HLnovel Chapter 249 The sudden arrival of many people
Chapter 249 The sudden arrival of many people
The outside was gradually becoming lively, with people eating and drinking.
Maybe it’s because summer is approaching, more and more people are having dinner.
Soon, there were not enough seats at the table, as both the upper and lower levels were always packed.
Qiufen returned to the small kitchen in the backyard and found Anqiao preparing to make locust flower fried eggs.
"My dear, the gentlemen from the Dali Temple neither ordered food nor left. What are they waiting for?" Qiufen rolled his eyes and said, "There are too many guests outside. Even the queue has been called up to number 10."
An Qiaowu put down the work in his hands and asked, "What's going on? Why are there so many people today?"
Normally, it’s a big deal to get number 3 in the queue, so how come I got number 10 today?
You should know that a big difference between ancient times and modern times is that the ancients were accustomed to visiting their parents every morning and evening, and it was not easy for them to wait for a table full of dishes. If they couldn't eat it today, they could just come back tomorrow.
There aren't any special days recently, what on earth is going on?
An Qiao washed her hands and followed Qiufen to the front yard.
As expected, I was shocked by the scene. I could probably count six or seven tables of Hu people in front of me.
"Is today the day to go into the city?" An Qiao asked. She hadn't been out of the courtyard for several days and had forgotten when was the day for Hu Shang to go in and out.
"Miss An, long time no see." It was a burly Hu man, his face was red and black due to drinking, but he still stood steadily.
An Qiao was embarrassed for a moment, then she remembered who the Hu man in front of her was.
Isn’t this the Hu man who came to their restaurant for the first time? The restaurant was quite small at that time.
"Long time no see." In fact, An Qiao had already forgotten his name, but she still bowed politely.
"Miss An, tomorrow is the day we leave the city, so today, I brought so many brothers to your place to eat. I told them that your food tastes great, but they didn't believe me. Now they all believe it, hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Hearty laughter resounded throughout the first floor. The Han people had seen Hu people before, so some of them frowned slightly, while others did not react at all.
"Thank you for the recommendation, sir. Enjoy the food and drinks." An Qiao smiled and finally understood why there were so many people here today.
The Hu man smiled again and pointed at the Autumnal Equinox. "I also ordered more than 10 cakes from this young lady. And, young lady, what did you make with beef... called steak!!! It's so delicious. I've never eaten anything so delicious. If my mother knew that there is such a delicious recipe in the world, she would be so excited that she would come to Kyoto with me."
The Hu man in front of him spoke in an extremely exaggerated manner, but An Qiao always felt that he meant no harm.
Compared to An Qiao, the people in the Dali Temple almost broke their fists. It was really horrifying. After all, there were many Hu people who did evil in Kyoto Prefecture, and some even smuggled arms in the past.
So being surrounded by so many Hu people made him feel a little uncomfortable.
An Qiao waved her hand, "You are so polite, sir. If you have the chance, bring your mother to Kyoto Prefecture for dinner."
The Hu people smiled and nodded, "The magnificent scenery of Kyoto, I will naturally bring my mother to see it if I have the chance."
An Qiao curled her lips, left the table and went outside.
As he walked, he instructed, "Go to the backyard and ask Qi Tao to get some beef jerky, and some of the pickled cabbage that we made earlier. Anyway, bring anything that can be eaten directly, the sooner the better."
Compared to the tone she used when talking to the guests just now, An Qiao now sounded a little more stern and serious.
Qiufen nodded quickly. She had already remembered that the young lady had made shortbread before, and there were still some pastries that had not been sold out today.
With so many Hu people in this restaurant, I'm afraid not many people are willing to buy cakes.
An Qiao walked outside the door and saw that there were indeed quite a few people waiting there, some sitting and some lying down.
"Tomorrow is a rare day off, so we have to wait for dinner at the Kyoto restaurant today. We are usually very busy going to and from court." An Qiao just walked out the door when she heard a diner say this.
An Qiao couldn't help but pause and wait for the food brought by Qiufen to be distributed to everyone.
"That's right. We don't have the chance to wait like this on weekdays. We are just really hungry. There are so many Hu people inside. What day is today?" another diner asked puzzledly.
The man who had spoken originally said, "Tomorrow is a day off for you and me, which is naturally the day for these Hu merchants to leave the city."
Kyoto Prefecture manages these foreign merchants, and if they have a store in Kyoto Prefecture, they can enter and exit directly.
If you need to do business without a store in Kyoto Prefecture, you will not only need a pass and proof of household registration, but you will also need to register at the entrance.
They are given 15 days to stay in Kyoto Prefecture. If they behave well or have someone to guarantee them, they can stay for 20 days.
But most people could only stay for 15 days, so they would go out of the city together, go home on the 15th, and come back on the 15th, repeatedly reselling different things in Kyoto Prefecture and other areas.
The management of Kyoto Prefecture is quite strict, and there is even a special management department.
But at the beginning, the lax management of these foreign merchants caused quite a stir, and because of this stir, the Dali Temple and the Kyoto government were very scared.
It's much better now.
An Qiao thought silently, it turned out that they were two yamen officials who were in charge of the Hu merchants. No wonder they were not nervous when facing so many Hu merchants.
There were quite a few Hu merchants standing and sitting even outside, so they arrived late from the beginning.
This was also the first time that An Qiao faced so many Hu merchants. If she had known that today was the day to leave the city, and if she had known that so many Hu merchants would come, she would have directly found a group of beautiful women from the Western Regions to dance with her instead of listening to Xu Banshan's mysterious stories.
Most of the Hu merchants did not speak Chinese very well and could not hear clearly what Xu Banshan was saying.
Xu Banshan found that other people's voices were much louder than his, and he couldn't speak too loudly. It was a vicious cycle. Within a quarter of an hour, he would have to hide in the kitchen to wait for dinner.
Qiufen was running a little out of breath, and he was still gasping for breath when he stood beside Anqiao, "My dear, I'm late."
An Qiao touched her head and said, "No, no, why are you late?"
"Why are there so many people today?" Qiufen had never dealt with such a big scene before. He was a little anxious and kept repeating this sentence.
She was afraid that the guests would leave because she didn't do a good job.
An Qiao had already walked to the line of customers with the food she had brought. "Everyone, please forgive me for waiting. The food for several tables will be ready soon. You can enjoy it in a little while. These are my homemade beef jerky, beef cubes, some cheese, and today's cakes. You can take some of what you like to eat to fill your stomach."