The whole family gathered together to eat a hot pot. There was a copper pot on the square wooden table, surrounded by plates of dishes, white lamb tail fat cut into slices, fresh and tender lamb meat cut as thin as cicada wings, lamb legs cut by hands as thick as fingers, lamb brain cut into thin slices by hands, as well as wool tripe and various vegetables.
The mutton is cut with Cheng Ge's knife skills. The mutton is fresh and cut as thin as cicada wings. The mutton legs are also cut into uniform thickness.
Cheng Ge'er has been learning from Xu Qinyu for almost a year. He is already very proficient in making side dishes and has very good knife skills. He can cut fish and meat slices as thin as cicada wings. The fish balls, braised fish and fish head stewed with tofu that are now sold at the door of the restaurant are also made by Cheng Ge'er, and they taste very good.
Xu Qinyu felt that in two years, Cheng Ge'er would be able to be a chef.
The others also learned very seriously. Luo Danniu was indeed very talented in making pasta and could already help Xu Qinyu make steamed buns and dumplings. Xu Qinyu also paid Luo Danniu 800 coins a month.
Feng Ge'er has average talent in cooking, but he is very hardworking. He works harder than others and practices more every day. He believes that diligence can make up for lack of talent. Not only that, he also spends his spare time doing horse stance exercises in the backyard of the restaurant.
The lame Diao Ge'er is quite sensitive to smells, and Xu Qinyu is also cultivating his talent in this area.
Xu Yu, Xu Shun and Erniu were still too young, and apart from washing vegetables and preparing side dishes, they just helped with odd jobs.
Except Xu Qinyu who was still in the restaurant, everyone else was with Old Lady Zhu.
The old lady was unable to get up, so she sat on a rattan chair beside her. The chair was covered with thick bedding and a thick, soft pillow, and she leaned on the soft pillow.
Zhu fed the old lady the boiled mutton dipped in sesame sauce, one bite at a time.
After tasting the mutton hotpot, Governor Zhu and Mrs. Zhu were impressed by its delicious taste.
I thought the brown sugar rice porridge, pickled fresh vegetables and turnip soup made by Miss Xu before were already amazing enough, but the hot pot I ate today tasted even better.
Shabu-shabu mutton itself is fragrant, similar to the fragrance of hot pot, and almost no one can resist this fragrance.
Zhu fed the old lady a lot.
After boiling the mutton and vegetables, when you have almost finished eating, cook some noodles.
The noodles were wide noodles rolled by Xu Qinyu by hand and cooked in a copper pot for half an hour. When the noodles were cooked, they were served in a bowl and sprinkled with sesame sauce. Everyone who thought they were full ended up having another bowl of noodles each.
The whole family was a little fed up.
Both Magistrate Zhu and Madam Zhu could not help but wonder where this young lady learned her cooking from and how she could have such amazing cooking skills.
After eating and drinking, Zhu stayed to accompany the old lady at night.
When Xu Qinyu returned to Guihua Lane, the old lady had already gone to bed.
After washing up in the evening, Xu Qinyu took out the wild ginseng that her fourth brother had dug up in the mountains. This ginseng was of excellent quality, had been processed, and had complete roots.
Although there are many mountains in the southwest, there are very few wild ginseng. I don’t know how fourth brother dug it up, but he was very lucky. Judging from the appearance of this wild ginseng, it must have grown for hundreds of years. It is a good thing that can be used to sustain life.
Xu Qinyu planned to send this wild ginseng to Old Lady Zhu. The old lady was already in very poor health, and this wild ginseng might be of some use to her. Wild ginseng is a tonic, and if it could allow the old lady to live longer, it would also be good for her to enjoy more family happiness with her grandmother.
Wen almost forgot about this wild ginseng.
However, after the son dug up the wild ginseng, he was going to sell it and give the money to Yu Niang to open a restaurant. Later, Yu Niang forbade him to sell it and asked her son to process the wild ginseng. Yu Niang also said that it would be a pity to sell such a good thing, and it might be able to save lives in the future. Yu Niang was right.
Wen was very grateful and thanked Yu Niang.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Mom, please stop thanking me. This was originally dug by my fourth brother. It is only right for my fourth brother's things to be given to her great-grandmother. Fortunately, she didn't sell it at the time."
If wild ginseng of this quality is sold out, it will be impossible to buy it even if you want to.
The next morning, Xu Qinyu went to see the old lady.
The old lady was still in a coma, and Wen followed her and gave the wild ginseng to Governor Zhu, saying that it was dug by Xuan Ge'er on the mountain last year and had been kept at home after being processed. Now that the old lady needed it, she gave it to her to replenish her body.
Governor Zhu did not refuse. He took the wild ginseng and thanked the two of them. The doctor had said before that if they could afford the best wild ginseng, perhaps the old lady could live longer. He never thought that the old lady would have such an opportunity when she came to Yuanbao Town.
Since he became an official, he has been incorruptible and never took a penny from the people. He really could not afford ginseng of this quality.
Moreover, he had asked people to look for it in drugstores in various states and counties, but he couldn't find any wild ginseng of good quality.
Before going to sleep yesterday, my mother kept talking to him, saying that it would be great if he could meet his great-grandson Xuan.
My sister said that Xuan Ge'er went out to do business with a caravan, but he has been gone for almost a year and has not returned yet.
Zhu Taishou hopes that Brother Xuan can return safely.
The old lady was in a coma. Xu Qinyu and Wen went over to see her and then went back to the restaurant to work.
Xu Qinyu was also very busy afterwards. She asked Cheng Ge'er to run errands for her to see if there were any yards selling hams in Guihua Lane or the alleys nearby. She planned to pickle more hams this year, but there was definitely no place to put them at home, and she didn't have a workshop either. She could only buy a small house first. But it would be even better if there was a workshop.
Xu Qinyu also told Cheng Ge'er that if there was a workshop for sale, he should tell her. If she thought the price was right, she might as well buy the workshop. In the future, whether it was pickling ham, making pickled vegetables, or other ingredients, they could all be made in the workshop.
She plans to pickle hundreds of hams every year, and if they sell well, she can pickle more.
Cheng Ge'er helped run errands these two days and actually found him a workshop.
The workshop is on the North Street. It is a winery. The owner is moving to Raozhou City, and the wine vats in the workshop are also cleared out, leaving only an empty workshop. It is about the size of a three-story house. Unlike the house, there are no winding corridors and houses and courtyards in the front and back. The workshop is composed of workshops on the four sides with a large area in the middle, which can be used for work or drying things. It is very convenient.
The place is on North Street, which is close to the pier and is a mixed crowd. But because of this reason, the workshop is quite cheap, selling for only 200 taels of silver.
When Cheng Ge'er told Xu Qinyu about this, Xu Qinyu took some time to go over and take a look. She quite liked this place. The inside was already very clean and there was no need to buy anything else. She could just buy some hooks that could be hung in the house to allow the ham to ventilate and ferment, and then a larger long table and some wooden boards.
Xu Qinyu immediately took out some money and bought the workshop.
After buying the workshop, she went to buy pig's hind legs.
It is best to use Wujin pigs to pickle ham, but there are no Wujin pigs here, and there are no conditions to raise Wujin pigs. However, there are black pigs raised in the mountains, which are also good. Xu Qinyu asked Tian the butcher, because sometimes the meat on Tian the butcher's stall is this kind of black pigs, and Xu Qinyu can still taste the difference in pork. Sometimes it is the kind of pigs fed with bran and pork weeds, which are generally raised by ordinary people at home and are fatter.
The hind legs are used to pickle ham, and the best time to pickle ham is from the beginning of frost to before the beginning of spring. The frost has already fallen a few days ago, so it is almost time to start pickling ham.
Butcher Tian knew that Xu Qinyu wanted to buy hundreds of pig hind legs, so he told her that there was a large pig farmer nearby and that sometimes when he couldn't get pork, he would buy it from there.
Xu Qinyu asked Tian the butcher to help him order a hundred pig hind legs from there and have them delivered to the workshop on North Street.
She was still cooperating with the butcher Tian's fat intestines, and asked Gongger to deliver them to her after they were salted every day.
One hundred pig hind legs cost about seventy taels of silver, and each pig hind leg weighed about twenty to twenty-five pounds.
The long table and hooks that Xu Qinyu wanted were delivered in just two or three days, along with a lot of wooden boards.
These wooden boards are used to shape the ham and squeeze out the moisture after the ham is cured.
For the next half month, Xu Qinyu had to go to the workshop every night when she came back. On her day off, she also went to the workshop to busy herself with pickling ham. Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er also came to help her.
Salting the ham requires applying salt twice. Rub the salt on it repeatedly after it is fully coated with salt, and then rub it on again the next day.
The ratio of salt to ham must also be appropriate. Xu Qinyu will check the ham that Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er help to pickle. Only after it passes the test will she start to trim the fat edges to make the ham look better. The trimmed ham will be clamped with wooden boards to squeeze out the moisture, and then it can be fermented.
Xu Qinyu hung the pickled ham under a high beam in the room and opened the windows for ventilation. She didn't need to worry about it after that. After all, it had to be more than a year before it could be eaten. If you wanted to eat it raw, it would have to be two or three years old. If you wanted to eat ham that was more than two years old raw, it had to be well pickled and under better fermentation conditions.
The walls of this workshop are built quite high, and people outside have no idea what is going on inside.
Xu Qinyu, Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er spent half a month to pickle and ferment the 100 hams.
Apart from the seventy taels of silver for the ham, the remaining money was for salt. Including the cost of salt, the total cost of pickling the ham this time was about one hundred taels of silver.
After all the hams were pickled, Xu Qinyu breathed a sigh of relief.
The remaining ham from the last time she made pickled fresh vegetables for Old Lady Zhu was still hanging in the Pei family. When spring comes, Xu Qinyu plans to add some pickled fresh vegetables and other dishes made with ham to the restaurant. It certainly won’t be a lot, only about two or three servings a day, and she also preheats the ham in advance so that there will be plenty of ham to eat next winter.
The one hundred hams were hung in about four or five rooms, leaving quite a few rooms empty.
Xu Qinyu also bought a lot of jars and pots to use for pickling vegetables and the like.
With this workshop, it is indeed much more convenient for Xu Qinyu. She has moved all the pickled vegetable vats at home here.
…
As for Old Lady Zhu, the next day Governor Zhu mixed the wild ginseng given by Xu Qinyu into the medicine and gave it to the old lady to drink every day.
Governor Zhu only said that he had found some good ginseng and asked the old lady to take care of her health so that she could talk to Shu Niang more and love her more for a few more days, and wait for Xuan Ge'er to come back.
He was afraid that the old lady would feel bad, so he didn't tell her the approximate price of the ginseng.
The old lady was also very obedient and drank the medicine as soon as she was given it.
Just eat your meals obediently during breakfast and evening hours, as Xu Qinyu's cooking is the most delicious. Breakfast and evening meals are served by Zhu from the restaurant.
Three or four days passed like this. The old lady was awake more often every day and looked better than before, but she still couldn't get out of bed and could only lie down.
Another half month passed. Although the old lady's complexion was not better, she was not as thin as before and had gained some weight. However, her body still did not improve much and she still spent most of the day lying down.
Xu Qinyu also wanted a wheelchair, so she drew it and asked the carpenter and the iron shop to make it as quickly as possible.
The wheels of a wheelchair need to be made of iron so that it is easy to push.
In about ten days, the wheelchair she wanted was made. It was covered with a soft blanket, and Zhu occasionally pushed the old lady out for a walk.
The old lady didn't like to go out much, she just wanted to stay with her daughter for a while longer.
In fact, the old lady is now in very bad shape, and all the internal organs in her body are no longer functioning. Using wild ginseng is just a way to prolong her life. It is estimated that she can only live another half a year at most. However, the old lady does not feel any regrets, and will cherish the last bit of time.
Governor Zhu couldn't stay in Yuanbao Town forever. Three or four days after the old lady came to Yuanbao Town, he returned to Raozhou City to handle official business and asked Zhu to stay here.
Zhu had been guarding for more than half a month, worrying about the old man and his children and grandchildren. Old Lady Zhu saw that her daughter-in-law still cared about the mansion, so she let her go back to Raozhou City. "Mrs. Zhen, you go back and take care of Wenyi. I have Mrs. Shu, and Yan and Yu come over on weekdays. There is no need for so many people. Besides, I feel better now, and I should be able to live for a few more days. Mrs. Zhen, you have been worrying about me these days, and you are tired. Go back and have a rest. It will be the New Year in half a month. You can come back then. This year, our family will celebrate the New Year here."
The old lady did feel a little stronger.
After taking medicine for more than half a month, and eating and drinking well every day, I have the strength to speak again.
Zhu's name was Zhen.
She listened to the old lady and returned to Raozhou City the next day.
When Governor Zhu knew that his mother was able to speak now, he felt relieved.
When the New Year comes to an end, he is also busy. He can only take a day off on the 29th day of the 11th lunar month. He will have to start working again after the 7th day of the 11th lunar month.
The restaurant over at Xu Qinyu's place was also busy.
Before the New Year, there was a heavy snowfall that lasted for three or four days. The snow was as deep as the calves, and every household was busy sweeping the snow.
Also because of the heavy snow, the restaurant's business became better and better. There were many people eating hotpot every day. Some people who didn't want to queue up made reservations with the restaurant in advance, and asked the servants at home to pick it up at dusk. The pot was also easy to pack up, that is, the copper pot was prepared, the clear soup and ingredients were packed in food boxes, and the copper pot and plates after eating were delivered to the restaurant the next day by the servants.
In the last half month of the year, the cash flow of Xu's Restaurant was much higher than that of the previous half month. In this half month alone, she made a hundred taels of silver more than before, and she even earned back the money she had earned from the ham.
On the evening of the 29th day of the Lunar New Year, the restaurant closed early and did not receive any diners. Cheng Ge'er prepared a New Year's Eve dinner. Everyone in the restaurant could have a good rest after having the dinner in advance before reopening on the 4th day of the Lunar New Year.
Those who run shops for a living certainly cannot be like ordinary people and government officials, who rest until the seventh or eighth day of the Lunar New Year before starting work. Restaurants only open on the third or fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
Xu Qinyu plans to open the business on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year and take one more day off.
The restaurant door was closed and the windows were open. On the round table was a large table full of dishes, including chicken, duck, fish and meat.
Cheng Ge'er was the chef and everyone sat around the table. There was Xu Qinyu, Wen, the three waitresses, Da Niu, Er Niu, Cheng Ge'er, Gong Ge'er, and the other four brothers, Feng Tiao Yushun. It was a bit crowded, but no one minding it at all. Everyone had a smile on their face.
Xu Qinyu poured each person a glass of wine. This was some wine left over from before, which she had specially kept for the New Year. But there wasn't much, only about twenty bottles. Five bottles were opened today, leaving fifteen bottles to be drunk during the family's New Year's Eve dinner.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "The restaurant's business is very good this year, and it's thanks to everyone. Without your help, I can't run the restaurant alone. I won't say any more. Everyone, eat and drink well, and take a few days off. I'll give you red envelopes later, and please continue to work hard next year."
After saying this, he picked up the wine and everyone started drinking.
Throughout the whole year, Xu Qinyu's restaurant earned about five thousand taels of silver. With the more than one thousand taels of silver from the wine, she now has about six thousand taels of silver.
Because I have a lot of things to buy on a daily basis, I buy kitchen utensils one after another and replace them with new ones after depreciation, plus household expenses, so I spend a lot every month, and I have a surplus of about 6,000 taels of silver, but it is already very good.
Xu Qinyu gave red envelopes of ten taels of silver each to the three waitresses, as well as to Cheng Ge'er, Gong Ge'er and the big girl Xu Feng and Xu Tiao.
The remaining three young ones, Erniu, Xu Yu and Xu Shun, got only three taels of silver.
Xu Qinyu prepared a silver note of 100 taels for Wen, intending to give it to her when she returned. Wen worked for her as a shopkeeper and usually didn't even want to be paid. Xu Qinyu was worried that she would not accept the silver note of 100 taels.
Lin, Yuan and Chen had never expected that when they first came to work, Miss Xu said that they would give them a red envelope during the New Year. They thought it might be a few hundred coins, and they would be happy if it was just a few hundred coins. Who could have imagined that it would be ten taels of silver.
The three of them were holding two small ingots, and they were all at a loss, "Dong, Dongjia, isn't this too much?"
It is enough for their annual salary. With the ten taels of silver red envelope, they have almost twenty taels of silver in salary a year. Even if they work as waitresses in a big restaurant, it would be good to have ten taels of silver a year. Even the big restaurants are unwilling to hire women like them. But in Xu Xiaoniangzi's restaurant, they are paid twenty taels of silver a year.
The three of them were really too excited.
Xu Qinyu did give a lot, but that was because everyone was very hardworking and focused on the restaurant, with no ulterior motives. Every time she finished preparing dinner, she could go home first, and they would clean up the rest. She never had to worry about anything, and they were always eager to do the work. Where can you find such good employees?
Besides, she earns so much every year, so she deserves a little more red envelope.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "That's what you guys deserve. The cleaning work at the restaurant is usually done by you."
All three of them are clean people. Not only do they keep the front hall where diners are received spotlessly clean to ensure that diners enjoy their meals, they also clean the back kitchen very cleanly every day without a trace of grease.
Xu Qinyu added: "Next year, the wages of the three ladies will all be raised to one or two taels of silver. As long as everyone works hard, the wages will continue to increase."
She should be considered a good boss. She eats meat herself and also gives her employees a lot of meat soup.
The three Lin family members were so excited that their faces flushed. With tears in their eyes, they thanked Xu Qinyu and secretly swore in their hearts that they would be more diligent in the future and would never do the same thing as when the Sun family sold the restaurant. Mr. Xu was good to them, so they had to repay him.
After finishing the New Year’s Eve dinner, everyone prepared to go home and asked everyone to pack up the leftover food to take home.
Xu Qinyu looked at the clean restaurant, locked it, and went home with Cheng Ge'er and Gong Ge'er of the Wen family.
Xu Feng and the other three still live in the restaurant. There are a lot of things and kitchen utensils in the restaurant, so they still live here to look after the restaurant.
When the Chinese New Year comes tomorrow, Xu Qinyu will call the children over to her home to have New Year's dinner.
At the workshop, Xu Qinyu didn't let the children go over to guard it. The workshop was not suitable for living. There were three or four windows in a room for ventilation. It could only be used to store things. So the shoe workshop was locked, and Baiyu and Moyu took turns to guard it at night.
Xu Feng and his friends are still children, so it is safer and more shocking for Bai Yu and Mo Yu to guard the workshop. People who have never seen Mo Yu will be scared when they see her for the first time.
Mo Yu is now taller than Xu Qinyu's knees. His body lines are so muscular, his limbs are strong, his bones are strong, and his black fur is shiny and glossy. It feels as smooth as the finest satin, and it is obvious that he is well-maintained.
Even though Moyu has grown up, his personality has not changed much. He still likes to run around with things in his mouth and likes to play with Baiyu.
Baiyu doesn't like to pay attention to it and usually likes to find a place to curl up and sleep.
Baiyu has grown a lot, too. Her calves are as thick as Xu Qinyu's, and her height is about two meters. She still looks a bit intimidating.
Having raised Baiyu for almost two years, Xu Qinyu is not afraid of it at all.
But if she encounters other snakes, she will definitely be afraid.
It's different if you raise one yourself, and Baiyu is indeed different from other snakes and is very close to her.
No one except family members has ever seen Baiyu, and he really doesn't like to go out.
But as for Moyu, the neighbors in Guihua Lane and several nearby lanes all know him, and they have watched him grow up. Therefore, even though Moyu is now a powerful black panther, the neighbors are not afraid of him. They know he won't bite people randomly, and they have never seen him bite anyone. Sometimes when they come over and see him, they will touch his head, and he will let people touch him, but he won't rub against others. He only rubs against his family, and his personality is a bit like a dog.
So Xu Qinyu let them take turns guarding.
There is no need to go there during the day because the workshop is quite busy with people coming and going. It is only at night that you need to guard it, for fear that a thief might come in and see the ham and steal it.
Ham is not cheap. Not to mention the price after it is made, a fresh pig's hind leg alone costs hundreds of coins. The finished ham is even more valuable, but it has not gained a good reputation, so thieves now only regard it as ordinary cured meat.
The division of labor between Mo Yu and Bai Yu is very good. Anyway, Xu Qinyu saw Mo Yu tonight, and she will definitely not see it tomorrow night. Instead, Bai Yu will stay at home. The division of labor between the two is very clear and fair.
After Xu Qinyu and Wen returned home, Xu Qinyu gave Wen the 100-liang silver note she had prepared.
When Wen saw the banknotes, she wanted to refuse them, "Why are you giving me banknotes, Yu Niang? You should keep them for yourself. You can use them when you want to open a wine shop in Raozhou in the future."
She knew what Xiao Yu Niang was thinking. Once Cheng Ge'er was able to become a chef, she would let Cheng Ge'er manage the restaurant here. She wanted to go to Raozhou City to open a bigger Xu's Restaurant.
In fact, it’s also good to go to Raozhou City, where everything is more convenient.
But Yu Niang said that they couldn't move there within one or two years because they still had a lot to teach Cheng Ge'er and his other disciples.
Moreover, she didn't spend any money on a daily basis. Her food and accommodation were all taken care of. Even the clothes she wore were sent by the Xia family at the request of Yu Niang. The rouge, powder, and facial cream she used were all prepared by Yu Niang. She really didn't need to spend any money at all.
Xu Qinyu still wanted Wen to keep the 100 taels of silver, saying that she could use it to buy things she liked and she didn't need to worry about opening a restaurant in Raozhou City.
Finally, Wen had no choice but to accept the 100 taels of silver, but kept it in her own box, thinking that she would give it to Yu Niang when she needed it in the future.