"Master Wu? Would you like to come in and have a taste? It's on the house."
"It smells so good, of course I have to try it, but it can't be free, I don't want to eat for free, haha..."
Today is the day Master Wu checks the profits of each shop.
As he was riding in a sedan chair to return home, he suddenly overheard several passersby discussing a newly opened hot pot restaurant.
Unable to control his appetite, he ordered his servants to turn around and go to West Street.
I never expected it to be owned by an acquaintance.
When Master Wu tasted the beef slices cooked in the spicy hot pot broth, a look of amazement flashed in his eyes!
It's so delicious!
This was a delicious treat he had never tasted before!
Especially in autumn and winter.
It's so spicy and fragrant, it's absolutely amazing!
Master Wu was sweating profusely from the spicy hot pot, but he didn't stop eating for a moment...
He ate that hotpot for a full half hour.
They ate all kinds of meat slices non-stop.
When it came time to pay the bill, Master Wu assumed it would cost several taels of silver.
I never expected it to be only six qian of silver!
"Miss Lin, are you sure this is all there is? You didn't sell it to me at a loss? I ate a lot of meat."
"Master Wu, don't worry, you've already spent the most. Just now, two customers spent one or two hundred coins each, and today the customer who spent the least spent less than one hundred coins."
Lin Yan didn't intend to go for a high-end business when she opened this hot pot restaurant; she just wanted to run it as an ordinary eatery.
Adopt a low-profit, high-volume business model.
Fortunately, most of the vegetables are either homegrown or picked from the mountains.
It won't cost much.
The price of a plate of meat is the same as that of one pound of raw meat, but the weight of a plate of meat is generally no more than two ounces.
Thirty catties of oil can be used to make hot pot base, enough for more than one hundred servings.
The broth costs ten coins per pot.
After all, people's living standards are not high these days.
There aren't many wealthy people in town. A family that can afford to spend tens or hundreds of coins on a meal is considered to be well-off.
If business is good in the future, I hope to open a shop in the prefectural city.
The price could be increased a bit...
"Miss Lin, your hot pot tastes so good, and the price is much more affordable than in restaurants. I'm sure your business will be booming!"
"Thank you for your kind words, Master Wu. Please take care. You are welcome to come again next time you want to eat here."
"Of course! I have to go and tell my friends all about your hot pot restaurant, haha!"
Because Master Wu was a local celebrity, many people followed suit after seeing him enter the hot pot restaurant.
The sheer number of customers on the first day of opening far exceeded Lin Yan's budget.
It's past midnight.
The last customer left, and the four of them were so exhausted they were almost collapsing.
Wang was still fiddling with the abacus. After finishing the last calculation, she handed the ledger to Lin Yan, rambling incoherently:
"Miss, we used a total of 45 servings of base sauce today! The total amount collected is nearly ten taels of silver!"
"It's only because we just opened today that we have so many people. In the days to come, we'll be lucky to get twenty or thirty people a day. Okay, let's pack up and go back to the village. You can move in once we've filled all the seats. Otherwise, I'm not comfortable leaving you here alone."
After tidying up.
The group returned home in a horse-drawn carriage.
But as Lin Yan passed through East Street, she saw Ye Jun's figure.
He was carrying a bundle on his back, squatting at the entrance of the inn with a melancholy look on his face.
"Uncle!"
"Yan girl, you've come to town too?"
Upon hearing his voice, Ye Lan quickly crawled out of the carriage.
Seeing him carrying a package, I couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Young man, is today your day off? Are you getting ready to go home?"
"Big sister, brother-in-law, you're here too. Well, our innkeeper is going to the prefectural city, so the inn will be closing down. I was just about to look for another job."
Feeling deeply ashamed at losing his job, Ye Jun let out a heavy sigh.
Lin Yan had a good impression of her uncle, who was about the same age as her and had a handsome appearance, so she generously invited him:
"Uncle, why don't you come work at our hot pot restaurant? We're short of a waiter, the pay is two taels a month, and you have experience. The restaurant can be used for living and cooking, and we have bedding readily available."
"You own that hot pot restaurant on West Street? Everyone was talking about it this afternoon. But isn't the monthly salary you're paying too much?"
My niece has been helping out at their house a lot lately.
Ye Jun saw it all.
He was moved but also uneasy, as he had never heard of a waiter earning so much money per month.
"Don't worry, Uncle. Being a waiter at our shop isn't as easy as it was at your previous inn, so the monthly pay is naturally higher. Get in the car quickly. After you finish eating, I'll take you back to the village. I'll pick you up at the village entrance at dawn tomorrow."
Hearing her say that, Ye Jun got into the car with peace of mind.
He didn't want to always take advantage of the younger generation...
In fact, Lin Yan had wanted Ye Jun to help out at the hot pot restaurant for a long time.
After all, he's good-looking and eloquent; he'd definitely attract a lot of business as a greeter.
But he was doing just fine at the inn.
She didn't want to poach someone else's employee, so she gave up the idea.
I never expected it to be such a coincidence...
The carriage traveled along the road.
Just as they were about to reach their doorstep, they suddenly bumped into Ye Mei and her group, who were walking in a hurry.
"Uncle, Aunt, what's going on?"
"Yan girl, Xiaoyan and Xiaoyu are missing! We've searched everywhere but can't find them, I'm so sorry..."
"Xiaomei, what did you say?! How could Xiaoyan and Xiaoyu be missing?!"
As soon as Ye Lan stepped off the carriage, she heard this devastating news, and instantly felt dizzy and disoriented!
Just as she was about to fall to the ground, Lin Zhenghong pulled her into his arms and whispered words of comfort:
"Lan'er, don't worry, let's go look for them together now, we'll definitely find the two children!"
Wang and Ye also hurriedly climbed out of the carriage.
Although they were equally anxious, they still echoed each other from behind:
"Yes, there are many of us, we're sure to find the children."
Seeing that her husband was placing all the blame on her, Huang immediately jumped out and blamed herself, crying as she complained:
"Waaaaah, it's all my fault. I didn't watch them properly..."
Ye Zhu's wife, Wu, was equally filled with remorse.
With red and swollen eyes, he kept apologizing.
"Uncle, Aunt, now is not the time to blame ourselves. Let me bring the carriage into the yard first. You two think carefully about whether you saw anyone suspicious today. My younger brother and sister are not the kind of naughty children who would run around. Someone must have done something bad!"
Lin Yan led the carriage back to the courtyard as quickly as possible.
He went to the west room, took the dagger, and prepared to leave.
Xie Muqing had never seen her so anxious before, and a trace of worry flashed through his heart.
"Where are you going so late, my lady?"
"My little brother and sister are missing. I'm going out to look for them. You stay inside and don't go out."
"What?"
In the blink of an eye.
Lin Yan's figure disappeared from Xie Muqing's sight like a gust of wind.
He didn't even have time to say anything!
Although Xie Muqing usually despised Lin Muyan's behavior of tattling on others.
But actually, he doesn't dislike him at all.
Moreover, Lin Yu is so charming that he can't possibly stand idly by.
However, his secret might be about to be exposed to her...
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