Chapter Thirty-Eight [V] Business Opportunities, Seeking Opportunities...
After finishing cooking, Li Yan went straight home. She didn't wait for the magistrate's family to finish eating before going to ask for a reward.
After finishing his meal, Magistrate Hong wanted to call Li Yan over for a few words. However, Madam Hong smiled and said, "Madam Li is an honest person. She does business honestly and uprightly, not the kind of merchant who would cheat and swindle. After she finished cooking, she rushed home to get busy and didn't wait for your reward, sir."
Seeing this, Magistrate Hong laughed and said, "Since that's the case, then forget it." Thinking that in less than half a month, he would be able to eat such delicious food again, he felt that there was something to look forward to in life.
After finishing his meal, Magistrate Hong was in a wonderful mood as he went about his official business.
After greeting his wife and two children, Magistrate Hong was the first to get up and leave the dining hall.
After Magistrate Hong left, Hong Xiuyun immediately gave Little Hong a hard time. She glared at her, and then glared at her younger brother, Duan Ge'er, before storming out of the door.
As for this, Madam Hong was already used to it. She was quite open-minded and didn't take her stepdaughter's constant targeting of her to heart.
But Duan Ge'er felt sorry for his mother and was saddened: "Mother, my sister is always like this, and I feel bad about it."
Hong Duan is seven years old this year and began his formal education last year. Magistrate Hong did not hire a private tutor to teach his son at home, but instead sent his son to school. Now, he is studying at Xiaochun School under the tutelage of Scholar Weng.
Weng, a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, was highly respected and famous in the area. However, Hong Duan was admitted to Xiaochun Academy not because he had a county magistrate as his father, but because he himself was ambitious and hardworking.
For this reason, Magistrate Hong was very proud. He would often say to Madam Hong that it was thanks to her excellent upbringing that Duan-ge'er was raised so well. He also said that Duan-ge'er would surely be more successful than him in the future.
When her husband said this, Ms. Hong was modest, but she was happy inside. Moreover, her son was now her only concern and hope. If she could, she would pay any price to send him off to achieve the highest future.
Unfortunately, the Hong family was not wealthy, and although her husband was now a county official, he was extremely honest and incorruptible. Living off his salary, and being so honest and hardworking, he could hardly save any money.
Mrs. Hong knew that her son had a long future ahead of him and a promising future, so she had to plan for his future as soon as possible.
.
Li Yan usually takes a nap after lunch without fail.
If I have plenty of time, I'll sleep longer; if I'm short on time, I'll sleep less.
Taking a nap to relieve fatigue can make you more efficient at work throughout the afternoon.
Lunch was prepared by Aunt Xue, and Li Yan ate a few bites quickly. Seeing that the weather was nice today, with sunshine, but not as intense as in summer or early autumn, Li Yan took a walk in the yard for a while.
On a late autumn afternoon, the wind carried a different scent. Li Yan, lying on her back with the wind and sunlight caressing her face, enjoyed this moment of relaxation, feeling wonderfully content.
Life is getting better day by day. Not only have I made money, but I've also built a relationship with the county government... Having a powerful local figure to associate with makes me feel more at ease than earning a few extra taels of silver.
Li Yan would not do evil just because she had some connections with the powerful and influential, nor would she constantly scheme to make money through her relationship with the county government. But she thought that with this connection, at least in the future, others would have to think twice before trying to bully or scheme against her.
While strolling and thinking in the courtyard, Li Yan found the autumn light so pleasant that she decided to move a chair into the yard.
She lay back in the chair, covered herself with a thin blanket, and took a nap in the yard while basking in the sun.
Now that her business is stable, she has a steady stream of customers. Even if they don't come to buy every day, they come every three to five days. And sometimes, when repeat customers come, they don't just buy one item; they buy at least two or three.
Li Yan still wanted to open a shop, and in the past few days, the idea of opening a shop has become stronger and stronger.
Even if the business of selling drinks at a stall is stable, there's a limit to how much it can sell. In fact, with her current customer base, she could sell out even if she made more each day.
Doing it all by myself inevitably gets a bit tiring.
If she were to open a shop, she could hire someone to help her. She could then handle the crucial aspects herself, leaving the rest to the hired help. This way, she could expand her business while saving herself time and energy.
But if you're going to open a shop, you have to choose a location. And if you're going to choose a location, you have to think carefully about where to put it.
However, it definitely cannot be too far from the current location of the stall, otherwise, the customers that have just been accumulated may be abandoned directly because the location is too far away.
This significantly reduces the range of storefront options available.
Li Yan is a woman of action. In her spare time these past two days, she has been strolling around the streets. One reason is to check out the locations of shops to see if there are any suitable ones, and another is to visit other dessert shops to see their signature pastries.
If Li Yan were to actually open a shop, she still had another point of hesitation. That was, would the shop only sell milk tea drinks, or would it also sell some desserts to expand the business?
By pairing drinks with desserts, you can turn your business into a dessert shop.
Selling only drinks will definitely limit profits. But if you sell them along with desserts and pastries, the profits will be considerable.
Another question is, if you open a shop, will you only do takeout, or will you make it a dine-in business?
For takeout, it's simpler; you can just prepare the food in individual portions and sell it out. Since there's no need for dine-in, you can choose a smaller shop. But if you're doing dine-in, not only does the food have to be made to order, but you also need a larger shop.
This naturally increases costs considerably.
After weighing the options in her mind and considering her current situation, Li Yan basically gave up on the idea of offering dine-in service.
Many of the snack shops on the street also make their snacks for takeout. In this case, a shop only needs a maximum of two people to work.
One person is enough, but two people can keep each other accountable.
But Li Yan doesn't have enough money on hand right now, so even if she opens the shop, she'll have to wait another two or three months. She'll have to wait until after the New Year and get through the winter.
Another month passed quickly, and on the first day of the tenth month, it was time for Li Yan to cook at the county government office again.
Actually, cooking for the magistrate's family is quite simple; the portions aren't large, and there aren't many dishes. This time, the ingredients I saw were still pork belly, so I guess they still want to eat her braised pork.
The ingredients are just a few things, almost all of which are things that ordinary people can afford to eat.
This shows that Magistrate Hong was indeed incorruptible. A magistrate is, after all, a seventh-rank official, yet he only ate one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup per meal—that was truly simple. Even when they ate at home, they sometimes prepared two meat dishes.
The meal was prepared quickly. This time, Li Yan didn't leave immediately after it was ready. Instead, she said to the maid who was watching her in the kitchen, "I would like to see your mistress."
The maidservant couldn't make decisions for the magistrate's wife, so she could only say, "Then Madam Li, please wait here while I go and ask Madam for instructions."
Soon, Xiao Hongshi's message was brought over, and the maid invited Li Yan to the dining room.
At this moment, the county magistrate and his family were all present, and Magistrate Hong was naturally there as well.
Magistrate Hong thought she had come to ask for a reward. When he saw her coming, he smiled and said, "Your cooking is excellent, so I should reward you." He thought for a moment and was hesitating about how much to reward her when he heard the woman standing below the hall speak.
“In reply to your question, Your Excellency, I did not come here to ask for a reward.” Since this was not a courtroom setting, Li Yan looked directly at the magistrate and said, “I have come here today to confirm with Your Excellency, Madam, and the young master and young lady the dishes to be prepared for the next meal.”
"Last time I made braised pork belly, and this time it's the same. Maybe next time I can use fish instead. Or ribs would be fine too."
"You can make other meat dishes just as well?" Magistrate Hong asked with great interest.
Since I've only ever had her braised pork before, and I haven't had enough of it, I've prepared pork belly for today as well.
But if her other meat dishes are also delicious, it might be worth trying something different.
Li Yan said, "I can cook sweet and sour pork ribs and grilled fish..." After thinking for a moment, fearing that they might not trust her because they had never eaten them before, she said, "I can try making a portion and send it to you to try first. If you like it, we can change the dishes later."
Thinking it would be too much trouble, Magistrate Hong said, "There's no need to try it. Since you say it's okay, then next time we'll use spare ribs. You can try it then."
"Yes," Li Yan replied, squatting down.
Sweet and sour pork ribs are also one of Li Yan's specialties. She has made them for her family a few times when she is at home, and occasionally she will share them with her neighbors. Everyone agrees that they taste excellent, and are even no less delicious than the braised pork sold to Yuanbaolou.
As for grilled fish... because it requires many seasonings, there are still a few missing, so the taste is always slightly inferior.
Even so, the neighbors' reviews after eating it were excellent.
But that was just the opinion of ordinary people. Li Yan thought that although the county magistrate was frugal, he was still an official and had seen many banquets.
Ask him to try it. If he also thinks it's delicious, then perhaps we can work on these two dishes later.
.
As October arrived, the weather turned completely cold.
Li Yan saved up about ten taels of silver in September, which made her quite wealthy again.
October passed by as usual. Li Yan greeted the Wang family in the countryside again, planning to buy another pound of milk this month.
She figured she'd just keep running her milk tea stall for the next two months. If business was good, she'd work harder to earn more money, and then next spring she'd consider renting a shop to start her business.
Of course, while selling drinks, Li Yan also had some other ideas.
On the fifteenth, Li Yan went to the magistrate's house to cook again and made sweet and sour pork ribs. The feedback was that the dish was also very delicious.
Li Yan didn't plan to continue using this dish to cooperate with Yuanbaolou, and she was also thinking in her heart that maybe she could open her own restaurant in the future.
But opening a shop and doing business always carries risks and requires sufficient capital. Moreover, opening a food shop is different from opening a dessert shop. A dessert shop owner has a customer base that has been built up over time, but a food shop is different.
Moreover, the cost of opening a food shop is definitely much higher than that of opening a dessert shop.
Because Li Yan planned to sell desserts along with her shop in the future, she focused intently on making pastries throughout October. Aside from personally cooking braised pork, she delegated all other tasks to Aunt Xue.
In this way, she can dedicate the rest of her time to her own research.
That day, while cooking at the magistrate's house, Li Yan received some news. The magistrate's daughter, Hong Niangzi, would be coming of age in five days, and the magistrate and his wife would be holding a coming-of-age banquet for her, inviting many prominent and respectable people from Huating County as guests.
Li Yan saw an opportunity in this, so after finishing cooking, she went to see Madam Hong again.
This time, Li Yan deliberately waited a little longer because she had business to discuss, which might take a while, and she didn't want to delay the magistrate's family from having dinner.
Therefore, he waited until the magistrate's family had finished their meal before approaching Madam Hong.
At this moment, Magistrate Hong had already left to run errands at the front office, Hong Xiuyun had returned to her room, and Hong Duan had gone back to school to study.
Madam Hong was the only person in the entire hall.
Upon hearing that she hadn't left yet, Madam Hong immediately said, "Quickly, invite her in."
Last time I had her sweet and sour pork ribs, and this time I had grilled fish... These two dishes are just as good as her braised pork.
A good meal naturally puts one in a good mood, so Madam Hong became even more polite to Li Yan.
Upon seeing the person, Madam Hong immediately said apologetically, "Since you didn't leave, why did you come looking for me? I could have invited you to stay and have a meal with me." She then blamed her maid, "Madam Li didn't leave, why didn't you tell her? You've made her wait and go hungry for nothing."
The maid looked a little aggrieved, and Li Yan immediately said, "Madam, please don't blame Qiu Hong. Qiu Hong wanted to tell you something, but I was afraid it would disturb your meal, so I told her not to say anything."
Madam Hong then said, "You can't just keep waiting on an empty stomach."
Li Yan smiled and said, "I ate a lot this morning, and I also ate something to tide me over before coming over to cook, so I'm not hungry right now. Thank you for your concern, Madam."
Thinking that she must have something to say since she was waiting on an empty stomach, Madam Hong quickly asked her to sit down and talk after exchanging pleasantries.
"Is something the matter?" Madam Hong asked.
At the same time, I was extremely uneasy, afraid that she would say something like that it would be inconvenient for her to cook for me in the future.
He asked her to cook for him at the county government office for two days a month, but it was only a verbal agreement and there was no written agreement or contract.
If she really doesn't want to come anymore and just leaves, there's nothing she can do.
Madam Hong was slightly worried and tentatively asked, "It's not that... you don't want to come back for dinner anymore, is it?"
Seeing that she was worried about this, Li Yan smiled.
"How could that be? I cherish this opportunity so much that I wouldn't be so willful as to say I won't come."
Hearing her say that, Madam Hong immediately felt relieved.
"What's wrong, Madam Li?" Madam Hong asked.
Because she wanted to seize an opportunity, Li Yan carefully chose her words and cautiously began, "Madam, I heard that in a few days it will be the coming-of-age banquet for the young lady of the manor." Li Yan tried to start with this.
Mrs. Hong was slightly surprised when she brought up this matter.
However, Madam Hong had also considered whether to send an invitation to Lady Li for Yunniang's coming-of-age banquet. She had been sending invitations to various families these past few days, but she remained hesitant about whether to send one to Lady Li.
Although I enjoy her cooking, to be honest, compared to other businesses, she's just an unknown nobody. Inviting her over would seem like giving her too much credit.
Madam Hong was more inclined not to invite them.
But when she brought it up now, Madam Hong assumed she wanted to ask for an invitation, which made her feel a little awkward.
"Well, my daughter's coming-of-age banquet is a small affair, with only a few tables for guests. So, the number of invitations sent out is also limited."
Upon hearing this, Li Yan knew she had misunderstood, so she quickly said, "Madam, I have come before you today to ask for a chance." Then, she explained her request, "I know the chef for the banquet has already been chosen, and if I were to ask for this opportunity now, it would be too late. Besides, I only have a few dishes that are not up to standard and I wouldn't be able to prepare a proper banquet for your daughter. Therefore, I was wondering if I could help out by cooking the dishes I usually make, and I can also make a few desserts. If you trust me, Madam, you can save the trouble of hiring a dessert chef."
Upon seeing this, Madam Hong couldn't help but have her own thoughts.
"I just don't know... how much money should we charge Madam Li?" If we need to hire a proper chef and also invite her, wouldn't that mean paying for two meals?
-----------------------
Author's Note: Update is here~~~
Happy September! [Rabbit head with upright ears]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com