Chapter 16: Starting a Fire with Kerosene is a Good Idea
Since Song Jin had a question, Manager Chen had to fool him, so he had to explain: "This was originally a silk shop, and the owner often shipped goods to Guangdong. I don't know what happened, but he fell ill in Guangdong at the beginning of the year. I thought it was just a minor illness, but I didn't expect that he died in a foreign land. The original owner was from Huizhou, and the family arranged to send him back, so the shop became vacant."
Song Jin understood that the original owner had died and was afraid that the new tenant would find it unlucky, so Manager Chen kept it a secret to prevent Song Jin from telling the grandmother.
But Song Jin didn't care. The location was suitable, the price was elegant and acceptable, and the size was just right, so he approved of Manager Chen's choice of site.
"I think this place is great. The location is right, the price is good, and the size is perfect for a restaurant."
"That's right, then...we're going to tell Grandma this when we get back?"
"Okay." Song Jin agreed readily.
Things went very smoothly. In addition to the trust in Manager Chen, women like Wen Ya rarely went out on the streets and rarely saw men outside, so the source of information from the outside world basically relied on the manager at home.
Therefore, Manager Chen reported the matter, Song Jin agreed, and Wen Ya could not find any problem with it, so the courtyard was rented under the name of Wen Zijin.
After the restaurant was decided, Song Jin breathed a sigh of relief. Although this restaurant was not for Wen Ya to make money, it was a way for her to make money in the future. She would first test the waters with Wen Ya's restaurant, and when she got familiar with it, she would be almost free from the status of a member of the family, and by then she would have the experience to start her own business.
At night, she was lying on the bed, thinking about the pots and pans, chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and the accountant, when she suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.
"Crawly..."
The voice was low, but Song Jin still recognized it as Du Juan's. He quickly got out of bed and opened the door.
There was not only Dujuan outside the door, but also Lianxin and several other maids.
Du Juan shook the paper and pen in his hand and said proudly, "I got it."
Song Jin smiled, let everyone in, and then quietly closed the door.
Everyone gathered around a dim oil lamp and used water to moisten the used inkstone. The maids didn't care much and if there was no ink stick to grind, they would just use their fingers to grind the bottom of the inkstone, and some dried ink would always be ground out.
Song Jin grabbed the pen, dipped it in ink, and silently wrote the first poem on the paper, Qiao Ji's "Tian Jing Sha Ji Shi".
"Spring is full of orioles and swallows, and flowers and willows are real. Everything is graceful and charming, delicate and tender, and everyone is happy."
Well...the last two sentences.
It is simple, catchy, appropriate to the situation, and has few words. Song Jin thinks it is most suitable.
After reciting the poem, Song Jin spread out the paper for everyone to see. Everyone read the paper as if it were a mystery, and Song Jin explained it word by word.
"Orioles, swallows, spring is here. Orioles and swallows, spring is here. They are chirping and very lively."
"It's really beautiful. The flowers are blooming and the willows are sprouting. Hmm... It's really charming."
"Everything is so elegant, um..."
In Song Jin's impression, whether it is Chinese painting or poetry, it is important to leave blank space. Her current explanation has a down-to-earth meaning, which immediately breaks the poetic meaning.
No wonder she could only do things but not be an artist, Song Jin thought it made sense. Fortunately, the little brats in front of her didn’t understand these things, so she could still fool them.
"What is it?"
Du Juan asked, Song Jin scratched his head and replied: "It's just that her behavior is particularly charming, that is..."
Song Jin stretched out her arms and tried her best to make a movement that could show off her body curves, which made the maids laugh.
"You don't look like someone with charm. Only the third and fourth ladies have real charm. You can't learn to walk with that vigor."
"That's right, when the master was still here, she twisted even harder, but now that there's no man around, she's less coquettish."
......
Song Jin sighed. People's thoughts are limited by their vision. There is nothing that can be done about it. She had no choice but to speak up and bring everyone back to the discussion.
"Let's look at the next sentence, tender and delicate..."
"I know this one. It's just like a crabapple flower, pink and tender."
After hearing what Lianxin said, Song Jin laughed and said yes.
Then he explained the next sentence: "To be upright is to be a gentleman."
Now, the girls looked up at the sky, but couldn't think of anyone.
Song Jin pulled everyone back to their senses: "Write down these words first, I will start to teach you how to write them, and you can follow along with your fingers, understand?"
The maids nodded, and then they all stared at Song Jin's hand, watching her write one horizontal line, one vertical line, and one dot, from top to bottom, from left to right. The maids each memorized one word, and she actually finished memorizing it.
Finally Du Juan asked her, "Can you keep accounts?"
She really thought Song Jin was a god and asked him everything, but Song Jin...
"If I were given an account book, I would be able to learn it quickly."
Double-entry bookkeeping had not been invented yet, but it didn’t matter. She would invent it after she set up her own business, and it would become clear by then.
"Then you will be able to see the account book when you go to the restaurant next time, right?"
Song Jin understood and she wanted to learn how to keep accounts.
How could a maid keep accounts? She wanted to help Wen Ya with the accounts, so that she could do less work. Her spirit was very similar to that of Song Jin in the past.
"Okay, when I learn it, I'll come back and teach you."
Song Jin finished his first teaching session and saw everyone off before climbing onto his bed.
Since that day on, Song Jin, Wenxin, and Manager Chen have all been busy.
Wen Xin came over to withdraw money because a lot of medicinal materials had arrived and he had to pay to pick up the goods.
Naturally, this guy didn't go home after getting it, but moved to the yard in Ma Ti Lane that he and Song Jin had seen, and Song Jin also moved there.
At Wen Ya's instruction, Song Jin signed a loan agreement for two thousand taels of silver in the name of Wen Zijin, with an interest rate of three percent, and Wen Xin acted as a guarantor.
It wouldn't take that much to open a restaurant, but Wen Ya asked her to borrow this amount. When the two of them were in custody, the corners of their mouths twitched.
The annual interest is six hundred taels, what a conscience.
They shared the same disadvantages, but there was also an advantage: the two of them now felt like they shared a common hatred of the enemy.
The silver was weighed and taken out of the warehouse. Wen Zijin was Wen Ya's distant relative, so borrowing the silver and charging interest was the legal and proper thing to do.
From then on, the small courtyard in Ma Ti Lane began to shine with silver light. Wen Xin called a number of servants from the Wen family to guard it, and the two of them went out to do business as usual during the day.
Carpenters and bricklayers, wall builders and stove builders, counters, tables and chairs, nothing can be left out, and there are also recipes.
Song Jin alone was not enough, so Wen Ya transferred two kitchen maids from home to come over and cook, and Song Jin taught her how to cook all the fresh dishes personally.
Song Jin was very clear about this matter and taught them in detail. If they didn't know how to do it, she would have to do it herself, which would be exhausting.
There were suddenly two less people working at the stove at home, so Wen Ya simply called two chefs to cook. After all, the food was for Meilinyuan and the servants, so it didn't bother her in any way.
After being busy for nearly a month, Song Jin hardly ever went back to the Bai family. He had to rely on Manager Chen to report on the progress every day.
One day in early May, Wen Xin found Song Jin and told her that the fake medicinal materials had filled up Xiyuan and they could go back and start the fire.
When Song Jin heard this, he almost spat.
You took the money for buying things and now you want me to set the fire, you bastard.
He cursed in his heart but said it was what he should do, so he forced Wen Xin to go back to Bai's house.
The corner gate of the West Garden was locked tightly, and no outsiders were allowed in. The servants were told that there were precious medicinal herbs inside.
Song Jin asked someone to open the door and look inside. Wow, most of the firewood was gone. If it couldn't be completely burned, we would know for sure what was going on once we checked.
Song Jin glanced at Wen Xin, and Wen Xin smiled innocently: "It's all cooked anyway, right? The more real ingredients, the more distressing it is."
Song Jin smiled and said, "That makes sense, but if someone finds out what's going on, then all our efforts will be in vain. I think we should report this to Grandma first and let her make the decision."
When Wen Xin heard that he would report it to his aunt, he immediately quit.
"It's not a big deal, it's not a big deal."
Song Jin still had that smiling face: "You are the real nephew, I am a fake relative, I dare not take such a big risk. But if Master Wen can handle things here by himself, then I will just pretend that I have not come here today, okay?"
Wen Xin looked unhappy. Seeing that Song Jin was not easy to talk to, he had to change the topic and said, "I'll ask someone to bring some more herbs."
So he asked people to bring in some poor quality Astragalus, Ophiopogon japonicus, etc., which were all dry goods and easy to burn. Wen Xin even suggested sprinkling kerosene in the house.
Seeing the look on his face, Song Jin was afraid that he was going to burn down the Bai family, so he quickly stopped him.
The two of them saw that the situation seemed to be almost ready, so they went together to report to Wen Ya.
Wen Ya was quite attentive and wanted to come over to take a look. Wen Xin wanted to stop her but failed. Song Jin naturally lowered his head, pretending not to see Wen Xin's hard work.
Merchants rarely make mistakes when selecting goods, and Wen Ya is no exception. After taking a quick look, he knew what was going on, and gave Wen Xin a sidelong glance, but in the end he said nothing.
"I think the weather has been dry these days, so it's a good day to start a fire. Let's discuss how to start one."
Song Jinwenxin said yes obediently.
This fire had to be lit in the second half of the night, when everyone was asleep. It was in a corner, the servants outside were far away, and the fire would burn silently. It would be too late to put it out when it got bigger.
Song Jin was very efficient when he gave advice, but he was also afraid when it came to starting the fire.
Will it burn the flowers and plants in the garden and spread to other yards?
Will someone report it to the authorities? Will they find out what’s fishy if they investigate?
That bastard Wen Xin handed the matter over to Song Jin and ran away, leaving Song Jin at home holding the keys and racking his brains.
Song Jin was sitting in the West Garden, feeling troubled. At this moment, he really felt that kerosene was a good idea.
Thinking of this, Song Jin really ran out to find kerosene. However, what he didn't expect was that the fire had already started before the kerosene was poured into the house in Xiyuan.
Song Jin watched from afar. The fire in the yard grew from small to large, and the smoke gradually increased. He could also vaguely see a small figure running away in the light of the fire.
The direction of escape was Meilin Courtyard.
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