The fragrance of herbs is renowned throughout the three regions.
With the job secured, Aunt Tian's anxious heart finally settled back into her chest.
Time flies. After paying tuition to the prefectural school and settling in, it was already the end of the month.
Wang Xiaoyao came to her house three days ago and told her that he was going to a medicinal cuisine restaurant today to hold some kind of "mobilization meeting".
Aunt Tian had never heard of a "mobilization meeting," but she was impressed by the two young girls' daring and enterprising spirit in building such a large shop. She eagerly awaited the time to set off.
Because Wang Pan'er paid three taels of silver for her work at the last "hot pot dinner," and Li Qingyan also earned two taels of silver from his own salary and income from copying books in his spare time, the mother and son no longer needed to eat coarse grains to barely fill their stomachs every meal.
He replaced all the rice in the family's rice bin with refined white rice and flour, hoping to soothe Aunt Tian's weak spleen and stomach. Aunt Tian also made a lot of pancakes with the refined flour, which Li Qingyan took to the prefectural school at noon to eat with pickled vegetables.
However, Aunt Tian was a little restless today. Li Qingyan was worried that her mother would miss the mealtime while she was out, so she wrapped two pancakes in oil paper, put them in a cloth bag, and urged her mother to leave early: "It's better to leave early than late. If the master is busy, Mother can help weigh them."
Aunt Tian agreed that this made sense, and since waiting at home would only cause her anxiety, she set off.
The former owner paid out the monthly allowance three days in advance and dismissed all the shop's employees; now the teahouse is empty.
Wang Pan'er liked the layout carefully arranged by her employer very much, and didn't plan to make any changes. After clearing the area, she only called a bricklayer.
When Aunt Tian arrived at the shop, she saw a bricklayer building a new large stove in the kitchen.
Other teams of female shop assistants also arrived at the shop one after another.
Because the job posting was open to women, young women, whether driven by financial necessity or seeking to break free from marital discord, flocked to the recruitment site like beehives.
The shop selects the best candidates, and the young women who come in are all full of energy; at first glance, they are all skilled.
After everyone had arrived, Wang Pan'er cleared her throat and introduced herself: "My name is Wang Pan'er, and this is my younger sister, Wang Xiaoyao. We just arrived in Jinzhou Prefecture and opened this small shop. We thought that there were many women in the same situation as us sisters who had difficulty making a living, so we gave you priority to work here."
"From now on, I will be in charge of the kitchen, and my sister will be in charge of the front of house. I will be the head chef, and I will have two assistant chefs with me. Aunt Tian will be in charge of purchasing the ingredients and taking inventory of the store's stock. My sister will be in charge of taking orders and handling cashier duties, and will also manage three waiters and food runners. There will also be one female doctor and one bodyguard. Today, let everyone get to know each other. From now on, we will be working together."
"They even hired a doctor!" a young woman exclaimed. "The owner is really willing to spend money."
Tao Shuo, who was called out, smiled shyly and responded to the girl who had exclaimed earlier: "As a female physician, I am not recognized and no clinic is willing to hire me. Today, I am grateful to Miss Pan'er for not abandoning me. From now on, I will be one of the people of Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant."
Physicians are highly valued, but it's a pity that she's a female physician. Despite her great skills, she can't find a place to make a living.
Everyone sighed and started discussing Tao Shuo's words.
"Don't even mention doctors, when I go to restaurants, I can't find many places that can cook as well as I can. At home, I serve my mother-in-law, husband, and children good food and drink, but they still criticize me and find fault with me every day. I want to go out and make a living on my own, but because of my status as a married woman, I run into obstacles everywhere. They won't even let me touch the stove."
"Who can argue with that? Many of those guys are always up to their old tricks to cheat and slack off, while we honest, law-abiding girls aren't even given a chance to make a living."
"It's still the female boss who understands the hardships we women face and leaves us a way to make a living."
"So we must do a good job!"
Wang Pan'er listened to everyone's chatter and chuckled softly.
The women have already begun to discipline themselves; she no longer needs to give them pep talks. As long as they are paid enough, she has no worries about them slacking off.
She tapped the table, signaling everyone to listen to her: "Everyone, hold on a minute. I called you all here today to introduce our shop's commission rates and rules, as well as the benefits we've prepared for you."
Someone asked, "And what are the benefits?"
Wang Pan'er explained, "It's an indirect allowance, ladies, let me explain slowly."
Upon hearing the word "monetary allowance," everyone fell silent, waiting for Wang Pan'er to continue.
Compensation is the most important issue for migrant workers.
"Our shop uses a profit-sharing system, which is based on a basic monthly allowance plus a profit-sharing arrangement. The basic monthly allowance is the three taels of silver we promised before. The profit-sharing is based on the shop's revenue minus all costs, and then 20% of that is redistributed according to different job types and working hours. My sister, Wang Xiaoyao, will calculate these distributions."
"So, what the boss means is that as long as the shop is run well, our monthly allowance will be more than three taels of silver!"
The girls began to cheer.
Wang Pan'er nodded: "In addition, our medicinal cuisine restaurant provides lunch and dinner for the staff. However, the meals need to be factored into the operating costs."
The women don't mind the meals being factored into the cost; a job that provides meals is already considered top-notch.
This means that you can have hot soup and hot meals without having to travel back and forth, which is a great temptation.
After Wang Pan'er finished explaining the pay and meals, she led everyone to the inner room where the former owner had been resting.
The large coffee table that belonged to the original owner has been removed and replaced with several small tables: "Considering that many of the women have children at home, I have specially set aside a small room as a childcare corner, where women with children can take turns looking after the children. You can discuss the specifics yourselves, as long as it doesn't interfere with your work."
The fact that even these things were considered brought tears to the eyes of the young woman with children at home, who exclaimed that she must have done something very good in her past life to be able to meet such a benefactor in this life.
If such a conscientious business owner were to go out of business, these young women would truly be in a terrible situation.
Wang Pan'er and Wang Xiaoyao led the women on a tour of the shop, introducing the overall layout and her business ideas.
After discussing the benefits, it's time to establish the rules.
Just as Wang Pan'er was about to speak, the guard suddenly shouted towards the door, "Who goes there!"
Wang Pan'er and the other girls in the shop turned their heads and saw a middle-aged man squinting and peering furtively into the doorway.
The guards swept past like a gust of wind, grabbed the man, and dragged him toward Wang Pan'er.
Watching the guard subdue the thug and bring him into the shop, Wang Pan'er exclaimed in admiration, "What skill you have, young lady!"
The guard nodded to her, then turned fiercely to the thug and demanded, "Who are you? What are you trying to do, lurking around outside the gate?"
"Let go! Let go!" The newcomer struggled a few times but couldn't break free from the guards' restraint. "I'm the owner of the restaurant next door. I just came to take a look because I saw you've changed your men."
Wang Pan'er gestured to the guards to release the man, then sneered at him: "I'm planning to open a medicinal cuisine shop here. If you want to test the waters, just come openly and honestly. There's no need to be so sneaky and shady."
Enraged by the young woman's rudeness, the middle-aged man jumped up and down in anger: "What do you women know about business? So arrogant! I'd like to see how long you can keep this up!"
"Arrogant?" Wang Pan'er raised her eyebrows. "Compared to what you're doing in these shady dealings, I am indeed openly and honestly arrogant. Besides, my shop is none of your business. Why are you in such a hurry? Are you perhaps feeling threatened by me?"
Wang Pan'er's sarcastic remarks left the shopkeeper humiliated. He could only shout louder, trying to suppress Wang Pan'er.
Wang Pan'er frowned, covered her ears, and grumbled as she waved her hand to signal. The guard understood and swiftly drove her away.
The restaurant owner's actions further fueled the women's fighting spirit.
They denounced this despicable behavior, pledged their loyalty to Wang Pan'er, and secretly encouraged each other, determined not to let the shop go bankrupt due to poor management.
Looking at everyone, Wang Pan'er found it quite amusing. Taking advantage of their enthusiasm, she began to explain the shop's rules: "We serve lunch and dinner. Everyone needs to arrive at the shop before 9:30 AM. Aunt Tian needs to have all the ingredients purchased by then. The shop closes around 7:00 PM. Before closing, everyone needs to clean the shop thoroughly. Aunt Tian needs to take inventory of the ingredients and plan what needs to be purchased the next day. We have provided everyone with uniforms, so please keep your attire neat and tidy. When facing customers, you must be polite and courteous. You must avoid doing things like sneezing, picking your nose, or touching your ears in front of customers, and you must wash your hands promptly."
Wang Xiaoyao added, "We offer higher wages than other shops, so our requirements are naturally stricter. If you can't meet them, you can resign. If any non-compliance is found, you will be warned once, fined twice, and dismissed three times."
Everyone nodded in agreement, with no objections.
Tao Shuo strongly agreed, saying, "As the saying goes, illness enters through the mouth. Keeping the shop clean is our responsibility to our customers."
"Yes, I myself would not want to go into a dirty eatery and eat food that is not cleaned and cooked in a greasy stove."
“Okay, let me introduce our menu to you.” Wang Pan’er went to the counter, which had two positions: one for the shopkeeper and one for the physician. “Our signature dish is braised beef tendon, which is used to replenish qi. It is served with potatoes, lotus root slices, and radishes. For tea and snacks, we have Three Immortals Plum Drink, Four Flavors Calming Drink, Five Wonders Lightening Tea, Six Flavors Vitality Tea, and Eight Flavors Beauty Soup. For daily meals, we have nine set meals customized according to the twenty-four different solar terms and the nine constitutions of each solar term. Each set meal is accompanied by one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup. Physician Tao will take your pulse and then you can choose the meal according to your condition.”
Everyone had never seen this kind of business before, and they listened with great interest.
Not to mention the diners, they were all very tempted and thought about bringing their families to the store to try it out after receiving their monthly allowance.
Wang Xiaoyao said, "I originally wanted to add some snacks and pastries such as Astragalus Eight Treasure Cake, Poria Cake, Peach and Gorgon Fruit Cake, Red Bean and Barley Cake, and Red Date and Yam Cake. But I thought that since everyone has just opened the store and is not an experienced person, they might be too busy to handle it. So I put it aside for now and will add the pastries to our menu after the store is running normally."
Wang Pan'er nodded. She had said what she needed to say, and now she needed to gauge everyone's thoughts: "If you have any objections, please raise them now."
The women looked at each other and then shook their heads together.
Seeing that everyone had no objections, Wang Pan'er concluded, "If everyone has no objections, we will start construction on the first day of the following month, and the seventh day of the following month will be an auspicious day for the official opening of the signboard."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
