Just as Shen Yilan was enjoying her meal, she suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves. She leaned out to look and saw a convoy of Government Officials escorting a horse carriage that came trotting by. It immediately drew the attention of the onlookers; with such a display, it was definitely someone from the County Governor’s family. They wondered what had happened.
The group came to a stop right outside the entrance of Thriving Snack Shop.
The bystanders couldn’t help but gather around.
As the carriage halted and the door opened, two graceful and splendidly dressed women emerged one after another. Someone recognized them—wasn’t the first to descend the carriage the County Governor’s madam?
Yang Ruxin had already seen the visitors at the door and hurried out to greet them: "Madam Fang, Madam Yuan, what brings you here?"
The arrivals were none other than Yuan Mengzhu and her sister-in-law Cai Wenjuan.
"You little girl, you used to call me ’auntie’, and now you’ve switched to ’madam’?" Cai Wenjuan laughed heartily. "Isn’t that a tad formal?"
"That’s right, Xinxin, you shouldn’t be so formal," Yuan Mengzhu also nodded, "We heard about your grand opening today and specially came to support you." With a wave of her hand, the maids behind her brought forward two gift boxes.
"This is a little token of our affection; Xinxin mustn’t be polite with Auntie Yuan..." Cai Wenjuan took Yang Ruxin by the hand and headed inside, "Come on, I also want to try this ’jianbing guozi’ you’ve made..."
Knowing that the other party’s gifts were sincerely given, Yang Ruxin did not stand on ceremony. Moreover, their arrival with Government Officials was a public announcement that the shop had backing; their protection was the County Governor’s Office itself. Anyone thinking of causing trouble would have to think twice. She quickly took Yuan Mengzhu and Cai Wenjuan to the back courtyard, while Sanni was instructed to take care of the numerous Government Officials who had come in. Erni was told to prepare a ’jianbing guozi’ and ’roujiamo’ for each. Also, the egg cakes that were brought along were served.
Initially, no one had had high expectations, but upon tasting the food they discovered it was actually quite good, convenient to carry, and more importantly, it staved off hunger.
In the back courtyard, Xun Hui and the Feng Family, who had been discussing Gu Qingheng and Yang Ruxin, heard that the County Governor’s madam had arrived. They quickly came out to greet her and then accompanied her into the house for a chat.
Xun Hui was nervous, but fortunately, she was cautious and spoke as little as possible, simply smiling and busying herself with arranging tea and pastries for everyone. As for the Feng Family, coming from a large clan, although previously a servant, they had been a favorite of the madam’s. So, they were thoroughly familiar with this sort of coming and going, every move exuding an air of ease.
Yuan Mengzhu knew that the Gu Family was no simple matter. Although she had met the Feng Family before, they had not had much interaction. Now that they talked more, she found that they were indeed not shallow.
Lianhua Town was only so big; a new shop’s opening was bound to attract the attention of those around, with many sending people to keep watch. Earlier, Quanshun Building had sent someone with a congratulatory gift, and Hechun Hall had also sent someone. But Han Baichuan and Wang Zhenggang had not shown up in person—they had only sent their underlings. What did that tell you? It indicated that the relationships weren’t that strong.
In truth, the real situation was that today was the day that the Han Family’s twin daughters and the Wang Family’s twin sons had their betrothal ceremony, so both were unable to leave.
Thus, those others knew that they should compete against this shop when necessary, suppress it if needed, and collect protection fees when due...