Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

"Why hasn't Madam Shen arrived yet?"

"At this time yesterday, Madam Shen had already set up her stall."

"What's going on? Will I ever get to eat my delicious fried chicken?"

"..."

Many diners got up early to queue, but after queuing for a long time, they still couldn't see Shen Qing, so they started to talk about it.

Li Xiaoer, standing in the crowd, couldn't help but say, "Perhaps Madam Shen prepared too much fried chicken today, which is why we're late. Please be patient and wait."

As the first customer at the fried chicken stand, Li Xiaoer was also puzzled, but he still subconsciously reassured the other customers.

"That's right, Madam Shen must have taken our advice and is planning to sell more."

"Great! I'm going to buy a few more today to make up for what I missed yesterday!"

"Today I want to buy one sweet and spicy one, one spicy one, and that soda, I couldn't buy it yesterday."

"Perhaps Madam Shen will add more soda today!"

"..."

When Wang Yueshu and the other two arrived, everyone was excitedly discussing increasing the dosage, and they were all full of anticipation.

"Brother, what flavor are you eating today?"

"Let's have three sweet and spicy and three fragrant and spicy today. I'll also pack a few for the rest of the family. Little sister, brother-in-law, what are you two planning to eat? It's on me."

Wang Yuan looked on with anticipation; just thinking about the taste of yesterday's fried chicken made his mouth water.

He owes it all to his younger sister; otherwise, he doesn't know when he would have discovered such delicious food.

Let him be generous this time.

Wang Yueshu smiled mischievously, "Since you're treating, brother, I'm going to have to eat a lot!"

"Okay!" Wang Yuan said with doting eyes, "How about this, two servings each of sweet, spicy, and savory, you two can enjoy yourselves slowly."

"How could I possibly accept this, bro..." Xie Ban Tou scratched his head.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, we're all family."

Wang Yuan waved his hand, now he was just waiting for the stall owner to arrive.

The sun rose slowly, and the diners had been waiting for a long time, but Shen Qing was still nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on? The stall owner hasn't come yet?" Wang Yuan was getting impatient. As the president of the Food Guild, he had some power and rarely had to queue up to buy things, let alone wait this long.

"Perhaps something happened at home for the stall owner?" Wang Yueshu guessed.

Another diner nearby couldn't help but chime in, "You should have given us a heads-up if you had something to do. You made us wait for so long for nothing."

"Yeah, yeah, why is it like this?"

"Fried chicken is indeed delicious, but you can't keep people waiting like this."

"Oh, please, could you please make Madam Shen appear on the spot right now?"

"..."

Everyone was talking at once, saying all sorts of things.

A vegetable stall owner nearby saw this and couldn't help but say, "Everyone, don't wait any longer, Madam Shen isn't selling anymore."

This single stone stirred up a huge wave, and everyone immediately erupted in a frenzy.

"Huh? What happened?"

"Why aren't you selling it anymore?"

The vegetable stall owner sighed, "Yesterday, the guild members came and said they wanted to collect a membership fee of fifty taels of silver. Madam Shen probably can't afford it, so we'll have to stop doing business here."

She had witnessed everything that happened yesterday. She had thought that Shen Qing's statement that he would not sell was just an excuse to temporarily appease the guild members.

I didn't expect that they really wouldn't be coming today.

What a pity! Such a good business! So many people are queuing up. If they had sold for a few more days, they could have definitely raised fifty taels of silver.

Sigh, she wanted to help, but her business was so small that she couldn't earn much money in a day.

It's all the guild's fault for being so greedy, charging fifty taels of silver in membership fees. They're shameless!

"Was it the guild that forced Madam Shen?"

"How can the guild be so shameless? It's just a small stall, yet they're charging fifty taels!"

"Why? The guild is going too far!"

"If all else fails, let's chip in and pay the membership fee to Madam Shen. Please, I'm so upset that I can't eat crispy fried chicken."

"..."

Wang Yuan, the leader of the food guild, was furious. He was naturally upset to hear others talking about the guild like that.

A small stall, and the membership fee is fifty taels of silver? That's outrageous! Even he, as the president, thought it was absurd.

Who did this?

"Brother, what's wrong with you? How could you go back on your word?!" Wang Yueshu stomped her foot, questioning him with a wronged expression, as if she had been utterly deceived.

"Brother, you liar! You promised me and then did this! You said you'd treat me? Humph, even if Madam Shen isn't selling herself to you, what kind of treat are you offering? I'll never trust you again!"

Tears welled up in her eyes. She never imagined her brother could be this kind of person. Humph!

Turning around, Wang Yueshu ran away.

Xie, the squad leader, rushed to pull him away, but things happened too fast for him to react in time.

He could only apologize repeatedly: "Brother, Yue Shu is immature and straightforward. Please don't take it to heart. She was just too anxious."

"I know." Wang Yuan's face was ashen; he naturally knew about his sister.

"That's good, that's good." After hesitating for a long time, Xie finally said, "Brother, is the membership fee for our food service industry so expensive now? It's fifty taels?"

The crispy fried chicken was so delicious that he couldn't help but speak up for Madam Shen.

If this isn't handled properly, we won't have anything to eat in the future.

The thought of never having crispy fried chicken again made him feel like he was going to die.

It's one thing to not have tried it, but to have tried it and then not be able to eat it anymore is an absolute torment.

"I didn't know about this at all," Wang Yuan said coldly.

Foreman Xie was stunned: "What??"

"It seems some people in the guild need to be dealt with."

After saying that, Wang Yuan left with a dark face, heading in the direction of the guild.

Seeing this, Li Xiao'er scurried over to inquire, "Boss, what's going on? Isn't your brother-in-law the guild leader? Why is he charging such high membership fees? Will Madam Shen be allowed to continue selling fried chicken?"

"Alright, alright, stop asking. Let's hurry back to the yamen." Xie, the head constable, waved his hand impatiently. "It's already this late. If the county magistrate finds out we haven't gone to the yamen yet, it'll be hard to explain."

The county magistrate was an official in charge of grain and horses, arrests, prisons, and his subordinates. He was their superior, and even if he wanted to eat fried chicken, he couldn't let it interfere with his official duties.

As for Madam Shen's matter, judging from the expression on her brother-in-law's face just now, there seems to be some inside story, but it shouldn't be a big problem.

However, one should not make definitive statements, especially not to someone like Li Xiaoer who cannot keep secrets.

Sigh, I was thinking of bringing the county magistrate some fried chicken to try today...