Chapter 222 Aren’t you afraid that they will steal your business?
After Xu Wencheng delivered the sour plum soup and braised food to the upstairs room, he quickly ran to the backyard.
"Sister Tao Xia, another customer in the front yard ordered two bowls of noodles."
Tao Xia was so busy that he didn't even have time to raise his head.
"Oh, I see."
Seeing that five bowls of noodles were already on the stove, Xu Wencheng hurriedly put them on the tray and carried it to the front hall where the seven guests were seated.
The group was busy.
It was not until noon that the customers in the shop finally left.
Song Yuntang pounded his arm and sat down on the swing in the backyard. Xu Wencheng, who had always been full of energy, also sat in the yard tiredly and poured himself several glasses of water.
"Sister-in-law, business is really good today."
Song Yuntang hummed.
“Life is really tiring.”
Xu Wencheng looked at her with some amusement.
"Sister-in-law can rhyme now?"
Song Yuntang swung on the swing for a few seconds, then turned to look at him and asked, "Where's your elder brother?"
"I'm here."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Qingye came to the backyard carrying a pile of tableware.
Seeing this, Xu Wencheng went to meet him even though he was very tired. "Brother, you should go read books. I can do this kind of work. Many people in the academy know you. It would not be good if they saw you."
Xu Qingye shook his head, "Don't worry about what others think."
He placed the dishes on the stove and turned to look at Song Yuntang who was leaning on the swing. "You got up early this morning. Do you want to go back to the farm and rest for a while?"
The room where she lived before was not moved. Miao tidied the room for her, as she was worried that one day she would not be able to return to Lushan Village in time and would have to spend the night at the farm.
Song Yuntang shook his head, "It's okay, I'll just take a break."
I did get up too early in the morning. It was still dark when I woke up.
If I could sleep half an hour longer, I wouldn't be so sleepy.
While Tao and Chen were washing dishes, they said, "Girl, even if there's no fried chicken tonight, the three of us can still handle it. If you're tired, you can go back and rest first. Leave this to us."
Chen Xier also nodded.
"Yeah, without the crispy chicken, it's enough for the three of us."
At this moment, Fang Tianci, who was counting the bills at the front counter, shouted towards the backyard, "Girl, there's an auntie here, she said she wants to wash dishes here."
Hearing the voice, Song Yuntang woke up immediately, stood up and went to the front hall. When she saw the person coming, surprise flashed across her face.
"Aunt Sun, why is it you?"
Aunt Sun is the daughter-in-law of Uncle Qin, who rented the yard in the southern suburbs to her.
Her daughter-in-law Zheng had come to her to make trouble before, and Aunt Sun came to apologize to her afterwards.
When she saw Song Yuntang, Sun was also surprised. She looked around the shop.
"Miss Song, is this shop yours?"
Song Yuntang just smiled, "Isn't your aunt's daughter-in-law pregnant? Can you come and work with us when you are free?"
Mrs. Sun was a capable person, but she was afraid that her daughter-in-law would cause trouble again.
She had rented his yard before, so if she came here to make trouble, it would be over and she wouldn't lose anything. But if she came to the shop to make trouble, she would just lose money.
"Oh! Don't mention it." Sun waved her hands helplessly. "She took advantage of her pregnancy to make trouble at home. She made your uncle Qin and I split up with them. Now we have moved to the yard that we rented to you before. Try not to have any contact with her."
"If my aunt comes here to work, she won't come over, right?" Song Yuntang asked.
Thinking of what happened before, Sun was a little embarrassed. "It was indeed my negligence, but don't worry, young lady. She is pregnant and has a child now, so she doesn't dare to run so far. Besides, we have separated. If I don't tell her, she won't know where I work."
Song Yuntang thought about it.
"I can give me a chance. If your daughter-in-law doesn't make trouble, I can keep doing this job. But if she does, I'm afraid I won't be able to do this job for long."
Sun didn't expect Song Yuntang to agree so readily, and her face was filled with gratitude.
"Thank you Miss Song for not holding a grudge."
Song Yuntang led her to the backyard. "We make 600 wen a month washing dishes here. If you are willing, you can come to work tomorrow. Arrive before 9:00 in the morning. You can eat two meals in the shop every day and leave after 7:00. Your job will mainly be washing dishes. If you have time, you can also help with some work in the kitchen."
Then he introduced Tao Xia and Chen Xier to her.
Sun saw the two people washing dishes and hurried over to join them. "Miss Song, after all, I'm here today, so I'll help out here and get familiar with the place. I'll start paying you from tomorrow."
Seeing this, Song Yuntang said, "Since Auntie starts working today, her wages must be calculated from today. Our wages are settled at the end of every month. Today is the 28th. How about settling Auntie's wages together at the end of next month?"
Aunt Sun nodded quickly.
"Hey, listen to Miss Song."
Fang Tianci had already counted the money settled at noon and came to Song Yuntang with the account book.
"Miss, we have sold all the thirty crispy chickens today, and we also sold a lot of noodles and drinks. In less than two hours at noon, we have earned a total of five taels and six cents of silver."
Song Yuntang nodded.
“Not bad.”
The rent of the tavern was fourteen taels of silver for half a year, which averaged less than two taels and seven cents per month.
I sold five taels and six cents at noon. If there was no crispy chicken in the evening, I could sell another two or three taels and make seven or eight taels of silver a day.
It cost me forty taels to take over this shop, ten taels to renovate it, fourteen taels to rent it for half a year, and less than ten taels to buy things for the shop. So, based on ten taels, the total cost was seventy-four taels.
If you can earn 70 to 80 taels a day, that would be around 240 taels a month. Excluding the cost of ingredients, you can recover your investment in a month.
All earnings after deducting costs are pure profit.
In fact, as long as you were bold and a little innovative, you could make money quickly by doing business in ancient times.
"Brother Tianci, there's no one in the shop right now. Can you ride your mule and help me catch the two ducks raised on the farm?"
The ducks on the farm weigh more than two kilograms each, which is perfect for making roast duck.
Fang Tianci said quickly, "No need to ride a mule. It's not far from here to the farm. I can just go there and catch it."
After saying that, he locked everything on the counter into the cabinet and went out to the farm.
After about two quarters of an hour, he caught the two ducks and brought them to the tavern.
Song Yuntang rested for a while and was not as tired as at the beginning. She boiled a pot of water and asked Chen to help her kill and pluck the duck.
She herself was not idle either.
Add sugar and water in proportion to the pot and boil until dissolved. Then add cloves, cardamom, angelica, lemongrass, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, licorice, galangal, and red peppercorns, bring to a boil and cook for a while, then turn off the fire.
Finally, add sauce, salt and wine, and the sauce for marinating the duck is ready, and the whole yard is filled with the fragrance.
In fact, she was not sure what to add to the sauce for marinating the duck, and could only match it based on her knowledge of medicinal herbs.
Although the proportions may not be correct, it's fine as long as the taste is roughly the same.
"Sister Xier, have you dealt with the duck?"
"It will be ready soon."
After Chen washed the duck again with water, she put it in a bamboo sieve and sent it to Song Yuntang.
After Song Yuntang poured the sauce in the pot into a small jar, he waited for the water to cool down a little, then put the two ducks in. Then he used a bowl to press the ducks down so that the ducks were completely immersed in the sauce.
Tao and Chen were standing by her side watching her.
"Girl, are we going to have new dishes in our shop?"
Song Yuntang shook his head, "This is for the Jade Pavilion next door."
"Prepare for Feicui Xuan?" Fang Tianci, who was standing at the back door of the front hall, was puzzled. "Miss, aren't you afraid that they will steal our business?"
"Each of them has its own characteristics. If they take ours, we can also take theirs." Song Yuntang explained patiently, "The street where our shop is located is near the academy. On weekdays, there are many people when the academy is in session, but when the academy is on vacation, the business on this street is slow. If we can have more unique shops, diners will remember this place, and we can survive more when the academy is on vacation."
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