Hanxianglou launched a new VIP treatment, and within a few days, shopkeeper Zhou got the news and passed it on to Gu Yin.
After that, Shiweitian's business really declined a bit. However, after inquiring again, to their surprise, the lost customers did not go to Hanxiang Building, but Wangyue Building.
Wangyuelou quietly launched Malatang along with Shiweitian, but the price of the same thing doubled several times when it arrived at his house. His family's Dong Shi Xiao frowned not once or twice, and each time there was no good end. This time it was actually successful, and the business was full, which is really unexpected.
Shopkeeper Zhou went to ask about it, and when he came back, he said, "Wangyuelou has neither launched any new food, nor has it changed any great cooks. I also specifically asked the former regular customers, and they said that the malatang in Wangyuelou doesn't seem to be special. It's delicious, just thinking about it makes people drool, as if I can't eat enough."
Hearing this, Gu Yin couldn't make up her mind, "Could it be that you changed some secret recipe to hide it so that no one will know?"
Shopkeeper Zhou couldn't say why, so he ordered someone to buy one to taste.
Several people shared a bowl, heavy oil and spicy, and the soup was so thick that it overwhelmed the taste of the food itself.
Gu Yin vomited after taking a bite. Manager Zhou and Chef Xu couldn't eat it. For them, who had a particularly keen sense of taste, this food was not only unpalatable, but unpalatable.
However, this is not a bad situation for Shiweitian. After all, among their customer base, there are not many people who can eat expensive Malafang Tang in a big restaurant. Although there are fewer people, it is only about a small number. With one or two percent of the turnover, the vast majority of the customers that Mochizukilou is robbing are Hanxianglou's customers.
The most important thing is that the Wang family can go to Wang Dafu to ask for the account!
Seeing that the twelfth lunar month is coming soon, and the lunar month is the new year, Wang Dafu still owes two hundred and fifty taels of silver, and Wang has long been muttering that he can't let this bad debt celebrate.
Wang had asked him a few times before, but Wang Dafu had shied away from the bad business, and his restaurant was indeed a mediocre business. In addition, Wang also had his own work to do, so he didn't have time to mess with him. I didn't ask for the follow-up money back.
Now that her business has declined a bit, she can make some more space, and when she heard that the business of Wangyuelou is booming, she naturally has to ask for this large sum of money back.
It happened that Gu Yin also wanted to check the situation of Wangyuelou, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went straight to Wangyuelou when they were free.
The Mochizuki Building was full, and the waiter and the second were too busy to do anything.
Gu Yin and Mrs Wang stood for almost half an hour, finally someone had time to greet them.
It wasn't a stranger who came, it was Li Cheng.
"Guest officer, please come inside..." Li Cheng said his usual opening remarks, and when he saw that it was Wang Shi and Gu Yin, his half-bowed back immediately straightened, and he said angrily, "What are you doing here? "
Wang Shi didn't talk to him, and immediately said: "Where's Wang Dafu? Let him come out for me, my aunt is coming to ask for the account!"
Gu Yin didn't answer his words, she just looked at him from head to toe, her eyes were full of teasing.
Not long ago, this person boasted that he had been a small butler of Mochizuki Tower, but now he was doing nothing more than running the hall. Although Gu Yin didn't take this character to heart, she was quite happy to see him like this now.
Wang's loud voice shouted, and Wang Dafu came out of the back kitchen not long after.
Seeing it was her, Wang Dafu waved Li Cheng away with a bitter face, and said, "Sister, what's the trouble with this?"
"When the sun hits the west side, you will still enter the back kitchen?" Mrs. Wang sneered while holding her hands, "No trouble, you pay back!"
"Well, my sister also knows that your two nephews mortgaged our Mochizuki Building at that time, and the money was intercepted by the bandits. Later, they emptied their property and mortgaged the old house, and then they redeemed the restaurant. We It’s not easy to run a restaurant, one side is Hanxiang Tower, the other side is the food of the sister’s family, we are trying to survive…”
This kind of rhetoric, Mr. Wang's ears are almost full of cocoons. In the past, what Wang Dafu said was not all lies, but now he is a fool and won't believe his words.
"Don't talk about those who have or don't have, you call this asking for money in the cracks?" Mrs. Wang pointed to the full house of guests and sneered: "Anyway, I have to see the money today, if you don't pay it back, I will go to the yamen to invite you. The eldest master and Guan Jutou will call the shots!"
A trace of panic flashed on Wang Dafu's face, and he hurriedly said with a smile: "Where are you going to disturb the people in the yamen? It's not that I don't know, our business has only improved in the last half a month, and the book is really... "
He took out an account book and looked fakely.
"Look at the account book, my daughter-in-law is fine." Mrs Wang pulled out the account book in his hand and stuffed it into Gu Yin's hand.
During this time, Gu Yin has learned from the shopkeeper Zhou to read the account book and plan of this era. Just after turning two pages, Wang Dafu has hurriedly grabbed the account book back.
"Fifty taels, shall I pay you back fifty taels?"
This was smoother than Mr. Wang expected, but she still said, "No, the bad debts are not new years, they must be paid off!"
"It's really not that many! Your grand-nephews still need to study, and your children also study. You should know that it costs a lot of money. I really want to give you all the money, not to mention that your nephew, niece-in-law and grand-nephew are not doing well. In the coming year, I am afraid that in the coming year the whole family will have to eat bran and pharyngeal vegetables, and they will not be able to study..."
After some bargaining, the Wang family asked for one hundred taels of silver notes, and immediately wrote a receipt to Wang Dafu.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came out of Wangyuelou, Wang Shi looked around vaguely to see that no one was following, and then laughed, "One hundred taels, this Wang Dafu is not too bad. In addition to the fifty taels in front, half of the The account has been returned."
There are more than one hundred taels, and the Wang family was too happy before I put it away. Although the horizon is high now, it can also be called a happy event.
Gu Yinwu pondered, and Mrs. Wang stopped laughing and asked her in a low voice, "What's wrong? Is there something tricky about their accounts and tax evasion?"
Gu Yin laughed when she asked, "I took a look at it twice, if this can tell that their accounts are wrong, I'm too good. It's not that the accounts themselves are tricky, but something else is wrong. , the price is ten times ours. A vegetarian dish is ten cents. But the business is really good, and I can't see the end of the VIP list for the spicy food."
"My darling, it turns out that his family's business is so good! If I knew earlier that I shouldn't only need a hundred taels, I should have all of them back."
It is not the first time that Wangyuelou Handan learns to walk, but this time, it is actually overtaken by Shiweitian, which is too abnormal.
An endless stream of guests came to the door, and when they arrived at the door, they heard that there was no room, and they sniffled and said, "How can there be no room for such a big restaurant? Oh, forget it, your Mala Tang is really delicious. , I'm panicking if I don't eat for a day."
Then Li Chengyi pointed out: "Our Mala Tang is all spicy and spicy, and the taste is very good! It's not like some small restaurants, it costs more money to add seasonings!"
The guest didn't answer him, but just stretched his neck and looked inside, waiting for his turn.
"Bah!" Mrs Wang took a heavy sip, "Our family has already made a lot of money at a price like yours, but isn't it just adding any seasonings?"
There were more and more guests queuing outside the Moon Moon Building at the back, and the door was so crowded that there was no place to stand, and Gu Yin and Wang shi didn't stay much.
When they left, Li Cheng immediately went in and informed Wang Dafu.
One hundred taels is not a small sum of money for anyone, Wang Dafu is heartbroken, and he can only comfort himself that the business is good now, and according to this trend, he will soon be able to earn it back.
Before Laba, Gu Yin cooked Laba porridge again.
In the twelfth lunar month of last year, her Laba porridge caused a turmoil in Wangyuelou, and its deliciousness can be imagined.
She did a tasting event in the store, and it was unanimously praised, and she ordered hundreds of copies before Laba. On the first day of Laba, one or two hundred bowls were sold effortlessly.
On this day, Gu Yin was greeting guests by the half-height large window, and when she looked up, she saw Bai Zixi, who had lost her soul, walking past the window.
She quickly put down the work in her hand and went out.
"Guest officer, do you still remember saving a sum of money in the store in April?"
At that time, Bai Zixi was the first person to take the lead in depositing silver, and it can be said that it was because of him that Shiwei Genius got through the initial turnover difficulties. Gu Yin was so impressed with him that she specially made five characteristics for him the next day. However, Bai Zixi, who had promised to arrive earlier the day before, did not come.
Not only did he not come that day, but when the last two big restaurants launched VIP discounts, all the customers who deposited silver came to refund their money, and Bai Zixi didn't come either. Gu Yin still kept in mind the 12 taels of silver that he had put in his account for the first half of the year.
Bai Zixi stopped when she heard the words, "It's the little lady."
As he spoke, he raised his head and looked around blankly, and then mumbled to himself, "How did you get here?"
"Today our store has newly boiled Laba porridge. Would you like to come in and drink a bowl to warm up your body?"
The cold wind was cold, and when she reminded him, Bai Zixi also felt cold, and shrank his neck and walked quickly into the store.
The hot, fragrant Laba porridge was brought into the hand, the entrance was fragrant and thick, the aroma of various ingredients burst on the tip of the tongue, and after warming up in the stomach, Bai Zixi sighed comfortably, "Your porridge is really good."
After he finished speaking, his eyes fell on the other customers in the store.
In such cold weather, Shiweitian's attendance rate is still 90%, and there are only a few vacancies in the entire store.
Thinking of his own restaurant, since Wangyuelou followed the trend and made a spicy and spicy Malatang, the number of guests at Hanxianglou has been decreasing. Although his uncle followed suit later, the price is still cheaper than that of Wangyuelou, and he also does not hesitate to add Tried a lot of bell peppers, but with little success. In this month, Hanxianglou launched Laba porridge, which is considered to have achieved some business, but this is only a return to the light, and after all, it will return to the state of being left out in the courtyard.
Although this restaurant is now run by a big house, it is an industry run by several generations of the family. Now that it has reached this point, it is always embarrassing and unpleasant.
"This porridge is accounted for, and the rest of the money will be put away first. I will visit again when I have time." Bai Zixi let out a long sigh and left with his thoughts in mind.
After he left, Mrs Wang went to clean up the table, only to find that he had left the food box, and hurriedly chased out.
Bai Zixi had already gone out for a while, so he simply waved his hand and said, "I don't want this anymore, please help the store to throw it away."
The food box contains the Mala Tang bought by Wangyuelou. He has already bought it several times on and off, but every time he eats it, he doesn't think it is delicious. I really don't understand why Wangyuelou can use this thing. The house's Hanxianglou was completely suppressed.
This time it was also a dead horse as a living horse doctor, so he went to buy it again, but he couldn't find the reason, so he just didn't want it, out of sight and out of mind.
"What a good food box, if you say no, you don't want it." Wang Shi didn't want to, so he put the food box next to the counter first.
Not long after, Wu An and Gu Ye returned to the store one after another.
In the evening, the sky was overcast, and it was about to snow heavily. There were few pedestrians on the road, and there were no customers in the store. Gu Yin simply closed the door of the store, and let the guys set the table together.
The two little guys helped hold the tableware and chopsticks. Seeing that there was a beautiful food box in the corner of the counter, Gu Ye squatted down and opened it curiously, and then coughed violently because of the spicy smell.
Gu Yin pulled him up with one hand and put the food box on the counter with the other.
Gu Ye didn't cough anymore, he just muttered uncomfortably: "What, choke me to death!"
Looking at the probe, Mr. Wang explained that it was something that Bai Zixi didn't want, and said regretfully, "Wangyuelou is written on this bowl, and this is the Mala Tang that Wangyuelou's tens or hundreds of coin is worth? "
Those words caught the attention of everyone else in the store.
Unlike the Bai family, who has a big business and can buy a bowl to taste at any time. Last time Gu Yin and shopkeeper Zhou bought it once and tasted it and stopped buying it. The rest of the store was even more reluctant. I've only heard of it, never tried it.
"It's all cold, take it to the back kitchen and dump it." Gu Yin said.
Song Shiliu, who had always regarded herself as a maid, rushed to do the work.
There are two small red clay stoves on the two tables, and two large casserole pots on the stove, one bone soup and one sauerkraut soup base.
Now her business is on track, especially since it is still a holiday, Gu Yin is not a stingy boss, so everyone can eat with an open belly.
As soon as these words came out, the guys cheered and scrambled to get the side dishes and seasoning.
Chef Xu first took two parts of chili oil, poured two parts of sesame paste into his bowl and mixed it up. He didn't count it after mixing, and shouted Song Pomegranate: "Pomegranate, come, I'll get you two more parts of chili oil."
Song Shiliu and Chef Xu are a generation apart in age, but they are equally able to eat.
After adding her to join, Shiweitian never sold the leftovers and wanted to dump them, so the two of them made it all together. They also got along some friendships to grab food and eat.
Song Shiliu shook his head and said, "I don't seem to be very hungry today."
Chef Xu didn't care about her anymore and joined the army of grabbing vegetables.
The cold wind was blowing outside, and everyone in the store was sitting together. The hot soup was boiling in the casserole. Cabbage, bean sprouts, green vegetables, potato chips, and tofu were neatly stacked in the pot, and then put sausages, chicken balls, and fish. Pills, lion heads, egg dumplings, and the hot dishes that are full of soup with a chopstick, put them in your own seasoning bowl, and mix them with delicate sesame paste and chili oil according to your personal taste. What a fragrant word!
After a hot pot meal, everyone was sweating.
It was also dark outside, so Gu Yin let everyone off work.
Shopkeeper Zhou and Chef Xu lived in the backyard and were responsible for the final finishing work, while Mrs. Wang took the female workers back to Zhenyi Lane on a donkey cart.
After a busy day, they all took a rest after taking a shower when they got home.
She slept until midnight, when Gu Yin was awakened by the sound of "bang bang" in the yard.
She approved the clothes and got up, and met Wang who also got up to check.
The two went to the yard to take a look, and it turned out that Song Shiliu was chopping wood in the yard.
"Why did you chop wood in the middle of the night, girl?"
Song Shiliu blushed and said apologetically, "I thought there was a strong wind outside and it wouldn't bother you."
The sound of the wind whimpered. You might not hear her chopping wood in other people's homes, but Gu Yin and Wang Shi were used to being alert, so they could hear it naturally.
"Go back to the house, you have to get up and go to work at dawn!" Wang stomped his feet in the cold, confiscated the axe in Song Shiliu's hand, and then pulled Gu Yin back to the house to sleep.
The next day, he got up as usual, Song Shiliu looked dizzy and had no appetite for food.
Seeing this, Mrs. Wang would inevitably nag: "I made you sleep well at night, and the firewood in our house has been chopped up into a small mountain, so there is no shortage of firewood to burn. You see that your food is not delicious, but it's not good to do this again. already."
Song Shiliu was speechless. In fact, she didn't know what was going on, but in the middle of the night, she felt that the whole person was in a panic, and it was uncomfortable not to do anything. As for the food in the store, she clearly liked it very much before, but now she always feels that it is tasteless and tasteless, like something is missing.
After two days, Song Shiliu still did not recover.
It snowed heavily that day, and there was no one in the store. Gu Yin felt that she could not let it go, and was going to take the little girl to see the doctor.
However, after looking around in the store, I didn't see this girl.
She also regards herself as a maid, rushing to work in the store, and has never been lazy to find anyone. Gu Yin didn't think about it anywhere else, she just thought she had her own business and went out temporarily.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the little girl came back from the outside in a panic.
She is young and has a sincere personality, so she almost wrote the words guilty of conscience on her face.
When she saw Gu Yin waiting at the door, she was even more frightened and paled.
"I'm looking for you, take off your coat..."
Since I'm going to see a doctor, I must change the light yellow work clothes that are uniform in the store.
However, when Song Shiliu heard this, she knelt down with a puff and pleaded, "I was wrong, I will never go to Wangyuelou again. Madam, don't want me..."
She called Wang Shi in one voice, and when she saw her kneeling outside, Wang Shi stepped forward and pulled her up, and said with a smile: "What are you thinking? If you don't want to eat, I will take you to see the doctor, why don't you want me?"
But Gu Yin heard something else and asked her, "What do you mean when you say 'never go to Wangyuelou again'?"
Hearing this, Mrs. Wang became stern, she had already made up for Song Shiliu's "cooperating with the enemy and betraying the country", she immediately released her hand and asked in a cold voice, "Have you been in contact with the people over at Wangyuelou? "
Song Shiliu breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Wang's explanation, then immediately shook her head and said, "No, I have no contact with the people over there!" She lowered her voice as she spoke, "I just buy food from their family. went."
"You girl!" Mrs Wang pinched her ears, "Why are you so greedy when people say you are so good?"
Wang Shi didn't exert any effort, Song Shiliu didn't feel the pain, just panicked, and explained in a low voice, "I just don't want to eat a meal, and I don't feel like eating anything else. I know I'm wrong, and I won't go again."
She has always been greedy, and Wang Shi didn't find it strange, and Song Shiliu used her wages to buy food from other places, and it wasn't a big crime.
Gu Yin still felt that something was wrong. Although Song Shiliu was greedy, she was also loyal. When she mentioned Wangyuelou and Hanxianglou every day, she spurned them more than anyone else. I knew before that Wangyuelouxue launched Mala Tang and made a lot of money. The little girl was so angry that she wanted to smash the field, she was like a replica of Wang's. And she is also frugal, so she is willing to buy such expensive Mala Tang
It's not that Gu Yin is arrogant, the food in Wangyuelou is really not worth the price in her opinion. Song Shiliu eats all the food that is for the sky, can he not even have the basic ability to taste
Of course, the most suspicious thing was her description of feeling unwell when she didn't eat a meal.
Gu Yin called her to the back kitchen and asked carefully.
Song Shiliu then explained that on Laba day, Gu Yin asked her to help pour out the Mala Tang in the food box. She knew that it was expensive and was not willing to throw it away, so she ate it in the back kitchen. At the time, I thought it was delicious, but I wanted to eat it again later. In the past two days, she couldn't eat anything else, so when she had time, she sneaked to Mochizuki Tower to buy food, and she felt comfortable after eating.
"It cost me hundreds of pennies in two days, and I'll never go again." Song Shiliu drooped his head, looking like he was beating and scolding.
"It's not your fault."
Gu Yin had already guessed what it was. Later, she asked people to go to Wangyuelou to buy a few Mala Tang. This time, instead of simply tasting it, she poured out the soup and vegetables, and then filtered them out with a strainer. Double check for the final soup base residue.
Straining all the way to the tenth bowl, Mrs Wang and Chef Xu were watching and they were so distressed that they gasped. Gu Yin finally saw the brown husk in the residue—
Damn Wang Dafu, actually put poppies in the food!
…
The county magistrate has been very worried these days.
He knows that he has no ability, and just wants to work hard to be a good official with integrity and integrity.
The county magistrate's annual salary is forty taels of silver and twenty shi of lumi, which is enough for the three family members to chew on.
But there are also many places to spend money in the town. The previous Mid-Autumn Festival food gave a hundred pieces of moon cakes to the sky and let him distribute them to Hukuai Heshantang, which has greatly reduced the burden on the yamen.
Especially when the Chinese New Year is coming up soon, there are more places to spend money. The people below came to report that a strong wind had blown a wooden bridge in a nearby village crooked. It has been snowing heavily these days. Overwhelmed, and can't be overwhelmed. Rebuilding the bridge is a huge expense.
Although there are many wealthy squires in the whole county, there is no county seat in this county. They are all towns and villages. Every time they raise money, they have to run around everywhere. He had to subsidize part of it from his salary.
Just as he was in a daze, the county magistrate found that his daughter-in-law had been sneaking out these days.
After some inquiries, she found out that she was fascinated by the food in Wangyuelou.
The business of Wangyuelou has been booming recently, and the county magistrate has also heard about it.
I also heard about the expensive prices over there, ten cents for a small portion of vegetarian dishes, thirty cents for the same meat dish, and no one sells a serving of less than fifty cents!
The county magistrate's wife is the wife of the county magistrate. The two have been together through ups and downs. In the past, she was only more frugal than the county magistrate, and she had to think and think about buying new clothes and new jewelry. Even last time she ate the moon cakes sent by Gu Yin and thought it was very delicious, but she heard that it cost eight cents a piece, so she was not willing to buy it again.
The county magistrate didn't have the heart to scold her, but the county magistrate's wife hated her so much that she slapped her ears, and regretted, "I know best that our family is not well-off, and I was not a greedy person before. But I have eaten since the last entertainment. Once, when I came back, I kept thinking... I spent hundreds of pennies before I knew it, so my husband should scold me."
"Don't be like this." The county magistrate held her hand distressedly. "You rarely have something you like. You can eat it if you want. In fact, our family is not so poor."
After comforting his wife, the county magistrate looked at the remaining money in the family and was so worried that he didn't sleep well for several nights. A meal costs dozens of dollars. With this kind of cost, let alone repairing bridges and paving roads, there will be problems with chewing in the future.
It was at this time that the arrest came to report to Gu Yin to see him, and said, "Not only Mrs. Gu, but also the respected old doctor in our town, both of them have serious expressions on their faces."
The county magistrate immediately paid attention and asked the arrest to bring people in.