Chapter 98: Preparing to Win Back His Wife - Li Yang's Business - Beijing Teahouse...
On a day when heavy snow was falling, Baijia Restaurant was opening a new business to welcome guests.
The crackling and popping of firecrackers added a touch of joy to the snow-covered city of Beijing.
Customers flocked to the restaurant.
"Uncle Chen, why does this restaurant need so many maids?" Xiao Bai asked, standing next to Manager Chen with his hands in his sleeves.
When the tea ladies came and saw the group of waiters in his restaurant, they shook their heads and immediately hired a group of female waiters.
Old Chen felt a pang of jealousy. "I've managed Baijia Restaurant for decades, and it's never been ruined like this before."
"Uncle Chen, it's never been this glorious before, has it?"
"nonsense."
"Uncle Chen, look at the number of customers coming into the shop today. We might not see this many even in ten days."
Seeing that Old Chen's face was getting more and more gloomy, Xiao Bai happily went over to help Li Yang and the others.
Manager Chen had watched him grow up since he was a child, and always managed him like his father, forbidding him from doing this and that, and often drawing lines on his forehead. Now, seeing him suffer such a setback was strangely satisfying.
Two groups of female tea pickers stood at the entrance of Baijia Restaurant, dressed as tea-picking girls from Jiangnan. However, their attire was rather thin for the winter weather.
Every quarter of an hour, a new team of tea girls would be brought out to endure the cold.
The girls were frozen, but quite a few guests did arrive.
Xiao Lu was puzzled and moved closer to Li Yang, "Young Madam, why do you need a woman to mind the shop? Aren't we Hwarang in Songshan Town?"
"Didn't you say that Hwarang is not dignified? We certainly can't be so dignified when we get to the capital."
Little Deer: "..."
Ziyan laughed and said, "Don't tease her. Little Lu, the capital is different from Songshan Town. There are more male customers here, so women are more attractive. Besides, we don't have enough staff in this shop. Now that we are going to sell tea in a restaurant, we need women to play the zither and serve tea to make it more interesting."
In the days prior, Li Yang and Zi Yan had visited a row of teahouses and restaurants in the capital, spending a considerable amount of money and discovering a pattern.
Perhaps because Songshan Town is too open-minded, it is not common for women in the capital to go to restaurants; it is mostly business for officials and men.
Ziyan then suggested that a lady serve tea in the shop, seeking elegance, so as to attract scholars and officials to the shop.
With more officials, there will naturally be more merchants.
These things were easy for Ziyan to do, after all, Sang Mama's ability to make her the number one boat in Songshan Town was inseparable from her advice and planning.
Otherwise, Madam Sang wouldn't have agreed to support her as a courtesan.
On such a joyous occasion, Madam Bai was bedridden and unable to attend in person.
After observing for a while, Xiao Bai asked Li Yang for leave, saying, "Miss Li, my mother's condition has worsened these past two days, and I need to go home to take care of her..."
"Young Master Bai, you're too kind. Please go ahead and get busy." Li Yang was so busy that he didn't even turn his head before asking the man to leave.
Seeing this, Xiao Lu smiled and stepped forward, "Young Madam, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to bring the tokens you asked me to bring. I'll go back and get them."
"Go quickly, go quickly."
The two returned to the Bai family home quickly. Xiao Lu wandered around her room for a while, took out a skewer from her pocket, rubbed it, rubbed it on the ground to get some dust, put it back in her pocket, and then went out satisfied.
A person is coming towards us.
"Little Deer, why are you back?" Chun Tao said with a smile as she approached.
"Sister Chuntao, I was in a hurry to leave today and forgot to bring something. The young mistress asked me to come back and get it." Xiaolu blurted out the ready-made excuse without thinking.
Chun Tao asked in surprise, "Young Madam? Which one is your young madam?"
Seeing her curiosity, Xiao Lu said smugly, "The one who likes to wear a single bun and doesn't like rouge is my young mistress. The other one with a high bun is Miss Ziyan."
"Miss Ziyan? What a lovely name! Your name is lovely too, Little Deer, so lively." Chuntao flattered her. "I see your young mistress is quite young, how come she got married first? Isn't Miss Ziyan her older sister? How can the younger sister get married before the older sister?"
"You wouldn't know that..."
The two talked as they walked further and further away.
After Xiaolu left, Chuntao returned to the house and reported to Madam Bai, startling the dying old woman so much that she sat up abruptly, exclaiming, "What did you say?!"
Chuntai frowned and nodded. "That's what Miss Little Deer said."
"This won't do, this won't do," the old woman said, as if her frail body had suddenly found boundless strength. "Quickly, quickly, find Manager Chen! Where is Heng'er?"
Bai Liheng was brewing medicine when his maid Chuntao called him away. "Mother?"
"Heng'er, now that the restaurant has been sold, you should not go there again from now on." Madam Bai tightly gripped her handkerchief. "You like music scores, so go to Baihe Qin Garden. I will ask Manager Chen to find you a teacher so you can learn the qin from him."
Bai Liheng was bewildered. "What's wrong, Mother?"
In the past, his mother would nag him to go to the shop to learn business from Old Chen every day, and she wished she could tear up and burn all the sheet music in his study, saying that those were harmful things.
"Uncle Chen, what's wrong?"
Something unusual must be going on. Bai Liheng was surprised that he wasn't overwhelmed by this good news. Why did his mother suddenly want to send him to Qinyuan?
Manager Chen stood to one side, his face not looking too good, and stammered, "Young master, why don't you go to the Qin Garden for a few days? You love traditional music, it's rare for Madam to be so kind."
Xiao Bai: "Yes, yes, but your sudden open-mindedness makes it hard for me not to be suspicious."
"What do you suspect? I'm your own mother, would I harm you? Are you going or not?" Madam Bai had lost patience and could no longer argue with her son.
Xiao Bai: "Go ahead! I'll go tomorrow. I'm going to the restaurant to tidy up the sheet music." He tested whether his mother would stop him, then happily set off for the restaurant.
After he left, Madam Bai glared at the man beside her. "Old Chen, how could you be so careless as to bring that pleasure boat girl into our home? How can we, an upright family, get entangled with such people? Find a house as soon as possible and make them move out."
Manager Chen frowned. He had no idea that those seemingly respectable women had actually managed to become boat girls on a pleasure boat. Fine, they were doing it, but what had happened when the old lady found out… Now he had to find them accommodations.
The group of women living in the Bai family's residence greatly displeased Old Madam Bai, and the young master of the Chen family in Songshan Town was also troubled by their presence.
-
Chen's Salt Shop.
"Manager Zhong, last time you said I kept Zhaozhao at home like a bird with broken wings, but now she's spread her wings and flown to someone else's house." Chen Junbai frowned, very troubled. "What should we do with this development?"
When Zhong Qian entered, he had already gathered most of the information from Bi Fang. After a moment's thought, he said, "Young Master Chen, I've come here today with something to tell you."
He understood that the fact that the owner had taken over the Bai family's shop and that they were staying at the Bai family's place might only be a temporary measure. After all, they were a group of women who were unfamiliar with the capital, and it was already quite an achievement that they had managed to secure a shop and a place to stay so quickly. Everything still needed to be planned gradually.
"Take it slow and steady?" Chen Junbai looked at Zhong Qian with a puzzled expression.
The other party nodded seriously.
"Now that I'm living in someone else's house, if things continue like this, I'm afraid I'll end up marrying someone else."
Zhong Qian choked, "Young Master, in my opinion, the Master probably has no such intention. However," he looked up at Chen Junbo, a mischievous glint in his eye, "if you are worried, why not go to the capital yourself?"
"To the capital?"
"In just over two months, the ice on the water will melt, and the canal transport will gradually open from south to north. Why not go to the capital and see for yourself?"
Chen Junbo said loudly, "Bi Fang, please invite all the shopkeepers here."
Bi Fang, puzzled, asked, "Young Master, what's this?"
"We're working late into the night to speed up the cleanup of the saltworks."
Bi Fang: "Young Master, what about Lord Lin?"
"Go and deliver this letter to Lord Lin yourself." With that, he handed over the still-wet ink on the letter.
Bi Fang took the letter, glanced at it quickly, swallowed hard, and rushed out the door.
Zhong Qian stood to the side, watching as the Chen family patriarch made up his mind in just a few moments, and secretly clicked his tongue in amazement, "Young Master Chen, your decision is incredibly swift."
"We must get to the capital before she remarries. If we're too late, we might not even make it to the wedding banquet."
Zhong Qian: "...Young Master, it can't be that bad..."
-
The woman Chen Junbo was concerned about—whether she would remarry—was now looking at a drawer full of silver, feeling incredibly content.
"Sister Ziyan, the capital is truly wonderful! With such a large daily revenue, you must have made a fortune."
This time, she visited several teahouses and boldly set similar prices, which were actually 30% higher than those in Songshan Town.
Ziyan said frankly, "The tea girls' performances account for 20% of the cost, so it's not expensive."
She was secretly worried, but the bill was settled in just one day. It didn't matter if it was expensive, as long as it was reasonable, the customers would pay.
Seeing her engrossed in counting silver coins, the clinking and jingling sounds were quite amusing, Ziyan smiled and, in high spirits, walked to the ancient paulownia wood zither in the middle, gathered her skirts, and sat down.
Her fingertips didn't fall, but hovered on the string like butterfly wings resting. Her gaze swept over her companion's busy hands, and a mischievous glint suddenly appeared in her eyes.
A delicate hand landed lightly, "clang—"
A clear, sharp sound instantly cleaved through the tinkling, broken ringing.
She didn't follow the traditional musical scale or ancient melodies; instead, she let a few clear, cold single notes leap out, seemingly imitating the rhythm of striking silver coins, yet transforming them into a string of exquisite jade beads that rolled onto the brocade carpet.
The man counting the silver paused, looking up blankly.
Ziyan didn't look at her; her eyelids were slightly lowered, and her long eyelashes cast faint shadows under the lamplight.
With a flick of her fingertips, the piano melody shifted from playful imitation to a sudden, expansive sound, transforming into a long, ethereal overtone.
"Bang--"
The music abruptly stopped, and everyone turned around at the sound. They saw a curtain hanging down on one side of the counter, and a young man standing there, his books scattered at his feet.
"Young Master Bai..."
Li Yang waved her hand lightly in front of his eyes, "What's wrong with you?"
"This piece," Xiaobai said, seemingly still not fully recovered, "do you have the sheet music, young lady?"
Zi Yan smiled and shook her head, her red lips parting slightly: "No. This piece was just something I played spontaneously, there was no sheet music."
Li Yang: "Young Master Bai?"
Xiao Bai: "Sister Ziyan, can you take me as your apprentice?"
Purple smoke?
Liyang?
Xiao Bai said, "Really, none of these sheet music can compare to a casual melody from you, Miss." He then stepped forward and knelt down beside Zi Yan with a thud. "Sister, please take me as your apprentice."
His kneeling startled Ziyan, who jumped up and took a few steps back, saying, "Get up quickly."
Unexpectedly, the boy crawled forward on his knees and approached her again, saying, "Sister, will you teach me to play the piano?"
Ziyan forced a smile. "Get up first."
"You agree first."
“You…” Zi Yan gasped for breath, then gritted her teeth and said, “Fine, then.”
To everyone's surprise, the young man did not get up. Instead, he clasped his hands together and kowtowed three times to her, saying, "Master, please accept my bow."
He immediately prostrated himself on the ground, his round eyes looking at the beautiful woman in front of him, "Master, when will you start teaching me?"
Ziyan: ...
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