The neighbors and diners who came by heard that it cost five cents a piece, which was about the same price as malt sugar, but this thing called persimmon cake looked golden and translucent, with a layer of white frost on it, which looked very appetizing.
Everyone knows that the food from Xu Ji Restaurant always tastes great. Someone said, "Then I'll buy two pieces to try." After saying that, he took out ten cents and handed it to Gong Ge'er. Gong Ge'er wrapped two dried persimmon cakes in oil paper and handed them to the man. The man couldn't wait to take a piece and take a bite. The skin was soft and glutinous, and the flesh inside was just like Xu Ji's custard buns, which was runny but would not drip. It was slightly solidified, but still flowable. The flesh was even sweeter and softer, and it tasted sweet in the mouth, but not greasy at all.
"It's delicious, it's delicious. Give me a few more pieces so I can bring them back to my family to try."
This man also owns a shop nearby. He has enough money and can afford it. He wants to buy another twenty persimmon cakes from Gong Ge'er.
Gong Ge'er said, "The dried persimmons are limited in quantity. Each person can only buy ten pieces."
This was also what Xu Qinyu requested. She was worried that if there was no limit on the quantity, someone would buy them all at once and sell them at a high price in Raozhou City.
In fact, the price of dried persimmon cakes is not particularly low. It is the price of normal food with sugar. But considering its taste and the fact that it is fresh, five cents is not expensive. It is even much cheaper than candied fruits, brown sugar, granulated sugar and rock sugar. The price is about the same as malt sugar.
This flavor can be easily sold even at several times the price to the gentry in Raozhou City.
So Xu Qinyu was worried that someone would resell them, so she limited the purchase to ten per person.
The man felt a little disappointed when he heard that he could only buy ten, but he still bought six more, wrapped them in oil paper, turned around and went back, intending to let his wife and children at home taste the soft and sweet persimmon cakes.
This is almost what Xu Ji diners often do. If Xu Ji has any new breakfast or evening dishes, they will bring them home or ask their family members to try them.
Seeing this, everyone bought some to try. After trying them, they couldn't help but praise, "It's really Xu's candied fruit. It tastes much better than other candied fruits."
Most candied fruits are pickled with honey and sugar, and are so sweet that they are almost cloying.
Persimmon cakes will not be like this, because there is no added sugar, only the sugar from the persimmon itself, which is very sweet but not greasy at all.
The two dustpans of dried persimmons were sold out quickly, but many people still hadn't bought any and asked, "Gong Ge'er, why are there only so few? Will there be any more tomorrow?"
Most of the diners recognize the people from Xu Ji.
Gong Ge'er said, "Don't worry, there will be more tomorrow. There will be more tomorrow, enough to fill five dustpans. We will start selling them after breakfast."
When everyone heard this, they felt relieved and decided to buy again tomorrow.
Pei Weixuan stayed in the restaurant all day today. In the evening, he returned to Guihua Lane with Yu Niang. He was holding a small box containing the money earned from the restaurant that day. Usually, when he was not there, Cheng Ge'er or Feng Ge'er would send Xu Qinyu back. Today, since he was there, it was naturally him who sent her back.
Along the way, Xu Qinyu was still chatting with her fourth brother about family matters. She wanted to send some persimmon cakes to the capital, a few hundred of them, for her parents, younger brother, and uncle to try. However, she didn't know when Ma Liu would escort the exiled prisoners to the southwest, so she was worried that he would not come until after next spring, and the persimmon cakes would not be kept.
Pei Weixuan said, "I know a caravan that's moving goods to the capital from the southwest. I'll run them over tomorrow and ask them to deliver the dried persimmons to the capital. What do you think, Yu Niang?"
The owner of this caravan is named Zhou Yan, who is in his thirties and belongs to the emperor's brother.
The colored glaze he obtained from overseas was also sold by the Zhou family caravan. Even the coal and iron that were robbed from the official ship were secretly sold by Zhou family connections.
The caravan that Huo Ye was running was just a small and unknown caravan. So even if he made a living in the caravan, it would not arouse any suspicion from the two people in the palace.
Xu Qinyu said happily, "Thank you, Fourth Brother."
The only people in the capital who could make her worry about them were the second branch of the Marquis Dechang's Mansion and her uncle from her natal family. As for her fourth brother, all of them were in the southwest, and there was no one for her and her fourth brother to worry about.
Back at her house in Laixi Lane, Xu Qinyu counted the money as usual and put it in her big cash box, waiting for half a month to deposit it in the bank.
As for Mrs. Lu, the share of 6,000 taels of silver from the second batch of wine sold was given to her two days ago. By the time the next two batches of wine are sold, she will have almost 25,000 taels of silver notes on her. After giving another 2,000 taels of silver notes to her parents next year, she will still have more than 20,000 taels left for herself.
More than 20,000 taels of silver were enough for her to open a bigger restaurant in Raozhou City or buy a house with five courtyards.
But this year she has not planned to open a branch of Xu Ji in Raozhou City.
Cheng Ge'er and Dong Qian are not yet able to cook. When they can and she is no longer needed, she can hand over the restaurant here to them. Then she plans to open another Xu Ji restaurant in Raozhou City.
Wen and her fourth brother had already discussed the matter of moving to Raozhou with her. Since Governor Zhu was in Raozhou City, the family would be protected if they moved there. Although he could not protect them openly, he could still protect them secretly. Old lady Zhu's health was getting worse day by day. Even if she used the best wild ginseng to prolong her life, she could only live for about a year. It seemed that the old lady would die next spring.
The old lady can still eat and drink now, so if something happens, it would be a happy funeral.
Pei Weixuan also hopes that his family can move to Raozhou City.
He would always restore the throne, avenge his father and brother, and kill Empress Dowager Fu and the new emperor. But even if he restored the throne in the future, he would not use the reputation of the Fourth Prince, otherwise the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu would kill all the relatives and family members on both sides, as well as nearly half of the officials in the court. There would be rivers of blood, and he would have no choice but to revolt, and he could not even use his name.
This will also protect your family.
Governor Zhu is my uncle’s maternal grandfather, and the first area to be recovered will be the southwest.
So he still had to persuade his uncle and grandfather.
But no matter what happens in the future, my uncle and grandfather will protect the Pei family.
So moving to Raozhou City was inevitable.
The next day, Pei Weixuan took a batch of persimmon cakes to the canal.
The Zhou family caravan has a batch of goods to transport from the border town to the capital, and will stay on the canal for a few days.
Pei Weixuan gave the persimmon cake to Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan is in his thirties, with a refined and easy-going face, and seems to be a very gentle person.
He said, "Master, don't worry. I will send the things to the princess's residence."
Pei Weixuan nodded and gave him some detailed instructions, asking him to go to the capital to find out some things.
The two talked for a while before Pei Weixuan went to the restaurant.
By noon, the five dustpans of persimmon cakes for the day were quickly sold out. Some families who lived in poverty were willing to spend ten cents to buy two for their children to taste the sweetness.
Xu Ji’s persimmon cakes are very popular.
Several dustpans of dried persimmon cakes are prepared every day and are sold out in less than half an hour.
In just twenty days, she sold all of the remaining three thousand persimmon cakes and earned only ten taels of silver.
After about twenty days, the goods transported by Zhou Yan also arrived in the capital.
He asked his men to deliver the persimmon cakes to the second room of Marquis Dechang's mansion.
Precisely because they were the princess's family, he had to avoid suspicion and not let outsiders know about his relationship with Her Highness.
The servants delivered the persimmon cakes to the second room of the Marquis of Dechang's mansion and said, "The owner of Xu's shop in Border Town paid a high price to have our caravan deliver these persimmon cakes. Once we receive the goods, please put your handprint on them. We will then return to Border Town to show the receipt to the customer."
Upon hearing this, Xue thanked him and pressed his fingerprint on the receipt.
After everyone left, Xue asked the maids and servants to help move the persimmon cakes back into the house.
After entering the house, she tasted a persimmon cake, which was so delicious that she couldn't help but eat two more in one breath. She stopped only because she was afraid of indigestion.
Last time I drank the wine brewed by Yu Niang, and I thought the wine tasted very good, but after eating the persimmon cake made by Yu Niang, I realized that the food she makes is also unique.
Xue ate three herself and gave two to the maids and servants in the second room so that they could try something new.
The maids and servants took the persimmon cakes to express their gratitude, and only started to eat them after returning to their respective rooms. As soon as they ate them, they all exclaimed, "What kind of dried fruit preserves are these? They are so delicious, sweet and soft, yet not greasy."
"Is this really the food made by the second girl?"
"That should be the case. Didn't the second young lady send some wine back earlier? It seems that the second young lady is doing well in the border area."
"That's because our Second Miss is blessed. Humph, unlike Third Miss and the Old Madam, they are not afraid of retribution!"
"Hush, keep your voice down. Be careful, there are ears on the other side of the wall. If the Third Miss and the Old Madam find out, they'll sell us out."
"How dare they! We are the Second Madam's slaves, and the indentures are in her hands. We are not afraid of them."
"No matter what, I hope our second young lady is doing well in the border area, and I also hope that Madam and the second young lady will meet again in the future."
"That's right."
Like Xue, they did not dare to dream of any greater extravagant hopes. They never thought that Yu Niang would return to Beijing one day.
As usual, Xue gave some of these persimmon cakes to the eldest wife and her brothers from her mother's side, and kept the rest for Li Ge'er, who liked sweets.
On the third side, Xu Qinhui only received the message from the middle-aged man in the past two days.
Because the middle-aged man stayed in Yuanbao Town and Raozhou City for ten days to inquire about the Pei family and Xu Qinyu.
After asking around, I learned that Prince Shu was doing business in a small caravan, earning some hard-earned money. Princess Shu did have some skills, but she could only be a cook and run a small restaurant and winery. The winery seemed to be very profitable, and it seemed that this family was supported by Princess Shu.
The middle-aged man didn't understand why the third master felt that Prince Shu still had a chance to ascend to the throne.
How can such a king accomplish great things?
When he returned to report to Master Xu San, Xu Shuping couldn't help but frown after hearing it.
If King Shu really just does business in a small caravan, he will obviously not be able to accomplish anything great.
Two years have passed, and there has been no movement from Prince Shu. My daughter said that Prince Shu would achieve great things in ten years, which means there are still eight years left. How did Prince Shu rise to power?
Could it be that my daughter had a wrong dream? But the other things she dreamed about in the capital city were completely consistent.
He also asked his daughter how Prince Shu came to power, whether he did so under the banner of restoring the royal family and avenging the late emperor and the eldest prince, or whether he rose to power through an uprising.
But Xu Qinhui didn't understand at all. She was in the harem at that time and knew that if she waited a few years, the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu would indulge in pleasure and disrupt the government. Taxes and labor service would become heavier and heavier, forcing many people to death. Then someone would revolt and in a few years, they somehow reached the capital. Then, the decree of the previous emperor who had appointed the eldest prince as the crown prince was announced to the world, and people knew that the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu had poisoned the previous emperor and slandered the eldest prince. After that, Prince Shu rushed into the palace and chopped off the heads of the new emperor, Empress Dowager Fu and her.
So she had no idea how the Shu King came to be.
Because during all these years of the uprising, no one had ever heard of a person named Shu Wang. The leader of the uprising was also an unattractive, short, and ordinary-looking man. He was not Shu Wang at all.
So she was also confused.
After listening to his confidant's words, Xu Shuping went to see his daughter.
As soon as Xu Qinhui saw her father, she anxiously asked, "Father, have you seen the Fourth Prince this time? Has the Fourth Prince read my letter and sent someone a reply?"
The letter to the Fourth Prince was sent several months ago, but his father told him that Prince Shu was not there, so the letter was given to Pei. This time it was the second letter, to the second sister.
Xu Shuping shook his head. "I met Prince Shu, but he didn't reply."
Xu Qinhui was stunned. "Why?"
Xu Shuping glanced at his daughter. "Prince Shu didn't even read your letter; he burned it directly. As for the letter to Yu Niang, it was delivered to her. Yu Niang should have read it, but she didn't ask that person to write back to you. And Hui Jie'er, did you remember it wrongly? Can Prince Shu really rise to power? He's just a bodyguard in a small business now, earning his money through hard work. How can he rise to power? According to what you said, in two or three years, the new emperor and the empress dowager will have caused great trouble to the court and the people. I'm afraid two or three years won't be enough time to recruit troops."
As he spoke, Xu Shuping's voice became noticeably softer, as he was afraid that someone might hear him.
"Dad, don't worry. Although I don't know how His Highness rose to power, he will definitely inherit the throne in the end. Dad, don't worry about this."
Xu Qinhui was also very anxious, but she was not worried about how the prince would rise to power. She firmly believed that the Fourth Prince would be the heir to the throne. What she was worried about now was only that the prince would not forgive her. But she couldn't help thinking that the Fourth Prince was not a person who would get angry with others, but the Fourth Prince did not read her letter and even burned it directly. Could it be that he was angry with her?
The Fourth Prince has a cold personality, and since he is angry with her, it means he cares about her.
As long as he has her in his heart, there is a way. She continues to write letters to the Fourth Prince. One day, the Fourth Prince will forgive him.
No wonder the Fourth Prince killed her after he rose to power in his previous life. It seemed that he hated her for abandoning him and following the new emperor.
It was indeed a wise choice for her not to become the new emperor's concubine in this life.
Xu Qinhui made up her mind to write a letter to the Fourth Prince every month.
But in this life, many things are indeed different.
For example, my second sister, the sixth princess, the seventh prince, and the little princess are all still alive. Even the new glassware and glass jewelry that have appeared in the capital in the past two months have never appeared in my previous life.
Xu Qinhui was a little confused about how Liuli appeared, but she didn't think much about it. She thought they were just some mundane things, nothing could compare to what she was going to do.
…
Yuanbao Town.
After the persimmon cakes were sold out, Pei Weixuan left.
He didn't stay at home for long. This time he would only stay at home for about half a month before returning to the island. The workshop had to be built and he needed a supervisor.
But this trip is not for business, he will come back every two or three months.
I told my family that I was still going on business and would be back in two or three months.
Before leaving, Xu Qinyu gave him all the remaining persimmon cakes at home and asked him to take them with him on the road.
On the way, Pei Weixuan ate a few and took the rest to give to the children on the island.
Every time he went out, he would bring back delicious food. As a result, even though the children on the island were a little afraid of his icy face, he would always bring back delicious food, and the children looked forward to his arrival.
Needless to say, the persimmon cakes this time are even more popular among children.
During the half month he was away, Huo Ye had already bought all the bricks, tiles, mud and sand materials needed to build the workshop. He had also drawn the blueprints and started supervising the construction of the workshop so that they could start firing glass.
The first batch of colored glass was sent to the capital by Zhou Yan, and it was indeed very popular among the dignitaries in the capital, and was sold almost at the same price as gold. Therefore, the money to build the workshop is enough now. After the workshop is built, the colored glass will continue to be shipped out in batches, and the price should drop a little, but in the first two years, these colored glass will accumulate a lot of silver for him, enough to recruit soldiers.
Pei Weixuan was busy building a workshop on the island.
Xu Qinyu was also busy in the restaurant. The winery had stopped working, but Mrs. Lu did not return to Raozhou City. Instead, she lived in a house in Yuanbao Town. She was craving the food made by Xu Qinyu and planned to stay there until the end of the year before going back.
Time passed quickly, and by the time winter came, Zhen Wu had sold the last batch of wine.
Six thousand taels of silver were also given to Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu had 25,000 taels of silver notes on her, all of which she deposited in a money shop.
Now she is not short of money. Although she has come to this strange place, her life is gradually getting back on track.
As winter came, Dong Qian had learned his lesson and started to help her with cooking, and she had a lot more free time.
Ning Jie'er's Linglong Pavilion has also opened for business. The embroiderers there are all the best embroiderers in Yuanbao Town and the surrounding areas, and the monthly salary is two taels of silver.
The wages of an embroiderer who is good at embroidery are indeed very good.
Now Ning Jie'er's Linglong Pavilion can make a net profit of several dozen to a hundred taels of silver every month.
That's because there are not many embroiderers in Linglong Pavilion. Sister Ning has strict requirements, and the embroiderers' embroidery work must be the best. There are only a limited number of embroiderers available, so the finished products are also limited. Sister Ning is still looking for embroiderers. When there are more embroiderers in the future, she can earn more.
Now everyone has their own business, and my fourth brother is also doing business. Everyone is working hard.
Feng'er and Yan'er are also grown up. Xu Qinyu has discussed with Wen that they will send Feng'er and Yan'er to a private school for enlightenment in the spring of next year.
There is an old scholar in Yuanbao Town who can go to school for enlightenment by paying some tuition.
Although the Pei family was demoted to commoners and could not take the imperial examinations in the future, they still needed enlightenment and had to learn to read and write.
Wen also thought it was okay.
The old scholar taught both boys and girls, so Sister Yan could go too.
But even so, not many people in the town would send their children there to study.
When winter came, Xu Qinyu went to Xia's sister-in-law to buy a lot of cloth and bought several sets of winter clothes for each family member.
I also bought some silk fabrics and a few sets of undergarments for the family.
These silk materials are used for daily work and are not suitable for outer wear. They are very comfortable to use as inner garments or pajamas.
The children in the family have all grown taller, even the fourth brother has grown taller. When the fourth brother came back a few days ago, Xu Qinyu found that he seemed to be taller, with broader shoulders and longer legs. He had lost the last trace of his youthfulness and became a handsome man who stood tall and upright.
Xu Qinyu also secretly calculated that according to the standards of later generations, her fourth brother's height was about 1.88 meters.
Even she has grown a little taller. She was only fifteen years old when she came here, and she could continue to grow for two or three years, so she is taller than last year. When she first came here, her height seemed to be less than 1.6 meters, but now she is 1.65 meters tall. This body is not even 18 years old. Xu Qinyu hopes that she can grow taller.
She had originally planned to make silk clothes again in the summer, but she never had the time. Now that Dong Qian is helping her cook, she has a lot of free time, so she can go shopping to buy some fabrics and find an embroiderer to make clothes.
It took more than half a month before the family’s winter clothes and midriff clothes were ready.
The weather is getting colder and colder. Xu Qinyu plans to make more ham this year and has already told the pig farmer who bought the pig hind legs last year.
But even that big pig farmer couldn't produce hundreds of hams in one go. However, there were many pig farmers in the southwest. After all, they had to supply pork to the entire southwestern border, and there were also many pig farmers in other villages and towns.
The pig farmer also agreed to start helping Xu Qinyu collect pig legs after the twelfth lunar month, and fresh pig legs would be delivered to her every day.
So when the twelfth lunar month arrived, Xu Qinyu became busy and started to pickle ham.
Xu Qinyu is not worried if the restaurant cannot consume all the hams because the hams can be stored. The longer they are stored, the more fragrant and delicious they taste. If the restaurant cannot use them all, the caravan can send them to other provincial capitals for sale.
Whether you sell it to major restaurants or wealthy families, it will sell well if you tell them how to eat it and how to prepare it.
Xu Qinyu was very busy afterwards, and Feng Ge'er, Cheng Ge'er and others would come to help when they were free.
During this cold winter, the business of other restaurants and food stalls in Yuanbao Town is much better than in the summer.
Wen Yunling's Xiangrui Restaurant is doing better than in the summer.
Her Xiangrui Restaurant has been open for almost a year. Although it was deserted in the beginning, it still has some diners thanks to the two signature dishes of the restaurant chef, but business is still very average.
After deducting all expenses, the monthly income is only a few dozen taels, but in the summer there is not even a few dozen taels.
Wen Yunling was also upset at first, thinking that Xu Ji had taken away too many diners from Yuanbao Town, which was why her restaurant business was affected. She also hoped that Xu Ji would go bankrupt, but she watched Xu Ji's business getting better and better, and saw that Xu Ji had come up with many new foods in the summer, and the number of diners had not decreased at all. When winter came, Xu Ji had even more diners. After being angry for a while, she calmed down and said that the gap was too big.
Although she hoped that Xu Ji would collapse and that other restaurants would suppress Xu Ji, she could even openly challenge Xu Ji and scold Xu Qinyu to relieve her anger, but she disdained to use sinister tricks in secret, such as poisoning Xu Ji's food as Ping'an Restaurant did.
Now, over a year later, Xu Ji's business was booming, and she was completely out of ideas. She even considered changing careers and not wanting to continue with the restaurant business. It would be nice to have such a large shop with other businesses, but what would be the best way to change the restaurant into? She was also quite hesitant. Recently, she had been traveling to Raozhou City and other places, just to see more and see what kind of business was best.
This time she won't make a decision too quickly and plans to wait and see for about half a year.
During the last few days of the New Year, most of the restaurants and eateries in the town were closed, even Donglai Ju and Xu Ji were closed, just waiting for the New Year.
Wen Yunling was not idle either. She ran to Raozhou City again, and then she saw a familiar figure.
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