Chapter 148
Looking at Xu's Restaurant in front of them, everyone was talking about it. For a moment, they couldn't figure out whether this was the restaurant opened by the Queen, or if someone was really so bold as to use the name of the restaurant opened by the Queen in the border town to impersonate it? Thinking about it carefully, they felt that there shouldn't be anyone who would be so bold, right?
It was the end of the Chen hour. Some had already had breakfast, while some had not yet. Regardless of whether this restaurant was opened by the Queen or not, as soon as they walked to the door, they could smell the rich aroma of food. The various aromas of breakfast intertwined together were very tempting. And regardless of whether this was a restaurant opened by the Queen or not, they all wanted to go in and take a look.
If this is really a restaurant opened by the Queen, then they are in for a treat.
If not, maybe I could go in and see what’s going on.
Therefore, diners who had not yet had breakfast walked into the door of Xu Ji Restaurant.
After entering, I found that the restaurant is a little different from other restaurants. Other restaurants have the hall on the first floor and there is no place for guests to rest, but the hall on the first floor of Xu's Restaurant does not have tables, chairs and benches for diners to eat and drink in the front half of the venue. Instead, there is a long couch with a table in the middle of the couch, where tea, snacks, fruits and so on can be placed. It is obviously a place for diners to sit and rest temporarily. The back area is separated by a hollow carved wooden screen, and you can roughly see tables, chairs and benches in the back, which is where customers can eat.
In addition, there are separate flower stands next to the windows, with pots of flowers and plants on them.
This is also because Xu Qinyu is used to living in the southwest. There is a lot of rain in the mountains there, and flowers and plants grow well. When opening a restaurant or a wine shop, people like to have more flowers and plants. The place where she lives is also full of flowers, which can make people happy.
The first and second floors are both halls, but even within the hall, they are roughly divided into several areas separated by screens, making them quite elegant.
The third to sixth floors are private rooms.
The private rooms vary in size, depending on the needs of the diners.
As soon as they entered the restaurant, the diners felt their eyes brightened. There were not many diners at the moment, with only a few scattered tables of guests sitting on the first floor. However, they had all started eating and were concentrating on eating. Even if there were diners coming in, they were unwilling to look up, as if they were only concerned with the food in front of them.
When the diners who had just walked in saw it, they couldn't help but mutter, "Does it really taste like this?"
However, after entering the restaurant, the aroma became more pronounced, and the diner couldn't help swallowing a little while talking.
After the diners chose their favorite seats and sat down, a waiter immediately came forward and said with a smile: "What would you like to eat for breakfast? We have more than 30 breakfast items in our restaurant. They are all on the menu. You can take a look."
The menu of the restaurant is the same as that of the wine shop. There are more than 30 kinds of breakfast dishes, including sweet, salty, fresh, spicy and heavy flavors.
As the waiter asked, he had already opened the menu and was letting the diners start choosing their food.
The capital city is more prosperous than other provincial capitals, so naturally there is a lot more food there as well.
But even so, there were still some dishes on the breakfast menu that they had never seen before. Several diners ordered dishes they had never eaten before, such as shrimp dumplings, yellow buns, roasted wheat, brown sugar rice porridge, bean curd, spicy soup...
And I found that even though the food was similar to the breakfast in other restaurants, the preparation method seemed to be slightly different.
When the ordered food was served, the diners took a bite and their eyes widened immediately. They finally understood why the diners around them were silent and just focused on eating their breakfast. It was really delicious.
This shrimp dumpling has a thin skin and is full of fillings. The shrimps are big enough, with three shrimps in one shrimp dumpling. The main reason is that the river shrimps are too small. Even the best and largest river seafood cannot compare with the shrimps in later generations. When you bite it, it is crispy, juicy, fragrant, fresh and chewy.
Some diners were confused as to how a shrimp dumpling made from river shrimp could be so delicious.
There are also yellow dumplings, which taste sweet and fragrant.
These diners are all men. They all thought the yellow buns were delicious. They thought that their wives and children at home would definitely like the taste, so they packed some to take back for their wives, children and elderly mothers.
And the brown sugar rice porridge was also sticky, fragrant and sweet. Even those who didn't eat sweets couldn't help but drink a couple of porridges. It warmed their hearts and stomachs, and they felt refreshed after drinking it.
The diners who can come to this restaurant for breakfast must be wealthy, even if they are not from prominent families. They have tried all the delicious restaurants in the capital. After having this taste, you can tell that this restaurant is very capable. The taste is even better than that of Jixianglou. In my heart, I also feel that this should be the restaurant opened by the Queen Mother.
You know, almost everyone in the capital has heard that the food cooked by the Queen Mother is very delicious. Some rich and idle families even go to the border town to eat in the wine shops and restaurants opened by the Queen Mother.
But now they can eat it without going to the border town, and it tastes so good. They think it must be the restaurant opened by the Queen.
Maybe the Queen Mother even prepared breakfast herself in the kitchen?
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but blush, and they were so excited that they spent almost an hour eating breakfast.
Xu Qinyu was indeed in the kitchen, and had been busy for an hour. There were many people in the kitchen, and she was just responsible for adjusting the stuffing and the cooking temperature, so the taste was naturally good.
Even though it was just the first day the restaurant opened, it was packed with people.
However, until almost noon, the diners in the restaurant had not seen the queen.
The restaurant had just opened, so it was naturally very busy. Even at dinner time, it was packed with people, even more than at breakfast.
The owner of the restaurant is my brother's mother, Ms. Meng.
Wen originally wanted to come to the restaurant to continue helping, but Xu Qinyu wouldn't let her.
She stayed in the back kitchen, out of sight of the diners. The shopkeeper in the front had to receive the diners, but my mother-in-law was the empress dowager, so she definitely couldn't be allowed to receive the diners.
Lianhua followed Xu Qinyu every day. In addition to protecting her, she also stayed in the kitchen to help out every day.
Xu Qinyu was also busy for almost two hours at dusk. It was busy but very fulfilling.
When I returned to the palace in the evening, my fourth brother was almost done with his work.
I brought back food from the restaurant and made it specially for my fourth brother.
I didn’t eat much at dinner time, so I left some food in my stomach so that I could eat with my fourth brother when I got home in the evening.
After they had their meal, they washed up and returned to bed, lying down and talking.
No matter how busy they are on weekdays, they will always chat for a few minutes before going to bed at night.
Unless Pei Weixuan was really busy with government affairs, there were times when he handled government affairs until midnight, by which time Xu Qinyu had already gone to bed.
Today is the first day the restaurant opens. In addition to Lianhua, Pei Weixuan has also sent other secret guards to follow Yu Niang, but Yu Niang doesn't know.
Pei Weixuan hugged Yu Niang and kissed her forehead before saying, "How was the first day of the restaurant opening?"
"The restaurant is full of customers today. They probably came here for the sign." Xu Qinyu lay in her fourth brother's arms, lazily relaxing. In fact, she was not worried about the restaurant's business. The food was delicious and it was Xu's signature dish. Some diners might be curious about the sign at first, but once they had tried it, they would definitely become Xu's regular customers. She never worried about the restaurant's business, let alone other restaurants' malicious competition. It could be said that for her, opening a restaurant now meant there was almost nothing to worry about.
Xu Qinyu lay in her fourth brother's arms and continued to lazily say, "It's a pity that we don't have potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc. We have to wait until summer or autumn this year for them to be available in large quantities, and then we can eat them."
Although the food in the restaurant is delicious, the rare food is more memorable.
Apart from these, Xu Qinyu likes all kinds of ingredients.
Pei Weixuan said: "When autumn comes, we can buy in large quantities and things will get better."
Around next year, these potatoes and sweet potatoes can be planted in large quantities, so that at least the people will have enough to eat for the time being, and they will be able to survive even if they encounter any sudden natural disasters.
As for the agricultural college he mentioned, preparations have already begun, and a flood reporting station is also being built.
In some state capitals, it rains a lot in spring and summer, so you have to be extra careful, otherwise there will be floods that will submerge the state capital and the fields.
Since he ascended the throne, every state capital has to report flood conditions every month until autumn. If there are any emergencies on weekdays, they must be reported to the court immediately.
Of course, if we want to completely control floods, we need to build dams, plan waterways, develop water conservancy projects, etc.
However, a large amount of silver is needed, and the national treasury is actually still empty. It is impossible to take out this money all at once. The kilns that were used to make colored glaze are still there, and they are still being made. Some of these colored glazes will continue to be sold in the Dasheng Dynasty, and more will be shipped to surrounding countries. He plans to use this money to fill the national treasury.
After hearing what her fourth brother said, Xu Qinyu admired him even more.
Building dams and repairing water conservancy projects is no easy task, but the good thing is that the glass is still very valuable and the price is not cheap. My fourth brother is willing to deposit all the money from selling the glass into the national treasury to do things that benefit the people.
Xu Qinyu couldn't help but hugged her fourth brother and gave him a kiss. "Fourth brother, you are amazing. I will give you half of the profits from the restaurant so that you can build the dam quickly. This way, floods will definitely be reduced in the future."
I believe that Fourth Brother's building of an agricultural college and constructing dams and water conservancy projects are only the first steps. Now that she is the Empress and the mother of a country, it is natural for her to share some of the responsibilities with Fourth Brother and do more practical things for the people.
Pei Weixuan thought it was unnecessary, but Xu Qinyu still insisted. Now that asking for money was of no use, she naturally wanted to help her fourth brother a little. This was all she could do to help him.
Pei Weixuan didn't continue to force himself. He kissed Yu Niang again and said gently, "Let's rest too."
Yu Niang has been very busy recently, and he feels sorry for her. Naturally, she won't do other things with her at night. She goes to bed early and gets more sleep and rest.
Xu Qinyu nodded, then fell into deep sleep while holding her fourth brother in her arms.
Xu Qinyu discussed this with her fourth brother, and neither of them had any plans to have children for the time being.
Xu Qinyu felt that she was only 22 years old and not yet 23 years old, so she could wait two or three years before having a child. The best time to have a child would be around 25 when her sexual function would be fully developed. In two or three years, the Great Sheng Dynasty would be much more stable, and then Fourth Brother would be able to have more free time. Now Fourth Brother and I were both very busy, so it was not the right time to have a child. Therefore, Fourth Brother had been taking some contraceptive pills since the wedding.
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The business of Xu's Restaurant was getting better and better, and it was full every day. After three or four months, Xu Qinyu had almost trained all the original chefs of Xu's Restaurant, and they didn't have to come to the restaurant every day. However, Fourth Brother was busy, and when he had nothing to do during the day, he would still come to the restaurant to cook and count the bills. In these three or four months, he gained a close friend, Zhang Mingzhu, the grandson of Lord Chongming.