Everyone in the village was there. The imperial court had already harvested the rice from the five mu of land, and the villagers harvested the remaining rice from the one mu of land in just one day.

Tao Wan's mother had a fire lit and then threw the washed sweet potatoes into the fire to roast.

While talking about things in the village, they waited. After a while, an enticing aroma wafted out, surprising everyone.

"Boss, this...this smells so good! How can these sweet potatoes smell so good when roasted?" Lin Zhuangshi swallowed hard, completely unable to believe that this unassuming thing could smell so good.

Tao Wan's mother poked at the sweet potatoes with a stick to make sure they were soft before pulling them out of the fire.

"Who wants to try some?" Tao Wanniang rolled the scalding hot sweet potato in front of her feet until it was almost cooked, then picked it up and broke it in half. The golden sweet potato, accompanied by an even stronger aroma, was presented to everyone.

"This...it looks so appetizing!" Lin Zhuangshi swallowed hard. "How about I have some?"

Tao Wanniang casually gave half of it to her, and ate the other half herself.

"Delicious, really delicious, sweet and soft. Although the old folks used to say that the more beautiful the color of food, the more careful you should be, this sweet potato doesn't look particularly appealing on the outside, but the inside is surprisingly this color."

Lin Zhuangshi praised without reservation, "Boss, these sweet potatoes are even tastier than potatoes, and look at their appearance..."

The food in a fancy restaurant can't just be like this after you peel it open.

"Don't worry about that, as long as you're okay after eating it," Tao Wanniang replied. "If you guys want some, just dig them out of the fire yourselves. I just poked them with a stick, and the skin softened, so they should be cooked."

The aroma of the sweet potatoes greatly whetted the appetites of the others. Since Lin Zhuangshi had described it so well, how could the others not try it?

Lin Zhuangshi finished eating quickly and licked his lips with lingering satisfaction.

"There shouldn't be any problems, right, Manager Tao? Aren't you worried at all?"

She knew better than anyone what she was worried about—sweet potatoes were edible.

“I’m not like you. When we were fleeing famine, we dug up tree roots and ate them. So I know what’s edible and what’s not.” Tao Wan’s mother found the perfect excuse. “Besides, when I bought these seeds, the people there said that they were absolutely safe to eat.”

"Eat, eat, everyone eat!" Lin Zhuangshi urged the others immediately after hearing this. "Hey, who can share half with me? This stuff warms you up nicely."

Tao Wan's mother stopped arguing with the others, as the sweet potatoes weren't mostly ripe yet; they would need about half a month more.

"Manager Lin, have all the potatoes in the field been harvested?" Tao Wanniang asked again. "Put them in the cellar, and don't wash off the surface soil."

"Don't worry, everything is done as the boss said," Lin Zhuangshi replied. By this time, there were no potatoes left in the field.

Tao Wanniang knew that if she wanted to plant again this season, she would have to do it in greenhouses.

As for tomatoes, we planted more one after another, so we can still harvest several batches now.

But no matter what, there would probably be no vegetables left in the fields by winter. Tao Wan's mother was a little worried. Although she could produce a large quantity of vegetables through her trading system, such a large quantity would still arouse suspicion.

But she owns a restaurant, and if some dishes are unavailable, it will affect her business!

"Manager Lin, I'll tell you something else when I've thought it through. The restaurant can't be without vegetables in the winter, and they can't grow in the ground!" Tao Wanniang wanted to see the feasibility of building greenhouses in the fields.

"Zhang Liang, let's go back to the capital first," Tao Wanniang called out when she saw Zhang Liang fighting with the villagers for sweet potatoes.

"Sister Tao, I haven't even had a bite yet!" Zhang Liang said somewhat reluctantly, as the food he had pulled out of the fire was too hot to handle.

"Manager Zhang, why don't you take one with you?" Lin Zhuangshi said cheerfully.

“Alright then.” Zhang Liang naturally didn’t mince words. He took a piece, weighed it in his hands, and then happily left with Tao Wanniang.

Before the hot pot restaurant opened, it did welcome several groups of customers and accumulated a considerable customer base. Previously, due to insufficient staff, it could only serve one table at most each time, but it still managed to spread the word about its fiery name.

Before the opening of Zhaixinglou, everyone went to this hot pot restaurant to have a hot pot meal they had never seen before.

Shandong Luneng was not surprised, but Yang Yongsheng and Yu Shizhao had strong opinions about this so-called hot pot.

"Leaving these dishes like this is disrespectful to the chef." Yang Yongsheng was enjoying his mutton, dipping it in the sauce, but his criticism was also rising.

"In that case, do we still need any culinary skills from the cooks?" Yu Shizhao was also somewhat shocked. "Manager Tao, this fiery name of your shop is really fitting. I ate something fiery hot."

Tao Wanniang glanced at Yang Yongsheng and teased, "These soup bases are the result of a lot of effort. Chef Yang, aren't you very good at judging things? You can taste how much of this soup base you used."

"Ha, but if it's like this, everything tastes the same, losing the original flavor of the food." Yang Yongsheng couldn't help but condemn, "Chef Tao, how could you create something that shot yourself in the foot?"

"How so?" Tao Wanniang couldn't help but ask in return.

"Isn't this redundant for those of us who specialize in culinary arts?" Yang Yongsheng said with a bitter and resentful expression.

“That’s right. As long as we have the secret recipe for this soup base, we can open this shop and we won’t need a head chef anymore,” Yu Shizhao said. “Manager Tao, you’re going to put a lot of chefs out of work!”

“You two are really worrying unnecessarily,” Tao Wanniang said nonchalantly. “Some people like stir-fries, some like stews, and in the future, some will like hot pot. Everything will have its own audience.”

“People can eat rice every day, but they can’t eat hot pot every day. Hot pot business is probably better in winter, but much less so in summer,” Tao Wanniang said. “You guys go ahead and eat. I just love to experiment.”

Yang Yongsheng and Yu Shizhao both admired Tao Wanniang very much. In any case, the hot pot was really delicious and a novelty, making it hard to stop eating.

The aroma of the hot pot wafted far and wide. Inside, the lights were bright, but the door was closed, tempting passersby to dine in, but they couldn't get in.

"What kind of shop is this? What does it make that smells so good?"

"Hot and spicy, what does that mean? This shop name is hilarious!"

A number of curious people gathered at the entrance, sniffing the air intently.

"This is a hot pot restaurant. You don't know what hot pot is, do you? It's really novel. I ate here once and I can't stop thinking about it. Tomorrow is the grand opening day of this restaurant, and I'm looking forward to coming here to eat tomorrow night."

"It smells delicious. Maybe I'll come and take a look tomorrow."