Zheng Mingyuan spoke with great enthusiasm, “The manager is just waiting to taste the dishes. Once the restaurant is up and running, counting the silver will be the only concern!”

Be confident!

For a chef, cooking skills were one aspect, but confidence was also very important.

If you have faith in your own skills, your movements will become more fluid when cooking, and your control of seasonings and heat will be more precise.

Su Yujin pursed her lips and smiled.

After talking for a while, Su Yujin was going to buy some paintings and other decorations to hang in the private rooms and the lobby on the first floor, so she left first.

Zheng Mingyuan called for Zeng Dayong to accompany Su Yujin and also asked him to buy half a basket of tofu on the way back, preparing to try cooking in the afternoon.

Zeng Dayong came back soon, covered the small half basket of tofu with a cage cloth, and placed it in the kitchen to prevent the wild cats from stealing it. He especially found a lid to cover it.

Seeing Zheng Mingyuan separating various seasonings there, he hesitated for a moment and leaned over, “Master, are you really going to work as a chef in Miss Su’s restaurant?”

“I have signed the documents, can this be fake?” Zheng Mingyuan picked out the seasonings he would use later and prepared to grind them into powder. Seeing Zeng Dayong’s hesitant face, he glanced at him and said, “Why, you are unwilling to work under Miss Su?”

“No, no, no, Miss Su has good cooking skills and is a good businessman. I have heard about her these days. She is very kind to her staff, and she is a good owner.”

“It’s just…”

Zeng Dayong paused for a moment, “Master have you forgotten what happened before? Master can’t open a restaurant.”

Otherwise, when he arrived in Qinghe County, he wouldn’t have started selling shísānxiāng for a living.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Zheng Mingyuan waved his hand, “That’s why I didn’t open a restaurant. I’m not the owner. I just work as a cook for others. I never said before that I’m not allowed to be a cook for others.”

Zeng Dayong, ” …”

“It seems like that’s the case,” Zeng Dayong scratched his head, but he still felt uneasy. “But what if they come knocking at the door causing trouble?”

Those people were not kind people.

“If they want to come, they can come. If they really don’t even give me a way to live, then I’m not afraid of completely breaking up with them. When the time comes, all the truth will be revealed, and they won’t even think about living a stable life!”

Zheng Mingyuan’s voice slowed down a little, “You don’t have to worry. They have bags full of money now, and they don’t want to mess with a hedgehog like me. They are also afraid that they will be injured and the losses will outweigh the gains.”

“It’s better to think about these dishes carefully. How to do it, how to help the shopkeeper take care of the kitchen affairs when the time comes, I think our shopkeeper is good, it should be good to work with her.”

“When I make more money, I will also buy you a house. I will arrange a marriage for you later…”

Zeng Dayong, “…”

How did we end up talking about myself?

Zeng Dayong squinted his eyes, “Master wants to find a marriage for me. Doesn’t it mean that Master wants to find his wife?”

Zheng Mingyuan’s face suddenly turned red, and he threw the cinnamon in his hand at Zeng Dayong’s forehead, “You little bastard, which eyes of you saw that I have this idea?”

You’re blushing like a monkey’s bottom! Saying you didn’t mean it, nobody’s buying that!

——

The decoration of the shop almost looked the same every day, but within a few days, it already looked like a restaurant.

The basic work of carpentry was over, and the next step was to apply tung oil to keep the wood dry, insect-free, and shiny.

In addition to being busy with Su Ji’s business these days, Ai Cao and others spent most of their free time sewing some soft goods, such as curtains needed for the restaurant, curtains to block the sun, etc.

Su Yujin was worried about the name of the restaurant.

There was more than one restaurant in Qinghe County. There are three that are good in business, large in scale, and relatively well-known, namely Fuyun Restaurant, Jun Youlai, and Ming Yuxuan.

The name needed to be catchy and have a certain meaning…

Su Yujin’s head hurt a little when she thought about it, so she picked up a book to read while basking in the sun in the courtyard.

It was a sunny day in winter, without a trace of wind. The sun was so scorching, but it felt a bit like the warmth of spring. Su Yujin was dozing off in the sun.

But as she squinted her eyes and was about to fall asleep, she heard a series of tiny footsteps outside the wall.

Su Yujin opened her eyes warily and listened to the footsteps disappearing. Then she closed her eyes again, shrank her neck, and buried half of her face in the blanket.

Tiny footsteps sounded again outside the wall, coming and going.

Su Yujin suddenly lost his sleepiness and called to Ai Cao who was washing clothes, “What’s going on outside?”

“This maid will go take a look.” Ai Cao put down what she was doing and went out for a while. When she came back, she said with a smile, ” It seems that Zhuangzi in the west of the county is looking for some capable washing women and asking who can do clean washing work nearby.”

“The movement outside just now seems to be Aunt Gui leading those people to find Aunt Liao. It is said that Aunt Liao has been looking for a job as a launderer recently. No matter how good the job is, the house is kept clean both inside and outside.”

Liao Shi loved to be clean.

Su Yujin narrowed her eyes.

There, Gui Shi was leading people into Liao Shi’s house, and introduced her to the leader of the group, who looked like a housekeeper, “Liao Shi is very at ease with her work. She can definitely do a good job in washing.”

“Look at this courtyard, the door, the walls, even the window frames, not a speck of dust on any of them. If she can keep things this clean, imagine how well she can handle small chores like laundry.”

The leader of the group went up and down. After looking around, he saw that even the door nose of the door was clean and the door knocker was polished to a shine. He couldn’t help but nod, “It’s really good.”

“It’s not like I’m boasting here like the melon seller. Someone like Liao Meizi, you won’t find her outside easily.” Gui Shi said with a smile on her face.

“Then, let’s use this Aunt Liao.” The man nodded, “Come to our place to do the washing work. You will get up early in the morning and come back in the evening. There will be a cart to take you back and forth. The monthly salary is 500 Wen, you can rest for two days a month.”

“We, the husband and wife, are both open-minded people. We don’t like to work hard, and we don’t like to change people every three days, so I thought of paying four months’ wages directly. It won’t be that much trouble if someone makes a reservation.”

As he spoke, the man came out with some silver and said, “The salary for these four months is twenty taels of silver. I don’t have much spare money here. Can you help me find some?”

“I’m going to get the scale and broken silver.” Seeing that the other party was quite generous, Liao Shi smiled and went into the house to get the scale to weigh the silver that the man gave.

“The total is four taels and five cents of silver. These pieces of silver I have are just twenty taels and five cents in change. I’ll give you the change.” Liao Shi handed over the pieces of silver in her hand.

(end of this chapter)

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T/N Note: From now on, the chapter no will be one less than the MTL chapter list. That’s because the Chapter 46 there was an announcement by the author.