Li Hehua handed the finished paper bags to Cao Simei as a sample for other people in the village who were making paper bags, and then gave her the raw materials such as oil paper needed to make the paper bags.
Cao Simei promised to get it done and took these things back to the village.
Li Hehua made three sizes of bags, large, medium and small, to pack the cakes in different sizes according to the number of cakes purchased by customers. However, the labor cost of making these three sizes of paper bags is the same, one penny for every five bags made. If you are quick, you can earn 20 to 30 pennies a day, which is a lot of money for women in the village who have no source of income.
According to Cao Simei, after she came back, many women in their village came to her and expressed their desire to do this, but she only selected four women who were good in character and had good hands to do it.
Li Hehua handed the matter over to Cao Simei, who went to a specialized seal-making place and had a seal made according to the pattern of Shulin's painting. After the seal was carved, the first batch of paper bags was also ready. Li Hehua printed a seal on the front of each paper bag and put them into use immediately.
She originally planned to charge for the paper bags, but after thinking it over, she decided not to charge for them and just give them to customers for free. Although this would increase the cost and she would make less money, the things sold would appear high-end and would easily win the favor of customers. When customers were buying, they would see that the things were packed in such a nice and convenient paper bag and would think that their pastries were better than those of others and would choose to buy from them. Overall, they would not lose money.
Moreover, Li Hehua also launched an ancient version of the "gift box package", which is to put several different pastries in a paper bag, and carefully match the position and color, which looks very beautiful. Put it on the display rack. If the customer wants to buy it as a gift, you can recommend the customer to buy this, because the pastries have many varieties and look good, and it is the best gift for others.
It's no wonder that Li Hehua's 'gift box set' really attracted quite a few people to buy it. Some people were too lazy to choose and just wanted a little bit of everything. When they heard there was a ready-made combination, they thought it was great and bought it directly.
As for other customers, no matter how much they bought, Li Hehua asked them to carefully wrap them in paper bags. This move was unanimously praised by the customers, and the sales volume naturally increased a lot. The number of cakes Xiaohong made every day increased by nearly 30%.
Because her pastries sold so well, other pastry businesses in the town began to follow her example. All the varieties that they had were also produced by other shops. This was something that the customers who came to their house to buy pastries mentioned unintentionally.
Later, Li Hehua also became interested, so she asked Dahe to run errands and buy some pastries from other stores to try. At first, they looked quite similar, but the taste was different when you put them in your mouth. It was very different from the ones she made.
Li Hehua guessed that other families must have sent people to come to her to buy pastries and take them back to study, but the pastries she made contained a lot of very fine ingredients that were invisible to the naked eye and difficult to taste. The proportions of the various ingredients were also difficult to taste, which resulted in the pastries looking similar in appearance but very different in taste.
Li Hehua was not worried about other shops selling the same cakes as hers. It was their ability to make cakes as good as hers or better than hers. Besides, such things could not be prevented, so it was better to take things as they came. At worst, she could introduce new flavors when the time came.
She estimated that the paper bags that their family had introduced would soon be used by other families as well. Humans have a strong learning ability and this cannot be prevented.
Seeing that Li Hehua didn't care, Cao Simei, who had been very nervous, breathed a sigh of relief and stopped worrying about it.
Now, more and more guests go to the private room upstairs to eat at noon every day. At first, there were three or four tables, and then gradually there were five, six, seven, and eight tables. Later, it exceeded eight tables. Li Hehua had to use the method of advance reservation. They had to book the next day's meal the day before. Those who came late could only schedule for the day after tomorrow, and then the day after tomorrow, and later it was almost four or five days later.
Business was so good and everyone was very tired, so Li Hehua simply raised everyone's wages by 50 cents, and everyone was suddenly happy.
The dishes cooked by Li Hehua conquered the stomachs of all diners, and someone even wanted to invite her to cook for them that day.
The person who came was still Old Man Yan, but he was not the one who wanted to invite Li Hehua. He came on behalf of Mr. He.
Old Master Yan said, "Mr. He has many business friends who often come to his farm to discuss business. This time, several distinguished guests came from Mohe City and they want to entertain them at home. However, Mr. He feels that the dishes cooked by his own chef are not good, so he wants to ask you to cook a meal."
After saying this, Old Master Yan smiled and said, "Girl, Mr. He really likes your cooking. Haven't you seen him coming to your place every other day? He hired the chef at a high price. He even boasted to us that his food was delicious. But now, he starts to look down on him. He wants to show off when he has a distinguished guest and wants you to cook a meal for him to save face. But don't worry, girl. He will definitely not treat you unfairly for delaying you for half a day, otherwise I will not forgive him."
Li Hehua was not a stranger to Mr. He, because he came to her restaurant every now and then, and was very generous with his money, ordering all the dishes she cooked.
She knew that Mr. He loved her cooking, but she didn't expect that he would invite her to cook for him now. This reminded her of the time when she first came here and had to prepare banquets for the villagers because she had no capital to do business. However, since she came to the town to do business, she has never prepared banquets for anyone again.
However, it's not that she is unwilling to cook a meal, but the restaurant business is too good now, and the customers are scheduled until five days later. She has no time to cook for Mr. He at all. Although Mr. He pays her well, her main business is running a restaurant, and she can't put the cart before the horse and ignore the regular restaurant customers to be a private chef for others. The restaurant customers will be dissatisfied with this, and this is not her original intention of opening a restaurant.
Li Hehua asked, "Old man, don't you sometimes come to my place to discuss business while eating? Then can Mr. He also come to my place to discuss? Wouldn't that solve the problem?"
Old Master Yan shook his head. "If I could come, I would definitely come. But this time we are talking about the grain business. Mr. He has to take the people who come to the farm to check the crops. If I can't come here, I can only eat at the farm."
Li Hehua then remembered that Mr. He's family had thousands of acres of fertile land, and the bulk of their business seemed to be food, which was indeed inconvenient, so Li Hehua had to apologize: "Grandpa, thank you for your kindness, but I really can't agree to this. You can see how many appointments I have every day, and they are all scheduled for several days later. I can't break my promise to these customers, so please help me explain to Mr. He, please forgive me."
Old Master Yan looked at the several-page appointment list and understood it in his heart, but he still asked, "Are you really not going to consider it? The compensation that Mr. He gives you is definitely more than what you earn from cooking for more than ten tables."
Li Hehua smiled and shook his head. "Old man, this is not a question of money. These people who made reservations came first. I can't put them at the back of the queue just because they have more money. I really hope you can forgive me."
Old Master Yan sighed, but he still appreciated it in his heart. He said, "In that case, we won't force it. Next time if we invite you again, we have to make an appointment in advance, otherwise we really won't be able to invite you."
Li Hehua smiled and said, "Grandpa, please don't embarrass me like this. How about this, if you need my help next time, please tell me a few days in advance so that I can arrange it when the customer makes an appointment. That way, I will have time."
The old man smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll talk to Mr. He for you. I guess there will be more and more such things in the future."
After everyone left, Li Hehua suddenly sighed.
Zhang Tieshan was amused and pinched her chin, "Why are you sighing? It was you who rejected them."
Li Hehua pursed his lips, "Hey, you don't understand. Mr. He is really a very generous person. If I really go, I estimate that he will give dozens of taels of silver. If we didn't have so many reservations, I really want to go. When I think about so much money gone, my heart hurts."
Zhang Tieshan had never seen her so money-obsessed before, but he thought she was cuter than ever. He reached out and touched her lips, "Okay, don't regret it. If you don't want to go, then don't go. You can earn a few dozen taels of silver by working a few more days. Don't be so pouty and be obedient."
Li Hehua thought about it and realized that he couldn't be so obsessed with money, so he stopped thinking about it.
Soon it was time to pay the first month's wages. Li Hehua took the accounts home and calculated the wages by candlelight at night. Zhang Tieshan accompanied her, holding Shulin in his arms.
"Sister Cao and Daya are paid based on commission. This month they received a total of one tael and four hundred coins." Li Hehua recited based on the previous account book and wrote it down at the end.
"Sister-in-law Xie and your mother, as well as Dahe, Xiaoyuan and Second Brother Luo, will receive 650 coins this month; Xiaoqing and Xiaohong will each receive 1.5 taels of silver."
Li Hehua wrote it down in the account book while muttering to himself.
Zhang Tieshan didn't hear his name for a long time, so he couldn't help but smile and pinched Li Hehua's chin, "Wife, where is my salary?"
Zhang Tieshan now calls her his wife when they are alone. Li Hehua used to blush and feel embarrassed when he called her that, but she got used to it and became thick-skinned. She would fight back, "You still want wages? Have you ever seen a wife paying her husband wages?"
"Hehe..." Zhang Tieshan burst into laughter. Li Hehua's words made his heart itch. He covered Shulin's blinking eyes with one hand, and suddenly leaned over and kissed Li Hehua hard on the lips. He let her go only after kissing her enough, and at the same time let go of the hand that was covering Shulin's eyes.
Shulin is no longer easy to fool. He used to wonder why his father always covered his eyes. Now he finally understood that his father wanted to kiss his mother and didn't want him to see, so he always covered his eyes.
It's so infuriating!
Shulin was very unhappy. He pouted and looked at his father with a reproachful look. However, his father did not realize his mistake at all and laughed happily. This made the little guy even angrier and he never wanted to sit in his father's arms again!
The little fellow climbed down from his father's arms with a grunt and climbed onto Li Hehua's legs. He directly nestled into Li Hehua's arms and buried himself. He even uttered a rare word: "Bad——"
"Haha..." Li Hehua was amused. He glared at Zhang Tieshan and then patted the little guy's back and coaxed him, "Daddy is bad, Daddy is a big bad guy, let's ignore him."
Shulin rubbed his body in Li Hehua's arms and nodded gently in agreement.
Zhang Tieshan looked at the mother and son with a helpless smile, his brows relaxed.
After coaxing Shulin, Li Hehua got down to business again. "We have been busy for 30 days this month. No one has had a day off. Everyone is very tired. Some of us don't have time to do things at home. This can't go on. I thought, now that our business has stabilized, we have to change the rules in our store."
Zhang Tieshan nodded, "Indeed, people can't stand working all the time. They need to have time to rest every month. Last time, Luo Er's kid had a fever, but Luo Er was too busy at the restaurant to go back and take the child to the town to see a doctor. It was his wife who carried the child here. Luo Er felt very guilty."
There is such a thing? Li Hehua really didn't know about it. Luo Er had never mentioned it.
"Why didn't you tell me? Can I not give him a day off to take the child to see a doctor?"
Zhang Tieshan patted Li Hehua on the head. "Luo Er himself didn't want to talk about it. His wife also advised him not to rest, saying that she could do it on her own. In fact, he just couldn't bear to spend that day's wages. Farmers can break down a penny into two, so of course they can't bear to waste twenty or thirty pennies a day."
Li Hehua pursed his lips. He understood this approach, but he couldn't do it again in the future. He said, "Forget about the first month. From now on, everyone in our restaurant will have two days off a month. One of the days will be fixed on the 15th, and the other day can be arranged by everyone as long as they don't rest at the same time."
Zhang Tieshan thought for a moment and asked, "Will we be short of manpower? The 15th is a holiday, so we won't be open?"
Li Hehua nodded, "I am indeed planning to close the restaurant on the 15th. From now on this day of every month will be our collective rest day, and we will all have a day off. It happens that Shulin will also have a day off on this day, and I want to take him out to have some fun. I can't let him stay at home and be bored on his day off." It is not worth it to only focus on making money and ignore the children. If the children are not good, no matter how much money you make, it will be useless.
Zhang Tieshan didn't expect that Li Hehua would think so much for Shulin, even better than he did as a father. It was a great honor for both father and son to meet her in this life.
It is unnecessary to say thank you. He and she don't need to say thank you. He will remember it in his heart and treat her well with all his heart.
Zhang Tieshan touched Li Hehua's cheek and said, "Okay, we'll take him out to play together then."
Shu Lin, who was in Li Hehua's arms, was no longer angry when he heard this. He turned around and looked at Li Hehua and Zhang Tieshan with shining eyes, very excited.
Sure enough, whenever the children mentioned going out to play, their interest was always aroused. Even a boring child like Shulin still liked to play. Her decision was not wrong.
After saying this, Li Hehua took out five taels of silver from the money box and gave it to Zhang Tieshan, "Here, your wages were not deducted."
Zhang Tieshan smiled and pinched her face, "How can a wife pay her husband? Huh?"
Li Hehua burst out laughing and reached out to hit him, "You still have objections to this? Take it quickly!"
Zhang Tieshan smiled and shook his head, and only took out one or two taels of silver from Li Hehua, "I'll just take one or two taels, I don't want the rest." The one or two taels of silver was to be given back to Zhang Linshi, as money for him to support his mother and younger brother, and the rest was to be given to his wife, so of course he couldn't take it.
Li Hehua: "Why only one tael? I promised to give you five taels."
Zhang Tieshan shook his head. "I only need one or two taels. Even if you give me the rest, I have to give it to you to keep. So just give me one or two taels in the future."
Li Hehua blinked. Was this the so-called "handing over the salary"? Although it was normal for a husband to hand over his salary to his wife, they were not considered husband and wife now. Was it not good to hand over the salary?
Li Hehua pushed the money over again, "We are not husband and wife now, you can take the money yourself, I don't want it."
Zhang Tieshan smiled and rubbed her head, "Just take it if I say I'll give it to you." After saying that, he was afraid that Li Hehua might not agree, so he joked, "Besides, my job is easier than others, but my salary is much higher than others. Aren't you afraid that others will have objections?"
Li Hehua took his hand off her head and said angrily, "I'm the boss, can't I pay you whatever I want? Besides, you're the owner and guard of the restaurant, and you'll have to fight if something really happens. This is a big job, so the pay can't be low. It's just that our restaurant is safe for now, so you haven't played a role yet."
Zhang Tieshan was amused by her words, "Haha, OK, the shopkeeper's additional guards are very important!"
This is actually what Li Hehua thought. The status of a bodyguard is of course very important. Last time her stall was in trouble, it would have been bad if Zhang Tieshan hadn't been there. Now the restaurant business is so good, it is even more enviable. If a gangster comes to make trouble, Zhang Tieshan will have to step in to deal with it. Although there are not problems every day, they have to be settled when they occur, so of course the salary has to be high.
However, of course, she hoped that she would have nothing to do every day, and hoped that Zhang Tieshan would just be idle and keep accounts forever, and she would be happy to receive a salary for free.
However, Li Hehua had just finished speaking in the evening, and the next day things went against her wishes. She was so angry that she wanted to slap herself in the mouth for being such a bad-mouthed person.
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