Xu Qinyu had about 220 taels of silver on her, including more than 60 taels from herself, 150 taels from Xue's request to Ma Liu, and about 10 taels from Wen and Ning Jie'er, which they earned from making bags. In addition, there was 20 taels from Gui's. They all took out and gave them to Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu was not polite and accepted them all, planning to return them when she made money in the future. Of course, if she had enough money, she would return it to them after renting the shop.
In this way, she had a total of about two hundred and fifty taels of silver on her.
Xu Qinyu planned to teach Cheng Ge'er how to make fish balls and braised fish, and slowly hand over the fish business to him. Of course, she would not continue to sell fish and meat in the alley. She planned to sell them in restaurants and put them at the door of the restaurants so that customers who were used to eating there could come over. This would also serve as a living signboard for the new restaurant.
When Wen Shuncheng learned that Xu Qinyu wanted to teach him how to cook, he immediately knelt down and became her apprentice.
If you become a disciple here, he will be like your father for life. In other words, once you become a disciple, in the eyes of the disciple, the master is like a parent. If you betray the master, you will be reported to the government by the master and will be beaten and imprisoned.
The betrayal here probably means being ungrateful, running away after learning the skills, going to other restaurants and hotels to fight against the master, or ignoring the master after learning the skills and running away to work on one's own.
Of course, if the master is willing to let people go, there will be nothing to worry about.
Therefore, some apprentices have been apprentices for decades, but the master is still unwilling to let them go, and they can only work for the master in exchange for money.
But even so, there are still many people who want to learn the craft from the master.
At least craftsmen will not starve to death.
However, under normal circumstances, the apprentice will learn from the master for about ten years, which is equivalent to helping the master do his work for ten years. Then the master will let the apprentice go out and start his own business.
Xu Qinyu said, "Don't worry about becoming my disciple. First, learn how to cook fish."
These days, Cheng Ge'er has become very familiar with killing fish. For example, Xu Qinyu can process a two or three jin black carp in less than a minute, scraping the scales, cutting open the belly and cleaning the internal organs. Cheng Ge'er can now process a fish in about four minutes. In addition to processing fish, Cheng Ge'er also does the daily work of cutting vegetables to practice his knife skills.
After Cheng Ge'er returned, he told his family about Xu Qinyu's plan to teach him how to cook fish. His aunt said, "Since you're becoming a disciple, our family should also make preparations. A formal ceremony is essential. Let's prepare everything first. When Sister Yu is willing to accept you as her disciple, we can perform the ceremony."
Meng also nodded, "That's right, let's prepare everything first."
The Wen family is now a family of criminals, and they cannot take the imperial examinations to become officials for three generations. Even if they can take the examinations, Meng knows that her two sons are of average academic level and are not cut out for it, so she will not force them. It would be best if they have a skill. She was also born in a poor family, so of course she would not look down on a cook.
She also had some money on her, so she could prepare the apprenticeship gifts first.
Of course, this money was not given by the old man and the old lady. It was saved by the husband who worked hard with the caravan in the past few months. When the caravan was resting, the husband would go hunting in the mountains outside the city and sell the game and furs to earn some subsidies. However, he would give two taels of silver to the old man every month. The old lady didn't believe that her husband only earned so little every month.
I asked her privately, but she was clueless. After all, the old lady came from a noble family and she would not do such a thing as searching her daughter-in-law's room.
So she saved some money in the past few months, which was enough for the gift of becoming a disciple.
Her husband went out with the caravan again a few days ago. He said that he planned to divide the family property when he came back this time, and asked her and Aunt Bai to be prepared.
Meng also hoped to divide the family as soon as possible. She had wanted to divide the family for a long time, otherwise why did the third room do all the work, but the third room was the worst off in terms of food, clothing and other expenses. It was too much to treat the third room like servants, so she and Aunt Bai did not work so seriously and diligently, which made the people in the first and second rooms very dissatisfied. Even when they talked about it, she just responded gently, and it was still the same.
…
The next day, Xu Qinyu went out for a while, and now the task of preparing food at home was handed over to Cheng Ge'er, and she felt relieved.
After breakfast, she went out and went to the market on the north street.
There are many small restaurants over there, including a small restaurant, but even in this small restaurant, the prices of the dishes are much cheaper than those in the ordinary restaurants on East Street and West Street. This is mainly due to the location. The food they serve is for the livelihood of ordinary people nearby and some dock caravans. The portions are large and the taste is pretty good. The price is definitely not high. If the price is too expensive, people will not want to come to eat.
Xu Qinyu thought about it and decided not to open a restaurant in the North Street Market.
The taste of her cooking is quite good. Even in modern society where there are so many cooking masters, few people can surpass her.
It is not ordinary for her to win the title of Master Chef in a world-class cooking competition, and it is even more shocking that she is in her twenties.
This competition is held only once every five years. There are ten judges, each with a score of ten. All scores must be ten, totaling one hundred points, to obtain this title.
In other words, as long as a judge gives a score lower than ten, even if it is 9.9, it is impossible to get the title of world-class chef. It is not just the taste of the food that is considered, but all aspects will be evaluated and scored.
Many times, there will be no chef mastermind in the competition for several consecutive seasons.
In the past hundred years, only a few people have won the title of God of Cooking in this world-class cooking competition. The value of this title is not something that can be measured by ordinary money. Winning this title will not only bring her fame, but also her private restaurant will become popular all over the world, and many people will come to visit. However, she had an accident on the way back. She even suspected that the accident was not accidental, but most likely man-made.
Thinking of this, Xu Qinyu couldn't help but sigh.
Since she was wearing it and didn't plan to do hard labor for the rest of her life, she naturally wanted to improve her life, and the first thing she had to do was to earn money.
So even if she opened the most ordinary restaurant, she didn't plan to sell it too cheaply. The customers on the North Street couldn't afford such expensive dishes. There were many wealthy businessmen and officials on the West Street and East Street who could afford it, and there were also many gourmets, so she still had to go to the East Street and West Street to have a look.
There is a Donglaiju restaurant on East Street, which is also the most upscale and best restaurant in Yuanbao Town. It is a three-story restaurant. There are many restaurants on East Street, but none of them can compare with Donglaiju.
Therefore, Xu Qinyu did not plan to open the restaurant on East Street. Donglai Ju was the local boss after all, so there was no need to confront it. It would be fine to open it on West Street as well.
She went to West Street again.
The restaurants on West Street are relatively ordinary, most of them are two-story shops, and there are also many one-story restaurants, most of which are two or three storefronts in size.
Xu Qinyu took a look around and found two restaurants on West Street that were for rent or sale. Both of them were closed due to poor business, so the owners rented out or sold the shops again. Both shops had three storefronts and the rent price was the same, fifty taels of silver a year. A shop of the same size on North Street only cost twenty taels of silver a year, which was thirty taels more expensive.
If you want to buy it, a shop like this will cost you about seven or eight hundred taels of silver.
There were two shops, one in the middle, flanked by restaurants and small taverns, and another at the very back of the market, surrounded by a rouge and powder vendor, a small inn, and numerous other small vendors. Xu Qinyu compared the locations and preferred the innermost one. Although it was at the very back of the market, there was another road around the corner, and then two alleys beyond that. Most of the alleys were filled with houses with two or three courtyards, making it more convenient for her to set up her fish and meat stall at the door.
Even if she was at the back of the market, Xu Qinyu was not worried.
As long as there are more flavors and customers walk a few more steps into the alley, they should still be willing to come.
If it doesn’t taste good, no one will buy it even at the market.
Although location is important, it is not the most important thing.
Xu Qinyu thought about it, then went into the rouge and powder shop next door and bought a box of facial cream, which is a facial cream for applying on the face, so that she could give it to her family when she got home.
This box of facial cream is quite expensive, I spent half a penny on it.
After buying the facial cream, she started chatting with the shopkeeper who sold rouge.
The shopkeeper who sold rouge and powder was a woman in her thirties. She was very straightforward and efficient. After chatting with Xu Qinyu about daily life, Xu Qinyu asked about the situation of the shop next door. Since she was renting a shop, she had to find out the character of the owner.
The female shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young lady, do you want to help your family find out about this shop? What do you plan to use it for?"
Xu Qinyu said, "I'm still planning to open a restaurant."
The female shopkeeper shook her head. "To be honest with you, it's a bit difficult to do food business on our street. Snack stalls are okay, but a restaurant with three storefronts like this is quite large, and the rent is expensive. If business is bad every month, it's really losing money. After all, Donglaiju on East Street tastes better, so people go directly to Donglaiju to eat. There's also a small restaurant in this market that does decent business, and most people like to eat there. This restaurant has changed hands twice, and both of them were still food businesses. Because the rent is paid annually, they have been losing money all the time, and they haven't even recovered the rent later."
Xu Qinyu knew what the female shopkeeper was worried about.
If the food tastes just average, it won’t work, but the taste is the last thing she worries about.
"What about the owner of this shop?" She just wanted to know the character of the owner of the shop.
Seeing that the young lady wouldn't listen, the female shopkeeper shook her head and said, "The owner is a woman about my age. The shop was left to her by her parents. She's the only daughter in the family. Her parents found a husband a few years ago, and then they passed away a few years later. They left the shop and the house to her. She gave birth to a daughter who took her last name. She's the head of the household. She's a nice person, very friendly and easy to talk to. There's no problem renting the shop."
As for the woman's husband, the female shopkeeper didn't like him very much. She thought he was a bit idle and didn't work. He just stayed at home and was lazy.
But the woman collected dozens of taels of silver in rent every year, so she didn't necessarily want the family members to go out to work.
So the female shopkeeper didn't say anything about the woman's man. It would not sound good if she said it out loud. Why would she, a woman, say anything about another woman's man?
Xu Qinyu nodded. If the shop could be rented, everything would be easy.
"Thank you, boss." Xu Qinyu thanked him and prepared to leave.
"Young lady," the female shopkeeper finally couldn't help herself, "you are running this shop for your family elders. If your family elders don't have very good cooking skills, I advise you not to take over this shop. You will really lose money."
Although the young lady was dressed as a woman, she looked only about fifteen or sixteen years old. The female shopkeeper naturally would not think that the young lady rented the shop to open a restaurant herself.
Xu Qinyu turned around and smiled, "I'm not looking for someone for my family elders, I'm looking for someone on my own. I'm planning to buy the shop and turn it into a restaurant."
The female shopkeeper was stunned.
Does this mean that she is the cook? She is the one who runs the shop? She rented the shop to open a restaurant?
She knew that there were female chefs, but she had never seen such a young female chef who was so arrogant.
After asking the female owner of the rouge and powder shop, Xu Qinyu found the owner of the shop according to the notice hung at the door of the restaurant.
The landlord lived in the two alleys opposite, in a two-story house. I knocked on the door and a woman came to open it.
It’s similar to what the female shopkeeper said. He looks to be in his early thirties and should be the owner of the shop.
The woman said softly, "What's this, young lady?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "I came to see the shop in the market. I learned that it was owned by the owner, so I came here specifically to ask if it was possible to open the shop so I could go in and take a look."
You have to go in and take a look at the layout, the backyard and the kitchen.
The woman nodded and asked Xu Qinyu to wait for a moment. She took out the key and went to the shop with Xu Qinyu.
After opening the shop, Xu Qinyu took a look at the layout inside. There wasn't much dust inside, so it probably hadn't been cleaned for a few days. It was obvious that someone came to clean the shop regularly. There were two large windows in the shop, so it was very bright. The counter was similar to that in other restaurants here.
The shop was empty, all the tables, chairs and benches had been moved away. Xu Qinyu calculated that there was enough space for about eight tables of different sizes.
There is a well in the backyard, and the kitchen is also very large and relatively clean. Except for a few stoves, there are no other kitchen utensils. The previous tenants must have moved out.
The shop is similar to other shops, with not much difference. If you want to open a restaurant, you will definitely have to renovate it, and buy tables, chairs, benches, pots and pans, as well as stoves, iron pots and various kitchen utensils in the kitchen, which is also a considerable expense.
Xu Qinyu was quite satisfied with the shop.
She smiled at the woman and said, "I'll go back and discuss it with my family, and then I'll tell the boss."
The woman nodded and watched the young lady leave. She felt that what the young lady said just now was a bit strange. The young lady said that she would go back and discuss it with her family. It seemed that this meant that she wanted to open a shop?
After Xu Qinyu returned home, she told her family about the size and location of the shop.
Ning Jie'er felt that they never had to worry about what Fourth Sister-in-law decided, so she naturally agreed.
Wen had experienced so much and knew that Yu Niang would not fight a battle without confidence, so she had no objection to the decision made by her daughter-in-law.
"Just make your own decision, Yu Niang."
However, Xu Qinyu still planned to wait for two more days and visit other shops instead of making a decision so easily.
It looks like the shop has been vacant for at least a month or two, so there's no need to rush into it in the next two days.
Even if she wanted to open a restaurant, Xu Qinyu had no intention of stopping her fish and meat business.
Although most of the people who buy fish are neighbors from several nearby alleys, they have heard from the neighbors that there is a lady named Xu in Guihua Lane who cooks delicious and cheap fish, so they come here because of her reputation. After all, it is impossible for people from Guihua Lane and Laixi Lane to buy fish every day, and they occasionally save money and cook some dishes for themselves. But with neighbors from other alleys coming to buy fish, the fish is still sold out very quickly every day.
Xu Qinyu has slowly taught Cheng Ge'er how to cook fish, but of course she can't completely take charge of the cooking yet. She always lets him watch from the side and learn the specific heat and the proportions of various seasonings first.
After the fish is cooked, it is sold out quickly.
In the next two days, Xu Qinyu went out to look at the shops again. On the West Street, Xia's sister-in-law's cloth shop was also here.
Wu Wan was naturally very happy when she learned that Xu Qinyu was going to open a restaurant in the West Street Market. In the future, she could eat at Xu Qinyu's restaurant.
The main reason was that on weekdays, they only ate the fish cooked by Miss Xu. If they opened a restaurant, there would be more delicious food. Her master was still thinking about the food that Miss Xu had prepared for the banquet for Xu Kongmu. However, Miss Xu was busy with business every day, and the breakfast and evening meals she sent to Shao Ge'er were all Shao Ge'er's portions. Xia Yuanzhi didn't want to snatch his son's food, and he always nagged her, asking when Miss Xu could open a restaurant or a hotel.
Wu Wan also knew that Miss Xu wanted to open a restaurant and hotel and she had to save money slowly. She thought it would take a long time, but fortunately it only took a few months and it was finally open.
If the master knew that Miss Xu was going to open a restaurant, he would definitely be very happy.
Xu Qinyu looked around again and finally decided to rent the shop at the end of the market.
She quickly went to find the owner of the shop and learned that the woman's surname was Yao. Since the Yao family was looking for a son-in-law, she naturally didn't need to follow the husband's family's address. Xu Qinyu just called her Sister-in-law Yao.
Yao was shocked to learn that the young lady, who was only fifteen or sixteen, had rented a shop and opened a restaurant on her own, and that she was even the chef. After the shock subsided, she told Xu Qinyu the truth, "Young Lady Xu, to be honest, the two previous tenants of my shop both opened restaurants, but they didn't make it. The previous one closed after only six months. Moreover, if you want to rent a shop, the rent is still based on a year, so you have to think carefully. Running a restaurant here is not easy and it is very easy to lose money."
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Yao. I don't need to worry about anything. I have already decided to rent this shop. I will ask Sister Yao to review the contract once it is written. I will pay the money after we sign it."
A deed is essential. Xu Qinyu started her business by running a snack bar, so she is very familiar with the process and will write down everything that needs to be paid attention to in the deed.
She spent one night writing the contract. In addition to the annual rent of fifty taels, it also clearly stated that the rent could not be raised arbitrarily within five years.
In short, this contract still favors her interests. For example, within three years, if she wants to renew the lease, the owner cannot rent the shop to other people or increase the rent.
In fact, within three years, she would have saved enough money to buy the second and third floors of the shop.
Although this contract favors her interests, as long as the landlord does not raise the rent unnecessarily or cause trouble, she will not pay less than a penny of the rent she is owed.
In modern times, she had seen too many landlords raising rents when they saw that their tenants' business was doing well, so she had to be on guard against it.
After the deed was written, Xu Qinyu put it away in a box and planned to go sign the deed with Mrs. Yao tomorrow.
Finally, she can open a restaurant. Xu Qinyu has been in a very good mood these days. She smiles every day and even dreams at night that after opening the restaurant, it will be crowded with guests and make a lot of money.
She slept in a daze at night and dreamed that many customers came to the restaurant to eat. She was cooking in the kitchen. Suddenly, she couldn't move and couldn't lift her hands. The customers in front of her were urging her to move. The more she wanted to move, the harder it was for her to lift her arms, as if something was pulling her arms.
Xu Qinyu became more and more anxious, and then woke up.
Then she felt something pressing on her left arm and couldn't sleep. In the moonlight coming in through the window, she saw something about four fingers thick coiled in a circle pressing on her arm. It felt smooth to the touch. She said that no matter how hard she tried to use her arm in the dream, she couldn't do it.
The next moment, Xu Qinyu's scalp went numb. The fear of having her arm pressed by a strange object made her want to scream in panic. But before the sound came out of her throat, she suddenly realized that the thing coiled in a circle on her arm was not white jade.
That little white snake!
Of course, we can’t call her Little White Snake now, she has grown a lot.
Xu Qinyu would never have expected that one and a half months after Fourth Brother Pei sent Baiyu away, it would actually sneak back on its own?
I looked at the sky outside and it was already dawn.
Xu Qinyu felt a little helpless, but not too scared. Having raised Baiyu for more than three months, she was naturally not afraid of it.
So how did it get back?
She got out of bed, put on her clothes and shoes, and went to the kitchen first.
Bai Yu raised her head and glanced at Xu Qinyu, then stretched her body, slid off the bed, and followed Xu Qinyu to the kitchen.
After lighting the oil lamp, Xu Qinyu discovered that the white jade scales were gray and looked like they were stained with a lot of dirt. It seemed that living in the wild for more than a month was very difficult, but it looked bigger than before.
Not only that, but you've gained some weight?
No, that's not fat. Xu Qinyu found that Bai Yu's belly was bulging, as if he had just eaten not long ago.
Then Bai Yu looked at it, and Xu Qinyu suddenly met Bai Yu's red eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad premonition.
Bai Yu began to move her abdomen...
Xu Qinyu's face turned pale as she began to stop him, "No, no! Don't spit out the food!!!" Her voice was a little out of tune.
But Bai Yu didn't listen to her and continued to move her abdomen...
Finally, he vomited out a pheasant that had not yet been digested.
Xu Qinyu looked at the pheasant on the ground with a dazed look on her face.
So Bai Yu thought they didn't want it because they ate her food every day and couldn't hunt for her. So after finding it home, they even caught some prey and brought it home???
Bai Yu slithered over to her side and rubbed Xu Qinyu's legs, looking like he was asking for credit, as if he wanted her to eat him.
Xu Qinyu pointed at the pheasant, her hands shaking a little, "Xu Baiyu, swallow it back for me!"
Before, Baiyu and Moyu were occasionally called Xu Baiyu or Xu Moyu by their family members, saying that they were raised by her and took her surname.
Only when the two of them occasionally make her angry will she call them by their last name.
Xu Qinyu really didn't expect that if she raised a snake, the snake would hunt for her and bring it home, but there was really no need for that at all.
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