In fact, every customer who entered Taoyuan Restaurant was recommended dishes containing two kinds of vegetables.
After eating, the customers could not stop praising them.
In the Taoyuan Foodies group chat, enthusiastic praises for the dishes floated up from time to time.
At noon, there weren't many people—only about twenty tables—leaving twenty glowing reviews.
By five o'clock in the afternoon, customers arrived in an endless stream.
Before five, both the lower and upper three floors were completely packed.
At every table with female guests, Qin Peiyao had two slices of cucumber served.
Today was a free trial, and charges would begin tomorrow!
Ten yuan per small plate!
The business opportunity brought by Ling Yun was quickly experienced by numerous women.
Unanimously, they felt their eyes were exceptionally refreshed, and even some people with nearsightedness experienced some relief.
Qin Peiyao never expected that a habit of Ling Yun's would open up an even broader business path for her.
Customers called upon their friends and companions, insisting on trying the signature dishes of Taoyuan Restaurant.
Some women who had best friends even called them over to share tables and test the power of the cucumber slices.
The only thing that left Qin Peiyao helpless was that when paying the bill, many women eagerly wanted to buy the cucumbers and take them away.
She flatly refused them.
If the signature dishes were bought and taken away, how could the restaurant stay in business?
Who knew how they would use them once bought home?
A happy little annoyance.
She had already decided to have someone send the tomatoes and cucumbers to the testing department for inspection tomorrow.
This was to prevent Dongrun Grand Hotel from playing any dirty tricks.
……
In contrast to the roaring popularity of Taoyuan Restaurant, Dongrun Grand Hotel lost customers.
Wang Tianyang had a few teeth knocked out and was lying in the hospital receiving an IV drip, completely unaware of this.
He was pondering how to exact revenge on Zhao Tiezhu. Lord Hu, who dominated half of the entertainment venues in Dongzhen, was no match for him.
Whose help should he enlist?
He had no idea that at that very moment, Lord Hu sneezed twice in a row.
With a gloomy expression, Lord Hu sat inside the bar, his eyes fixed on two young beauties.
The wicked fire in his heart had already risen. He rubbed his Baldy head and strode over.
Behind him, two lackeys, who knew Lord Hu's tastes all too well, followed along with evil grins plastered across their faces.Lord Hu eats meat, and they get to drink the soup.
The young beauty is quite attractive and dressed seductively. Who better to take advantage of this than oneself?
Lord Hu walked over to the two women, asked the bartender for a glass of "Twilight Lover," and tossed his head back for a large gulp.
He turned his head with a beaming smile and said to the young beauty:
"Hello beauties, let's get acquainted. My name is Hu Yifan, I..."
"Holy shit!"
Before his smile could fully blossom, it twisted into an expression of agony as he let out a loud cry, clutched his chest, and collapsed to the floor.
His lackeys were dumbfounded in an instant, shouting:
"Lord Hu! Lord Hu!"
The young beauty standing close by jumped in fright, repeatedly patting her chest as she couldn't help muttering:
"No way, did my beauty knock him out?"
Her female companion wore a dark expression, grabbing her and urging her to make a run for it.
As if he passed out just from looking at her! If they didn't run, were they going to wait around to be blamed?
Because Lord Hu had fainted, the bar music stopped, and he was frantically rushed to the hospital.
One of the lackeys who had been by Lord Hu's side and intercepted Zhao Tiezhu at noon suddenly recalled Zhao Tiezhu's words, feeling a sense of utter disbelief.
Could he really be an immortal?
Was Lord Hu actually about to die?
At the hospital, after running all sorts of tests with various instruments, the doctor told them:
"Angina pectoris combined with coronary atherosclerosis. He could drop dead from just a sneeze!"
Hu Yifan was shocked to the core, thinking of the country bumpkin who had punched him.
At the time, he had asked him if he was trying to scam him, but it turned out to be the truth.
The man had seen his condition with a single glance. Hu Yifan couldn't stay lying still in the hospital any longer and insisted on finding that country bumpkin no matter what.
The entirety of Dongzhen was sent into a bustling uproar as a result.
...
After finishing his meal, Zhao Tiezhu rode his pedal tricycle back home, the basket filled with some vegetables from his sister-in-law's house.
Eggplants, string beans, chili peppers, scallions, and so on.
Not enough!
After arriving home and putting down the vegetable basket, he pushed his tricycle and headed toward the house of Zhu Hongyu on the street ahead.The four members of the Zhu family were having their dinner: a simple dish of stir-fried potato slices, accompanied by scallions dipped in soybean paste.
"Oh, Brother Tiezhu is here! Come on in and sit down!"
Zhu Hongyu put down her bowl and chopsticks, hurrying out to greet him with a sparkle in her eyes.
Her younger sister, Zhu Hongdou, came skipping out after her.
Though dressed simply, her large eyes shone with brightness.
"Brother Tiezhu, have you eaten yet?"
Being a few years younger, she wasn't as warmly natural as Zhu Hongyu, but her eyes held a hint of admiration.
After all, Tiezhu was the very first person in the village to get accepted into university.
Zhao Tiezhu exchanged a few casual pleasantries:
"I've already eaten. I just came by to check on you all!"
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the Zhu family's vegetable patch, where the variety and abundance of vegetables were clearly much greater than at his own home.Inside the room, Zhu Dazhuang called out in a loud voice:
"Tiezhu's back? Hurry on in!"
He sat in a wheelchair, his hair graying. Though only in his forties, he looked like a man in his sixties, emaciated to the point of being almost unrecognizable.
When he was in good health, he had been the pillar of the household, extraordinarily capable and a master at working the land.
Otherwise, he never would have allowed his daughter to go to university—other families would have sent their children off to work long ago.
Auntie Zhu was a quiet woman who never gossiped with the village busybodies, living an honest and hardworking life.
Seeing Zhao Tiezhu, she smiled and urged him to come inside and have a bite to eat.
"Uncle, Auntie, I've already eaten. I've been running around busy since I got back, and today I finally had time to come by and see you."
"Uncle, let me take a look at your leg!"
His primary purpose in coming was to check on the leg, and incidentally pick up some vegetables to take back.
At this, Zhu Dazhuang let out a sigh and said:
"Tiezhu, just the fact that you came to see your uncle is enough to make me content. Ever since my leg broke, those guys who used to call themselves my brothers have all vanished."
"The young people don't come around either, except for those two punks who show up from time to time just to cause trouble and annoyance!"
Living in such a state, he had a fire pent up in his chest and couldn't help complaining for a bit.
Nearby, Auntie Zhu and her two daughters all wore distressed expressions, the gleam of tears faintly visible in their eyes.
Zhao Tiezhu pushed the wheelchair into the bedroom, offering words of comfort:
"Heh heh, the next time they come back, just have Hongyu call me, and I'll teach them a lesson!"
"Let's look at your leg first. I learned some medical skills while I was away!"
Disregarding their objections, he lifted the man—who weighed less than a hundred catties—onto the kang bed.
With summer clothing being light, he easily removed the trousers.
The lower left leg was fractured, with the lower half turning a greenish-black color and completely unable to straighten.
As he observed it, matching treatment methods and diagnostic results flashed through his mind.
It could be cured!
Zhao Tiezhu took a deep breath and said:
"I can treat this injury. However, I'll need to buy some acupuncture needles and alcohol pads. After my treatment, combined with some nutritional support, walking on the ground will be no problem at all."
"I'll go buy the needles first. You guys get some hot water ready!"
With these instructions, he turned and walked toward the door.
Zhu Hongyu followed at his heels, her voice choked with emotion:
"Brother Tiezhu, thank you. Even if you're just trying to comfort my dad, I'm grateful! Just now, I saw a spark of hope in my dad's eyes!"
As a university student, she didn't believe for a moment that Zhao Tiezhu could cure an illness, figuring he was simply trying to comfort her family.
Zhao Tiezhu offered no defense; once he cured it, they would believe.
Pointing at the vegetables in the garden, he asked:
"Hongy, are you selling the vegetables from your garden? Tomorrow I'm going out to sell produce, and I can take yours along with mine. I'll definitely get you a high price!"
"Ah? Sell them? Yes! Right now the family is relying entirely on vegetable money to survive! But, Zhou Erhu, he..."
Zhu Hongyu was equally terrified of Zhou Erhu, her words filled with apprehension.
Zhao Tiezhu tousled her hair and said:
"Go right ahead and pick the vegetables. I'll take care of Zhou Erhu!"