Xu Qinyu had about 220 taels of silver on her, including more than 60 taels from herself, 150 taels from Xue that Ma Liu sent over, and about 10 taels from Wen and Ning Jie'er that they earned from making bags. In addition, Gui had 20 taels, all of which she gave to Xu Qinyu.

Xu Qinyu was not polite and accepted all the money, planning to return it to them when she made money in the future. Of course, if she had enough money, she could return it to them after renting a shop.

In this way, she had a total of about two hundred and fifty taels of silver on her.

Xu Qinyu planned to teach Cheng Ge'er how to make fish balls and braised fish, and slowly hand over the fish business to him. Of course, she would not continue to sell fish and meat in the alleys. She planned to sell them in restaurants and put them at the door of the restaurants so that accustomed customers could pass by. This would also serve as a living signboard for the new restaurant.

When Wen Shuncheng learned that Xu Qinyu wanted to teach him how to cook, he immediately knelt down and asked to become her apprentice.

Here, if you become a disciple, it means that once you become a disciple, you are like a father for life. In other words, as long as you become a disciple, in the eyes of the disciple, the master is like one of his parents. If you betray the master, you will be reported to the government by the master and will be beaten and imprisoned.

The betrayal here probably means being ungrateful, running away after learning the skills, going to other restaurants and hotels to work against the master, or ignoring the master after learning the skills and running away to work on one's own.

Of course, if the master is willing to let them go, that would be fine.

Therefore, some apprentices have been apprentices for decades, but the master is still unwilling to let them go and they can only work for the master in exchange for money.

But even so, there are still many people who want to learn the craft from the master.

At least craftsmen will never die of hunger.

But usually, the apprentice follows the master for about ten years, which is equivalent to helping the master for ten years, and then the master will let the apprentice go out to start his own business.

Xu Qinyu said: "Don't worry about becoming my disciple, just learn how to cook fish first."

These days, Cheng Ge'er has become very familiar with killing fish. For example, Xu Qinyu only takes less than a minute to process a two or three jin herring, scraping off the scales, cutting open the belly and cleaning the internal organs. It now takes Cheng Ge'er about four minutes to process a fish. In addition to processing fish, Cheng Ge'er also does the daily work of cutting vegetables to hone his knife skills.

After Cheng Ge'er returned home, he told his family that Xu Qinyu was going to teach him how to cook fish. His aunt said, "Since you are going to become a disciple, then we should also prepare. A formal ceremony is indispensable. Let's prepare everything first. When Yu Jie'er is willing to accept you as a disciple, we can perform the ceremony."

Meng also nodded, "That's right, let's prepare the things first."

The Wen family is now a family of criminals, and they cannot be appointed as officials through imperial examinations for three generations. Even if they can be appointed through imperial examinations, Mrs. Meng knows that her two sons are of average academic ability and are not cut out for it, so she will not force them. It would be best if they have a skill, and she was also born in a poor family, so of course she would not despise being a cook.

She also had some money on her, so she could prepare the apprenticeship gift first.

This money was naturally not given by the old man and the old lady, but was saved by the husband who had worked hard with the caravan in the past few months. When the caravan was resting, the husband would go hunting in the mountains outside the city and sell the game and furs to earn some supplementary income, but he would give two taels of silver to the old lady every month. The old lady didn't believe that her husband only earned so little every month.

I asked her privately, but she didn't know the answer to any of the questions. After all, the old lady came from a noble family and she would not do such a thing as searching her daughter-in-law's room.

So she saved some money in the past few months, which was enough for the gift to her master.

Her husband had gone out with the caravan again a few days ago, and said that he was planning to divide the family property when he came back, so he asked her and Aunt Bai to be prepared.

Mrs. Meng also hoped to divide the family as soon as possible. She had wanted to divide the family for a long time. Otherwise, why would the third room do all the work? The third room had the worst food, clothing and other expenses. It was too much to treat the third room like servants, so she and Aunt Bai did not work so seriously and diligently, which made the people in the first and second rooms very dissatisfied. Even when they said so, she just responded gently, it was what it was.

…

The next day, Xu Qinyu went out, and the task of preparing food at home was left to Cheng Ge'er, and she felt relieved.

After breakfast, she went out and went to the market on North Street.

There are many small restaurants there, including a small wine shop. But even in this small wine shop, the dishes are much cheaper than those in the ordinary restaurants on East Street and West Street. This is mainly due to the location. The food they serve is for the ordinary people nearby and some caravans at the docks. The portions are large and the taste is pretty good. The price is definitely not high. If it is too expensive, people won't want to come to eat there.

Xu Qinyu thought about it and decided not to open a restaurant in North Street Market.

The taste of her cooking is quite good. Even in the modern society where there are so many cooking masters, few people can surpass her.

It is not ordinary for her to win the title of chef god in a world-class chef competition, and it is even more shocking that she is still in her twenties.

This competition is held only once every five years. There are ten judges, each with a score of ten. All scores must be ten, totaling one hundred points, to obtain this title.

In other words, as long as the judges give a score lower than ten, even if it is 9.9 points, it is impossible to get the title of world-class chef. It is not just the taste of the food that is considered, but all aspects will be evaluated and scored.

Many times, there are several consecutive seasons without a chef god being born.

In the past hundred years of this world-class chef competition, only a few people have won the title of chef god. The value of this title cannot be measured by ordinary money. Winning this title will bring her not only fame but also her private restaurant will become popular all over the world. Many people will come to visit. However, she had an accident on the way back. She even suspected that the accident was not accidental, but most likely man-made.

Thinking of this, Xu Qinyu couldn't help but sigh.

Since she was wearing it and didn't plan to do hard labor for the rest of her life, she naturally wanted to improve her life, and the first thing she had to do was to make money.

So even if she opened the most ordinary restaurant, she didn't plan to sell too cheaply. The customers on North Street couldn't afford such expensive dishes, while there were many wealthy businessmen and officials on West Street and East Street who could afford it, and there were also many gourmets, so she still had to go to East Street and West Street to have a look.

There is a Donglaiju on East Street, which is also the most upscale and best restaurant in Yuanbao Town. It is a three-story restaurant. There are many restaurants on East Street, and none of them can compare with Donglaiju.

Therefore, Xu Qinyu did not plan to open a restaurant on East Street. Donglaiju was the local boss after all, so there was no need to confront it. It would be fine to open a restaurant on West Street as well.

She went to West Street again.

The restaurants on West Street are relatively ordinary, with most of them being two-story shops. There are also quite a few one-story restaurants, most of which are two or three rooms in size.

Xu Qinyu took a look around and found two restaurants on West Street that were being rented out or sold. Both of them had bad business and could not continue to operate, so they stopped renting out the shops. The owners then rented out or sold the shops again. All of them had three storefronts and the renting price was the same, fifty taels of silver a year. The same-sized shop on North Street only cost twenty taels of silver a year, which was thirty taels more expensive.

If you buy it, a shop like this would cost around seven or eight hundred taels of silver.

The two shops were located in the middle, with restaurants and small wine shops on both sides, and another shop at the back of the market, surrounded by a shop selling rouge and powder, a small inn, and many other small vendors. Xu Qinyu compared them and preferred the one at the back. Although it was at the back of the market, there was another road at the corner, and then there were two alleys after that. Most of the houses in the alleys were two or three-story houses, so it would be more convenient for her to set up her fish and meat stall at the door in the future.

Even if she was at the end of the market, Xu Qinyu was not worried.

As long as there are more flavors and customers walk a few more steps into the alley, I think they will still be willing to do so.

If the taste is not good, no one will buy it even at the market.

Although location is important, it is not the most important thing.

Xu Qinyu thought about it, then went into the rouge and powder shop next door and bought a box of facial cream, which is a facial cream for her family to use when she gets home.

This box of facial cream is quite expensive, I spent half a cent.

After buying the facial cream, she started chatting with the owner of the rouge shop.

The owner of the rouge and powder shop was a woman in her thirties, very straightforward and efficient. After chatting with Xu Qinyu about daily life, Xu Qinyu asked about the situation of the shop next door. Since it was a rented shop, she had to find out the character of the owner.

The female shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young lady, do you want to help your family find out about this shop? What do you plan to use it for?"

Xu Qinyu said: "I still plan to open a restaurant."

The female shopkeeper shook her head, "To be honest with you, it's a bit difficult to do food business on our street. Snack stalls are okay, but a restaurant like this with three storefronts is pretty big and the rent is expensive. If business is bad every month, it's really a loss. After all, the taste of Donglaiju on East Street is better, so people go directly to Donglaiju to eat. In addition, there is a small restaurant on this market that does good business, and most people like to eat there. This restaurant has been changed to two owners in a row, and they all do food business, because the rent is paid annually, and they have been losing money, and they can't even get the rent back, so they will stop doing it."

Xu Qinyu knew what the female shopkeeper was worried about.

If the food tastes just average, then it won’t work, but the thing she worries least about is the taste.

"So what about the owner of this shop?" She just wanted to know the character of the owner of the shop.

Seeing that the young lady would not listen to her advice, the female shopkeeper shook her head and said, "The owner is a woman about my age. The shop was left to her by her parents. She is the only daughter in the family. Her parents found a son-in-law a few years ago. A few years later, her parents died of illness and left the shop and the house to her. She gave birth to a daughter who took her surname. She is the head of the family. She is a nice person, very friendly and easy to talk to. There is no problem renting this shop."

As for the woman's husband, the shopkeeper didn't like him very much. She thought he was a bit idle and didn't work. He just stayed at home and ate and did nothing.

But the woman could earn several dozen taels of silver every year just from rent, so she didn't necessarily want the family members to go out to work.

So the female shopkeeper didn't say anything about the woman's man. It would not sound good if she said it out loud. As a woman, why would she say anything about another woman's man?

Xu Qinyu nodded, which meant that if the shop could be rented, everything would be easy.

"Thank you, shopkeeper." Xu Qinyu thanked him and prepared to leave.

"Young lady," the female shopkeeper couldn't help but said, "You run this shop for your elders. If your elders don't have great cooking skills, I advise you not to take over this shop. You will really lose money."

Although the young lady was dressed like a woman, she looked only about fifteen or sixteen years old. The female shopkeeper naturally would not think that the young lady rented the shop and opened a restaurant by herself.

Xu Qinyu turned around and smiled, "I didn't do this for the elders in my family. I did it on my own. I plan to buy the shop and run a restaurant."

The female shopkeeper was stunned.

Does the young lady mean that she is the cook? She also runs the shop herself? She rented the shop to open a restaurant?

She knew there were cooks, but she had never seen such a young cook who spoke so arrogantly.

After asking the female manager of the rouge and powder shop, Xu Qinyu found the owner of the shop according to the notice hung at the door of the restaurant.

The boss lived in the alleys across the street, in a two-story house. I knocked on the door and a woman opened it.

It was similar to what the female shopkeeper said. He looked to be in his early 30s and should be the owner of the shop.

The woman said softly, "What is this, young lady?"

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "I came to see the shop in the market. I learned that it was the owner's, so I came to ask if the shop could be opened so I could go in and take a look."

You have to go in and take a look at the layout, as well as the backyard and kitchen.

The woman nodded and asked Xu Qinyu to wait for a moment. She took the key and went to the shop with Xu Qinyu.

After opening the shop, Xu Qinyu took a look at the layout inside. There was not much dust inside, probably because it had not been cleaned for a few days. It was obvious that someone came to clean the shop regularly. There were two large windows in the shop, so it was very bright. The counter was similar to those in other restaurants here.

The shop was empty, all the tables, chairs and benches had been moved away. Xu Qinyu calculated that there was enough space for about eight tables of different sizes.

There is a well in the backyard and the kitchen is also very large and relatively clean inside. Except for a few stoves, there are no other kitchen utensils. It should be that the previous tenants have moved out.

The shop is similar to other shops, with not much difference. If you want to open a restaurant, you will definitely have to redecorate it, plus buy tables, chairs, benches, pots, pans, and various kitchen utensils such as stoves and iron pots in the back kitchen, which is also a considerable expense.

Xu Qinyu was quite satisfied with the shop.

She smiled at the woman and said, "I will go back and discuss it with my family, and then I will tell my employer."

The woman nodded and watched the young lady leave. She felt that what the young lady had said just now was a bit strange. The young lady said that she would go back and discuss it with her family. It seemed that this meant that she wanted to open a shop?

After Xu Qinyu returned home, she told her family about the size and location of the shop.

Ning Jie'er felt that they never had to worry about what Fourth Sister-in-law decided, so she naturally agreed.

Wen had experienced so much and knew that Yu Niang would not fight a battle without confidence, so she had no objection to the decision made by her daughter-in-law.

"You make your own decision, Yu Niang."

However, Xu Qinyu still planned to wait for two more days so that she could visit other shops and not make a decision so easily.

It looked like the shop had been vacant for at least a month or two, so there was no need to rush into it in the next two days.

Even if she wanted to open a restaurant, Xu Qinyu had no intention of stopping the fish business.

Although most of the people who buy fish are neighbors from the nearby alleys, they have heard from the neighbors that there is a lady named Xu in Guihua Alley who cooks delicious and cheap fish, so they come here to buy fish. After all, it is impossible for people from Guihua Alley and Laixi Alley to buy fish every day, and they occasionally save money and cook some dishes for themselves. But with neighbors from other alleys coming to buy fish, the fish is still sold out quickly every day.

Xu Qinyu has slowly taught Chengge how to cook fish, but of course she is not yet able to take full control of the cooking process. She always lets him watch from the side while she learns the specific heat and proportions of the various seasonings.

After cooking the fish, they were sold out quickly.

In the next two days, Xu Qinyu went out to check out the shops again. On this side of West Street, Xia's sister-in-law's cloth shop was also here.

Wu Wan was naturally very happy when she learned that Xu Qinyu was going to open a restaurant in the West Street Market. In the future, she would be able to eat at Miss Xu's restaurant.

The main reason was that on weekdays, they would just eat the fish cooked by Miss Xu. If they opened a restaurant, they would have more delicious food. Her father was still thinking about the food that Miss Xu had prepared for Xu Kongmu before. However, Miss Xu was busy with business every day, and the breakfast and evening meals she sent to Shao Ge'er were all Shao Ge'er's portions. Xia Yuanzhi didn't want to take away his son's meals, and he always nagged her, asking when Miss Xu could open a restaurant or a restaurant.

Wu Wan also knew that if Miss Xu wanted to open a restaurant or a hotel, she would have to save money slowly. She thought it would take a long time, but fortunately, it only took a few months and the business was finally open.

If the master knew that Miss Xu was going to open a restaurant, he would definitely be very happy.

Xu Qinyu looked around again and finally decided to rent the shop at the end of the market.

She quickly went to look for the owner of the shop, and only then did she know that the woman's surname was Yao. Since Yao was looking for a son-in-law, she naturally did not need to follow the husband's family's address. Xu Qinyu just called her Sister Yao.

Yao was shocked to learn that the young lady in front of her, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, rented a restaurant by herself, and even cooked for the restaurant herself. After the shock, she told Xu Qinyu the truth, "Young lady Xu, I'm not going to hide it from you. The two tenants before my shop were both restaurants, but they didn't make it. The previous one closed down after only half a year. And if you want to rent a shop, the rent is still based on one year, so you have to think it through. It's not easy to run a restaurant here, and it's easy to lose money."

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Yao. I don't need to worry about anything. I have already decided to rent this shop. I will ask Sister Yao to review the contract once it is written. I will pay the money after we sign the contract."

A deed is essential. Xu Qinyu started out as a snack bar owner, so she is very familiar with the process and will write down everything that needs to be paid attention to in the deed.

She spent one night writing the contract, which clearly stated that in addition to the annual rent of fifty taels, the rent could not be raised arbitrarily within five years.

In short, this contract still favors her interests. For example, if she wants to renew the lease within three years, the landlord cannot rent the shop to other people or increase the rent.

In fact, within three years, she would have saved enough to buy a second or third-floor shop.

Although this contract favors her interests, as long as the owner does not raise the rent or cause trouble for no reason, she will not pay less than a penny of the rent.

She had seen too many cases in modern times where landlords would raise rents sharply when they saw that their tenants' business was good, so she had to be on guard.

After the contract was written, Xu Qinyu put it away in a box and planned to sign the contract with Mrs. Yao tomorrow.

Finally, she can open a restaurant. Xu Qinyu has been in a very good mood these days. She smiles every day and even dreams at night that after opening the restaurant, the restaurant is crowded with customers and she makes a lot of money.

She slept half-heartedly at night and dreamed that many customers came to the restaurant to eat. She was cooking in the kitchen. Suddenly, she couldn't move and couldn't lift her hands. The customers in front of her were urging her to move. The more she wanted to move, the more she couldn't lift her arms, as if something was pulling her arms.

Xu Qinyu became more and more anxious, and then woke up.

Then she felt something pressing on her left arm and couldn't sleep. With the moonlight coming in through the window, she saw something about four fingers thick coiled in a circle pressing on her arm. It felt smooth to the touch. She said that she couldn't move her arm no matter how hard she tried in her dream.

The next moment, Xu Qinyu's scalp went numb. The fear of having her arm pressed by a strange object made her want to scream in panic. But before the sound came out of her throat, she suddenly realized that wasn't the thing pressing on her arm in a circle made of white jade?

That little white snake!

Of course, we can’t call her little white snake now, as she has grown a lot.

Xu Qinyu would never have expected that one and a half months after Fourth Brother Pei sent Baiyu away, it would actually slip back on its own?

I looked at the sky outside. It was already dawn.

Xu Qinyu felt a little helpless, but not too scared. Having raised Baiyu for more than three months, she was naturally not afraid of it.

So how did it get back?

She got out of bed, put on her clothes and shoes, and went to the kitchen first.

Bai Yu raised his head and looked at Xu Qinyu, stretched his body, got off the bed, and then followed Xu Qinyu to the kitchen.

After lighting the oil lamp, Xu Qinyu discovered that Baiyu's jade-colored scales were gray and looked as if they were stained with a lot of dirt. It must be because living in the wild for more than a month was very hard. But it looked bigger than before.

Not only that, but you've gained some weight?

No, that's not fat. Xu Qinyu found that Bai Yu's belly was bulging, as if she had just eaten not long ago.

Then Bai Yu looked at it, and Xu Qinyu suddenly met Bai Yu's deep red eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling.

Bai Yu began to move her abdomen...

Xu Qinyu's face turned pale as she tried to stop him, "Stop, stop it!! Don't spit out the food!!!" Her voice was a little out of tune.

But Bai Yu didn't listen to her and continued to move her abdomen...

Finally, he vomited out a pheasant that had not yet been digested.

Xu Qinyu looked at the pheasant on the ground with a dazed look on her face.

So Baiyu thought that they didn’t want it because they ate her food every day but couldn’t hunt for her. So after finding the home, they even caught a prey and brought it home???

Bai Yu crawled to her side and rubbed Xu Qinyu's leg, with a look of asking for credit, as if asking her to eat him.

Xu Qinyu pointed at the pheasant, her hands shaking a little, "Xu Baiyu, swallow it back for me!"

Before, Baiyu and Moyu, people at home would occasionally call them Xu Baiyu or Xu Moyu, saying that they were raised by her and took her surname.

Only when the two of them made her angry would she call them by their last names.

Xu Qinyu really didn't expect that if she raised a snake, she would catch the snake and bring it home, but she really didn't need it at all.