"What are you busy with?"
Su Qinghe pushed open the door and came in, looking at the person still sitting at the table and asking.
"Master Wife!"
Upon seeing that it was Su Qinghe, Lin Xi waved the handkerchief in her hand. "I'm choosing embroidery patterns for my wedding dress, my lady, please take a look!"
Su Qinghe walked a few steps behind him and stood still, bending down to half-embrace him.
"At this hour, you still have the energy to look at these things."
As she spoke, her eyes darted quickly across the various embroidery patterns. "How about this one? The peach tree is in full bloom, its fruit abundant."
She picked up a handkerchief embroidered with peaches with two fingers, held it up to Lin Xi, and whispered with a smile.
"Thousands of peach blossoms are in full bloom, and the fruit is plentiful and abundant. This young man, after marrying into the family, will soon have a noble daughter and a prosperous lineage."
"My lady, you're making fun of me again!"
Lin Xi blushed and grabbed the handkerchief, hiding it in her palm.
Wen Zhu's eyes flashed, and she took a few steps forward, smiling as she bent down slightly.
"The head of the family has a good eye for choosing peaches. Not only does it bless the descendants, but peaches are also a symbol of longevity and health!"
Su Qinghe glanced at him, then lowered her head and rested her chin on Lin Xi's head.
"Even you, little servant, are smarter than him."
Hearing the praise, Wenzhu smiled and said, "It's all thanks to Mr. Lin's excellent teaching. Recently, Mr. Lin has been practicing calligraphy in his spare time, and I have learned a lot by following him around."
"Oh? You've been practicing calligraphy?"
Su Qinghe looked down in surprise, picked the person up from the stool, sat down herself, and Lin Xi sat on her lap.
Lin Xi shifted uncomfortably, avoiding Wen Zhu's view.
"Yes, I'm currently pregnant, so I don't go out much. I have nothing to do in the yard, so I just want to learn more characters as soon as possible."
“A while ago, Steward Zhang brought the manor’s account books to me, saying he wanted me to check them, but I don’t know anything about these things, so in the end I had to ask Brother Yuan to help me check them.”
At this point, Lin Xi's face showed a hint of shame.
Su Qinghe didn't take it to heart and offered gentle words of comfort.
“He learned these things when he was young and he used to manage the household. Xiao Xi doesn’t need to blame herself. Everyone has their own strengths. For example, Xiao Xi is a good cook, but A Yuan can’t!”
Hearing Su Qinghe's words of comfort, Lin Xi felt much better, but it did not deter him from his studies.
“After all, Brother Yuan is pregnant, and we can’t let him keep working so hard. I should learn more as soon as possible so that I can share the burden with him.”
...
The next morning, Shili Xiang had already opened for business. Su Qinghe came to the store early in the morning to check on things, but she received some bad news.
Just two streets away from Shili Xiang, another hot pot restaurant has opened.
"Boss, the waiter I sent to inquire earlier has returned. He said that the prices of vegetables in their shop are one-third lower than ours."
"We opened today, and they've already taken up most of our customers. Usually, we have plenty of reservations by this time, but today we still have half the tables empty. What are we going to do?"
Shopkeeper Wang Lin frowned and reported the situation of the rival shop next door to Su Qinghe in detail.
"Moreover, their store's name is similar to ours, called Yipinxiang, which is clearly targeting our store."
Su Qinghe crossed her arms, glanced in the direction of the deafening drums and gongs across the street, and then walked out.
"Okay, the store will remain as usual. I'll go check it out."
She first went home and disguised herself. When she appeared at the entrance of Yipinxiang, she was already an ordinary-looking middle-aged woman.
"Sir, our restaurant is newly opened today, and all dishes are 30% off. There are still seats available inside. Would you like to come in and have a taste? The food is just as good as the one from Shili Xiang across the street!"
As soon as she stood at the door, she was greeted with a warm welcome from the doorman. She looked up and did indeed raise an eyebrow.
Bao Min?
Is she a worker or the owner here?
Su Qinghe glanced at her, stepped inside, found an empty table, sat down, and began to look around.
The space isn't as big as Shili Xiang, but the decor is very nice; you can tell that many things have been freshly painted.
While she was looking around, a waiter brought over the menu.
She looked down and saw that the prices were indeed much lower than those at Shili Xiang, with some dishes costing more than a third of the original price.
"Sir, what would you like to eat? Our boss said that if you order more than two taels of silver today, we'll give you an extra side dish."
The waiter, with a fawning smile, pushed the menu toward Su Qinghe.
"Who's your boss? I'd like to know him, get acquainted with him, and come back often if the food is good."
Su Qinghe ordered the dishes while casually speaking.
"Uh... that guy in the blue shirt over there, and the one greeting guests at the door is our young master."
The waiter surveyed the lobby and finally pointed out two people not far away to Su Qinghe.
"Okay, I got it. I've ordered it. I'll try to be quick."
Su Qinghe glanced at it and handed the menu back. After the waiter left, she got up and walked up to the second floor of the restaurant.
The owners here were indeed Bao Wen and her daughter. She wondered where they got so much money to open a new restaurant in such a short time, and with such nice decor. She remembered that this place used to be a teahouse.
After looking around, Su Qinghe returned to her table, where a round iron pot was now placed.
She noticed this when she was ordering: all the flavors that Shili Xiang had were available here, so she simply ordered two of them.
Before all the dishes were served, she dipped her chopsticks in some soup and tasted it on her tongue, instantly feeling relaxed all over.
This is far inferior to her soup base. When Bao Min said it was comparable to Shili Xiang's, she really wondered if the two people who made the soup base in the shop had betrayed her.
Although she had other ways to deal with it, this was simpler.
Once all the dishes were served, she simply ate a couple of bites and left.
When asked why she didn't eat more, she said firstly, the taste was just average, and secondly, she needed to save room for lunch with her husband when they got home.
"We will launch new varieties tomorrow. In addition, we will hire a troupe of drummers to parade through several main streets."
"For example... if you spend more than 100,000 yuan at Shili Xiang within two months, you will have a chance to win a medium-sized pregnancy fruit in a lucky draw. The number is limited each time, but no fewer than five people will be eligible."
"It's been a while since we opened. Please tally up the number of customers tonight, and we'll hold our first lucky draw tomorrow."
Ignoring Wang Lin's shock, Su Qinghe finished her tea, gave her instructions, and left.
She hadn't used the batch of pregnancy fruits she had harvested last time. After picking the superior pregnancy fruit, Lin Xi and Ji Yuan also successfully became pregnant, and she almost forgot about the remaining few medium-grade fruits.
When I went to see it a few days ago, the fruit was still hanging on the tree, looking fresh and juicy, and there were even a few more flower buds.
With this guaranteed success, even if ten or eight more copycat shops appear, her "Ten Mile Fragrance" brand will still stand strong in this world.
Moreover, there were many different kinds of hot pot in their previous lives, which they could not possibly learn!
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