A wooden tub sits under the sink, with a bamboo pole suspended from it by a thin rope. The other end of the bamboo pole leads to the backyard, and with a gentle tug on the rope, a thin stream of water will flow from the other end.
Actually, there's a small wooden bucket hanging high up on the other end. When the bamboo pole isn't pulled, the two holes are parallel. But when the bamboo pole is pulled, they become one high and one low, and the water from the higher end naturally falls down. It's quite an ingenious idea.
For aesthetic purposes, Yan Xia also had a custom-made bamboo frame made to cover the wooden bucket, leaving a round pit in the middle. The dirty water from washing hands would flow down into the pit, and as long as you didn't look closely, you wouldn't see the dirty water. Changing the bucket was also simple; you just had to pick up the bamboo basket.
The kitchen in the backyard was combined into one.
It's a full twenty square meters.
It can accommodate quite a few people.
The bedroom and storage room remained unchanged, as the bed frames inside were all brand new.
The changes on the second floor are even greater than those on the first floor.
First, a bar was added, with a whole cabinet behind it, which will be filled with drinks and other items in case customers on the second floor want to buy them. Second, a row of wooden chairs was put on the balcony, so people can rest and enjoy the view while leaning against the balcony.
All the windows were also made into arches.
The final decision was made to place seven tables on the first floor and 13 tables on the second floor, for a total of twenty tables.
Each table has a screen to prevent guests from sitting together awkwardly.
There were two small private rooms in the innermost corner of the second floor. They were called private rooms, but they were really just two wooden boards with a light gauze curtain.
It blocks people but doesn't block sound.
However, it offers slightly better privacy.
It is suitable for guests with high social standing to dine here.
Although she didn't know if her restaurant had any distinguished guests, whether they came or not was one thing, but she had to have them!
She didn't use a curtain because she bought a batch of expensive smokeless fruitwood charcoal to use for hot pot. What if the private room wasn't well-ventilated and the guests got carbon monoxide poisoning?
At least a light gauze curtain is safer.
The table was also custom-made.
A hole was dug in the middle to place the iron pot she designed. Under the iron pot was an iron plate for holding charcoal. The lit charcoal was put into the iron plate, and the waiter was asked to put the iron plate under the table and then wait for the hot pot to be placed on the stand.
Unlike ancient stoves, where iron pots were inlaid on top and couldn't be removed.
If we're talking about similarities, Yan Xia thinks this design is like modern charcoal-grilled meat.
First, charcoal is placed on the grill, then an iron plate. Guests grill their own food. Once they're finished, the iron plate is removed, and the charcoal is taken away so it can be used by the next guest, since charcoal is quite expensive.
All the bowls and chopsticks were also purchased.
The chopsticks are extra-long, specially designed for hot pot, to prevent guests from getting burned while eating.
The restaurant needed to hire staff, otherwise her family couldn't handle the workload. Yan Xia didn't want the recipe to be leaked, so she found Kong Yaren and asked him to help her find some servants.
The Kongya people do not sell people; they only sell land and houses.
However, one of his friends works in this field.
Through his introduction, Yan Xia met Zou Yaren.
Zou Yaren was also very clever and learned about her needs.
She was given ten excellent servants and maids to choose from.
Yan Xia only selected six.
They were all refugees from respectable families who had lost all their relatives.
Four men and two women.
After Yan Xia signed the indenture with them.
They were given new names. It's a custom here that you must change the names of servants after you buy them. This way, the servants will treat their master's family as their own and will be more loyal.
The maids were named using the character "Bao" in their names, such as Bao Chun and Bao Xia.
The attendants used the character "Qian" in their names, and were named Qian Rong, Qian Hua, Qian Fu, and Qian Gui respectively.
This auspicious name will surely bring her restaurant great profits.
The six people stayed in the backyard of the restaurant, two people per room, with three rooms still empty.
Jinlu and Jingshui were assigned by her to be managers of the restaurant.
After several months of instruction from Yan Xia, her children and daughters-in-law have learned to recognize some characters and are quite proficient with the abacus.
Jin Fu and his two daughters stayed at the pastry shop. Guihua and Lamei made pastries, while Xiaoji and Jin Fu were in charge of selling and packaging them.
As for Xiaohe, she should rest and recuperate.
Yan Xia, on the other hand, darted back and forth, helping out wherever needed.
Anyway, it's so close, just a few steps away.
Everything was completed in mid-December.
The cattle seller urged them to hurry up twice during this period.
They said the cow would die if it wasn't slaughtered soon.
Yan Xia kept delaying it.
Fortunately, each one is barely clinging to life.
The temperature had dropped to around two degrees Celsius. Two days before the opening, Yan Xia bought all the seasonings and side dishes. She braised the offal and meat from four cows so that they could be stored for more than half a month, while selling each cow fresh.
It should last for about 4 days.
The remaining parts that can't be sold are used for food and other purposes; even the cowhide can be used to make shoes and other items.
The butter was all rendered, cooled, and solidified before adding all the prepared seasonings. The amounts had to be precise. Once the base sauce was ready, it was poured into 60 flat-bottomed basins.
Once the base has hardened, it can be cut. One pot can be cut into 12 pieces, and one piece of base is enough for a table of guests.
People here can't handle spicy food, so Yan Xia made two levels of spiciness: one slightly spicy and one mildly spicy.
The guests will be able to choose for themselves at that time.
The menu is a wooden board, with meat and vegetables carved on the front and vegetarian dishes carved on the back.
The price was also written down.
At the very bottom, there's a line of small print that says it's for drinks and beverages.
The prices of alcoholic beverages range from high to low. There are only two types of drinks available for now. One is iced soy milk supplied by the town's tofu shop. A bucket of soy milk can hold about 50 cups and only costs 25 coins a bucket. She sells it for 5 coins a cup, which is not too expensive. After all, it is sold in a shop and is different from the one-coin-a-bowl soy milk sold on the street. Those don't have sugar added, but hers does. The iced soy milk is sweet and refreshing, perfect for drinking while eating hot pot and also helps to relieve the spiciness.
Another type is plum juice made by mixing plum jam she bought with sugar water.
The price is low, and many farmers make plum sauce at home. Because they are reluctant to add sugar, it is extremely sour. It is usually eaten with porridge as a side dish to whet the appetite. Some people add salt and eat it like soybean paste in cooking.
Yan Xia bought pure sour juice, which was diluted with water in a 1:2 ratio with sugar.
Take a sip, and it's sweet and sour with a refreshing plum aroma.
It has a similar effect to sour plum drink.
As for the types of meat sold in the restaurant, it's not just beef; most of the meat sold is pork and mutton. Beef is hard to find and is a special item on the menu. It's not even carved on the wooden board; instead, it's carved separately on another board, just like braised meat, and is only given to customers to order when it's available.
On the eve of the opening, Yan Xia and her family sat in the restaurant eating hot pot.
Four people can sit at one table. If you squeeze in, you can add four more tables, which means two people can sit in a row. In order to save hot pot broth, Yan Xia only opened two tables: one for the servants and one for her family.
Xiao Ji insisted on sitting at the servants' table, and Yan Xia didn't stop her, since the base ingredients and dishes were the same at both tables.
Each dish includes a beef platter, a braised meat platter, an offal platter, sliced winter melon, sliced bamboo shoots, cabbage and radish, and a plate of hand-pulled noodles.
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