After Jiang Yanyi returned home, he looked at the bright red pepper in his yard. Thinking that he could start growing seedlings soon, he sat on a small stool, supporting his cheek with his hands and grinning.
The pepper seeds are used to grow seedlings, and the remaining pepper shells can be used as ingredients. It is impossible to make red soup hot pot with this amount of pepper, but mapo tofu, chopped pepper fish head, boiled pork slices, spicy chicken cubes... any Sichuan dish, Jiang Yanyi can drool just thinking about it.
Seeing that she was daydreaming, Qiu Kui walked over to touch Jiang Yanyi's forehead with some concern: "Huahua, why are you always staring at this pepper plant and grinning like an idiot?"
At this time, Feng Shuo, who was in the next yard, had just grabbed the parrot that was mimicking others with a gloomy face. When he heard the word "pepper", he could not help but continue to concentrate and listen carefully to the movement in the yard over there.
The parrot used its two claws to pull at Feng Shuo's hands. Its already round eyes looked even rounder at this moment, as if the word "fear" was written on the bird's face.
"Huahua, didn't you just water the peppers this morning? Why are you watering them again now?"
"I am happy."
"It's no wonder that you're so attentive, the peppers are growing really well..."
She takes good care of that pot of peppers
The corners of Feng Shuo's mouth unconsciously raised up.
The parrot remembered the gentle female voice with a smile, which was like the sound of nature to it. Because when the bastard master heard the female voice, the force of squeezing his weak body was much less.
It doesn't want to eat now, it just wants to go back to its birdcage and continue to be confined.
But the dog forced its owner to climb onto the roof of the pavilion.
The pavilion was built on a high ground. Standing on the top of the pavilion, Feng Shuo could just see the situation on the other side of the courtyard wall.
Jiang Yanyi was seen half squatting in the flowerbed where the peppers were planted, caressing each one with special care. The peppers had long since turned from the green and red color when he gave them to her, and had obviously been carefully cared for.
It was as if a small stone was thrown into the lake of his heart, causing shallow ripples.
Although chili peppers are precious, she is a girl from a wealthy family after all, so she would not be dazzled by such a pot of flowers.
Feng Shuo sat on the roof of the pavilion with one leg bent and the other leg outside the eaves. The hand holding the parrot rested lightly on his half-bent knee. His hair, ruffled by the breeze, fell in front of his forehead, slightly covering his narrow and clear eyes.
He murmured, "Actually, you are interested in me, too, right?"
However…
The next moment, Jiang Yanyi was seen smiling as he plucked all the red fruits from the pepper plant. He turned to okra and said, "I've been waiting for it for so long, now it's finally red. I'll fry it tonight and make it delicious."
The corners of Feng Shuo's lips, which had just been raised, froze.
But the stupid parrot in his hand was still trying to imitate his words at this time: "Actually, you are interested in me, right?"
Feng Shuo: “…”
He decided to have an extra meal tonight and asked the chef in his house to make a clear parrot soup.
***
That night, Jiang Yanyi picked the peppers and removed the seeds, then placed them in a colander and left them under the eaves to air dry. She used two peppers to make a dish of fish-flavored pork shreds, and planned to dry the rest and grind them into pepper powder.
While eating, Qiukui stared at the whole plate of shredded pork, his eyes almost becoming cross-eyed, but he still couldn't find a single piece of fish.
Jiang Yanyi had already put a piece of shredded pork into the bowl and started eating. Seeing Qiukugui holding the bowl but not eating, he couldn't help but ask, "Qiukugui, why don't you move your chopsticks?"
Qiu Kui poked the rice in the bowl with a wooden stick and asked in confusion, "No fish?"
Jiang Yanyi burst out laughing: "Although this dish is called Fish-flavored Shredded Pork, it is not made with fish."
Seeing that Qiu Kui still didn't quite understand, Jiang Yanyi gave an example, "Look, when we were in Huotouying before, we made lion's head, but we didn't use the meat from the lion's head, right?"
Qiu Kui nodded in confusion, and then he stopped worrying about the name of the dish. He also picked up a large piece of shredded pork with black fungus with a wooden stick, put it in his mouth, and squinted his eyes with a look of satisfaction: "Delicious!"
Although no fish meat is used, there seems to be a fishy aroma when you put it in your mouth.
She suddenly asked, "Huahua, can vegetables and radishes also be made to taste like meat?"
Jiang Yanyi paused while picking up the food and said, "It's probably a bit difficult to make vegetables and radishes taste like meat, but there are indeed many vegetarian dishes that taste similar to meat dishes."
Qiu Kui's eyes suddenly sparkled: "I want to learn. I can't afford meat, so it would be best to make vegetarian dishes taste like meat!"
This child is afraid of the hard life he had in the past.
Jiang Yanyi thought for a moment and said, "If you want to learn how to cook, then you have to start practicing the basics starting tomorrow."
Although they have settled down here now, who can predict what the future will be like
Qiu Kui was a little duller than normal people, and she had been a camp prostitute before. Jiang Yanyi didn't know if she could meet a good husband who didn't mind her past. If Qiu Kui mastered a skill, if something happened in the future, she could be a cook in someone else's restaurant or a cook in the house of a nobleman, it would be a way out.
When Qiu Kui heard Jiang Yanyi say this, she put down her bowl and went to serve her tea.
Jiang Yanyi said hurriedly: "Let's not talk about the master-disciple relationship. I will teach you as much as you can learn."
Qiu Kui said seriously: "I will only learn a little bit, so that it will be easier for me to help Hua Hua in the future."
Qiu Kui had been in Huotouying for some time and knew that no chef would easily teach people how to cook. After all, that was someone's skill in making a living.
Jiang Yanyi had been very good to her, and she was not greedy. She was only tempted when she heard Jiang Yanyi say that vegetarian dishes could be made into meat dishes.
Jiang Yanyi said sternly: "You have to study hard if you want to learn something, otherwise my teaching would be in vain. If you can cook, you can help me a lot when our store opens bigger in the future."
Qiu Kui was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes: "Then I will study hard and make a lot of money for Hua Hua in the future!"
Jiang Yanyi's heart softened because of her silly words, and she said, "Okay, let's all make a lot of money and eat first."
Qiu Kui sniffed, then Gao Gaoxin picked up the bowl again.
That night, Jiang Yanyi's side was peaceful and harmonious, but the Hu family's side was in chaos.
The young lady of the Hu family found out that Hu Baiwan failed to molest the girl and was taken to the government office in Xizhou instead.
Mrs. Hu was the niece of the prefect of Xizhou Prefecture. Because she had an extraordinary figure since childhood, no one came to propose marriage to her when she reached the age of marriage. In order to be more successful in Xizhou, the Hu family asked their eldest son to marry the niece of the prefect.
Mrs. Hu was so fat that she had to breathe heavily every time she walked. The three maids standing together were not as big as her. She was also jealous and relied on her family's power. If Hu Baiwanduo looked at any maid in the mansion, she would have them bought.
The two elders of the Hu family dared not show their dissatisfaction with their daughter-in-law who came from an official family. As long as the younger generation did not make too much trouble in the room, they simply did not bother to ask.
Faced with such a strong and powerful wife, Hu Baiwan couldn't bring himself to have sex with her eight out of ten times. He could only make excuses and run away to have an affair.
He was carried back tonight, his buttocks were almost beaten into a rotten persimmon, and he cried for his parents all the way.
It was the soldiers from Feng's mansion who escorted him to the yamen. Even though Prefecture magistrate Xie wanted to protect his nephew's husband, he did not dare to offend Feng Shuo and could only punish him severely.
When Mrs. Hu learned about the ridiculous things her husband had done, she was so angry that the half pound of fat on her chin began to tremble. She spanked Hu Baiwan's buttocks twice with a feather duster. Hu Baiwan screamed like a pig being slaughtered. Only then did Mrs. Hu realize that her husband had just been beaten with a stick and could not be beaten again.
Hu Baiwan looked at his wife, who was so fat that his eyes were almost invisible. He suppressed his nausea and cried bitterly, "Jiaojiao, I was wrong, but it was really that woman who seduced me..."
He was an uneducated playboy, yet he was able to marry the prefect's niece. Naturally, he had a good-looking face, but due to years of indulgence in alcohol and women, his eyes were swollen and his body was very thin.
Madam Hu snorted coldly: "Do you really think I don't know your little tricks?"
Hu Baiwan immediately ignored the pain in his buttocks, pulled her hand, and called her sweetheart to comfort her. He was a frequent visitor to the entertainment industry, and he had some tricks to comfort people, so Mrs. Hu was quickly comforted by him.
"Uncle is really something. How could he let his men use such harsh methods?" After her anger subsided, Mrs. Hu began to feel sorry for her husband again.
She took the medicinal wine and wanted to apply it to Hu Baiwan herself, but her hands were strong and she didn't know how much strength to use. Hu Baiwan bit his pillow several times and almost fainted from the pain. His forehead was covered with sweat and his face was pale, but he still had to pretend to be moved to tears.
Mrs. Hu was no longer angry with her husband at all.
She asked her husband to rest and went to the outer room.
After finding out from the servants how Hu Baiwan and Jiang Yanyi met, Mrs. Hu was so angry that she hammered the armrest of the chair twice and cursed: "Shameless little goblin, you sneaked into my flower room under the pretext of buying flowers, but you are here for my husband!"
The maids serving beside her wanted to say something but hesitated, but they all knew her temper and dared not say a word.
Only Mrs. Hu treats Hu Baiwan as a treasure. All those decent girls out there try to avoid Hu Baiwan.
The chair that Madam Hu was sitting on was modified by a carpenter. She was too fat to sit on an ordinary chair. Fortunately, the wood was strong, otherwise it would have fallen apart after being hammered by her.
Mrs. Hu continued to ask the servant who followed Hu Baiwan out today: "Do you know where that little demon came from? Who is behind him?"
"I have inquired about it. It is said that she is not from Xizhou. She just moved there not long ago. She bought the shop next to the Protectorate with the intention of opening a restaurant. There is no man in the shop. She is the boss. She is not seen getting close to any powerful family. Today, the young master was taken to the government office by the Protectorate. I think they broke down the door in public, which was too much of a commotion. The Protectorate could not just sit back and watch."
Mrs. Hu felt much more relieved knowing that Jiang Yanyi had no one to back her up.
If she had a backer, Mrs. Hu would have to go to Xie Zhizhou's house to inform him before doing anything. After all, he was only her uncle, not her biological father.
Over the years, Xie Zhizhou has helped her clean up a lot of messes, and a big part of the reason is that the Hu family gives Xie Zhizhou enough money every year.
Madam Hu said disdainfully, "Which girl from a respectable family would do such a job that would expose her to the public? She runs a restaurant to sell food, but who knows what she sells behind the scenes! Since she has no shame, I will tear her face off and see how she can live on that street in the future!"
The servant said, "Her restaurant hasn't opened yet. If she keeps the shop closed for the next few days, if our people go to knock on the door, they will probably be taken to the government office."
Madam Hu sneered, "It's just right that it hasn't opened yet. Go down and find out when it will open. On the day her restaurant opens, I will bring people over to smash it to pieces!"
"I just don't believe it. I'm teaching a lesson to the little bitch who seduced my husband, and the Protectorate can still send people to arrest me!"
***
Jiang Yanyi didn't know that he was being targeted.
These days she was busy growing pepper seedlings. Fortunately, the gateman of the Protectorate was easy to talk to, so she went to the greenhouse in the neighboring mansion every morning and evening to water the pepper seeds she had sown.
The rest of the time is spent on the various chores of running a store.
The store has all the necessary hardware facilities, but there are still many details that need to be improved.
In this era, cattle were basically used for farming, and were as valuable as war horses. Farmers who had cattle at home had to register the cattle. If a working cattle was slaughtered without reason, the person would be reported and sent to prison, so there was basically no beef for sale on the market.
Although the pork was delicious, the clear soup pot was not so good. Jiang Yanyi focused his attention on the mutton.
Fortunately, this is outside the Great Wall, and every household raises sheep, so the butcher shop has an adequate supply of mutton. Probably because the mutton here is in oversupply, the price is not as expensive as Jiang Yanyi imagined, but it is not cheap either.
In this dynasty, only the rich and powerful businessmen could afford to eat mutton. His hot pot restaurant was positioned as mid-to-high-end from the beginning. Jiang Yanyi knew that there would definitely be a market for his hot pot restaurant.
However, since the customer base is wealthy and powerful, they must have cooks at home. What I have to do now is to make these people think that the mutton hotpot in my store is better than the one made by their own cooks at home.
Three days before opening the store, Jiang Yanyi quickly asked a blacksmith to make a grill for him.
Qiu Kui didn't quite understand why Jiang Yanyi asked someone to build a barbecue grill at this time. Jiang Yanyi just said that it could be used on the opening day.
In order to promote his own hot pot restaurant, Jiang Yanyi asked a street vendor who was selling candied haws for help.
She bought a whole bunch of candied haws from the vendor and said she would come back to buy three more bunches in three days, but she only wanted the vendor to mention her shop name when he was selling candied haws at the market.
A peddler might not be able to sell a whole bunch of candied haws even if he walked around the streets all day, so he was naturally happy to cooperate with Jiang Yanyi.
So for the next three days, wherever the vendors walked by, you could hear the following cry: "In three days, 'Jiang Ji Gu Dang Tang' will open on Du Hufu Street. At that time, all diners who enter the store will receive a string of candied haws."
The ancients called hot pot "antique soup", which got its name because of the "gurgling" sound made when food was put into boiling water, but the soup pot at that time was generally clear soup.
Although this marketing method cannot be considered very clever, in ancient times when there was no marketing at all and customers were attracted by word of mouth, the brainwashing effect was still very significant. At least half of the people in Xizhou City knew that a Jiang's restaurant was about to open on Duhufu Street.
Before the opening day, many children would often hang around Jiang Yanyi's shop, and the braver ones would even ask her if she had any candied haws to give away.
Jiang Yanyi would usually pick up a piece of cake and hand it to them, saying that it would be given for free if they dined in the store on the opening day. Only then would the children leave happily.
Qiu Kui felt sorry for the candied haws and cakes that Jiang Yanyi was going to give away: "Hua Hua, we haven't even started making money yet, and you've already given away a lot of money."
Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. We have made a profit by using such a small amount of money to build our reputation."
No matter what you do in the future, publicity alone will become a huge expense. At this moment, Jiang Yanyi suddenly felt that doing business in ancient times was quite good, at least the competitiveness was much smaller than in the future.
Maybe they were both a little nervous. The night before the hot pot restaurant opened, Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui couldn't sleep.
The two of them stayed in the kitchen while Qiu Kui washed the dishes over and over again. Jiang Yanyi originally planned to get up at four o'clock in the morning to make the soup, so he simply lit a fire to make the soup first, and also lit the fire in the oven outside to bake a few trays of egg tarts.
"Huahua, will the egg tarts be free tomorrow as well?" Qiu Kui asked while wiping the bowl.
"Well, we are counting on selling pots to make money, so naturally we have to do everything we can to get people to spend money to eat the pots." Jiang Yanyi said.
She is confident that once diners try their hotpot, they will become repeat customers.
Qiu Kui said with a pained look on his face: "But I feel like this is a loss."
Candied haws are fine, but egg tarts are made with milk and eggs.
Jiang Yanyi comforted her: "Don't worry, we will earn back all the money."
When it was daybreak, Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui went back to their rooms and changed into new clothes. They opened the shop door early. The plaque outside was hung with red silk, which looked festive.
It was just that it was still early and there were few people walking on the street, and even those selling breakfast had just started setting up their stalls.
They all did business on the same street. Jiang Yanyi would occasionally go to the street stalls to buy food. Her pot business did not compete with those who bought breakfast, and they got along quite well. The lady who bought wontons and the uncle who sold pancakes exchanged a few words with her and gave her a bowl of wontons and pancakes as a way of congratulating her on opening the store.
Jiang Yanyi thanked him and did not make breakfast. He ate wontons and pancakes with Qiu Kui for breakfast.
Qiu Kui, who usually loves to eat, now has a little taste for wontons. He glances at the door from time to time and says worriedly, "Hua Hua, why hasn't anyone come to our store yet?"
Jiang Yanyi was also nervous, but she was much more relaxed than Qiu Kui. She said, "I bought the pot to make lunch and dinner. It's still early, so naturally there won't be many people."
When the sun half appeared, the lady boss of the flower shop brought the hibiscus branches that Jiang Yanyi had ordered, and said as soon as they met, "Congratulations, Shopkeeper Jiang, and good luck with your opening!"
"Thank you. This is a homemade snack made by our shop. Take it and try it." Jiang Yanyi handed an egg tart to the owner of the flower shop.
Because the egg tarts are baked in a small bowl in the shape of a pear blossom, the egg tarts are also in the shape of a pear blossom after they are formed, which looks particularly beautiful.
The lady owner of the flower shop had never seen such snacks before and found them very novel. After trying one, she found that they tasted good and praised them repeatedly. She also personally taught Jiang Yanyi how to arrange flowers.
The hibiscus branches she sent were freshly picked, and the flowers were still covered with dew, looking very tender.
Jiang Yanyi saw off the flower shop owner and arranged the flowers on each table. Suddenly, the voices of Zhao Tou'er and Chef Li came from outside the shop, "Shopkeeper Jiang—"
Jiang Yanyi hurriedly went out to greet him with a smile on his face: "Master, it's Zhao Tou'er!"
Chef Li and Tou'er Zhao both changed into clean casual clothes. They were accompanied by more than a dozen firemen, each of whom carried a large bundle of chopped firewood on his back.
Chef Li's smile was much kinder than usual. Looking at Jiang Yanyi's outfit, he said to Zhao Tou'er, "Look at her. She looks just like the female shopkeeper!"
After not seeing each other for nearly half a month, Jiang Yanyi suddenly felt that the people in Huotouying were very friendly. She smiled and said, "Master, please stop teasing me. Everyone, come into the store and sit down!"
Zhao Touer pointed at the firewood carried by the firemen and said, "These bastards heard that you opened a shop here, so they insisted on following you to have a look. There is no other firewood in the Xizhou camp, so they prepared some firewood for you, so you don't have to spend money on firewood to open a shop."
Jiang Yanyi was grateful and no longer rejected the experience in the Xizhou camp. She thanked the firemen who had come from far away carrying firewood one by one, and the young men blushed with shame.
The lady of the clothing store didn't know Jiang Yanyi's background before. Seeing this scene, she thought that Chef Li and Tou'er Zhao were her relatives. Seeing so many young men carrying firewood for her, she couldn't help but joked, "Big sister, it's good for you to open a shop. You won't have to worry about firewood in the future."
Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "If Sister Chen runs out of firewood in the yard, just come and get it."
"Then I take it seriously!" The lady in the shirt shop also laughed.
The tension of the morning was almost dissipated after Chef Li and his friends came over.
Jiang Yanyi asked them to put the firewood in the backyard, poured tea for the people in the fire camp, and went to get egg tarts for them. Chef Li said hurriedly, "We all came here after breakfast, and we are still full. If there is any work, leave it to these bastards. We didn't bring them here from far away to let them hang out!"
Jiang Yanyi said: "There's nothing to be busy about. Just treat this place as your home and don't be restrained."
Chef Li glared at her and put down his tea bowl. "You are still saying such polite words at this time. Let's go and take the chef to the kitchen to see how the soup you made is."
Jiang Yanyi was scolded by Chef Li, but she felt warm in her heart. She took Chef Li to the kitchen.
Tou'er Zhao was sitting at the counter of the shop outside, planning to help Jiang Yanyi look after the accounts when he got busy today. He was looking at the elegantly decorated shop when he suddenly saw a group of people following a carriage and walking towards him aggressively.
Judging from their attire, they looked like servants of some mansion, holding sticks more than half a meter long in their hands.
When the carriage stopped at the door, Zhao Tou'er felt something was wrong, and he quickly shouted, "Wu Lengzi, call all those bastards out!"
The author has something to say: Ahem, let me make it clear that the recipes written by the author are all standard and safe. As for today's leave application... It's purely due to my clumsy hands. You guys forgot about this leave application, right? qaq
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2020-11-12 09:00:08~2020-11-13 21:30:01~
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