You are unlucky and I am tough

Taibailou still has some loyal customers. Although the morning market has passed and lunch time has not yet arrived, there are still people who come as soon as the restaurant opens.

Some customers were visiting the new store and asking for Zhuangyuan Jidi porridge. The waiter, who had been trained for a few days, cleverly took the menu and recommended the store's new century egg and lean meat porridge and tomato dumpling soup.

Wei Qinglang called a few people to move out the water sign display stand, made it into an S-shaped display stand, and placed it at the entrance of the front building, like the entrance screen wall of a large mansion. One had to go around from both sides to see the scene in the restaurant lobby.

The display racks were covered with bamboo signboards, on which all the dishes in the building were hung, as well as pictures of ingredients such as crayfish, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, etc.

These were all drawn by Master Yuan and Cheng Xu. The ingredients are introduced on the sides, and the corresponding delicacies made with the ingredients are hung below.

As soon as customers enter the store, this display stand is a highlight.

In the future, the display and update of dishes, the supply of ingredients, and any activities and discounts can all be used for display.

Sure enough, as soon as the display stand was brought out, several of the few customers in the building ran over to take a look and started discussing the pictures of various ingredients they had never seen before.

Shopkeeper Meng arranged the waiters and waitresses in the building to make full use of the time when there were not many customers to prepare all the affairs in the store more thoroughly.

In the kitchen, Cheng Guqiu and his team were also busy preparing and checking the dishes to ensure that there would be no rush and no mistakes when officially welcoming guests.

All the chefs are here today, including Cheng Guqiu, there are thirteen people in total. They are divided into two groups to take turns, and they can change shifts and rest when they are tired.

After Cheng Shuang came down from upstairs, she called Wei Qinglang to go and see it together because she was curious about the ancient ice cellar.

The entrance to the restaurant's ice cellar was located in a utility room behind the kitchen, about four or five meters underground. The two men carried a lantern and walked down the stairs.

After opening the door, the cold air rushed in and the temperature dropped rapidly.

The ice cellar was divided into several small rooms. Huge ice blocks were neatly stacked in the rooms, like crystal hills. A few dim lanterns were hung on the walls, and the weak lights flickered in the cold air.

Xie Zhiyou bought all this ice at a high price from some merchants in the city. It only took up less than half of the space in the ice cellar, but it should be able to last until the end of the year. When winter comes, he can make ice and store it by himself.

Cheng Shuang shivered from the cold and ran to the first room. Half of the room was filled with ice and the other half was filled with several large jars of sauerkraut.

In the second room, there were the chili sauce and roasted pepper sauce that were brought over yesterday.

After getting a general understanding, Cheng Shuang said, "Although it's not as good as a refrigerator, it's enough to keep things fresh. When the watermelons are ripe and summer arrives, we can enjoy chilled watermelons."

"Let's go upstairs quickly after we finish looking at it." Wei Qinglang was worried that Cheng Shuang would get cold, so he pulled her out.

In addition to the Baixi Garden today, Xie Zhiyou also invited dancers from a dance studio and a juggling troupe. When the two returned to the lobby, the dancers from the dance studio had already started performing on the stage.

By noon, more and more guests came to visit, and people from the Hundred Plays Garden also arrived.

Behind the stage is the performers' backstage. It's not a small place, but with people from the theater, dance studio, and circus troupe all together, it's still a bit messy.

Lin Zelan was in a room alone, and two people from the opera troupe were helping him put on makeup.

"Thank you, Master, for your generosity. This restaurant is the largest in our Luohe Prefecture."

A hearty voice came from the lake, and a few well-dressed businessmen came up on the plank road. It turned out that they were Xie Zhiyou's business partners who came to show their support.

The first person to speak was Mr. Qian, the largest salt merchant in Luohe Prefecture. He was a neighbor of the Xie family and the two families lived quite close to each other.

Xie Zhiyou, who was greeting the guests at the door, hurried forward and after a few words of greeting, wanted to take the guests to visit the restaurant first. However, as soon as they entered the door, they were attracted by the display racks.

As they watched, several people arrived and ordered their dishes directly. Xie Zhiyou called a waiter to write down the menu.

Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang's friends, Mr. Lu's family, were the first to arrive. Yuanbao, wearing a brand new royal blue jacket, ran down to the front and shouted from a distance, "Sister Cheng, Brother Wei, we are here."

Cheng Shuang went up to him and pinched Yuan Bao's chubby face. "Today, we have all your favorite spicy dishes in the building.

Then the two of them greeted Mr. Lu and his family together. Cheng Shuang saw that Mr. Lu had lost dozens of pounds and almost didn't recognize him. She smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, you look really energetic now, but you should not be greedy. You need to exercise more as you get older, and eat a light diet to stay healthy."

Old Master Lu laughed heartily. "I used to love greasy meat dishes, like fatty pig's trotters and braised pork elbows. I couldn't eat a whole plate of them in a day. But after following your diet and exercising for a while, I stopped craving them. I haven't had a bite of my favorite braised pork elbows in over two months."

Mrs. Lu also took Cheng Shuang's hand with a look of fondness on her face. "Good child, thank you for saving my old man's life. Last time, I was so worried and distracted that I didn't say a word to you. Today, we must sit down and have a meal together."

Cheng Shuang nodded and said yes.

After a few pleasantries, Wei Qinglang led the people in. As expected, the Lu family was attracted by the display racks.

Wei Qinglang then introduced the ingredients and dishes to them. When he mentioned the signature dish, spicy crayfish, Mr. Lu immediately ordered three pounds.

Then he waved his hand and told him to serve him one portion of each of the dozen or so signature dishes.

Lu Yinyin fell last and hugged Cheng Shuang's arm, "Sister Cheng, didn't Pan'er and Xinyi come?"

As he spoke, he looked around but did not see the familiar figure.

"I'm here. I'm playing in the room on the top floor of the west building." Cheng Shuang said, "It's not time for dinner yet. I'll ask someone to take you and Yuanbao up to find them."

Lu Yinyin was happy. She said goodbye to her family and took Yuanbao upstairs with a maid leading the way.

There are also maids in the restaurant, who are mainly responsible for daily cleaning and serving tea and water on the fourth and fifth floors of the west building.

Lu Yinyin went upstairs and met Cheng Pan and the others, but the person was still not there.

The beautiful view from the rooftop didn't distract her. She found an opportunity to pull Wei Xinyi aside and casually asked, "Are all your family members here today?"

Wei Xinyi nodded, "Everyone is here except Chen'er."

"Oh...then why don't I seem to see your fourth brother?"

"Fourth brother is away on a long trip."

"Going away?" Lu Yinyin was puzzled. "Where did you go?"

Wei Xinyi took a bite of a pastry in her hand. "He's going to travel the world. He's going with his master. Fourth brother said he wants to be a hero in the world of martial arts, just like what's written in the storybooks."

"Oh...so that's how it is." Lu Yinyin nodded slightly, with a look of disappointment in her eyes.

She hadn't been to Chengjia Village for just a month, and Wei Nanxing just left like that without even saying goodbye?

Do you still consider her as a friend?

As it got closer to dinner time, the restaurant suddenly became bustling with businessmen in rich clothes, scholars holding folding fans, dandies who prided themselves on being romantic, and ladies and young ladies with a large following all came in one after another.

There were also common people with their families, and chivalrous knights who came in groups. All of them were either looking at the restaurant's decoration curiously, or excitedly discussing the dishes on the menu.

The building became busy in a blink of an eye. There were so many guests that there was not enough staff to handle the needs.

This was a little beyond Xie Zhiyou's expectations, so he quickly asked his followers to find more people to help.

Song Gaoshan went to Chongwenguan to pick up Cheng Chen and Song Qi, and was later arranged by Wei Qinglang to go to the building to help first and do whatever he could.

After Zhao Xiuwen and the Zhu brothers and their group of eight or nine scholars arrived, they went to the garden behind the east building. The garden had rockery and stacked stones, winding paths, and koi swimming in a small pond.

As soon as they sat down in the pavilion in the garden, a waiter came up to them and asked if they wanted tea and snacks.

The people from Chengjia Village arrived together. Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang were busy greeting them. Master Yuan asked for a quiet private room on the third floor to chat about the past and present with a few friends.

Cheng Lizheng and his group were arranged to sit in the scattered seats on the second floor, where they had a wide view of the stage and could feel the lively atmosphere of the entire restaurant.

The only thing that made Cheng Shuang a little dissatisfied was that the table ordered by the old scholar was for his grandson Cheng Wanpeng.

Cheng Wanpeng brought six or seven people, including Cheng Caijun. They asked for a good seat on the second floor facing the stage. After sitting down, they started bragging about it in words and deeds, saying that it was a good seat specially reserved for them by the eldest son of the Xie family.