Chapter 45: Ch. 22 Part 1
The days went by quickly with Xiao Ling focused on teaching and practicing with his workers.... he had the oven, three fridges and the three ice cube maker sent to the restaurant. The restaurant was completed with all ten tables and chairs and five private rooms, in case the nobles wanted some privacy from the commoners. Everything he requested for the restaurant were arranged neatly, the opening day for the shop was getting nearer. It was four days left to the opening day and he had the workers take a break from practicing and practice at their various homes, on the first day of the four days he made all the jams and placed them in the dungeon to keep them from going bad. After he had Dahu and his wife purchase the soybeans and vegetables for him and put them in his dungeon.
On the third day to the opening he had Yue go for the five jars milk from brother Fu, and made them all into condensed milk... the condensed milks were also left in his dungeon, in the evening he had two visiters at home. Dahu’s wife and grandma Shen brought him the mature chickens and ducks, aunty Fan brought him twenty mature chickens and ducks while grandma Shen brought him thirty mature ducks closed boxes.....
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On the second day to the opening he was going to practice welcoming diners in the restaurant with his workers... Yue and the Lu’s came to the house as early as the first light, they fixed the cart to the bull and the carriage to the horses. The carriage was designed to be able to fit about eight people and with storage cabinets in it. The seats were made in such a way that it could be used as beds, everything was in including quilts and mattresses. The ducks and chickens were placed into the bull cart along with two jars of each of the jams and two jars of condensed milk which were going to be sent to the diner for the meantime, and small jars of wines. Xiao Ling and YanZhi along with Yue boarded the carriage with Lixin as the Coachman... Xiao Mi and Lan Fan got on the cart with Suchang leading the bull cart. When they got to the diner the workers were all presented and were waiting for them.
" Boss " they all cupped their hands and greeted them... Yue got down and unlocked the door before Lixin and Suchang led the carriage and cart to the back while the workers took the front gate. They were surprised to see how the diner looked like, it was different from all the restaurants in town. They unpacked the things brought to the storage room in the kitchen were the bags of grains, sugars and other ingredients were kept. The chickens and ducks were kept into their various coops at the back, Xiao Ling showed them to the test rooms which yet surprised them again. Xiao Ling’s restaurant was so different, they took their various positions.... Liang was given the position of sous chef with four taels as pay and Zimo the assistant chef with three taels. Xiao Ling, YanZhi and Yue walked outside before pretending to be guests coming to the diner, as soon as they walked in Haoran and Zihan who were the manager and assistant gave them a bow with their hands carefully placed on each other in front slightly on top of theirs bellies and welcomed the diners.
" sirs and madam would you like a table or a private room? " Haoran asked politely..... YanZhi pretended to inspect around first before he opened his mouth to sa
" A table will do " Haoran nod and call one of the servers who led them to a table as he explained how the diner works to them and they took their seats. The server passed YanZhi the menu book which was made by both him and Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling categorized everything which would be sold in the restaurant from Food dishes to cold drinks, wines and pastries to make it easier for the diners to choose what they like. The dishes were drawn with colorful dye paints which Xiao Ling made so that even if a diner didn’t know how to read he can still choose using the pictures. After he gave YanZhi the menu the server then took a small book note which was made by Yanzhi and an improvised pen made by Xiao Ling,
" Sirs what would you like to have?.... " the server asked YanZhi and YanZhi pretended to have a hard time choosing, he passed the note to Xiao Ling who also looked through and pretended he didn’t know what to choose either.
" Sirs if you’re having a hard time choosing why don’t I recommend some dishes for you.... " the server said sweetly with a smile and Xiao Ling nod and passed him back the menu book.