After a male student transmigrated into the body of a widow,

Chapter 129 Already Honest

Gu Lin paused, and upon seeing the waiter's behavior, he realized that the waiter had misunderstood his relationship with Zheng Hao.

But the waiter didn't say it explicitly, so Gu Lin couldn't offer an explanation.

At this moment, Niu Qiang walked over from a distance and clasped his hands in greeting to the two men: "Scholar Zheng, Boss Gu."

Upon hearing the tall, burly man address the handsome young man and the young lad in front of him, the waiter's heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.

Zheng Hao asked, "Brother Niu, have you booked your room? Is there charcoal burning inside?"

"We booked three top-tier rooms," Niu Qiang continued. "We already had the waiter light charcoal in the rooms."

Zheng Hao nodded slightly, then turned to the young man beside him and said, "You must be tired from your journey, Uncle Gu, would you like to go back to your room to rest?"

"Hmm." Gu Lin turned his head slightly and asked the waiter, "Young man, does the Daytime Inn provide hot water for bathing?"

The journey from Yueming Prefecture to the capital was arduous, often with no shops or inns nearby. Only when he entered the city to resupply could Gu Lin find an inn to take a proper bath.

Fortunately, it's winter now. If it were summer, Gu Lin wouldn't even dare to imagine how awful his body smell would be.

Thinking of this, Gu Lin couldn't help but shake his head slightly. Now that he had arrived in the capital, he could finally take a nice hot bath.

There was a misunderstanding about the relationship between the two guests. Upon hearing the young man's request, the waiter became very enthusiastic: "There is always hot water in the backyard. Hot water is free for guests in the top-tier rooms of our inn. If you need it, I will send someone to fetch it now and bring it to your room later."

Just as Gu Lin was about to nod, Zheng Hao, who was standing to the side, said to the waiter, "Put the hot water outside the door, and I'll bring it in."

The waiter paused, then looked at the three of them. The tall man was obviously following behind the young man and the young man, handling trivial matters. The young man, though an elder, seemed gentle and probably wouldn't make decisions. However, judging from the young man's respectful and careful attitude towards the young man, it was hard to say.

So, the waiter didn't act immediately, but waited for Gu Lin's reaction.

Gu Lin was taken aback and turned to look at Zheng Hao, not understanding why the other party didn't let the waiter carry the hot water but insisted on carrying it himself.

Facing Uncle Gu's gaze, Zheng Hao said calmly, "It's inconvenient outside. Uncle Gu has always disliked contact with outsiders. I'll bring the hot water into the room, so Uncle Gu won't have to bother communicating with others."

Zheng Hao's explanation was quite reasonable. He was like a junior who was very considerate and filial to his elders. Even Xiao Er, who was watching from the side, was surprised.

These waiters served customers from all over the country every day, and during the triennial imperial examinations, they served many successful candidates.

These scholars almost all had a pageboy by their side. Apart from studying, they never lifted a finger to do housework. Their pageboys took care of all their daily chores, let alone did anything for those around them.

But the young scholar in front of them, instead of using his free time to study or rest, and instead of ordering them and that tall man around, personally carried bathwater for the young man.

Unaware of the waiter's shock, Gu Lin felt that Zheng Hao's words made a lot of sense. As soon as he entered the room, all he wanted to do was lie on the bed to keep warm. When the waiter came to bring water, he would have to go down and open the door.

"Thank you for making the arrangements."

Gu Lin turned to the waiter and said.

The waiter said it was no trouble at all, then turned around and called the other waiters to fetch hot water. Then he said to Gu Lin and the other two, "I will take you to the top-class room."

Gu Lin nodded, and the three of them followed the waiter to the second floor.

Pointing to the three top-tier rooms side by side, the waiter said, "These three rooms are where our guests will stay."

Seeing this, Zheng Hao suggested, "Uncle Gu will stay in the middle, and Brother Niu and I will each stay on either side, how about that?"

When traveling, especially with Uncle Gu by his side, Zheng Hao dared not be careless in the slightest.

Gu Lin had no opinion on which room to stay in, but he first asked Niu Qiang, "What does Brother Niu think?"

Niu Qiang said, "I will follow Zheng Juren's arrangements."

Gu Lin nodded in agreement.

After the rooms were assigned, the three of them went back to their rooms to rest.

The next day, a man who looked like a manager came to the inn, and Gu Lin received him in his room.

The manager introduced himself: "Hello, Mr. Gu. I am the manager of Fumanlou Restaurant in the capital, and also the manager in charge of the Fang family's businesses in the capital. Young Master Fang has already told me about your matter. When would you like to send an invitation to Madam Fang to meet with you?"

Although the other party asked him when he would have time, Gu Lin knew that whether he could actually meet with Madam Fang depended on when she was available.

Gu Lin said, "The younger generation in my family will be taking the provincial examination soon, so I will be free before the provincial and palace examinations."

The steward was a smart man and immediately understood what the young man meant. He was available a few months before the provincial and palace examinations, but not necessarily closer to the time of the examinations.

The other party was someone that Young Master Fang had specifically instructed him to treat well. The steward said earnestly, "I will go back now to deliver the invitation to Boss Gu. However, with the end of the year approaching, Madam Fang may not be able to receive Boss Gu in time. I hope you will not mind."

Gu Lin was not displeased after hearing what the steward said.

He knew that with the end of the year approaching, women from official families like Madam Fang were very busy. Not to mention the affairs outside the mansion, the exchange of New Year's gifts with relatives and friends alone required a lot of effort.

Gu Lin had already informed the steward of the agreed time and then handed the matter over to the steward to contact Madam Fang, no longer interfering.

If the latter refuses to meet with him or cooperate with him, Gu Lin will make arrangements accordingly and proceed with his previous plan to go to Jiangnan and take things slowly.

After speaking with Gu Lin, the steward left.

The knocking on the door started and then stopped.

Gu Lin heard Zheng Hao say from outside, "Uncle Gu, lunch is ready. We can go down and eat now."

Gu Lin had breakfast that morning, but he didn't go downstairs to eat because Zheng Hao had specially brought his breakfast to his room after he got up early to exercise.

Gu Lin didn't go out immediately. He said to Zheng Hao outside the door, "Wait."

Then he tidied himself up, put on thick clothes, opened the door, and went out.

As Zheng Hao and Zheng Hao went downstairs to the inn's lobby, Zheng Hao asked, "I just saw a man who looked like a manager looking for Uncle Gu. Was he from the Fang family?"

As Gu Lin descended the steps, he said, "That's right. That man is the steward of Young Master Fang's household. He was specially assigned to receive us by Young Master Fang. I want to meet with Madam Fang, and I need the steward's help."

Gu Lin and Zheng Hao arrived at the main hall. With the end of the year approaching, the hall was bustling with all sorts of people.

Gu Lin looked closely and found that nearly half of the people sitting at the tables were scholars dressed in long robes.

Niu Qiang was already sitting at a table waiting for them.

The two walked in his direction, and seeing that the two had finally come down, Niu Qiang said, "This inn has mutton hot pot and home-style meals. I didn't know what you wanted to eat, so I didn't order anything."

After saying that, he picked up a thin booklet from his side and handed it to Gu Lin and the other person, saying, "This is the inn's menu."

Gu Lin raised an eyebrow slightly. Having lived in this world for so many years, he had never seen an inn or restaurant with a menu for guests to choose from; the waiters almost always read out the names of the dishes on the spot.

Is it truly worthy of being located under the emperor's nose?

Taking the menu, Gu Lin lowered his head and began to flip through the booklet in his hand. After a few pages, he was quite surprised.

The booklet not only contains the names of the dishes, but also illustrations of the dishes drawn with a brush. Although they are not colored, the few strokes are very expressive. Not to mention, there are comments on the color, aroma, and taste of the dishes below the illustrations.

Gu Lin sighed slightly, realizing that those who could open inns and restaurants in the capital city all had their own means of survival.

After flipping through the booklet, Gu Lin gained a new understanding of the simple and unassuming inn in front of him.

This inn may not seem large or luxurious, but it offers a wide variety of dishes. In addition to the mutton hot pot and home-style dishes that Niu Qiang mentioned, Gu Lin also saw dishes such as whole roasted lamb, mutton offal soup, and abalone stewed with sea cucumber.

After getting a general idea of ​​the inn's menu, Gu Lin handed the booklet to Zheng Hao. Zheng Hao didn't take it, but lowered his eyes and said, "I'm not picky about food, Uncle Gu can arrange it."

Knowing that Zheng Hao wasn't just being polite, at home he would tell Zhao's wife what to eat, and then the other woman would eat whatever she wanted.

So Gu Lin turned to Niu Qiang and asked, "Brother Niu, is there anything you'd like to eat?"

Niu Qiang was no longer picky about food. He said to Gu Lin, "Boss Gu, just have someone bring it. I have no requests."

Seeing that the two had no objections, Gu Lin pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's order a mutton hot pot. That way we can eat meat and drink soup at the same time, and the meat and vegetables won't get cold halfway through the meal. How about we also order half a whole roasted lamb and three servings of mutton offal soup?"

This makes for a whole lamb feast, which perfectly suits Gu Lin's dietary habits of preferring meat to vegetables.

However, mutton is warming in nature, and eating too much can easily cause internal heat, and a table full of meat is difficult to digest.

Zheng Hao remembered that a few days ago, Uncle Gu had a bit of a sore throat and complained of mouth pain. He even asked Zheng Hao for some medicine to reduce the sore throat.

Knowing that consuming too much mutton was bad for Uncle Gu's health, Zheng Hao should have stopped him and replaced the whole lamb feast with home-style dishes that were less likely to cause internal heat. However, when he saw the young man looking at him with his bright, light-colored eyes, Zheng Hao's lips parted slightly, and all his thoughts turned into one sentence: "Add some radishes and cabbage."

Seeing the look of disgust on Uncle Gu's face when he heard about radishes and cabbage, Zheng Hao's idea became even more firm, but he said in a gentle tone: "When we eat mutton later, if there are no green vegetables and radishes to go with it, I'm afraid we'll get tired of it after a few bites."

Gu Lin thought there was some truth to this, so he stopped objecting to serving radishes and cabbage.

Finally, he asked Niu Qiang again, "Brother Niu, is there anything you'd like to add?"

Fearing the other party might be too embarrassed to speak, Gu Lin added, "Brother Niu, please don't stand on ceremony with us."

Given Niu Qiang's relationship with Zheng Hao, and considering that he had known Gu Lin for quite some time, Niu Qiang said frankly, "Let the waiter bring some more noodles. Eating mutton alone will fill me up, but it's like I haven't eaten anything at all."

Gu Lin smiled upon hearing this. It turned out that he wasn't the only one who liked to eat staple foods like rice and noodles when having hot pot.

So he turned to the waiter who was jogging over and said, "Young man, bring me the mutton stove, cut the lamb into slices that are about the length of an index finger and two fingers wide, and make them evenly thin. Also bring me half a whole roasted lamb, three servings of mutton offal soup, and noodles and rice."

"Okay, sir, please wait a moment!"

After Gu Lin ordered the food, the waiter immediately turned around and ran to the inn's kitchen.

After about an incense stick's time, several waiters brought over the food for Gu Lin and the other two. First, they placed a steaming copper stove in the middle of the table, then brought out a whole roasted lamb, and placed lamb offal soup in front of each of them. Rice and noodles were placed next to the copper stove.

After the food was laid out, the head waiter said to Gu Lin, "Sir, all the dishes you ordered have been served. Would you like me to help you carve the whole roasted lamb?"

The whole roasted lamb on the table is not prepared in the kitchen and divided into pieces on plates for everyone to take. Instead, half a whole roasted lamb is placed on the table for guests to cut and take themselves.

The whole roasted lamb on the table looked incredibly tempting, golden and crispy, and Gu Lin couldn't wait to eat it.

He waved to the waiter and said, "You can go now, we'll handle this ourselves."

For Gu Lin, eating roasted whole lamb is like eating crab; it's not just about the result, but also about the process. If the waiter had already peeled all the lamb and put it on a plate for them to eat, what would be the point?

It wasn't surprising that the young man refused. The waiter knew that some diners enjoyed the process of preparing their own food, so after the man spoke, the waiter didn't linger but turned and left.

Gu Lin looked at Zheng Hao and Niu Qiang and said, "Let's eat."

He was the first to pick up his chopsticks, taking a slice of mutton as thin as a cicada's wing from the plate and placing it into the constantly boiling copper pot. After a few breaths, the pink mutton slices changed color. Gu Lin didn't dip them in any sauce and put the mutton directly into his mouth.

Suddenly, Gu Lin opened his eyes slightly, captivated by the tender and sweet mutton in his mouth.

A moment later, he came to his senses and saw that Niu Qiang had already started eating the whole roasted lamb, while Zheng Hao was leisurely drinking the lamb offal soup. Gu Lin urged him slightly, "The lamb here is not gamey at all, it is very fresh and delicious, Xiao Hao, you should try it."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hao put down the mutton soup. Gu Lin, who was impatient, saw that the other party was not in a hurry, so he rolled up the mutton himself, put it in the copper pot to cook it, and then put it into Zheng Hao's bowl.

Gu Lin's movements were fluid and efficient, and since Zheng Hao had no intention of refusing, under the expectant gaze of the other party, Zheng Hao picked up a piece of mutton and put it in his mouth.

Zheng Hao chewed on the mutton, his expression calm, but his brows twitched slightly.

Lamb is indeed delicious, but for him, the reason it's so delicious is more because Uncle Gu served it to him.

Zheng Hao lowered his eyes and looked at the young man beside him who was looking at him expectantly, saying, "The mutton is very delicious, Uncle Gu, you should eat some too."

After saying that, Zheng Hao picked up the iron ladle and scooped a spoonful of cabbage from the copper stove into Gu Lin's bowl: "Uncle Gu, eat some cabbage so that the mutton won't upset your stomach."

Looking down at the radish and cabbage in his bowl, Gu Lin looked up at Zheng Hao with a helpless expression in his eyes. He put meat on Zheng Hao's plate, but Zheng Hao gave him a bowl of vegetables in return.

Gu Lin was quite obedient; he finally finished the whole bowl of vegetables, mixed with the tender and delicious mutton.