Chapter 441 Tea
Shen Yueyao explained with a smile: "Of course we will make samples. Our store makes samples earlier in the winter and later in the summer. This is also to make it convenient for customers to eat, rest and read in the store."
"Generally speaking, the time for proofing in winter is the hour of Xu, in spring and autumn it is the beginning of Hai, and in summer it is the hour of Hai."
That is to say, the proofing is done at around 8 o'clock in the evening in winter, 9 o'clock in the evening in spring and autumn, and 10 o'clock in the evening in summer.
In a bustling place like Beijing, ten o'clock in the evening is not considered late.
In summer, the night markets in the inner and outer cities of Beijing also open at this time.
Sometimes when there are festivals in Beijing, there is no curfew and the nights are even more lively.
Shen Yueyao would schedule morning and evening shifts for her employees, and everyone would take turns working, and of course they would also have days off.
It's early May now, and they still close at nine in the evening.
Calculating the time, it's only five o'clock in the afternoon.
Cha Maocai was very happy and excited when he heard this.
So he can read here at night?
Cha Maocai didn't care what to eat or drink, he just wanted to read a book.
Cha Zhenghao also thought this place was very good.
The environment is very elegant, but such a place makes people feel comfortable just standing and breathing, and can make people relax involuntarily.
As if thinking of something, Cha Zhenghao asked, "Do you have a special room here?"
Cha Zhenghao thought that if there was a special room in a place like this, it would be really suitable for doing business.
When he came in, he looked at the price of the drinks at the door of the store. A cup was only more than thirty cents.
So, can I order two drinks and spend a few dozen coins to negotiate business cooperation with others?
And with such a good environment, no one would reject this place.
And the environment of this villa is also good.
Shen Yueyao looked at the caravan boss's expression and question, and probably had an idea in mind: "There are private rooms, and there are special private rooms on the second floor, but the private rooms need to be booked in advance. If you don't book in advance, if you come on the day, the private rooms may be fully booked."
Cha Zhenghao nodded, that should be the case.
It would be nice to have a private room.
"Does the private room require additional payment?"
He has been to many places, and in some places, private rooms in shops require extra money.
Shen Yueyao was stunned for a moment, then realized that perhaps private rooms in some places did require money.
But she doesn't have to spend money to use the private room here.
There are many private rooms here at Zhuangzi, so there is no need to worry about anything.
And the cost of opening this store is also cheap.
Shen Yueyao said: “No need, as long as you spend normally you can go to the private room.”
Upon hearing this, Cha Zhenghao became excited.
"Your store is really great. We've never seen anything like it before. These books are very expensive. Aren't you afraid that someone will steal them?"
Shen Yueyao also knew that books in this era were expensive and there were few books.
Everyone has to spend at least a few taels of silver to buy a book.
With the books arranged like this, it would be difficult to prevent someone from stealing the books in the store.
Shen Yueyao felt that books were expensive at that time, but in fact, after the invention of printing, books would not be so expensive.
Besides, she has a photographic memory of all these books, so she can rewrite them.
So don't worry about anything else.
And the staff are watching.
If you are caught stealing books, you will be sent to the government office and reported to the authorities.
At the foot of the capital, most people are still relatively restrained.
"Not every room has books. Only these two halls have books, and the staff are watching them."
There are no books in the private rooms because if people are discussing business or want to study quietly in the rooms, the staff will not be allowed in.
That way it would be hard to tell whether the books were stolen or not.
The hall is fine, everyone is watching.
Cha Zhenghao nodded.
He suddenly realized that the temperament and conversation of the woman in front of him were unusual, and she didn't look like a waitress at all.
Cha Zhenghao asked, "Are you the waiter in the store?"
Shen Yueyao shook her head and said, "No, I'm their boss."
The reason why Shen Yueyao took the initiative to come over to receive them was because she had just smelled the scent of spring tea at the door.
That's the feeling of fresh tea leaves.
Shen Yueyao mainly wanted to talk about business.
These people seemed to have come from far away, and they had a strong smell of tea on them, which showed that they might have come from a tea-producing area.
The tea in their carriage was very good just by smelling it. It was new spring tea.
It is very good to use this kind of tea to make milk tea.
Although this is a milk tea dessert shop, women and children like to drink milk tea, but some people who do business don’t like milk tea very much, they prefer tea.
So Shen Yueyao thought about importing some tea leaves and arranging tea in the store.
In this way, everyone can drink milk tea if they want to, and can drink tea if they want to.
She can have someone make a small teapot specifically for drinking tea, which has the same functions as a teapot and a teacup, and can be used to pour or add water continuously.
So if someone wants to learn, they can just order a small teacup, which also costs thirty or forty cents.
If there are many people, you can order a large teapot with several teacups, which costs more than 80 coins.
Shen Yueyao had already pictured the teacup and teapot in her mind.
This kind of teapot and teacup can be specially made by someone.
Shen Yueyao was very happy when she thought of the many beautiful and exquisite teapots and teacups.
In this era, there were no convenient packaging bags for taking away. Most people drank it in the store.
So Shen Yueyao thought of getting that kind of bamboo tube cup.
However, there are fewer bamboos in the north and more bamboos in the south, which makes it convenient to make bamboo tube cups.
When Cha Zhenghao and the others heard that it was the boss, they were stunned.
They all stared at Shen Yueyao with wide eyes.
It took me a while to come back to my senses.
They remembered what they heard the waiter say at the door of the store at the beginning: their boss was a sixth-rank lady, and also the wife of the number one scholar in the imperial examination.
This... this is simply incredible.
They are businessmen.
The sixth-rank lady in front of them had no intention of looking down on them at all.
She patiently explained whatever they asked just now.
It is completely different from the kind of officials of different ranks that they have in mind.
Much more approachable than the county magistrate.
"Ah, you are a lady!"
Everyone came to their senses, their faces turned pale, and they quickly realized that they had to salute.
Shen Yueyao hurriedly helped them up and said, "No need to bow. I'm not wearing imperial robes right now, so just treat me normally."
Cha Zhenghao said with shame: "I am so ashamed just now, I didn't know it was Miss Ru."
Shen Yueyao said: "No need to do this on weekdays, just call me by my normal name."
People here sometimes call the shop owner "shopkeeper" or "shopkeeper".
Shen Yueyao felt that such a simple address would make it easier to discuss business.
Cha Zhenghao had a very good impression of the woman in front of him.
He never discriminated against women. When he was out on business, his wife stayed at home to take care of the family's tea business.
He feels that his ability is stronger than his.
They don't care about these things over there.
Many of them were women discussing tea business with merchants from other places at home.
Cha Zhenghao bowed and said, "Yes, Mr. Shen."
"I'm from Chaman County, Qingzhou. Tea is grown in abundance there, but this is the first time I've heard of milk tea. What kind of tea is it?"
"I'd like to order twelve cups so that everyone here can try one cup each. I wonder what signature flavor Mr. Shen would recommend."
Cha Zhenghao is a generous person and doesn't speak too restrainedly.
He wanted to taste what this milk tea tasted like.
Shen Yueyao smiled and said, "It's not difficult. Let me recommend to you our best-selling signature milk tea, pearl milk tea."
Anyway, the most popular item ordered in the store is pearl milk tea.
Shen Yueyao herself also likes to drink it, and it is equivalent to the signature flavor of the store.
"My second brother doesn't like sweet food very much, but the brothers who came here together are not so particular."
Shen Yueyao smiled and said, "This is easy. Just add half the sugar."
There was a staff member standing not far away. Seeing Shen Yueyao's eye signal, he hurried forward to write down what was ordered, and then went to the kitchen to have someone prepare it.
Shen Yueyao recommended a private room to a few people and asked them to rest in it for a while.
He also took out a menu, "This is the dessert. There are pictures of all the desserts on it, and there are prices next to them..."
Shen Yueyao simply talked to Cha Zhenghao about desserts.
After a few visits, I also learned what Cha Zhenghao and his group were doing in Beijing.
It turned out that he wanted to send tea to a relative, so he asked that relative to help deliver the tea to the academy.
That academy is also a famous academy, Wende Academy.
Right next to the Imperial College.
Shen Yueyao said, "The tea shop owner is willing to let your son come to the capital to study, even though it's so far away from Qingzhou."
Cha Zhenghao sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do. Maocai doesn't dare to speak much, and his academic level is average. In our academy, he's likely to be bullied."
Cha Zhenghao sighed, paused, and continued, "We thought of using our connections to find a distant relative who works as a teacher at Wende Academy, hoping to send Maocai to study there."
"I heard that the teachers in the capital are highly educated, and the academies are well disciplined, so there won't be any trouble among the students."
In fact, it is because their status as businessmen is low.
There is only one academy in Qingzhou, and the relationships within it are complicated and the conflicts are fierce.
Those people laughed at Maocai from time to time.
At first, Maocai endured it, just because he didn't want to make him worry.
Later, when he learned about the injuries on his body, he realized how much injustice Maocai had suffered.
Originally, his stuttering was not so severe and he even dared to speak. But because he was bullied so badly, his stuttering became even worse.
I didn't even dare to look up when I spoke.
He thought that since this place was at the foot of the capital, the academic atmosphere should be good.
They couldn't enter the Imperial College, but they should be able to enter other academies if they tried hard.
This time he brought not only tea but also some banknotes.
Shen Yueyao's expression changed, and she said, "I wonder what kind of tea you have, Tea Shopkeeper?"
"Black tea, green tea, mountain tea, osmanthus tea, etc. Tea is grown all over the mountains over here. There are a wide variety of teas. People here are used to drinking tea all year round..."
When talking about this, Cha Zhenghao also talked endlessly.
When he talked about tea, there was light in his eyes, which showed that he was a person who truly loved tea.
Shen Yueyao's expression changed, and the tea was produced in abundance.
Shen Yueyao knew that the imperial court of Dayan Dynasty used to have strict control over tea and salt.
But now the control is not so strict, and you only need to pay the tea tax according to regulations.
Tea tax is high, so tea is also expensive.
Fortunately, making milk tea does not require very good tea leaves, so the cost is relatively low.
Shen Yueyao asked: "How much is the price of tea, if you buy a lot."
"A pound of not-so-good tea costs between fifty and a hundred coins. A pound of better tea costs between a hundred coins and one ounce of silver. There are also teas that cost more than ten or even dozens of ounces."
Shen Yueyao asked some more questions and probably had a certain understanding of tea.
Shen Yueyao asked, "May I have a look at the tea leaves you brought in your carriage?"
Cha Zhenghao now understood that Mr. Shen in front of him might want to buy tea.
It would be great if I could do tea business while visiting the capital.
Of course, because the other party was of noble status, the wife of the top scholar, and was also valued by the emperor, the prices and information he mentioned were all true and he did not lie.
It was because this person spoke sincerely that Shen Yueyao wanted to continue talking about tea.
Shen Yueyao still believes in honesty when doing business.
If the other party spoke in a superficial way, Shen Yueyao would not continue discussing business.
Shen Yueyao went to the backyard where the carriage was placed.
Cha Zhenghao's second brother was watching over it.
Shen Yueyao looked at the color and appearance of the tea leaves, smelled the aroma, and knew that this was good tea, and the newest and tenderest kind.
“Good tea!”
"Boss Shen really has good taste. This is the tea we just picked during the Spring Festival. It is made from the best tea leaves. This is green tea, and this carriage is black tea. Black tea is better for girls."
Shen Yueyao asked them to buy some tea, and they were very happy to give Shen Yueyao a real price.
Shen Yueyao was also quite satisfied with the price.
She plans to make these teas into small bags, just like the tea in this technological age, which can be brewed in bags in stores.
In fact, Shen Yueyao wanted to buy all the tea.
But the other party also uses these teas as gifts.
I definitely won’t sell all of it to her. Selling her some of the tea at a relatively low price is also considered good.
Shen Yueyao planned to go back to her mother and the others in the evening, so that she could make tea for them on weekdays.
It's still early, and it's not time to close the city gates yet.
Cha Zhenghao and his friends happened to drink milk tea and they all praised it highly.
“Shopkeeper Shen, your milk tea is so delicious.”
“Is tea added to this?”
Shen Yueyao nodded and said, "It's called milk tea because it contains tea leaves."
Cha Maocai was amazed again and again.
He actually wanted to speak, but because of his stuttering, he was always embarrassed to open his mouth.
But when his father was talking to Mr. Shen, he was listening carefully.
I also learned a lot.
Afterwards, Shen Yueyao asked the shop owner, who was the manager she arranged, to entertain the guests in the store, and she took the tea home.
When I got home, it was dark.
Old Madam Su and the others had already returned from the farm and had prepared dinner.
Just wait for Shen Yueyao and Su Xueyi to come home and then we can have dinner.
Dabao and Erbao also came out of the study.
Ever since Shen Yueyao and Su Xueyi planned to arrange for Dabao and Erbao to study at the Imperial College, they gave them extra lessons and assigned them homework.
The two treasures are very self-disciplined children.
When Shen Yueyao and Su Xueyi are not at home, they will study on their own.
They knew there was an entrance exam, and they wanted to do well to make their mother happy.
Because they knew that dad got first place in the exam, mom was very happy.
However, it was getting dark, and Su Xueyi and Shen Yueyao didn't want Dabao and Erbao to study with oil lamps.
Let them study and read in sunny places during the day.
As it was getting dark, they spontaneously came out of the study.
The two of them couldn't sit still, so they hurried to help grandma and the others with their work.
Even the neighbors know that the twins in this family are sensible and cute.
Sometimes, Mrs. Su was afraid that the two babies would be tired, so she would take them out for a walk. She would receive a wave of envious looks and was very happy.
When Shen Yueyao returned home that day, she happened to meet Su Xueyi who had just returned from the Hanlin Academy.
"I'm back!"
"Well, you're back. Are you tired today?" Su Xueyi walked to Shen Yueyao and looked her up and down, worried that she was tired from being busy with business and things on the farm.
Shen Yueyao shook her head and said, “Not tired.”
She said excitedly: "I bought a lot of good tea today, I will go home and make some for you to taste."
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