Chapter 51 The Recipe
Since the drought, Taixing Restaurant has had fewer and fewer customers. Zhou Lao Er's job at the restaurant is just to tidy up the tables and chairs and help wash dishes and vegetables in the kitchen.
The restaurant was not crowded, but Manager Zhu did not allow anyone to slack off under his nose.
"Hey! What are you still doing here? Didn't your son pass the county exam and hold a banquet at Haowei Restaurant to celebrate? Why didn't he invite you?" Manager Zhu asked deliberately when he saw Chen Lao Er washing vegetables in the kitchen.
“The child is with his mother now, so I won’t join in the fun,” Zhou Lao Er paused for a moment after hearing his words before realizing that he was referring to Zhou Chengyu.
"If you ask me, you're destined to be a peasant. You let go of a perfectly good wife, and now you're getting divorced at your age. You're just destined to be poor!" Manager Zhu said, seeing that he was still squatting there washing vegetables, he snorted coldly and left the kitchen.
These days, business at Taixing Restaurant is getting worse and worse, and the young owner is at a loss. Seeing many old customers going to Haowei Restaurant, Manager Zhu is so anxious that he has developed several blisters on his lips.
"How can a woman who is illiterate, who is of reasonable appearance, run that restaurant so well?" Manager Zhu racked his brains but still couldn't figure it out.
"Perhaps it's the customer base she built up when she was setting up her stall. Her braised dishes and Dongpo pork used to be absolutely amazing. It's a pity that pork is hard to find now. If we had that recipe, we wouldn't have to worry about not having customers."
The shop assistant following behind Manager Zhu replied casually.
“Yes, if we could get the recipe, we wouldn’t have to worry about not having customers,” Manager Zhu said thoughtfully, then thought of Zhou Lao Er washing vegetables in the kitchen and quickly rejected the idea.
"In a couple of days, we'll go and pay her a visit in person. No matter what, she'll have to give our Taixing Restaurant some face."
When Song Yushu saw the manager of Taixing Restaurant come over, he was still grilling mutton skewers for customers at the door. The batch of sheep raised in the pigsty had been almost slaughtered, and he would ask Wei's father to buy more in a few days.
"Boss Wei's place is so lively!" Manager Zhu arrived at Song Yushu's restaurant the next day with two of his employees.
"Who is this?" Mother Wei did not recognize them.
"Mother, watch the shop for me for a while. I'll go in and talk to them for a bit and then come out," Song Yushu said. Having run an eatery in town for so long, she naturally recognized the man as the manager of Taixing Restaurant.
"Mr. Wei is so straightforward. Let's go inside and discuss it," Manager Zhu said, seeing that she was quite sensible, and followed her into the backyard.
"I wonder what brings Manager Zhu here?" Song Yushu didn't have time to waste with this old fox's nonsense and went straight to the point.
"Since Boss Wei has asked, then I'll be frank. We'll take your braised food recipe, three hundred taels!" Manager Zhu took out the silver notes and placed them on the table.
Song Yushu finally understood: this man was after her braised food recipe, but he was unwilling to pay for it.
"Mr. Zhu is joking. The recipe for braised dishes is the signature dish of my restaurant, and it's not for sale."
“Boss Wei, pork is hard to buy these days, so having the recipe won’t help you. I heard that you’re renting this place. Three hundred taels is enough to buy your shop!” Boss Zhu thought she was complaining about the amount of money and offered a few words of advice.
"Don't worry about the pork. I'm too busy with things at the shop to entertain you right now. Please go ahead, Manager Zhu!" Song Yushu also made his stance clear.
"I thought that a woman who runs a shop in town would be more tactful, but I didn't expect Boss Wei to be such an ungrateful person. Let's go, so as not to affect Boss Wei's money-making," Manager Zhu said with a gloomy face as he led his men away.
"What are they coming back for? And why did they look so pale when they left?" Wei's mother asked worriedly.
"This person who wants to buy our recipe doesn't seem like a magnanimous person. We'll have to be more careful in the future," Song Yushu had already anticipated that the restaurant's success would attract unwanted attention, and now it seemed that the people from Taixing Restaurant were the first to become restless.
"How about having your older brother and the others take turns staying over tonight? That way they can help out if anything happens during the night."
"Mother, don't worry. I'll go see if I can hire a few people to work at the restaurant, and then I'll free up a room for them to live in." Now that Wei Erge is raising pigs and sheep at home, and Wei Dage and Wei's father are slaughtering sheep to sell meat, Song Yushu doesn't want to add to their burden.
Song Yushu had long had the idea of hiring people. Every time Wei's mother and her two sisters-in-law finished tidying up at the shop, they would not return to the village until it was almost dark. It would be better to hire two long-term workers, providing them with food and lodging, so that Wei's mother and her sisters could return home earlier.
"It's good that you have your own ideas. Just be more alert at night," said Wei's mother, seeing that she had her own ideas, without saying much more.
“Mother, you’re hiring? Why not hire Qi Mingcheng’s mother? They’re an orphan and a widow, it’s not easy for them,” Zhou Chengyu said as soon as he returned and heard that the restaurant was hiring.
“I’m hiring a long-term worker to move in and live with us. Can your classmate’s mother move in?” Song Yushu thought of the banquet she had held a few days ago, when she had met Qi Mingcheng’s mother, who had stayed to help with the dishes.
"I'll ask about it tomorrow. Tell me about the salary too, and I'll talk to Qi Mingcheng about it!" Zhou Chengyu was particularly enthusiastic, hoping to help his classmate who was struggling financially.
Two days later, a simply dressed woman came to the door.
After recognizing her, Song Yushu led her to the vacated room.
“Sister Zhong, you should know how I treat people at my restaurant. My son Chengyu and Mingcheng are classmates, so don’t be too reserved. Try working here for a few days first, and we’ll talk about it if it doesn’t suit you,” Song Yushu said. She noticed that although her clothes had several large patches, her hands were clean, so she must be a clean person.
Aunt Zhong was a little reserved, but she was efficient at her work, taking on everything from washing and serving vegetables to cleaning, which made Wei's mother and the others feel much more at ease.
A few days later, Song Yushu hired another farmhand, who was introduced to her by Xu Niangzi, the owner of Xu Family Tavern.
"Manager Zhu of Taixing Restaurant is a ruthless man. With the Xu family as his backing, ordinary people wouldn't dare to provoke him. But you, a hothead, have offended him," Madam Xu said to Song Yushu after learning that she had offended Manager Zhu.
"What kind of background does the Xu family have? Could it be that even the government can't do anything about them?" If that's the case, then her shop will probably never have a chance to recover.
"We couldn't do anything about the previous one, but we might be able to about this one. The Xu family is a local power in the prefectural city, let alone our small county. They have officials backing them up, so you're likely to be in for a lot of trouble in the future."
Madam Xu sighed. If it weren't for her love of Song Yushu's cooking, she wouldn't have bothered arguing with her any further.
"What's done is done, there's no point in saying anything more. But thank you for reminding me anyway. I'll be the first to send you any new dishes I make!" In this town, Song Yushu and Madam Xu were the closest of friends, so he naturally appreciated her kindness.
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