When Miao Wan arrived at Jufu Restaurant, it was already past the busiest time of noon.
There were only a few tables of guests still eating barbecue in the lobby. Even though the small stove on the low table was off, the air was still filled with the strong aroma of barbecue, which made Miao Wan swallow her saliva as soon as she entered the room.
But with Aunt Geng staring at her intently, she didn't dare ask to try it.
One hundred days after Taotao was born, she became a little indulgent and secretly asked Zhang Dazhuang to leave some lamb ribs for her to roast a few days ago.
Grilled ribs taste even better than lamb kebabs, and the main flavor lies in the bite.
That day, Geng and Aunt Geng went out to buy things, and Qiao Shengwen went next door to play chess with Zhang the Butcher, leaving only Miao Wan and her daughter at home.
Taotao was woken up by the delicious smell. Miao Wan was afraid that she would cry, so she gave her a small piece of clean bone to satisfy her craving.
When Geng came back, she saw Taotao lying on a bone and groaning. She was so angry that she slapped Miao Wan on the butt.
Then the aftertaste of being a daughter was endless. She was more relaxed when breastfeeding. On the second day of becoming a mother, blisters appeared at the corners of her lips. I couldn't take medicine while breastfeeding, so I drank honeysuckle tea for many days.
I don’t know if it has an impact on the taste of the milk. Anyway, seeing that Taotao is not very active in eating but chews the envelope very quickly, I know that the taste may have changed a little.
The blisters at the corners of her lips had not completely gone away yet. Before she came, Geng had repeatedly warned her not to eat barbecue and to go early and come back early.
Miao Wan agreed obediently... but it was of no use, as Aunt Geng had been ordered to come out specifically to keep an eye on her big baby.
But Miao Wan made a serious promise, as there was a restaurant waiting for her to inspect.
The enthusiasm of those who make money cannot beat the enthusiasm of those who make money. Yes, that's right. As soon as Miao Wan entered the door, she walked straight to the backyard without looking around.
Zhang Sanzhuang stopped her from the side, swinging a bunch of keys in his hand, "Awan, Awan, the person has already left. The Second Master sent a servant to bring him here. He said that he wanted you to go and take a look at the shop first. He will not take care of it at all. He will leave it to you to manage it."
Miao Wan hesitated, thinking of Su Rina.
If this woman was like Sister Chenxi, thinking of the more than eighty kisses she had had... would Su Rina let go like this? She didn't believe it.
But Zhang Sanzhuang didn't give her a chance to hesitate, and urged her to go to the restaurant on the street. "Come on, come on, you're really good. You chased Yu Maoyan'er away without making a sound! Hehe... I'll take you to see it. No one knows that restaurant better than me. I'll introduce it to you."
He chuckled several times on the way. His big white teeth, which were brushed with toothpaste for a long time, and his dark skin, which was tanned, made him look particularly wretched. He looked like everything except a shopkeeper.
But Zhang Sanzhuang didn't care about that. He rubbed his hands happily and muttered to himself as he walked.
"Our restaurant business is getting better and better. Ever since we started using the barbecue and the small stove, the cold milk tea is pouring out really fast. We can bring in a hundred taels of silver every day."
"I've been secretly asking around. Although business on this street is pretty good, other restaurants only make two or three small gold ingots at most. To open another shop...hahaha."
"If we keep going like this, next year we'll be richer than the Qian family south of town! Awan, do you think we should build two houses at that time?"
Miao Wan stood at the entrance of the street restaurant, looking up at the second floor with flying eaves, thinking about its use in her mind, and casually said to Zhang Sanzhuang who pushed the door open, "This is not a restaurant, we need to do other business."
Zhang Sanzhuang paused. "Huh?" If he didn't open a restaurant, he wouldn't be able to be a restaurant owner.
"What do you want to do?" Zhang Sanzhuang pointed to the two courtyards in front and back and the kitchen courtyard next to it and introduced them to Miao Wan.
As they walked, Miao Wan had a rough idea in her mind. The separate kitchen courtyard could be used as a workshop, where craftsmen would make new products.
As for the backyard, let everyone live here, just like the textile merchants in Jiangnan.
This is where Yu Maocai lives with his family. The yard is not small. Including the warehouse, it is actually a small yard with two entrances.
At that time, we can hire more female workers and make sweaters and trousers.
The first two floors of the restaurant need to be renovated, at least to get rid of the smell of accumulated food. There are plenty of fruits in summer, so you can make some incense and buy some plants to add some flavor.
The first floor is used as a display area, and the second floor is suitable for distinguished guests to try out and select...
"Awan?" Zhang Sanzhuang saw Miao Wan standing in the patio of the kitchen yard, staring at the restaurant in a daze, and waved his hand and called out.
Miao Wan smiled and said, "I want to open a rouge and powder shop, and also make clothes in the backyard."
"That would require a lot of female workers, right?" Zhang Sanzhuang didn't think Miao Wan's idea was wrong. The God of Wealth must be thinking of ways to make money.
But he also raised some questions. "If we need people to do the work, my sister-in-law and the others can come. If we don't have enough people, the women from the Lin, Yu, and Yang families can come. But they can do the work, and Mom and the others can handle it. But if we ask them to show up in public to entertain guests, I'm afraid it won't work."
It's not that Zhang Sanzhuang looked down on the women in his family. "Including Am and the others, we all work with our heads down, wiping sweat from our bodies. We're not familiar with rouge and powder. As for clothes, it's okay if we don't dress well ourselves, but if we sell them to customers... I'm afraid they're not up to par."
It’s because the Zhang family has few sons. If they want to have a relationship with the tailor, they can only hope that Donkey Dan will grow up and get married soon.
"I'll talk to Dad later and ask the Lin family to come over and renovate the shop." Miao Wan covered her nose and waved her hand. "It will take at least a month to get rid of the smell in this restaurant."
Putting aside the smell, Yu Maocai hired Chang Ze as his cook, which was not a very particular one. The floor of the kitchen patio was dark brown, and it was estimated that blood was splashed everywhere.
The tables and chairs in the restaurant are also dark and slippery when touched. Yujia Street Restaurant has been open for more than ten years, and this restaurant has also been marinated in its flavor.
Zhang Sanzhuang told them that Yu Maoyan'er had been driven away, the shop had been taken over by Wuliangha and handed over to Miao Wan to manage. The Zhang family was very happy, especially the sisters-in-law Yu and Sun.
Besides restaurants and land, is this a new way to make money?
The pig farming business cannot be separated from the Yang family. Zhang Erzhuang has finally failed to live up to Sun Laohuo's expectations. He is good at physical work, but he cannot slaughter as many pigs as his wife can slaughter ten pigs.
But Yu and Sun were just busy taking care of the family members and helping the men in the family. One of them was the eldest daughter-in-law who had plans in mind, and the other was the younger daughter-in-law who had a lot of thoughts. They would not plot against Miao Wan, but they were definitely scheming.
The two of them went to the Qiao family most frequently.
"Awan, the White Jade Dragon Cream you made is really useful. Look how much more tender my skin has become in just a few months. Your eldest brother even said that I am like an old tree sprouting new leaves, hahaha..."
Sun blushed a little when she heard this, and she was also curious, "Is this really what the concubines in the palace used? Is this what the restaurant on this street is going to sell? Then does this count as selling tribute?"
Miao Wan was amused. "This is something that was passed down during the previous dynasty. It's not a current recipe. Even if it's a tribute, it's outdated."
Hearing the subtle thoughts in Sun's words, Miao Wan assured them, "Don't worry, sister-in-law and third sister-in-law, once the shop is ready and open, you two will definitely be involved. When the eldest and third brothers complain about not being able to find the mother of their children and want to come to me for a reckoning, you have to help me stop them."
Yu and Sun smiled so hard that their eyebrows were covered with tears. "If you need any work, just come to us. We guarantee they won't dare to bother you."
The Zhang family is making a lot of money now, mostly from the men working hard outside. They are becoming more and more powerful, except for Yang.
All the pigs in the family are now taken care of by Yang. Compared to the time when the Zhang family only engaged in the pig slaughtering business, even the adult pigs they collected have grown more meat than before. A few days ago, they slaughtered a fat pig weighing 170 kilograms.
Therefore, Yang stood much straighter in front of Zhang Erzhuang, which made Yu and Sun jealous.
If they could also make money, if Zhang Dazhuang and Zhang Sanzhuang dared to glare at them again, they would kick them back to their parents' home. With money in their hands, they would be welcomed wherever they went.
Miao Wan particularly encouraged them to think this way, and even quietly instilled in them the idea that if they were unhappy with the money, they would kick out useless men.
Hearing this, she clapped her hands like a dolphin, "My sisters-in-law are so powerful! Just wait for me!"
Yu peeked at the messy rice paper on the table and asked with a smile, "What are you waiting for? Why don't you ask Qiao Am to draw for you?"
Miao Wan: “…” It seems everyone knows that her hands are clumsy.
Miao Wan grimaced. "I want to draw a loom, but I can't quite describe what it looks like. My grandmother, my wet nurse, used it, but she was driven away after my mother died. I was too young then..."
She has been thinking these days that if she wants to make ready-made clothes, she must not only make sweaters and trousers, but also down jackets. However, if the outer surface of the down jacket is made of cotton, it is easy for down to seep through.
The Northwest is rich in cotton, so old-fashioned looms have been around for a long time. However, the cotton cloth woven from it is fragile and has large gaps, and can be torn easily with a little force. That's why so many people put patches on their cotton-padded clothes.
Some of them are so rough that they can even be used directly as gauze. They are worse than the homespun cloth of later generations and are definitely not suitable for making down jackets.
Her grandmother once had a loom that also wove homespun cloth, but the weaving skills were much more mature at that time. The cloth woven was strong and durable, and the texture was very fine. The thicker ones were even warmer than corduroy.
She only remembered that the loom had three hooks hanging down, which looked like a small tent, and could divide the vertical warp threads into three layers: upper, middle and lower. There were also pedals underneath like a piano.
When she was a child, she helped her grandmother operate the loom, and she probably knew that the cloth made with three layers of warp threads would be stronger and more durable than ordinary cloth.
But after her grandmother passed away, the loom was given away, and she couldn't remember exactly how it was made.
The underlying principle requires strong knowledge of physics to understand, which is really too difficult for a contestant like Miao Wan who thinks her brain is only slightly better than her hands.
Speaking of looms, Yu was no longer sleepy. "My Ada can make a loom. You can just tell Ada how to do it. He will definitely be able to help you figure it out."
She also knew that what Miao Wan wanted to make was definitely not an ordinary loom, so she quickly assured Ada, "My Ada is similar to my brother, we are both very tough. I promise I won't ruin anything for you."
Miao Wan: "..." Although, she also had to remember what the structure was so that she could know how to tell Yu Ada, otherwise, giving blind instructions would be a waste of wood.
Since she really couldn't think of anything, Miao Wan didn't make it difficult for herself and just threw it aside.
A problem is no longer a problem if you put it behind you.
In fact, she has a lot of things to worry about, and it is not easy to make money.
Lin Dazhi brought his men to dismantle everything in the street restaurant except the stairs, repainted the walls and laid tiles, and cleaned it inside and out.
Miao Wan first asked her father-in-law, "Since General Dingbei has already met you and your husband, can you go to the restaurant on the street and take charge?"
Qiao Shengwen sighed, "I can help you keep an eye on things in the backyard and do the accounting, but there are definitely people watching us in the General's Mansion. If I were the shopkeeper, I'm afraid they would be even more wary of us."
When it comes to eloquence, no one can match Qiao Shengwen, but with so many people coming and going, if he comes to entertain them, given Chen Sixu's suspicious nature, he might think he is in contact with someone.
That old man is not a patient person. As long as he feels that the threat is greater than the effect, he will kill without hesitation and would rather do wrong than let someone go.
This is also the reason why Qiao Shengwen has never taken the initiative to go out and run business for his family after returning from the official mine.
He would rather let people think that he was scared than alert the enemy and ruin Qiao Ruichen's operation.
Miao Wan didn't understand the crisis involved, but since her father-in-law said so, there must be a reason for doing so.
So after the shop is renovated, who will be in charge... No one else but her.
When Qiao Ruichen returned from his day off, Miao Shiren personally comforted Qiao Bailao and asked him quietly, "What do you think, would it be okay for me to be the manager of the new shop?"
As soon as she finished asking, Miao Wan felt Qiao Ruichen's embrace tighten, and he slapped him hard, "It hurts! You've crushed my waist!!"
She thought Qiao Ruichen was unhappy with her showing up in public, and luckily she fed him before he spoke. She immediately became unhappy.
He was so angry that his eyes were red and he kicked and kicked, "Okay, okay, no, no, a gentleman uses words, not fists, you know?"
Qiao Ruichen quickly explained, "Awan, it's not that I don't want you to be the shopkeeper, but there will be a lot of people from the Chen Mansion watching the shop, and you... you are like a flower..."
He explained with great difficulty, "That old thief Chen is a man of no scruples. If none of us can take care of you, you'll be kidnapped... If you'd been obedient, you might have survived, and the Qiao family would have no value in existing."
He felt a little breathless when he thought about his wife and children being separated and Taotao being in danger of death.
Miao Wan was almost scared silly, okay?
"Is this so dangerous?"
She had always thought that she was reading a rise-of-a-farming novel, but after hearing what Qiao Ruichen said, she realized that she had not read a palace fighting novel in vain.
Crisis is everywhere. Is this the hellish version of farming literature?
Qiao Ruichen hugged his wife and comforted her, "Dad and I already have a clue. If everything goes well, we will have evidence of treason against that old villain in a year at most. Then we can return to the capital and you can do whatever you want."
Miao Wan took a deep breath and couldn't sleep well at night.
It was midsummer in July, and the sun was scorching. The signs of the restaurants on the street had long been taken down, and the kitchen courtyards had been converted into three spacious and bright workshops.
As for the backyard, six exquisite kang rooms were built on the left and right, and a large kitchen was also built. The main room was still used as a warehouse, which was enough to make the female workers' food and accommodation more comfortable.
Only the two-story building in the front remains, and only the prototype of the VIP room has been built on the second floor, while the wooden structure of the lobby is being rebuilt.
According to Lin Dazhi, "It will be finished in about half a month. The original smell will basically disappear. I bought a lot of plants from Wa City and put them in. Many flowers are blooming at this time of year. When it is finished, the smell will definitely be better."
But until this time, Miao Wan still hadn't found a manager who could take charge of the rouge shop, which was about to be named Qianjinlou. She was so worried that she had no time to research new products.
Without a shopkeeper, you can’t open a shop, let alone do research.
What made her even more upset was that Su Rina came to the Qiao family specially, saying that the county city had recently launched a new mother-in-law car, and she came to give Taotao a gift.
Taotao’s reaction was… it’s none of her business. She turned over and continued to sleep with her butt sticking out.
Su Rina didn't really come for the child. She just smiled and patted Taotao's little butt, then considerately lowered her voice and asked Miao Wan, "I passed by the restaurant on this street and saw that the new plaques have been hung up?"
She asked kindly, "Will Awan be in charge of the shop herself? Do you want me to send you a few stewards? And invite some noble ladies to come and liven things up for you?"
Miao Wan thought, you might as well just say that you can do it.
She could only smile bravely, "That's not necessary. I don't like crowds, and I haven't even decided what to sell yet."
Su Rina smiled faintly, "You gave Bayin a lot of things, but you also didn't give him the recipe, right? For example, those toiletries, you can put them in the shop and sell them first. You shouldn't have any trouble selling them."
After that, she smiled even brighter. "Oh, by the way, I just remembered that I forgot to tell you that I bought this shop. If you need anything, just look for Bayin. Gan Li Awan can just ask someone to send it to me."
She gently patted Taotao's chubby little butt, which was quite adorable. "Boss Yu is greedy. He spent three thousand taels of silver to get this done quickly. I don't know when I can recoup the cost of buying the shop."
Miao Wan secretly cursed Su Rina for not telling her earlier. If she had known to cooperate with her earlier, Miao Wan would not have been in a hurry to take over the shop.
She laughed dryly, "Everything I told you before needs time to be fine-tuned, and it will take some time. As they say, good things are worth waiting for, so let's just take it slow and make a fortune quietly."
Taotao might have gotten impatient of being patted, and he squirmed a few times like a little bean worm, then let out a long fart.
Su Rina froze for a moment, withdrew her hand and took a few steps back, thinking, I'm listening to you and your mother farting here.
The author has something to say:
Please comment, please comment, I update like a tiger, I see 2.5 comments, eh, 300,000 words QAQ Please don't play alone~
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