Datang: Empress mother-in-law sent Li Er to test me

As he said that, the owner of the Dingsheng Building opened his palms to face the Dingsheng Building. There was constant noise in the restaurant, the sound of pushing glasses and changing glasses, chatting and laughing could be heard endlessly, and said with a smile: "My Dingsheng Building, these two days are still the same as before, and there are no empty seats."

"Look at the Drunken Immortal Building again, hahahaha."

The owner of the Dingsheng Building sneered, put his hands behind his back, and walked away laughing.

"This bastard!" Hu Guang stared at his back, gritted his teeth and said, "I'm so angry!"

"Let him be arrogant for another day."

Zhang Dun smiled lightly: "Tomorrow, he won't be able to laugh anymore."

"Brother Zhang, do you really have this confidence?" Hu Guang asked, the anger in his heart subsided a little.

Zhang Dun grinned, but did not explain.

Everything has been sent out. If no one comes by this time tomorrow, it will be a ghost.

It takes one day to ferment, which should be enough.

----

In Tai Chi Palace, Ganlu Hall.

Sitting cross-legged behind the court case, Li Er looked at the paper brought back from Zhang Dun's house in front of him, feeling sorry for him.

"Such a great talent, but he doesn't want to be an official. I don't know what to say about him."

Li Er sighed, after returning to the palace yesterday with the paper with Zhang Dun's ink on it, he summoned Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui to enter the palace.

When Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui saw the eleven characters written by Zhang Dun on the paper, their eyes stared straight.

When they left, they kept begging for the words written by Zhang Dun. How could Li Er give it to them? They didn't even appreciate it enough.

Thinking of this, Li Er looked regretful, such a talented person, how could he go astray and can't get out.

At this moment, Li Junxian strode into the hall with a solemn expression, clasped his fists and said: "Your Majesty, Zhou Jizhou is seeking to see the imperial censor."

Li Er nodded and said, "Let him in."

"My servant Censor Zhou Ji, I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

Hearing the sound, Zhou Ji walked into the Ganlu Hall, bowed to Li Er who was sitting behind the imperial case, and said loudly.

Li Er smiled and stood up, walked to his side and said:

"Zhou Yushi, why do you have time to spare today and come to see me?"

"Your Majesty, please look at this." Zhou Ji went straight to the point without any nonsense. He put his palm into his sleeve, took out the wooden box containing white salt, opened it, and placed it in front of Li Er with his palm.

Li Er asked curiously, "What is this?"

Zhou Ji solemnly said, "Baiyan."

"Salt?"

Li Er's heart moved, he gently squeezed some out of the wooden box, put it in his mouth, and suddenly opened his eyes wide, "Where did it come from?"

Zhou Ji said in a deep voice, "It's from Zuixianlou."

"In the restaurant? Where did it get this?" Li Er asked with narrowed eyes.

Zhou Ji shook his head, "I don't know. Before I came to see His Majesty, I went all over the East Market and West Market, but there was no shop selling white salt."

"That's why I think that either Zuixianlou made it themselves, or their source is not in Chang'an City."

Li Er nodded slightly, and asked again: "Have you ever sent someone to Zuixianlou to ask?"

Zhou Ji said in a loud voice: "Not yet, I was anxious to present this matter to His Majesty, but I didn't have time to ask."

Li Er looked outside the hall and said, "Li Junxian!"

"The minister is here!" Li Junxian clasped his fists outside the hall and said.

Li Er waved his hand, "Go to Zuixian Tower immediately and ask for me!"

Li Junxian cupped his fists, "No!"

After Li Junxian left, Li Er took Zhou Ji's wrist, smiled and led him to Yu An, and sat face to face with him.

"Zhou Yushi, Li Junxian will come back after leaving the palace for a while, come and drink with me."

Si Gushou, the personal eunuch standing on the side, respectfully brought two wine glasses and a small altar of wine, and put them on the imperial case.

Zhou Ji cupped his hands and said emotionally: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I will be disrespectful."

Li Er smiled and poured himself a glass of wine for him to have a taste.

Zhou Ji respectfully picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and then a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

Why is the smell of wine so familiar?

"Your Majesty, this wine—"

Li Er looked at Zhou Ji's confused look, and said with a smile, "This is Erguotou."

Zhou Ji said in surprise: "Your Majesty, have you also been to Zuixian Tower?"

Li Er was stunned, and instantly heard some clues from Zhou Ji's words, squinting his eyes and said:

"You mean, Erguotou is also sold in Zuixianlou?"

"That's right." Zhou Ji nodded and said, "This Erguotou is produced in Zuixianlou, and there is no one else selling it except Zuixianlou."

Li Er was silent for a long time, looking at the personal eunuch next to him expressionlessly and said:

"Si Gushou, call Li Junxian back to me!"

"Your maid obeys the order!" Si Gushou hurriedly said.

Seeing Zhou Ji's bewildered expression, the corner of Li Er's mouth twitched. When he heard that Erguotou appeared in Zuixianlou, he understood the general idea.

Zhang Dun!

Princess Changle herself found a wishful gentleman among the people!

Erguotou was made by him, and seven or eight out of ten of the white salt was also made by Zhang Dun.

Li Er said in a deep voice: "Zhou Yushi, tell me about the Zuixian Tower again."

"No." Zhou Ji said hastily.

Immediately, he told him exactly what he saw and heard in Zuixian Tower.

"Soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, Erguotou, candles, rock sugar, soy sauce..."

Li Er felt his whole body cracked when he heard it, why did he have so many good things?

Except for Erguotou, I have never heard of it!

Li Er couldn't sit still, he stared at Zhou Ji and said:

"Zhou Yushi, I'll send someone to your mansion, I want to take a good look at those things."

After Zhou Ji cupped his hands and nodded, Li Er looked at Li Junxian who was walking back, "Li Junxian, you go with Zhou Yushi and bring back all the soap, toothbrush and so on."

"I don't need Erguotou, I have it here!"

Chapter 23 Seasoning is the trump card

"No!" Li Junxian clasped his fists in response, and followed Zhou Ji to leave the palace.

After bringing back the gift bag from Zuixianlou, Li Er got up and went to Lizheng Hall to find Empress Changsun.

"Second brother, this soap is not simple, it is better than bath beans."

Soon, Empress Changsun, who had thoroughly researched the contents of the cloth bag, sat beside Li Er with a shocked face, picked up a piece of soap and said:

"Moreover, it has a fragrance when used. I believe that women all over the world will like this product."

"And this toothbrush and toothpaste."

Empress Changsun put down the soap, picked up the toothbrush and the toothpaste box like a rouge box, and continued:

"My teeth-brushing utensils in the Tang Dynasty are all chewed willow branches, and then dipped in some green salt."

"This toothbrush only needs some toothpaste, which is convenient and trouble-free. The key is that it is much easier to use than willow branches."

"And this rock candy."

Empress Changsun looked at Li Er who was drinking porridge, and asked, "Second Brother, how does it taste?"

"Sweet." Li Er said.

Empress Changsun picked up the spoon, took a sip, and said, "Bingtang is used to cook porridge. It's sweet and delicious, just as I thought."

Li Er looked down at the empty bowl of noodle soup on the side, and said with emotion: "The same goes for soy sauce, the taste it makes can also add flavor to the food."

Empress Changsun pointed to the lit candle, and said: "There is also this candle, which has no smell when burned, and can burn for a long time."

"And this popcorn, pickles."

Empress Changsun picked up a piece of pickled vegetables with her chopsticks, tasted the popcorn, and said, "I don't know how to make it, but the taste is really delicious."

"Second brother, our beauty has brought back a monster."

"I don't know." Li Er snorted and said, "It's Zhang Dun who is too clumsy to hide. There are so many good things. When I went to his house with you, he didn't show them."

"But I'm just wondering, why did he suddenly go to the Zuixian Tower and sell these things? What does he mean?"

Empress Changsun pondered for a moment, and said, "I think this Zhang Dun wants to make money."

Li Er was stunned, "Make money? How much money can he make? Could it be that the money he makes is as much as the money in the palace?"

"You can't talk like that." Empress Changsun smiled and said, "Second Brother, don't forget, Zhang Dun doesn't know our Lizhi's identity."

"According to my concubine, Zhang Dun did this probably because we went to his house and brought him a sense of crisis."

"The way his house looks like, the second brother also saw it, it's better than being poor."

"Zhang Dunxu felt that if the family had no money, we might not agree to him being with Lizhi, so he wanted to go out to make money."

Li Er gritted his teeth and said: "He might as well be an official in the court. At that time, doesn't he want money and status? Why bother to be a merchant?"

"Everyone has his own ambition." Empress Changsun sighed, "We can't force him, can we?"

"Second brother, why don't we go to Zuixian Tower tomorrow?"

Li Er's eyes lit up, "Good idea, I really want to see what tricks he can come up with!"

----

Zuixianlou, at this moment, in order to prepare for tomorrow, Hu Guang has closed the restaurant door and is busy working with Zhang Dun in the back kitchen.

"Brother Zhang, how do you make this soap?"

"Brother Zhang, what ingredients did you use for this candle? Why doesn't it have a pungent smell when it burns?"

"Brother Zhang, white sugar is a good thing, how did you come up with it?"

"Brother Zhang, talk, why don't you talk?"

Zhang Dun was cutting the vegetables in his hand, and looked at Hu Guang who was like Tang Seng chanting a magic spell with a speechless expression, and said helplessly, "Brother Hu, you have the time to speak, wouldn't it be nice if you picked more vegetables?"

"Tomorrow we will have a lot of people coming from Zuixian Tower, if we don't prepare properly, what should we do if we are in a hurry tomorrow?"

Hu Guang was confused: "Brother Zhang, do you really think that many people will come tomorrow?"

"Brother, I admire you for making so many strange things, but how many guests can you welcome with those things?"

"Yes, your cooking is also very good, but I can see that you won't be staying in Zuixianlou for long. When you leave, won't my Zuixianlou be the same as before?"

"So, busy work, I don't think it's very useful."

Seeing the depressed Hu Guang, Zhang Dun stopped chopping vegetables, and said solemnly: "Brother Hu, to be honest, I came to your Zuixian Tower to make money."

"Snatching the business from the opposite Dingsheng Building is just the first step we have to take."

"I promise, from tomorrow onwards, your Zuixianlou business will definitely be number one in Pingkangfang."

"When Zuixianlou makes money, you will score points for me."

Hu Guangyile, "It goes without saying, don't say it's for you, it's all for you."

"That won't work." Zhang Dun said with a smile: "Let's score fifty-fifty."

Hu Guang said cheerfully, "Success!"