Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 434 The Inn is Completed, Let’s Go and Have a Look

Shen Yu thanked Qi Xi and asked him whether Lu Lang would be at the county government office tomorrow. He agreed to go find him tomorrow and then let Qi Xi go back.

After the shop closed, Shen Yu invited everyone to go and take a look at the newly built inn.

This time, Shen Yu and the others did not go through the small door in the backyard, but deliberately went around and entered through the main gate at the alley.

The alley at this moment no longer had its original narrow and old appearance.

There were high walls on both sides, surrounding the entire area of ​​houses, with the store door in the middle.

There is a passage after entering the door. A few steps forward is the lobby of the inn, and next to it is the tea room and accounting office.

Guests can check in, sit, drink tea and meet friends here.

Going along the passage, there is an open space next to the house with two horse stables.

Passing through the lobby door, there is a corridor in the middle. One side is connected to the restaurant, but it is also a separate courtyard. The other side is rows of guest rooms.

Shen Yu did not design the house in the traditional style of several courtyards, but designed it as a row of houses based on the actual accommodation needs of the merchants here.

Each row of houses has a fixed spacing, all face south, and have no inner courtyard walls.

The guest rooms include single rooms, rooms for multiple people consisting of two rooms connected, and large bunk beds. All of them have doors and windows and are square and sturdy.

Each room is equipped with a door lock and a bolt. When guests check in, they can close the door and not disturb each other.

Since all the houses are one-story and of the same height, every room can get sunlight and is warm and not humid.

Although this does not look traditional, it is the most efficient way to utilize the land.

If it is designed as a traditional courtyard with several entrances and a patio, not only will the utilization rate be low, but one room will be too narrow. Houses that are not facing south will not be able to get sunlight, and people living in them will feel stuffy.

When Li and her friends first saw it, they felt that it was not as pleasing to the eye as a proper courtyard. It seemed too spacious and unsupported on all sides.

But after Shen Yu's explanation and guidance, and looking at the neatly arranged rows of houses, I felt that it was indeed more comfortable for guests to live this way.

I think of the inn I stayed in when I first came here. Although it was a small courtyard with rooms on all four sides, the courtyard was narrow and the sunlight could not get in at all.

As soon as I opened the door, there was a surge of dampness. It was indeed not as bright and comfortable as the townhouses we have now.

The remaining construction materials in the entire yard have been cleared away, and the ground in front of each row of houses has been paved with sand and broken bricks.

There is a small open space in front of the window of each house to form a flower bed. In spring, some grass and flower seeds are sown and some potted flowers are placed. When spring comes and the flowers bloom, these houses will look very nice.

Everyone looked around and finally went to the small courtyard connected to the Japanese restaurant.

The courtyard is in a very traditional style.

There are three main rooms, with a small hall in the middle and small suites in the side rooms on both sides.

There were side rooms on both sides of the main house, and in the middle was a patio with broken bricks all over the floor.

Although the yard is not big, it is large enough for everyone in the store to move in.

Shen Yu planned to move to the courtyard with his family when the weather got warmer in the spring.

The three rooms in the restaurant's yard were all converted into halls for dining, and a private room could also be set aside.

This way, even guests staying at the inn can eat here and there will be enough space.

Because the store has added new hot pot these days, customers eat slowly and there are often not enough seats. Customers have to wait a while when they come to eat, which is a cramped scene.

If we free up these three rooms, the situation will be much better.

Zheng Sanniang is usually responsible for receiving customers in the store, and she is bound to receive complaints from customers about having to wait for a table.

When I heard Shen Yu's plan, I agreed with it very much.

She said in a depressed tone, "Those customers wanted to eat hot pot, but they also complained that they had to wait. They have told me several times that I was not urging them to eat faster."

"But they don't think about it. If they are sitting there enjoying their meal and the store owner comes over and asks them to eat faster, and then they have to give up their seats to the diners behind them, it will definitely spoil their mood."

"So I refused. One time, a customer even said I was stubborn."

Li comforted her, "Just ignore guests like that."

"I've encountered this before. I just agree to it but I won't really urge the customer."

"If you really love it, I'd be willing to wait a little longer."

"If they just come here to try something new and don't want to wait and leave, there's nothing we can do."

"But we'll be fine in the spring. As Yuzhi said, we'll move to this courtyard and the restaurant can be used to entertain guests."

"I'm afraid that by then, I'll have to worry about not having enough guests."

Shen Yu was moved when he heard this, and said, "The guests are hungry and bored waiting, so it's inevitable that they will be angry."

"Why not rent some storybooks and buy some tangram locks and other small things to put in front of the table where you're waiting to be seated."

"Guests can read a book or play with some educational toys while waiting for their meals, so they won't be bored while waiting."

Yutao was most interested in dialogue books. After she learned some words, Shen Yu gave her more money every month to encourage her to buy books in order to make her interested in reading.

But a book of storybooks is not cheap, and Yutao knows that money in the restaurant is hard to come by, so she is always reluctant to buy more.

However, I picked out two books that I liked and bought them. I read them so often that the edges of the books became frayed.

After hearing what Shen Yu said, she was pleasantly surprised and asked, "Can the storybooks also be rented?"

"Why does the bookstore I went to only sell books and not rent them? The price of a book is so expensive."

Yutao couldn't help but sigh when she thought about the price of those storybooks.

In fact, Shen Yu didn't know it at first. It was not until he heard Qi Xi muttering that buying a book was much more expensive than renting it that he realized there were bookstores that specialized in renting books.

She specifically asked Qi Xi for the address of the bookstore, but she had not been there yet because she had been busy recently.

Shen Yu smiled and said, "I heard what Qi Xi said. Why don't we go and have a look together in the next two days?"

Yu Tao nodded with a smile and said, "Then let's wait until Yu Cheng and the others have their day off, and then we can go together."

Shen Yu agreed with a smile. Everyone looked and discussed, and after a round, they walked back to the courtyard gate, locked the door, and then came back from outside.

After returning to the restaurant and finishing his daily tasks, during dinner, Shen Yu began to discuss with everyone the furniture and bedding needed in the inn's guest rooms.

Because some shops in the market have already closed and everyone has gone home to celebrate the New Year, buying furniture and window paper can only be done after the New Year.

Fortunately, you can just buy these things and install them right away. You can use them right away without wasting time.

What you need to prepare now is the bedding.

These things can either be bought ready-made, which are expensive and made of inferior materials, but they can still be used as a makeshift product.

Or you can buy cloth and cotton and sew it yourself, which has good quality and low price, but is time-consuming and laborious.

Shen Yu was hesitant, not knowing whether to buy a finished product or make it himself.