Chapter 53 Stealing Customers

In the following days, Song Yushu went out with the broker to look at shops every day. Each time, they looked at shops that couldn't be rented out. He "took a fancy" to several shops, but unexpectedly, the shops were either rented out or sold.

The broker's commission to Song Yushu alone amounted to several dozen taels of silver.

However, after this happened several times, the person behind it realized they had been tricked and stopped causing trouble.

After several attempts, Song Yushu finally ended his cooperation with the broker with regret.

During this period, some of the regular customers of Haowei Restaurant have not come. In the past, the ingredients that could be sold out on the same day are now almost a third of the dishes that have not been sold. Wei's mother is worried about this.

Seeing that Song Yushu hadn't gone out to check on the shop that day, he brought up the matter.

"This matter can't be rushed. Taixing Restaurant has recently hired two chefs from the prefectural city. The new dishes they've introduced are quite good, so naturally, many people are going to join in the fun. Let's wait a few more days and see how things go."

Song Yushu made a special inquiry and found that most of the customers who didn't come had gone to Taixing Restaurant. Taixing Restaurant has been making a lot of moves lately, such as changing chefs and offering discounts, so it's normal that they can attract people there.

She didn't intend to compete with Taixing Restaurant; the most important thing now was to finalize the new shop location as soon as possible.

Pack up the remaining dishes, let Wei's mother take some back, and send the rest to the orphanage. The restaurant closed before 5 PM.

However, Taixing Restaurant came in with great force this time. The famous chef they hired copied almost all the popular dishes from Song Yushu Restaurant. They even bought pork from elsewhere at a high price. Several of their signature dishes were very popular.

Seeing that the number of customers in the restaurant was decreasing, Song Yushu had no choice but to halve the amount of food he made each day and then draft a new menu.

The restaurant's customers were mostly men, so she began to develop a menu that would appeal more to the town's female customers and children, or rather, a menu that would be more likely to attract families to dine together.

However, after adjusting the menu, she realized that the layout of the shop was not suitable if she really wanted to attract female customers. The shop was still not big enough, so she still had to buy the shop first.

"First, let me remind the restaurant's customers that we will be closed for the next two days. We will introduce some new dishes after two days, and regular customers can enjoy a 20% discount," Song Yushu planned to give the restaurant's employees two days off. Anyway, there weren't many customers at the moment, and she wanted to take advantage of these two days to buy the shop.

"Why do we suddenly need to rest for two days? What if those guests don't come either..." Mother Wei was a little worried. When people have free time, they can't help but overthink.

"There aren't many customers these days, so closing for two days won't make a difference. Tell them that we'll be launching new dishes in two days, and that will pique their curiosity. Don't worry," Song Yushu told Wei's mother to bring Zhou Chengzhu back to the Wei family home for a couple of days. Otherwise, she, an adult, would find it boring to stay in the shop all day without going anywhere.

As for Zhou Chengyu, since he was going to study at the academy, all that could be done was to remind him to tell the teachers and classmates that the restaurant would be closed for two days before delivering meals.

"Boss Wei, you've finally arrived! I've made time to spend with you today!" The broker had made a considerable profit from a business deal with Song Yushu earlier, and now he was beaming with joy upon seeing Song Yushu.

"I'm sorry to trouble you these past two days. We're practically acquaintances now. May I ask how I should address you, elder brother?"

"My surname is Qian, you can just call me Qian Wu. I've been in the broker business for ten years," Qian Wu said, leading the way. Today they were going to look at two shops, which were far apart, so they had to go early.

"Brother Qian, could you give me a brief update on the shop I'm going to visit today?"

Song Yushu brought Xiong Erni with him this time, entrusting her with the task of driving the carriage, while she inquired about the shop from Qian Wu in the back.

"As you know, the better locations for shops in this town are all... so the location of the shops we're looking at today isn't great. But I also know you want a more spacious shop, and both shops we're looking at today are spacious..."

From Qian Wu's words, Song Yushu roughly understood that the two shops, one in the south and one in the north, were in a poorer environment. The surrounding area was inhabited by a mixed bunch of people. It used to be a general store, but now the owner had been arrested for committing a crime, and business was bad. So his family was planning to sell the shop.

The place to the north was even more remote. Song Yushu and her companions passed by it every time they came to town. It was right next to the city wall and was originally a tea shop for travelers to rest. However, the old man who originally ran the tea shop got old, and his son lost a large sum of money gambling, so he had to sell the tea shop to pay off his son's debts.

They were heading to the general store, and it took them about half an hour to get there.

After getting off the bus, she realized that Qian Wu hadn't favored her at all. The environment was indeed chaotic, comparable to a poor area in the town, with many haphazardly erected sheds and garbage everywhere.

“Many of the disaster victims who came here during the drought were settled here. If there hadn’t been no suitable shops, I wouldn’t have brought you to a place like this,” Qian Wu said somewhat embarrassedly, now that he was quite familiar with Song Yushu.

"It's alright, it's not your fault. You've already shown me a lot of kindness by introducing me to a shop. Come to my restaurant another day, and I'll give you a free meal!" Song Yushu knew his predicament.

"Alright! I'll try it when I have time! We're here, the shop is right here," Qian Wu said, feeling much better seeing that she didn't seem to have any resentment at all.

"Coming! Who is it?"

"Looking after the shop!"

When the door opened, a thin, impatient woman came out. She looked Song Yushu up and down several times with her narrow eyes before letting them in.

"Since you want to buy the shop, I'll be frank. I won't sell it for less than four hundred taels," the tall, thin woman said, crossing her arms as she let them in.

"When you asked me to help sell the shop, didn't you say you'd sell it for three hundred taels?" Qian Wu didn't expect this woman to change her mind at the last minute, and his expression turned somewhat ugly.

"I panicked back then! Now my husband says that selling the shop for three hundred taels is too bad. He'll still have to make a living when he gets out, so how can we sell it so cheaply!" The woman didn't think there was anything wrong with her changing her mind now.

Song Yushu glanced around the shop. The front area for selling goods was indeed spacious, but the back was extremely cramped, with only two rooms and a large pile of miscellaneous items haphazardly stacked in the courtyard.

"How about that? If my husband hadn't gone to jail, four hundred taels wouldn't have been enough to buy my shop," the woman said smugly as she watched Song Yushu looking at the shop.

“Let’s go, let’s look at the next shop,” Song Yushu said, turning around and leaving without any intention of haggling over the price.

“Alright, anyway, it’s not just this shop that we can buy from. Let’s go to another one first,” Qian Wu said, not wanting to say any more to this woman who had gone back on her word.