I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 33.2

Seeing the things in Lin Muwan’s hand, she asked, “Are you learning to sew clothes too? It’s fine since my mother and the others can do it. You don’t need to learn.”

Lin Muwan smiled, put down the needlework, and walked over to stand by the bed. She sighed inwardly and reached out to press on Jiang Zhou’s temples. A cool touch made Jiang Zhou’s body tense up. She looked up at her. Lin Muwan’s expression was gentle, and her beautiful jawline was taut.

A sudden flutter in her heart made her stammer, “I, I can do it myself.”

“Mm,” Lin Muwan responded coolly. Though seemingly indifferent, the action of her hands was very gentle.

Jiang Zhou’s mood suddenly lifted. Even her head didn’t hurt as much. “Wife, where did you all go? I woke up and couldn’t find anyone.”

“Chatting in Grandmother Zhang’s courtyard.”

“Oh.” Jiang Zhou was silent for a moment. “Last night, I…” She glanced at Lin Muwan, then quickly lowered her head, embarrassed. “I don’t know how I got drunk. I didn’t do anything too outrageous, did I?”

Lin Muwan looked down, her gaze resting on Jiang Zhou’s uneasy face. She curled her lips, thinking that aside from asking for a kiss, she had been very good last night—obediently drinking the sobering soup, obediently taking off her clothes, and then just lying down and sleeping, without causing any trouble.

However, seeing her headache today, Lin Muwan immediately felt guilty.

It seems the hangover cure I made yesterday didn’t work. It was both sour and sweet. She recalled that person’s expression after taking one sip and refusing to open her mouth.

It must have tasted awful, right?

Yet, in the end, she drank it all just to get a kiss.

Lin Muwan lowered her eyes and said without thinking, “Very outrageous.”

Hearing her say that, Jiang Zhou was stunned. She swallowed, unsure, and asked, “Really outrageous?”

What exactly did I do that Lin Muwan would consider outrageous?

Why can’t I remember anything? I blacked out last night.

It couldn’t be that thing I’m thinking of, could it?

Jiang Zhou didn’t dare look at her but couldn’t help glancing at her neck. It was fair and flawless, without any ambiguous marks.

Nothing should have happened?

But, what if it’s hidden under her clothes?

She immediately became flustered.

Although they had already consummated their marriage, that time was an accident. She did like Lin Muwan, but something like that should only happen naturally when feelings deepened—it was her way of being responsible for both herself and Lin Muwan.

Having something like that happen while drunk…

She bit her lip, realizing for the first time that she was a brute deep down.

Lin Muwan, unaware of the wild conclusions she had jumped to, merely wanted to tease her and went along with her words.

Jiang Zhou closed her eyes, dismissing the struggling thoughts. She pressed Lin Muwan’s hand, holding it against her chest. She looked up, her eyes filled with apology. “Wife.”

She called out, looking up into Lin Muwan’s eyes. After a moment, “I will take responsibility. I drank too much last night and don’t remember what happened, but don’t worry. Even though I was drunk, my feelings are genuine. I am fond of you.”

Her tone was firm, and the intensity in her gaze made Lin Muwan’s heart warm. Lin Muwan was stunned for a moment, then understood the meaning of her words, and her fair face instantly turned crimson.

“Wife,” Jiang Zhou didn’t let up, calling softly. She leaned her forehead against Lin Muwan’s stomach. “You are so good.”

Her words were soft and tender, like a gentle spring breeze and drizzling rain, full of affection.

For a moment, it was as if only the two of them existed in the world.

In a flash, Lin Muwan pushed her away, turning her face. “Only saying shameless things.” As she spoke, she retreated, keeping a distance from her.

She couldn’t help but inwardly scold the scoundrel, yet she was also filled with melancholy.

She murmured in her heart, ‘You must always think I’m good in the future, too. You can’t forget what you said today.’

After lunch, Jiang Zhou urged Lin Muwan to rest in Madam Lin’s room and went to the kitchen alone to research new dishes. The previous Spicy Fried Rabbit had been deliberately leaked to Jiang Sheng because of her, which caused Mingpin Restaurant to lose its competitive edge. She needed to create new dishes.

In this era of Boisheng, dishes were limited, and many seasonings were unavailable. She only needed to rely on modern memory to develop a few new dishes with mass appeal, and they would surely be popular.

As for using the Spicy Fried Rabbit as bait, she didn’t feel she had lost anything. In fact, she had gained three thousand taels of silver in the exchange, which was a huge sum—something an ordinary person couldn’t earn in a lifetime.

Speaking of money, Jiang Zhou suddenly remembered that the silver notes were still in her sleeve and hadn’t been given to her wife.

She happily thought that she must give them to Lin Muwan later.

This is the milk money earned for our daughter.

The new dish experiment was a great success. This was thanks to the fact that Jiang Zhou’s family used to run a restaurant, and her father often researched new dishes at home, so she had subconsciously learned how to cook.

That evening, Jiang Zhou presented the new dishes she had created, allowing everyone to taste them first.

They received unanimous praise.

Just as she handed the new recipe to Ming Zhiqin, Jiang Family Restaurant launched the Spicy Fried Rabbit, priced much lower than Mingpin Restaurant.

It seemed they intended to start a price war. Mingpin Restaurant was not worried. A few days later, they introduced their new dishes, which received widespread acclaim due to their novel flavors.

Jiang Sheng was secretly annoyed. He summoned Zhao San again and gave him a few instructions. Zhao San hurried away from Jiang Family Restaurant.

A few days later, Zhao San reported to Jiang Sheng that he had acquired two new recipes, each for three thousand taels, totaling six thousand taels for both.

Jiang Sheng couldn’t produce the money immediately but didn’t want to miss this excellent opportunity. Since acquiring the last recipe, the restaurant’s customers had visibly increased, and profits had soared several times higher than usual. If he bought these two recipes as well, the restaurant’s business would definitely improve another level.

He gritted his teeth, went home to borrow some money from his mother, but after scraping everything together, he was still two thousand taels short.

Zhao San said, “First Young Master, I heard that Boss Li of the Victory Gambling House can lend money. Why don’t you…”

Before he could finish, Jiang Sheng kicked him on the shin. He stumbled forward.

Jiang Sheng cursed, “You want me, your father, to borrow money from a gambling house? Are you trying to kill me?”

Zhao San clutched his painful shin, complaining, “First Young Master, you wrong me. Think about it: once the recipes are in hand, our restaurant’s business will surely be better than it is now. It’s only two thousand taels; we’ll pay it back in a few days.”

Jiang Sheng tilted his head, calculating in his heart. The usually arrogant and conceited man agreed with Zhao San’s method. Gritting his teeth, he went to the Victory Gambling House. Coming out of the gambling house with two thousand taels of silver notes in his arms, he felt light-headed, a sense of unease settling over him.

It felt like things were going too smoothly.

He had mortgaged his private property—several businesses in prime locations in the county town.

As soon as the new recipes were in hand, he immediately launched them, still engaging in a price war. Unfortunately, this time, Mingpin Restaurant also lowered its prices. If Jiang Family Restaurant lowered the price by one wen, Mingpin Restaurant lowered it by five, always keeping its price five wen lower than Jiang Family Restaurant.

Mingpin Restaurant was rich and powerful, simply incomparable to Jiang Family Restaurant.

Almost half a month passed, and Jiang Family Restaurant’s business didn’t improve; instead, it lost a lot of money. Vegetables and meat required capital, and since they set their prices so low, they couldn’t make any profit.

They hadn’t made money, but the repayment date arrived. Jiang Sheng paced anxiously in his room. If he couldn’t repay the loan, he would have to surrender those businesses to the gambling house. Most of his private savings came from those shops.

What should he do now?

In desperation, he had to return to the Jiang family to borrow money from Aunt Li, only to discover that Aunt Li, despite seemingly being favored in the Jiang family, only had the jewelry given by Old Master Jiang, plus her monthly allowance. She had just helped Jiang Sheng raise money once and genuinely couldn’t come up with any more this time.

Jiang Sheng cobbled together some money from friends and took it to the gambling house. When Boss Li saw that there were only three hundred taels, his previously smiling face instantly changed. “First Young Master Jiang, you borrowed two thousand taels from me. Now, three hundred taels isn’t even enough for the interest.”

“Boss Li, can you be flexible? I will gather the rest of the money as soon as possible.”

Boss Li raised his hand and took a sip of tea. “Alright. The principal and interest total four thousand taels. Bring it by the day after tomorrow, at the latest.”

Four thousand taels?

Jiang Sheng immediately panicked. He had only borrowed two thousand taels. This Boss Li was clearly trying to cheat him.

He shouted angrily, “I only borrowed two thousand taels from you! You’re asking for four thousand taels? Why don’t you just rob people?”

Boss Li chuckled and raised a hand. Two burly men instantly entered from the outer room and flanked Jiang Sheng. By this point, Jiang Sheng was already terrified, his legs weak, and his earlier arrogance gone.

He had framed Jiang Zhou, so he was aware of the rules here.

It was impossible to run this kind of business without powerful backing. Reporting it to the officials would be useless and might even lead to more trouble. He could only accept his fate.

He begged bitterly for a long time before Boss Li finally let him go, giving him a three-day deadline to raise the money.

For three whole days, he used his connections, selling his shops at low prices, only managing to gather three thousand taels. To his surprise, when Boss Li saw that the money wasn’t fully raised, the interest immediately doubled to a whopping eight thousand taels. After repaying three thousand taels, Jiang Sheng was unable to pay the remaining five thousand taels.

Boss Li then sent Jiang Sheng’s servant to the Jiang residence. When Jiang Decai received the news and heard that his most beloved eldest son had taken out a loan from a loan shark, he was so angry that he fainted.

He regained consciousness and rushed with the money to redeem his son. By the time he arrived, Jiang Sheng had been beaten to the brink of death by the gambling house’s men. He was finally carried back home by the Jiang family.

On the other side, after a month of careful management, Jiang Zhou finally bought back all the shops Jiang Sheng had sold at a low price.