Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 178: Renovation coincides with the start of school, and money is not enough

This street is next to the market, and the shop owners and clerks eating in the shops on both sides of the market street are only a small part of the regular customer flow.

There are more people from the county town who come here to shop every day, as well as merchants from the north and south.

At this time, the food in the restaurant was mainly stews, which were carefully prepared, served slowly, and were expensive.

The snack shops sell noodle soups, Hu pancakes, and various meat skewers.

In order to make money, merchants don't have the time to travel to a faraway restaurant and wait for a long time for a dish to be served.

If it were like the fast food of later generations, with a wide variety of dishes and quick service.

The meal is cheaper and more delicious than in a restaurant. Smart businessmen will not refuse such a restaurant.

There are rich combinations of stir-fried dishes. Because they are stir-fried quickly over high heat, the taste is richer and stronger than stews. They can also be cooked and sold immediately, making them fresh and delicious.

Shen Yu told Li about his idea of ​​cooking.

Li smiled and said, "Do whatever you want. I don't understand. The food you cook must be delicious."

"Our buns have always sold well. If you make that stir-fry, those regular customers who come to buy buns will definitely want to try it."

Jiang suggested: "Doesn't Zhou Dalang know how to make cakes? Why not build a stove in the wing room and let him make cakes and sell them."

"There was only this one bakery on this street, and many people were used to eating there. But Mrs. Hu cut corners, so customers don't like to buy her cakes anymore."

Jiang's words reminded Shen Yu to use cakes as the staple food, accompanied by stir-fried vegetables and fried meat.

Small pancakes and vegetable rolls are a perfect match.

Shen Yu took Jiang's arm and said with a smile: "Aunt Jiang, you are really thoughtful. I originally wanted to steam some steamed buns and rice as the staple food in the store, but I forgot that Zhou Dalang can make cakes."

“Wrapping fried vegetables in pancakes is delicious.”

Jiang smiled and said, "I just thought he knew how to do this, and there's only one bakery on this street, so it would be a pity not to open one."

Li smiled and said, "This is a good idea. We can sell buns in the morning, and then sell cakes and stir-fried dishes at noon. We can also fry some meat and fish skewers. It will definitely be popular."

After the three of them had discussed it, they asked the craftsman to build a stove for baking pancakes in the side room.

A small door was opened to connect the two rooms. One room was used to place a dough table for making buns and pancakes, while the other room was used to steam buns and bake pancakes.

This is also convenient. When steaming, the small door in the middle is closed and the dough making side is also clean.

Two smaller stoves were built in the shop's small kitchen, which were used for cooking and frying various meat skewers.

The original tables and chairs in the shop were the usual square tables and benches.

Shen Yu felt that the square table took up a lot of space and could not seat many people, so he measured the depth of the shop first, looked for several stores based on the sizes, and bought a suitable long table.

Two long tables can be put together in a row and equipped with square stools, making them easy to move.

There were two long tables placed against the wall on both sides, and two rows in the middle, for a total of four rows of tables and chairs, totaling eight long tables.

Each table is equipped with two stools. If you don’t like crowds, you can choose tables and chairs near the wall. If you like crowds or if there are many people coming together, you can sit at the table and chairs in the middle. You can also share tables, which is very flexible.

Zhou Dalang looked at the layout of the shop and praised Shen Yu highly: "I didn't expect that a shop that could only accommodate two tables and chairs before could accommodate so many tables and chairs after Miss Shen's modification. Moreover, the space is spacious and the customers can sit comfortably."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Before, your family's dough board and oven for making pancakes were placed in the store, so of course there was not much space left."

"Now that the dough counter and oven have been moved to the courtyard wing, the store has naturally become much more spacious."

Zhou Dalang looked at the two stoves and asked Shen Yu in confusion: "Miss Shen, why are the openings of these two stoves so small?"

"Since the pancake oven and steamer are both in the wing room, why don't we put these two stoves together in the kitchen of the wing room? Wouldn't that make the store bigger?"

Shen Yu pointed out, "These two stoves are used for cooking and making skewers. First, it is to serve the dishes quickly, and second, the aroma of cooking and frying is tempting. If they are placed in the kitchen in the yard, won't the smell be heard?"

Zhou Dalang asked expectantly, "Meat skewers are indeed fragrant when fried, but I have never seen stir-frying. How is it stir-fried? Is it fragrant?"

Shen Yu smiled and said, "When the custom-made small iron pot arrives in two days, our restaurant will be open. You will know then."

Speaking of the two custom-made small iron pots, Shen Yu felt a little painful.

Metals were scarce at that time, and the blacksmith shop was making iron pans for cooking for the first time.

Shen Yu required that the surface of the iron pan be smooth and twice as thick as an ordinary iron pan.

As a result, two custom-made small iron pots cost three thousand yuan, and it would take three or four days to make them.

Shen Yu had no choice, because there was no wok at that time. The common pots were large iron pots with larger sizes, and they were thinner overall than woks, so they were not suitable for cooking directly.

Because the new stove in the store had not yet dried out and the newly ordered iron pots had not arrived yet.

These days, Shen Yu's family still pushes a cart to set up a stall at the market entrance.

The steaming of the buns for lunch delivery was moved to the store's yard, where a temporary stove was built with bricks and stones and fueled by firewood.

Once the new stove is dry and solid, you can switch to using charcoal for burning.

Whenever Li had free time these days, she kept wondering why the county government hadn't paid the compensation yet, and whether they were going to give it over.

Qixi hasn't come over in the past two days. I don't know what he is busy with.

Tomorrow is the third day of September, and it’s time to send Dun Dun and Yu Cheng to Baihe Academy to study.

The tuition for admission was ready, but if Shen Yu had to pay for a quarter's meals together with the tuition upon admission, he would be short of money.

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said, "If it really doesn't work, I can just take out the gold ingots I have deposited in the bank and use them."

Mrs. Li was a little reluctant to give it up: "That's the reward money given by the master for his birthday. It's auspicious and auspicious. I want to keep it for you as a dowry."

Shen Yu couldn't think of a better solution for a moment. He couldn't just borrow money from He again.

At noon, after delivering the lunch, we ate lunch.

The mother and daughter were worrying about money in the store when Qi Xi, who had not been seen for two days, came in with a smile on her face.

Qixi bowed to Li and Shen Yu, handed over a small cloth bag and said, "Miss Shen, the county magistrate has been attending lectures these days, so he is free today to handle official business in the county government office."

"Master Lu submitted the application for compensation to your family and asked the county magistrate to seal it, and then the money was allocated."

"My master heard that the young lady was busy repairing the store, so he signed for you and asked me to send the silver over."

Shen Yu took the small cloth bag, but it felt heavy in his hand. He opened it suspiciously and saw that there were more than ten silver ingots weighing ten taels each inside.

Shen Yu fell on the table and counted them. There were twelve silver ingots in total, a total of one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

Li was also shocked and blurted out: "One hundred and twenty taels, isn't it only thirty taels?"