet.
She drew up a menu and handed it to the royal chef and his disciples.
There were so many dishes to be served at the buffet, and this royal chef and his disciple were the key players.
As she was concerned about insufficient manpower, Prince Yi helped find a few people who were good at cooking and had a clean background.
Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law would only be helping out.
If they were too tired, not only would Prince Yi be reluctant to let them do it, but she was also reluctant.
As there was a lot to prepare, the banquet was set to be held in six days.
Shi Qingluo had brought some people to set up the wine shop and had the chef try the recipes in the kitchen.
Many people had received the news.
“I heard that in a few days, Princess Fubao and Magistrate Xiao will hold a banquet for everyone at the current Nanxi Winery on the main street.”
“A banquet at a wine shop — what’s going on?”
“Don’t tell me it’s over after we have a drink.”
“Then the news we heard recently might be true. Princess Fubao is using the Fang family’s wine to entertain everyone.”
“If that’s the case, then it will be too embarrassing.”
“Do you guys think the Tu family will stir trouble with them?”
“That’s for sure. Whoever it was, they wouldn’t be happy if the fruits of their victory were taken away by others.”
“Even though that’s what you say, what the Tu family did to the Fang family is too much.”
“Shut up, don’t talk nonsense. You’ll be in big trouble if the two legitimate young masters of the Tu family find out.”
“I didn’t say anything just now. You didn’t hear me.”
It was also because the banquet was going to be held in the wine shop that everyone’s curiosity was piqued.
Six days later.
The banquet was set to be held at noon, which meant that everyone was invited to have lunch.
Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng were standing at the door to welcome the guests.
Those who were of lower status than Xiao Hanzheng were the first to arrive and also gave him gifts.
After that were the upper-middle-class families.
Previously, Shi Qingluo had sent people to knock on the Zhu family’s door.
After the Zhu family’s family head found out about his wife’s stupid actions, he was furious.
Although he was unhappy that Shi Qingluo had ordered people to beat his wife in public and even called his son a good-for-nothing, he was still unhappy.
However, he also knew why Shi Qingluo and her husband were so angry.
After all, he knew very well what kind of person his youngest son was.
Originally, he was going to let his third son, who wasn’t engaged yet, to marry Xiao Baili.
Who knew that his wife would go against his wishes and change it to his youngest son behind his back?
She even mentioned it to Shi Qingluo, which offended him.
Even though he still remembered how Shi Qingluo had humiliated his wife, his family needed Xiao Hanzheng’s help, so he still brought his sons to the banquet.
He was here to ease the tension, not start a feud, so he didn’t bring his youngest son along.
As for Madam Zhu, she didn’t come because she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo welcomed Master Zhu with a smile when they saw him with his son.
A moment later, Master Tu also arrived with his wife and sons.
Madam Tu greeted Shi Qingluo with a smile, as if she had never had any conflicts with her.
Since she was so polite, Shi Qingluo naturally would not express her displeasure in front of everyone.
That would only put her at a disadvantage.
Hence, she smiled and welcomed them, guiding them inside.
As soon as Master Tu’s family walked in, they smelled the fragrance of food.
Then they noticed that this large shop had been transformed into something they had never seen before.
There were tables on both sides and in the middle, covered with elegant tablecloths.
On the table were white porcelain bowls and plates of different sizes, with dishes they had never seen before.
Then they saw many people holding plates and putting food on their plates with their own pincers, picking up whatever they wanted to eat.
There were many dining tables covered with tablecloths in the innermost part of the room, and many people were already sitting and eating.
There were no dishes on the table.
Instead, there were several plates in front of everyone.
They were confused about what was going on with this banquet.
A maidservant walked up to them and introduced them to a buffet with a smile.
There were hot foods, cold dishes, pastries, desserts, staple foods, barbeque, fruits, and alcohol.
The buffet table had many dishes, and there was also a set of plates for one to select the dishes they liked.
The dishes served on the upper floor and lower floor were different, they could choose to sit on either floors.
After the maidservant’s introduction, Master Tu and the others also understood what this banquet was about.
This was something they had never seen or heard of before.
After the maidservant left, a few of them walked over to take a look.
The dishes on the table were very sumptuous, and they had basically never seen them before.
They roughly estimated that there were more than a hundred dishes downstairs.
Madam Tu’s nose was filled with the fragrance, and she couldn’t help but feel hungry.
However, her complexion was terrible, and she even felt that she had completely lost her appetite.
It was indeed what Shi Qingluo had said that her banquet would not go well.
The dishes were too bad, and she wanted to hold a banquet with special recipes and delicious food.
She had been disdainful before, thinking that no matter how well a banquet was held, how fantastic could it be?
But now her face was hurting a little.
At this moment, Master Zhu was holding a plate and taking food with one of his sons.
Master Tu stopped him.
“You’re eating already?”
Master Zhu knew that his wife had been used by Madam Tu before, so he didn’t like Madam Tu.
However, he was on the Tu family master’s side, so he was very polite.
“These dishes will be served again when they run out, so there’s no need to wait for the banquet to start. Just take whatever you want to eat.”
“Not to mention,” he said, “it’s really not bad. It’s my first time eating most of the dishes here.
“Those from the great aristocratic families are all sitting upstairs. You can take the dishes and bring them upstairs.”
Even if he didn’t like Shi Qingluo, he had to admit that this banquet was unprecedented.
Not only were the dishes varied, but they were also delicious.
He was still hungry, so continued to get more food after interacting with Master Zhu.
Master Tu was smiling on the surface, but deep down, he was very uncomfortable.
They had come to slap Shi Qingluo in the face today.
However, judging from the novelty of the banquet and the many dishes, his wife was the one who was slapped in the face.
Just as he was thinking about it, he saw the people carrying the vegetables looking at the door and bowing. “Greetings, Prince Jin!”
Master Tu and the others immediately turned around and saw Prince Jin walking in. They were extremely shocked. Why was he here?