Jiang Yanyi took out two plates of Houttuynia cordata from the food box and said, "What's wrong with Houttuynia cordata? Houttuynia cordata is delicious!"
She went to the market this morning to buy some fresh vegetables and found a farmer selling Houttuynia cordata dug from the ground. She immediately bought several large bundles, and after returning to the store, she washed them and made a plate of cold dish to try.
When eaten raw, Houttuynia cordata will have a fishy smell, but if you mix it with dogwood sauce, Sichuan pepper oil and salt, and then drizzle it with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and garlic water, it will taste very crispy and refreshing. The more you chew it, the more you can taste the fragrance of the Houttuynia cordata itself.
She looked at Feng Shuo and said, "You'll know if you try it."
Under her expectant gaze, Feng Shuo had no choice but to take a bite. The moment he put it in his mouth, his expression became a little stiff. The fishy smell seemed to burst out from the tender roots as he chewed it. Feng Shuo swallowed it whole and quickly drank two mouthfuls of chicken soup to suppress the smell.
As soon as Jiang Yanyi saw his expression, he knew that he didn't like this dish. The audience of Houttuynia cordata was indeed very polarized. Some people liked it, while others avoided it. Feng Shuo obviously belonged to the latter.
She asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"
This was the first time Feng Shuo had such a big reaction to any of the dishes she cooked. Feng Shuo was afraid of hurting her feelings, so he gritted his teeth and said, "It's okay, it tastes pretty good."
Seeing Jiang Yanyi's suspicious expression, he reached into the plate with his wooden chopsticks again, as if to prove that what he said was true. However, he did not have the courage to pick up the broken garlic again. Instead, he picked up a clove of flattened garlic with accuracy.
The garlic cloves I ate before were sour and sweet, and tasted very good.
This garlic... The moment his teeth clenched, he realized something was wrong.
Just now, his face was just stiff after eating the Houttuynia cordata, but now his whole face is almost green.
The spiciness and garlic smell burst out in the mouth almost at the same time, and the taste rushes straight to the top of the head.
Feng Shuo couldn't figure out what went wrong, so under Jiang Yanyi's inquiring gaze, he had to swallow it as if nothing had happened. He wanted to use chicken broth to change the taste, but the chicken broth was hot, and the garlic flavor became more obvious when he put it in his mouth.
He picked up the kettle beside him and gulped down ten cups of warm tea. His mouth felt a little better, but there seemed to be a spicy taste of garlic from the root of his tongue to his throat.
Jiang Yanyi looked confused, not understanding why Feng Shuo wanted to eat the garlic as an ingredient raw. Could it be that the pickled garlic she made yesterday misled him
Although he was suspicious, Jiang Yanyi did not slow down and quickly picked up an orange from the fruit bowl on the table and peeled it for him: "You will feel better if you eat an orange."
Feng Shuo took it and swallowed it whole. The orange was very sweet, and the light orange fragrance suppressed the spicy garlic that made him feel uncomfortable all over.
Jiang Yanyi peeled another one and handed it to him. Feng Shuo waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want it. He coughed softly and tried to make amends: "This king... ate garlic for the first time yesterday."
The implication was that he had never eaten garlic before and didn't know what it tasted like.
Jiang Yanyi felt distressed and amused, and explained: "Yesterday's garlic was pickled garlic, which was pickled in the kimchi jar for nearly two months, so there was not much garlic flavor. Today's salad uses raw garlic, which has not been processed, so the taste is stronger."
Feng Shuo glanced at Jiang Yanyi and found that there was a hint of mockery in her smiling eyes. He no longer doubted the reason why he ate raw garlic.
He pretended to be angry and asked, "Is it so funny?"
Jiang Yanyi immediately shook his head in fear, looking at him with a stern face, but he failed to hold it in for three seconds and fell on the mat laughing.
Feng Shuo threatened: "Are you still laughing? Do you believe that I will kiss you now?"
Eating raw garlic and then kissing is a bit too devilish.
This threat was very effective. Jiang Yanyi quickly tightened his face, got up, sat up straight, and tried to shift his attention to the travelogue he was reading.
But when she looked up inadvertently, she found Feng Shuo peeling an orange and eating it, and she was still embarrassed and laughed so hard that she fell backwards.
Feng Shuo glared at her, threw down the orange and pretended to catch her.
Jiang Yanyi was so scared that she hid in the room. When Feng Shuo finally blocked her in the corner, she could only cover her mouth tightly and muttered: "No kiss, no kiss..."
Feng Shuo looked down at her, nastily ruffled her neatly combed hair into a bird's nest, and said, "I owe you money for now."
In the next few days, the chefs in Feng Mansion were unlucky. Whenever their prince saw garlic in the dishes, he would send them back and ask them to redo them.
The cook couldn't understand why their prince, who used to only choose vegetarian dishes, suddenly refused to touch even dishes with garlic.
***
The blacksmith was acquitted. When he was released from prison, Qiu Kui wanted to pick him up. Jiang Yanyi rented a ox cart to take her there. When she saw the blacksmith, Qiu Kui cried.
Uncle Qiu Kui is a skinny old man, his back is hunched due to years of working in the fields. Behind him stand his son and daughter-in-law, who is holding a baby who is a little over two years old.
Aunt Qiu Kui's body was wrapped in a straw mat and placed on a cart. Her uncle still had a hint of grief on his face, but her son and daughter-in-law only had impatience on their faces.
When Uncle Qiukui came over, the blacksmith took half a step forward and protected Qiukui behind him.
Her uncle looked a little embarrassed. His earthy yellow face was full of wrinkles and ravines, with a few sparse gray hairs on his chin. His hands were rough from years of labor, and his fingers could not close together when he bowed.
He said to Jiang Yanyi, "Are you the owner of Qiukui?"
Jiang Yanyi nodded. His attitude was neither cold nor warm, but definitely not approachable.
Uncle Qiu Kui said: "Thank you for taking care of Qiu Kui. She is a child with a hard life..."
Jiang Yanyi said coldly: "Since you decided to sell her, there is no need to say these words now."
Who are you annoying
Uncle Qiu Kui did not make any excuses, but his cloudy old eyes seemed a little wet, and he tried to force a smile on his face: "You should still thank me."
He turned to look at the blacksmith, and their eyes met without saying anything. After a moment, he turned his gaze to Qiu Kui.
Qiu Kui originally had a round face, but after working at Jiang Yanyi's shop and having good food, her face became even rounder and her clothes were also decent. In comparison, their family seemed extremely poor and destitute.
He said: "I'm sorry for you, and you have reason to hate me, but I still hope you can live a good life in the future."
After saying just a few words, he walked towards the cart with staggering steps. He pulled the cart, hunched over and walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow, his son pushed from behind, and his daughter-in-law followed beside him, holding their crying young son.
The cotton shoes on my feet, which had been patched for who knows how many years, were soaked by the snow. The coldness ran up my body along the soles of my feet. This road was as difficult to walk on as my entire life.
The cold wind filled his throat and choked Uncle Qiukui to the point of coughing. He buried his head too low and his hot tears fell into the snow, leaving only a few bean-sized holes that were soon covered up by footprints and tire marks.
That year, the whole of Daxuan was hit by famine. The family couldn't even open the pot. The eight-month pregnant daughter-in-law was so thin that she was just skin and bones. Qiu Kui was stubborn and followed her mother's dying words and came to Xizhou to seek refuge with him. With one more mouth to feed at home, his wife never had a good face.
He knew when his wife decided to sell the okra, but with an empty rice jar and a grandson about to be born on one side, and his niece whose parents had died on the other, he could only pretend not to know.
During the famine, wealthy families would only drive away their maids, so why would they buy more? In addition, Qiu Kui was not very smart, so no one wanted her even if she was sold to others for hard labor. Fortunately, Qiu Kui looked pretty, so she could only be sold to a brothel...
Qiu Kui watched her uncle's family walking away in the snow. Her original resentment and hatred seemed to be diluted by something, leaving only a kind of confusion that she herself did not understand.
Tears flowed and my heart felt bitter.
Since her parents died, she has been homeless. Even if she still has relatives in the world, they are just passers-by from now on.
The blacksmith told her, "Don't cry."
Unexpectedly, this one sentence made Qiu Kui pout and cry like a child.
But now the person who wiped her tears and comforted her was not Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi was also a little emotional watching from the side. All of Qiu Kui's sufferings started when her aunt was sold to a brothel. It is often said that when a person dies, it is like a light going out, and all the resentment should disappear. But her aunt sold Qiu Kui, and the whole family could not live a decent life. Now she has lost her life. Maybe this is retribution.
Once Qiu Kui's aunt died, there would be no evidence to prove her guilt even if she was accused of trafficking Qiu Kui. The blacksmith had been busy for a long time trying to help Qiu Kui regain his good status and even spent a lot of money to build connections, but in the end, it was all in vain.
On the way back, when Jiang Yanyi asked him about his future plans, he said, "I still have some extra money, so I'll renovate the house before the New Year so that I can get married after the New Year. I'll take on more work in the future, and I won't let Qiu Kui down."
Blacksmithing is about working hard to earn money. Jiang Yanyi had worked for him to make many tools and knew that it was not easy to make money. Moreover, the older he got, the fewer jobs he could take on if he could not become a famous blacksmith, after all, his physical strength could not keep up.
Thinking that Bing Shao was too busy to handle the noodle shop alone, Jiang Yanyi asked him, "If you don't want to be a blacksmith anymore, I'm short of people here. As long as you work hard, you can earn as much as a blacksmith."
The blacksmith also knew that ironmaking depended on the market. He was the most famous blacksmith in Xizhou City, but he didn't make much money. He hammered thousands of times to make each copper coin. In the past, one person's food fed the whole family. If he wanted to get married, the expenses would be huge.
He was a frank person who never held anything back when speaking. He immediately said, "If Shopkeeper Jiang needs more people, I'm willing to go over and do the job. But you know I'm not good at talking, and I'm afraid I'll ruin your business."
Jiang Yanyi said: "No."
If the blacksmith came to work for her, he could earn more money, which would ensure his and Qiu Kui's livelihood in the future. If he did anything to offend Qiu Kui in the future, she could help Qiu Kui vent his anger.
The blacksmith nodded, as if he had agreed. He said, "I still want to redeem Qiu Kui's indenture."
Okra was a criminal, which was different from ordinary slavery. Slave status could be abolished by going to the local government if the owner was willing.
The crime must be pardoned by the emperor himself.
Jiang Yanyi said, "I'm just keeping Qiu Kui's indenture contract for her. I believe you really want to marry her now, but who can predict what will happen in the future. Leave it with me. If you dare to bully her, I can take her away at any time."
She held Qiu Kui's hand and said, "I am her family."
The blacksmith said, "Manager Jiang has good intentions. I thank you on behalf of Qiu Kui. But from now on, she is my first wife. I think she should keep all her things. If you are worried about me, I can go to the government with you to sign a contract to sell my body."
He would rather sell himself than help Qiu Kui get the indenture back.
Jiang Yanyi nodded.
The ox cart turned around and went to the government office. After registering and signing the indenture contract, the blacksmith said that he would need a few days to go back and transfer the blacksmith shop, and then come to work for Jiang Yanyi. Jiang Yanyi agreed.
When they got on the oxcart back to the antique soup shop again, Jiang Yanyi said to Qiu Kui, "Silly girl, this is all I can do for you."
Qiu Kui knew that the blacksmith's indenture was in Jiang Yanyi's hands for her own good.
With red eyes, she said, "Thank you, Huahua."
Jiang Yanyi touched her head and said, "Why are you crying? Go back and embroider a beautiful wedding dress. You will be the bride soon."
***
Perhaps because it was close to the New Year, good news came one after another. News came from Chef Li that the military camp wanted her recipe. Xizhou was bitterly cold, and the sentries in the watchtowers often could not have hot meals. Instant noodles could solve this problem very well.
Moreover, during a forced march, ordinary soldiers can use instant noodles to fill their stomachs temporarily, but the main combat troops naturally still have to eat food that can satisfy their hunger.
The recipe was sold for two hundred taels, but because the military camp did not have complete facilities, they could not make noodles, and yet they had to distribute rations to the soldiers in each sentry tower, so they had to give the military supply list of five thousand taels to Jiang Yanyi's noodle shop.
The noodle shop is very busy now and has hired a lot of new employees.
Just as Jiang Yanyi had expected at the beginning, the instant noodle making method could not be kept secret for long. Seeing such a huge market, other noodle shops also became interested and started to share this piece of cake.
Among them, the noodle shop owned by Manager Xu of Lai Fu Restaurant was the most powerful. It was still following suit. It was said that in order to win the business of Xizhou Camp, it even sent a valuable gift to a general, but unfortunately there was no response.
In order to attract customers, Xu Ji Noodle Shop simply lowered the price. The cheapest noodle pancake in Jiang Yanyi's noodle shop was sold for one cent, while his noodle pancake was sold for two or three cents.
Jiang Yanyi was busy with orders for the military camp and didn't have the time to take care of it.
All things are difficult at the beginning. After experiencing a downturn at the beginning, Chu Shubao's rouge business is gradually picking up.
She has a warm personality and can always chat with any female customer who comes to the store, no matter how taciturn she is.
It is women's nature to love beauty. Chu Shubao invested a lot of money in rouge and powder. She got her hands on some products that were only available in the capital. She opened a box and gave it to the female customers in the store for free to try. If any of them wanted to buy it, she would sell it to them at a 30% profit.
There were obviously more female customers coming to the store to try out Rouge, so Jiang Yanyi paid more attention to the service. Not only did he set up a place for diners to put their cloaks and capes, he also went to the clothing shop next door to order a lot of overalls. Wearing the overalls when eating spicy hotpot could prevent oil from splashing on the body and dirtying the clothes.
There are also many girls who want to learn some makeup from Chu Shubao. Some of the makeup that is popular in the capital is not popular enough in Xizhou.
It was inconvenient to put on makeup at the counter, as the place was small and could not accommodate many people, and there were also many male customers in the store. Jiang Yanyi cleaned up the room in the backyard where she used to sleep, put in a lot of exquisite low tables and cushions, and asked Chu Shubao to teach the female customers how to put on makeup here.
At the beginning there were only four or five people, but later more than a dozen people were queuing up. The space was limited, and Chu Shubao only taught once a day, so the female customers often had to reserve a seat several days in advance.
As more female customers came to the store, more male customers also began to appear.
In the past, I could only have the chance to see those girls from wealthy families when I went boating on the lake or attended banquets, but now I can "run into" them by chance while having a meal.
The antique soup shop's business is much more prosperous than before, and if it doesn't want to lose these customers, expanding the store is imminent.
Jiang Yanyi took the huge sum of money in his hand and decided to open a restaurant bigger than Lai Fu Restaurant!
Who doesn’t know how to grab business
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-01-02 23:59:35~2021-01-03 23:59:59~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: pp 3;
Thanks to the little angel who cast mines: habitual toothache, looking for the most beautiful copywriting 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Confused Cat 75 bottles; Avril 64 bottles; Lu Jianv 54 bottles; Little Fox 20 bottles; Yuelangxingxi 16 bottles; Minima, Your Water Sister ╮(╯_╰), Soulessay 10 bottles; Only the beautiful scenery and delicious food are not to be missed 8 bottles; Mu Ziya 6 bottles; Ji Yu is not a fish, Yu Fengqing, Mumu 5 bottles; Meow 2 bottles; Fiona, Jiangyin 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!