For the next few days, Tao Wanniang was either on her way to buy things or shopping in the store.
The Ling brothers offered to help, but Tao Wanniang disliked her sons for being clumsy, so she told them to stay home and learn to read, while she and Bai Yumei could handle the work themselves.
"Sister Tao, I've never seen so much that opening a restaurant requires so much work!" Bai Yumei was covered in sweat, but she wasn't tired at all. Her face was flushed and her eyes were bright.
"It's nothing, sigh. To put it bluntly, it's just that the men in the family are useless!" Tao Wan's mother sighed. "The kitchen is the most important part of a restaurant. If it's not prepared in advance, who knows how much work we'll have to do later!"
Tao Wanniang wandered around the kitchen, replenishing a lot of things, but it still didn't look like enough.
"Oh right, we need to carry the rice bucket and the flour bucket, and also put a cabinet here to store all sorts of seasonings!" Tao Wan's mother was even doubting whether she would be able to cook for the foreman and the others tomorrow!
"Sister Tao, you really need to get Da Hu and Da Peng to do the work. You can't do everything yourself!" Bai Yumei suggested. "They're both so big, it's a shame if they don't work!"
"We'll see. What I'm more worried about is what to do when customers can't read the menu?"
Tao Wanniang sighed. Fortunately, she hadn't decided when the restaurant would open.
"Is anyone home?" A voice suddenly came from the doorway. Tao Wanniang was a little surprised, as she had closed the door!
"Is this the restaurant that delivered the plaque? Is anyone inside?" the person outside called out again.
Tao Wanniang immediately understood and said, "Yes, yes, I'm coming right away!"
The signboard for the farmhouse restaurant was ready, and Tao Wanniang was satisfied with it. After paying, she asked the deliveryman to hang it up.
"A farmhouse restaurant!" Jiang Youfu, who runs the grocery store next door, frowned as he looked at the sign above the door.
"Manager Tao, you're being a bit too blunt. The capital is a place where people judge others. If they see you as a farmer, they might just turn around and leave!"
"Isn't it just to keep those people from coming?" Tao Wanniang said cheerfully. "My little restaurant can't accommodate too many big shots. I just want to provide a good meal for diners who appreciate my skills."
"Manager Jiang, Sister Tao's cooking skills are truly one in a hundred. There's a saying that goes, 'Good wine needs no bush.' When the smoke from our restaurant rises and the aroma of our food wafts out, it will make people's mouths water," Bai Yumei said, having become familiar with Jiang Youfu next door.
Jiang Youfu didn't believe it. He had lived his whole life and had never said that he absolutely had to eat something.
"Then we'll wait and see if I'll have the good fortune to enjoy it!" Jiang Youfu said politely.
Tao Wanniang knew that no matter how well she spoke, it wouldn't be as important as the guests' impressions after the food was actually cooked. Suddenly, an idea struck her. Looking around the whole street, she decided to let her pig offal whet their greedy mouths first!
"Yu Mei, let's go. Let's leave it here for now and go to the butcher shop to see if there are any bargains we can find."
Upon seeing Tao Wanniang, the butcher immediately called out, "Sister, fresh pork offal, would you like some?"
"Yes, give me all of them. Same as always, twenty coins." Tao Wanniang said, pinching her nose. The smell of the pig offal was really unpleasant.
The butcher was happy to pick up some money from something he was going to throw away anyway.
"Alright, ma'am, you don't look like you're down on your luck. Most people don't want pig offal, so why do you keep buying it?" the butcher asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Wouldn't it be good to patronize your business? I own a restaurant, you'll see later," Tao Wanniang teased. If she spoke too soon, she wouldn't be able to get such cheap pork offal!
"A restaurant? They wouldn't use pig offal, would they? Is this the area?"
"Turn left and then right ahead, and you'll reach the intersection of Chaolu Street and Xuri Street."
"That used to be a restaurant, right? What, it changed owners?"
"Yes, it's not open yet. It's called a farmhouse restaurant. You'll definitely hear about it later," Tao Wan's mother said confidently, carrying several kilograms of pig offal.
The butcher smiled, not wanting to discourage his customer, and simply said perfunctorily, "Then I wish you great success in your business, ma'am!"
"Thank you for your kind words!" Tao Wanniang said casually.
After cleaning the pig offal, pour in the brine and simmer it slowly on the stove. As soon as Tao Wanniang got home, she started preparing the pig offal. With the ready-made brine, it saved her a lot of trouble.
After the teacher left, Tao Wanniang asked the Ling brothers to take some firewood and rice over first.
"We won't be cooking dinner at home tomorrow night. Everyone will go to a restaurant. I want to treat all the workers to a meal."
"Also, take a pot of braising spices over there, and we'll send some to all the shops in the neighborhood."
Tao Wan's mother told her family, "Don't worry, the shop isn't really open yet. I'll just go over there for a few days to see if anyone comes to visit!"
"Mother, are you going alone?" Ling Dahu asked with some concern. "Can you manage?"
"Just me and Yumei, you two should stay home and learn to read. Have you finished learning the Thousand Character Classic? Once you've mastered it, I'll give you the restaurant's menu, and you'll have to memorize it all."
The Ling brothers looked somewhat embarrassed at the thought of the Thousand Character Classic.
"Mom, I've got it! I've memorized it all!" Little Qiao'er said first. "I can recognize it, but I can't write it down."
"Little Qiao'er is really good. Take your time, don't rush. We still need you guys. Are you all not as good as Little Qiao'er?"
Tao Wan's mother changed her expression very quickly. She was gentle and kind to Xiao Qiao'er, but she was very disdainful to her son and daughter-in-law. This obvious treatment made her son and daughter-in-law's faces look rather unpleasant.
"Mother, children learn things quickly," Wang Hongyu muttered. "But don't worry, Mother, we're all working hard. The teacher even praised Da Hu today!"
Tao Wan's mother neither agreed nor disagreed. After instructing her son and daughter-in-law on what to do, she went back to her room to rest.
The Ling brothers went to move things, so Wang Hongyu and Zhou Xiaoyun cooked dinner.
Zhou Xiaoyun was still somewhat unhappy about being forced to learn to read.
“Sister-in-law, you’re going out to meet guests, but I’m not,” Zhou Xiaoyun said unhappily. “Those words are like gibberish to me, I’m so tired.”
"Xiaoyun, don't take your blessings for granted. The fact that we can learn to read shows that your mother treats us the same way she treats the children's father!"
"Sister-in-law, Rui'er can take care of Xiao Feng now, but my Zhi'er still needs his mother to hold him!" Zhou Xiaoyun complained.
Seeing Zhou Xiaoyun's furrowed brows, Wang Hongyu thought for a moment and suggested, "Xiaoyun, your uncle has some money now. Why don't you ask your uncle to take you out for a walk? You're just feeling uncomfortable staying at home all day!"
Is that so? Zhou Xiaoyun herself couldn't say. Logically speaking, she should be happy that life was good, but she just felt that she was dispensable in this family!
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