Chapter 81: Taking over the noodle shop and encountering a murder
Jiang Yanyi bought the noodle shop and hired a mason to renovate it the next day. The layout of the kitchen had to be remodeled, several new stoves were built, more than a dozen steamers were added, and a row of earthen kilns and ovens were built.
The old chefs in the noodle shop didn't know why the new owner was making such a big fuss. They were experienced in making noodles and had been in the business for decades, but they had never seen a noodle shop arranged like this.
But they didn't understand the character of the new owner and didn't have the courage to say anything.
Jiang Yanyi wanted to use the original people in the noodle shop, so she naturally had to persuade them first.
It was morning, and there were not many customers at Gudonggeng. In order to appear more impressive, she brought Yang Xiu and Bing Shao over.
The noodle shop is in the west of the city. Because the location is not very good, the yard is quite large.
Today the snow stopped, and the north wind blew, which made it even colder and dryer.
Jiang Yanyi sat on a big chair under the eaves, flipping through the noodle shop worker's indentures. Yang Xiu and Bing Shao stood behind her on the left and right, looking straight ahead like door gods, full of majesty. In
the brazier next to the chair, dry firewood was burning with a crackling sound, and the red-orange flames licked the chill in the air.
Jiang Yanyi wore a plum blossom white water skirt with a satin flowered double-breasted jacket. She was simple and elegant. When she didn't smile, her eyes seemed like a lake of frost and snow, clear and cold, making people dare not look directly at her. The noodle
shop employees stood in the yard against the cold wind, their hands tucked into their sleeves, and from time to time they glanced at the female boss. Those standing in the front row did not dare to make any noise, but those standing in the back row whispered to each other.
Jiang Yanyi looked through the contract of sale for a whole incense stick of time, and then raised his eyes to the noodle shop employees in the yard and said loudly: "My surname is Jiang, I am the owner of Jiang's antique soup, and now I am also the new owner of the noodle shop." The noodle shop employees
fell silent, waiting for Jiang Yanyi to continue.
The two employees standing in the back row may have seen that Jiang Yanyi was a girl, and judging from her bun, she was still a girl, so they couldn't help but look down on her. They glanced at Jiang Yanyi, turned their heads and said something with a playful smile.
Jiang Yanyi frowned.
Yang Xiu got her signal and shouted: "The last two, come out!"
He was eight feet tall and had a bandit-like aura. His shout was still very shocking. The two guys looked at each other, put away their playful smiles, and walked out of the line slowly.
Jiang Yanyi could tell from the expressions of the other guys that these two must have been old hands.
The two guys stood in front and saluted her perfunctorily: "Boss."
The frivolous and dissolute eyes kept glancing at Jiang Yanyi. In the bitter cold land of Xizhou, it was rare to see such a beauty.
Jiang Yanyi didn't even look at the two of them, and just said: "Your former boss may be a good talker, and he has never disciplined you in terms of rules and etiquette. But I can't tolerate any sand in my eyes. Please perform this ceremony for me again."
The two of them didn't expect that the new boss looked like a young girl, but her unshakable posture clearly showed that she was someone who had seen a lot of storms.
His momentum weakened a bit, and he politely said, "Hello, boss."
Jiang Yanyi picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, then said slowly, "This etiquette is still not proper enough."
The two employees looked angry, but when they looked up, they saw Yang Xiu and Bing Shao staring at them fiercely. How could the employees who knead noodles in the noodle shop compare with these people who had been on the battlefield and chopped off heads? They were instantly scared back and politely bowed again. They bowed respectfully: "Greetings, boss."
Jiang Yanyi glanced at them and asked: "What are your names and what did you do originally?"
The sharp-nosed and monkey-faced worker spoke first: "My name is Ma You, and I was originally responsible for hanging the noodles on the pole."
The so-called hanging on the pole means taking the fermented noodles out of the fermentation tank and placing them on the high rack to dry. This step can be done by anyone and does not require any technical content.
Jiang Yanyi found his indenture and looked at it: "Are you bought from outside?"
The sharp-nosed and monkey-faced worker nodded.
Jiang Yanyi asked him again: "How many years have you worked in the noodle shop?"
"Three years."
After working for three years, he was still just a pole hanger, which shows that he usually just fishes in troubled waters and spends his days in leisure.
Jiang Yanyi understood the general situation and let him leave first. Her unfathomable attitude made all the employees in the noodle shop feel uneasy.
When another employee answered, his attitude was obviously much more respectful. He was similar to the sharp-nosed and monkey-faced employee. They were both bought from human traffickers by the previous boss. They had been working for a few years and were only responsible for the job.
Both of the troublemakers were suppressed by Jiang Yanyi. After that, Jiang Yanyi basically called out a person and asked him something, and the other party answered respectfully.
Jiang Yanyi asked more questions to the old masters in charge of rolling and twisting noodles, and he had a general understanding of everything from their own skills to their basic family situation.
Asking about noodle making skills is to find out how capable they are and whether they can take on the big responsibility. Understanding their family situation is to consider their availability and stability.
The noodle shop originally had more than 40 people. After it closed down, all the part-time and long-term workers found better jobs elsewhere. Those who had extra money also redeemed their indentures and were unwilling to stay.
Among the remaining dozen people, one group has no money to redeem their indentures and cannot leave, and the other group was brought up by the old owner of the noodle shop and has developed a friendship with the noodle shop and is reluctant to leave.
One of them was an old master named Hong, who was a veteran in the noodle shop. He had superb noodle-making skills. People from other noodle shops had always tried to poach him, but the old boss entrusted him to take good care of the noodle shop before his death, so the old master refused to leave. It is said that he cried when he heard that the young boss sold the noodle shop.
Jiang Yanyi basically understood the situation of the noodle shop partners, and said to those lazy partners: "I am new to the noodle shop business, and I don't know how long this noodle shop business can last. You are all in good age and have a skill. It's better for you to make a living somewhere else."
They have seen the depressed situation of the noodle shop these days. If they didn't have no money to redeem themselves, they would have left long ago.
Several people had no intention to stay here to continue working. Now that Jiang Yanyi said so, and they had just been scolded by Jiang Yanyi, they really had no intention to stay in the noodle shop to work.
Jiang Yanyi asked Bing Shao to find a human trafficker.
When the human trafficker came to pick up the person, he saw that it was the employee of this noodle shop, and his expression was a little strange. When he gave the money, he was only willing to give one dollar per person.
One hundred coins to buy a servant, this is a dream!
Jiang Yanyi was so angry that she almost laughed. The trafficker had lowered the price by more than ten times. She argued with the trafficker, but he seemed to have something to hide. He only said, "If the servants of this noodle shop want to sell, they can only offer this price. It's the same no matter which trafficker you ask. Shopkeeper Jiang can sell it if he is willing."
Jiang Yanyi remembered that when she said she wanted to buy the employees of the noodle shop, the young owner of the noodle shop directly cut the price in half, on the condition that she bought all the employees. At that time, she thought the young owner was short of money, but now that the traffickers seemed to be deliberately suppressing this noodle shop, Jiang Yanyi felt something was unusual.
But it would definitely be uneasy for these people to stay in the noodle shop. Jiang Yanyi didn't want them to stab her in the back, so she just paid money to buy peace of mind and let the people take the employees away at a price of one dollar each.
She went back to the yard and hired a few employees as soon as she took over the noodle shop. The rest of the people were obviously a little panicked.
Jiang Yanyi asked Yang Xiu to take out the instant noodles brought from the store and gave each of them three pieces of noodles and a small can of seasoning sauce. Instant noodles are very popular in Xizhou now, and the employees of the noodle shop naturally recognize this thing.
Jiang Yanyi said, "This is a little gift for everyone. From now on, our noodle shop will start making this kind of cakes."
The people below were happy to see the benefits, but when they heard Jiang Yanyi say that he would make this kind of cakes, they started to talk about it.
Jiang Yanyi waited for them to make a fuss for a while before continuing, "I will not set a fixed monthly salary for you. On the basis of the original monthly salary, if the number of cakes you make exceeds the specified number each month, the extra amount will be increased by one cent for every five cakes."
This is a salary model of guaranteed salary plus piecework salary, which is to motivate the noodle shop partners. The more they work, the more monthly salary they get, so that a group of people will not take advantage of the situation.
When Jiang Yanyi was in the Xizhou camp, he learned that the monthly salary of a fireman was only a little over 600 coins, and the monthly salary of an ordinary noodle shop employee was only about 500 coins.
In this era, a bowl of ordinary plain noodles sold for four coins, and Jiang Yanyi's noodles sold for two coins.
After all, it was made with real flour, and it took a lot of manpower and material resources, so it couldn't be made at the low price of industrial production in later generations.
But because it was half the price of ordinary plain noodles, it was easy to carry, and the taste was slightly better than ordinary plain noodles, the market demand was still huge.
After hearing what Jiang Yanyi said, the employees who were not good at abacus were confused, but those who were good at abacus calculated in their minds and immediately showed joy. As long as they were more skillful, they could make 50 more cakes a day, which would earn them 10 more coins a day. In a month, it would be 300 coins, which was more than half of their monthly salary. The employees whispered to each other and understood the calculation, and they were all overjoyed.
This was the effect Jiang Yanyi wanted to see. She said, "Everyone work hard. When the noodle shop business picks up, I will increase your monthly salary as appropriate."
After hearing this, the previous downturn disappeared. The employees were all ready to go. Someone shouted, "Boss, treat us well, we won't let you down."
As soon as the words fell, someone asked, "Boss, when are we going to start making this kind of noodles?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "Once the new stove is dry, we'll start the noodle shop."
Today, the work has been done and the mobilization has been done. After the noodle shop employees dispersed, Jiang Yanyi chatted with Master Hong from the noodle shop alone.
She thought that with the old master's loyalty to the old boss of the noodle shop, he should not be very nice to her, but Master Hong knelt down and bowed to Jiang Yanyi as soon as he entered the house: "This old slave thanks the new boss."
Jiang Yanyi was startled and hurried forward to help Master Hong up: "What are you doing?"
Master Hong burst into tears: "Tianji Noodle Shop is the life's hard work of the old master. If it weren't for you, the boss, buying the noodle shop, I'm afraid the young master would have no choice but to mortgage the noodle shop to the gambling house. Isn't this being swallowed up by Xuji Noodle Shop?"
Xuji Noodle Shop is the largest noodle shop in Xizhou today, and Jiang Yanyi has naturally heard about it.
She listened to Master Hong chattering about the grievances between his own noodle shop and Xuji.
In the early years, Tianji Noodle Shop was the most famous noodle shop in Xizhou. Later, when Xuji opened, he poached several old masters and most of the partners of Tianji, and Tianji has been on a downward trend since then.
The old boss of the noodle shop was afraid that his own noodle shop’s employees would be poached again, so he always used partners with indentures, but Tianji was ultimately doomed. After the old boss passed away, Xuji once wanted to swallow up Tianji, but after all, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and Xuji could not bring down Tianji in a short time. However, the young boss of Tianji was a gambler, so Xuji teamed up with the gambling houses and forced Tianji Noodle Shop into a desperate situation.
The young master of Tianji wanted to sell the house and the servants, but unfortunately the pawnshop had a close relationship with Xuji and was only willing to buy at a price ten times lower. Naturally, the young master of Tianji was unwilling to do so and was so worried that he went out to buy wine every day. It happened that Jiang Yanyi wanted to buy the noodle shop,
and then he found a way out. In Master Hong's opinion, even if the noodle shop fell into the hands of others, it would be better than being swallowed up by Xuji Noodle Shop.
After hearing this entanglement, Jiang Yanyi also sighed.
When she went back, she said to Bing Shao: "I don't have many people I can use now. Once the noodle shop starts operating, you can come here to be the manager for a while and help me keep an eye on it."
Jiang Yanyi didn't trust a manager hired from outside.
Although the manufacturing process of instant noodles could not be concealed sooner or later, it could be concealed for a while in the early stage. Bing Shao was down-to-earth and also knew martial arts. With him in control, the noodle shop would not be in chaos.
Yang Xiu was smarter and could help her do more things in the store.
Bing Shao was always paralyzed. After hearing Jiang Yanyi's words, he was silent for a while before asking, "Boss, can I still come to the store for three meals a day?"
Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "Of course you can."
Bing Shao heard it and said straightforwardly, "Then I'll go there and be the manager."
Yang Xiu rolled his eyes at his brother, and Bing Shao deliberately took a half step back and stepped on Yang Xiu's shoes.
Jiang Yanyi walked in front, unaware of the secret fight between the two.
When she passed by Ma the butcher's shop, he immediately called out, "Manager Jiang, we have fresh duck necks in the shop, do you want some?"
Jiang Yanyi didn't expect that Ma the butcher would have duck necks ready when she only bought from him once, so she said, "Let's weigh them."
It just so happened that everyone in the shop didn't have enough of the duck necks last time.
Butcher Ma liked to do business with such straightforward customers, so he quickly weighed the duck neck and said, "Thirty-three cents, I'll give you thirty cents."
Jiang Yanyi gave him the money, and Butcher Ma said, "If you want to buy anything else, let me know and I'll keep it for you."
Jiang Yanyi thought for a moment and said, "Chicken feet."
In this era, chickens and ducks seem to be sold whole, so it's not convenient for her to buy chicken feet alone in the butcher shop.
But the pickled pepper chicken feet and tiger skin chicken feet are really delicious!
Ma the butcher thought that the meat that the shopkeeper Jiang liked to buy was very strange, duck necks, chicken feet, all parts without much meat, and he couldn't understand why anyone liked them.
He agreed with great reluctance: "If someone doesn't want chicken feet, I'll cut them off and leave them to you."
Jiang Yanyi thanked him and then took Yang Xiu and Bing Shao back to the shop.
She was warming herself by the fire, and before she could even sit on the stool, the government officials came.
"Shopkeeper Jiang, please come with us." The leading official said with a stern face.
Jiang Yanyi was confused: "I don't know why you want to take me to the government office?"
The officer said: "The son of the owner of Xingshun Casino died. The owner of Xingshun Casino believed that the young master of Tianji killed him because he owed him a debt. We found a lot of banknotes on the young master of Tianji. The young master of Tianji said that the banknotes were the money for selling the noodle shop to you. Please go to the court to testify."
Jiang Yanyi didn't expect that her noodle shop would be involved in a murder case. It was almost noon in the store and the business was good. Jiang Yanyi asked Bing Shao to stay to help and only took Yang Xiu to the government office.
When she arrived at the government office, she waited outside the court for a while as a witness.
The young master of Tianji and the owner of the casino both knelt in the court. The young master of Tianji seemed to have been beaten up badly, with bruises all over his face, while the owner of the casino knelt beside him and cried.
The onlookers were talking heatedly, and Jiang Yanyi got a general idea of what happened from their words. This morning, someone found the body of the casino owner's son in the Fireworks Alley. It happened that the young master of Tianji had money last night and went to visit prostitutes. He fought with the casino owner's son for a prostitute, but the casino had more people and he was beaten into a pig's head.
Jiang Yanyi didn't recognize the adult sitting in the court, but he looked quite dignified and had the air of a soldier.
After the people below reported that the witness had been brought in, he looked outside and said, "Come in."
Jiang Yanyi was then allowed to enter the court.
Song Lushi asked Jiang Yanyi, "Are you the owner of Jiang's antique soup?"
Jiang Yanyi said calmly, "It's me."
Working under Feng Shuo, Song Lushi knew that Jiang Yanyi was Chu Changping's niece, and now she was adopted by Chu Changping. He did not make things difficult for her, but asked in a businesslike manner, "When did you hand over the noodle shop to Tian Sheng yesterday?"
"I went to Tian's noodle shop at 15:00 yesterday. After we agreed on the price, we came to the government office to transfer the land deed. It was noon when we returned." Jiang Yanyi replied.
The young master of Tianji kowtowed and said, "Sir, I am really innocent. I got the money from selling the servants of the noodle shop. It was definitely not from Zhao Yao."
Song Lushi slammed the wooden post and asked, "Where did you go after the fight with Zhao Yao last night?"
The young master of Tianji said with scars on his face, "I went out to get drunk."
Song Lushi asked, "Who can testify?" The
young master of Tianji said, "I went out to get drunk. " I bought a pot of wine and drank all the way. I didn't know when I got drunk under someone's eaves. "
The owner of the casino said with red eyes: "Why are you still trying to make excuses? You must be so angry that you turned around and killed my son when he was alone!"
The young master of Tianji was speechless: "I didn't!"
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Song Lu Shi slapped the hall wood and asked the officials to separate them. He was about to speak when an official ran over and whispered something to him.
Song Lu Shi's face changed and he shouted: "Adjourn the court and try again the next day."
The young master of Tianji was temporarily detained.
Jiang Yanyi felt that her trip to the court was just a formality.
When she left, she saw an unexpected scene - the casino owner got on the carriage of the owner of Lai Fu Wine House.
Thinking of the Xuji Noodle Shop mentioned by Master Hong, and the owner of Laifu Restaurant also happened to be surnamed Xu, Jiang Yanyi realized belatedly that Xuji Noodle Shop might also be a business of Laifu Restaurant.
Xuji wanted to annex Tianji, and pulled in the casino as a helper. Now that the casino owner's son is dead, the young owner of Tianji, who had a grudge against him, has become the biggest suspect.
But what did the official say to Song Lushi in the court before? Did he hastily decide not to try the case today?
Lu Linyuan was on duty at the government office today, but he was absent-minded. He woke up early in the morning and found that Jiang Yanxi was not at home. He couldn't find anyone anywhere, and he was very anxious, but there was another murder in Xizhou City, and he couldn't leave.
Just when he was feeling upset, he accidentally heard his colleague who was watching the autopsy say that the murder weapon was a butterfly flower hairpin. His face changed drastically and he couldn't sit still.