Survival rules for restaurants: cooking and eating melons at the same time

Soon, several side dishes were served on the table: cool mint leaves and lemon water, fried crispy chicken feet, a plate of pork belly and pork skin that was either roasted or fried, and a sticky green sauce as dipping sauce. A large zong leaf wrapped a bag of tofu, and you could see the shiny red oil inside through the leaf.

Qi Tao also specially prepared a bowl of mixed vegetable soup with a lot of vegetables for Gu Qingyun, and finally a grilled fish and a pineapple rice.

These days, pineapples are a rare commodity, and not many people eat glutinous rice directly. Most people make it into rice balls and cakes.

But ever since Anqiao first made pineapple rice, it has been widely praised in restaurants.

The Marquis looked at the table full of novel dishes and couldn't help swallowing his saliva, envying the food. But when he heard that the dishes had not been served yet, he put down his chopsticks in dismay.

"Master, please eat. They are all delicious. We can eat the dishes that have not been served later." Gu Qingyun picked up the chopsticks skillfully, pulled out the rice in the pineapple, gave a bowl to the Marquis, and served another bowl to himself.

The Marquis first took a bite of the pineapple rice and immediately found it novel. The rice was sticky and glutinous, a little sticky to the teeth, and the aroma of pineapple invaded his mouth. Although it was added with fruit, it was not so sweet that it would make his throat choke.

The roasted crispy pork belly was dipped in some dipping sauce, and the sour and spicy taste covered the fatness of the pork belly, which was surprisingly delicious. Not to mention the other dishes, the Marquis always loved vegetables and fruits, and the mixed vegetable soup was just what he wanted. The fresh and fragrant taste rushed straight to his head the moment he drank it. There were several kinds of vegetables, fruits, and some unknown mushrooms in it.

The Marquis was so busy eating that he had no time to pay attention to Gu Qingyun and just ate one mouthful after another.

It was lunchtime downstairs and people were coming and going. An Qiao also became busy. Because of the voting matter, she was even busier.

They were so busy that they only remembered to serve the fish when it was grilled. As the waiting time was a bit long and Gu Qingyun was a regular customer, An Qiao specially brought up a jar of lemon wine.

Compared to the last time the Dali Temple group came to drink, this wine is much better, with just the right level of acidity and sweetness.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, my two guests. We'll give you a jar of lemon wine. Enjoy your meal." An Qiao smiled appropriately, put the wine down, nodded slightly, and added some water for the two of them.

Gu Qingyun laughed jokingly. He was wondering why it was not so unfamiliar in the morning, but became unfamiliar again in the afternoon.

But because his master was there, he didn't say anything and just smiled.

However, the Marquis, when he saw the person coming, looked at him carefully for a while and felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen him somewhere before. But when he looked closely, he found that he was a little different from the old friend, so he didn't think much about it.

"My dear, your food is really unique, the layout of the shop is also unique, and the menu of this shop is also unique. I believe that one day, this restaurant will bring you huge profits."

An Qiao replied with a smile, "Thank you for your good words. It is a great honor for our small shop to have you as a guest."

The Marquis lowered his head and started eating. An Qiao bowed to the two of them again and left the private room.

When the two of them had their fill and walked down slowly, dinner had already been prepared downstairs and the midnight snack stand had been set up.

There are many kinds of oden today. There haven't been any major cases in Dali Temple recently, so people from Dali Temple didn't join in the fun of the late-night snack stall. Gu Qingyun had never seen this kind of food before.

Even though my stomach was already full, I couldn't help but buy another small bowl to eat.

The master and disciple had never tasted this kind of food before, so out of curiosity and because it tasted really good, they quickly finished a bowl of oden.

It was only at this moment that Gu Qingyun noticed that there were quite a lot of people coming to this restaurant for supper, and they were quite diverse. Some of them had even been seen before when he was in court. Although there were not many restaurants in this area, there were quite a few government departments in this area, and this department was not far away.

Some were in groups of three or five, some were alone, and their voices were all low, but An Qiao's pretty face behind the counter, engulfed by the steam of the oden, looked more worldly than usual.

Seeing that he had finished eating, An Qiao went to clean up the dishes with a smile. Gu Qingyun nodded at her and walked into the night with his master.

The night wind always brings a little coolness, and because of this, the two of them felt comfortable and brisk when taking a walk, without much of the summer boredom.

"Gu Qingyun, why do you always look at young ladies? Are you feeling amorous?" The Marquis spoke slowly.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm just curious why this girl has so many ideas. Even I can't think of so many tricks." Gu Qingyun responded frankly.

The Marquis smiled and said, "I'll come again next time. It's delicious."

"Kyoto Restaurant does take-out. If the chef likes it, you can send a servant to pick it up every day." Gu Qingyun introduced it to the Marquis.

"That's great. I don't have to go out when I want to eat next time. That's good too."

The two of them walked back home chatting casually.

The next day, An Qiao thought that today was the delivery date of the jars, so she did not stay in bed. She got up early, called Yi Yi, Jinli and Qitao, and went out.

It took the three of them three attempts to move all the jars. Anqiao was fine because she could rest for a while after she finished moving. But the younger ones had a hard time because lunch was their main task. They had just rested for a while before they had to go to the front yard to help.

An Qiao was not idle either. She sat at the table and wrote the names of various items on the labels that had been prepared before: lemon wine, plum wine, canned peaches, canned apples...

I finished writing a whole stack of papers in one afternoon, and my hands were so sore that I couldn't lift them.

After finishing the work in the front yard and starting to prepare lunch for several people, An Qiao was already exhausted and very hungry.

Unexpectedly, just after he had taken a few bites of rice, Shuanzi came into the shop with a boy who was a few years older than him. Shuanzi remembered that Anqiao said they couldn't come when there were too many people, so he waited at the door for a while, and only came in when there were only a few customers left.

An Qiao looked at the two boys and said weakly, "Eat first, come and sit down."

Shuanzi and another boy watched motionlessly, and seemed unwilling to sit down. "Come on, I'm starving. Don't you have to work in the afternoon? How can you have the energy if you don't eat enough?"

The boy who was a few years older than Shuanzi spoke up, "Excuse me, young lady. I also want to ask what kind of manpower this store needs, in case my brother is too impatient and does not do a good job, and offends the noble man."

An Qiao was even happier when she saw that the boy spoke properly and calmly. "Sit down first and come to work in my shop. I will naturally be responsible. I will assign tasks to each of you who can do them. As for the wages, it's the same as before. Food is included, but I can't provide accommodation because I don't have enough space for you to stay here for now."

The boy asked again, "Does the young lady need a body indenture?"

"No need. I can't accommodate so many people. You can come here as workers. If you do a good job and are willing to follow me, you can stay like this forever. You can leave or stay." An Qiao thought for a while and said, "In addition to learning cooking, there are also people who help make various canned foods. To learn these, you need a body contract. But if you are a good person, you can return the body contract later."