After careful consideration, Jiang Yanyi finally gave up this idea temporarily.
The reason is simple. Putting aside the customer acceptance, she doesn't have the time to do skin care for each female customer one by one. Besides, everyone has shortcomings. Jiang Yanyi is indeed a layman in skin care, otherwise she wouldn't let her lips become dry and chapped.
If Jiang Yanyi hired someone else to be responsible for skin care, he would not only have to provide skin care cream for free, but also have to charge one more person's salary, which would be even more uneconomical.
Moreover... although the box of skin care creams Feng Shuo gave her was ridiculously large, he thought of preparing these for her when he saw that his lips were chapped. Although the way of giving gifts was a bit unique, these were prepared by him with care after all. If she turned around and gave them to another woman, wouldn't that be a waste of his good intentions
Jiang Yanyi thought back to the business models of those business districts in her previous life, and thought that if there was a rouge and powder store willing to cooperate in the future, she could make room for them to set up a counter. She would only charge rent, and they would give some reasonably priced skin care creams to the ladies who came to eat the hotpot for free trial, and at the same time promote rouge and powder or skin care creams with better texture.
Rich ladies of this era would also put on some makeup when going out, but the makeup-setting techniques were certainly not as sophisticated as those of later generations, so when they went out, they were particular about what they ate, making sure that their makeup would not be ruined.
If there was a makeup lady in her shop who could help female customers with makeup and skin care for free, the number of female customers coming to eat hotpot would definitely double.
However, this idea has to be put on hold for the time being. After all, it is not easy to find a makeup artist who is willing to cooperate with her and has decent skills.
Jiang Yanyi had done market research before deciding to open a hotpot restaurant. In this era, people have few entertainment options, and eating in a big restaurant, listening to Hu Ji playing the piano and singing, or listening to people telling stories is already a kind of enjoyment.
If we invite Hu Ji to sing in the restaurant, we are afraid that some female customers will find it inappropriate and end up losing customers.
Besides, there are only a few popular songs on the market. If she asks Hu Ji to sing, Lai Fu Gu Dang Geng will surely be able to do it. Unless she can use a cheat to memorize all the song lists and scores of later generations, and let Hu Ji sing the songs of later generations, maybe she can attract a wave of customers by relying on the novelty.
But it was obviously impossible to remember the lyrics. Jiang Yanyi had never learned all five notes. She could barely remember one or two lines of the lyrics of the songs that were popular all over the country in her previous life. Basically, all her talents were in cooking. So Jiang Yanyi also gave up the idea of inviting Hu Ji to sing songs in the store to attract customers.
It would be feasible to invite someone to tell stories. Even if she had a goldfish brain, she had watched those classic old dramas since she was a child, so how could she forget the plots
Jiang Yanyi immediately said: "After our store resumes business, let's invite a storyteller to sit in the hall."
Qiu Kui's body trembled, and he suddenly remembered something, and complained: "Hua Hua, you haven't finished telling me the story of the Yang Family Generals!"
Jiang Yanyi smiled and comforted her: "Let the storyteller come to the store to tell the story when the time comes."
The storytellers only told the same familiar stories. Jiang Yanyi felt that in her original world, the four great classics had been passed down for thousands of years. Needless to say, their charm was self-evident. She believed that these stories would definitely be liked by the diners.
Even if Lai Fu Antique Soup Shop also hired a storyteller, could he still tell the same story as her shop
The new idea of attracting customers was decided, and Jiang Yanyi asked Yang Xiu and Bing Shao to go out and inquire about the storytellers in Xizhou City. She provided the stories, so naturally they had to cooperate for a long time in the future. Otherwise, if Lai Fu Restaurant came to poach people, they would leave immediately. Wouldn't she be making wedding clothes for others again
Jiang Yanyi wanted to find someone who was trustworthy and had decent character, at least someone who wouldn't do such a wicked thing as taking her story and then turning his back on her once his value went up.
However, when opening a store and doing business, the most important thing is the food itself.
Jiang Yan thought about it and felt that most diners like to eat hot pot in autumn and winter, largely because the pot is warm and will not get cold no matter how long they eat.
The clear soup pot Lai Fu Antique Soup has the trademark of the Imperial Chef, and the chef’s skill in making soup is very good. It is a bit difficult for her to surpass him, but she can still sell dry pot!
In Jiang Yanyi's original world, dry pot was considered Sichuan cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines, and the use of spicy ingredients in Sichuan cuisine only began in the Qing Dynasty.
As a young lady from the Shangshu Mansion, she had never eaten dry pot in her memory. Apparently, dry pot did not exist in this world.
Jiang Yanyi instantly became motivated. She didn't believe that the chef of Lai Fu Restaurant could learn how to make a dry pot in such a short time!
Jiang Yanyi drew a sketch that day and ran to the blacksmith shop, asking the blacksmith to make him ten small stoves that could be placed on the table. The middle of the small stoves was hollow and silver charcoal could be placed in it to keep the bottom of the pot hot.
But probably no one in this era had proposed to build such a small furnace, and Jiang Yanyi was a soul painter. The blacksmith made four or five in a row, but none of them were what Jiang Yanyi wanted. They had to be sent back to the furnace and remade several times. The blacksmith became furious, and scared Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui so much that they dared not utter a word.
Fortunately, after four or five modifications, the small stove was finally successfully built.
Jiang Yanyi looked at the cooled stove from left to right, and couldn't help but flatter him: "Master, your craftsmanship is really good. I'm afraid there's no one as skillful as you in the whole Xizhou City."
The blacksmith was a dark-faced man who looked like an iron tower. He was straightforward and had a hot temper. When he heard Jiang Yanyi's praise, there was no obvious joy on his face. He just said, "If your sketch was a little better, I wouldn't have wasted so much effort."
Jiang Yanyi, who was being criticized, said: "..."
It seems that in the blacksmith business, the customer is not God.
As a soul painter, she is also desperate...
When Qiu Kui heard him say this about Jiang Yanyi, he, who had always been a timid person, glared at the blacksmith hatefully.
When the blacksmith noticed the hostility in her eyes, Qiu Kui immediately became timid and shrank like a quail, but still stiffened her neck and stared at him, as if all her courage was used in staring at him.
The blacksmith looked at Qiu Kui for a few times and said nothing. When he spoke again, his temper subsided a bit: "The remaining furnaces will be ready in three days. Come and get them then."
Jiang Yanyi watched him forging iron and knew that it took a lot of effort to build such a seemingly simple small iron furnace. He was afraid that he would cut corners because of the trouble, so he said, "Master, you have good craftsmanship. I will add five cents to each of these furnaces as a reward for your hard work."
The blacksmith was sweating from forging iron. He pulled at his short brown linen shirt with his hands. He was concerned that Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui were women, so he didn't want to bare his chest. He said impatiently, "The price has been set and there is no reason to change it. I still have to make a living with this craft. I won't ruin my reputation. If any of the furnaces that will be delivered in three days is of worse quality than the one you have, I won't charge you for this batch of goods!"
Although the blacksmith's words were not pleasant to the ears and he treated his customers with an attitude of "I am the king, what can you do to me?", he was a very honest person.
Jiang Yanyi thanked him politely, paid the deposit, and left with Qiu Kui, taking the stove.
Even after leaving the blacksmith shop, Qiu Kui was still in shock and muttered to Jiang Yanyi, "Huahua, that blacksmith is so fierce."
Jiang Yanyi said: "He seems to have a bad temper, but I think his character is not bad. Sometimes you can't just judge a person by appearance."
Qiu Kui thought about it for a while and asked, "So he is a good person?"
Jiang Yanyi asked this question, and she said in confusion: "We have only been in contact with him for a while today, and we cannot make a final judgment on whether a person is good or bad. Human nature is complicated. Good people can have dark moments, and bad people can also do good things. Many things in this world are not black and white."
Qiu Kui nodded, not quite understanding.
When they were returning from buying food, they ran into He Xingniang from the jewelry store, who was leaning against the door eating melon seeds. When she saw Jiang Yanyi, she immediately showed a mocking expression: "Shopkeeper Jiang, why didn't you open your antique soup shop? People who don't know the truth would think you were afraid of Lai Fu Restaurant!"
Jiang Yanyi thought to herself, is He Xingniang bored all day? Why does she like jumping around and making trouble? She replied calmly, "Doesn't your throat hurt today?"
He Xingniang's face instantly turned ugly, and she spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth. "I'll see if you can still be so proud in a few days. The chef of Lai Fu's antique soup is a royal chef. Everyone who went to eat the hotpot today said that the taste of the hotpot in your shop can't compare to theirs!"
Jiang Yanyi handed some dishes to Qiu Kui and asked her to take them to the kitchen. He replied to He Xingniang, "I don't need you to worry about whether my shop can continue to operate. Although I heard that your family has dividends from Lai Fu Restaurant, the antique soup shop under them was divided out. I think you can't get any dividends from their antique soup shop. Why are you so complacent here?"
He Xingniang had not expected that this little girl seemed quiet on weekdays, but once she got sharp-tongued, she could speak with sarcasm. She stood with her hands on her hips in frustration and said, "I see that your store can't be run anymore, so I'm happy, right?"
Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "I'm afraid you will be disappointed."
After saying that, she closed the shop door from the inside, leaving He Xingniang no chance to say anything back. She could only yell and curse helplessly at the closed shop door.
**
Jiang Yanyi cooked a dry pot of pork tenderloin, spareribs and chicken that night. Because there was no chili pepper and pepper was too expensive, Jiang Yanyi used a lot of dogwood instead.
Wash the tenderloin and chicken, then marinate with scallion, ginger, cooking wine, refined salt, and dark soy sauce. For a more delicate taste, you can coat them with a thin layer of starch. Spare ribs are more troublesome. After marinating to remove the fishy smell, you have to blanch them in water.
Jiang Yanyi added a lot of oil and fried the spareribs. He then used the hot oil to fry the chicken nuggets until they were 70% cooked before taking them out. He also put the potato strips that had been cut early in the morning into the pan and fried them until crispy.
If she had time, she would even like to grind some tofu, make bean curd skin, and make some fried tofu strips as a side dish.
Whether the dry pot tastes good or not, the key lies in the preparation of the "five-spice oil". The so-called "five-spice oil" is to put various spices into the oil pan and fry them to extract the fragrant oil. Use this oil to stir-fry ginger and garlic, the taste is really amazing, and the whole kitchen is filled with fragrance.
Jiang Yanyi poured all the green peppercorns, red peppercorns and dogwood that he had prepared early in the morning into the wok and stir-fried them together. When the spicy smell hit his nose, he first put the marinated pork tenderloin into the wok and stir-fried it until it was 70% cooked. Then he poured in the side dishes such as potato skins, lotus root slices, and bean sprouts and stir-fried them together. Finally, he put in the fried ribs and chicken pieces at the beginning, added water and simmered them for a few minutes.
When all the ingredients are cooked, transfer them to a small pot, sprinkle with scallions, coriander and white sesame seeds, and a fragrant and hot dry pot is ready.
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao came back at dinner time. Jiang Yanyi put red-hot silver charcoal into the small stove on the table, took the small pot out and started eating.
As soon as they entered the house, Yang Xiu said, "It smells so good!"
Qiu Kui rushed to say: "Hua Hua said that this is a new pot that will be sold after the store opens!"
Yang Xiu swallowed his saliva. Although he was a close confidant of Chu Changping, he didn't have the spare money to eat delicious food. He had never heard of many of the foods. So when he saw Jiang Yanyi making a dry pot, he thought that the food he had eaten for the past twenty years might have been fake, but he didn't have any other doubts. He said, "There will definitely be a lot of people buying this pot!"
Jiang Yanyi was worried that the few people had never eaten such strong-flavored food before and might get irritated, so he specially brewed a pot of chrysanthemum tea and brought it out.
While eating, she asked Yang Xiu, "How is the investigation going?"
Although Jiang Yanyi told them not to be so formal, saying that the population of the restaurant was simple and that they usually ate at the same table, Yang Xiu still didn't dare to be casual when she asked him a question. She didn't even move her chopsticks and answered Jiang Yanyi's question first:
"There are only a few famous storytellers in Xizhou City, but they all have old bosses, so I'm afraid it's hard to hire them. There is an old scholar, who is said to be the best storyteller in Xizhou City. He used to tell stories in Lai Fu Restaurant, but because he was not clean, he was kicked out by the owner of Lai Fu Restaurant. Once his reputation was tarnished, other places would not let him sit in the hall. Now that he has wasted his time at this age, even if no one cares about what happened in the past, no one will hire him to tell stories anymore."
Jiang Yanyi became interested and asked, "How do you mean dirty?"
The charcoal fire in the stove was roasting, and the red oil in the pot was bubbling. The tempting aroma made Yang Xiu swallow his saliva several times without making a sound.
He had only gnawed on a piece of pork ribs before he could even start eating the other meat.
Bing Shao and Qiu Kui were fighting over the meat, but Qiu Kui was still paying attention to Jiang Yanyi. While she was eating, she did not forget to put some meat into Jiang Yanyi's bowl.
While Jiang Yanyi was asking questions, Yang Xiu did not dare to move his chopsticks. Seeing Bing Shao's chopsticks accurately picking up the ribs again, he kicked him under the table without any hesitation.
He thought that this kid was usually taciturn, but it turned out that he had put all his intelligence into this. Since he didn't like to talk, Jiang Yanyi could only ask himself questions.
Yang Xiu finally felt relieved after kicking the bowl. When he was about to answer Jiang Yanyi, it was Qiu Kui who cried out. She held the chopsticks in confusion and felt wronged: "Who kicked me?"
Yang Xiu: “…”
Bing Shao: “…”
Jiang Yanyi: “…”
The scene was very embarrassing.
The author has something to say: Qiu Kui: Why am I always the unlucky one? (Lanshou.jpg)