2 Green Tea Mung Bean Cake

Salary Negotiation

Without waiting for the woman to speak, the waiter insisted that Song Jinyi was trying to extort money because she had not yet paid for the tea.

Although he didn't have the spare money to eat the tea fruit, he had seen a few plates of fruit that looked like this, and they were so exquisite that they looked like a work of art.

Just her? How could she possibly do it at such a young age, with her teeth barely grown yet?

He said fiercely, "Sister Ruolan, this little girl must be a liar. She hasn't paid for the tea yet. She asked this on purpose and then didn't want to pay for the tea."

I don't, I'm not.

Song Jinyi hurriedly took out seven coins and handed them to the servant, then said to the woman, "Please give me a chance, lady."

The waiter took the money, snorted, and quickly put away the teacups on the table. He then wiped the table with a rag, and the rag he was swinging so quickly almost stained Song Jinyi's dress.

This is to drive her away.

Song Jinyi did not leave in anger, but asked the woman again. She knew that if she was one day late, she would not be able to find a job, which would increase the uncertainty.

The woman observed Song Jinyi. She had fair skin and a pair of clear, bright eyes, which were full of judgment and strength. "I can't make the decision on this matter. The shopkeeper is going to handle some matters in the back. I'll go and tell him now. Please wait a moment."

After a while, a middle-aged man with a plump figure and wearing a scarlet robe followed Xu Ruolan out.

He looked at her carefully and felt that Song Jinyi was just a little girl, so he said in a dismissive manner, "You want to apply for the job?"

Feeling the other party's suspicious gaze, Song Jinyi knew that it was useless to say more. The best way was to make it for them to see with their own eyes and taste with their own mouths.

"If the shopkeeper is concerned about my craftsmanship, you might as well let me try. If it's good, I'll stay. If it's not good, I'm willing to pay for the consumables."

When the shopkeeper heard what she said, he raised his eyebrows and looked at her. He thought she was interesting and decided to give her a chance.

******

East Kitchen.

"My name is Xu Ruolan, you can also call me Sister Ruolan. This used to be where Grandma Li made fruit. After she left, I lived in the back room and occasionally cooked here. Is there anything you can use?"

Song Jinyi exchanged names with him.

The stove was cleaned very well and the pots and pans were neatly arranged. This person must be a Virgo and he eats light food, without the heavy smell of cooking fumes that you would find in an ordinary kitchen.

There were two jars of millet next to the stove, and half a bag of flour piled on the side. Besides that...

Song Jinyi looked around. The kitchen was indeed clean, so clean that there was nothing in it. Even a good cook cannot cook without rice.

Perhaps sensing her embarrassment, Xu Ruolan said, "We're in a hurry today, so we haven't prepared much. Young lady, please find something simple to make, and then see if there's anything else you need. I'll ask the waiter to help buy some."

Song Jinyi asked, "Excuse me, do you have mung beans?"

Xu Ruolan smiled and said, "The beginning of summer is coming soon, and I'm preparing to make some mung bean soup. I have some mung beans that I bought yesterday, not a lot. Do you think it's enough?"

As she spoke, she took out a half-worn cloth bag from a wooden cabinet in the corner and handed it to Song Jinyi.

"Young lady, are you going to make mung bean cakes?"

Song Jinyi weighed it and found it was less than a pound, but it was enough. She replied, "Sister Ruolan is making green tea today, so I'll follow the mood and make some green bean cake to complement it."

Xu Ruolan nodded and thought to herself: Although this mung bean cake is simple, the simpler it is, the more common the pastry is, the more real effort it takes to make it.

Song Jinyi first soaked the mung beans in cold water, and then asked the shopkeeper for green tea.

In Daxia, tea was considered a luxury item. Due to its production, labor, and transportation costs, tribute-grade tea could be exchanged for gold.

Therefore, the shopkeeper only gave some filtered tea leaves.

Song Jinyi frowned and pursed her lower lip, but didn't say anything in the end.

After all, Party A gives the problem, and Party B has only the responsibility to solve the problem continuously.

She boiled a pot of water and brewed the tea leaves. The tea leaves unfolded their shriveled bodies little by little like a curled-up baby, soaking the whole body until it became as smooth as silk.

The taste is naturally not as good as the tea brewed with the best tea leaves, but the current situation does not allow her to be picky.

She remembered the tea grinder Xu Ruolan had used to make tea, and went to the front hall to ask her for two spoonfuls of tea powder.

After an hour, Song Jinyi rinsed the mung beans soaked in cold water several times to remove the bean smell and make the pastries more delicious. She then used a strainer to filter out the tea residue in the tea.

Then let it sit for another half an hour before pouring the mung beans into the pot and adding the brown tea that had been brewed earlier.

Granny Li had made mung bean cakes before, and Xu Ruolan roughly knew the process. She asked curiously, "Why does this mung bean cake require tea?"

"Of course, ordinary mung bean cakes don't need tea, but if we want to attract customers, we have to innovate and offer something different. This one is called Green Tea Mung Bean Cake."

Song Jinyi first boiled the mung beans over high heat. When the water boiled, she skimmed off the floating residue with a spoon to make the taste more fragrant, then simmered over low heat until there was only a little soup left in the pot.

She leaned over and sniffed. Yes, the half hour's effort was not in vain. The aroma of mung beans and tea blended very well.

She used a ladle to mash the mung beans and tea powder into a paste, poured it into a small pot, added an appropriate amount of white sugar, turned on a low heat, and stirred constantly until it was clumping together and could not be scraped off.

Because there were no ready-made molds in the store, she had to make do with kneading the mung bean paste into balls, kneading each portion evenly and making it round into pearl shapes.

At this time, the rain outside had stopped long ago, and the air was filled with the smell of dampness and the fishy smell of soil.

Xu Ruolan had also finished her work outside at this time. Seeing that she had made the mung bean cake, she picked up a piece of mung bean cake with chopsticks and tasted it carefully.

The mung bean cake has a dense texture, a silky taste, and melts in your mouth. It is like eating a cloud that melts in your mouth instantly, leaving only a refreshing fragrance on your teeth.

Xu Ruolan doesn't usually like sweet things. She usually finds mung bean cakes too sweet and only eats half a piece. But today, she finished the whole thing and couldn't help but praise it, "It's delicious."

At noon, the guests all went to find a restaurant to have lunch, so the teahouse became quiet, and the owner and the waiter also came to the east kitchen.

The waiter looked at the plate of mung bean cakes and thought disdainfully: "I thought she could make something special? It's just the most ordinary mung bean cakes. Isn't it enough to have hands to make such a simple pastry?"

He turned his head to glance at the shopkeeper, and could tell from the shopkeeper's expression that he was thinking the same thing as he was.

The shopkeeper was silent for a while, but still took a piece. He thought it was just an ordinary mung bean cake, but he didn't expect that the taste was completely different from the mung bean cakes he had eaten before!

He nodded in appreciation, and when he was about to take another bite, Song Jinyi said, "Wait a moment."

She took the Longjing tea that Xu Ruolan had brewed earlier and said, "Shopkeeper, please try this tea with some."

Although the shopkeeper didn't understand what he meant, he still did as he was told. He took a sip of tea and a bite of mung bean cake. His calm eyes suddenly became disturbed, and he tried another bite in disbelief.

Longjing tea is bitter and refreshing, with a slightly astringent taste. Paired with the fragrant green tea and mung bean cake, the sweetness neutralizes the bitterness, and the aftertaste is a light tea fragrance, which makes the next sip of tea more mellow.

The two complement each other.

Wonderful!

The shopkeeper looked up at Song Jinyi and thought: She is a wonderful person, and her craftsmanship is not worse than that of Liuxiangju and Zuiliuxia.

He was a businessman who was particular about keeping things under wraps. Although he was amazed at the artist's craftsmanship, he remained calm and said calmly, "Mrs. Song's work is indeed very good, but I wonder how much you want for it?"

This probably means that you have passed the interview. The next step is to ask about the ideal salary.

If you say too little, you will suffer a loss; if you say too much, there will probably be no hope.

Song Jinyi thought about the several families she had visited before, and the wages seemed to be two taels of silver per month.

This store is not as fancy as those others, so the salary is naturally not comparable, and I guess they won’t give bonuses based on performance.

Song Jinyi made a silent estimate in her mind.

Then... January 1, 2, and 5?

The waiter who was eavesdropping nearby took a deep breath and uttered a strange sound: "Oh my goodness!"

He counted on his fingers how many coins were in one liang and five guan? How much more than he had? How many months would it take him to earn that much?

On this side, the sky gradually cleared up, and warm yellow sunlight poured in from the gaps in the blue-gray clouds, illuminating the floating dust in the air clearly.

The atmosphere fell into an indescribable awkwardness.

Song Jinyi said nothing more after she told him her ideal number.

The shopkeeper twirled his emerald green ring, his gaze fixed on Song Jinyi. He narrowed his eyes, revealing only a slit. "Do you know how much his wages are?"

He pointed at the waiter beside him.

Song Jinyi said: "I don't know."

"Three hundred wen a month."

"Then do you know how much her salary is?"

She continued, “I don’t know.”

"Eight hundred wen a month."

The shopkeeper observed Song Jinyi's reaction as he spoke, "Young lady, you may not have worked in Yunzhou before, so you don't know the market here. This is just a small tea shop, not comparable to those big restaurants. I can give you one or two taels at most."

Song Jinyi had worked a few jobs in her previous life, so she immediately realized that the shopkeeper was trying to bargain.

She calculated the wages. One tael and five cents was indeed not low, but it was not outrageously high either.

Moreover - this price is definitely within the shopkeeper's acceptable range.

If he couldn't accept it, he would definitely kick her out directly instead of trying to lower the price, which meant he was testing her bottom line.

Song Jinyi smiled. "A plate of lotus cakes at Zui Liuxia costs thirty coins. Although it's quite expensive, people still pay for it. Shopkeeper Sun is also a food connoisseur. How much do you think this plate of green tea and mung bean cakes is worth?"

Shopkeeper Sun thought to himself that mung bean cakes were simple to make, and any skillful woman could make them at home with the necessary ingredients. They were ubiquitous in Daxia and were a very common snack.

Small stalls charge five cents, dim sum shops charge eight cents, while Zui Liu Xia and Liu Xiang Ju charge eighteen cents.

Hers was different from the ordinary mung bean cakes. Apart from the fact that she added tea to create a tea aroma, the texture and the taste of the cake itself were no worse than those of the other two teahouses.

Maybe those important diners will also praise it, and then he will have the final say on the price, right?

Shopkeeper Sun's abacus beads tinkled in his mind, but he kept saying, "Our shop is just a small one, with not many customers. I only make a small monthly salary, which I give to my employees and keep for myself to avoid starvation. I can't possibly pay you out of my own pocket, can I?"

This is a bit harsh.

Song Jinyi knew that negotiations should not be conducted on impulse. The process was not the most important thing, but the final result was.

She chose to ignore the other person's tone and said, "There are few masters in Yunzhou who make tea cakes, and there are also few delicious tea cakes. Scarcity makes things valuable. I am also a down-to-earth person, and the shopkeeper has seen my abilities. I won't let you suffer any loss. I hope the shopkeeper will reconsider this."

Her calm tone calmed the shopkeeper down a bit.

He also realized that his tone was a bit harsh just now. After a moment of silence, he said, "Young lady, with such skills, it is natural that she would look down on our small shop. The price I just quoted is my maximum concession. If you don't want to, please choose the best option."

This means that there is no room for negotiation. Song Jinyi bowed slightly with a slight regret. When she looked down, she saw the shopkeeper clenching his index finger and turning his ring quickly.

She turned around to leave, and when she was about to step out of the door, she took small steps one by one, as slow as a snail.

Her face was calm, but her heart was not as calm as she looked. "Why didn't you call me?"

According to the routine, she was about to go out and the shopkeeper should have called her.

She lowered her eyes, glanced back, and used the corner of her eye to spy on the movements behind her.

Could it be that she miscalculated?

This modern routine doesn't work in this place?

She lifted her skirt and stepped half a foot out of the door. Although she felt a little regretful, she didn't take it to heart and was thinking about where to go next.

"etc!"