Chapter 45
"Sake like the one I have is sold to other restaurants for one or two taels of silver per bottle, but when they heard it was for our restaurant, they offered to pay seven hundred coins per bottle. If you like it, you can come back and buy it at this price. It's definitely not more expensive than other restaurants. Feel free to ask around in Bianjing City!"
Li Si spoke happily and excitedly, but Su Guoer felt something was wrong.
"And this fermented glutinous rice wine, which costs six hundred coins a barrel when sold to other shops, but the shopkeeper said he'd sell it to us for five hundred and fifty coins a barrel. And that spicy sweet wine, only one ounce and two cents a barrel will do. And the yellow wine that Wu Song drank when he fought the tiger, one ounce a barrel..."
Su Guoer frowned: "Have you negotiated the future price?"
She was a little unhappy. Although Li Si was enthusiastic, he touched her taboo.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to hire people, but Li Si is just a clerk in the store now. Su Guoer originally planned to observe them before giving them important positions, and then promote them to store managers to help her manage the store.
But... isn't it too early now?
I just asked him to offer a price for a few bottles of wine to keep as a backup. Could he have really negotiated the price for the future?
How could she negotiate the price with others in the future? If he had negotiated too low, it would have been fine. But if he had negotiated too high, the people in the tavern might not have been willing to give in.
Li Si was stunned for a moment: "Ah, this, I only want one barrel of each. If the shopkeeper doesn't like it, you can return it, or buy wine from other taverns next time."
Su Guoer: "Are you going to the tavern in the west of the city?"
Li Si nodded.
Su Guoer, I've already inquired about it. The tavern in the west of the city is the cheapest in Bianjing City. If you return the wine, the prices in other taverns will only be higher. If you don't return it...
Su Guoer: "You are being a bit reckless. I just asked you to buy some wine at the original price and see if the diners are willing to drink it and whether they like it. I will negotiate the subsequent price myself."
"Ah," she sighed, "you've already negotiated the price. If I tell the store's name to buy wine in the future, they may not be willing to give me a discount."
After all, no one is willing to give up the agreed profits.
If we can't reach an agreement, just pay me for these barrels of wine.
Li Si: "Boss, don't you trust me? That man is my classmate. The price he gave me must be the lowest. He won't cheat me."
Su Guoer, she was afraid that Li Si would collude with the other party to deceive her and take kickbacks.
As I said, the store has just started, and she must personally supervise all the purchasing and decoration processes and cannot allow others to interfere.
This is Su Guoer’s bottom line.
Opening a store is not like an ordinary small business. Hiring people is the key, and Su Guoer knows this very well.
Regardless of whether Li Si did it on purpose or not, she simply said, "It's not that I don't trust you, but you've blocked my escape route. You should have done as I said from the beginning and not been so greedy for these few hundred coins. If the diners don't like it, we can just change the wine."
"But now that things have come to this, let's leave it at that for now. Remember this from now on: you must do exactly what I tell you to do. Don't create any complications or cause me any trouble. Do you understand?"
Li Si's personality is lively but too erratic. He has just started to think about putting pressure on Su Guoer. It may be difficult to manage him in the future. Su Guoer's behavior at this time is also a warning to others.
Tell him to do his job well and not to show off too much.
She has no plans to hire a store manager yet.
Li Si nodded awkwardly: "Okay, but I mean well, boss. Please don't misunderstand me. I just thought of negotiating the price because I saw that it's hard for you, a girl, to get around. I want to avoid people bullying you just because you're a young lady..."
Su Guoer's eyes widened after hearing this: "Why? The price of wine for girls is different from that for men?"
Li Si: "No, no, no, I didn't say that. It's just that, although the wine is the same, the waiters in the tavern are also people who treat you differently. Seeing that you are a woman, they will inevitably look down on you. After all, there are still too few female restaurant owners in Shangjing."
Su Guoer frowned upon hearing this. Whether it was sake, yellow wine, or sweet rice wine, they were all shipped from elsewhere via the canal. They weren't originally from Bianjing, so their prices weren't transparent.
It is common for people to ask for a high price in the middle term, which is why Su Guoer is worried that Li Si will take kickbacks.
But I didn't expect that they would treat people differently based on their appearance. Are they so discriminatory against women?
Su Guoer didn't believe it. She would go and take a look someday.
Su Guoer: "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it later. If you really agreed to this price, don't worry, I will never treat you unfairly, and I will definitely reward you in the future."
This is a promise to Li Si.
But she didn't think there was anything wrong with what she did.
No matter what Li Si thinks, whoever owns the shop should be in charge, even if it's the emperor himself. As for whether Li Si will be disappointed, Su Guoer said: I'm not angry yet.
After a busy morning, it was time to eat. Su Guoer was too lazy to think about other dishes, so she picked two of the signature dishes and special dishes to cook as lunch. The main thing was that the portions were large and filling, and the rest didn't matter. Everyone enjoyed the meal very much.
We had lunch a little early to avoid the diners who were finishing work.
Su Guoer and the others had just finished lunch, and over there in the textile park, the girls in the dyeing room had just finished work.
Holding hands, we walked on the street looking for a restaurant to eat.
Suddenly looking back, we saw a small restaurant next to Mingyue Tower, so we went in and ordered three or four dishes and a portion of rice each.
Su Guoer cooked it in the kitchen and brought it to them.
Then came the boatmen along the Bian River, the horsemen pulling the rickshaws and oxcarts, the shop assistants in the various pharmacies and meat shops, and the three or two apprentices of the carpenter Wu, who also came together.
They were surprised when they saw the people in the shop. "I thought this restaurant had just opened, so we wouldn't have to wait too long."
"Am I seeing things? Why are there so many people here? What should we do? Should we still eat here?"
The brother at the side said, "Eat, of course you should eat. Didn't the master say that we should bring some dishes from this restaurant back for him and his wife? I think the braised meat by the counter is good. Here, look, that's what we wanted to eat last time but didn't get to eat. It's a very delicious braised meat! I asked my sister to buy it yesterday, but she couldn't find it."
"Her braised meat is very popular!"
They had to have a meal here no matter what, but the number of people in this restaurant was indeed a bit beyond their expectations. There were so many people right after it opened, so what would it be like in the future?
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