"Wouldn't that be inappropriate? It's getting late," Manager Jin asked with a smile, rubbing his hands together.
“Indeed,” Jiang Nuan nodded. “Then never mind, I’ll see you out now.”
Upon hearing this, Manager Jin's smile froze.
He was just being polite!
Is it really necessary to be so heartless?
Couldn't you have tried to keep them?
You've come all this way and you don't even deserve a meal?
Thinking of Jiang Nuan's cooking skills, Manager Jin subconsciously swallowed, "It doesn't seem that late!"
“It’s alright even if it’s late,” said Manager Akiyama anxiously. “We drove here ourselves, so it’s fine if we travel at night.”
Actually, he wanted to stay the night and freeload breakfast the next day, but Jiang Nuan was a widow, and the two of them, being grown men, really couldn't stay.
Thinking of this, Manager Qiushan gave Manager Jin a cold look.
It's all that old bastard Jinming's fault. He's so stingy with the money that he can't let go, and he insists on coming right as the sun sets.
If I had come in the morning, I could have gotten an extra meal.
I missed a meal, so sad!
“How can we travel at night?” Jiang Nuan immediately retorted. “The road is all mountains. Who knows if wild animals will come down? You should hurry up and leave.”
Her face was tense, her back was straight, and her cheeks were flushed with excitement.
Her gaze would occasionally fall on the two pretentious individuals, then she would immediately lower her eyes, as if afraid they would see the mockery in her eyes.
“Not for now,” Manager Qiushan nudged Manager Jin beside him. “The manager has something to discuss with you.”
Manager Jin was taken aback for a moment, then immediately replied, "That's right, I still have something to discuss with my mother-in-law, and it's not something that can be explained in a short time."
As he spoke, he patted his head and said with annoyance, "Oh, I almost forgot, my wife asked me to check on our daughter. I'll go check on her first, and we'll talk about this later."
After saying that, he dragged his chubby body and ran off.
Manager Qiushan secretly gave Manager Jin a thumbs up, then looked at Jiang Nuan with a big smile, "Little sister, we're all family, no need to take care of us. Go ahead and do your work, anything is fine, I'm not picky."
Smacking his lips, Manager Akiyama added, "A little meat and a little wine will do, no need to trouble yourself."
hehe……
Jiang Nuan couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Those two shameless old men are really going all out for food.
I've already incurred their favor, so what can I do? I have no choice but to agree.
After nodding stiffly, Jiang Nuan turned and left.
As I passed by the courtyard, I saw Manager Jin, who was getting along very well with his own father.
I instantly felt disgusted.
This guy is hopeless; he's so perfunctory in his acting.
With several more people joining the family, even though Jiang Nuan brought a lot of things from the county town, it still wasn't enough.
Fortunately, the two who were trying to freeload still had some conscience. They took some meat noodles and pieced them together to make two tables of food.
The men were in the main hall, with the two elders, Old Man Huang and Old Man Jiang, holding the fort, while Village Chief Huang and the younger generation kept them company with drinks.
The other table was for women and children; the food was exactly the same except there was no alcohol.
Jiang Nuan didn't know how Huangjiakou entertained guests, so she used all the ingredients she had at home and made sixteen dishes.
Among them, there are four mutton dishes: braised mutton, stir-fried mutton with scallions, mutton stewed with radish, and spicy mutton trotters.
Manager Jin ate the food at this banquet like a woman five months pregnant.
Patting his round belly, Manager Jin said with a satisfied look, "My mother-in-law's cooking is really good. Our head chef has mastered half of the skills, so Wuweilou will never have to worry about business. Qiushan, don't you think the dishes are even better this time than last time?"
"Hmm," said Steward Qiushan, who was rubbing his stomach to help him digest, "I haven't tried several of these dishes before. They must be Madam Jiang's special recipes."
"It's a pity we don't have the money," Manager Jin said with a pained expression. "Otherwise, if we bought a few more recipes, we would be able to compete with Juquanlou Restaurant."
Manager Jin has a keen eye and can clearly see the value of the various mutton dishes.
Lamb is cheaper than pork, but it's disliked because of its strong, unpleasant smell.
The dishes Jiang Nuan made were simply delicious.
The profit margin for these dishes is self-evident.
Unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy it.
Gold Mountain is right in front of me, but a wall is blocking my way. It's so frustrating.
Manager Jin couldn't help but curse Jiang Nuan inwardly for being cunning.
Such a good recipe, why wasn't it included in those ten dishes? It was clearly intentional!
"How about," Manager Akiyama tentatively suggested, "we can buy on credit first?"
"I'll give it a try!"
After Manager Jin explained the situation, Jiang Nuan refused without hesitation, saying, "I won't sell the recipes, and you don't need to buy them either."
"Why?" Manager Jin asked, puzzled. "We can discuss the price further."
“Manager Jin,” Jiang Nuan looked up at him earnestly, “don’t you want to open your own restaurant?”
Upon hearing this, Jin Ming was completely stunned.
He stared at Jiang Nuan in shock, and it took him a long time to come to his senses. "You want to open your own restaurant?"
“No,” Jiang Nuan shook her head. “Since ancient times, merchants have been fat sheep raised by meat-eaters, doing all the work for others. I have no such good intentions.”
Upon hearing this, Manager Jin gave Jiang Nuan a complicated look, then smiled bitterly and said, "What you disdain is something I could never obtain in my entire life."
His greatest fortune in life was selling himself into the Jin family, and his greatest misfortune was also this.
He has worked hard for half his life to achieve his current level of respectability, with no worries about food or drink. He should be content, but now all he wants is to be a free man.
Even artisans of low social status are acceptable.
"Leave yourself a way out," Jiang Nuan sighed. "It's your duty to plan for the family, but you also need to make plans for yourself. Otherwise, you should be able to foresee what will happen to you."
“It’s easy to say,” Manager Jin said, his bitterness deepening. “I am a servant of the Jin family. My fate is entirely in the hands of my master.”
Not to mention he also has a family to support.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nuan softened her tone and said, "As the saying goes, wealth doesn't last three generations. Be patient and wait; perhaps an opportunity will come."
Shopkeeper Jin looked up in surprise and asked, "You figured it out?"
He never revealed the Jin family's situation to anyone.
“I’m not stupid,” Jiang Nuan rolled her eyes at him. “The Five Flavors Restaurant is about to close down, and no one from the Jin family has shown up. It’s clear that they’re all irresponsible.”
It's not a big deal if they don't manage things, since the head of the household only needs to keep the accounts in order. It's serious if they don't have any sense of crisis, which shows that no one in the Jin family is good at managing things.
Lacking business acumen yet living a life of extravagance, he will squander his wealth and eventually fall into ruin.
A person who is willing to spend eight taels of silver on vegetables has no scruples about spending money.
When you have money to squander, that's fine, but when you don't, don't pawn or sell your family property.
“Yes,” Manager Jin’s complicated gaze swept over Jiang Nuan, and he sighed softly, “Since my mother-in-law has seen through it, I will not hide it from you. In my opinion, the Jin family will inevitably fall into ruin within ten years.”
In recent years, the Jin family has pawned nearly a hundred acres of fertile land, and signs of decline have already emerged.
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