Jiang Yanyi bought the noodle shop and the next day he hired a bricklayer to renovate it. The kitchen layout had to be changed, and a few new stoves were built, a dozen steamers were added, and a row of earthen kilns and ovens were built.
The old noodle shop masters had no idea what the new owner was doing with all this fuss. They had been making noodles for decades, and had never seen a noodle shop arranged like this.
But since I didn't understand Mr. Xin's character, I didn't have the courage to say anything.
Since Jiang Yanyi wanted to use the original people from the noodle shop, he naturally had to persuade them first.
It was morning and there were not many customers at Gudonggeng's place. In order to appear more impressive, she brought Yang Xiu and Bing Shao with her.
The noodle shop is in the west of the city. Although the location is not very good, the yard is quite large.
The snow stopped today, but the north wind blew and it became even drier and colder.
Jiang Yanyi sat on a large chair under the eaves, looking through the indentures of a noodle shop clerk. Yang Xiu and Bing Shao stood behind her on either side, looking straight ahead like door gods, full of majesty.
In the brazier next to the armchair, dry wood was crackling and burning, and the red-orange flames licked the chill in the air.
Jiang Yanyi wore a white water skirt with plum blossom patterns shrouded in mist, and a satin and embroidered double-breasted jacket. She looked plain yet elegant. When she wasn't smiling, her eyes were like a lake covered with frost and snow, so clear and cold that people dared not look directly at her.
The noodle shop workers stood in the yard braving the cold wind, their hands tucked into their sleeves due to the cold, and they would glance at the female boss from time to time. Those standing in the front row did not dare to act rashly, but those standing in the back row whispered to each other.
Jiang Yanyi looked through the contract for a whole incense stick of time before he looked up at the noodle shop employees in the yard and said loudly, "My last name is Jiang. I'm the owner of Jiang's Gudongtang and now I'm also the new owner of the noodle shop."
The noodle shop employees fell silent, waiting for Jiang Yanyi to continue.
The two guys standing in the back row probably saw that Jiang Yanyi was a girl and judging by her hair, she looked like a young girl, so they couldn't help but look down on her. They glanced at Jiang Yanyi, turned their heads away and said some nonsense with a grin.
Jiang Yanyi frowned.
Yang Xiu got her signal and shouted in a deep voice: "The last two, come out!"
He was eight feet tall and had a bandit-like demeanor. His roar was quite intimidating. The two guys looked at each other, put away their playful smiles, and slowly walked out of the queue.
Jiang Yanyi could tell from the expressions of the other guys that these two must have been old hands.
Two waiters stood in front and saluted her perfunctorily: "Boss."
His frivolous and dissolute eyes kept glancing at Jiang Yanyi. In the bitter cold land of Xizhou, it was rare to see such a beauty.
Jiang Yanyi didn't even look at the two of them, and just said, "Your former boss may be a good talker, and he has never disciplined you in terms of rules and etiquette. But I can't tolerate any sand in my eyes. Please perform this etiquette for me again."
The two men had not expected that the new owner looked like just an unmarried girl, but her unshakable posture clearly showed that she was someone who had seen many storms.
His momentum weakened a bit, and he politely said, "Greetings, Master."
Jiang Yanyi picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, then said slowly, "This etiquette is still not proper enough."
The two waiters looked angry, but when they looked up, they saw Yang Xiu Bing Shao staring at them. How could the waiters who kneaded noodles in the noodle shop compare with these men who had fought in the battlefield and chopped off heads? They were frightened back by the look and bowed respectfully again: "Greetings, boss."
Jiang Yanyi then glanced at them and asked, "What are your names and what do you do originally?"
The guy with a pointed face and monkey cheeks spoke first: "My name is Ma You, and I was originally responsible for the whiskers."
The so-called "hanging the pole" means taking the fermented noodles out of the fermentation tank and placing them on a high rack to dry. This step can be done by anyone and does not require any technical skills at all.
Jiang Yanyi found his indenture and took a look at it: "Did you buy it from outside?"
The guy with a pointed face and monkey cheeks nodded.
Jiang Yanyi asked him again: "How many years have you worked in the noodle shop?"
"Three years."
After working for three years, he is still just a novice. It is obvious that he just takes advantage of the situation to make a living.
Jiang Yanyi understood the general situation and asked him to leave first. Her unfathomable attitude made all the employees in the noodle shop feel anxious.
When the other guy answered, his attitude was obviously much more respectful. He was similar to the guy with a pointed chin and monkey face. They were both bought from human traffickers by the previous boss. They had been working for a few years and were only responsible for the pole.
The two troublemakers were both subdued by Jiang Yanyi. From then on, whenever Jiang Yanyi called out to someone and asked him a question, the other person would answer respectfully.
Jiang Yanyi asked many questions to the masters in charge of coiling and winding the rods, and got a general understanding of everything from their own skills to their basic family situations.
Asking about noodle-making techniques is to find out how capable they are and whether they can take on big responsibilities when the time comes. Understanding the family situation is to consider the person's availability and stability.
There were originally more than 40 people in the noodle shop. After it went bankrupt, all the temporary and long-term workers found other jobs. Those who had extra money redeemed their indentures and were unwilling to stay there any longer.
Among the dozen or so people left now, one group has no money to redeem their indentures and cannot leave, and the other group was brought up by the old owner of the noodle shop and has developed a bond with the shop and is reluctant to leave.
One of the masters, whose surname was Hong, was an old employee in the noodle shop. He was skilled in making noodles. People from other noodle shops had always tried to poach him, but the old boss entrusted him to take good care of the noodle shop before he died, so the master refused to leave. It is said that he cried when he heard that the young boss had sold the noodle shop.
Jiang Yanyi basically understood the situation of the noodle shop assistants, and left the lazy ones and said, "I am new to the noodle shop business, and I don't know how long this noodle shop business can last. Seeing that you are all in good age and have a skill, why don't you go somewhere else to make a living."
They have been seeing the depressed state of the noodle shop these days. If they had not had the money to redeem themselves, they would have left long ago.
Several people had no intention of staying here to continue working. Now that Jiang Yanyi said this, and they had just been reprimanded by Jiang Yanyi, they really had no intention of staying in the noodle shop to work.
Jiang Yanyi asked Bing Shao to find a human trafficker.
When the human trafficker came to pick up the person, he saw that it was the waiter of this noodle shop. He looked a little strange and was only willing to pay one cent per person.
Buying a servant for a hundred coins, this is just a dream!
Jiang Yanyi was almost so angry that she laughed. The human trafficker had lowered the price by more than ten times. She argued with the human trafficker, but he seemed to have something to hide. He just said, "If the servants of this noodle shop want to sell it, they can only offer this price. It's the same no matter which trafficker you ask. If Manager Jiang is willing to sell it, then sell it."
Jiang Yanyi remembered that when she said she wanted to buy the noodle shop assistants, the young owner of the noodle shop directly cut the price in half, on the condition that she bought all the noodle shop assistants. At that time, she thought that the young owner of the noodle shop was short of money. Now, seeing that the dental clinic seemed to be deliberately suppressing this noodle shop, Jiang Yanyi felt something was unusual.
But it would definitely be unsafe for these people to stay in the noodle shop. Jiang Yanyi didn't want them to cause trouble for him, so he just regarded it as paying money to buy peace of mind, and simply let the man take the guys away at the price of one penny each.
She went back to the yard and hired a few waiters as soon as she took over the noodle shop. The rest of the people were obviously a little panicked.
Jiang Yanyi asked Yang Xiu to take out the instant noodles he brought from the store, and gave each of them three noodles and a small can of seasoning sauce. Instant noodles are very popular in Xizhou now, and the noodle shop guys naturally recognize this thing.
Jiang Yanyi said: "This is a little gift for everyone. From now on, our noodle shop will start making this kind of noodles."
The people below were happy to have gained benefits, but when they heard Jiang Yanyi say that he wanted to make such pancakes, they started talking about it.
Jiang Yanyi waited for them to stir for a while before continuing, "I will not set a fixed monthly salary for you. Based on the original monthly salary, if the number of noodles you make exceeds the specified number each month, the extra amount will be increased by one penny for every five noodles."
This is a salary model of a guaranteed minimum salary plus piece-rate wages, which is designed to motivate noodle shop employees. The more they work, the more monthly wages they will get, to prevent a group of people from taking advantage of the situation.
When Jiang Yanyi was in the Xizhou camp, he learned that the monthly salary of a fireman was just over 600 coins, and the monthly salary of an ordinary noodle shop worker was only about 500 coins.
In this era, a bowl of ordinary vegetarian noodles sold for four cents, and Jiang Yanyi's noodles sold for two cents.
After all, it is made with real flour, which consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and it is impossible to achieve the low price of industrial production in later generations.
However, because it is half the price of ordinary vegetarian noodles, easy to carry, and tastes slightly better than ordinary vegetarian noodles, the market demand is still huge.
After hearing Jiang Yanyi's words, the noodle shop assistants who were not good at abacus were confused, but those who were good at abacus calculated in their minds and immediately showed joy. As long as they were more skillful, they could make 50 more noodles a day, which would earn them 10 more coins a day. In a month, it would be 300 coins, which was more than half of the monthly salary. The noodle shop assistants whispered to each other and understood the calculation, and they were all overjoyed.
This is the effect Jiang Yanyi wants to see. She said, "Everyone work hard. When the noodle shop business picks up, I will increase your monthly salary as appropriate."
After hearing this, the previous depression disappeared, and the guys were all eager to fight. Someone shouted: "The boss treats us well, we will not let him down."
As soon as the voice fell, someone asked: "Boss, when do we start making this kind of pancake?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "Once the new stove is dry, we will start working in the noodle shop."
Today, the crackdowns have been made and the mobilization has been done. After the noodle shop guys left, Jiang Yanyi had a private chat with Master Hong from the noodle shop.
She originally thought that given the master's loyalty to the old owner of the opposite shop, he would not be very friendly to her, but Master Hong knelt down as soon as he entered the room and bowed to Jiang Yanyi: "This old servant thanks the new owner."
Jiang Yanyi was startled and quickly stepped forward to help Master Hong up: "What are you doing?"
Master Hong burst into tears: "Tianji Noodle Shop is the master's life's work. If you hadn't bought the noodle shop, I'm afraid the young master would have been desperate and had to mortgage the noodle shop to the gambling house. Isn't this going to be swallowed up by Xuji Noodle Shop?"
Xuji Noodle Shop is the largest noodle shop in Xizhou today, and Jiang Yanyi has naturally heard of it.
She listened to Master Hong chattering on and on about the grudges between his noodle shop and Xu's.
In the early years, Tianji Noodle Shop was the most famous noodle shop in Xizhou. Later, when Xuji opened, it poached several old masters and most of the waiters from Tianji, and Tianji has been on a downward trend ever since.
The old boss of the noodle shop was afraid that his own noodle shop's employees would be poached again, so he kept using employees with indentures, but Tianji was doomed. After the old boss passed away, Xuji wanted to swallow up Tianji, but after all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and Xuji could not bring down Tianji in a short time. However, Tianji's young boss was a gambler, so Xuji teamed up with the gambling houses and forced Tianji noodle shop into a desperate situation.
The young master of Tianji wanted to sell the house and the servants, but unfortunately the pawnshop had a close relationship with Xuji and was only willing to buy it at a price ten times lower. Naturally, the young master of Tianji was unwilling to do so and was so worried that he went out to get drunk every day. It happened that Jiang Yanyi wanted to buy the shop, and this was when he found a way out.
In Master Hong’s opinion, even if the noodle shop fell into the hands of others, it would be better than being taken over by Xu’s Noodle Shop.
After listening to this story, Jiang Yanyi felt a little sad.
When she went back, she said to Bing Shao, "I don't have many people I can use right now. Once the noodle shop starts operating, you can come here and be the manager for a while to help me keep an eye on things."
Jiang Yanyi didn't trust the manager hired from outside.
Although the manufacturing process of instant noodles could not be concealed sooner or later, it could be concealed for a while in the early stage. Bing Shao was down-to-earth and also knew martial arts. With him in charge of the noodle shop, there would be no trouble.
Yang Xiu is smarter and can help her do more things in the store.
Bing Shao always had a blank expression. After hearing Jiang Yanyi's words, he was silent for a while before asking, "Boss, can I still come to the store for three meals a day?"
Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "Of course you can."
When Bing Shao heard this, he said readily, "Then I will go there and be the manager."
Yang Xiu rolled his eyes at his brother, and Bing Shao deliberately took half a step back and stepped on Yang Xiu's shoe.
Jiang Yanyi was walking in front and had no idea about the secret fight between the two.
When she passed by Ma the Butcher's shop, Ma the Butcher immediately called out, "Shopkeeper Jiang, we have fresh duck necks in our shop. Do you want some?"
Jiang Yanyi didn't expect that Ma the butcher would already have duck necks ready after she only bought them once. She said, "Weigh them."
It just so happened that the people in the duck neck restaurant last time didn’t have enough to eat.
Butcher Ma liked to do business with such straightforward customers, so he quickly weighed the duck neck and said, "Thirty-three cents, I'll give you the change, so thirty cents will be enough."
Jiang Yanyi gave the money, and Ma the butcher said, "If you want to buy anything else, let me know and I'll keep it for you."
Jiang Yanyi thought for a moment and said, "Chicken feet."
Nowadays, chickens and ducks seem to be sold whole, and it is not convenient for her to buy chicken feet alone in the butcher shop.
But pickled pepper chicken feet and tiger skin chicken feet are really delicious!
Butcher Ma felt that the meats that Shopkeeper Jiang liked to buy were all weird, such as duck necks and chicken feet, which were parts with not much meat. He couldn't understand why anyone liked them.
He agreed with great hesitation: "If anyone doesn't want the chicken feet, I will cut them off and leave them for you."
Jiang Yanyi thanked them and then took Yang Xiu and Bing Shao back to the store.
She was warming herself by the fire, and before she could even sit down on her stool, the government officials came.
"Manager Jiang, please come with us." The leading officer said with a stern face.
Jiang Yanyi was confused: "I don't know why you want to take me to the government office?"
The officer said, "The son of the owner of Xingshun Casino died. The owner of Xingshun Casino believes that the young owner of Tianji killed him because he owed a debt and didn't pay it back. We found a lot of banknotes on the young owner of Tianji. The young owner of Tianji said that the banknotes were given to you when he sold the noodle shop. Please trouble Manager Jiang to go to the court to testify."
Jiang Yanyi had never expected that his noodle shop would be involved in a murder case. It was almost noon and business was good in the shop, so Jiang Yanyi asked Bing Shao to stay and help, and only took Yang Xiu to the yamen.
When she arrived at the yamen, she waited outside the court for a while as a witness.
The young master of Tianji and the owner of the gambling house were both kneeling in the court. The young master of Tianji had probably been severely beaten up, with bruises all over his face, while the owner of the gambling house was kneeling beside him and crying loudly.
The onlookers were talking excitedly one after another. Jiang Yanyi got a general idea of what happened from their fragmentary words. Someone found the body of the gambling house owner's son in the red-light district this morning. It happened that the young master of Tianji had money last night and went to visit prostitutes again. He had a big fight with the gambling house owner's son over a prostitute. As a result, the gambling house had more people and more power, and he was beaten into a pig's head.
Jiang Yanyi did not recognize the official sitting in the court, but he looked quite dignified and had the air of a military officer.
After the people below reported that the witness had been brought in, he looked outside and said, "Announce."
Only then was Jiang Yanyi able to enter the court.
Song Lushi asked Jiang Yanyi: "Are you the owner of Jiang's Antique Soup?"
Jiang Yanyi said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "It is my daughter."
Song Lushi, who also worked under Feng Shuo, knew that Jiang Yanyi was Chu Changping's niece and was now adopted by Chu Changping. He did not make things difficult for her and just asked in a businesslike manner, "When did you hand over the noodle shop to Tian Sheng yesterday?"
"I went to Tianji Noodle Shop at 15:00 yesterday. After we agreed on the price, another document for the land transfer came from the government office. It was noon when I returned." Jiang Yanyi replied.
The young master of Tianji kowtowed immediately and said, "My Lord, I am truly innocent. The money I earned was from selling the servants of the noodle shop. It was definitely not from Zhao Yao."
Song Lushi slammed the gavel and asked, "Where did you go after you had that big fight with Zhao Yao last night?"
The young master of Tianji said with a face full of scars: "I went out to get drunk."
Song Lushi then asked: "Who can testify?"
The young master of Tianji was as sad as if he had lost his parents: "I bought a pot of wine and drank it all the way. I didn't know when I fell drunk under someone's eaves."
The gambling house owner said with red eyes: "Why are you still quibbling? You must be so angry that you will kill my son when he is alone!"
The young master of Tianji had no way to defend himself: "I didn't!"
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Song Lu Shi slammed the gavel and asked the officers to separate them. He was about to speak when an officer hurried over and whispered something in his ear.
Song Lushi's face changed, and he shouted solemnly: "Adjourn the court and continue the trial the next day."
The young master of Tianji was temporarily detained.
Jiang Yanyi felt that his trip to the court was just a formality.
When she was leaving, she saw an unexpected scene - the gambling house owner got on the carriage of the owner of Lai Fu Restaurant.
Thinking of the Xu Ji Noodle Shop mentioned by Master Hong, the owner of Lai Fu Restaurant also happened to be surnamed Xu. Jiang Yanyi realized belatedly that Xu Ji Noodle Shop might also be a property of Lai Fu Restaurant.
Xu Ji wanted to take over Tian Ji and asked the gambling house to help. Now that the gambling house owner's son is dead, Tian Ji's young master, who had a grudge against him, has become the biggest suspect.
But what did the officer say to Song Lushi in the court before that made him decide in a hurry not to hold the trial today
Lu Linyuan was on duty at the government office today, but he was distracted. He woke up early in the morning and found that Jiang Yanxi was not at home. He looked for her everywhere and was extremely anxious, but there was another murder case in Xizhou City, so he couldn't leave.
Just as he was feeling upset, he overheard his colleague who was watching the autopsy say that the murder weapon was a butterfly flower hairpin. His face changed drastically and he could no longer sit still.
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2020-12-19 23:59:43~2020-12-20 23:59:46~
Thanks to the little angels who threw grenades: 45320894 2; Mujin, pp 1;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: 2 swaggering pandas; 1 A Tao, Lucky Son, 1 pp;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Jing Tian 50 bottles; Tomato who loves meat 27 bottles; Night Never Ends 18 bottles; Avril 16 bottles; Yu, Norns 13 bottles; Habitual Toothache, Living by Eating, Summer Cherry Balls, Meng Meng, 21663372 10 bottles; LNY 5 bottles; 21684729, Is it or is not or 3 bottles; FAF, 20249026 2 bottles; Dragon Dragon Dragon by the Cloud, Is 00 La, q... qnm?, Fiona, Summer Insects Don't Speak Ice, Time 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!