Gu Yin and Wu Qingyi sat side by side in the carriage, and the carriage drove away from the bustling Taibai Street.
The noise and lights are all behind, the night wind is slow, and all sounds are silent.
"Sit inside, it's windy outside."
Gu Yin was enjoying the quiet atmosphere, and shook her head: "It's not cold either."
It's really not cold. The heat on Wu Qingyi's body is very high, and it reaches her shoulders through the jacket, and she sits in front of her to shield her from the wind.
Why do such hot people always like to wear cold masks
Her eyes fell on the mask again.
In all fairness, this silver engraved with ancient beast totems is not ugly, but it only adds an inaccessible cold temperament to him.
"Is everything going well today?" Wu Qingyi asked while driving without looking sideways.
Gu Yin retracted her eyes and replied, "It went well. Today, I have hired three waiters, so I have to thank you."
Wu Qingyi asked her what to say
Gu Yin told him about her encounter with Wei Sanniang, and smiled again: "What I thought in front of me was 'give a man a fish, it is better to teach him how to fish'. That's why I wanted to try to hire her, because you are in front of me. After helping her, she trusted me so much, signed the deed with me, and pressed her handprint without looking carefully, and was not afraid that I would sell her. Later, the two people from the same village she brought were also very quick, if they both followed They are like them, I was thinking about two floors, and it would be enough to recruit a dozen people to run the hall... But I thought it was shallow before, it was not me who helped them, but they helped me, mutual benefit!"
Wu Qingyi held the reins for a while. He pondered thoughtfully for a while, then suddenly smiled: "It helped me too!"
Then he accelerated the speed of the car and sent Gu Yin to the gate of the British public residence. After that, he did not stop, let the servants lead the horse out, and immediately got on the horse and rode away.
Gu Yin didn't know why, and after watching him leave, she remembered that she had brought porridge back.
Anyway, why don't you take a sip and go back to work
Wang was waiting for Gu Yin in the backyard. When she saw her coming back, she first asked her if she had eaten, and then asked her if she was cold. After hearing her say it was not cold, Wang looked behind her with a smile. He asked her, "Where's Qingyi, didn't he say he'd pick you up after he paid for it?"
Wu Qingyi went home as usual after getting off duty. Hearing that Gu Yin was still busy outside, he said to pick her up, went straight over, and asked the coachman to bring his horse back.
Wang is happy to see it happen, and she has always thought her son was dumb!
It's been a month since I went to Kyoto. Although the whole family is together every day, the eldest son will go home when he is on duty. In fact, he can't even get close to his daughter-in-law, and he doesn't know when he will see the two of them really mix oil with honey, and then add a child to the family.
There are so many kids at home, it is best to ask for a girl. Now that she has grandchildren, she can wake up laughing from her dreams.
The performance of the eldest son today was unexpectedly good.
Thinking of this, Mrs Wang smiled again: "Let me guess, did this fool send you to the backyard, and he rested in front of him again? It's really stupid, you are a serious husband and wife, just send you in What about the house? It's not the unmarried men and women who want to guard against men and women."
Gu Yin said no, "He didn't enter the house, he left me at the door and left. It seems that he suddenly thought of something to do."
Wang couldn't help laughing.
If it wasn't for her own son, she would hate to curse.
"It's okay, mother, maybe he really has something to do." Gu Yin took Wang's hand to persuade her, and then handed her the porridge she cooked at night, and asked her and Wu Zhong to share it as a late-night snack.
Thinking that she had been busy all day, Mrs. Wang didn't stay in front of her too much. She called for a maid to serve her in the bath, and went back to the house with the food box.
Wu Zhong had already washed and exercised in the room before going to bed.
They have installed a lot of handrails in their house now, which is Gu Yin's suggestion.
Although this thing is inconspicuous, it is very helpful for patients with inflexible legs and feet.
At least when he was in the house now, Wu Zhong no longer needed crutches, and he could move freely by holding the handrail by himself. Of course, the speed is definitely a lot slower than ordinary people.
"Da Ya is back?" Wu Chong approached with a smile and took the food box in Wang's hand, "This child is filial, and he has been busy all day without forgetting to bring food to the family. Don't say, he is used to Da Ya's craftsmanship. , Eating the dishes made by the original Wangfu chef is not good."
The Wang family likes to hear other people compliment their daughter-in-law, and Wu Zhong also sees that her face is not very good, so he specially picks up what she likes and tells her.
But he was fine if he didn't say it, but when he said that, the Wang family was even more depressed.
She looked at Wu Zhong and held it back for a long time, and then she said, "Why did I put your cow dung on it?"
What Wang Shi likes Gu Yin likes is not good, she wants Gu Yin to be smaller, and wish she could be tied to her side every day.
Why is my eldest son so uninformed
I also know that I didn't follow her to be a mother, but to follow his father!
"Humph!" Mr. Wang hummed angrily, went out to wash and went to bed and lay down.
…
Within two days, Mr. Wen asked Mr. Wen Er to send a plaque as a congratulatory gift.
It is also square and square in three big italic characters, "Food is the sky", with the glossy and water-smooth high-quality wood, but the size is larger than the one in Hanshan Town.
And the last seal is no longer two, only replaced by a new seal.
This time, Mrs. Wen didn't hide it from Gu Yin, and wrote a letter to her, saying that the two seals in the past were engraved by the emperor of the previous dynasty, and now they can't be used anymore. This time the seal is his real private seal. As for the plaque of Hanshan Town, he also took this opportunity to rewrite a piece and sent it back to replace it.
Unexpectedly, when he was in Hanshan Town, his signboard used the seal engraved by the emperor. It is no wonder that Mrs. Wen confidently told Gu Yin that even if he used the name "Food is Heaven", he didn't have to worry about making a taboo.
Later, Gu Yin also met the two chefs invited by the shopkeeper Zhou in the restaurant.
The two chefs, the surnamed Kong in charge of the red case, and the surnamed Cao in charge of the white case, are about the same age as the shopkeeper Zhou, and they are at the age of prosperous and powerful. I used to work in the same Beijing restaurant.
It's just that the luck is not good. The behind-the-scenes owner of their restaurant has a connection with the former court authority, and the entire restaurant is taken back by the court. The new owner of the restaurant has its own team, and the two chefs lost their jobs.
Shopkeeper Zhou had known them since he was a teenager. Although they hadn't communicated much for many years, their friendship was real.
The craftsmanship of the two chefs is not inferior to that of Shopkeeper Zhou and Gu Yin, and the wages are still the same as they used to be, fifty taels a month per person.
The fifty taels were not all taken by themselves, but they each brought a few apprentices and help cooks, and a team of people took fifty taels in total, which was distributed by the chef.
This is equivalent to one hundred taels of wages per month, which is used to support the back kitchen of the restaurant.
Gu Yin actually likes cooking and researching new things, and is not very good at the complicated affairs of operation and management.
In the past, the capital was low and the manpower was not enough, so I had to bite the bullet and do everything myself.
Now it's really good. With these two in the back kitchen, the overall responsibility is handled by Shopkeeper Zhou, and the burden on her is lightened all of a sudden.
Later, under the propaganda of Wei Sanniang and the big and small Suns, more and more family members of wounded soldiers came to apply for the recruitment.
In ten days, the fifteen female court servants had already taken their places. Gu Yin temporarily ordered the smartest Mrs. Sun to be the foreman, and gave him half a tael of extra wages every month.
The clerk's training didn't need Gu Yin to come by herself, and the Wang family came to guide them when she had nothing to do.
Then the soft decoration in the hall was also put on the agenda - this time it wasn't that Gu Yin didn't have the money to decorate it, it was because the restaurant was originally built, the decoration was brand new, and even the tables and chairs were good and complete.
It is a two-story restaurant, and the bottom floor is the lobby. It serves individual guests and does not need to purchase anything.
The table above is larger, and the space between each table is wider. A screen is placed in the middle of the space, which adds elegance and does not appear noisy.
The partition screen was taken out by Wang from the warehouse for Gu Yin.
It was only later that Mrs. Wang learned that the warehouse she and Gu Yin went to before was only a warehouse for storing gold and silver, and there was a large antique store next door, just screens, rockeries, and large floor-to-ceiling vases. There are dozens of them.
Of course, these things still carry the palace emblem, and it is impossible to realize it. Instead of eating ashes at home, just take it out and make the best use of it, and the provincial family has to spend more money to buy it.
Don't say, good things are good things. Gu Yin doesn't know how to enjoy and enjoy. Seeing those screens and vases put on the second floor of the restaurant, she feels that the grade has risen a lot.
There are several other rooms on the second floor, which are also arranged in a similar fashion.
Anyway, as long as you step on the second floor and don't spend ten taels of silver, you will feel sorry for these decorations!
The last and most important thing is the main business items in the store and the business direction of the entire store.
This time it is definitely not a cheap Chinese fast food, but a business for real middle and high-end customers.
In this era, ordering food was usually written as a small lottery and hung on the wall. Originally, this restaurant also set aside such a place.
This step is simple. Gu Yin asked people to make a batch of each of them according to the specialty dishes of the shopkeeper Zhou, and also made some menus. However, different from future generations, the menus this time are not paper-good paper. Cheap, cheap paper has no style, and paper must be worn out in daily use. It's not bad money, but you can save some money.
It is a cloth menu made into a scroll style, and as soon as you open it, you can see various dishes of various colors and pictures.
This time, of course, I had to write flyers and propaganda, and Wu An was in charge. He heard that such a menu was still needed, so he also stopped this work. He is already studying painting - now that Master Wen has returned to the Hanlin Academy to work, he can't accompany him to study every day as before, so Wu An and Wen Lang of the Wen family will be taught by another teacher.
That gentleman was personally selected by Mrs. Wen, so there is no need to worry about his level. And when Master Wen is down, he will make final comments and critiques on their homework.
Wu An's foundation is shallow, but he is smart and serious, and it is the same hard work for a new husband.
He is still young, and his family situation is very comparable, so he doesn't have to take the imperial examination to get ahead.
Therefore, after he finished reading the enlightenment books, Master Wen did not want him to be exposed to the Four Books, Five Classics and Eight Guwen at his age, so he asked him to teach him piano, chess, calligraphy and painting and the six arts of the gentleman.
With 200 leaflets with pictures and dozens of menu scrolls, the little guy finished drawing in half a month.
Not to mention, a smart person learns everything faster than ordinary people, and his paintings of living things lack charm, and some simple food paintings are lifelike.
Before opening, Gu Yin did one last market research.
I don't know if I don't investigate, but I'm startled when I investigate.
In modern times, many food bloggers call Beijing a "food desert".
But in the capital city of this overhead era, it's not like that at all, that is, there are all kinds of food and cuisine, and any good shop in the city, everyone has their own specialties!
Like shopkeeper Zhou's specialty dishes, as long as it is a larger restaurant, other chefs will also cook it.
And although it is a new dynasty, the lives of most people in the capital have not been affected, and most of the old restaurants have stood for many years.
Most of the owners of old-fashioned restaurants are either rich or expensive and have strong capital. If you want to grab diners from them, it is almost impossible to do it without finding another way.
It's getting cold now, Gu Yin and Shopkeeper Zhou discussed it, and they are ready to launch both hot pot and barbecue as the specialty of the store.
She didn't believe it anymore, what can't a hot pot and barbecue be solved? !
There are four flavors of hot pot, bone soup, mushroom soup, sour soup and butter and spicy.
The first three are cheaper, and the butter and spicy ones are twice as expensive. Especially the butter, it is not easy to buy.
It's a bit funny to say, but Wu Qingyi helped Gu Yin to do this.
At that time, Gu Yin thought for a long time before deciding to ask him for help.
It was rare for her to speak, and Wu Qingyi naturally did not respond. Seeing her tangled expression, she added, "Although I don't understand business and cooking skills, since it is what you want to do, if someone wants something, I will naturally respond."
His tone and demeanor were too serious, as if he was going to go up the mountain of knives and fry for her in the next second.
Gu Yin was amused and hurriedly said, "It's not that serious, it's just that I want to buy cattle."
It's illegal to kill cattle, but if someone's cattle died suddenly, they would definitely not worry about selling them. Gu Yin would not be the one to sell them.
Although Wu Qingyi's current status would not have anyone dare to kill a few cows, it would still be too much to let Dangtang be the king of the country to kill cows for his own business.
Gu Yin actually wanted him to help him find out how to buy such a cow that died of natural causes, but she felt that such a trivial matter would bother him, it was really overkill, and she was afraid that he would think it was too trivial.
"That's it," he laughed. "I didn't notice it before, but I just asked. It's not too much trouble to think about."
He will be in charge of the latter. He is in charge of the imperial guards and the guard of the capital. With eyes and ears all over the capital, it is really convenient to snoop on news. In November, before the opening of the business, seven or eight cows that died suddenly due to accidents or died of natural old age were collected for Gu Yin. I have searched all the villages near the capital, and there are only so many. No matter how much I want, there will be no more. However, the size of the cow is huge, and seven or eight heads are enough for Gu Yin.
The weather is already cold, these cows have been cooked and frozen, and they can be stored for many days.
After the cow was in place, Gu Yin's custom-made copper pots and griddle pans were also delivered - some of these copper pots had a partition in the middle, making them two grids. There are also four grids, so that guests can choose whether they want one type of pot bottom, mandarin ducks or four grids according to their tastes.
The roasting plate is a grid-shaped square plate made of iron wire, which allows guests to choose whether to slowly roast it on the charcoal fire, or to let the chef do it for you and deliver the finished product directly.
The follow-up work will be completed one by one. On the fifth day of November, Shiweitian Restaurant officially opened!
After the two strings of hanging whips sounded, two lion dance teams jumped over from the street to the sound of gongs and drums.
The lion head blinked his eyes, and he was very mighty.
The first two "lions" met, and they had a lively fight. In the end, they spit something out of their mouths - not the couplets commonly used in later generations, but many red envelopes.
The people onlookers actually thought it was a happy money, and they scrambled to grab it.
After grabbing it, I opened it, and there was a leaflet with pictures and texts, and a voucher was attached.
This thing is really fresh, and there are words and paintings. Although everyone was disappointed, they did not throw it away.
When the lion dance is over, it is the final ribbon-cutting ceremony.
As the owner, Gu Yin stood in the middle, and she presided over the ceremony.
Gu Yin's hand holding the scissors trembled slightly, and her eyes were red.
When the shopkeeper saw it, he persuaded softly: "Don't be excited, the opening this time will be very successful."
Gu Yin nodded, she wasn't worried about that.
The two lion dance teams spent 22 taels of silver, and she didn't dare to count the amount of other initial investments. It is also a loss that the family is rich now, and they can act immediately if they want.
I was still in Hanshan Town before, how could I dare to think about this
After the simple but solemn ribbon-cutting ceremony, the door of the restaurant opened.
People who have seen the lively people get vouchers and are just about to eat nearby will enter the store to have a look.
The entrance to Taibai Market is very good. In less than half an hour, dozens of customers came in.
However, most of them are ordinary people, so they do not go to the private rooms or private rooms on the second floor, but go directly to the lobby on the first floor.
They are all old locals, and you must ask what are the specialties when you come up.
The waitresses, headed by the Grand Sun, all wore pale yellow overalls, smiled and served menus.
There are also pictures on the menu, so even illiterate guests can choose what they want to eat.
The prices of the dishes are clearly marked. Vegetarian dishes and dim sum are about half a tael. If the total price exceeds five taels of silver, a staple food will be presented.
Generally speaking, a family of three can eat well for five taels.
Naturally, this price was something that Gu Yin didn't dare to think about in the past - this is enough for ordinary people to chew on for half a year in the town.
But in a boundary like the capital, there are too many people who look like they don't look like mountains and waters, but actually have a lot of money.
If you can come to the vicinity of Taibai Street and join the lively opening of the restaurant, there is no spare money in your pocket.
In particular, the current Shiweitian Restaurant is worthy of this price in terms of decoration and location.
No one just walked away because of pricing.
However, what Gu Yin expected happened. After reading the menu, a customer was not very satisfied and said: "You have these dishes outside the restaurant, and the price is similar. Well, I'll go back to the previous place to eat."
There are many diners who are greedy for freshness, and there are also many diners who are nostalgic.
People with the same thoughts as him also stood up and prepared to leave.
And at this moment, the shopkeeper Zhou has already asked people to prepare the things outside the store and start the charcoal barbecue on the spot.
The charcoal fire was burning vigorously in the half-person-high copper rack, and the griddle grilled with oil was placed on top, and it immediately sizzled.
When the grill is hot, put on the prepared beef, mutton, pork belly, sausage, leeks, corn kernels and other ingredients.
The wonderful fragrance is tangy, and at the end, the shopkeeper Zhou sprinkles a handful of cumin or chili noodles on top. No one smells drooling!
"Your grilled meat is so special!" The first diner who wanted to leave came to the door and stopped.
The way of eating roasted meat is not new, but for some reason, there has never been a restaurant that cooked ordinary roasted meat so fragrant!
This is natural because of the addition of cumin chili noodles and white sesame seeds. Where is the seasoning sprinkled here, it is real gold and silver!
Gu Yin smiled and did not explain.
Because the meat is thinly sliced and the vegetables are all in small portions, the roast is done in no time.
Shopkeeper Zhou then cut the meat into small pieces and the vegetables into small pieces, and put them on a plate to invite people who have entered the store to try them.
After a wave of tastings was over, these people who walked to the door turned back again.
In the first week, the shopkeeper will not sprinkle those. After all, it is not profitable to try it, and the seasoning is more expensive than the ingredients themselves.
This time he brushed the sauce on the food, the sweet and salty sauce made by Gu Yin himself.
The aroma is not so strong after roasting, but the sauce is thick enough, and the roasted ingredients look moist, which is particularly appetizing.
Just like this barbecue, no one can "escape" from Shiweitian, and by the way, many customers who are only watching the fun outside and are not ready to enter the store are attracted in.
When someone took the lead and ordered a spicy butter hot pot, the speed of diners entering the door and ordering immediately rose to a new level.
Who can resist hot pot in this cold and windy winter
The hot hot pot soup base is accompanied by various sliced meat rolls and vegetables. When the chopsticks are scalded and hot, you can eat the dishes full of soup in your mouth in the blink of an eye.
The bone soup is mellow, the mushroom soup is fragrant, and the sour soup is sour. Of course, the most fascinating thing is the spicy soup that makes people feel like their mouths are burning, but they can't stop.
What's even more amazing is that you can eat four flavors at the same time in one pot!
Especially compared to a la carte dishes, all the ingredients and bottoms of the hot pot are not very expensive. If you are not a meat lover who only eats meat, you can eat five or two at a table.
Not to mention the taste, the freshness alone is enough to attract this group of diners who are not poor.
Before dinner time, the lobby in the restaurant was almost full. There were hundreds of diners.
Before putting it aside, Gu Yin should be very satisfied with this situation.
But there are still vacant seats on the second floor, so she naturally has other thoughts.
She was thinking about how to promote it when she saw Gu Ye peeking out at the door.
She beckoned to Gu Ye, and the little brat trotted forward and asked her with a smile, "Mother, how is the business?"
Gu Yin said it was okay, and poked his little forehead with a smile, and asked him, "Why haven't you been seen these days, is it wrong for you to be a young master?"
Gu Ye was very interested in his own business and used to be in charge of a department.
This time, he changed his mind. Before the opening, he didn't do any work, and ran out during the day, not knowing what he was busy with, which was very abnormal.
"That's right, of course." Gu Ye said with a guilty conscience, "It's just... It just didn't work out."
Gu Yin asked him what errands he was doing these days. He put his hands on his hips again and touched his forehead with the other. He sighed in an old-fashioned manner, "Children in the capital, you can't lie!"