Under the watchful eyes of many people who did not leave, as well as the officials of the Salt and Tea Department, Sun Tu asked a few men to do what he wanted, fetching wooden barrels and hot water, then pouring a small jar of official salt in and stirring it stand up.
After a while, the salt was completely dissolved into the water, but a lot of impurities precipitated in the salt water. Sun Tu explained casually: "The official salt tastes bitter and looks rough." The root cause of salt lies in these impurities. If they can be removed, the taste of salt will be greatly improved." After saying that, he asked someone to bring a piece of coarse cloth, fold it and put it on another wooden above the barrel.
Then, he slowly poured the salt water in the bucket onto the cloth. After it seeped into the wooden bucket below, he continued to pour it. Although it took a lot of effort, Sun Tu seemed very patient, but the officials and the people watching all became impatient: "How long will this take?"
"Sun Tu, I have official duties and don't have much time to accompany you here to fool around. If you can't give me an explanation within an hour, you will still have to be taken away, including you!" Finally, the official didn't want to do anything anymore. Wait, even gave an ultimatum.
Only then did Sun Tu stop what he was doing: "In that case, let's make the refined salt and show it to the officials." After saying that, he picked up the second bucket of salt water and poured it into another stall. On the wooden barrel with cloth, the person poured it three times in a row, and the final result was only a large bowl of salt water.
Finally, he took the bowl of salt water to the stove where the fire was still lit, asked the chef to clean the pot, poured the bowl of water into it, and started boiling. Only a moment later, the water was boiling, but Sun Tu didn't react at all and just let it continue to roll in the pot.
As the salt water in the pot slowly decreased, some people in front of them exclaimed: "It's salt, the salt has come out again... And it looks like the salt is indeed much whiter and thinner than before." "
The official also saw all this. Looking at the layer of fine salt particles attached to the surface of the pot, his brows quickly wrinkled. How could things turn out like this? Can anyone really make refined salt from rough official salt
There was only a small amount of water in the bowl, and it quickly evaporated under the heat of the fire, leaving only a layer of fine salt attached to the bottom of the pot. Sun Tu used a spatula to take out some of the refined salt, put it into a bowl, and presented it to the official: "Official, please see, is this salt much finer than before? In fact, it could have been made even finer. , but time is limited. In order to let the guests here eat better dishes, I, Liufangju, use this method to cook official salt, so people misunderstood that I used private salt, and I ask the officials to check it out. , give us justice!"
At this moment, the official of the Salt Tea Department felt really regretful. If he had known there would be such a result, he should not have given Sun Tu such a chance just now! Now, people have indeed provided evidence, and the accusation of using illegal salt can no longer be blamed on them.
If it were a hotel with no background, even if the other party did have evidence, he, the Salt Tea Secretary, could force a conviction. But the Tong family and Tong Guan were behind Liufangju, and this was not something they could unjustly accuse. So after his expression changed for a while, he finally shook his robe sleeves and said, "I see, it seems that someone has indeed misunderstood you and so on. In that case, I will not pursue the matter further." After that, he led the people away in despair.
Seeing the officials leave in despair, the drinkers cheered one after another. This kind of thing had never happened before, and they were more excited than having a good meal here.
Zhang Jian, who had been watching all this development, looked gray and his mood was extremely depressed. He really didn't expect that the two strategies he set up would be easily broken by Liu Fangju. It would be hard to explain to his young master now.
Especially for the latter move, it was obvious that there was another mystery behind the matter. The salt cooked by Sun Tu was still quite different from the salt found before. But with the blessing of the Tong family's identity, it was obviously enough to deal with the Salt Tea Division. This made Zhang Jian even more angry and frightened, but he was helpless.
At this moment, he suddenly noticed that a gaze had fallen on him. When he looked up, he found that it was Sun Tu who was looking at him. This made him tremble again in shock. He quickly shrank back and took advantage of the people around him. He took cover and walked out, not daring to stay any longer.
Only then did Wu Li regain his composure, and hurriedly stepped forward to hold Sun Tu's hand excitedly: "Master Sun, I am really lucky to have you today, otherwise..."
"Shopkeeper Wu, the most important thing now is to appease these drinkers and prevent them from being dissatisfied with me, Liu Fang Ju, but I have to leave this to you." Sun Tu smiled and said, "You go ahead and do your work first."
"That's right, that's right, little old man, let's do the work now." Wu Li nodded in agreement, and then brought the shocked waiter in the hotel to invite the guests into the store again, treated them well, and apologized sincerely. This was naturally not difficult for him, who had been a shopkeeper for twenty years. After only spending some words and giving some benefits, these drinkers no longer dwelled on the recent incident, but instead bluntly said that Liufangju was really kind. He actually went to great lengths to make refined salt to entertain guests.
Not to mention, this time Liufangju was really a blessing in disguise. This incident quickly spread throughout the city. After learning about Liufangju’s actions, more customers came to visit, and their business suddenly improved again. Two percent.
After everything was settled, Sun Tu did not leave in a hurry, but stayed in the store to rest. It wasn't until Wu Li and the others were a little empty that he called the other party over and asked solemnly: "Shopkeeper Wu, you have been in this business for many years, and you must know some of your colleagues in Bianjing City. I wonder if you have listened. Have you passed the name Zhang Jian?"
"Zhang Jian, that's the shopkeeper of Niulou Hotel, a member of the household of Mr. Zhang, the right-hand Cao of the Ministry of Revenue. Are you asking about him like this?" Wu Li asked a little strangely.
"Are you from the family of Dr. Cao Zhong, right of Hubu? That's no wonder." Sun Tu smiled thoughtfully: "Two days ago, that Zhang Jian asked me for the recipe for fried chicken, but I sternly refused."
"Mr. Sun, do you suspect that his Niulou Hotel was behind this incident?" Wu Li came to his senses, but there was still some uncertainty in his tone.
"Just now, I saw Zhang Jian disguised himself among the guests. Do you think such a coincidence can happen in this world?" Sun Tu asked with a sneer.
"Why would he do this? Just because I, Liu Fang Ju, took away the business of Niu Lou Hotel?"
"That should be it. I asked why the Yancha Division came here. It was obviously under the instigation of others. Moreover, they also intend to involve Tong Shuai in this matter. It seems that the conspiracy is bigger." Sun Tu said He looked up and patted his shoulder gently: "You don't need to pay attention to this matter. Just tell the truth." He knew that his chance to win Tong Guan's further trust had arrived.
Ever since he gave himself a chance to become an official, Tong Guan hadn't seen him much. Sun Tu could also understand this. After all, the other party had such a high status. There were many important things that needed to be dealt with and important people that needed to be met. A small person like himself was at least dispensable for now.
But this was not the result that Sun Tu wanted to see. He wanted to show further performance to let Tong Guan know that he had the real ability to help him deal with those enemies. Only in this way can you gain more attention and gain more benefits after joining the official position.
Originally, he was still suffering from the lack of opportunities, especially when he moved out of Tong Mansion and Tong Mu stayed in the Imperial College due to his studies. But now, the opportunity has come!
What happened in Liufangju today will soon spread throughout the city, and Tong Guan will naturally learn everything as soon as possible. And with his mind, he must be able to see that there are political enemies in North Korea and China who want to attack him. By then, as long as he can help him solve this problem, Tong Guan will naturally look at him differently.
Of course, Sun Tu also knew that Tong Guan was not a good person, and he felt like he was scheming for others. But now that I have chosen to rely on it, some ideas can only be put aside for now. What's more, after all, it was his Niulou Hotel who took the first action this time, so it was natural for him to fight back.
Thinking of this, Sun Tu stood up, left Liufangju, and headed towards the Daxiangguo Temple. However, what he was looking for this time was not Lu Zhishen, but two of his apprentices.