Although Meng Zhaoxin felt a little relieved knowing it wasn't a competitor poaching her, she was still somewhat unhappy to see someone she had trained for so long and who had finally gotten the hang of things being poached.

Besides, this whole thing sounds incredibly unreliable, so Meng Zhao said, "Qingzhi, have you really thought this through? Do you know that selling yourself into this household and working for me are two completely different things? Here, you can leave whenever you want, but once you sign the indenture, you won't have any say in anything. Putting aside the Cui family's mansion, just look at your brother's imperial examination. Can you really guarantee he'll pass? What will you do if he fails?"

“Shopkeeper, I have no choice, but my brother has already taken the imperial examination twice and failed. Madam Cui said that if I am willing to go to her, she will recommend my brother to study at Mingde Academy. My brother said that if he can get into Mingde Academy, he will definitely pass the imperial examination. Moreover, my mother said that if my brother fails the examination again this time, she will no longer support his studies, and the family will save money to redeem me from my servitude.”

If her father or brother had said this, she naturally wouldn't have believed it. But it was her mother who told her. These days, she had been working, and her mother had been leaving her food every day. Because she was working, she didn't have time to wash the clothes at home, and her mother didn't let her do it. She always forced her younger brother to wash them for her. Her mother had always loved her the most.

Seeing her so naive appearance, Meng Zhao even found it somewhat laughable. If her mother truly cared for her, why would she let her sell herself? The promise to redeem her was just a way to appease her. Once she actually signed the indenture, whether she went to school or not, or for how long, would be none of her business.

Meng Zhao said, "I've said all I can say. If you don't listen, there's nothing I can do. But there's one thing you must understand: when you work for me, your wages will be paid directly to you, and you'll have the right to dispose of them. But once you sign the indenture, the money will go directly to your parents. Once the money is in someone else's pocket, it won't be something you can control anymore. You need to think carefully about the difference between these two things."

Meng Zhao's words made Qing Zhi hesitate for a moment. Meng Zhao continued, "It's not time to leave work yet. Go back and continue working. If you still decide to leave, just tell Su Meng."

After Qingzhi left, Meng Zhao first asked Su Meng to find Xiao Chuan and inquire about the whereabouts of the two young apprentices who had left her a few days ago. She then went to the backyard to busy herself with the bread oven.

It was nearing the end of the year, and in such cold weather, drinks and ice cream couldn't be sold. The menu at Zhenbaoge mainly featured Chinese pastries, and compared to the established brands in the capital, she didn't have much of a competitive edge in pastry making, except for some novel ideas.

So she thought about building a bread oven, which could not only make bread, pizza, egg tarts, but also roast duck, lamb chops and other hearty dishes, and even dry dried fruits and candied fruits to extend their shelf life. Because she had so many ideas, she planned to build a bigger bread oven this time.

Although the bread kiln was built in the backyard and no customers usually came in, in order to uphold the rule that only women could enter the Treasure Pavilion, Meng Zhao had not allowed even half-grown children like Shen Qingze and Xiao Chuan to come over since the shop opened. So today, in addition to the shop's employees, she also hired two bricklayers, both of whom were women, to build the kiln.

They were not only hardworking, but also meticulous in their work. In the short time it took Meng Zhao to go upstairs, they had already smoothed the brick joints with yellow mud, making the bricks look smooth and even in the courtyard.

However, after the clay on the outside of the bread kiln dried, many cracks still appeared. Meng Zhao then ordered people to apply a layer of clay, attach a ring of blue tiles, and finally plaster the surface with homemade lime mortar. Only then was the job completed.

When I actually started making bread, I realized that building a bread oven was far too easy compared to making bread. First of all, the temperature was extremely difficult to control. If the heat was too high, it would burn. If the heat was too low, it could be put back into the oven, but the taste would be slightly worse.

Secondly, bread cooked with different types of charcoal and wood tastes very different. Meng Zhao searched for various types of wood before selecting a few suitable ones.

Another issue is time control. It is said to take it out after half an hour, but in ancient times without clocks, it was impossible to accurately determine how long half an hour was.

Initially, Meng Zhao used incense to keep track of time, but the wind was strong in winter, and the incense burned sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly. In addition, the price of incense was not cheap at the time, so having such a consumable item was not a long-term solution.

So after the bread oven was finished, Meng Zhao hurriedly had someone make a stand to hold a bucket. A small hole was drilled in the bottom of the bucket. Although the dripping speed varied depending on the amount of water and the pressure, she only needed to keep track of the time, so it didn't have much of an impact.

If you want 15 minutes, pour a whole ladle of water into the bucket; if you want 25 minutes, pour two ladles; if you need less than 15 minutes, you can adjust the amount of water according to the markings on the ladle.

While it's not perfectly precise, it's better than relying entirely on intuition. And once the bread is in, you don't have to worry about it constantly. Just check the water bucket from time to time, and when the water stops dripping, the bread is ready.

On the morning of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the road still had some snow left from the previous days. Meng Zhao wrapped his cloak tightly around himself and rode in a carriage to the study in the backyard of the Treasure Pavilion. Only after Huang Cui lit the fire in the stove did he take off his cloak.

As the weather grew colder, fewer people were willing to go out. Just as Meng Zhao passed by the front yard, she noticed that there were far fewer people in the shop. She was wondering when to close the shop when a voice came from outside.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!