Chapter 59 Chapter 59 Mysterious True and False Restaurant
Baozhu knew at a glance that this sister-in-law must be someone who cooks a lot. However, she spoke in a low voice, afraid that Baozhu would not accept her. After a brief greeting, she began to speak.
"I used to be a cook in a wealthy family. My hometown isn't in Bianjing, but I came here with my former employer. My contract expired this year, and I wanted to continue, but I was forced out. After all, this is the land of the emperor, so it's prosperous and the pay is good. I was hoping to find a job here and earn some money so I can bring my children over."
"Which restaurant did you work for originally? What dishes are you good at cooking?"
"Originally, I was at the home of the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Lord Zhao. He could cook common northern dishes, and was especially good at preparing fish and mutton banquets."
The sister-in-law's surname was Chen. Baozhu asked about her name and origin. Seeing that she didn't talk much, she asked her to go to the kitchen to try her cooking skills.
At first, seeing her cautious appearance, I thought her cooking skills were just okay, but I didn't expect that just by looking at her knife skills and the speed of serving the dishes, I knew she was really skilled. Those who came to test her cooking skills before boasted a lot, but the truth was revealed as soon as the food was put into the pot. I thought Baozhu was a girl and thought she had some skills and dared to fool people.
The few banquets prepared by Zhen's father during the New Year have made him famous. Although it is not the New Year now, more and more people ask him to prepare banquets, and the restaurant is often unable to take care of them. Baozhu can handle it herself in her spare time, but she rarely cooks northern dishes. Now is the perfect time to hire a chef who can cook northern dishes.
There were mutton and fish in the kitchen. Mrs. Chen rolled up her sleeves and skillfully washed and cut the vegetables and prepared the side dishes. She also managed the fire under the stove. Two pots were lit on both sides of the stove, and the mutton and fish came out of the pot one after another.
The mutton is boiled and the fish is braised, both of which are basic dishes, but difficult to make outstanding. Mrs. Chen is quite creative. She cuts the mutton into shreds with red pepper and green onion and arranges it on a plate, and also garnishes the braised fish. Cooking pays attention to color, fragrance and taste, and these two dishes have been made to perfection.
Baozhu tasted the food briefly; the slices of white-cut lamb were as thin as cicada wings, and even the casually prepared sauce from the kitchen was delicious. The braised fish was also quite good, and even the chefs in the big restaurants were on par with them. It was no wonder that such skills were ostracized by such a wealthy family. An outsider chef who outperformed the family's own would undoubtedly threaten their position in the long run, and that was probably why they were driven out.
"It's not easy for women to make a living in this world. If a female cook works in a restaurant, she'll definitely be ostracized. I've been searching the streets for several days, but only today did I dare to come and ask, because the owner is also a woman."
Seeing Mrs. Chen like this, I knew that she only asked his family. If she asked other families, they would definitely not be so cautious and look at people's faces. With such skills, she can make a living in any restaurant.
After finally finding the right person, Baozhu immediately wanted to keep her and asked her how much salary she wanted per month. Mrs. Chen thought about it for a while before speaking cautiously.
"Thirteen strings of cash a month, right?"
Before coming to Bian Jing, the monthly employment contract signed with Lord Zhao's house was exactly thirteen strings of cash. Now that she is in Bian Jing, this price should still be included in the chart. Even if Baozhu thinks it is too high, she still has room to bargain.
Baozhu was relieved. She had originally thought that she would get at least twenty strings of cash. The monthly salary in a wealthy family might only be ten strings of cash, but they would give out a lot of gifts and bonuses every month, and it was also respectable to be outside, which was something a restaurant could not compare to.
But Baozhu wasn't the kind of person who was stingy. She simply said, "From now on, I'll give you sixteen strings of cash every month, plus gifts during the New Year holidays. If you can take two days off every month during your free time, you'll also receive a red envelope at the end of the year."
All the shop assistants receive the same treatment, the only difference being the amount of their wages and the thickness of the New Year's red envelopes.
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Chen thanked him again and again and said that she could start working today.
Baozhu shook her head and told her to come back tomorrow. The shop assistants, even her father who worked in the kitchen, and Baozhu herself, all wore the same style of clothes every day. It was easy for customers to call and find someone, and it looked neat when everyone wore the same clothes. Baozhu pulled a set of clothes from under the counter and told Mrs. Chen to come over tomorrow and put them on.
Mrs. Chen knew the quality of the dress just by touching the material. The new owner was a generous man. Although the dress was embroidered with the pattern of Zhen's restaurant, the stitching was dense and the material was decent enough to wear out.
Normally, in such wealthy families, not only would her credits be taken away by others, but her monthly allowances and the silver and toys given by the ladies would also be taken away by others. She was always oppressed. Just because she was not born in the family, she had no way to complain even if she cried. She could not even see the ladies, let alone win their favor.
After discussing this with Mrs. Chen, Baozhu went back that evening and told her family about it. While the monthly expenses would increase, the 20% interest from Dad would be saved. The Zhen family also bought a donkey cart, which they would need for emergencies.
When Zhen's father saw that the shop had found a suitable chef, he was relieved. He now had a lot of banquets. In spring, every family would hold a banquet to appreciate the flowers and spring, and new and old customers often asked him to cook for the banquets.
He is now very famous and people often come to him to learn cooking from him.
Since he wanted to specialize in preparing banquets, he not only took on the services of wealthy families, but also ordinary weddings and funerals. He originally thought that he would rent a small shop after he made some money. Baozhu said that this business did not require opening a shop outside. Now his customers were all repeat customers. If there were customers introduced by acquaintances, he only needed to come to the door and say hello. There was no need to spend money to open a special shop.
"Father, next time you host a banquet, whether it's an official or private one, you could find an opportunity to give out some invitation cards, write down your invitation and our address on them, and then if anyone wants to host a banquet, they'll naturally come to you."
Both Zhen's father and Xu Niang thought it made sense, so they went to the bookstore to print some more business cards. If anyone asked about the kitchen, he would hand one over.
If the family is wealthy, there will be help in preparing the banquet. If it is an ordinary family, it will be a bit chaotic if there is no one to help in the kitchen.
Zhen's father simply hired someone to cut vegetables and wash dishes. He was the only one who could handle the kitchen. Dalang had returned to Suzhou, and Baozhu was busy with the store, so he couldn't handle it alone. So he also wanted to find an honest and hardworking apprentice.
Since Mrs. Chen came to the shop, the atmosphere became much more relaxed, and Baozhu was also relieved. Unless there were customers ordering southern dishes, she would collect money at the counter.
Sister Chen was a skilled cook, and her Northern cuisine was very authentic. After all, Zhen's father had learned his Northern cooking skills from watching others, and while his skills were good, they couldn't compare to the authentic Northern cuisine of other chefs. Now that Sister Chen had taken over, Baozhu was a little apprehensive at first, but after asking the diners and seeing that everyone praised the food's authenticity, she finally felt reassured.
Mrs. Chen only set aside a few hundred coins from her monthly salary for rent, saving the rest. She would ask for leftovers from the restaurant and take them home to eat the next morning. The only advantage of working in a restaurant was that she could eat three meals a day.
She didn't have much to spend, and even the clothing store gave her money, so she saved the rest of the money, thinking that when she got her salary next month, she would write home and bring her children over and rent a bigger house. Mrs. Chen didn't talk much, and the thing she talked about the most was her two children.
Baorong's skills improved as he followed Lady Yu. One night, he came to see Baozhu, brought a new storybook, and pointed at the pictures printed on it, saying, "Sister, look, the pictures I carved are now printed in the book."
Baozhu praised her again and again, and went to the bookstore to buy more than a dozen books to support her. Baorong got the money and bought gifts for his master first, and then for his family members. After giving away the gifts to everyone, he was still proud and said with his head held high that he would become a great writer who would be remembered forever.
A-niang asked Baozhu how much the monthly rent for her shop was. After all, the shop was in the inner city and on a small lot, not even as big as the main room they currently lived in. But it was still a street-facing shop, so if they wanted to buy it, it would not be cheap, at least four or five thousand strings of cash.
Unless a family is short of money temporarily, no one would be willing to sell their shop in the inner city. After all, collecting rent is a long-term business, and selling a shop is a symbol of the family's decline. Unless the family is short of money and in a hurry to sell, few people are willing to sell their shop.
Madam Xu thought long-term. Ever since Lord Pei had said those words to her when she was a child, she had always wanted to buy the shop. Now she only had more than 2,000 strings of cash in her hand, so she thought of borrowing some money from the pawnshop. Since the price of the shop had stabilized, it had increased several times compared to before.
I just told Baozhu about this, and she immediately shook her head.
It is not easy to borrow money from a pawnshop. If you fail to pay it back one day, you will be skinned alive. The interest rate is also very high. If something goes wrong, your family will be ruined.
"Let's wait a little longer. We've already rented the shop for two years. If we save some money over the next two years, it won't be difficult to buy it."
It is better to have something yourself than to have it from others. With A Niang's support, Baozhu also wants to take over the shop, and her enthusiasm for making money is getting stronger and stronger.
Even in the off-season, her restaurant is always busy, not only with diners in the restaurant, but also with various takeaway meals.
It's just that he is mediocre if he is not hated, and even his small restaurant is no exception. Since the beginning of the year, Baozhu felt as if someone was secretly spying on the business of the store, but there were too many diners every day and she had no time to take care of it. Recently, there were more errands coming in and out of the store, and fewer people eating in the store, so Baozhu noticed it.
There was a diner who always came to try the new dishes every month. At first, Baozhu just thought he was an old customer and asked Jiang Shi to send a plate of salted duck eggs.
She felt something was wrong these days. Seeing that this man was always staring at the waiters in the store, she asked Jiang Shi to pay more attention. Logically speaking, although there were no bigwigs behind her restaurant, ordinary people would not dare to cause trouble. Since no trouble happened, Baozhu just thought that she was too suspicious.
Unexpectedly, after she started to pay attention to him, she found that he never came again. Since he didn't come anymore, she just let it go.
Until the end of the month, Jiang Shi went out to get some wine and came back with a dark face.
"There's a Zhenwei restaurant opening across the street. How shameless! They've already put up a sign before the interior is even finished. It's similar to ours, and they're pretending to be a passerby asking about it, only to find out they're also selling northern and southern cuisine."
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