Mrs. Hu sat on a chair that had been modified by a carpenter.

Regular chairs were too small for her ample figure, so she simply couldn’t fit.

Luckily, the wood was sturdy; otherwise, with her weight, it might have fallen apart.

Mrs. Hu continued to question the servant who had accompanied Mr. Hu on his outing that day: “Do you know the background of that little vixen? Who is she relying on?”

“I’ve inquired about it. It seems she isn’t a local from Xizhou. She moved there not long ago and has leased a shop next to the Protectorate, intending to open a restaurant. There are no men in the shop; she runs it by herself and hasn’t been seen associating with any local elites. Today, the young master was taken to the yamen by the Protectorate’s people. It was quite a scene—smashing the door in public caused such a commotion that the Protectorate couldn’t ignore it.”

Upon learning that Jiang Yanyi had no backing, Mrs. Hu felt much more at ease.

If she had a powerful supporter, Mrs. Hu would have had to first inform the Governor of Xie, who was her uncle, before doing anything.

After all, he was just her uncle, not her real father.

Over the years, Governor Xie had helped her clean up many messes, largely because the Hu family had been generous in their yearly gifts to him.

Mrs. Hu disdainfully remarked, “What kind of decent woman would engage in such shameless business? Openly running a restaurant to sell food, and who knows what she’s selling behind the scenes! Since she has no shame, I’ll just tear her face off and see how she can continue living on that street!”

The servant replied, “But her restaurant hasn’t even opened yet. If she keeps her shop closed for the next few days and our people smash the door, we might end up being taken to the yamen ourselves.”

Mrs. Hu sneered, “It’s good that it hasn’t opened yet. Find out when she plans to start. On the day her restaurant opens, I’ll take people to smash it to pieces!”

“I don’t believe it. I’ll teach that little vixen who seduced my husband a lesson. Can the Protectorate send someone to arrest me for that?”

---

Jiang Yanyi had no idea that she had already attracted attention.

These days, she was busy nurturing pepper seedlings.

Fortunately, the gatekeeper of the Protectorate was easy to talk to, allowing her to visit the flower house next door every morning and evening to water the pepper seeds she had planted.

The rest of her time was filled with various tasks related to opening her shop.

The hardware for the restaurant was all in place, but there were still many details to perfect.

In this era, cattle were primarily used for plowing and were as valuable as war horses.

Households that owned cattle had to register them.

If someone killed a plow cow without cause and was reported, they would face serious consequences, so there was essentially no beef for sale in the market.

Although pork was also tasty, it was not very suitable for hot pot.

Jiang Yanyi primarily focused on lamb.

Fortunately, this was outside the borders, and every household raised sheep, so there was a plentiful supply of lamb in the meat shops.

The supply of lamb was likely greater than demand, so the prices weren’t as high as Jiang Yanyi had imagined, but they weren’t cheap either.

Only the wealthy and influential could afford lamb in this dynasty.

Jiang Yanyi knew that her hot pot restaurant was positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, and she was confident that it would attract customers.

In the first three days of opening, Jiang Yanyi hurried to have a grill made by the blacksmith.

Qiu Kui didn’t quite understand why Jiang Yanyi wanted to have a grill made at this time, but Jiang Yanyi simply said it would be used on opening day.

To promote her hot pot restaurant, Jiang Yanyi asked a vendor selling candied hawthorn on the street for help.

She bought all the candied hawthorn from the vendor and said she would buy three more batches in three days, asking him to announce her shop’s name while selling them at the market.

Since the vendor likely couldn’t sell an entire batch of candied hawthorn in one day, he was more than willing to cooperate with Jiang Yanyi.

So for the next three days, wherever the vendor went, people would hear him shout: “In three days, Jiang Ji Antique Soup will open on Protectorate Street. All customers dining in the shop will receive a free stick of candied hawthorn—”

In ancient times, hot pot was referred to as “Antique Soup” due to the bubbling sound made when food was dropped into boiling water; however, at that time, the common hot pot was a clear broth.

Although this marketing strategy wasn’t particularly clever, in an age where there was no marketing and businesses relied solely on reputation, it was quite effective.

At least half of Xizhou City knew that Jiang Ji Restaurant would soon be opening on Protectorate Street.

Even before the opening day, many children often wandered in front of Jiang Yanyi’s shop, with the bolder ones asking if she had any candied hawthorn to give away.

Jiang Yanyi usually picked up some cakes to give them, saying that there would be free gifts for those who dined on opening day, which made the children leave happily.

Qiu Kui felt sorry for the candied hawthorn and cakes Jiang Yanyi was giving away: “Hua Hua, we haven’t even opened yet, and we’re already giving away so much.”

Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, “You can’t catch a wolf without letting go of the child. Spending a little now to raise our profile is already a gain for us.”

In later generations, no matter what one did, advertising became a significant expense.

At this moment, Jiang Yanyi suddenly felt that doing business in ancient times was quite good; at least the competition was much less than in later times.

Perhaps both of them were a bit nervous. The night before the hot pot restaurant was to open, neither Jiang Yanyi nor Qiu Kui could sleep.

They stayed in the kitchen, with Qiu Kui repeatedly washing dishes while Jiang Yanyi had initially planned to get up at four in the morning to start the broth but decided to light a fire and start the broth early.

She also lit the fire in the outdoor grill and baked a few trays of egg tarts.

“Hua Hua, are the egg tarts free tomorrow too?” Qiu Kui asked while wiping the dishes.

“Yes, we are counting on making money from the hot pot, so we must do everything possible to make people spend money to eat hot pot,” Jiang Yanyi replied.

She was confident that once customers tried their hot pot, they would surely return.

Qiu Kui sighed, “But I feel like that’s quite a loss.”

Sugar-coated hawthorn is one thing, but egg tarts are made with milk and eggs.

Jiang Yanyi comforted her: “Don’t worry, we’ll make back all this money.”

By dawn, Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui changed into new clothes and opened the shop early.

The sign outside was adorned with red silk, giving it a festive look.

However, since it was still early, there weren’t many people on the street; even the breakfast vendors were just beginning to set up their stalls.

Everyone on this street did business together, and Jiang Yanyi occasionally bought food from the small stalls.

Her business selling pots didn’t compete with the breakfast vendors, and they got along quite harmoniously.

The aunt selling wontons and the uncle selling jianbing (Chinese pancakes) exchanged a few pleasantries with her and gave her a bowl of wontons and jianbing as a congratulatory gift for her store opening.

Jiang Yanyi thanked them and didn’t have breakfast herself, instead sharing the wontons and jianbing with Qiu Kui.

Qiu Kui loved to eat, but now, while chewing on the wontons, she seemed to find little joy in the food and occasionally peeked out the door, worriedly asking, “Huahua, why hasn’t anyone come to our shop yet?”

Jiang Yanyi felt nervous too, but much less than Qiu Kui. She said, “Selling pots is primarily for lunch and dinner; it’s still early, so of course there aren’t many customers.”

When the sun peeked out, the flower shop owner finally delivered the hibiscus branches Jiang Yanyi had ordered.

Upon meeting, she said, “Congratulations, Manager Jiang! Wishing you a prosperous opening!”

“Thank you. Here are some homemade pastries from my little shop; please give them a try,” Jiang Yanyi said, handing the flower shop owner an egg tart.

The egg tarts were baked in small pear-shaped bowls, making them look particularly beautiful.

The flower shop owner had never seen such a pastry before and found it quite novel. After tasting one, she praised its flavor and even personally taught Jiang Yanyi how to arrange flowers.

The hibiscus branches she brought were freshly picked, still glistening with dew, appearing very delicate.

After seeing off the flower shop owner, Jiang Yanyi arranged the flower decorations on each table.

Suddenly, she heard Head Zhao and Chef Li’s voices outside, calling, “Manager Jiang—”

Jiang Yanyi hurried out with a smile: “Master, Zhao!”

Chef Li and Head Zhao had changed into clean clothes, and they were accompanied by over ten firemen, each carrying a large bundle of firewood on their backs.

Chef Li was smiling more than usual and, looking at Jiang Yanyi, said to Head Zhao, “Look, doesn’t she look like a proper female manager now?”

Having not seen them for nearly half a month, Jiang Yanyi suddenly felt a sense of familiarity with the firemen.

She laughed, saying, “Master, please don’t tease me. Everyone come inside and sit down!”

Head Zhao pointed at the firewood the firemen were carrying. “These little rascals heard you opened a shop here and insisted on coming to take a look. There’s no one around the West Camp, so they brought you some firewood. That way, you won’t have to spend extra money on it.”

Jiang Yanyi felt grateful and wasn’t as resistant to her time in the West Camp anymore.

She thanked each fireman who had come a long way carrying firewood, making each one blush with embarrassment.

The woman from the clothing store, unaware of Jiang Yanyi’s background, saw this scene and thought that Chef Li and Zhao were her relatives.

Seeing so many young men bringing her firewood, she couldn’t help but joke, “Sister, you’re doing great with this shop; you won’t have to worry about firewood in the future!”

Jiang Yanyi smiled, “If you run out of firewood in your courtyard, just come over and take some.”

“Then I’ll hold you to that!” the woman from the clothing store laughed.

The morning’s tension finally eased a bit after Chef Li and the others arrived.

Jiang Yanyi had them put the firewood in the backyard, served tea to the firemen, and was about to go get egg tarts to treat them when Chef Li hurriedly said, “We already had breakfast, so we’re still full. Any work, just leave it to these little rascals. We didn’t bring them all this way for them to just hang around!”

Jiang Yanyi replied, “There’s nothing much to do. Everyone can treat this place as home; don’t be too formal.”

Chef Li shot her a glare and put down his tea bowl: “It’s no time for that kind of formal talk. Come on, let’s see how your soup is doing in the kitchen.”

Though Jiang Yanyi was scolded by Chef Li, she felt warmth in her heart as she led him to the kitchen.

Head Zhao was sitting at the counter in the shop, planning to help Jiang Yanyi keep track of the accounts once things got busy.

He was admiring the shop’s elegantly arranged decorations when he suddenly noticed a group of people approaching menacingly with a horse-drawn carriage.

From their clothing, they appeared to be servants from a manor, each holding a stick over half a meter long.

When the carriage stopped at the entrance, Zhao thought this was not good.

He hurriedly called out, “Wu Lengzi, get those little rascals out here!”