The two kneeling men exchanged a glance upon hearing this, then quickly stood up with smiles and nodded repeatedly to Jiang Yuwei in agreement.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei had Yun Qing take the two of them to the shops on Jin Street, while she herself took Xia Yue to the General's Mansion.
As soon as Jiang Yuwei entered, she saw Qiu Yue busy cleaning.
"Qiuyue, let the guards handle the things in the front yard from now on. Come with me to the kitchen. Our shop on Jin Street will open tomorrow. I'm going to teach you how to make some snacks. Once you've made them at the General's Mansion, have Aunt Zhou and the others take them to the shop to sell."
Qiu Yue was delighted to hear from Jiang Yuwei that she had been assigned a new task, so she hurriedly followed her to the backyard.
Jiang Yuwei planned to have Qiuyue make some pretty pastries at home so that they could set prices and sell them in the store. Qiuyue wouldn't need to be involved; Wang Fugui and Liu Sheng could handle the sales themselves.
"Qiuyue, today I'll teach you how to make a few pastries. Once you've learned them, try selling them at the shop tomorrow. If they're good, I'll teach you a few more, okay?"
Qiuyue nodded happily.
"Yes, madam, I love making pastries. As long as you are willing to teach me, I am sure I can learn."
"Okay, I'll teach you how to render snow-white, odorless lard first. We'll need this pork to make the pastries later, otherwise they won't taste good."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei took out a piece of pigskin and burned off all the pig hair. Then she used a kitchen knife to cut the pigskin into small pieces. After that, she poured some well water into a large pot, and asked Xia Yue to be in charge of the fire and Qiu Yue to watch the pot.
After pouring the pig skin into the pot all at once, Jiang Yuwei added some scallions and ginger to remove the fishy smell, and then instructed Xia Yue to simmer it over low heat.
Seeing the pork skin simmering over there, Jiang Yuwei started mixing noodles and pounding vegetable and fruit juices. Qiu Yue, noticing this, asked curiously:
"Madam, why did you smash all the vegetables and fruits?"
Jiang Yuwei pointed to the different colored juices on the table and explained.
"These are used to color the dough, so that the pastries made in this way will have different colors, which is very beautiful and tastes good."
After Jiang Yuwei finished preparing the dough, she saw that Qiuyue's lard had also been rendered. She then took out the work surface and taught Qiuyue how to let the dough rise and how to shape it. Unexpectedly, Qiuyue was very clever. Each type of pastry was made by Jiang Yuwei once, and Qiuyue learned it. Moreover, she could make it about 70-80% like the real thing on her first try.
Jiang Yuwei nodded in praise.
"Qiuyue, what you made is really good. But these ones that don't look very good can be left for the guards. Make some more egg yolk pastries, lotus pastries, and jujube paste cakes to use when you open the shop tomorrow."
Qiu Yue nodded in agreement. Jiang Yuwei thought that Aunt Zhou and the others were still busy in the shop and didn't have time to come back to cook.
So he had Xia Yue make several pots of water chestnut cakes of different colors, and also made some soy milk and fried cakes, and boiled several pots of red bean paste and mung bean paste sweet soup.
Then he helped Liu prepare the dough for making savory pancakes and scallion pancakes, made a sauce for the savory pancakes, simmered a large pot of bone broth for making mala tang, and made some dipping sauce.
After finishing all these tasks, he explained things to Qiuyue and then took Xiayue back to the Jingwang Mansion.
As the two were returning home, they ran into Ning Zixuan, who was about to leave. Jiang Yuwei quickly stepped forward and stopped him.
"Your Highness, are you going out?"
Ning Zixuan nodded.
"I heard from Yunqing that your shop on Jin Street will open tomorrow. I'll make time to go and support you."
Jiang Yuwei smiled faintly.
"Then I must thank you in advance, Your Highness, but should I discuss this matter with you today?"
Ning Zixuan frowned upon hearing this and looked at Jiang Yuwei, waiting for her to speak.
"Um, you saw the young ladies at yesterday's banquet, Your Highness. Did you notice any of them?"
"No."
As soon as Jiang Yuwei finished speaking, Ning Zixuan replied coldly.
"Then, what kind of girl does the young master like?"
Ning Zixuan stared into Jiang Yuwei's eyes for a long time without saying a word.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei coughed a few more times.
"Well, if Your Highness has a girl you like, you can tell me directly, and I can help you put in a good word with her."
"No."
With those two words, Ning Zixuan ignored Jiang Yuwei and got into the carriage, instructing the driver to leave.
Jiang Yuwei frowned and looked in the direction he left, muttering to herself:
"She's really a difficult person to please."
Seeing this, Xia Yue, who was standing to the side, quickly spoke up:
“Madam, it’s getting late. You need to get up early tomorrow to check on the shop’s business. Why don’t we go back to the courtyard to rest today?”
Jiang Yuwei had been busy all day and was feeling a bit tired, so she nodded and took Qiuyue back to the courtyard to rest.
The next day,
Jiang Yuwei got up early and tidied herself up briefly before letting Ning Wan take Sixi to play in the Princess's courtyard. She then greeted Ning Huaizhi and took Xia Yue to the shops on Jin Street.
Today, she had Yunqing buy firecrackers early in the morning, just waiting for the auspicious time to set them off for the business opening.
When Jiang Yuwei arrived at the shop, Aunt Zhou and the others had already tidied it up and laid out all the food they had prepared in advance.
Ning Wu also set up some samples outside the shop as instructed by Jiang Yuwei to attract customers to come in and make purchases.
After all, today is the first day of business, and many customers here don't know what food is available in the store. So it's much more convenient to let them try the food first before they come in and buy what they like.
Jiang Yuwei was relieved to see that Aunt Zhou and Uncle Youcai had assigned the sales and waiters, and that she had even tested them herself as a customer and found that they all performed quite well.
Seeing that the time was almost right, he instructed Yunqing to light the firecrackers.
Jiang Yuwei had specially prepared a ribbon-cutting ceremony for today's opening. She hadn't expected Ning Zixuan to come, but yesterday Ning Zixuan actually took the initiative to tell her that he wanted to come and visit the store.
Jiang Yuwei then left him a spot for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and called over Aunt Zhou and herself, making a total of three people for the ribbon-cutting.
Soon, the firecrackers were finished, and Ning Zixuan arrived at the shop. Jiang Yuwei quickly instructed Xia Yue to bring out a red ribbon and have Aunt Zhou and Ning Zixuan stand in their positions. The three of them then cut the ribbon together.
The people on Jin Street didn't think much of this food city. They were of noble birth and had never tried buying food like this before. Moreover, they considered snacks to be something that couldn't be served in a proper manner.
However, everyone recognized Ning Zixuan's face. Now that the heir of the Jingwang Mansion was eating at the Food City, they naturally didn't need to be pretentious anymore and started to sample the food.
Jiang Yuwei was naturally delighted to see such a grand occasion, and ordered Aunt Zhou to prepare a portion of each dish for Ning Zixuan. Then, she had Ning Zixuan sit down at the entrance of the shop on the first floor and eat.
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