You are unlucky and I am tough

The morning market at the restaurant was mostly filled with vendors doing business, as well as some literati and scholars living in the city who had the habit of getting up early to compose poems, paint, and exchange ideas.

They would meet at the restaurant's morning market, enjoying the food while reciting poems and lyrics.

Seeing that the lobby was almost full, Cheng Shuang went to the kitchen to ask and found that the most popular food at the morning market had changed from "Zhuangyuan Jidi Congee" to "Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee".

Yesterday, a thousand preserved eggs were used up before evening. At this rate, the preserved eggs at home will be used up in ten days.

So Cheng Shuang made a decision: apart from the congee with preserved egg and lean pork, only three dishes would remain on the menu: cold preserved egg salad, braised tofu with preserved egg, and stir-fried preserved egg with green peppers. Everything else would be temporarily removed.

Then he had someone deliver breakfast to the three people upstairs.

Early in the morning, people from other dance studios in the city came to ask if we needed any singing and dancing performances, and some itinerant performers who made a living by performing also came.

Cheng Shuang also helped Manager Meng meet a few people when she had nothing else to do. One of the men played the zither very well, so she kept him in the east building to play the zither.

Try it out for one day first. If it works well, we can discuss a fixed partnership, with a fixed monthly payment. If customers give tips, we'll split the profits 50/50 with the restaurant.

Just as I finished my work and returned to the main hall of the front building, I ran into a group of constables who had just finished a night patrol. A dozen or so of them came in talking and sat down at two tables.

The waiter, seeing that they were government officials, treated them with great care. The two tables of people ordered preserved egg and beef congee, tomato dumpling soup, two large plates of meat buns, and several bowls of wontons.

After ordering, the group continued chatting. They were sitting close to the counter, and Cheng Shuang overheard them talking about how they had encountered a petty thief during their patrol the previous night. The thief tried to break into Magistrate Zheng's house to steal something but was discovered, and they chased him all night without catching him.

Cheng Guqiu was too tired yesterday and didn't go home. She stayed in a guest room on the fourth floor of the front building. Cheng Shuang wanted her to rest a little longer, so she had someone send breakfast up at 8 o'clock.

After finishing breakfast and getting ready, Cheng Guqiu went to the kitchen to start another busy day.

Cheng Shuang also went to the kitchen and, based on yesterday's business situation, discussed with the chefs some areas where the dishes needed improvement.

"Chefs still need to learn to control the amount of chili peppers used. Many dishes have too much chili pepper. For example, in the dish of stir-fried pork intestines with green peppers, the thin-skinned peppers are already quite spicy, so the small chili peppers can be used less or not at all. Yesterday afternoon, a table ordered this dish, and the child cried loudly after eating one piece because of the spiciness. When I looked, I estimated that there were about ten small chili peppers."

Cheng Shuang personally handled the situation yesterday. After apologizing, she changed the dish and sent two desserts to the child.

“Yesterday, there were more than one table of customers who couldn’t eat spicy food. They ordered non-spicy dishes, but they were still spicy. One table even complained.” Cheng Shuang pointed to the small iron pot on the stove. “That’s because the pot was used to cook too many spicy dishes. To avoid this, we will use several pots specifically for cooking non-spicy dishes in the future. We can tie different colored strips of cloth to the pot handles to distinguish them.”

After reviewing the accounts, Wei Qinglang came downstairs and searched everywhere for Cheng Shuang. He asked several waiters and found the kitchen. Seeing the situation inside, he didn't go in but instead leaned against the kitchen door and waited.

The people inside talked for a while longer before coming out. As soon as Cheng Shuang saw him, she asked, "Young Master Xie, have you finished settling the accounts? How did things go yesterday?"

“The restaurant business is extremely profitable everywhere.” Wei Qinglang pulled her to sit down at the stone table. “I estimate that we’ll break even in two months at most.”

Cheng Shuang was very surprised, "So much! If we calculate it like this, with the restaurant and the soap, we can just go home and count our money."

Wei Qinglang chuckled, "You can do it now if you want."

After chatting about the restaurant's operations, Cheng Shuang shifted the topic to the gossip she had heard that morning.

Wei Qinglang found it all quite novel; if even officials' homes had petty thieves stealing things, then those thieves must have been incredibly bold.

By noon, the front building was almost full, with many people coming to reserve seats for the performance.

At the same time, some people came to gather information. Xie Zhiyou knew many people and told the two that most of the famous restaurant owners or managers in the capital had come.

That's how competition works among peers. It's not just about a new restaurant opening; even if a restaurant launches a popular new dish, people will personally go to taste it and find out why.

Restaurants in the city do not prohibit customers from calling for errands after they have made a purchase.

In other words, if you're eating at one restaurant and want to eat a certain dish at another restaurant, you can have some idle people run errands to buy it and deliver it to you.

As long as it's not excessive, the restaurant won't mind serving one or two dishes.

Yesterday, many of the customers in those shops called for errands, and the dishes delivered were all kinds of things, with ingredients that the customers had never seen before. After enduring it all day, they all came to the shop today.

Sun Youzhi arrived late and was somewhat envious when he saw the three tall buildings from afar.

The Sun family had only recently moved to Luohe Prefecture. They were originally from Lin'an Prefecture in Xizhou. Their cousin was a county magistrate under the jurisdiction of Lin'an Prefecture. Thanks to this relationship, the Sun family expanded their business and lived a very comfortable life.

However, not long ago, the county magistrate's cousin was imprisoned by the imperial court for accepting bribes and making a wrongful conviction. Fearing that they would be implicated, they sold their property and moved their entire family to Luohe Prefecture in Dongzhou through connections.

Previously, the Sun family's restaurant in Lin'an Prefecture was quite large, but now that they've moved to Luohe Prefecture, they're being controlled by the city's chamber of commerce. Sun Youzhi feels like a tiger fallen into the plains, being bullied by dogs, and he's been unhappy ever since.

However, Sun Youzhi also knew that the Xie family was a local power in Luohe Prefecture, and their connections and wealth were beyond what he could afford to offend. In addition, he had other ideas in mind. His daughter was of marriageable age, and Xie Zhiyou had never remarried after losing his wife. If he could marry his daughter to Xie Zhiyou, then his Sun family could once again hold their heads high in Luohe Prefecture.

Therefore, Sun Youzhi came with his family today. When he saw Xie Zhiyou at the door, he adopted a very humble attitude and kept praising him for his young talent.

Xie Zhiyou was very tactful and polite to Sun Youzhi.

Sun Youzhi's daughter, Sun Miaochun, was meeting Xie Zhiyou for the first time. Knowing that her father wanted her to marry this man, she stood to the side blushing.

Madam Sun introduced her daughter, Sun Miaochun, who stepped forward to greet her and boldly said, "I've heard that Young Master Xie is quite knowledgeable in appraising ancient paintings and artifacts. I also know a little about painting. I have a painting that I'm unsure of, and I'd like to ask Young Master Xie for some pointers another day."

After she finished speaking, Sun Youzhi and his wife looked at Xie Zhiyou with hopeful eyes. Xie Zhiyou could easily understand what she meant.

He's seen far too many things like this since he lost his wife.

"I am merely a businessman and not an expert in this field. I suppose Miss Sun has heard the rumors." Xie Zhiyou casually rejected Sun Miaochun, thus making his stance clear.

Seeing Cheng Pan arrive with several months' worth of clothes, he cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Mr. Sun, please come in. I have other matters to attend to, so please excuse me."

Sun Youzhi and his wife stiffened for a moment, and could only awkwardly smile and tell him to go ahead and get busy.

After Xie Zhiyou turned and walked away, Madam Sun glared at her daughter and muttered, "Useless thing."

Following Cheng Shuang's instructions, Cheng Pan brought Wei Dong and the other three to the building to help out, hoping they could also broaden their horizons.

Upon seeing Xie Zhiyou approach, Cheng Pan curtsied to him, "Young Master Xie, my sister asked me to bring a few people from home. They can stay in the building as helpers for the next few days."

Upon hearing this, Xie Zhiyou turned to his attendant and said, "Take the person to Manager Meng."

He then said to Cheng Pan, "Miss Cheng, Brother Wei and I have already reviewed yesterday's accounts this morning. If you want to check them, just go to the accountant in the restaurant. You have the same authority, and from now on, the restaurant's accounts will be handled by you."

Cheng Pan nodded gently, "From now on, I will make a copy of all the restaurant's accounts. Is Young Master Xie aware of this?"

Xie Zhiyou said gently, "Of course. The contract between the two companies clearly stipulates that both parties have the right to inspect and copy the account books."

Cheng Pan nodded, wanting to go over, but there were people standing in front of her. She looked up and glanced at the people in front of her.

Xie Zhiyou understood and quickly led his entourage to stand aside so that she could pass.