After the first month of the lunar year, the weather became warmer day by day. Willow branches by the river sprouted tender buds, and green grass also emerged. Mingyu's snack bar, Xuji Canteen, also prepared its utensils and opened for business on the second day of the second lunar month with a long string of big red firecrackers.
Mother Liu naturally became the manager of Xuji, recruited two waiters to serve, and hired a few skilled young women to cook in the backyard. For every person recruited into Xuji, Mother Liu followed Mingyu's instructions and carefully checked their fingers and hair to ensure that her employees were all clean and hygienic.
Xuji sells rice porridge, corn porridge, steamed buns, steamed bread, and pickled vegetables in the morning. From noon on, home-cooked dishes cooked in a big pot are available. Vegetarian dishes cost one cent per spoonful, and small meat dishes cost two cents per spoonful.
These are all things that Mingyu came up with by referring to modern Chinese fast food restaurants, and they were slightly improved. Originally, I thought that since the shop was so close to the market, with a large flow of people and no similar shops around to compete with it, it should have good business. However, Mingyu didn't expect that in the first few days, the business was not good. It only sold two pots of steamed buns and steamed buns in a whole day. If it wasn't for using his own shop and not having to pay rent, I'm afraid it would be a loss.
Madam Xu looked at Mingyu, who was frowning while doing the accounts, and comforted her, "Take your time. How can you make money right from the start? The shop has just opened, so just build up your reputation step by step."
Of course Mingyu didn't want to do it step by step. She had seen how good the business of those stalls selling food was. After another two days, the business still didn't improve. Mingyu simply stood outside Xuji Canteen. Observing the busy streets, Xuji's business was indeed not good. Most people just looked at the door with interest and never stepped into the store. The small business of the stall next to it was still booming. The customers squatted on the ground with their bowls in hand to eat.
Those standing at the door of the store looking around had curiosity in their eyes, but more of it was to test and watch the fun. They had never considered going in. Mingyu remembered such looks. When she was in school and had little money, she and her classmates passed by the door of a luxury store and looked at the things inside. A group of girls all looked at her like this.
The people who come and go most in the market are rural people from ordinary families. They choose to eat at snack stalls. Perhaps it is just because they believe in a principle that the things sold at the stalls are cheap, while the things sold in the shops must be expensive. In fact, Xu Ji's things are not more expensive than those sold at snack stalls.
Mingyu thought about it and asked Mama Liu to put the steamer for steamed buns at the door of the shop. As the stove burned, the whole door of the shop was filled with steam, and the fragrance of the buns spread everywhere. The two young and strong waiters stopped waiting and stood at the door and shouted, "Buns, big meat buns, one penny each, steamed buns, one penny for two! Two pennies for a full stomach! If you're not full, you don't have to pay!"
Soon someone pointed at the steaming buns in the steamer and asked tentatively, "These buns are only one penny each?"
The waiter nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, this is the bun! How many do you want? Please come in, sit down and eat, and we'll give you some rice soup to drink with it!"
As long as the first group of people go in and fill the room, there is no need to worry about the people behind not following in. The food is cheap and plentiful, and the customers are not fools. Why squat when they can sit and eat peacefully
At noon, Mother Liu asked the waiter to carry the steamer into the backyard, put out the fried dishes and steamed buns, and asked the waiter to shout at the door as usual. Business was much better than the previous two days, and the prepared meals were sold out before the market closed at noon.
Mingyu was very happy when she checked the bill. The only drawback was that the waiters had to shout loudly to attract customers. She was always a little scared when she saw the waiters shouting, for fear that the waiters' saliva would spray on the food.
During the chat, Mingyu couldn't help but tell Mrs. Xu about her concerns. She also planned to get masks for the waiters to wear to ensure food hygiene, but Mrs. Xu sneered at her.
"Silly girl!" Madam Xu tapped Mingyu's forehead and said with a smile, "Who do you think we serve in this restaurant? They are all people from the countryside who come to the city to sell vegetables. Why would they care about this? The most important thing is that it is cheap and filling. We are not a big restaurant that serves those distinguished rich people. This thing you made..."
Madam Xu picked up the simple mask that Mingyu had made with her fingers and shook her head with a smile, "It's so funny when the guys put it on!"
Mingyu was disappointed when her enthusiasm was criticized and gave up the idea. However, she made up her mind that if she could save enough money to open a big restaurant in the future, she would make sure that every waiter would be equipped with a mask!
One month after Xu's opening, Mother Liu went home and told Mingyu and Mrs. Xu about something, saying that she wanted to hire another person.
Mingyu asked, "Not enough manpower?"
Mother Liu couldn't keep her thoughts to herself. She looked at Mingyu with embarrassment and said, "Not really... Yesterday a daughter-in-law came to the shop looking for a job. I saw that she was in her twenties. She said her husband died outside and she had never given birth to a child. She was kicked out by her in-laws. Her parents were gone and her brother and sister-in-law wouldn't tolerate her. She could only look for work outside. She was quite pitiful."
Madam Xu nodded, a little worried, and asked, "What's his character like?"
"She looks like an honest girl." Mother Liu said, "I asked her to cook two dishes last night. They were pretty good. She is very strong and can easily swing iron shovels that older girls and young wives can't lift!"
Xu Ji’s dishes are all made in big pots, and they use large cast iron shovels for frying. Each shovel weighs three or four pounds, and it takes two or three people to take turns to stir-fry one dish.
"That's fine." Mingyu thought about it, but since this woman wasn't introduced by a middleman, she was still a little worried. "First try her out for a month. No salary, just food and lodging. If she does well, keep her. In the second month, give her two months' salary."
Mother Liu smiled gratefully at Mingyu, "Okay!"
Mingyu was busy with the two shops every day, and Mrs. Xu's mind was half on the business and half on Xu Mingye's marriage. In the past few months, she had also asked matchmakers to secretly ask the wives of Xu Changqian's colleagues who she knew and could talk to, to see if there were any good girls, to help make some connections.
Many people were attracted by Xu Mingye's talent and good looks at a young age. Knowing that the Xu family was planning to marry their son off, several families invited matchmakers to come and propose marriages, but Mrs. Xu was not interested in any of them and politely declined all the offers.
Lu Hao came to the house several times, under the pretext of chatting and playing chess with Xu Mingye. Mingyu deliberately avoided him. Whenever he came, Mingyu would come out to greet him and then hide in the room, waiting for Lu Hao to leave before coming out again. After a few times, Xu Mingye noticed something and was not as enthusiastic towards Lu Hao as before.
Xu Mingye naturally didn't think Lu Hao was bad. On the contrary, he thought Lu Hao was good in every way. However, who was Lu Hao? He was a favorite of the emperor. How could he marry Mingyu as his legal wife? Xu Mingye didn't have this fantasy at all. If his heart was not sincere, it would be better to give up this idea as soon as possible.
Soon it was April, the time when all the beautiful flowers in the world were fading. This was Mingyu's second year in the capital. The family celebrated a simple and lively birthday for Mingyu. Mingyu secretly lamented that time passed so quickly. It seemed that in just a blink of an eye, she had grown from a twelve-year-old little girl when she first came to a fifteen-year-old girl.
One day in mid-April, the weather was fine and it happened to be a day off for officials. Fu Lemei excitedly knocked on Mingyu's door early in the morning and invited Mingyu and Xu Mingye to go boating on the lake outside Beijing.
Xu Mingye wanted to avoid Miss Fu, but seeing Mingyu wanted to go, he naturally didn't feel comfortable with the two girls going out alone, so he followed them. Fu Lemei was delighted, her face slightly red, and she pulled Mingyu forward.
After getting on the Fu family's carriage parked at the door, Mingyu saw that there were two handsome young men sitting in the carriage. Their eyes and brows were somewhat similar to Fu Lemei. Fu Lemei introduced them enthusiastically: "This is my third brother, Fu Lejian, and this is my fourth brother, Fu Leyu." Mingyu and Xu Mingye hurriedly greeted them one by one.
Fu Lemei's two brothers were not as enthusiastic and cheerful as their sister. When they saw Mingyu, a pretty girl, saluting them, their handsome faces turned red and they bowed their heads to return the salute.
Fu Lemei was grinning and ready to joke. She put her head close to Mingyu's ear and chuckled, "I have three cousins. I'll bring them all to you when the time comes. You can marry whichever one you like. Anyway, you'll marry into my family!"
Mingyu was speechless and seriously suspected that Miss Fu's generosity in contributing to her brother was due to ulterior motives, with the purpose of letting her return the favor and contribute Xu Mingye.
It was a sunny day when the few people went out. When the carriage reached the lake, the clouds became thicker, blocking the sun. The air was also very stuffy and the sky was gloomy. The swallows flew very low, nimbly catching flying insects in the air, and their black swallowtails passed gracefully in the air.
"It's going to rain." Mingyu said regretfully.
Fu Lemei was not willing to miss the opportunity to go boating with Xu Mingye, so she quickly said, "It's okay. It's more fun to go boating in the rain."
The two older brothers of the Fu family naturally listened to their sister's advice. The final result was that Xu Mingye and Fu Lejian went to rent a houseboat, leaving the youngest Fu Leyu to accompany the two girls.
As the weather turned cloudy, several pleasure boats on the lake came to the shore one after another, and the guests on the pleasure boats also got off the boats and walked to the shore. Suddenly, there were more people on the shore. Fu Leyu saw that most of the guests on the shore were men, so she took Mingyu and the others to the pavilion next to her.
There were already a few female guests resting in the pavilion. The closest to Mingyu and the others were two middle-aged ladies, accompanied by a few little girls. When Mingyu and the other two came in, the two women were still talking. Seeing that they were three half-grown children, no one took it seriously and continued to chat and laugh in low voices.
"So, Lord Sima has taken a fancy to the young lady of Duke Deng?" a woman said with a smile.
The other one replied, "Yes, I heard that the old lady of Duke Deng's family asked to see the Queen a few years ago for this matter."