As soon as she opened her stall, business was booming. Many of the waiters and waitresses from the food street would come here for lunch.

As the saying goes, "You can eat meat without seeing meat, and it tastes even better than meat," which perfectly describes tofu. Ah Mian's meal is inexpensive, and unlike other stalls that serve snacks like pancakes and sugar figurines, it's a proper meal.

If you bring your own vegetables and an egg (there will be an extra penny for a fried egg), you can have a very good and nutritious meal for only five or six pennies!

Besides these people, there were also diners and travelers coming and going. These people were more generous and would usually add meat, vegetables and eggs to their tofu pudding. A single serving could cost seventeen or eighteen coins.

On the second day of setting up her stall, Ah Mian earned back the rent money.

However, she was a bit too busy that afternoon. She had to cook the vegetables, serve and clear the bowls, and handle the cash register (while constantly being on guard against thieves stealing money while she was doing other things). So, these days, Xiao Jing would come over to help out as a waitress from time to time in the afternoons.

Xiao Jing was responsible for greeting customers and serving and clearing away bowls, and she still received ten coins for each half-day.

However, she had to attend the girls' school every other day after she arrived.

Secondly, unlike Ah Mian's love of money, she now feels that she has enough money and can eat whatever snacks she wants. Why should she work so hard every day?

Finally, there are all sorts of guests in this city, and there are always a few annoying ones. If Xiao Jing encounters one, she almost gets into a fight with him a few times.

Ah Mian finally understood why most of the stalls and shops on this food street were run by husband and wife teams.

Moreover, the more successful the shop, the better the relationship between the husband and wife.

They were terrified that if they divorced, the other person would abandon their responsibilities, leaving them to work themselves to death!

Meng Chijian also came to help out at the tofu shop during peak season, but whenever he worked as a waiter to serve customers, the number of customers would drop by half that day.

Ah Mian's heart bled, and she could only say, "You should go back to your blacksmith shop..."

"..."

Meng Chijian was unwilling, but insisted on trying again. This time he was in charge of blanching vegetables and cooking tofu, and it went quite well.

But he has a blacksmith shop, so he can't be delayed for too long, and he's very busy himself.

Nowadays, Ah Mian can sell three plates of tofu a day, earning between three hundred and five hundred coins (sixty bowls of tofu rice, even without any side dishes, would still earn three hundred coins).

The net profit is between two hundred and four hundred coins a day!

“You definitely won’t be able to do it this way,” Song Dongjia pointed out wisely. “When winter comes, your stall will definitely be even busier. You can shout things like ‘A warm bowl of boiled tofu pudding, it makes you sweat and whets your appetite,’ and you might just make a name for yourself! You definitely won’t be able to handle it all by yourself.”

When Ah Mian saw the waiter bring over the fish soup, she exclaimed as she ate, "I didn't even think that far ahead! This fish soup is different from the previous ones. The rice noodles are delicious, smooth and tasty."

She could tell the difference between "fish head and rice noodles" by tasting it. The general method was to boil the fish head in boiling water until cooked, then remove it, debone it, and then mix it with sauce, aged wine, and fine salt. It was then stir-fried with the rice noodles, placed in a bowl, and sprinkled with a little Sichuan peppercorn powder.

Ah Mian finished eating in no time, then became worried, "But there really is no one else in the family who can do the work."

"Go to the broker! You'll have to hire someone. Don't worry about spending more money on workers; that's how business is."

Hiring a worker costs one tael of silver a month; but the extra flour that can be sold is more than one tael.

A-Mian thanked Song Dongjia and returned to her stall.

Meng Chijian was cooking tofu with a blank expression; there was only one customer at his stall. A-Mian quickly switched hands with him and then mentioned that she wanted to hire another person.

"Yes, I've been thinking about this too. Let's go see the broker together later." Meng Chijian saw that A Mian was quite capable, even doing the accounting when there were no customers, already acting like a small business owner.

After finishing their dinner preparations, the two ate some tofu pudding and rice at their own stall. Meng Chijian put the tables, chairs, benches, and other items back on the donkey cart, led Adou back to the blacksmith's backyard, and then the two hurriedly went to the brokerage firm.

When the brokerage firm saw that it was Ah Mian who came to recruit workers, he smiled calmly, as if he had known this day would come.

During the conversation, he also exchanged pleasantries with Meng Chijian, saying, "Don't you need any help at your shop? There's only a little guy helping you there." This was an intentional display of his extensive network of connections in the city, suggesting that he was well-connected and knew everything.

However, Meng Chijian only nodded slightly, his face still cold, as he was too lazy to chat with a middle-aged man.

Ah Mian explained her desired conditions for hiring workers one by one.

"You must be clean and tidy, and... you must be quick and efficient. Oh! And your face must be kind."

Meng Chijian gritted his teeth, and A Mian quickly smiled at him.

"Okay, come at Shenshi (3-5 PM) the day after tomorrow. I will bring the people who meet these criteria. You can talk to them and see which one you choose."

After a busy day and a half, Ah Mian, during the break between lunch and dinner, went back into the brokerage firm with Meng Chijian, who was worried about her and insisted on coming with her to select people.

Upon entering the courtyard, five people were waiting there, three men and two women.

Upon seeing A-Mian and her companion appear, a quick-witted couple hurriedly approached Meng Chijian. The man said eagerly, "Is the master looking for someone? Look for me! I used to be a sedan chair carrier, and I'm very strong!"

"Master, don't believe him. He's careless; he almost tripped over a small stone while carrying the sedan chair!" The woman said, "I'm skillful; I can do all the household chores. I used to be a wet nurse in that official's household..."

"It wasn't me who hired them, it was her."

The workers then noticed Ah Mian, who was looking at them from behind.

...

How come she's such a young woman with such a delicate face?

Can this really be used to make a business?

Don't expect to only be able to pay two months' wages by then.

Immediately, the workers lost interest and listlessly lined up again.

"What's your name? How old are you? What did you do before?" Ah Mian asked them one by one, ignoring their expressions.

And because of the woman's words, she instinctively asked, "Then why didn't you do what you did before?"

After asking each of the five people, A-Mian nodded and then asked them all to extend their hands.

"Young lady, what are you doing? What a novel way to choose people."

Meng Chijian saw her look at the sedan bearer's hands, which were covered in mud and grime under his fingernails, and shake her head; then she looked at the woman who had been a wet nurse, whose hands were very clean, but soft and white, definitely not those of someone used to manual labor.

The broker, who was showing the shop to the client, couldn't help but exclaim, "If it weren't for the fact that you have your own stall, with such talent, it would be wonderful if you could work as a shop assistant in my shop."