Chapter 99 Chapter 99 New Home. (Second update)...
Lin Zhi spent a long time answering her parents' barrage of questions before finally entering her shop. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long sigh. Suddenly, she heard a similar sigh in her ear.
Turning around, I saw that Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang had lost their excitement and composure. They had drooped shoulders and looked tired.
The family of three lay on the table in a daze for a while. Linzhi got up first and planned to go to the kitchen to find something to eat.
When the topic of food came up, Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang exchanged a glance and suddenly jumped up from their chairs: "Sister Zhi, wait!"
"It's all your father's fault. I was so flustered just now that I almost forgot." Song Jiaoniang reached out and pulled out an oil-paper bag from Lin Sen's arms. She stuffed it into Lin Zhi's hand and continued to mutter, "I just bought it outside. I was afraid it would get cold, so I stuffed it into his arms to keep it warm."
Inside the oil-paper envelope is a glutinous rice ball, the snow-white glutinous rice wrapped in crispy fried dough sticks and topped with a variety of homemade pickles. It's a savory and delicious dish, costing only two or three cents each, and is a common breakfast for street vendors these days.
Just as Song Jiaoniang said, the glutinous rice ball taken out from Lin Sen's arms was still hot. Lin Zhi took a bite and found that the dough was crispy and made a crackling sound. The texture was not like fried dough sticks, but more like the fruit comb used in Tianjin Jianbing.
After Lin Zhi had eaten half her fill, Song Jiaoniang asked about the situation: "After passing the preliminaries, what are you going to do next?"
When they inquired before, they only knew that there would be warm-up and competitions for newcomers in the New Year, but no one could tell them the rules after that.
It was only when the driver mentioned it just now that I realized that the winners in previous years were all chefs trained by big restaurants. This is the first time someone like Lin Zhi has appeared.
The couple felt both proud and nervous.
Lin Zhi frowned slightly, pondering for a moment before organizing her words and slowly explaining to the two, "Actually, what's coming up isn't really a competition. It's more like—uh, a second round of screening?"
It turned out that the deputy leaders had already explained the follow-up arrangements to the five people. In case she didn't understand, they deliberately said it bluntly: "The food selected this time must be sent to the officials in charge of the Lantern Festival banquet, and they will select it again."
Lin Zhi smiled and said, "I heard that the number of people selected each year is not the same. In one session, I got all five, and in several sessions, I didn't get any."
Song Jiaoniang was horrified when she heard this: "It's still like this?"
Lin Sen licked his dry lips and lowered his voice to mention another matter: "If I don't get selected for any of the questions, who will get the 1,000-yuan prize?"
Song Jiaoniang also held her breath and clenched her hands unconsciously. They were still waiting for the thousand strings of cash to make the down payment.
Lin Zhi looked at the two people's nervous expressions and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth and cleared his throat: "About the thousand coins——"
She took out her purse from her bosom and pushed it in front of the two of them: "Here."
What are you saying…?
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang first looked at their daughter in confusion, then looked down at their purse, and suddenly realized what was happening, their pupils shrinking suddenly.
Song Jiaoniang first picked up the purse with trembling hands. It felt light in her hands, yet it felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. She swallowed her saliva and slowly opened it, revealing a neatly folded Jiaozi note.
Song Jiaoniang felt her heart beat at least 180 times. She used all her strength to control the trembling of her fingers, gently took out the Jiaozi, and slowly spread it out.
Lin Sen leaned over to take a look, and as the contents of the letter came into his eyes, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
Lin Zhi finished the last bite of her rice ball and slowly poured herself a cup of tea to soothe her mouth. When she noticed that Lin Sen and his wife hadn't spoken for a long time, she looked up and saw that their faces were flushed. "Dad? Mom?"
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang suddenly came to their senses, gasping for breath, and it took them a long time to calm down.
"Aren't we going to compete again? Why did you pay first?"
"That was the screening, which is different from the preliminaries." Lin Zhi shrugged and said calmly, "Actually, I was also shocked when I first received the money. I thought it was too hasty, but I figured it out later."
After a pause, Lin Zhi said, "For the chefs who make it into the top 20, a thousand guan is just icing on the cake. What they really want is the chance to attend the Lantern Festival banquet."
If the shop could be associated with the Lantern Festival banquet, its name would come into the eyes of the wealthy families in Bian Jing.
Lin Zhi sighed: "Perhaps she is the only one whose goal from the beginning to the end has only been the one thousand strings of cash."
When she said this, Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang were stunned at first, and then felt a little uncomfortable.
But this melancholy did not last long, and the two became proud again. The more thresholds there are, the more unspoken rules there are. Doesn't this just show that their daughter is awesome?
"Never mind, never mind."
"As long as we achieve our goal, that's all."
"Yes, how much money do we have now?"
"I'll go get the cash box." Lin Sen turned and went into the inner room to take out the cash box. The family of three didn't care about the subsequent screening and started counting the money happily.
"Here is three hundred and twenty strings of cash, six hundred and fifty-two coins."
"Here is four hundred and fifty-seven strings of cash and twenty-nine coins."
"There are still two hundred, three hundred, three hundred and seventy-five strings of cash here..."
Lin Sen paused halfway through counting, put the previous 300 strings of cash, 400 strings of cash and the 375 strings of cash he had just counted together, added the 1,000 strings of cash that Lin Zhi had just brought back, and suddenly stopped.
Song Jiaoniang was also slow to react. She looked at the silver and money on the table and said hesitantly, "That's enough."
Lin Sen swallowed his saliva and said, "It's already two thousand strings of cash!"
The next moment, a cheer erupted from the room. The sound reached outside, startling the two people who were about to knock on the door. They paused and knocked again: "Uncle Lin, Aunt Song, Sister Zhi."
Lin Zhi stood up and opened the door. Outside was Tao Yingce and Shen Yan. Tao Yingce bowed and said with a smile as soon as he entered the room: "Congratulations, Sister Zhi, for taking first place!"
"So well-informed?"
"Hehe, this is all thanks to Brother Yan." Tao Yingce raised his eyebrows and handed over the gift in his hand: "He specially sent someone to watch outside the restaurant--"
"No, no." Chen Yan stuffed the gift into Lin Sen's hand as well, and then quickly interrupted Tao Yingce: "My brother heard it in the street and rushed back to report it."
Tao Yingce rolled his eyes. If Chen Yan hadn't bought the shop and said he would sell it to Zhi Jie'er, the servants in the house wouldn't have been so concerned, waiting at the door of the restaurant on time and passing the news back immediately.
But when he met Chen Yan's glares, he tactfully shut up.
"Chen Lang came at the right time. We were just counting the money!" Lin Zhi was in a good mood and invited the two to sit down.
Upon hearing this, Tao Yingce immediately gave a thumbs-up and said, "Awesome, Sister Zhi, have you collected the two thousand strings of cash?"
Even though the officials in Bianjing City could spend thousands of strings of cash on cockfighting and dog fighting, and a banquet at Fanlou could also cost thousands of strings of cash, the dowry of an ordinary minor official's daughter was only a few thousand strings of cash. Even for a family like the Tao family, apart from the eldest daughter who could have a dowry of ten thousand strings of cash, the second and third daughters would only have three to five thousand strings of cash.
When he heard about the agreement between Chen Yan and the Lin family, he blamed Chen Yan for being stingy, but he never thought that Lin Zhi actually did it!
How long have they been in Bianjing City? Not even half a year! With such money-making ability, anyone who sees it would have to give a thumbs-up and say, "Awesome!"
Chen Yan looked confident, but he was a little surprised. Although he had said it with certainty at the beginning, he also knew it would be difficult. Later, he secretly inquired about the leasing process, thinking that if he really couldn't raise enough money, he would rent it to the Lin family at a bargain price.
At this moment, looking at the cheerful Lin Zhi and the smiling Lin Sen and his wife, he couldn't help but raise his lips: "I said Sister Zhi could do it."
"Come on." Tao Yingce rolled his eyes at him and immediately revealed Chen Yan's thoughts: "A few days ago, you went to the brokerage to ask about the leasing process."
Chen Yan was anxious: "I was planning to move out, and just went to the dentist to ask."
Tao Yingce showed no mercy: "Come on! Your servants have already cleaned and renovated the old house. Do you really want to live somewhere else?"
Chen Yan looked at him expressionlessly, as if he had already figured out where to strike, causing the Linzhi family to burst into laughter.
"Actually, this was a surprise," Lin Zhi said, trying to smooth things over with a smile. "I thought there would be a rematch after the preliminaries, but I didn't expect the prize money to be distributed right after the first round. All that's left is to go to the restaurant the day after tomorrow and make some new fruit for the officials to taste, and see if it can be included in the Lantern Festival banquet."
She paused, then added, "I also have to thank the Food and B restaurant for dividing the venues into two, otherwise I wouldn't have made this fruit today."
After Lin Zhi finished explaining the unspoken rules of the catering industry, Tao Yingce was terrified: "Oh my god, there is such a thing? I almost missed it!"
Chen Yan said, "After all, it's Sister Zhi who has the ability. If it were someone else, even if they knew, what would be the use? They can't make such a fruit, so they can only watch others get the first place."
"Look at Yan'er's mouth, how good he is at talking!"
"Aunt Song, you say it as if I can't speak." Tao Yingce immediately responded with resentment, making Song Jiaoniang laugh even louder.
Lin Zhi, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help laughing. She pushed the two thousand strings of cash to Chen Yan's hand and said, "Chen Lang, this is for you."
"Aren't you afraid that I haven't brought it?"
"You came here to celebrate right away, and you have gifts in your hands. Didn't you prepare anything in advance?" Lin Zhi raised her hand and pointed at the gifts sent by the two, with a mischievous look in her eyes.
Chen Yan touched his nose and pushed the two thousand strings of cash back to Lin Zhi's hand. Then he took out two keys from his bag and said, "The contract must be signed with the presence of a broker. Let's go check out the shop first."
Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang nodded immediately upon hearing this. They pushed open the door with great enthusiasm and headed towards the former Xie Da Mutton Restaurant… no! To the future Linzhijihang.
The door lock of Xie Da Mutton Restaurant was covered with a layer of dust, and the ground was a little muddy, caused by the snow that fell a few days ago and turned into ice without being swept away.
Fortunately, Manager Xie was ambitious at the time and used only high-quality stones, so as long as he cleaned it up, there would be no impact.
As he got closer, Lin Sen noticed the old, muddy sign that had been taken down. He looked up, measured its dimensions, and decided to go back and fix the plaque.
When he looked away, Lin Zhi also unlocked the door.
She exerted a little force on her hand and pulled open the door, and a spacious hall that was several times larger than her own shop appeared in front of everyone, causing Song Jiaoniang, who was following closely behind, to exclaim in surprise.
Song Jiaoniang's eyes sparkled. The last time she came to Xie Da Lamb Restaurant, she secretly envied the wealth and luxury of the other party's shop. She never thought that this place would become her own a few months later.
She walked in and looked around. She saw that the beams of the main room were high, wide and unobstructed, with a large number of tables and chairs piled up in the corners. Inside was a counter half a person's height, and behind the counter was a small compartment separated by a curtain.
Lin Zhi's goal was the kitchen and the yard behind it. The moment she lifted the curtain, she couldn't help but gasp: this kitchen was even bigger than the entire main hall of the original Lin Zhi Ji!
The stove with three large iron pots on it took up half of the wall, and next to it was piled with firewood and coal, which took up most of the wall. In the corner of the wall were ceramic oil jars and rice jars, and there were even two large wooden tables for cutting vegetables.
Although there is dust on everything, the items are not damaged and can be used after cleaning.
This is not the end. Linzhi walked back into the square backyard. Along the corner of the kitchen wall, there were three kilns built in a row. The capacity was larger than what they were using now.
In addition, the courtyard is fully equipped with the main house and side rooms. At the back, there is a back house that can be used as a warehouse, as well as a well and a stable.
"This, this is too thoughtful!" Song Jiaonian walked to the well, reached out to touch the well fence, then turned her head to look at the spacious warehouse, her voice trembling.
Lin Sen was also very happy. He pulled Song Jiaoniang and Lin Zhi to show them the stable. "Look here. Later we can buy two donkeys, a cart, and a big stone mill. Then we can grind spices, buy goods and ship them out. We don't have to worry about any problems anymore."
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