From Hoarding to Time-Travel: My Supplies Saved Him

Chapter 559: Chapter 561: Seafood Feast

Jin Qianqian, true to her word, selected a few honest and trustworthy fishing households from the villages with newly repaired roads. She arranged for them to deliver their daily catch of fresh seafood directly to Tianfu Restaurant.

Now that the roads were no longer as rugged and difficult to travel, making two or three trips in a single day was more than feasible.

This ensured the seafood remained exceptionally fresh.

Tianfu Restaurant constantly introduced new dishes every day. The selection of seafood dishes was so varied that the menu was different for practically every meal.

The citizens of Lu City had never known that seafood could be prepared in so many different ways.

Naturally, everyone scrambled to satisfy their cravings, and for a time, Tianfu Restaurant’s business soared to a new peak.

The owner of Tianfu Restaurant was particularly magnanimous. On the third day after introducing a new dish, the recipe would be posted publicly outside the restaurant.

This allowed common folk who found the restaurant’s prices too steep to copy the recipe, buy the ingredients, and cook the dish at home to satisfy their own cravings.

This, in turn, spurred the seafood market in every fishing village. To get the absolute freshest catch, some people were even willing to travel to the villages to select it themselves.

After all, with the roads fully repaired, a round trip only took half a day.

Some enterprising families even bought oxcarts and started a new transport business, creating another source of income for themselves.

These changes were already obvious before the onset of winter. Even He Gaofei and his men had to admit that the strategy of repairing the roads first had truly revitalized the area.

And thanks to Mrs. Gu, their servants had also learned a few specialty dishes, so they no longer had to endure those unpalatable meals every day.

Seeing these obvious changes, the other villages whose roads had not yet been repaired were filled with both yearning and anxiety.

But the government office could only spare so many people, so their impatience was futile. Eventually, a few village chiefs, unable to wait any longer, led their fellow villagers to start the work themselves, bit by bit, hoping they too could have a prosperous year.

Thanks to the combined efforts of all parties, even the conscripted laborers, seeing the benefits, no longer slacked off. By the time the first snow fell, all the small roads in the coastal villages near Lu City were finally repaired.

On the very day the last road was completed, Jin Qianqian received a batch of letters from home.

After reading through the letters from each branch of the family, Jin Qianqian let out a long sigh.

"Can you believe this? The old man is well past his prime—he’s a great-grandfather, for heaven’s sake—and he can still stir up this much trouble?"

A cold sneer touched Gu Wenheng’s lips. "It’s to be expected. Sudden wealth can make people lose their composure."

"Don’t let his age fool you. He probably feels he’s been stifled all these years. Now that times are good, he wants to finally hold his head high, so of course he’s going to act out as much as he can."

"Thankfully, Mother is there to keep things in check. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble would have erupted."

"But something feels off. Reading my fourth sister-in-law’s letter... is she implying, between the lines, that Mother was the one who caused Father’s injury?"

Gu Wenheng replied, "Whether he was injured by his own doing or by Mother, the current situation is actually to our advantage."

"I just never expected the women of the Huang Mansion’s inner court to be so relentless. After all this time, they’re still scheming."

’However, since they’ve made a move, it would be wrong for me not to strike back.’

Jin Qianqian asked, "You think this is just the work of the women? What if it was Minister Huang who gave the order?"

Gu Wenheng said, "It doesn’t matter who ordered it. Targeting an old man is inexcusable."

"Don’t worry. Regardless of who was directly responsible, the entire Huang Mansion will bear the blame for this."

Jin Qianqian then picked up Hu Dong’s letter. "Hu Dong must have investigated as well. His letter is so thick, it must have a more detailed description. Do you want to read it, or should I?"

"You read it first," Gu Wenheng said. "I have a few things to ponder myself."

Jin Qianqian gave him a look before lowering her eyes to the letter.

Hu Dong’s letter also detailed their income over the past few months.

Aside from the account ledgers he had sent, he had also converted all previous profits into Tian Zhuang, just as Jin Qianqian had specifically instructed before her departure.

Transporting gold, silver, and other valuables over such a long distance was too risky. It was far more practical to convert the assets into Tian Zhuang and storefronts.

She picked up the inventory list attached at the end. It seemed she now owned properties in the towns surrounding Dao City.

She placed the list with the land deeds. ’I’ll have to register them in the main ledger later,’ she thought. ’With so many properties now, I’d hate to forget one of them someday.’

Hu Dong’s account of what had happened to Gu Dashishi was even more detailed.

He already had men watching Landlord Duan. Hu Dong had even begun laying traps for his businesses. Presumably, once things came to a head, the man wouldn’t be able to stay in Fu County any longer.

The attack on Gu Dashishi was indeed a ploy from the Huang Mansion. However, it wasn’t orchestrated by Minister Huang. The mastermind was Xiao Shi Yu’s husband, Huang Tong. As it turned out, one of his former classmates was Landlord Duan’s nephew.

Landlord Duan’s nephew was eager to curry favor with the son of a minister, so he readily agreed to Huang Tong’s request, promising to handle everything.

He even traveled to Fu County personally to persuade his uncle, Landlord Duan, to go along with the treacherous scheme.

The plan was simple: once Gu Dashishi was ensnared by the concubine, they would find a way to embroil him in a few lawsuits, forcing him into the public eye.

With that kind of leverage, Gu Wenheng’s position as Lord Prefect would naturally become unstable.

What they failed to anticipate was that no matter how secretive they were, Fu County was Gu Wenheng’s home turf. It was impossible that no one would be watching.

Gu Dashishi had only just gotten the woman settled in, and before she could even begin to whisper in his ear, Hu Dong’s people had already noticed.

The Gu Family was truly decisive. Before the plotters even had time to react, everything had already been taken care of.

Now, having suffered a double loss, they were probably still racking their brains on how to explain the failure to Huang Tong.

They seemed to have completely forgotten that now that they had offended Gu Wenheng, their days in Fu County were numbered.

Jin Qianqian placed the letter in front of Gu Wenheng with a smile. "Well, that’s a small weight off my chest."

"But as for this Huang Tong in the Capital, who’s always running around stirring up trouble, it’s about time we taught him a lesson."

They started it. All the grudges of the past should have vanished with Huang Wanyu’s death.

But the Tian Family and Xiao Shi Yu just won’t quit. They keep coming at us, again and again. If I don’t make them feel the pain, they’ll really think I’m an easy target.

Gu Wenheng was very satisfied with how Hu Dong had handled things. Dealing with the small fry on the ground was the most that could be expected of him.

As for the little pests higher up, Gu Wenheng had other plans.

"Since Father is injured and will be bedridden from now on," Gu Wenheng said, "and since we can’t be there to care for him as his son and daughter-in-law, we should send more restorative supplements and Silver back home."

Jin Qianqian had no objections. "Mother must be exhausted, handling everything by herself. I’ll be sure to pick out a few extra sets of jewelry to send to her."