The brother and sister walked around Wanshunlou, and Ganli already had a preliminary plan in mind.
Wanshunlou has three floors. The first floor is the lobby, and the second and third floors are private rooms.
Master Zhao was obsessed with extravagance and piled up gold and silver jewelry, wanting to dazzle everyone in order to show off his wealth.
Therefore, Wanshunlou exudes an air of nouveau riche from the inside out.
The walls were covered in gold leaf and intricately carved with patterns, gleaming dazzlingly in the sunlight.
The huge mahogany pillars are carved with dragons and phoenixes, lifelike, but they appear somewhat heavy and oppressive.
The furniture in the room was made of precious wood, with exquisite carvings and considerable value, but it was completely out of place with the comfortable and relaxed atmosphere that Ganli wanted.
However, all of these materials are of the highest quality, and it would be too wasteful to demolish and rebuild them all.
After much deliberation, Gan Li decided to renovate Wanshun Building while preserving its basic structure, so that it would not be a waste and could be transformed into the shape she desired.
Having renovated the restaurant twice, Gan Li was already quite experienced. She went directly to the previous timber shop and invited the craftsmen she knew before to Wanshunlou. She then explained her ideas and requirements to them in detail and asked if they could do it.
Carpenter Wang was somewhat surprised when he heard her request:
“I can do it, but it will probably take a while. Will that interfere with your business? I think it’s fine as it is now. It can be used after a little tidying up.”
Actually, he wasn't being nosy; it's just that his two previous collaborations had given him a very good impression of the Gan family, so he unconsciously wanted to consider their feelings and didn't want them to spend too much money.
Ganli understood his good intentions, but still insisted on her own ideas:
“It can certainly be used directly now, but I find the decoration of Wanshunlou very awkward. I would rather spend more time and money to decorate it in a way that looks better.”
Although Wang the carpenter still couldn't understand, seeing her insistence, he didn't say anything more, but asked her request again carefully.
"We need to find a way to remove the gold leaf from the walls and restore it to its original color. The carvings on the tables and chairs also need to be smoothed out, polished, and waxed again. And also..."
Ganli explained her requirements in detail, and the carpenter Wang carefully noted them down. Then he said:
"Don't worry, Manager Gan, we've noted it all down. We'll make sure it's beautifully made for you."
Carpenter Wang and his team were very reliable. After clarifying the situation, they led the craftsmen to start working.
Gan Li took a moment to check on them and was relieved to see that they had indeed strictly followed her requirements for the modifications.
As expected of carpenter Wang and his colleagues who had worked with Gan Li many times before, they completed the task in the shortest possible time, despite its trivial and complicated nature, and then asked Gan Li to come and inspect it.
As soon as Gan Li stepped into the gate of Wanshunlou, her eyes lit up. She saw that Wanshunlou was very different from before. The glittering and rustic restaurant was gone, replaced by a simple and elegant one.
The enlarged windows were replaced with transparent glass, allowing sunlight to stream in unobstructed, making the space bright and spacious.
Ganli also displayed a large number of potted plants in the restaurant, their tender green or pink colors exuding vitality. Several paintings and calligraphy works were hung on the wall in a staggered manner, and the antique shelves next to it held porcelain that she had carefully collected, which was both simple and elegant.
But Ganli felt that something was still missing—it was elegant, but too bland for a place to eat.
Just then, the embroidery she had asked Gan Tao to embroider was all finished. When she took it back and looked at it, she was extremely satisfied.
The embroidery on it depicts various dishes.
Although she drew the flower pattern herself, paint was scarce at the time, at least not in the town, so none of her paintings were colored. Ganli only told Gantao what she had drawn and let Gantao do as she pleased.
Gan Li had prepared herself for the embroidery to deviate from her expectations, but she never expected Gan Tao's embroidery skills to be so exquisite. The embroidered items were exactly as she had imagined, and just looking at them made her mouth water.
She sent them to be framed and hung on the wall like calligraphy and paintings. In an instant, the originally elegant and aloof furnishings were infused with a touch of everyday life and came alive.
Gan Li was very satisfied with the renovated restaurant. Even Wang the carpenter, who had previously thought there was no need to make any changes, was astonished when he saw the current Wanshun Restaurant and repeatedly praised Gan Li's ingenuity.
Gan Li chose an auspicious day to take down the signboard of Wanshunlou and hang up the imperial "Ganji" signboard. With that, the restaurant was fully completed.
Even so, it still cannot open for business.
The newly renovated restaurant still needs to be thoroughly cleaned inside and out, and pots and pans need to be moved over from there. In short, it will be busy for several days.
Ganli took advantage of these few days to start preparing for something else.
Hiring.
Gan Kee used to be just a small eatery, so even though business was good, it was still a small place, and the family could manage.
But now Gan Kee is a three-story restaurant. If they still relied on their own family, they would probably be exhausted in no time.
She decided to hire more employees to ensure the smooth operation of Gan Kee.
Gan Li entrusted the matter to her second brother, Gan Mingyi, asking him to find someone to write a job posting, while she planned to go back home.
As soon as she entered Yuxi Village, the villagers saw her return and surrounded her, asking her how she was doing. When she returned to her small, dilapidated courtyard, a large group of people had already followed her.
She also learned the purpose of these people's sudden flattery: they all wanted to work at Gan Kee!
Ganli was a little confused. The notice hadn't even been posted yet, so how did these people know that the restaurant was hiring?
Could it be that someone else from the Gan family leaked the news?
However, upon further reflection, it seemed impossible—the Gan family had been busy in town recently and hadn't returned to the village at all.
Where did these people get their information from?
Ganli was full of questions, but she finally found out the reason from the village chief.
It turned out that the news that the Gan family had opened a restaurant in town and that the business was booming had already spread throughout the village, making many people envious.
The people were whispering amongst themselves, speculating about how much money the Gan family's restaurant could make in a day, their words filled with sour envy and jealousy.
Those who were more quick-witted wondered if they could also go to town, even if it was just to work as assistants in a restaurant, it would be much better than farming at home.
Unfortunately, the restaurant was so small that the Gan family could manage on their own without needing any outside help. Everyone else could only sigh and put their minds at ease for the time being.
When the news spread that their small eatery had been replaced by a large restaurant, many people became eager to try it.
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