Yan Qingqing thought for a moment and said, "Nephew, as you know, this is a family secret recipe that I originally did not intend to pass on to outsiders."
Since you have come to ask with sincerity, your aunt cannot be unreasonable.
A recipe costs one thousand taels of silver. You can send your head chef from the kitchen to learn anytime. I guarantee you'll learn it completely.
Furthermore, your aunt can assure you that once she gave you the recipe, she won't give it to anyone else.
Shopkeeper Xue was overjoyed. He genuinely felt that two thousand taels was not expensive. He had spent nearly several thousand taels on all sorts of random recipes recently, but the results had been lukewarm. He was very confident in these two dishes.
So he immediately took out two thousand taels of silver notes and handed them to Yan Qingqing. Yan Qingqing didn't show it on her face, but in her heart she was thinking about when she could be as generous as Manager Xue.
Yuan Huiniang, standing to the side, was practically staring wide-eyed. But she tried her best to restrain herself, afraid of embarrassing her mother-in-law.
But my mother-in-law makes money way too easily. She's got two thousand taels in just a short while.
However, she then thought of her mother-in-law, who was capable of everything and could even make ice, so it was only natural that she would earn two thousand taels in this short time.
Yuan Huiniang quickly adjusted her state of mind.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Yan Qingqing, Manager Xue couldn't wait to leave. He needed to go back and make arrangements to send two master chefs over tomorrow to learn from her.
Yan Qingqing called out to him, saying, "Manager Xue, it's inconvenient for me to buy things here since I live in the village. And Buddha Jumps Over the Wall requires quite a lot of ingredients."
Therefore, when you send someone to learn tomorrow, they need to bring their own materials.
It's not that Yan Qingqing is stingy, it's just that there are many things her family really doesn't have.
Shopkeeper Xue replied nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Auntie, I'll prepare all these things. Actually, I was thinking of having you teach them at Yuelaiju, but I know you're busy at home, so I had to let them come and bother you instead."
After Manager Xue left, Yan Qingqing gave the silver notes to Yuan Huiniang so that she could put them into the treasury.
Yuan Huiniang did not answer, but said, "Mother, Xinniang, Yueniang, and I all have our own savings. This money is what you earned from selling recipes, so you should keep it for yourself."
Yan Qingqing's dedication to her family is evident to all. Every penny earned by the family is transparent, and it can be said that Yan Qingqing has not kept a single penny for herself.
This made Yuan Huiniang feel very guilty. How could a mother-in-law not have a secret stash of money, while a daughter-in-law was hiding it?
Yan Qingqing laughed and said, "You can't say that. Before we had a storeroom at home, all this silver was kept by Mother."
It's just that now that we have a storage room at home, we've moved the storage to a different location.
Besides, only I and you have the key to the storeroom; no one else can touch it. If Mother wants money, that's easy enough.
Although Yan Qingqing's words made sense, Yuan Huiniang still wanted her mother-in-law to keep the money herself, so that her mother-in-law would have more say in the family.
Then Yuan Huiniang spoke up again, "Mother, how about this? Keep all the large denomination banknotes in your hands, and put the loose silver in the treasury for household use."
"If there's an emergency and I don't have enough, I'll ask you for more. You don't know how uneasy I feel about having so much money sitting in the warehouse with no one watching it."
Yuan Huiniang was determined to have Yan Qingqing keep the money in her hands.
How could Yan Qingqing not understand her good intentions? She thought to herself that she hadn't spoiled her daughter-in-law for nothing.
So he smiled and replied, "Okay, in that case, I'll leave it with you for now."
The next morning, the two master chefs sent by Manager Xue arrived, and they looked at Yan Qingqing with great eagerness.
One of the fat chefs was surnamed Xia. He was the one who cooked for Yan Qingqing's family when they held their housewarming banquet.
As soon as Chef Xia saw Yan Qingqing, he quickly said, "Madam, we were sent by Manager Xue to learn recipes from you. We hope you will give us your guidance."
Yan Qingqing smiled and said, "Master Xia, you're too kind. I'm sure you two are the people that Manager Xue trusts the most, since you were sent here by Manager Xue to learn."
I hope you won't let Manager Xue down; he paid a high price for this recipe.
The two repeatedly assured each other that they would study diligently and would never let Manager Xue down.
The two of them then moved everything to Yan Qingqing's kitchen. Yan Qingqing saw that the preparations were quite complete, which told her how much Manager Xue valued these two recipes.
So I began to explain it to them in detail, very seriously.
At first, the two thought they were master chefs who had been in charge of cooking for many years. Although Manager Xue asked them to come and learn from Yan Qingqing, they were still a bit arrogant.
However, after Yan Qingqing's demonstration, her knife skills and techniques in steaming, frying, boiling, and stir-frying were no worse than theirs.
They dared not underestimate it in the slightest, and studied with all their might, afraid that if they missed any detail, the taste of their dishes would be far inferior.
The two learned Buddha Jumps Over the Wall quite quickly. After one round, although they still couldn't replicate the taste of Yan Qingqing's version, they had learned most of it.
But when it came to boiled cabbage soup, they were dumbfounded. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't achieve the same effect as Yan Qingqing's soup, which was both fragrant and clear.
This made the two of them very anxious. Yan Qingqing comforted them, saying, "Don't worry, this dish is indeed difficult to learn. It can't be mastered in just one or two tries."
This dish of boiled cabbage in clear broth is like a person's state of mind. One must remain calm and composed.
If any step in the process goes wrong, the final taste will be off.
In her previous life, Yan Qingqing practiced for more than half a year before she could make such an authentic flavor. If someone else could learn it in a day, wouldn't that make her seem too stupid?
Of course, Yan Qingqing only practices this as a hobby; she only practices it occasionally when she feels like it.
After listening to Yan Qingqing's words, the two of them began to calm down and study seriously.
Yan Qingqing allowed the two of them to graduate after six or seven days of continuous study.
The two finally breathed a sigh of relief. Manager Xue had been asking them about their studies at Yan Qingqing's house every day, because Yuelaiju was already heavily promoting these two dishes, and they were under a lot of pressure.
Of course, Manager Xue learned this promotional method from Yan Qingqing's family. He knew how successful Canghe Li Ji's promotion had been, so he copied it and wrote some promotional leaflets, but the effect was not obvious.
Later, Manager Xue made another trip to Canghe Village, bringing plenty of gifts to consult with Yan Qingqing. Yan Qingqing also gave him some advice: restaurants like Yuelaiju, which have already reached a certain scale, don't need to advertise on the main street, because those who are not going to go will still not go.
Manager Xue only needed to advertise to the restaurant's regular customers with a banner, and the results were surprisingly good. Many of the restaurant's regular customers were lining up to try it.
After seeing Master Xia and his companion off, Yan Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. She had been spending the last few days in the kitchen and felt like she was covered in cooking fumes. Even Li Xiangyang was starting to find her repulsive.
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