Chapter 55 Commencement of Work

"Taixing Restaurant has already made our new dishes, and they've renamed them something like Golden Broth Chicken Stew and Golden Scale Treasure Fish! They're so shameless!" Sister-in-law Wei said indignantly, sharing the news she had heard.

"The name is good, but the taste may not be as good as our restaurant. Besides, they're charging a higher price. Who would be so foolish as to rip us off?"

"That's not necessarily true. Rich people just want something new and auspicious! But let's not rush things. Let me get the shop over there sorted out, and then we'll go all out. Taixing Restaurant won't be able to copy us!"

Song Yushu ladled the stewed chicken out of the earthenware pot and asked Sister-in-law Wei to help deliver it to the guests' table.

There are still quite a few diners in her restaurant, and most of her old customers are still there. For the time being, Taixing Restaurant won't be able to suppress her restaurant.

After seeing off the last group of diners, Song Yushu drove the oxcart with Wei's mother and others to the tea shop to check on the situation.

The wasteland has now been cleaned up; the weeds and tangled bushes have been cleared away, but there are still quite a few loose stones to be removed.

"Someone will be bringing over some fruit tree saplings in a couple of days. You need to tidy up the place where you're going to plant the fruit trees first," Song Yushu said to the men who were still picking up stones.

"Sure, we can clear away the stones around here in three days!"

The people hired to clean up this wasteland were all from nearby villages; all they had to do was settle accounts with the villagers on time each day.

The few tall trees left on the wasteland are located roughly in the middle of the wasteland. You could build a treehouse platform there, and then tie a net bed to two of the tree trunks, or a few swings to the thick branches.

Song Yushu now wants to speed up the construction of the agritainment business she envisioned, but she has almost exhausted her savings, so she plans to do some of the manual work herself.

Mother Wei had already taken her two sisters-in-law to clean the house. It was a big project, with two floors and a large courtyard.

Song Yushu then used a ruler to write and draw around those trees.

Making the swing wasn't too difficult for her, but building a large platform was a bit more troublesome, requiring the help of a carpenter.

"Mother, let's go back first. There's no rush. There are still two months left!" Song Yushu didn't want her family to keep working overtime. She couldn't afford to hire someone to clean, but her mother, Wei, wanted to save her money and did all the chores for her.

"It'll be ready soon. The guest rooms on the second floor are all cleaned up, but we need the carpenter to make a few beds," Mother Wei reminded Song Yushu to prepare as soon as possible, seeing that the five rooms on the second floor were now empty.

"I plan to turn those rooms into private rooms, not for living in, but perfect for entertaining some distinguished guests," Song Yushu explained simply, but the tables still need to be booked in advance.

Song Yushu planned to build wooden houses on that large piece of wasteland outside. That would be the real place for guests to stay. Ten wooden houses would be a huge project, and it would be impossible to finish building them in two months. They could only take it one step at a time.

After Wei's mother and the others returned, Song Yushu asked the people who had been picking up stones to call a few more people to help her with the work the next day. Upon returning to town, she went straight to the carpenter's shop.

Song Yushu made several trips, ordering custom-made tables and chairs from one company and building wooden cabins from two other companies. Tomorrow, her agritainment business will begin large-scale construction.

The restaurant business continued as usual, but many customers also knew that she had bought a new shop.

"Why doesn't Mr. Wei continue operating this shop? It's close to where I live, and it's convenient for me to come and go."

"Yes, we're used to this place, so it's quite strange to suddenly go to a different place."

"I originally wanted to buy this shop, but I was a step too late, so I had to change locations. I'll give you a discount when it opens!" Song Yushu knew that changing locations would easily lead to losing customers, but there was nothing she could do. She could only try her best to retain some of her old customers.

"We'll definitely patronize Mr. Wei's restaurant because his cooking is so good!" he replied respectfully these past few days.

"I made some snacks today. Each customer who comes to the restaurant can take one for free. It's 25 coins a plate," Song Yushu said, and then put the pumpkin cakes that Wei's mother had brought out into the pan to fry.

The oil sizzled in the pan, and the aroma of pumpkin pancakes quickly filled the air for diners.

The first batch of fried pumpkin pancakes was quickly distributed by Sister-in-law Wei and Sister-in-law Wei to the customers sitting in the restaurant.

"It's soft, sticky, and sweet, but it's too small. I haven't had enough. Mr. Wei, give me a plate!"

It's better not to try it at all, because once you do, you can't stop. The pumpkin pancakes that the restaurant served were so delicious that many of the customers who tried them wanted to order more.

Song Yushu placed pieces of pumpkin cake into the pan to fry, and seeing that the guests were urging him on, he could only keep speeding up.

Pumpkin pancakes are easy to make, require few ingredients, and can generate a good profit even at 25 yuan per plate.

Zhou Chengzhu checked the abacus and found that he had sold about forty plates of pumpkin cakes today, earning a little over one tael of silver.

"Let's make more pumpkin pancakes tomorrow!" Zhou Chengzhu wrote down the accounts in her crooked calligraphy, and reminded Song Yushu to make more pumpkin pancakes to sell tomorrow.

"Silly girl, your mother has already prepared everything, there's no need for you to worry about it!"

Song Yushu didn't have any plans for scarcity marketing; he just wanted to sell as much as possible while the customers liked it. Otherwise, Taixing Restaurant would copy his strategy, change the name to something flashy, and empty the customers' wallets.

Zhou Chengzhu heard the answer she wanted and left satisfied, clutching the ledger.

The next day, most of the customers who came to the shop to buy pumpkin cakes were young women. They bought them and left without sitting in the shop. However, some customers brought their families with them.

The income from selling pumpkin cakes that day doubled compared to the previous day, but it wasn't as much in the following days, since these things are fried and can get greasy if you eat too much of them.

"Why do I see that Delicious Food Restaurant doing pretty well?"

"So what if it's good? I heard her new shop is in a really remote location. It's only accessible to people from the villages who come to town to sell vegetables. It's not close to any other customers in town!"

The staff at Taixing Restaurant were also observing the situation at Haowei Restaurant.

Manager Zhu was fairly satisfied with the information they reported. Although the business of Haowei Restaurant seemed unaffected at the moment, it was clear that once the lease on the shop expired, it wouldn't be able to make any waves.

"You two don't need to keep an eye on them anymore, come back and get to work."

No one was optimistic about Song Yushu's new shop, but she still went there every day to check on the progress.

Now, only the framework of the wooden houses has been built, but the stones on the wasteland have been cleared away, and the large treehouse platform she wanted has been built.

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen a treehouse like this! It looks so fun!" Sister-in-law Wei was immediately intrigued when she saw that the treehouse had actually been built.

The wooden house is supported by a platform less than a meter above the ground, and there is a wooden ladder leading up to the platform where two sets of tables and chairs are placed.