Before Si Li's intimate smile faded, she suddenly heard a harsh system warning.
[System: The "Branch of Wanglaiju" mission is about to fail, please rescue it as soon as possible! ]
??? Wait, where is this new mission? She hasn’t even looked at it yet, how could she fail?
Si Li hadn't failed in any missions so far, and she didn't want to accept the punishment for failure. She was panicking, and she was distracted. She opened the system panel while chatting with Guan Zhizhen, "Come to think of it, I'm actually quite curious about your pastries. You have several new ways to make them. I wonder if we'll have a chance to work together in the future."
“A new method like milk tea?”
"That's about right. You can see that I'm a half-baked person. I can't do it if you really ask me to do it. But you can give me some suggestions." She was sincere. Si Li had seen all kinds of fantastic snacks in modern times. She could tell Guan Ji more than a dozen kinds of lava and cream snacks alone - as long as she was not allowed to try.
"OK."
Si Li blinked dully, not realizing what Guan Zhizhen had just agreed to.
[System: "Branch of Wanglaiju": A restaurant where a chef god is in reserve should not only be popular and have a signature dish, but also have a complete supply chain. Please obtain the snack supply source as soon as possible (1/1). Mission completed, reward achievement points 1000 points. ]
Guan Zhizhen was escorted to the door and said softly, "Not only me, many people also want to meet you. For example, who is the master behind Wanglaiju, and your wonderful ideas... I am just the beginning. Wanglaiju is more noticeable than you think."
Guan Zhizhen's figure disappeared around the corner, and Si Li was still in a daze.
Are you kidding me? Is the system finally behaving like a human?
No matter how easy and inexplicable these two new tasks were to complete, Si Li used achievement points to buy the recipe "Popcorn" that she had her eyes on before the system changed the results. Only after getting the recipe did she feel relieved.
[System: Attack! Wanglaiju! (2), the host's store has already taken shape. Please receive a total of 1,000 diners. Free distribution will not be counted in the statistics.
Reward: 1 random 2-star recipe, Penalty: Deduct 1000 achievement points.
Current progress: 637/1000. 】
The new task was a purely cumulative digital task. Si Li took a look at the progress. Judging from the customer flow of the shop in the past two days, it would be completed on the day when the Prince of Yue's palace agreed to demolish the wall, so she didn't pay any more attention to it. The news that Guan Zhizhen brought not only helped her complete the task, but also brought the unfortunate news that counterfeit goods appeared in the market and the old shops in Beijing were waiting and watching.
While it was still early, Si Li asked the shopkeeper Tang from next door to come to the meeting. After hearing the news Si Li relayed, three of the other four people looked unhappy. The only one who remained calm was Xiao Que, who smiled at her foolishly, "Just do whatever the shopkeeper says!"
Tang the shopkeeper couldn't help but ask, "Hasn't he been to the Prince of Yue's mansion before? How come it doesn't matter?"
What does it matter? What does it matter if I saw the prince making a fool of himself and criticized him in my heart?
Si Li shrugged, "The princess will stay here often, but it's almost impossible to expect the Yue Palace to support us as a shareholder. My relationship with the Yue Palace should be a personal one. Even if Wanglaiju is overturned and can't be run anymore, he probably won't care. After all, there's no money here from him."
She then talked about her own plans. "Right now, the customers mainly come from the petty officials in the capital, the Imperial College and the Women's School. The officials are noble and the students are proud. In fact, they just come for the taste of the food in the restaurant. I think Guanwailou and other imitators are just for show in the short term. As long as the quality is stable and they introduce new products, the loss of customers should not be too great."
Shopkeeper Tang was rubbing his face in worry, but the milk tea recipe was not his to begin with, and now that it had been imitated he had lost profits. There was no point in being anxious, and he could only wait for the little girl in front of him to give orders.
"Wait." Meng Taotao pondered for a moment, "Who said there is no money for him here?"
Si Li met her eyes, and immediately understood what she meant. He smiled bitterly and said, "I would like to negotiate with them about investing in the company, but the Qiyunlou next door is now under the management of the Prince of Yue's Palace. If they really want to open a restaurant, they can just open it directly. Why would they bother with me?"
However, Meng Taotao's proposal was not impossible. Si Li screened all the familiar diners one by one and stopped her thoughts on Xiao Qi. Xiao Qi's mother was the Minister of Justice. Xiao's mother and Si Shoufu were well-known enemies in the court. She was also very rude to Si Tang. If it came to cooperation, this person was the best choice. Maybe he could help block her when her identity was exposed.
"This doesn't work, and that doesn't work either." Wang Ting was a little impatient, "How can we win?"
Si Li looked innocent and moved the dried corn that Xiao Que had just brought over to the front. "Peel the corn and then cook. There is strength in numbers. Let's finish it before the people come in the afternoon!"
Wang Ting: ??? Another new dish?
In the whole capital, there are almost no restaurants that introduce new dishes as quickly as Wanglaiju. Both the signature and the taste need time to leave an impression on the diners. The development and experimentation of a mature dish takes a long way, not to mention that it takes a long time to train a chef to have solid basic skills and to start innovating.
Except for Wanglaiju, the freak, its chef and shopkeeper seemed to be able to put new dishes on the menu directly without any careful consideration and trial process. In the evening of the day when the news of Guan Zhizhen's visit to Wanglaiju was received, the shopkeepers who were paying attention to the corners of East Market knew that after caramel milk tea, Wanglaiju had another snack called "popcorn".
It's too fast.
They were so busy that they had no time to react. The cheap snacks created a small storm in the capital. Even customers who were used to drinking tea in teahouses couldn't help but ask, "Is this something new from Wanglaiju?"
Such ability should not have appeared in a young chef who was said to be only in her teens. She either had several secret recipes or was extremely talented. Either way, it would be enough for Wanglaiju to gain a foothold in the capital.
"Where on earth did this guy come from?"
Such doubts floated in the minds of every shopkeeper, and the more they looked back, the more shocked they were. It turned out that Wanglaiju was the shopkeeper who rejected Guanji and Yuewangfu's invitations on the day of the Buddhist Conference? At first, Wanglaiju was just a small stall, but the diners who had eaten wolf tooth potatoes and mashed potatoes at the Buddhist Conference were all impressed by it. This impression is the best weapon to retain repeat customers. Wanglaiju just needs time to grow, and it can soar with the initial accumulation.
When it was linked to the Qiyunlou that the Prince of Yue had brought out, it seemed that all the unreasonable things were explained. The shopkeepers of the old shops in Beijing still remembered that the rise of Qiyunlou was also so novel and rapid. Maybe the last girl agreed to the Yue Palace's solicitation, especially now that Wanglaiju was opened next to Qiyunlou, it was hard to believe that it had no connection with the Yue Palace.
Coupled with the impression of a "familiar" relationship between Mr. Qin, the students, and the playboys that was gradually revealed through hearsay, without Si Li knowing it, she was inexplicably labeled as having a "strong background".
Si Li couldn't guess what the Beijing shopkeepers who were hesitant to show their goodwill or share the spoils were thinking. The recipe for the new popcorn was so easy to make. The pot of French fries was not sold out yet and no other customers came. She held the popcorn and ate it, waiting for Xiao Qi to come in the corner of the lobby. The popcorn was crispy and fluffy, sweet and sugary. Her mouth was no longer lonely, but she was bored. She even regretted not having watched the movie.
Popcorn and movies, absolutely perfect!
On the other side, Xiao Qi knelt in the carriage and sat obediently, not at all as anxious as she was in her mother's study last night. She glanced at her mother carefully and asked, "Where are we going?" She had just ordered a bag of French fries at Wanglaiju!
Minister Xiao raised his eyes slightly from the book in his hand and said, "Wanglaiju."
"Ah?" Xiao Qi couldn't tell whether she was surprised or panicked, and her voice became weaker when she spoke, "I, I was talking nonsense yesterday. Xiao Si treats Tao Tao well, they are all very good..."
When she came home from Wanglaiju yesterday, she was so angry that she forgot for a moment that her mother might have other things to deal with. She walked back and forth in her mother's study and talked for almost half an hour.
The main remarks include but are not limited to "It is better to give up the place than to let Si Tang, a melancholy guy, study", "If Taotao were my student, she wouldn't have to get up early and work late to be exploited by money-hungry people", "Alas, Taotao, it's so hard", etc. She really couldn't guess what her mother was thinking when she suddenly said she wanted to come and see Meng Taotao after hearing her name, and what kind of image Xiao Si and Meng Taotao held in her mother's eyes.
She was already used to her mother's silence. If one person in the family spoke little, the other would talk more to make the family seem lively. Sharing life was a small interaction between Xiao Qi and her mother. However, usually her mother would only respond to comments from the directors with a few words in her spare time. But this time, her expression made Xiao Qi pay attention.
The mother raised her head from the book and asked her earnestly, "Meng...Taotao?" At that moment, the mother was even a little dazed.
Xiao Qi shook herself out of her anxiety and secretly prayed that Xiao Si would behave more reliably today. Before she could figure out how to save the image of the two new friends in front of her mother, the carriage shook slightly and stopped. Xiao Qi stepped forward to open the curtain and looked back to see her mother still sitting there. "Mom, aren't you going to get off?"
"Go ahead." Minister Xiao put down the book and knelt down like a poplar tree commonly seen in the northwest.
Xiao Qi didn't notice the slight tension in her mother's voice, and even breathed a sigh of relief, "Then I'll bring food back later! Just in time to eat it while it's hot."
The girl jumped off the carriage and was seen by Si Li. There were no other shops opposite Wanglaiju, and the space in front of the door was very spacious, more than enough to park a carriage temporarily. Si Li raised her eyebrows, a little surprised, "Is it because it's too cold in winter that you didn't ride a horse? If the weather stays like this, I think we won't go riding in three days."
The aroma of fried food on the long table in front of Wanglaiju is mixed with a sweet taste. The round new products are golden and pleasing, and the amber icing powder hanging on them sticks to your fingers, and picking one up will leave some grease.
Xiao Qi first took a bite of "popcorn", squinted her eyes in satisfaction, and then refuted the fact that she couldn't ride a horse. Fortunately, there were not many customers, so Si Li filled some food for her and started chatting with her.
In the carriage, Minister Xiao lifted half of the window curtain and cast his gaze towards the door of the busy snack shop. Si Li was talking to Xiao Qi and didn't notice the scrutinizing glance. Meng Taotao happened to raise her head and exchanged a glance with the middle-aged woman in the carriage, then lowered her head and shared the fries as if nothing had happened, and didn't raise her head again until her gaze moved away.
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