Chapter 29 It smells so good "I want to eat this of yours... This is...
Song Jin remembered that during the conversation yesterday, the wife of Mr. Chai didn't like those people, so she simply pushed all the blame onto them today. Who told them to instigate Chai Heng to eat chili peppers? Eel slices are good to eat, right? They are bullying him.
As expected, when the lady heard that it was those people who instigated Chai Heng to eat, she immediately frowned and said, "So it was those people with bad intentions. It would have been fine if they took him out to eat and drink all day, but they also instigated him to eat these things he shouldn't eat. Sooner or later, I will deal with them."
Song Jin listened without saying a word, and continued to eat. It was really delicious. After finishing a bowl, he stood up again and said, "Madam, can you allow me another bowl of rice?"
Several people were stunned. They looked at Song Jin, then at the dish, all of them puzzled.
Is it that fragrant?
"I'm punishing you." The noble lady frowned, quite dissatisfied.
"You're putting pressure on me. You're forcing me to eat some food. I'm eating, and I want to have two more bowls."
Song Jin saw the lady swallowing her saliva, and he probably thought she was also attracted by her.
"Would you like to try it, ma'am?"
The woman said stubbornly: "I would like to eat this of yours...what is this?"
"Madam, this is called bell pepper, it can be used for cooking."
The woman moved a little closer to the plate, sniffed it twice, and said nothing.
Song Jin hurriedly said, "I'll go serve the lady some food."
After saying that, he turned around and ran downstairs without caring whether the lady wanted to eat it or not. By the way, he took a look at the boiled chicken that had been soaked in well water early. He estimated that it had cooled down completely, so he simply took it out and cut it.
Prepare the dipping sauce and bring it upstairs along with two bowls of rice and a plate of boiled chicken.
"Madam, please try the chicken that has just been cooked in the store."
As the saying goes, you should never hit someone who smiles. Song Jin's smile was so flattering that the lady felt embarrassed, especially since she was curious about the chili pepper.
"I don't eat chicken, I eat this."
Song Jin handed over the bowl and chopsticks with a smile: "Madam has good taste. Use this pepper with eel. It is fresh, tender, spicy and delicious with rice. Try it."
The woman scratched her head and took the bowl and chopsticks.
What are you doing here today? Let's eat first.
The peppers looked bright red, but they tasted strange, so I picked a piece of eel and started eating it first.
"Hmm - not bad, more satisfying than the braised ones, ha - spicy."
"Madam, this pepper is even spicier. Please don't eat it. Eat the eel instead."
The lady's face turned red and she couldn't help but sit up straight and put a few pieces of eel into the bowl.
"How do you know this pepper is edible?"
Song Jin smiled and began to make up a story: "When I was a kid, I was curious. Seeing the red peppers, I thought they were delicious, so I picked some and stuffed them into my mouth. It was so spicy that I cried. That's how I know what it tastes like."
After hearing this, the lady burst into laughter: "So you also cried because of the heat. I thought it was only my husband who cried."
Song Jin laughed and thought that the account should be settled and he should be able to get money for food.
"Madam, please try this chicken. It is cooked differently from other chickens. The senior official came to eat it yesterday and he also said it was delicious and tender."
"I'll try. I'll try."
Judging from her figure, Song Jin thought she might have the same hobbies as Chai Heng, so he strongly recommended the boiled chicken, and sure enough, she picked up a chicken leg.
"Hmm - fragrant, much more tender than stewing."
Song Jin smiled. He didn't expect that he failed to capture Mr. Chai yesterday, but he captured the lady today. Isn't this a case of losing something in one place but gaining something in another?
The woman was not satisfied with a piece of chicken leg, so she picked up another piece of meat and said, "How did you cook this chicken? Teach my kitchen servant too."
Song Jin smiled and said, "Madam, you are joking. If you like it, I will send it to your house every day. You don't have to bother the kitchen servants."
When the lady heard this, she burst into laughter: "He really is the owner of a restaurant. Okay, send two to my house every other day."
"Okay, thank you ma'am for your kindness."
One of them was greedy, the other tried to curry favor, and they ended up winning a deal. It wasn't a big deal, but it was a good start.
By the time the lady finished her sizzling meal, the plate of eels was empty.
"Okay, after you finish eating, send two chickens to my house today."
After saying this, he followed Chai Heng's habit and left after eating and drinking. Song Jin was eager to see him off and stood at the door and shouted loudly:
"Thank you for your appreciation, Madam Chai. I will go and prepare some boiled chicken for you and send it to your house in a moment."
The lady also knew that Song Jin was shouting on purpose for others to hear, so she didn't care much. She waved her sleeves, got on the sedan chair which was wider than the others and left.
After the false alarm, Song Jin lost his business. He turned back to the store and shouted, "Go buy some chicken."
So in the past few days, the backyard of Shidinglou was filled with the smell of chicken. Every morning, the little roosters, which were not even one year old, would crow with hoarse voices. Once one started crowing, all the others would crow, making Song Jin extremely annoyed.
For this reason, every time the chickens were slaughtered early in the morning, the little rooster was always the first to be taken out of the cage and have its neck cut.
Thanks to Madam Chai, the chicken at Shidinglou became a specialty. Two chickens would be sent to the Chai family every other day, and everyone in Anju Lane knew about it.
Song Jin simply activated the reservation service, making a reservation one day in advance so that he could pick it up at noon the next day. It was also convenient for him to know how many chickens to buy.
In this way, everyone was busy with the chickens until the end of June, and when July came, people from the Chai family also came.
The Chai family is holding a Chinese Valentine's Day banquet and wants to invite Song Jin to be the chef.
Song Jin blinked twice, vaguely realizing that he had started a new business: private banquet chef.
"But my shop cannot do without people. If they all leave..."
"Hey, boss, why can't you figure it out? How much money does your shop make a day? Our family's invitation to you is enough for your shop to make a month. Besides, we don't ask you to cook every dish, just cook the ones you are good at."
Song Jin thought, how generous, really generous, I can’t refuse it, I can’t refuse it at all.
But the price still needs to be negotiated. Maybe we can negotiate it from one month to three months?
"Okay, tell Mr. Chai that I will definitely be at his house on the Qixi Festival. I will also make a backup of the menu and show it to Mr. Chai in advance."
"That's right."
After the boy delivered the message, he turned around and left. After the man had been outside the door for a while, Song Jin seemed to remember something and chased after him.
"Young man, wait a minute," Song Jin chased after him and started negotiating the price after he was out of sight of the people in the store: "Did your master tell me the exact amount of silver?"
"Boss, you don't have to worry about this. I'll send the menu over some other day and you can talk to the butler in person. If you're worried, feel free to ask around. I guarantee you'll earn more than you do here. We've hired cooks in the past, and apart from the dishes, the money spent on hiring a cook would not be less than this. Besides, it's not a festival and there are no guests. Who would hire a cook?"
The boy stretched out his hand and made a two-sign gesture. Song Jin thought, it can't be two taels, right? Twenty? Or two hundred?
Twenty is a good possibility.
"Little brother, you don't know. My family is watching me closely. If they knew I made this money, I would have to hand it all over. I just wanted to listen to some music, so..."
"Oh, I see," the servant suddenly realized, "Don't worry, at most you can go to the cashier's office to settle the bill. You can go there in person and not let your servants know. That's it."
Song Jin smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm talking about you, please don't mess with me."
The servant smiled and said, "Don't worry, as long as the food is good that day, I will pretend that I know nothing and will never tell anyone."
Song Jin thanked him with a smile and then sent the man away.
On the way back, she calculated that if she only offered Arong ten taels of silver, she would make a net profit of ten taels. Add the reward, and then she could go buy vegetables herself and raise the price a little, so she could make more than ten taels this time.
If A Rong found out at the Chai family's accounting office, she would not be afraid. After all, she made money but never treated the people in the store harshly.
Thinking of this, Song Jin happily returned to the store and discussed the menu with the two maids in the kitchen. The next morning, she took a few people to the vegetable market to see what fresh vegetables she could use.
Lu Goose, boiled chicken and stir-fried eel are indispensable. The stir-fried snow peas that I didn’t have time to prepare that day are now out of season, and the only bulging snow peas are left in the vegetable market.
Song Jin walked around and found that the broad beans were all dried old beans, and peanuts were in season. Salted peanuts were also good, and healthier than fried spiced broad beans.
After walking around the vegetable market, Song Jin had decided on the menu in his mind. He went straight back to Shidinglou to write down the menu, and then went to the Chai family alone to negotiate the price.
This was not her first visit to the Chai family, but she had never gone inside after delivering the chickens to the door before. Later, she only asked Ah Rong to come over to check the accounts, so she had never seen what the headmistress of the Chai family looked like. She thought she would be able to see her on the Qixi Festival.
Song Jin's feet were a little sore from running all the way, but she was in a very happy mood. She was very happy when she thought that she would be able to save her private money soon. At the same time, she was also worried about where to store the money. After all, there were no banks in the Ming Dynasty, not even banknotes. It seemed that she could only hide it in the closet, but the closet was shared by several people.
Although she was worried, Song Jin felt lighter on her feet when she thought of the money. She couldn't help skipping towards Chai's house. The streets along the way were bustling with activity. For the first time, Song Jin felt that the streets were welcoming her.
After knocking on the door, it was the doorman he had met before. After explaining the reason, he invited Song Jin into the tea room and asked him to help pass the message to the manager.
Song Jin was sitting in the tea room and could see at a glance that there were two large and spacious sedan chairs and a smaller sedan chair parked in the sedan chair hall.
There are osmanthus trees planted in the courtyard, which have not yet bloomed, and it just looks green.
The low buildings on both sides were probably the servants' quarters. She remembered that this location of the Bai family was the servants' quarters, used for guarding the house, so they lived on the outside.
Because of the small buildings on both sides, Song Jin couldn't see the scenery behind him, so he had to stand in the tea room in a daze. Not long after, a servant handed him tea. Song Jin lifted the lid and took a sniff. It was good tea.
For a moment, she felt like a person, not a slave. It was probably at this moment that she was treated like a person.
While she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard someone calling her, "Manager Wen, what brings you here?"
The man was in his forties, wearing a green robe and a mane hat. When he saw Song Jin, he smiled skillfully, with many wrinkles on his face.
Song Jin had seen this man, Manager Song from the Chai family.
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