Chapter 72. After reading what Su Yunting wrote to...
After reading Su Yunting's letter to his wife, Prince Chang felt much more at ease, though he still harbored suspicions about Su Yunting.
The two carriages continued to travel together. During the rest break, Prince Chang took the initiative to speak with Su Yunting.
The two had a very pleasant conversation this time.
As the rest was about to end, Su Yunting said to Prince Chang, "I will not travel with you for the rest of the journey. You go ahead first, and we will meet again in the capital."
Prince Chang began to worry about him: "Now is the perfect time to head to the capital. Unless it's something urgent, it's best not to delay!"
Su Yunting: "Thank you for your reminder, Brother Wang. It's nothing important, just a slight delay."
Prince Chang frowned: "What does Yun Ting mean by this? Is he trying to avoid me?"
Su Yunting hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
Prince Chang was furious: "Young Master Su, if you don't want to travel with me, you can just say so. I am not the kind of person who would be so shameless!"
Su Yunting sighed: "I hit it off with my brother the moment we met. Because I regard him as my own brother, I decided not to travel with you."
Only after he said that did the Prince of Chang feel relieved. “Tell me what troubles you, and I will help you solve them.”
Su Yunting said he wouldn't travel with him because of this statement. Now that Prince Chang has said they can resolve this together, Su Yunting told Chief Zhang about the unreasonable construction of the dike.
Su Yunting: "If Chief Zhang takes action today, it will naturally affect the interests of some people. If they investigate the reasons carefully, it will not be difficult for them to find out that the reason is what I discovered."
Those who can influence the quality of a project are undoubtedly powerful. If they want revenge, my future travels may not be safe.
After hearing Su Yunting's words, Prince Chang's suspicions about him almost disappeared.
If anyone else had gotten into this mess, Prince Chang wouldn't have been able to ignore it, let alone Su Yunting.
Prince Chang: "You can rest assured to travel with me. The guards around me will be able to protect your safety."
Su Yunting: "I'm worried that I'll implicate my brother."
Prince Chang laughed: "Don't worry, I live in the capital and have some connections there."
The reason Su Yunting did not disguise himself and travel in separate groups today was because traveling with Prince Chang gave him confidence.
Now that the other party has revealed a bit of their resources, Su Yunting is delighted: "Since you know what's going on, brother, I'm relieved."
Having successfully secured a connection with Prince Chang, Su Yunting felt less worried about the rest of the journey.
...
On Qiu Yuruo's side, after tasting the food prepared by Ping An, Young Master Xu proposed a cooperation.
Ping An invited Qiu Yuruo, and Xu Gongzi told Qiu Yuruo that he would provide the capital and management, while Qiu Yuruo would provide the technology. The two parties would cooperate to open a restaurant, and the profits would be split 60/40, with him taking 60% and Qiu Yuruo taking 40%.
If Qiu Yu is still truly interested in opening a restaurant together, relying on the restaurant's existing funds and staff, it would take at least two or three years to actually open one.
Qiu Yu Ruo really knew the Xu family; they had been in business for generations, and their business was doing well, with an even better reputation.
Qiu Yuruo wasn't afraid to cooperate with someone from such a family, especially since Su Yunting would be entering officialdom next year, so she had even less to worry about when cooperating with others.
However, the core of the restaurant is the technology. If Qiu Yu hadn't agreed to his profit sharing, according to her own idea, it should have been a 50/50 split. But since Su Yunting would pass the imperial examination next year, she added another 10%, proposing that she take 60% and he take 40%.
Seeing Xu Gongzi's incredulous expression, Qiu Yuruo added, "It seems that Xu Gongzi hasn't found out yet that my husband is this year's top scholar in the prefectural examination."
Upon hearing this, Young Master Xu was first surprised, and then delighted.
Even if the top scholar from a prefecture doesn't perform well in the spring imperial examination, he can still pass the second-class imperial examination.
The Xu family had been in business for generations, and it was inevitable that they would deal with the government. The family business had been able to prosper for generations, and they had to pay a large sum of money to the government every year.
For years, the clan has been supporting its children's education in order to improve the family's social standing. Once the family's social standing improves, the amount of filial piety required from superiors can be reduced significantly!
Unfortunately, none of the family's children were academically inclined; at best, they could only pass the lowest level of the imperial examinations, and going beyond that was as difficult as climbing to heaven.
The family had tried to support promising but impoverished scholars, but how could a business like ours possibly find someone with real potential!
Therefore, when Young Master Xu heard that Qiu Yuruo's husband was the top scholar in the prefecture this year, he immediately agreed to the profit-sharing proposal she made.
The two signed a contract specifying their profit sharing, followed by details of the business operation.
How to run the restaurant is within the scope of Mr. Xu's responsibilities.
Master Xu is not allowed to interfere with the selection of kitchen staff, including the selection of ingredients, which must be approved by the kitchen.
After the contract was signed, Qiu Yuruo went back to her hometown. Although Young Master Xu lost in the internal competition within the family, his branch of the family still had substantial assets. He was going to open more than just one or two restaurants.
Qiu Yu needs to ensure that there are enough kitchen staff when he opens a branch.
When Qiu Yuruo returned to her hometown to recruit people, she made it clear that there were no gender restrictions and that she would not only recruit people from Sujiazhuang, but also from her own hometown, Qianqiaozhuang.
The task of recruiting people for Su Family Village was entrusted to Su Huai, while Qiu Yuruo's task of recruiting people for her maternal family was entrusted to her third uncle and the clan head.
This time, Qiu Yuruo plans to recruit twenty people, and since they will be working directly in the restaurant's kitchen, they must be at least fifteen years old.
Twenty people, ten from a village, no ability required, only character.
Out of twenty people, there are bound to be one or two who have some talent in cooking. As for the rest, the clever ones do odd jobs and prepare ingredients in the kitchen.
The remaining restaurants don't need that many people for the time being, and we also have our own workshops.
If Qiu Yu decides where Young Master Xu opens his restaurant, she will open her own workshop there as well.
As the business grew larger, it became impossible for him to manage everything personally. Therefore, Dafei and Ersheng were among the twenty people selected to come to the county.
Dafei and Ping'an are in charge of personnel management in the restaurant's kitchen, while Ersheng and his second apprentice Su Chao are in charge of workshop management.
This time, twenty people were recruited at once, but there were still no women. Qiu Yuru had rented two courtyards in advance as dormitories, but one of them was empty.
The villagers wouldn't let the girls out, but Qiu Yuruo wasn't in a hurry. She thought that once more people needed them, they would let the women out.
While Xu Gongzi was promoting the restaurant's renovations, Qiu Yuruo and Ping An were selecting talented children at the restaurant.
We were lucky this time; out of twenty people, we selected three talented individuals, one of whom was exceptionally talented.
Qiu Yuruo accepted these three people, along with the one she had chosen before, as her disciples.
Then people in the county discovered that the restaurant had changed its business model.
Instead of the kitchen making whatever the customer orders, restaurants now prepare a dozen or so dishes in advance, and customers choose from those.
The taste isn't as good as before, but it's still better than other places, and the price is cheaper.
Therefore, the restaurant is even more popular during mealtimes.
There are more than a dozen dishes, each served in a large pot. Although it looks like a large pot of food, it is actually made one portion at a time in the kitchen.
The four new apprentices were taught how to chop vegetables by Ping An because Ping An's knife skills were the best.
When cooking, Qiu Yuruo would first teach them how to make a dish. After the apprentices tasted it using serving chopsticks, they would then start cooking and make the dish themselves.
After they finished cooking, Qiu Yu Ruo tasted what they made, but she only dared to use the serving chopsticks to pick out a tiny bit from each person's dish.
Because there are four apprentices and more than a dozen dishes, and each dish is made more than once, they would be stuffed if they tasted too much!
After teaching him for half a month, Xu Gongzi's restaurant was set up. Ping An was the head chef, and the other four junior brothers were his assistants.
The restaurant was a huge success from the moment it opened, and even after half a month, it was still maintaining most of its sales volume. That's how the restaurant was considered a success.
After the two sides celebrated briefly, Qiu Yuruo heard about Young Master Xu's idea of opening a restaurant in the capital.
Qiu Yuruo: "Isn't your planned pace of development a bit too fast?"
Young Master Xu said confidently, "Madam Su, if I were doing business alone, going directly to the capital would indeed be too fast. But the restaurant is a joint venture between the two of us. With Young Master Su's abilities, you will definitely pass the imperial examination next spring and be ranked second-class. The day the results are announced will be the day our restaurant opens!"
It has to be said that his reasoning moved Qiu Yuruo.
Young Master Xu continued, "There are countless officials in the capital. Even if you pass the imperial examination with top honors, after the glory fades, you still have to start from the sixth or seventh rank to enter officialdom."
"Madam Su, opportunities are fleeting. If we miss this chance, it will be at least ten years before we can regain our footing in the capital!"
If Qiu Yu understood his intention, he wanted to take advantage of the popularity of the imperial examination to open a restaurant directly.
If we can't catch him this time, we'll have to wait until Su Yunting's official position is promoted and he has a certain network of connections and influence.
Opening a restaurant in Beijing now is an opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, you'll need real strength to succeed in Beijing again.
No matter how reasonable his words were, Qiu Yuruo, even though she had been persuaded by him, did not agree directly to such a major matter as opening a store in Beijing. She only said that she needed to go back and discuss it properly.
Young Master Xu: "Hurry up!"
Qiu Yuruo promised, "I'll give you the answer tomorrow."
Once Young Master Xu received the exact time, he stopped urging him.
...
The imperial examination was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Qiu Yuruo didn't waste a moment. That very night, she gathered Dafei and his two apprentices at her home to discuss whether the restaurant should move to the capital now.
Not only them, Qiu Yuruo also invited her younger siblings to participate.
Of the eight people, only Dafei's age started in his twenties; the rest of them were teenagers.
They were all young people, and when they heard about what was being discussed today, they were all silent for a moment, and then they all began to get excited.
They all expressed their desire to go to Beijing.
Qiu Yuruo: "Going to the capital now is indeed a rare opportunity, but everyone should know that the chance of success depends on Yunting being on the list of successful candidates in next year's spring imperial examination."
After she said that, the others had even more confidence in Su Yunting than she did, who knew he had been the top scholar in his previous life.
Qiu Yuruo: "..."
They were so overconfident that she had to add a rule: "We all have confidence in Yunting, but none of us should tell Yunting about this before he finishes the imperial examination, so as not to increase his pressure."
Whether Su Yunting succeeds in the imperial examination is related to the future of everyone present, and no one disagrees with Qiu Yuruo's words.
Since everyone is so confident, let's move on to the specifics.
The biggest problem is the lack of personnel.
After the restaurant opened, Ping An led four junior apprentices in the kitchen. Qiu Yu Ruo also selected four people with potential and diligence from the dozen or so people she had recruited but had not yet been accepted as apprentices. She is now slowly training them.
To open a restaurant in the capital, Ping An and the other four have to go. The newly trained ones are simply not capable of running a restaurant in Mingshun County!
After discussing for half the night, they came up with two plans: to quickly train a new head chef and to continue recruiting.
Dafei will go back to his hometown to handle the recruitment. This time, he will not limit himself to the two villages. He will recruit people from the surrounding villages and those with kinship ties to the two villages, as long as their character is acceptable.
In addition, the rapid training of a master chef requires the cooperation of a restaurant.
The four new apprentices who followed Ping An in the restaurant's kitchen have already reached a high level in cold dishes and vegetarian dishes; the only shortcoming is in the main dishes.
Qiu Yuruo discussed with Young Master Xu about offering a special dish every day at a price of only 30% of the original price. This would ensure that the restaurant would not lose money and would also allow the new apprentices to practice their skills.
Young Master Xu was aware of the shortage of kitchen staff, and he wholeheartedly supported Qiu Yuruo's plan to train a head chef.
After the two finished discussing the restaurant, Qiu Yuruo instructed Young Master Xu that the matter of opening a restaurant in the capital should not be revealed before the end of the imperial examination, so as not to let Su Yunting know and affect his performance in the examination.
Young Master Xu took it very seriously. Whether the restaurant could save ten years of development time depended entirely on Su Yunting's performance!
Young Master Xu repeatedly assured Qiu Yuruo that he would not reveal it in advance, which put her at ease.
The two reached an agreement. Young Master Xu went to the capital to choose a suitable place, while Qiu Yuruo began to focus on training new apprentices.
The days were busy and fulfilling. On this day, Qiu Yu received a letter from Su Yunting. In the letter, he first wrote a long page about his longing for her.
When Qiu Yu saw it, she felt a bittersweet feeling in her heart; how could she not miss him too!
Further down, Su Yunting wrote that a dam was being built ahead, and he planned to go and see how the river workers were constructing it.
There were some things he didn't say specifically, but Qiu Yuruo knew that the dam was probably his real purpose for going south.
That night, Qiu Yuruo had a dream. In the dream, a group of people slowly gathered outside the quiet post station. They held rockets and shot them towards the post station.
The rocket crashed through the window, and Qiu Yuruo was jolted awake...
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