Chapter 43 [V] Hot Pot Bestseller
Li Yan has the recipe for hot pot base, and after several days of searching, she has collected all the ingredients.
Next, she had to cook the ingredients together according to the recipe proportions and order. After cooking, she would let it cool and freeze it before cutting it into pieces.
The weather is cold right now, which is perfect for eating this kind of hot pot.
In the past two days, Li Yan has also been thinking about who to seek cooperation with.
She considered going to Yuanbaolou again, but Yuanbaolou is a large restaurant, and even if she could reach an agreement, they might not be willing to share the profits proportionally. Or, if they see a large profit to be made, they might find a way to take all the recipe for themselves.
Moreover, Li Yan herself also wanted to switch to another partner.
Therefore, she had previously considered whether to pilot the program at the Sifang Inn.
After today's incident, she could roughly see what kind of person Ye Gaozheng was. She saw his ugly side, full of calculation, though to be honest, his calculation wasn't particularly clever, nor was he particularly cunning.
Furthermore, Sifang Inn is not a large establishment, and it doesn't primarily focus on the food business. If we can get her help to expand the food business, she will have more leverage when discussing profit sharing in the future.
It's cold now, perfect for hot pot. But after the New Year, when spring comes next year, the timing won't be as good.
So time is of the essence for her.
Therefore, now that we have a suitable partner, there is no need to go through the trouble of looking for other restaurants.
At that time, we'll have to consider it further and figure out the employer's temperament again...
Li Yan thought to herself, "I might as well go for him."
"I'll go cook for the old man first, and then I'll come back to talk to Manager Ye in detail after I'm done."
Ye Gaozheng is a businessman and greatly admires Li Yan's culinary skills. Therefore, he is quite looking forward to discussing the details of the cooperation with her.
After Li Yan finished preparing Mr. Gao's lunch, she came out of the kitchen.
Ye Gaozheng was very polite and stayed behind the counter to wait. When he saw Li Yan come out from the kitchen, Ye Gaozheng immediately went to greet her with a smile.
"Is Madam Li finished with her work?" he asked very politely.
Li Yan nodded and apologized, saying, "I'm so sorry to have kept Manager Ye waiting."
Ye Gaozheng immediately said, "I stay at the inn every day, working as both manager and accountant, and I don't leave until night... How can this be considered waiting? Besides, my wife has business to discuss with me, so even if it's really waiting, I'm happy." He then hurriedly called the waiter to bring hot food, "It's almost time to eat, and my wife will need to eat after we finish our business. Why don't we eat here and talk?"
Li Yan shook her head: "Thank you for your kindness, Manager Ye, but I won't eat. My mother-in-law has prepared a meal at home, I'll eat there." Then she pointed directly to a spot under the window, "Let's talk there."
Ye Gaozheng: "Then I won't insist you stay for dinner. Please, my wife."
After sitting down, Li Yan got straight to the point, saying, "I have ingredients for hot pot base and would like to cooperate with Manager Ye. I wonder if Manager Ye would be interested?"
"Hot pot broth?" Ye Gao listened intently. "What kind?"
Li Yan: "Give me two days. After I've cooked the hot pot base, I'll bring it to Manager Ye for a look. Today, I wanted to ask Manager Ye if, if you think it's suitable, you would be willing to provide the shop and I would provide the base, and we could go into business together."
This was no small matter, and Ye Gaozheng dared not easily agree.
"I can't make a decision without seeing it. Didn't Madam Li say that the product isn't finished yet? Then I'll take a look at it myself once it's done. If it's suitable, we can discuss it in more detail."
Li Yan wasn't surprised at all, and that was exactly what she thought too.
I'll greet him today and sound him out. If he's interested, Li Yan doesn't plan to look for another partner.
Originally, I planned to wait a couple more days until the hot pot broth was ready before bringing the gifts to Boss Ye. But who knew that he would suddenly do that and send someone to propose marriage.
After all, we were thinking about future cooperation. If the conflict isn't resolved today, things will be awkward in the future.
So, Li Yan simply told him what was going on today.
Ye Gaozheng did indeed admire and like Li Yan to some extent. Although he asked a matchmaker to come and propose marriage, it was not entirely for personal gain, but also because he thought she was a good person and wanted to live with her.
But now that they have no interest in him and have made it clear, Ye Gaozheng has naturally given up on the idea.
Even if romantic relationships don't work out, business deals can still be discussed, which is also quite good. So, overall, Ye Gaozheng was very happy today.
"Madam Li, I'm waiting for your good news." Ye Gao was rubbing his hands together, clearly looking forward to it.
After the discussion was settled, Li Yan went home first.
Aunt Xue had been waiting anxiously at home. When she saw her return, she immediately asked, "How did it go? Did Boss Ye give you any trouble today?"
Li Yan smiled and shook her head: "How could that be?" She went into the kitchen and scooped hot water from the soup pot on the stove to wash her hands. Seeing her mother-in-law follow her in, she washed her hands and looked back at her mother-in-law, saying, "He is a reasonable person. I will explain the situation to him."
Thus, Aunt Xue's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.
"That's good... I'm glad I didn't make things difficult for you," Aunt Xue murmured to herself.
In truth, Aunt Xue was in a dilemma. She hoped that her daughter-in-law could find a good man and settle down, but she was also afraid that if her daughter-in-law found another man, their good days would come to an end.
But then she felt that, based on her understanding of Yan Niang, she wouldn't do that.
.
Li Yan didn't take a nap at noon today. After eating, she took out all the ingredients and plunged into the kitchen.
With the recipe and all the ingredients provided, it becomes much simpler to actually do it.
However, after two days of diligent effort and several failures, Li Yan finally managed to create what she truly wanted.
The ingredients were cooked together in the correct proportions, then cooled and frozen. After that, Li Yan cut them into pieces.
The next day at noon, Li Yan took a piece to the Sifang Inn.
Ye Gao stared at the dark, oily substance with a puzzled look: "This...this is really edible?"
“These are essential spices,” Li Yan explained. “As long as you add these seasonings, any dish will taste delicious.”
Ye Gaozheng felt both curious and expectant. He rubbed his hands together and looked at Li Yan: "Li Niangzi, let's give it a try."
Li Yan said, "I'll go cook for the old man first. I'll also trouble Manager Ye to prepare a pot and some vegetables. When the time comes, just throw these things into the pot, add water, and boil them. After it boils, we can then cook the meat and vegetables in it."
“Isn’t this just a pot?” Ye Gaozheng said. “When it’s cold, wealthy families would cook in pots like this, usually with mutton or beef, which is very delicious.”
Li Yan nodded: "Yes, it's a pot." But she also pointed out the difference: "But those are clear broth pots, or ones made with meat broth, so the flavor is usually quite mild. But mine is different. I added a lot of spices to it, so the flavor is stronger."
Ye Gaozheng listened with a mixture of understanding and confusion, but he was still willing to give it a try.
Li Yan brought two pieces today. She gave one to Ye Gaozheng and planned to put the other piece into the grilled fish she was making today.
Because the grilled fish made today was different from usual, when Li Yan asked Changfeng to bring the food upstairs, she specifically said to him, "I added some seasoning to today's grilled fish. After Grandpa Gao finishes eating, please ask him to find out if he likes it."
Li Yan is humble and always polite. She is also diligent and conscientious in her work.
Changfeng was in a very pleasant mood during the time he spent with her.
Therefore, when Li Yan asked him for a favor, he readily agreed: "Don't worry, Madam Li, I will definitely give you a truthful report on my husband's reaction after eating it."
"Then thank you very much, Young Master Changfeng." Li Yan squatted down to express her gratitude.
After seeing Changfeng off, Li Yan came to the lobby to find Ye Gaozheng.
As instructed by Li Yan, Boss Ye Gaozheng found a pot, added the hot pot base, then water, brought it to a boil, and then added meat and vegetables.
Ye Gao had originally planned to wait for Li Yan to come and taste it together, but the aroma was so enticing after the pot boiled that he couldn't resist taking a bite himself.
Originally, she only intended to try one bite to see what it tasted like. But after one bite, she couldn't stop. Then came the second bite, the third bite... and so on. When Li Yan arrived, she saw pots and pans flying all over the table in front of Boss Ye.
Seeing that Li Yan had finally arrived, Ye Gao, who was slurping his words, quickly stood up to greet her: "Madam Li, you've finally come." Because of the spiciness, he continued to slurp, speaking with a thick lisp, "Delicious, delicious! Madam Li's hot pot, made with this hot pot base, is truly a delicacy."
Li Yan wasn't entirely surprised to receive his affirmation, but she was still very happy.
"It's so spicy, can you handle it?" Li Yan asked.
While guzzling water, Ye Gaozheng couldn't resist adding more food to the pot with his chopsticks: "I can't get used to the taste, but I can't resist how delicious it is. Madam Li, I think you should give it a try."
Before long, Changfeng brought feedback from Grandpa Gao's side.
Changfeng said happily, "Master asked what seasonings were added to the grilled fish today, and why it tastes so good."
Li Yan smiled and said, "I added hot pot base. If your husband likes it, I'll give him a few extra pieces when he returns to Jiangning Prefecture."
.
Li Yan didn't care about the business at the inn; she only gave Ye Gaozheng four pieces of base ingredients every day so he could try operating the business and attract customers.
The timing was perfect; these days, Old Master Gao was staying at the Sifang Inn, and many people came to visit him every day. Therefore, the inn was doing brisk business.
Since it's peak season, Ye Gaozheng doesn't need to go out and attract customers. He can simply recommend the hot pot while the customers are eating.
After a few days, the response has been very positive.
In fact, word spread quickly among the students at the county school, and the inn's business improved even more.
That day, Li Yan came over to cook and even saw Mr. Gao sitting in the lobby on the first floor. He was exchanging academic ideas with several students while eating around a hot pot.
Upon seeing Li Yan standing at the door, Mr. Gao immediately greeted her with a smile: "Young lady, come and sit down."
Li Yan quickly went over, and Mr. Gao explained, "I was originally going to have Changfeng tell you that you didn't need to come today. But when I saw the time, I thought you were almost there, so I didn't have Changfeng go."
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Author's Note: Please give me some water!
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