After Shen Yuan regained her footing, Xiao Ling released her and turned to lead the horse.

Shen Yuan stood there, staring at Xiao Ling's back for a long time, somewhat lost in thought.

It wasn't until Xiao Ling smiled at her, indicating that it was time for her to enter the city, that Shen Yuan touched her chest, calmed her somewhat chaotic heart, and then followed Xiao Ling.

The two entered the city and went directly to the shop that Shen Yuan had rented.

In less than a month, the entire shop was completely transformed.

Above the main entrance hangs a redwood plaque with gold lacquer bearing the four large characters "[Huajian Restaurant]".

The plaque is surrounded by colorful silk flowers, making the four characters "[Huajian Restaurant]" appear as if they are surrounded by flowers, which is not only beautiful but also very eye-catching.

It makes people passing by on this street frequently look up to admire it.

The two mahogany doors are also decorated with silk flowers. Stepping inside, there is a row of chrysanthemums planted against the wall. Now that it is autumn, the colorful chrysanthemums are in full bloom.

Shen Yuan sat down at the table, her gaze naturally falling on the porcelain vase placed in the center of the table, which contained a few sprigs of osmanthus.

Each table is adorned with different seasonal flowers, arranged in vases, emitting a delicate and refreshing fragrance.

"Miss Shen, Young Master Xiao, you've arrived!" Haitang brewed two cups of tea and brought them to Shen Yuan.

"Hmm." Shen Yuan took the teacup and said with a smile, "Your flower arranging skills are really good."

Haitang knew that Shen Yuan was referring to the flowers on the dining table. She smiled and looked down, saying, "I learned flower arranging from Mama Hua at Zuichunlou."

"Back then, we learned all these things—tea making, flower arranging, playing the piano, dancing—to please men. But now, we buy these flowers, put them in vases, and just to look at them and feel good. We arrange these flowers purely to make ourselves happy!"

When the past was mentioned, Haitang spoke in a calm and composed tone, neither humble nor arrogant.

Her experiences at Zuichunlou were no longer a past she was afraid to recall, nor something she needed to deliberately conceal.

For her, there was nothing shameful about growing up in dirty, dark mud, because she had already planted flowers in the mud.

Now that the flowers are in full bloom, no one notices the mud beneath her feet anymore.

Shen Yuan nodded: "That's excellent!"

Haitang then said, "Miss Chen, we're having a trial opening tomorrow. Do you think there's anything here that needs to be changed?"

"No."

Haitang paused for a moment, then asked, "You haven't finished looking yet? Why don't we go take a look in the kitchen?"

"You've prepared very well." Shen Yuan patted Haitang's hand, indicating that she didn't need to be nervous.

"Didn't we agree on this when we opened this shop? I'll only handle the initial preparations, like renting the shop and deciding what to sell. As for the daily operations, that's all up to you and Chun Tao. I'll just wait to collect my share of the profits!"

"I believe in you! You have the ability, and you've done a great job!"

Haitang looked at Shen Yuan, her eyes filled with barely suppressed gratitude and excitement.

Shen Yuan is handing over the management of the new shop entirely to her and Chun Tao!

Before she met Shen Yuan, she never imagined that she could earn money by working as a cashier and accountant, let alone that she could take on such a big responsibility and run such a large restaurant.

It was Shen Yuan who gave her the opportunity to grow and create her own world.

Narcissus and Azalea arrived in Jinling City two days earlier by carriage, arriving around the same time as Shen Yuan.

Upon seeing them, Shen Yuan asked, "Has Young Master Jiang also entered the city?"

"No. He gets carsick and couldn't keep up with our convoy, so we split up!" Du Juan said, then added, "I reckon Young Master Jiang should arrive tomorrow night or the day after!"

After hearing this, Shen Yuan nodded and then rolled up her sleeves to go to the kitchen with Shui Xian and Du Juan to help.

Tomorrow is the first day of business, and Furong has prepared a lot of dishes.

The two kitchen helpers she hired were cooking dishes with complicated procedures in the back kitchen, such as braised pork with preserved mustard greens. The pork needed to be blanched in advance, then fried in oil to create a tiger-skin pattern, and then sliced ​​and arranged in a bowl.

The next day, you can simply add some dried plum vegetables to the bowl and steam it.

When Shen Yuan, Shui Xian, and Du Juan came in, Fu Rong and Chun Tao were busy frying various kinds of fried foods, such as crispy pork, vegetable balls, and fried fish pieces.

Upon seeing Shen Yuan and the others, Chun Tao hurriedly said, "Come and try my fried pork, it's fresh out of the fryer and smells amazing!"

"I can already smell the fragrance!"

Narcissus smiled as she walked to the stove, picked up a small piece of crispy pork with her chopsticks, and put it in her mouth: "Mmm...so delicious! It's fragrant and numbing, there must be Sichuan peppercorns in it!"

"Yes!" Chun Tao said, as she scooped the golden-brown fried pork into the oil.

Shen Yuan washed her hands, then walked behind Chun Tao and picked up a few meatballs from the plate to taste.

She loves eating vegetable balls, fried radish balls, fried tofu balls, fried lotus root balls... they're all delicious.

Chun Tao said, "Once these things are fried, we can reheat them in oil and sell them directly tomorrow, or we can add some other side dishes and stew them in a clay pot. They'll be ready in no time!"

Shen Yuan nodded, "Dishes that can be prepared in advance can be prepared in advance. After all, the main focus of our Huajian Restaurant is one word: speed!"

After finishing the vegetable dumplings, Shen Yuan wiped her hands and asked, "What are the three of us doing?"

“You guys…” Chun Tao thought for a moment, then pointed to the meat she had just bought on the table and said, “You guys help wash this meat and put it in the braising pot to cook in advance, otherwise the flavor won’t penetrate!”

"good!"

Shen Yuan responded and rolled up her sleeves to get to work.

When it comes to making braised dishes, Shen Yuan considers herself quite skilled. She, Shui Xian, and Du Juan divided the work, cleaning all the chickens, ducks, pork, and beef they bought, then cooking the meat in a pot with rock sugar.

Once the rock sugar has melted, add the drained meat and vegetables to the pot.

After coloring, Shen Yuan stuffed the prepared braising spices into a sewn gauze bag, then put it in a pot, added water, and simmered it.

She added a few pieces of firewood to the stove, and the brine in the pot boiled in no time.

Once the water boils, Shen Yuan puts all the meat and vegetables into the pot, then turns off the heat and covers the pot to soak.

After soaking for two hours, Shen Yuan took all the meat out of the pot and then added more firewood.

Once the water boils again, Shen Yuan adds beef, pig's trotters, pig's ears, pig's head meat, whole chicken, whole duck, etc., into the pot in order of cooking time, according to the different types of meat.

After finishing in the kitchen, it was almost dark.

A group of people were cooking and eating in the kitchen, and although it was dinnertime, no one felt hungry.

Not only am I not hungry, I'm even a little full.

Shen Yuan let out a burp and said, "Let's stop here for tonight! Everyone, take a break and get some sleep so you'll be well-rested and have the energy to make money tomorrow!"

"Alright!"

Everyone put down their work, covered the prepared dishes, and went back to their rooms to rest.

Shen Yuan came out of the kitchen and happened to see Xiao Ling returning from outside.

Not long after she and Xiao Ling arrived at the restaurant, Xiao Ling went out, and she helped out in the kitchen without asking any questions.

Seeing Xiao Ling return, Shen Yuan asked, "Where have you been? Have you had dinner?"