Min Hu took Xu Lanting and Zhao Xingchen to eat in the east wing, Xu Lanyin, Qin and Min Jia ate in the upper room, and Qingfeng and others were accompanied by Ding Gu to eat in the outer courtyard.
After the meal, Minhu thanked Qin and Xu Lanyin for their hospitality and hurried away with his people.
Before leaving, he said, "On the day the teahouse opens, I won't be able to spare the time to congratulate even if I'm in the city. I'll ask Old Ji and Uncle Hao to go, and I'll also talk to Lord Qin and Lord Min and ask them to send their family and staff to congratulate."
Xu Lanyin expressed her gratitude. The fact that these high-ranking officials' families and advisors came to congratulate them clearly showed that they were the teahouse's protectors.
As soon as he left, Zhao Xingchen said, "Uncle Min is such a big eater! I'm afraid he'll develop gastroptosis."
This was what Xu Lan said to him out of love, and he gave it to Min Hu intactly.
Xu Lanting laughed again and said, "Brother Min said that the hot pot we make is better than the ones in the restaurant, especially the meat rolls, which are thin and easy to pick up. He wants to eat it next time he comes."
Hearing that Daddy likes Aunt Xu’s mutton hotpot so much, Min Jia was very proud, as if he liked it as if it were his own food.
Seeing her little expression, Qin and Xu Lanyin both laughed. In the eyes of this child, the Xu family was more like her home than the Min family.
There was still some meat and vegetables left. In the evening, Xu Lanyin asked someone to go to Wang's house to invite Wang Sanni and Wang Jincai to her home for hot pot.
In the afternoon of the fourth day of the New Year, Li returned to the provincial capital and brought Ding Xiaoran, as well as some peanuts and bean sprouts sent by the eldest wife and Xu Zhiniang.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Xu Lanyin and Wang Sanni went to the teahouse together to prepare for the opening. Fearing the children might cause trouble, they left them alone and promised to bring them plenty of delicious food.
We hired someone to copy advertising flyers, focusing on new chess games. There were Go, Chinese chess, Western checkers, and military chess for adults, as well as checkers and flying chess for children. We also had students to play chess with and teach them. The teahouse not only offered the finest tea leaves, but also homemade beauty teas for women. For the first three days of the opening, tea was 30% off, and free lessons in new chess games, including Western checkers, military checkers, and Chinese checkers, were offered.
A month later, that is, on February 20th, the teahouse will hold monthly chess, military chess, and checkers competitions. A year later, an annual competition will be held with exquisite gifts.
Checkers has an age limit, requiring participants to be under ten years old. This rule was specifically specified by Xu Lanyin for Minjia, ensuring that he could at least take first place in the monthly competition. Xu Lanting would also be a good player, but as the younger brother of his boss, he wasn't eligible. Upon hearing about this exciting opportunity, Minjia diligently practiced at home, hoping to win the championship.
Hundreds of copies of the flyers were made and posted in prominent places throughout Ningzhou Prefecture.
Ten membership cards were also made: one for Min Hu, one for Qin Hongyu, and one for Min Nan, and sent to their respective residences by servants. One was given to Hu Wan, and Xu Lanyin personally went to the department store to deliver it. Butler Hao was also asked to send one to Zhou Shu, the chess fanatic and vice-president of the Ningzhou Academy. The invitation wasn't for tea, but to encourage him to study a new type of chess.
We’ll see who to give the remaining five to.
Many beautiful flower baskets and lanterns were also ordered, and a female musician who played the guzheng and the dongxiao were hired, and they took turns working.
On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, the government offices opened, and a major event spread throughout Ningzhou Prefecture: the former Ningzhou prefect was transferred to another post, and the former co-prefect Qin Che was promoted to prefect.
Qin Che had indeed been promoted, and Xu Lan was overjoyed. She wasn't just happy about Qin Che's promotion, but also that he had been promoted directly to a prefectural governor, a fourth-rank official, instead of serving as a deputy commissioner of the Judicial and Censorate. The little wings had completely changed Qin Che's fate. The higher his rank, the more reliable he would be in the future.
She bought a lot of food and went home to celebrate.
When she secretly told Qin about this, Qin couldn't help but feel happy and silently blessed her cousin.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, the children all wanted to go to the streets to see the lantern festival. Qin and Xu Lanyin were reluctant, thinking of how Chai Zixiao had been kidnapped while watching a monkey, so they dared not let their three children go.
On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Xu Lanyin woke up early, dressed up nicely, and put on light makeup. After having dinner with Qin, she took Zhangqi and Ding Xiaoran on a mule cart to the teahouse. The cart turned a corner and picked up Wang Sanni, who was standing at the entrance of the alley.
Wang Sanni also dressed up and looked like a very pretty girl.
It was still dark when we arrived at Xinyu Teahouse. Manager Wu, the waiter, chess player, chef, cook, handyman, and musicians were all there, including six female waiters, for a total of forty people.
Xu Lanyin asked Wang Sanni to distribute the "work clothes" to them and let them change into them.
Xu Lanyin couldn't stand the long hair, wide sleeves, and wide trouser legs of the people in restaurants and teahouses in this era. They were both in the way and looked sloppy. So, except for the senior staff, chess players, and musicians, everyone in the teahouse covered their hair with hats and headscarves, and wore sleeves and aprons.
Male waiters all wear brown boat-shaped hats, brown long aprons, and brown sleeves. Female waiters all wear green triangular headscarves, green and white ruffled short aprons, and green ruffled short sleeves.
Including Ding Xiaoran, there were ten chess students in total. They were between thirteen and sixteen years old, all very handsome, wearing bamboo-leaf green robes, dark green belts, and black round hats.
The three senior employees, Manager Wu, Deputy Manager Wang, and Accountant He, wore bright blue casual clothes, which were also made uniformly for the teahouse.
The work clothes were beautiful, unique, simple, and capable, and you could tell what they did at a glance. Only the girls didn't have work clothes, so they just had to dress themselves up, and the teahouse would provide the clothes.
Facing so many employees, Xu Lanyin made a brief speech, followed by Wu Zhanggui and Wang Sanni. Xu Lanyin once again looked at Wang Sanni with new eyes. She was a genuine 15-year-old local girl. Although her face was red and her voice was trembling, she did not make any mistakes and had the style of a supervisor.
Everything was ready, and it was already late in the morning. Everyone in the teahouse went about their duties. The waiter set out the flower baskets and hung up the lanterns.
The teahouse’s advertisement was good, and people started coming to the teahouse at the beginning of the 9th hour.
The first group of guests were Hu Wan and his wife Xu, as well as three sons, two grandmothers, two young ladies from Xu's family, and two friends. Xu's belly was already quite big.
They requested a cherry room on the third floor and a thatched cottage on the second floor, and also ordered a chess student. They had originally wanted to order two flower rooms on the third floor, but there were too many people today, so Shopkeeper Wu declined.
Next came Min Shan, Shen Shi, Min Nan, and Min Erye Min Rong. They took the Tang She on the third floor.
After a group of unfamiliar guests arrived, Qin Ru, Qin Hongyu, Zhu Zhuang, a young master and two young ladies from the Zhu family. Zhu Zhuang even generously wanted to book all the remaining flower houses on the third floor, but was stopped by Qin Ru, who only asked for a Danshe on the third floor.
Two advisors from the Min Mansion and three advisors from the Qin Mansion came together and asked for the Xuanshe room on the second floor.
There are eight flower houses on the third floor. Xu Lanyin left one specifically for the chess fanatic Zhou Shu.
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