97 for rent
◎ Mutual benefit and mutual benefit.
Zhang Yao's words undoubtedly put Song Jinyi in a difficult position. If she wanted to accept her as her apprentice, she had to help solve this problem.
Song Jinyi leaned back in the chair and did not accept the tea.
She came to Shengjing to look for someone. Taking Zhang Yao as her apprentice to repay the kindness of Manager Zhang for taking her in was already a hassle, let alone letting her work as a cook.
Zhang Yao was usually impatient and blunt, but in this matter, she was unusually calm. She said sincerely, "Whether Madam Song is willing to help Juxing Tower or not, since you have been so generous with my teachings these past few days, I should keep my promise and become your disciple."
Song Jinyi still didn't move.
Song Jinyi said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Even if I wanted to, I don't know the other party's strength. According to what you said, they must taste good."
"That's all right." Zhang Yao patted his chest and said, "Master has been in Shengjing for so long and hasn't even gone out to eat with me yet. Why don't we go to the Zhaixing Tower and take a look?"
The Zhaixing Tower is located in the southeast corner of the Juxing Tower. It is a three-story building with a colorful door at the entrance. The two entered one after the other and saw a spacious corridor.
There is a patio on the roof, and a row of small private rooms surround the patio on the second and third floors. Each room has a colorful lantern hanging at the door. When night falls, the restaurant is brightly lit. [1]
Unlike other restaurants, there were no waiters at the door to greet guests. Instead, there were several women dressed in gauze and with heavy makeup greeting the guests.
Song Jinyi quickly glanced at their white breasts pressed against her chest, her face flushed, and she immediately turned her head. She found that Zhang Yao was curious and wanted to lean over to take a closer look. She immediately reached out and held Zhang Yao's ear and turned her head away.
Do not look at anything inappropriate!
The maid took them to the first floor to rest.
Song Jinyi asked about the signature dishes and the prices. She was shocked when she asked. Everything in Shengjing City was indeed expensive. Any dish cost fifty or sixty cents.
Song Jinyi had accumulated considerable wealth in Yunzhou over the years, but she still felt bad about spending tens of taels of silver on a meal. Fortunately, Zhang Yao was treating her, so she didn't feel the pain.
After weighing for a long time, we ordered four dishes: Green Bamboo and Fairy Mushroom Stew, Splendid Countryside Cake, Green Stem Porridge, and Chicken Oil Rolls.
While waiting for the dishes to be served, Song Jinyi quietly observed the customer flow of Zhaixing Tower. The sound of the clappers at the hour of Xu rang out, and it was the peak time for dining.
The girls at the door looked like a group of fairies from afar. The restaurant was filled with dazzling lights, clinking glasses, and stringed instruments, creating a Shengjing scene that was like heaven on earth.
Many passers-by stopped at the door, and many people entered this small place for beauty, wine, or food.
Song Jinyi said after a long while: "You really put in a lot of money."
After the dishes came, Zhang Yao did not pick up her chopsticks, but just stared at Song Jinyi as she tasted each dish and asked hurriedly how it was.
Song Jinyi gave an objective answer, "The Green Bamboo Mushroom Stew has a smooth texture, the Splendid Countryside Cake has just the right amount of saltiness, the Green Stem Porridge has a rich rice aroma, and the Chicken Oil Roll has a mellow flavor."
When Zhang Yao heard this, her face fell and she couldn't help but feel annoyed: Every dish here is so good, what should I do with my restaurant in the future?
Song Jinyi had no burden at all. She thought that since she was already here, she could talk about anything after finishing her meal.
Zhang Yao saw that she was enjoying the meal, but she was in no mood. Juxinglou was passed down from her grandfather and it was impossible for her to sell it to others, nor could she watch the restaurant go to ruin.
This looks like a dead end no matter how you look at it!
Song Jinyi finished her meal and said slowly, "Although I can't beat you in cooking, I have another way that may be able to save Juxing Tower."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yao forgot where she was for a moment and asked excitedly, attracting the attention of people around her.
Zhang Yao didn't care. She just turned her head and glared back at them one by one. What was there to see?
Song Jinyi covered her forehead with her hands in embarrassment and smiled bitterly. She waved for Zhang Yao to come over and told her roughly what she was thinking.
…
It can be summed up in four words: avoid the sharp edge and find another way.
After hearing this, Zhang Yao looked hesitant. What Song Jinyi said made sense, but... would her father agree?
******
That night, Zhang Yao returned home and saw that the candle was lit in the room where her father was. From the window, she could vaguely see him with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth anxiously, sighing from time to time.
After a moment's hesitation, Zhang Yao went straight to her father's room, bowed, and told him Song Jinyi's suggestions one by one.
Shopkeeper Zhang was strongly opposed at first.
This old man, who has been in charge of the restaurant for forty years and has worked at Juxinglou since he was old enough to understand things, would not easily change his mind just because of an outsider. "Our Zhang family relies on the reputation and taste passed down from generation to generation. If we follow her changes, can we still call it Juxinglou?"
He then talked about the ancestor who founded Juxing Tower, which emperor it had hosted, and how glorious it was in the past...
Zhang Yao knew that changing his mind would be a long and arduous task, and that it would take time. However, when she heard him clinging to those "old anecdotes" and refusing to face reality, she lost her temper and said sarcastically, "Father, do you think that Master's method has brought shame to Juxing Tower?
"But my daughter has looked at the account books for the past six months. Compared to before, it's not even a third of what it was before. The little money they earn is barely enough to pay salaries. What about the future?
"Now that we have lost everything, what's the point of talking about face? Do we have to guard this empty building forever?" She unconsciously raised her tone in the last sentence, as if questioning.
These words were all true, but truth is often the most hurtful, and they touched Manager Zhang's sore spot. His voice trembled, and he wanted to refute, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.
His eyes turned red with anger and he suddenly started coughing violently.
Zhang Yao realized that her words had been too harsh, so she quickly tried to calm her father down.
Seeing her father like this, Zhang Yao felt sorry for him and softened her tone. However, the restaurant had to change. She said slowly, "In the past, Songjiang cloth merchants had a backlog of several hundred taels of Shu brocade. An embroiderer proposed to sew flowers and birds and cut them into screens.
"The only way to solve the problem of sluggish sales is to stick to the old ways, which is like clinging to a dying tree. Only by thinking about change can there be a glimmer of hope."
Shopkeeper Zhang's slightly cloudy eyes moved. It was not that he didn't know these things. If he continued, it would be a dead end. But... it was just that the business model of Juxinglou had not changed for so many years.
Nothing changes, and we can still say that things have come to this point.
If it changes... and the result is not satisfactory, then he will be the sinner of the Zhang family!
The wind outside the window had begun to blow without anyone noticing, constantly beating and tearing at the window lattice. The wind sometimes blew fast, sometimes slow, and the window lattice groaned intermittently, sometimes long, sometimes short, like a restless soul repeatedly questioning itself.
Zhang Yao didn't know what her father was worried about, but since she had made this decision, she wouldn't let him shoulder the responsibility alone. She held her father's aged hand and said seriously, "This is my ancestors' inheritance, and I cherish it. I don't want to see it fall. I will do my best."
After a long while, Zhang, the shopkeeper, relented and said, "You can take the waiters from the restaurant to do it tomorrow."
******
That day, Song Jinyi talked to Zhang Yao like this. She first asked Zhang Yao a question, "Which braised meat do you think is delicious?"
"Of course it's Zhang's Braised Pork in Gulou Lane, east of the outer city. The sauce is rich, the meat is tender, and it's not dry or tough. It's just a little far away."
"Which dim sum restaurant do you think is the best?"
"Wan Fang Zhai in the west of the city opens at 9:00 in the morning and is sold out by noon."
“Which bakery is better?”
…
"What if one day you want to eat the braised meat from the outer city, the dim sum from the west, and the drinks from South Street?"
Zhang Yao thought about it carefully. It would take one hour to go from the inner city to the outer city, and two hours to go back and forth. If he went to the west of the city to buy snacks...
She hesitated and said, "That might not be enough in a day."
Song Jinyi smiled and said, "But if I tell you there is a place where all these delicious restaurants are, what would you think?"
Zhang Yao answered without hesitation, "Of course I'm happy. When my appetite is poor, I buy one item at a time. When my appetite is good, I buy as much as I want." Then, she looked at Song Jinyi and asked, "But where can I find such a place?"
"So my solution is to turn Juxing Tower into a place like this."
Zhang Yao opened her mouth slightly, stunned for a long time. She tried to understand what Song Jinyi said, but failed. She could only ask, "What does Madam Song mean?"
"Juxing Building has three floors. We rent out the first floor to these retail investors. They already have some fame, so coming to Juxing Building brings their own popularity."
Zhang Yao raised her doubts, "But they all have established shops, so why would they move so easily? Even if they did, they wouldn't necessarily have to come to Juxinglou."
Song Jinyi raised a finger and said, "First, you just said that this one is in the outer city, and that one is in the west or east of the inner city. Which one can compare to Juxing Tower in terms of geographical location?"
"Of course, we are not attracting some low-end retail customers, but stores with a good reputation and a regular customer base. Just having a prime location is not enough."
He raised his second finger and said, "Secondly, they are all businessmen. If I want them to work for me, I have to make them profitable."
Song Jinyi thought that if the chefs at Juxinglou quit their jobs and customers were lost, the only advantage of this building was that there was no rent to pay and it could be rented out to others to make money.
Song Jinyi had inquired and found out that the monthly rent for shops in the outer city was between five and ten taels, while in the inner city it was between fifteen and fifty taels.
For a golden rank like Juxinglou, taking twenty-five taels as a compromise is no different from doing charity, and she believes that some people will be tempted.
Zhang Yao calculated in her mind that one shop would earn 25 taels per month, and ten shops would earn 250 taels. The rent from this item alone would be equal to her current income.
She smacked her lips excitedly. "Indeed, business is slow right now. We can barely fill up one floor every day. Now that we've rented out one floor, it's solved our urgent financial needs. But—"
Zhang Yao was halfway through her speech when she thought of a question, "But if all these stores were clustered together, wouldn't they start a fight?
She was talking to herself halfway, and seeing Song Jinyi's expression, she paused and said the answer, "Find a different store."
Song Jinyi nodded and said, "It's mutually beneficial and complements each other."
Song Jinyi had said so much that her mouth was dry. She patted Zhang Yao and said, "Let's go outside and have some plum wine. As for attracting investment, Shengjing City is so big, there must be like-minded partners."
Three days later, Zhang Yao strode into Song Jinyi's courtyard and saw a teapot on the table in her room. She touched it and found it was not hot, so she poured the tea directly into the pot and wiped her mouth.
In this early autumn, the temperature was still a bit hot. Zhang Yao had been running all day, her body half wet. When she calmed down, she told Song Jinyi about the results of the past three days. She had negotiated with eight companies in total: one for dim sum, one for braised meat, one for pancakes, and one for preserved fruit...
Zhang Yao said with some pride, "As you said, I didn't look for the same store twice."
Song Jinyi looked at her sparkling eyes and wet hair, and praised her without reservation.
Zhang Yao looks noisy, but actually she is still a child at heart. She is so happy to be recognized by Song Jinyi that she cannot express it in words.
She was secretly delighted for a moment, then remembered the important matter and turned to ask Song Jinyi, "Master, the first floor has been rented out, so what about the second and third floors?"
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