The spring rains continued incessantly until the end of March, when the rainfall gradually subsided.
The business of Huajian Restaurant is now fully on track. Last month, after deducting wages, everyone received an extra ten taels of silver as a bonus at the end of the month.
Shen Yuan couldn't help but sigh, no wonder the Great Yan Kingdom valued agriculture and suppressed commerce, doing business was indeed much more profitable than farming.
Of course, this is on the premise that you don't lose money.
Business was booming, and Haitang suggested to Shen Yuan: "We need to hire two general helpers this month, one to help with chopping and preparing vegetables in the kitchen, and the other to wash dishes and pots, otherwise we won't be able to handle it all."
Huajian Restaurant's main selling point is its affordable and high-volume, low-margin dining. To increase profits, it needs to attract more customers.
With a large number of customers and insufficient staff, it's natural that we can't keep up with the demand.
Shen Yuan understood this principle, so she did not reject Haitang's suggestion.
"Okay! I'll write a job posting and put it up right now!"
Shen Yuan took out paper and pen and quickly wrote a job advertisement according to Haitang's request.
She picked up her pen, thought for a moment, and then pulled out a new sheet of paper. The pharmacy needed to hire another helper.
After Xiao Ling left, when she went to the village to collect medicinal herbs, no one helped her drive the cart and carry the herbs anymore. She had to do all the physical work by herself.
Before, Xiao Ling was her partner, and when they went to villages and towns together, she didn't have to worry about anything except weighing and calculating the money...
Shen Yuan's hand holding the pen suddenly paused. Why did she think of Xiao Ling again?
Sweetie thinks, Grandma thinks, and now even she thinks. Even though Xiao Ling is quiet and reserved and has a low profile at home, she seems to have gotten used to him as her work partner.
Although Xiao Ling was often silent, he listened to everything she said. He could even understand her meaning with just a glance, and would rush ahead of her with a knife. She was an excellent work partner.
Shen Yuan snapped out of her daze and realized that she had unknowingly written Xiao Ling's name on the white paper. She shook her head.
She turned the paper with Xiao Ling's name on it over, then took out another piece of paper and wrote a few lines according to her own instructions.
"A budget pharmacy is looking for a helper. The person should be quiet, not talkative, strong, and hardworking. It would be best if they know some self-defense techniques and can handle traveling."
After finishing writing, Shen Yuan was stunned again. She clearly did not write Xiao Ling's name, so why was it still him who appeared on the paper no matter how she wrote it?
Shen Yuan reluctantly put down her pen and looked up at the pedestrians coming and going on the street outside the door.
She'll probably never find a work partner she's as happy with again!
Shen Yuan casually glanced outside the door, when she suddenly saw two familiar figures.
She quickly stood up: "Aunt Tian, Little Tiger, what brings you here?"
"Yuanyuan!" Upon seeing Shen Yuan, Madam Tian excitedly entered the pharmacy. "I've been asking around all the way, and I've finally found your shop!"
Shen Yuan smiled gently. "Just ask around in the city which pharmacy has the cheapest prices, and someone will give you directions."
Madam Tian nodded slightly, noting down Shen Yuan's words. Finally, she hurriedly took the sack off her shoulder.
Seeing this, Little Tiger, who was following behind Tian, put down the burlap sack on his back and opened it. Inside were herbs that had already been dried.
"Sister Yuanyuan, these are pomegranates, daylily seedlings, and mugwort that my mother and I dug up in the mountains! My mother said you would need them, so she asked me to bring them to you!"
“When you left, the villagers offered you money, but you refused. However, you used a lot of medicine and spent a lot of money to treat us, and we all felt bad about it. Now that spring has arrived and the grass on the back mountain has grown, we took advantage of the recent lull in farm work to go to the mountains for a few days to dig up some herbs, dried them, and brought them to you as a small token of our appreciation,” Tian explained.
Shen Yuan glanced at the two sacks of medicinal herbs and asked Tian Tian to get the scales.
Tian stopped them, saying, "These herbs aren't for sale. They were just picked by the villagers when they had nothing else to do. They're not valuable medicinal materials, so there's no need to weigh them!"
Shen Yuan said, "Our pharmacy weighs and pays for all medicinal herbs we receive, no matter the quantity. There's no reason to take the goods without paying. The price is what it should be! I'll pay you, and you can take these back for the villagers!"
Upon hearing this, Tian picked up two sacks and rushed into the yard.
"Auntie!" Shen Yuan called out, but couldn't stop her.
Tian poured the herbs from the sack directly onto the drying rack in the yard, firmly forbidding Chen Yuan from weighing them.
Shen Yuan felt somewhat helpless.
It takes a day to travel from Chujia Village to Jian'an City by horse-drawn carriage, and two or three days by oxcart, not to mention walking.
Tian and Xiaohuzi were carrying two burlap sacks. She had just lifted one; the two sacks together probably weighed over a hundred pounds. No one knew how Tian had managed to get them to Jian'an City!
She thought she should at least give Ms. Tian some travel expenses, but Ms. Tian made it clear that she didn't want a penny, so she had no choice but to comply.
"Aunt Liu, these are chickens raised by my family. The meat is very tender. You can save them to braise for Yuanyuan." After emptying all the herbs from the sack, Tian took out two chickens from the bottom of the sack.
The chicken was still alive, and it pulled two wings out of the sack and kept flapping them.
When Granny Liu saw the two live chickens, she happily picked them up and said, "You two don't leave tonight. I'll go boil some water, scald these two chickens, and make a pot of taro and chicken stew. We can all eat together!"
"Okay! Grandma Liu's stewed chicken is so delicious, I want to eat Grandma Liu's taro stewed chicken!" Little Tiger jumped up excitedly.
Ms. Tian tugged at Xiao Huzi's sleeve sheepishly, "We should head back now that we've delivered the things to Sister Yuanyuan, otherwise it'll get dark and we won't be able to travel easily!"
Shen Yuan: "Auntie, I have a few rooms available here. You and Xiao Huzi can stay here tonight and play in the city for a couple of days before you leave!"
"This won't do..."
Before Tian could finish speaking, Shen Yuan led Xiao Huzi to choose a room.
"Stay here for two nights." Granny Liu said with a smile, pulling Madam Tian to sit down. As soon as they sat down, Tian Tian brought over two bowls of tea.
Granny Liu offered Tian some tea, "The rice seedlings shouldn't have been planted in the village yet, so things shouldn't be too busy right now?"
Tian smiled and said, "We've only just started cultivating the seedlings; there's no rush to transplant them."
After a pause, Ms. Tian continued, "This year, everyone is not cultivating many seedlings; we plan to plant only three to five acres of seedlings."
"Why are so few plants?" Granny Liu frowned. "Are those empty plots just going to sit there empty?"
Shen Yuan led Xiao Huzi out of the room and happened to hear Tian Shi sigh.
"Sigh! Last year we planted too much grain, and it didn't sell for a good price, so this year everyone is planning to plant a few acres, just enough rice to feed their own families and pay the land tax. The rest of the land will be left empty to see if we can plant something else that can make money!"
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