The Second Sister of a Farmer's Family's Path to Imperial Destiny

Cixi Town, inside Rufangzhai.

"Boss, the tavern run by Miss Guo whom you helped before is opening today, aren't you going?" Qingluan was helping with the accounting.

"Don't go."

"If you don't go, you'll lose the chance to be the first to try something new. Besides, Miss Guo didn't choose you to cooperate with her in opening a wine shop, but chose a small businessman instead. She really doesn't know what's good for her."

Qingluan said angrily. In her opinion, Guo Xin had been desperate and burdened with huge debts from the beginning, but now she was well-off and her brothers and sisters-in-law were sent to school with the help of the shopkeeper. But now that she had opened a wine shop, she didn't even look for the shopkeeper to be a partner, letting others profit. If this wasn't ungratefulness, what was it?

Although she didn't ask Guo Xin to work for the shopkeeper like she did, she couldn't be so disregarding of gratitude, right?

Thinking of this, the sound of the abacus in his hand became much louder.

Mo Feifei took a glance and knew what Qingluan was thinking, so she said, "You don't have to be upset about this. She is different from you and me. If she wanted to open a wine shop with me and put all her hopes on me, I would regret helping her in the first place."

After that, he continued, "I just received a letter from the prince, asking me if I have a good way to bypass the big families and celebrities to do business and make money, but I don't have any, I'm just a little servant who can cook a little."

When Qingluan heard that the prince, who had always been obsessed with food, was now interested in doing business and making money, and wanted to bypass the aristocratic families, she knew that the situation in the capital had become tense again.

He couldn't help but sigh. The emperor was indeed old, and the people everywhere were living in misery. Only with the help of His Highness and that master did Suining City get by much better. Moreover, wars were frequent on the borders, and money was required everywhere. It was truly a shabby dynasty.

Mo Feifei looked at Qingluan, silently asking her if she had any good ideas.

Qingluan shook her head. She didn't know what good solution was. Rufangzhai was now backed by several wealthy families. It was simply a fantasy to want to make money by bypassing them.

……

At night, because they had opened a tavern, Guo Xin and the others did not return to the village, but stayed in the backyard rooms of the tavern.

Guo Xin and Guo Ruo were calculating the account books, and Liu Tiezhu was learning from them.

"Sister Guo Xin, there are a lot of people coming to the restaurant today. Why don't we serve the new dishes directly in a few days instead of waiting for ten days. Because when I was serving food in the restaurant today, I met many diners who were dissatisfied with this." Liu Tiezhu said.

As early as when he was in the village, Guo Xin taught the cooks in the tavern the dishes he wanted to sell, so there was no need to worry about the cooks not being able to cook when he suddenly had to sell new dishes.

"I think it's feasible. A restaurant shouldn't only have these few dishes." Guo Ruo agreed.

Guo Xin looked at the account book in his hand, hesitated for a moment and said, "Then why don't we wait a few days and just update it tomorrow?"

After that, she became a little worried and said, "But won't the diners be dissatisfied with this inconsistency? Moreover, if we serve new dishes, I'm afraid the few cooks we have may not be enough. We need to find someone to help."

Guo Ruo thought of the cooks sent from Suining City to learn cooking from Guo Xin, and said, "How about asking the cooks from the Zhao Mansion to help?"

When Guo Xin heard this, her eyes lit up. Several of the women who were hired to be cooks in the village had family matters and would not be able to come for some time, so this was why she did not want to prepare new dishes so early in the morning.

"I think it's feasible. This dish is not difficult. The main thing is to fry the soup base and then blanch the vegetables. Besides, these cooks only cook for their masters in the mansion, so it won't have much impact." Guo Xin said.

……

After thinking about it all night, the next day came and Guo Xin handed over the tavern to Guo Ruo, Liu Tiezhu and others, and went to Rufangzhai in the county town to find the cooks.

"Young lady, you are finally here again!" Auntie Fat was busy in the restaurant, facing the door, and said, "I wanted to go to your restaurant to join in the fun yesterday, but there were too many people, so I didn't go. But you are here today to teach us new dishes. Can you come here in such a busy restaurant?"

Hearing this, Guo Xin said awkwardly: "Actually, I didn't come to you to teach you a new dish, but to ask you for a favor."

After Guo Xin briefly explained her purpose, Auntie Fat asked excitedly, "You mean we can go to your restaurant and learn a new dish?! And it's delicious?"

Aunt Fat didn't mind having to help out in the tavern, and their original purpose of coming here was to learn new dishes.

Although Guo Xin tried her best and taught a few dishes every ten days, and accumulated quite a few dishes during this period, enough to cook for the master in different ways, but for these cooking geeks, it was far from enough.

Besides, now that they followed Guo Xin from Cixi Town to Yong'an County, they didn't have much work to do in Rufangzhai on weekdays and were really bored. Wouldn't it be nice to help out in the tavern?

Thinking of this, Aunt Pang said hello to Guo Xin and hurried to the backyard, which was their resting place. After telling the sisters who came to learn cooking together about the matter, everyone excitedly went to Guo Xin.

"Young lady, are you going to teach us how to cook new dishes now?" one of the cooks shouted.

Guo Xin nodded and walked towards the place where she had taught them to cook, where all kinds of spices and vegetables were available.

Wait for the cooks to heat up the wok, scoop in a large spoonful of lard that has been cooked until it looks like snowflakes, slowly melt the oil in the hot wok, then pour in the scallions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.

When it’s almost fried, she adds her homemade bean paste. Although the flavor is slightly different from the bean paste she bought in her previous life, it is still a delicious sauce that is hard to find in this dynasty.

Then add the chopped dogwood, star anise, and bay leaves and stir-fry for one incense stick of time. Then pour in the chicken soup that Rufangzhai prepares daily. In an instant, the aroma will fill the air. Then add salt, soy sauce, and cardamom and simmer for another quarter of an hour.

The cooks watching from the side swallowed their saliva and did not feel embarrassed. After all, they always looked like this every time Guo Xin came to teach them some new dishes.

One of the cooks couldn't help but ask, "Mrs. Guo, is this soup? Why is it spicy? Doesn't this make the chicken soup unpalatable?"

"This is not soup, but it can also be called soup. It is mainly used to cook food. Didn't I just ask you to prepare some of your favorite vegetables and meat? Those are cooked in this soup base." Guo Xin explained.

These words aroused everyone's curiosity. They couldn't imagine what it would taste like to cook clean vegetables in soup. The food in the soup was often soft and mushy. How could the vegetables still be delicious?

But he still kept his mouth shut and waited for Guo Xin to put the vegetables into the soup.

It didn’t take long before the soup base was almost cooked. Add the appropriate amount of vegetables and pour them into the bowl.

After everyone gathered around the bowl and observed it, they found that it was not what they had imagined, and they rushed to pick up their chopsticks and put it in their mouths.

"Mmm! It's so delicious."

The fat aunt talked as she chewed, occasionally spitting out food residue, but no one cared because everyone's eating manners were not that good either.