"Boss, you're back!"
In the afternoon, Jiang Miao returned to Jiang's shop, and Tang Lin hurried over with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Is there something wrong in the store?" Jiang Miao was a little surprised. Normally, no one would come to his store to cause bad luck, right? After all, everyone knew that behind this store stood the Duke's Mansion.
Tang Lin shook his head: "How can that be possible? Business is coming. Customers want to buy zongzi!"
"Why not just sell it to him?" Jiang Miao said casually. After he took the paper, his eyes widened instantly. "Two thousand?"
"That's right! We spent so much time wrapping yesterday and only made a few hundred. He wants two thousand in one go, where can we get them for him? Besides, he's not the only one who wants them. Other customers also want to buy more. All the extra money added up is nearly a thousand."
"Are they kidding me?" Jiang Miao thought. Zongzi don't last long. Don't trick him into making too many and then it will be terrible if he can't sell them.
Tang Lin hesitated a little: "No way, those regular customers want dozens of them, and they've already paid. After all, it seems that the customer is a little confused."
Jiang Miao was relieved. Everyone's attitude showed that there was still a market for these rice dumplings. As for the customer, after finding out about the background of the store, no one dared to make fun of him: "What about that customer? Did he only leave this note?"
"That guest also left a message, saying his last name was Tan and he was currently staying in Room No. 2 of Mingyang Inn."
Jiang Miao nodded and instructed, "Go to Wang's shop now and ask him to bring over 1,000 kilograms of glutinous rice from the shop. Then ask Li Ping to go to the butcher shop and order over 400 kilograms of meat. As for the money, tell them I will settle the bill tomorrow. I need to go find the customer named Tan first."
Tang Lin nodded quickly, told Li Ping and the two hurried out. Jiang Miao found Aunt Wen and Jiang Yu again and asked them to wash and dry the remaining leaves so that they could make dumplings.
After doing all this, Jiang Miao put Pei Mu in the room to practice calligraphy and went out alone.
Mingyang Inn is at the end of the street in front. Jiang Miao had been there before to check the flow of people. He walked straight there as soon as he got out of the door. Mingyang Inn is considered to be a better inn here. The guest rooms are divided into three categories: heaven, earth and people. This inn does not have the large bunk beds that other small inns have.
Also because the guests who come and go are all from wealthy families, the inn does a good job in terms of security. If someone comes to look for someone, the inn usually asks the guest's opinion before letting them in.
"Brother Xiaoer, I want to talk to a guest named Tan in the Dizi Room. Can you help me give him a message? Just say I am—"
Before Jiang Miao finished speaking, he was interrupted by the excited waiter: "You are the wife of the prince of the Jiang family shop, right? I have seen you before, and I often run errands for customers and buy breakfast from your shop!"
Jiang Miao looked embarrassed, and finally managed a smile: "Since you know me, could you please tell the guest named Tan for me? Thank you."
"This is my duty, you don't have to be so polite. Please wait here, I'll be back soon." The second brother hurried in, and after a while, he came back jogging.
"Madam, the guest named Tan wants you to come in for a chat. Please come in with me."
Jiang Miao finally couldn't help it, and he whispered awkwardly: "Brother, why don't you just call me Shopkeeper Jiang? I'm more used to hearing people call me that."
The second brother led the way and nodded, "Okay, Madam!"
Jiang Miao: Destroy it!
"Knock, knock!"
The door opened just after the knock. The man who opened the door was a man in his forties, of medium build, with a thin beard on his chin. He looked ordinary, but the occasional gleam of light in his eyes showed that he was not a simple man.
"You are Shopkeeper Tan, right? I am Jiang Miao, the shopkeeper of Jiang's Shop."
"I have heard of your great name for a long time. Shopkeeper Jiang, come in and take a seat." After the two of them sat down, Shopkeeper Tan said, "Little Second Brother, please make a pot of good tea and bring up a few plates of delicious snacks."
After the waiter left, Shopkeeper Tan asked, "Shopkeeper Jiang, are you here for those two thousand zongzi?"
"Yes, I was not in the store in the morning. After I came back and heard about this, I hurried over. I wonder where Manager Tan is going to send these two thousand rice dumplings?" Jiang Miao asked.
Shopkeeper Tan said, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper Jiang, I won't sell these zongzi in Liangjing City."
Jiang Miao smiled and said, "I'm not worried about that. I just want to say that these zongzi can't be stored for too long. If the journey is long, I don't recommend that you buy so many zongzi back."
After hearing what Jiang Miao said, Shopkeeper Tan said with some emotion: "I am a mean person. I didn't expect that Shopkeeper Jiang was thinking about me and asked this question. I am from Linzhou, which is only more than a hundred miles away from Liangjing. If I take a carriage, I can get there in one day."
"Don't worry, your rice dumplings are delicious. People in Linzhou attach great importance to food. Your rice dumplings will definitely be sold out quickly when they arrive there." Shopkeeper Tan was very satisfied with the rice dumplings. He ate five big rice dumplings by himself in the morning. If he was not really afraid that they would be difficult to digest, he would definitely eat more.
"Since Manager Tan is sure to buy it, our store will take the order," said Jiang Miao.
"Okay, then I will go to your shop tomorrow morning and load the rice dumplings onto the carriage, and I will come to pay the bill then. I wonder if Shopkeeper Jiang can trust me?"
Jiang Miao smiled: "Manager Tan is obviously a big businessman, how could I not trust you? Besides, even if you don't come tomorrow, I won't have any trouble selling these zongzi."
Shopkeeper Tan paused and smiled, "Yes, Jiang's shop is doing a booming business. After someone recommended it to me once, I've been eating breakfast at your shop these days, but I rarely see Shopkeeper Jiang."
"I'm usually in the kitchen. When you come over next time, Manager Tan, I'll definitely treat you to a meal."
After the two of them had reached an agreement, Jiang Miao left the inn. When he returned to the Jiang family's shop, Zhou Lin and Li Ping had not returned yet, but Jiang Yu and Aunt Wen had washed a lot of zong leaves and put them on a dustpan to dry. At a glance, the whole yard was green.
Jiang Miao greeted them and started to prepare the sauce. He would wait for the meat and rice to arrive and pour them in after they were soaked.
Because there were many dumplings to be made this time, Jiang Miao put all the seasonings in a large jar. He was afraid that the taste would not be good, so he added it carefully again and again, and scooped out a little from time to time to taste it.
After the sauce was prepared, Jiang Miao went to the yard to wash the leaves with Jiang Yu and the others. They had used up a large bag of leaves from Jiangjiawan yesterday, and today they washed all of them. Jiang Miao thought that this should be enough, and it seemed that he had to ask someone to go back and pick some more. It would cost a lot of money to buy leaves!
Just as he was thinking, Aunt Wen suddenly spoke to him: "Boss, are we going to finish wrapping these rice dumplings today?"
Jiang Miao nodded: "Yes, I got a big order. By the way, Aunt Wen, after you finish washing the leaves, go back and have a rest. When the rice is soaked in the evening, come back. We may have to work late today. But the wages for working at night are calculated separately." Things happened suddenly, and the glutinous rice had to be soaked again. It would be difficult to do it well without working overtime at night. Jiang Miao was a little emotional. He didn't expect that he would become a black-hearted boss who exploited employees one day.
Aunt Wen hesitated for a while and asked, "Isn't time a little tight for just us?" The yard full of rice dumplings did not look like they could be finished.
"It's a bit tight, but I'm afraid we won't be able to recruit anyone if we need to hire someone on short notice and have to work late. We'll just have to take on as many as we can when the time comes." Jiang Miaoye was a little helpless. This small breakfast shop already had five and a half employees, including himself, and Daniu could only be counted as half of it because he was also responsible for frying buns and setting up the stall.
There are more people, but it is not necessary in normal times. But once an emergency occurs, it becomes a bit anxious.
"Boss, I want to say that I have two daughters at home. They are 13 or 14 years old and are quite nimble. How about I ask them to come over tonight to help me? I can wrap more dumplings."
Jiang Miao was overjoyed: "That's great, Aunt Wen, just bring them here, and I'll give you the money for their late night work."
Aunt Wen waved her hand quickly: "It's just a favor, no need to pay."
Jiang Miao said, "Working late at night is bad for your health. If it's just ordinary help, it's fine, but today's matter cannot be refused."
As they were chatting, Tang Lin and Li Ping also came back. Tang Lin was followed by a guy pulling a flatbed truck. The guy greeted Jiang Miao and helped unload the glutinous rice. As for the meat, it hadn't been delivered for a while. It was said that the butcher in the butcher shop was going to kill the pig and send it over.
Jiang Miao told them that they had to work overtime, and they didn't seem surprised, probably because they had guessed it from the many things Jiang Miao asked them to buy. However, when they heard that they could get extra money for working overtime, they immediately became excited.
Fortunately, they did not give up the job because Jiang's shop looked like a small business. Now their monthly salary has increased a lot, and compared with the monthly salary of those restaurants and inns outside, it is much better.
At night, everyone gathered together again. They had rested well in the afternoon and now they all felt very energetic. Jiang Miao had not rested before. He was processing the meat nearby. After processing, he poured half of the seasoning from before into the marinade.
"The rice and meat are ready, shall we start making dumplings now?" Jiang Miao pushed all the tables in the front hall together, leaving a large space in the middle. A group of people sat around them, concentrating on making dumplings.
The candles were extinguished and lit, lit and extinguished, and the fire in the stove also flickered, and along with it, the aroma of rice dumplings filled the house.
Jiang Miao yawned, came over, scooped it up, and put it on a dustpan to dry.
After the morning bell rang three times, the sun had already risen from the horizon. As the last pot of zongzi was taken out of the pot, Jiang Miao roughly counted them. Ten in a string, a total of more than 300. After spreading them out to each person, each person probably made 300 or 400.
"Everyone has worked hard. After we sell these dumplings this morning, we will close the shop and let everyone have a good rest." Jiang Miao said. In fact, he also wanted to fall asleep immediately. At this moment, he envied Xiao Shitou and Pei Mu. The two of them stayed up until about nine o'clock and went to sleep in the house they usually used for lunch break.
(End of this chapter)