bayedsolid Chapter 193
Chapter 193
On the other side of the town, the carpenter delivered the plaque to Zhong Ruyi on the last day before the opening.
She asked her second brother and Jiang Qin to help hang it up, and then covered it with red cloth, which would be ready to be unveiled tomorrow.
She ordered some wine from the tavern owner, Mr. Wu. If any guests wanted to drink and eat, she would not say there was nothing. Mr. Wu also said that he would come to support her when the time came. Naturally, Zhong Ruyi agreed.
He also borrowed an accounting office from the shopkeeper Ding of Manxianglou to use first, otherwise he was afraid that he would be too busy to take care of this and that, and it would be bad if he made a mistake in the calculation.
Shopkeeper Ding said cheerfully, "If I hadn't been busy at work, I would have gone with Old Wu to take a look, but I'll ask my family to go over there to help you get some attention."
Zhong Ruyi was very happy. She didn't know many people, but at least they were sincere to her.
Even the people who often bought braised goods on the street where the second brother sold them said they wanted to come and help or to attract customers when they heard that Zhong Ruyi had opened a restaurant.
In the afternoon, when Zhong Ruyi went to the street to buy vegetables, she met the vendor who was selling watermelon seeds again.
The items on the stall had changed their appearance. They looked like mirrors. She walked closer and picked one up to look at it. The mirror was facing her, and she could see the pores on her face clearly.
The vendor smiled attentively and said, "Girl, this is a glass mirror from the capital. It reflects things very clearly, much better than the bronze mirror!"
The colored glass mirror is the same as the mirror of later generations, but it is blurrier than the mirror of later generations. But compared with the bronze mirror, it is indeed very clear.
"How much is this mirror?" Zhong Ruyi asked.
The vendor gestured, and Zhong Ruyi said carefully, "Two taels?"
He smiled with his big white teeth, "Twenty taels!"
Zhong Ruyi carefully put down the mirror worth twenty taels of silver in her hand, turned around and left without any reluctance.
"Hey! Girl! Girl! The price is negotiable! Don't leave yet!" the vendor called her from behind.
Zhong Ruyi thought that she didn't really want it, she was just asking.
But the pace of my feet slowed down.
Sure enough, the vendor's nose was sweating and he ran up quickly.
"Girl, give me a price. If the price is right, I will sell it to you!"
Zhong Ruyi imitated the vendor and made a gesture.
The vendor asked cautiously, "Two taels of silver short?"
She shook her head. "I'll buy it for two taels."
"No way!" The vendor immediately refused. "My purchase price is more than this. Girl, aren't you making me lose money?"
I think she can buy a mirror for a few dollars in modern times, and there are plenty of them in the two-yuan store.
As a result, in ancient times, a mirror cost twenty taels.
Forget it.
Zhong Ruyi said earnestly, "Brother, I will buy it when I have money."
After saying that, he left, leaving the vendor standing there staring.
But soon he was smiling again. A pretty young lady came to the stall and, seeing how clearly his mirror reflected people, she asked for two at once, which made him very happy.
Zhong Ruyi went to the market and bought two chickens, planning to make spicy chicken, which he would then distribute to several nearby businesses, such as the escort agency and martial arts gym.
There are many people in these two families. If we can establish a good relationship with them, we can develop them into a stable source of customers and have them come to have a meal from time to time.
The restaurant pursues the strategy of high quality and low price, unlike Manxianglou which pursues the high-end strategy. The braised food that sells for a few cents per spoonful in Zhongji will be sold for a hundred cents or even more in Manxianglou.
There are many wealthy gentlemen in the town. Some of them don't like to queue up at Zhong Ji to buy cheap braised food, but prefer to go to Man Xiang Lou to eat expensive food, as if this can better show their status, even though they are eating the same thing.
Two chickens were used to make a large pot of spicy chicken. Zhong Ruyi divided it into several portions and asked Sun Tao to deliver it door to door.
When Sun Tao came back, he looked a little unhappy. Zhong Ruyi asked directly, "What's the matter? Did those people give you a cold look when you knocked on the door?"
"Not really." Sun Tao shook his head and told the truth.
"I just knocked on the door of the martial arts gym next door, and the one who opened the door was a little boy who looked about the same age as Xiaoqin. When he heard that I was from the restaurant, his face became so long that he looked like a donkey!"
Zhong Ruyi listened patiently. Sun Tao was probably talking a lot now because he had accumulated too much resentment in his heart and never vented it.
"When he knew I was bringing them food, he said no with a gloomy face and told me to take it back. He also said that if he kept tinkering with choking things, how could the food he made be delicious? He also said that our store wouldn't last long and would close down like the teahouse in front!"
Sun Tao became angrier and angrier as he spoke, with a puffy face. Zhong Ruyi didn't think it was a big deal. Could it be that he was really bankrupted by this kid's words?
"I was thinking that since you don't care about our restaurant, why should I give you food? I was just about to come back when an old man from their martial arts school came out. When he heard that I was giving you something, he happily accepted it."
She was so angry that she almost died. It was the first time that she encountered someone who despised her for giving something for free. Before in the village, giving so much meat, even giving two vegetables between neighbors was considered a good thing. She didn't expect that people in this town didn't even like to eat meat.
In the martial arts gym next door, after the door was closed, Si Jing was dragged back by his ears.
"Master! It hurts! Please be gentle!" Si Jing was walking away with his ears pulled, grimacing.
Master Jing was holding a plate of spicy chicken sent from next door, and he was walking forward while holding his fourth apprentice's ear with one hand.
As he walked, he said, "What did I teach you? People who practice martial arts should also know etiquette and treat others with courtesy. Look at how you just gave him a cold shoulder? You have no manners at all!"
He was so angry that he couldn't help but use more force, which hurt Si Jing so much that she almost cried.
When we arrived at the hall, a table of people were eating, and then we saw Si Jing coming in with Master Jing pulling his ear.
There were three senior brothers in front of Sijing. When they saw Sijing's miserable appearance, they knew that he had offended others with his words again.
Master Jing put down the plates and ordered Si Jing to practice ten sets of boxing after dinner. Da Jing watched him practice and was not allowed to sleep at night until he finished.
Master Wu, Master Ren and several of his apprentices were all happily watching Master Jing teach his apprentices a lesson. When no one was paying attention, the curator Gao Wen took the initiative to pick up a piece of spicy chicken with his chopsticks.
Then his eyes lit up. He loved spicy food, and this spicy chicken tasted just right to him, not too spicy. The only difference was that the dogwood that was usually added to stir-fried dishes was not seen in the dish. Instead, these red pieces tasted better than dishes cooked with dogwood and peppercorns, and were spicier and more fragrant!
While no one was paying attention, he scooped a plate of spicy chicken into his own bowl.
After they finished watching the fun, they discovered that the plate of spicy chicken that Master Jing brought was gone, leaving only some red pieces of stuff.
Not knowing whether this red thing was edible, Master Jing picked up a piece with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He immediately stuck out his tongue because of the spiciness.
Seeing this, the others didn't dare to pick up their chopsticks and only picked up the dishes made by the master's wife.
After Director Gao had eaten and drunk his fill, he made himself a cup of tea, took a sip leisurely, and asked, "Which restaurant next door is opening tomorrow?"
The curator’s wife also ate the chicken nuggets in the spicy chicken just now. She has been married into this family for so long and she knows that her husband likes spicy food.
She nodded. "It opens tomorrow. Do you want to go and have a look?"
Director Gao wanted to go, "Let's go and take a look. We all live so close to each other. It would be bad if we didn't go and take a look. We'll see each other every time we look up or down."
The curator's wife lowered her head and chuckled. He was obviously just greedy. There was another food stall opened on this street a few years ago, but he had never been so interested in going to take a look.