When Mrs. Lu said this, she actually thought that the young lady in front of her was unwilling to sell the recipe, and she would not force her. Even if she and Miss Xu were to partner in the wine business, it would be impossible for her to expand the business too much in the early stage. It would probably only increase by 10,000 or 20,000 taels of silver every year. She was not short of this 10,000 or 20,000 taels of silver. She thought that it didn't matter if the young lady was unwilling to sell the recipe to her. She was not the kind of person who would force people to buy or sell.
But if the young lady is willing, she will provide the venue and manpower next year so that she can make more wine, and both of them can make money.
In short, this deal still depends on Miss Xu's wishes.
The next year, Mrs. Lu and Miss Xu really joined forces to start a wine business. They bought land in a village nearest Yuanbao Town and built a workshop. Any location that could be shaded would be enough for making wine. When her subordinates started helping to pick and wash the grapes and finally to seal the jars, Miss Xu did not avoid her people.
It is indeed unavoidable that this winemaking method seems too simple.
Some people were selfish and secretly tried to brew the wine themselves. However, after the second fermentation, the wine they brewed was either too sweet, too sour, very astringent, or just ordinary in taste, and could not possibly taste like the wine that Miss Xu had brewed.
Mrs. Lu then believed that it was not that Miss Xu was unwilling to sell her son, but that no one else could make such delicious wine using the same recipe.
Later, Mrs. Lu punished the subordinates who secretly brewed wine.
Of course, these are all things that happened later. Mrs. Lu is still waiting for the young lady in front of her to respond to her.
For Xu Qinyu, it is natural to make money if there is money.
Naturally, she agreed readily and discussed specific matters with Mrs. Lu, such as the subsequent construction of the workshop, the arrangement of manpower, and the distribution of the wine produced.
There was no room for Manager Zhou, Brother Cheng, and Brother Feng to interrupt, so they could only sit there and wait silently.
Shopkeeper Zhou discovered that even though Miss Xu was young, she was already capable of working on her own and had excellent cooking skills. She was not even nervous when discussing business with Madam Lu and spoke very confidently.
Even Madam Lu was a little surprised. The young lady in front of her was only in her teens, right? When discussing business with her, she was more experienced than many patriarchs of aristocratic families, and she had thought through every aspect clearly.
The final result of the discussion between the two was that Xu Qinyu would not interfere with the workshop and the staff. She did not need to do any chores such as picking and washing grapes. She only needed to find time to mix the ratio of wine and sugar, and control when to have people pack and seal the jars, as well as the time of the subsequent first fermentation.
She didn't even have to pay for the jars used to make the wine and the bottles used to bottle it. Even the cost of the sugar was paid for by Mrs. Lu.
In short, she is the one who takes care of the ratio of grapes to sugar at the beginning, and uses her nose to see when the grapes can be divided into bottles for fermentation.
The wine was sold to Mrs. Lu at the price of one tael of silver per catty. She no longer cared about how Mrs. Lu opened up sales channels, where the wine was shipped, or what price it was sold at.
After half an hour of discussion, Madam Lu said with a smile, "I really didn't expect a young lady like you, only ten years old, to be so eloquent and able to talk to me so well. I actually agreed to this."
Mrs. Lu originally thought that she would provide the workshop manpower and her people would help with odd jobs, but the remaining cost of the wine jars and bottles and sugar for brewing wine would be paid by Xu Qinyu. It would be almost the same as now, and the wine would be purchased at the same price of one or two taels of silver.
Now the result is that Miss Xu only needs to provide one person and does not need to provide any capital.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Even if I don't have to invest any capital, I promise Madam Lu that I will only sign a contract with you to make a living from wine, and I will never do this business with anyone else. Moreover, even if someone imitates my wine in the future, it will never taste like this, so Madam Lu will not lose out."
Not only will she not lose money, Mrs. Lu will not sell these wines too cheaply. She will definitely ship them to other wealthy states and sell them at several times the price, making more money than her.
Madam Lu smiled and said, "Then let's write the contract first."
In fact, after deducting all costs and manpower, she earned more than Xu Qinyu by transporting the wine to rich places to sell, but she also had a lot to worry about. She even had to hire an escort agency to escort the wine on the way to the rich places.
She is a businessman, and naturally she would exploit the other party if she wanted to make more money. This is also the nature of a businessman. She also felt that the other party only provided a person and didn't even need to put the grapes in jars. It was really a good deal.
But she was still persuaded by the young lady in front of her.
To be honest, the one who makes the most money in this business is Miss Xu, who doesn't have to worry about anything.
Madam Lu asked the maid to bring paper and pen to write the contract. Of course, the contract also stated what Xu Qinyu had said before, that he would only do this business with Madam Lu, and that the taste of the subsequent wine had to satisfy Madam Lu. If the taste changed, Madam Lu could ask Xu Qinyu for compensation, etc.
After signing the contract, Madam Lu smiled and said, "It's getting late. Miss Xu, Shopkeeper Zhou, and the two young men, would you like to stay for dinner?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "We've negotiated such a big deal, so it's my turn to treat Madam Lu to a banquet. It's a pity that I can't join Madam Lu for dinner today. I have to go back to Yuanbao Town, otherwise the city will be closed at that time. I also run a restaurant at home, so I have to be busy before dawn tomorrow."
Mrs. Lu knew from what Manager Zhou said that Xu Qinyu could cook, but she didn't expect that she actually opened a restaurant.
"I didn't expect that Miss Xu opened a restaurant at such a young age. She's really a young and promising person."
These words were naturally just polite remarks. Mrs. Lu could not have expected that Xu Qinyu's cooking skills were just like the wine she brewed, which was very memorable. It was not until she went to Yuanbao Town the following year that she tasted Xu Qinyu's cooking skills. She was naturally amazed and regretful. She regretted not coming to Yuanbao Town to meet Miss Xu earlier.
After Xu Qinyu and Shopkeeper Zhou left, Xu Qinyu thanked Shopkeeper Zhou, saying that if it weren't for Shopkeeper Zhou, she wouldn't have met Madam Lu and negotiated such a large deal. She also planned to give Shopkeeper Zhou the commission for the two thousand bottles of wine, which was about eighty taels of silver. Shopkeeper Zhou refused to take it, saying that since Miss Xu was willing to teach Daqing the dishes, she was already Daqing's teacher and allowed Daqing to cook these dishes at the inn. He and Daqing were both deeply grateful, so he naturally couldn't accept the money.
In the end, Xu Qinyu did not force it. After returning to the inn, she talked to Zhou Daqing about some techniques and seasoning methods for cooking, stewing, braising and steaming. Zhou Daqing had a background as a chef, and if he thought about it slowly, these would be very useful to him.
It was almost the end of the afternoon when Xu Qinyu, Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er set off to return to Yuanbao Town.
The next day, Mrs. Lu sent someone to Yuanbao Town. It happened to be breakfast time, and there was a line in front of Xu's Restaurant.
The man who came to pick up the goods was a man in his thirties. He was tall and strong, with a handsome appearance, thick eyebrows and narrow eyes, but he didn't like to talk much.
It was Cheng Ge'er who received him. He knew that this man was called Zhen Wu, the leader of the caravan under Madam Lu, and he was a serious person.
Zhen Wu first loaded all the wine from Xu's Restaurant onto the carriage. Cheng Ge'er said, "There are two more batches of goods over at Osmanthus Alley. One of them needs to ferment for another eight days before it can be opened. When Captain Zhen and I go to pick it up later, I'll tell him which batch it is. Just keep a close eye on it and let it sit for another eight days."
Zhen Wu gave the two thousand taels of silver to Cheng Ge'er, who returned to the kitchen and gave it to Xu Qinyu, who asked him to lead people to Guihua Lane to move the wine.
There were about seven or eight people in the caravan. As they were moving their belongings to Guihua Lane, someone couldn't help but shout, "Boss, we haven't had breakfast yet. This Xu Ji breakfast smells delicious. How about we eat here?"
Zhen Wu glanced at the diners in line and said, "Let's move the wine first and find somewhere else to eat later."
Cheng Ge'er had no choice. It was the busiest time of the day and there were many diners queuing up with numbers. It was not easy to get food from the kitchen for seven or eight people. They had big appetites and could eat up half of the food prepared in the kitchen. The other diners would have to wait too long.
These men scratched their heads and wanted to say something, but Zhen Wu had already gotten on the carriage and drove away.
The others had no choice but to follow. They didn't want to eat breakfast from other restaurants or food stalls, but they thought the breakfast at Xu Ji smelled too fragrant and tempting and wanted to try it. However, there were too many diners and the boss asked them to leave, so they had no choice but to follow.
Cheng Ge'er took them to Guihua Lane and loaded all the wine stored by the Pei and Wen families onto the carriage. Only then did Zhen Wu take his men back to Raozhou City.
When Mrs. Lu saw Zhen Wu, she opened a bottle of wine for him to taste. Zhen Wu simply grabbed the small white porcelain bottle and drank the wine in it.
Mrs. Lu said helplessly: "You are really like a cow chewing a peony."
Zhen Wu said, "The sweet and sour flavor is the flavor you like."
He likes strong liquor, but the person he likes is delicate and soft.
Madam Lu couldn't help but look at him, and finally sighed, "Why are you doing this?"
Given her situation in the Shi family, Shi Ling's death had nothing to do with her. Even though she was willing to live with Shi Ling later, she never shared a room with him again. She did not forgive Shi Ling, but she did not know what to do in the future. She thought of living in the Shi family first and see what plans to make in the future. Unexpectedly, Shi Ling himself was unlucky. In less than half a year, he died in an accident on the way to do business.
The Shi family's caravan is mainly managed by Shi Ling.
After Shi Ling's death, the other members of the Shi family naturally wanted to take over the caravan and the business that Shi Ling had been doing in recent years.
She was just a woman, even though she was the daughter of Duke Lu, but Duke Lu's mansion was thousands of miles away from Raozhou City, and she could not argue with the Shi family for anything. If Zhen Wu had not come forward to help her, the Shi family might not even want to return her dowry to her, and would even want to drive her away.
Zhen Wu was two or three years younger than her, but his influence carried weight within the caravan. He brought along those willing to follow him, helping her wreak havoc at the Shi family's, recovering her dowry and most of Shi Ling's livelihood. The caravan split in two, with Zhen Wu taking half with her and the rest with the Shi family. Zhen Wu devised a plan, causing a conflict between those and the Shi family over interests. The caravan left the Shi family, and the Shi family lost both their caravan and their livelihood. Zhen Wu also secretly suppressed the Shi people, who could no longer bear the consequences and left Raozhou City, allowing her to live the life she currently enjoys.
Mrs. Lu actually always knew Zhen Wu's feelings for her before Shi Ling died and she didn't know Shi Ling's character.
When she was pregnant, she met Zhen Wu, and he looked at her like a wolf.
Later, Zhen Wu helped her and she followed him.
Over the years, Zhen Wu helped manage the caravan and business, and all the money earned was in her name.
Zhen Wu had been with her for more than ten years. He neither married nor took concubines. She was the only one with him. She had also said that they should just give up and asked him to marry someone else. She had injured herself in childbirth and could not have children anymore. She did not want to marry again in this life. But Zhen Wu never spoke, just looked at her deeply and left angrily.
He was angry for only two days, and finally took the initiative to find her and coax her.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Lu couldn't help but feel soft-hearted.
She naturally had feelings for Zhen Wu and knew that no matter how many times she told him, he probably would not marry and have children. Well, as long as he was willing, she would accompany him for the rest of his life.
Madam Lu pulled the tall and burly man to sit down and took the initiative to sit in his arms.
His anger finally subsided a little and he hugged the person.
Mrs. Lu asked about his trip to Yuanbao Town, and then asked about Miss Xu. She also said that she opened a restaurant and could taste Miss Xu's cooking skills.
She was thinking that when Zhen Wu and the others went to Yuanbao Town, it would be the right time for them to have breakfast, and since Miss Xu had opened a restaurant, they could sit down and have something to eat.
Zhen Wu shook his head. "That young lady's restaurant is very popular. There's a line out the door. So I didn't get to taste her cooking, but it must be very good. It smelled delicious."
Mrs. Lu was a little surprised. It seemed that Miss Xu was quite capable. She had opened a restaurant and was able to run it independently at such a young age. She even dared to talk business with her. I don't know which family taught this girl, but she was quite capable.
Mrs. Lu also told Zhen Wu that she and Miss Xu were planning to open a winery to brew wine. They were afraid that they would have to buy land and build a workshop near Yuanbao Town after the New Year, and they would need his help to keep an eye on it.
Zhen Wu nodded and reassured her.
…
Xu Qinyu was busy in the restaurant until night when she returned. She counted the silver bills and found exactly two thousand taels. She put the two thousand taels of silver bills in her box and took out dozens of taels from it to give as a reward to Cheng Ge'er and the others.
Although she earned 2,000 taels of silver from brewing wine, after deducting the jars and bottles and sugar, the cost was about 500 taels. This means that she earned 1,500 taels of silver from brewing wine this summer, which was the restaurant's income for more than two months.
In fact, Cheng Ge'er and Gong Ge'er and their friends contributed more to the winemaking this time, so everyone received a reward.
The next day, Xu Qinyu went to the restaurant and called several children over, saying that they made a lot of money from brewing wine this time and everyone contributed, so everyone would get a red envelope.
Cheng Ge'er, Gong Ge'er and Xu Feng, three young boys, contributed the most and were the main force in picking grapes on the mountain. Each of them was given ten taels of silver.
The next one was Luo Da Niu. She was not as strong as the three boys, but she was diligent and efficient. She was the one who did most of the washing and drying of the grapes, so she was rewarded with eight taels of silver.
And Xu Diao got six taels.
Xu Yu and Xu Shun were too young and only got 4 taels.
Even the youngest, Luo Erniu, was rewarded with one or two taels of silver because she also helped wash the grapes.
Xu Qinyu had agreed to the red envelope this time, so everyone accepted it with blushing faces and was very happy to accept it.
Luo Da Niu and Luo Er Niu also wanted to give the reward to Lin, so that Lin could return the thirty taels of silver to the Luo family.
Lin refused to take it and asked her two daughters to keep the money themselves, telling them that it was their own money and they should save it for themselves. They could spend it as they pleased or save it for future use if there was anything they wanted to do.
Lin felt that five hundred coins a month was just right for the Luo family. If she really gave her daughter the nine taels of silver in one go, she was afraid that Old Lady Luo would be blinded by money and come up with some evil intentions to harm Xu Ji.
Only then did Luo Da Niu and Luo Er Niu save all the money.
Luo Da Niu is a few years older than Er Niu and has her own ideas. She no longer just thinks about playing and eating. She wants to learn pastry cooking from Miss Xu, hoping that she will be diligent and smart. Miss Xu will be willing to accept her as an apprentice in the future. When she learns to make noodles, if Miss Xu is willing to let her be a pastry chef in Xu's, she will naturally be willing to stay in Xu's. If not, she can also open a noodle stall to support her mother and sister.
Erniu's idea was simpler. Neither she nor her sister had any nice hairbands or silk flowers, so she wanted to buy two nice hairbands and silk flowers for her sister and herself.
Xu Feng and his friends had been beggars for several years and had suffered a lot. They were very grateful to have met such a good master like Xu Qinyu, and they kept the red envelopes they received.
…
The days that followed passed quickly, autumn turned into winter. At the beginning of winter, Xu Feng led the other three to buy two sets of winter clothes. In addition to the red envelope given by the master before, they now had a salary of 100 coins per month.
They had just recently become Xu Xiao Niangzi's disciples, and the big girl also became their disciple. Now all five of them are Xu Qinyu's disciples.
Xu Qinyu was willing to accept them as her apprentices because they really wanted to learn cooking. Da Niu and Xu Tiao had some talent in cooking. Da Niu was better at cooking pasta, while Xu Tiao was more sensitive to smells. The others were also willing to learn and cook with her.
You don't have to be talented to be a chef. As long as you are diligent and willing to learn and practice, you can make delicious food.
So a month ago, Xu Qinyu planned to accept them as his apprentices, so he just accepted them all.
Xu Feng and the other three are still living in the small storage room of the restaurant. Xu Qinyu hired a carpenter to build a bunk bed in the room to save space and provide enough space for them to live in. Now they have their own wages and they also received a red seal of wine a few days ago, which is enough for them to buy things for themselves.
Xu Ji's business has always been good. In addition, Xu Ji provided relief to disaster victims in early summer and was praised by County Magistrate Yang. Even though some restaurants and hotels were jealous of Xu Ji's business, they did not dare to use any tricks to deal with Xu Ji, for fear of being caught like Ping'an Restaurant before, or being tracked down and punished by County Magistrate Yang. In short, even though some people envied Xu Ji's business, it spent half a year in peace and stability.
The weather in the southwest this year is quite normal. Unlike last year when it started snowing heavily in early winter, this year's early winter is just when we have put on thin coats and it hasn't snowed yet. We have to wait for another month before a few snowfalls occur one after another. Then it will be the end of the year and spring will come, and the weather will warm up.
The days passed by, and in the blink of an eye, another month had passed.
Xu Qinyu didn't have much free time. Xu Ji was too busy, so she didn't have any extra time to think about her fourth brother. She would wash up and fall asleep immediately after coming home at night. Even during her two days of vacation every month, she mostly slept. But she would still worry about her fourth brother when she thought of him occasionally.
Because fourth brother has been doing business for almost a year. He left home in the spring after the New Year. Now it’s the New Year in a month, but he hasn’t returned yet.
It would be a lie to say that I'm not worried. Generally, business trips to the provincial capitals within the Great Sheng Dynasty only take two or three months. Even if you go to other countries on land for trade, it only takes four or five months. You should be back in half a year at most. But it's been almost a year since Fourth Brother came back, and he hasn't even sent me a letter.
Sometimes even Xu Qinyu couldn't help but have wild thoughts, worrying that her fourth brother had died outside.
It's not her fault for thinking too much. I've never seen anyone doing business for almost a year without any news.
Even Mrs. Wen was worried that the fourth brother would have a heart disease. He was sick a few days ago, but fortunately it was not serious. He got better after taking medicine for a few days. Xu Qinyu asked her to have a good rest for half a month and invited Mrs. Meng, Cheng Ge'er's mother, to work as the restaurant manager for half a month to help with the accounting.
Meng has been at home all the time. Her master is a businessman, and Cheng'er and Gong'er also get wages every month. In addition, Cheng'er's sister Tao Jie'er is now helping Ning Jie'er make dumplings, and Ning Jie'er pays her wages every month, so Meng has no shortage of money. She just needs to take care of the family and Aunt Bai at home.
Now the third branch of the Wen family has bought the yard they were renting, and they are living a prosperous life.
In the past two days, Wen rested for seven or eight days, but he couldn't rest any longer and returned to the restaurant to continue helping out.
But it can be seen that Wen is still thinking about her son.
It’s not that Pei Weixuan didn’t want to go back. Even he didn’t expect the sea to be so big, so magnificent and so dangerous.
From the beginning of the journey, they encountered four big storms. Three of them were avoided because they could observe the sky and found islands. But once, even though they could see that the sky was not good, they still couldn't find the island. That time, the entire ship was almost wiped out. Such a big ship was just like a small boat on the sea, and was beaten to pieces by the rain and the sea water. But fortunately, they survived.
Later they really encountered other countries. The people here had golden hair, green eyes, and deep faces. It was very strange to see them.
Pei Weixuan found what he wanted here.
Huo Ye looked at the baskets of crops and the seeds of other fruits and vegetables that he had never seen before. He couldn't believe that His Highness took them out to sea, almost risking their lives, just to find some crops?
But His Highness said that they were of great use, and Huo Ye also listened to His Highness, but he still couldn't figure out what great use these crops could be?
After getting what he wanted, Pei Weixuan did not plan to move forward and wanted to return.
But winter had already arrived, so they could only stay in a strange country for two months, and could only return to Dasheng in spring.
Xu Qinyu had never expected that when she had just casually told her fourth brother that she had some crops with very high yields per mu that would allow everyone to have extra food reserves and prevent the victims from starving to death even in times of natural disasters, her fourth brother would actually get a boat and go out to sea.
The ships here are different from those in later generations. They are slow to go out to sea and can only rely on the sail and rope system to drive the ship. Going out to sea is almost always dangerous.
She didn't know where Pei Weixuan was at the moment, but that night, the sky was dark and snowflakes began to fall.
They went to bed early at night, and in the middle of the night, there was a sudden knock on the door outside, waking up everyone in the Pei family.
Wen thought it was Xuan Ge'er who came back, so she put on her long coat and hurried to open the gate, but found that it was not Pei Weixuan.
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