“Then I’ll be waiting; just don’t be embarrassed later.”

Shuangye was always reliable, and Su Yujin trusted her; this was purely a joke.

Shuangye smiled, pulling Su Yujin along to continue talking about the recent situation at Su’s shop.

They talked until Su’s shop started receiving customers, and Su Yujin and Ai Cao helped out for a while. Once they were almost done, they headed to Huibinlou.

Wu Jiantong had already learned of Su Yujin’s return to Qinghe County that morning. Upon seeing her, he hurriedly greeted her, “I guessed the owner would be coming this afternoon, so I specially reserved a private room. Please have lunch, young lady. After Chef Zheng and I finish our work, we’ll chat for a while.”

“Manager Wu is so thoughtful,” Su Yujin praised, following Wu Jiantong upstairs. “I’ve noticed that the silver we’ve collected in the past six months is much more than last year. Huibinlou’s business is booming, all thanks to Manager Wu.”

“You flatter me, young lady. It’s all my duty. It’s also thanks to Chef Zheng’s exquisite skills. He’s introduced a few new dishes recently; you should try them later.”

Wu Jiantong led Su Yujin into the private room while simultaneously instructing the waiters to prepare the food.

After the tea and appetizers were served, Wu Jiantong went to attend to the affairs of Huibinlou, instructing the waiters to serve the remaining dishes.

Several dishes were quickly served:

Huíguōròu chǎo shànyú piàn, dàcōng ròudīng shāo tíjīn, kǒukǒucuì guōbā wánzi, Hóngfú bàogū shāo ézhǎng, guōtiē dòufu bāo, wǔsè rúyì liángbàn cài, with cōngyóu bànmiàn as the staple food, and the soup was huǒtuǐ kūnbù xiāwán tāng.

Su Yujin and Ai Cao were quite hungry at this point, and each of these dishes looked and smelled delicious, making their mouths water. In addition, there was no one else around, so the two of them ate to their hearts’ content.

When they were almost full, Wu Jiantong and Zheng Mingyuan went into the private room together.

“Uncle Zheng’s cooking skills are truly getting better and better,” Su Yujin praised repeatedly. “The heat control is excellent, the flavor is enhanced, and it’s so delicious. No wonder our Huibinlou restaurant is doing so well.”

“It’s just relying on past achievements, showing off the dishes I cooked before,” Zheng Mingyuan chuckled. “But did the boss bring back any good food from Shanxi?”

“I knew Uncle Zheng was thinking about that, so I brought it all back for you.” Su Yujin then opened the package. “Aged vinegar, dried tofu, red dates, purple garlic, yellow millet. The mutton they make there is really delicious, but I can’t bring that back. I’ll make a pot for you to try in the next couple of days.”

Zheng Mingyuan loved all kinds of seasonings and ingredients. Seeing that Su Yujin had brought back a small amount of everything, all of excellent quality, his mouth practically stretched to his ears. “This is exactly what I wanted.”

“These are Shanxi Fenjiu and Zhuyeqing. I didn’t know what to bring back for Manager Wu, but I figured he’s a man of many social occasions, and his house is always bustling with activity during holidays. Bringing some of this back is a safe bet and quite practical.”

“Thank you,” Wu Jiantong said hurriedly.

Qinghe County also had Fenjiu and Zhuyeqing, but the quality always changed once it left the area. It was better to bring it back directly from the local area.

Although Wu Jiantong wasn’t a heavy drinker, as Su Yujin said, he worked in a social setting, constantly entertaining guests and having many personal connections. Bringing authentic Fenjiu and Zhuyeqing would certainly make him look good.

Most importantly, the owner remembered him as the head manager and knew of his dedication, which warmed his heart.

After distributing the items, Su Yujin began to ask about serious matters. “In the past six months, has anything else happened at Huibinlou?”

“The kitchen has been fine, but we noticed that one of the young waiters was a bit restless, always sneaking into the kitchen for no reason, as if he had something on his mind, so we had Manager Wu send him away,” Zheng Mingyuan said.

“Hmm.” Wu Jiantong nodded. “I asked him carefully later and found out the truth.”

“He wasn’t sent by anyone else. He was just an ordinary farmer named Chen Youcai. He came to the county town to work and found our Huibinlou restaurant. When we were recruiting waiters, we saw that he was fourteen or fifteen years old, smart, and hard-working, so we kept him on after a two-day trial period.”

“After working for about a month, he said he wanted to work in the kitchen and wanted to become Chef Zheng’s apprentice. I’ve been telling everyone for a long time that Chef Zheng doesn’t take apprentices. This restaurant relies entirely on the kitchen for its profits. Apart from Chef Zheng and Dayong, everyone else working in the kitchen at Huibinlou is a young lady who has a contract of servitude. Nobody else is allowed in the kitchen.”

“I explained this to Chen Youcai clearly, telling him not to get any ideas. He agreed on the spot, saying his family was struggling financially and he just wanted to learn a skill to support himself, hoping to make something of himself someday, but if not, so be it. He behaved himself for a month or two, but then Da Yong discovered he was secretly memorizing the ingredients for the dishes and even trying to smuggle Chef Zheng’s braising sauce out of the kitchen.”

“The rules in this restaurant are strict; whether it’s stealing recipes or betraying the restaurant, it’s unacceptable. I got angry on the spot, paid Chen Youcai his wages, and fired him.”

“Hmm.” Su Yujin nodded. “Manager Wu handled it well.”

Since you’re no longer allowed to learn cooking, yet you still have many ideas, whatever the reason, you can’t be allowed to stay.

That was beyond doubt.

“What about others?”

Especially outsiders.

“Mingyuxuan’s business is too dismal. Manager Song closed it in May, saying he wanted to take a break before reopening. But I heard these past few days that Manager Song is planning to do something else or rent out the shop. It seems he won’t be opening a restaurant again.”

“Fuyunlou’s business is so-so, much less than last year, but it’s barely holding on. Manager Qian always talks badly about our Huibinlou outside, but he only talks outside and doesn’t dare to come and cause trouble. It seems no one listens to him, so it doesn’t really bother our Huibinlou.”

“But Manager Zhao from Junyoulai…”

Wu Jiantong paused, then continued, “He came over after the New Year, thinking of seeing you, Miss. When he heard that you had gone out of town, he only said that he would see if you would do him the honor of having a cup of tea when you returned.”

“He came two or three more times after that, but didn’t say anything else. He just said that his master had brought some newly bought wine, which wasn’t commonly seen here, and wanted me to try it. I saw that Manager Zhao was very humble, as if he wanted to make money peacefully and avoid making enemies, so I accepted it and gave him a few dishes from our Huibinlou restaurant in return. It was a fair exchange.”

(End of Chapter)

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