Chapter 46

Xu Qinyu had about 220 taels of silver, including her own 60 taels, the 150 taels sent by Madam Xue through Ma Liu, and a bout 10 taels from Madam Wen and Ning Jie’er, earned from making bags. Madam Gui also contributed 20 taels, bringing the total to around 250 taels.

Xu Qinyu accepted all the silver, planning to repay them once she earned enough. If the funds were sufficient, she would repay them after renting a shop. With this amount, she had around 250 taels of silver.

Xu Qinyu planned to teach Cheng Ge’er how to make fish balls and braised fish, gradually handing over the fish business to him. In the future, she wouldn’t sell fish in the alley but at the restaurant, displaying it at the entrance to attract regular customers and serve as a live advertisement for the new restaurant.

When Wen Shuncheng learned that Xu Qinyu was going to teach him how to cook, he immediately wanted to kneel and formally become her apprentice.

In this context, becoming an apprentice meant a lifelong commitment to the master, akin to a parent-child relationship. Betraying the master, such as learning the skills and then running away to work for a rival restaurant or ignoring the master, could result in legal consequences, including punishment and imprisonment. However, if the master was willing to release the apprentice, there would be no issue. Some apprentices remained under their masters for decades, unable to leave until the master allowed it, working for the master in exchange for learning the craft. Despite this, many people still wanted to learn skills from a master, as skilled artisans were never without work. Typically, an apprentice would learn from the master for about ten years, helping the master during that time, before being allowed to establish their own business.

Xu Qinyu said, “No need to rush the formal apprenticeship. Focus on learning how to cook fish first.”

In recent days, Cheng Ge’er has become proficient at cleaning fish. Xu Qinyu could clean a two to three jin fish in under a minute, including scaling, gutting, and cleaning the innards. Cheng Ge’er could now clean a fish in about four minutes. Besides cleaning fish, he also practiced his knife skills by cutting vegetables.

When Cheng Ge’er returned home, he told his family about Xu Qinyu’s plan to teach him how to cook fish. Concubine Bai said, “Since you’re becoming an apprentice, we should prepare for the formal apprenticeship ceremony. Let’s get everything ready and see when Yuniang is willing to accept you as an apprentice; then, we’ll hold the ceremony.”

Madam Meng nodded in agreement, “That’s right, let’s prepare everything in advance.”

The Wen family was now a family of convicted criminals, barred from taking the imperial examinations for three generations. Even if they could take the exams, Madam Meng knew her two sons were not academically inclined and wouldn’t force them. Having a skill was the best option. She came from a humble background and didn’t look down on cooks. She had some silver saved up, enough to prepare the apprenticeship gifts.

This silver wasn’t given by the old master and mistress but was saved by her husband over the past few months while working with merchant caravans. During breaks, he would hunt in the mountains outside the city and sell the game and furs for extra income. He would give two taels of silver to the old master each month, but the old mistress didn’t believe he earned so little. She had asked Madam Meng privately, but Madam Meng claimed ignorance. Being from a noble family, the old mistress wouldn’t stoop so low to search her daughter-in-law’s room.

So, Madam Meng had saved some silver over the past few months, enough for the apprenticeship gifts. Her husband had recently left with the merchant caravan again, saying he planned to divide the family upon his return and asked her and Concubine Bai to prepare.

Madam Meng also hoped to divide the family soon. She had long wanted to separate, as the third branch did all the work but had the worst living conditions, treated like servants. She and Concubine Bai didn’t work diligently, which displeased the first and second branches. Even when criticized, she responded gently and continued as before.

…

The next day, Xu Qinyu went out, leaving the food preparation to Cheng Ge’er, whom she trusted.

After breakfast, she headed to the market on North Street.

There were many small eateries and a small restaurant, but even the restaurant’s dishes were cheaper than those on East and West Streets due to the location. They catered to the local commoners and some dock workers, offering large portions and decent taste but couldn’t charge high prices. If the prices were too high, people wouldn’t come.

Xu Qinyu decided not to open her restaurant in the North Street market.

Her cooking skills were exceptional, even in a modern society full of culinary experts. Few could surpass her. Winning the title of Master Chef in a world-class competition at her age was extraordinary and shocking. This competition was held every five years, judged by ten judges, each scoring out of ten. To win the title, one had to receive perfect scores from all judges, totaling 100 points. The evaluation considered not only the taste of the dishes but various aspects. Many seasons of the competition had passed without a single Master Chef being crowned. In nearly a century, only a handful had earned the title, which was more valuable than gold. Winning it brought not only fame but also immense success to her private restaurant, attracting people from all over the world. However, she had an accident on her way back, which she suspected might not have been accidental.

Thinking about this, Xu Qinyu sighed.

Since she had traveled to this world, she didn’t plan to live a hard life. She wanted to improve her living conditions, starting with earning money. Even if she opened a regular restaurant, she didn’t intend to sell cheap dishes. The customers on North Street couldn’t afford expensive food, while the wealthy merchants and officials on East and West Streets could.

So, she decided to look for a location on East and West Streets.

East Street had the Donglai Restaurant, the best restaurant in Yuanbao Town. It was a three-story building. There were many other restaurants on East Street, but none could compare to the Donglai Restaurant.

Xu Qinyu didn’t plan to open her restaurant on East Street, as Donglai Restaurant was a formidable competitor. Opening on West Street was also a good option, so she went to West Street to look around.

West Street had more ordinary restaurants, mostly two-story buildings or single-story eateries with two or three rooms.

Xu Qinyu found two eateries for rent or sale, both with poor business. The owners were renting or selling them because they couldn’t sustain their businesses. Each had three rooms, and the rent was fifty taels of silver per year. On North Street, a similar-sized shop would cost only twenty taels per year, thirty taels cheaper.

Buying such a shop would cost around seven to eight hundred taels of silver.

One shop was in the middle of the street, surrounded by other eateries and small restaurants. The other was at the far end of the market, near a shop selling lard and a small inn, with many small vendors nearby. Xu Qinyu preferred the latter location, even though it was at the end of the market. It was near a corner leading to another street and two alleys with many houses. She could display her fish at the entrance, making it convenient.

Even if it was at the end of the market, Xu Qinyu wasn’t worried. As long as the food was delicious, customers would come, even if they had to walk a bit further. No one would come if the food wasn’t good, even if the shop was at the market entrance. While location was important, it wasn’t the most crucial factor.

Xu Qinyu bought a box of face cream from the neighboring lard shop for her family. The shopkeeper was a straightforward woman in her thirties. After chatting for a bit, Xu Qinyu asked about the neighboring shop’s situation. Since it was for rent, she needed to know about the owner’s character.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, “Are you looking to rent the shop for your family? What do you plan to do with it?”

Xu Qinyu replied, “I plan to open a restaurant.”

The shopkeeper shook her head, “Honestly, running a food business on this street is challenging. Small food stalls are fine, but a three-room restaurant is quite large, and the rent is high. If business isn’t good, you’ll lose money. People prefer Donglai Restaurant on East Street for better food. There’s also a small restaurant on this street that does well. This restaurant has changed hands twice already, both times failing because of the high rent.”

Xu Qinyu understood the shopkeeper’s concern. Running a food business required good taste, which she wasn’t worried about.

“What about the owner of the shop?” she asked. She needed to know the owner’s character.

The shopkeeper smiled, “The owner is a woman about my age. The shop was left to her by her parents. She’s an only child. Her parents passed away a few years ago, leaving her the shop and house. She has a daughter with her surname. She’s in charge of the household and is a kind and reasonable person. Renting the shop shouldn’t be a problem.”

The shopkeeper didn’t like the woman’s husband much. He found him lazy and idle, staying home and doing nothing. However, the woman earned enough from rent to support her family, so it wasn’t a big issue.

Xu Qinyu nodded, satisfied that renting the shop would be manageable.

“Thank you,” she said, planning to leave.

“Miss,” the shopkeeper called out, “Are you renting the shop for your family? If your family doesn’t have excellent cooking skills, I advise against it. You might lose money.”

The shopkeeper assumed Xu Qinyu was renting the shop for her family, not realizing she was the one planning to open the restaurant.

Xu Qinyu smiled, “No, I’m renting it for myself. I plan to open a restaurant.”

The shopkeeper was stunned. Was this young girl a cook? Was she renting the shop herself?

She knew there were female chefs, but such a young female chef, and such a boastful one, she had never seen before.

After asking the female shopkeeper of the cosmetic shop, Xu Qinyu found the owner of the shop, according to the notice hanging at the eatery’s entrance. The owner lived in a two-entry house in the two alleys opposite. When she knocked on the door, a woman opened it.

As the female shopkeeper had said, she looked to be in her early thirties and should be the shop’s owner.

The woman said warmly, “What brings you here, young lady?”

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, “I came to look at the shop in the market. I learned it belongs to you, so I came to ask if you could open the shop and let me take a look inside.” She needed to see the layout and the backyard kitchen.

The woman nodded and asked Xu Qinyu to wait a moment. She took the key and went to the shop with Xu Qinyu.

Opening the shop, Xu Qinyu looked at the layout inside. There wasn’t much dust, probably just a few days without cleaning. It was clear that the shop was regularly cleaned. The shop had two large windows, making it very bright. The counter was similar to those in other eateries around here. The shop was empty, with all the tables and chairs moved out. Xu Qinyu estimated that it could fit about eight tables of various sizes.

The backyard had a well, and the kitchen was quite large and relatively clean. Apart from a few stoves, there were no other kitchen utensils, probably taken away by the previous tenants.

The shop was similar to other shops, with no significant differences. If she wanted to open an eatery, it would need to be renovated, and she would have to buy tables, chairs, pots, pans, and various kitchen utensils, which would be a considerable expense.

Xu Qinyu was quite satisfied with the shop. She smiled at the woman and said, “I’ll go back and discuss it with my family, then come back to talk to you.”

The woman nodded, watching the young lady leave. She found the young lady’s words a bit strange. The young lady said she would discuss it with her family, which seemed to imply that she wanted to open the shop?

After returning home, Xu Qinyu told her family about the shop’s size and location. Ning Jie’er thought that since her fourth sister-in-law had decided, there was no need for them to worry, and naturally, she agreed.

After experiencing so much, Madam Wen knew Yuniang would not fight a battle she wasn’t confident in winning, so she had no objections to her daughter-in-law’s decisions.

“Yuniang, you can make your own decisions.”

However, Xu Qinyu still planned to wait for another two days and look at other shops before making a decision. The shop seemed to have been vacant for at least one or two months, so there was no rush in the next couple of days. Even if she wanted to open an eatery, Xu Qinyu didn’t plan to stop her fish business.

Most of the fish buyers were neighbors from nearby alleys who had heard that a young lady in Osmanthus Alley made delicious and cheap fish and came because of her reputation. After all, people from Osmanthus Alley and Laixi Alley couldn’t come to buy fish every day. Sometimes, they would save money and cook their own meals, but there were still neighbors from other alleys who came to buy, and the fish would sell out quickly every day.

Xu Qinyu had already started teaching Cheng Ge’er how to cook fish. Naturally, he couldn’t fully take charge yet, so she let him watch from the side, learning the specific heat and proportions of various seasonings.

After cooking the fish, it would sell out quickly, as usual.

In the next two days, Xu Qinyu went out again to look at shops. On West Street, there was also the cloth shop of the Xia’s family.

Wu Wan was naturally very happy to learn that Xu Qinyu was going to open an eatery in the West Street market. In the future, she could eat at Young Lady Xu’s eatery.

Mainly, on regular days, she would just eat some of Young Lady Xu’s fish. If the eatery opened, there would be more delicious food. Her husband had always been thinking about the feast that Young Lady Xu had prepared for Officer Xu before. However, Young Lady Xu was busy with her business every day, and the meals she sent to Shao Ge’er were just enough for him. Xia Yuanzhi couldn’t bring himself to take his son’s food, so he always complained to her, asking when Young Lady Xu would open an eatery or a restaurant.

Wu Wan also knew that Young Lady Xu wanted to open an eatery and a restaurant and needed to save money slowly. She thought it would take a long time, but fortunately, it was only a few months, and it was finally going to open. If her husband knew that Young Lady Xu would open an eatery, he would be delighted.

Xu Qinyu looked around again and finally decided to rent the shop at the end of the market. She quickly went to find the shop’s owner and learned that the woman’s surname was Yao. Since Madam Yao’s husband had married into her family, she naturally didn’t use her husband’s surname. Xu Qinyu called her Sister Yao.

Madam Yao was shocked to learn that the young lady in front of her, who was only fifteen or sixteen, was renting the shop to open an eatery and would even be the chef herself. After her initial shock, she honestly told Xu Qinyu, “Miss Xu, to be honest, the previous two tenants of this shop also opened eateries, but they didn’t last. The last one closed after just six months. Also, if you want to rent the shop, the rent is still based on a yearly lease, so you must consider it. It’s not easy to run an eatery here, and it’s easy to incur losses.”

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Sister Yao. I understand. I’ve already decided to rent this shop. Once the lease agreement is written, please review it. After we sign the agreement, I can pay the rent.”

A lease agreement was essential. Xu Qinyu had started her career by opening a snack shop, so she was familiar with the process and knew what to include in the agreement. She spent an evening writing the lease agreement. Besides the annual rent of fifty taels, it clearly stated that the rent could not be raised arbitrarily within five years. Overall, the lease agreement was more favorable to her. For example, within three years, if she wanted to renew the lease, the owner could not rent the shop to someone else or raise the rent. In fact, she wouldn’t need three years to save enough money to buy a two or three-story shop. Although the lease agreement was more favorable to her, as long as the owner didn’t raise the rent without reason or cause trouble, she would pay the rent in full.

She had seen too many cases in modern times where landlords raised the rent when they saw that the tenant’s business was doing well, so she had to be cautious.

After writing the lease agreement, Xu Qinyu put it in a box and planned to sign it with Sister Yao the next day.

Finally, she could open an eatery. Xu Qinyu had been in a great mood these past few days, smiling every day. She even dreamed at night about opening the eatery, with guests flocking in and making a lot of money.

One night, she dreamed many customers came to eat at the eatery. She was cooking in the kitchen, but suddenly, she couldn’t move, and her hand wouldn’t lift. The customers in front were urging her, and the more she wanted to move, the more her arm wouldn’t lift, as if something was pulling it.

Xu Qinyu became more and more anxious, and then she woke up.

Then she felt something pressing on her left arm, making it impossible to sleep. By the moonlight coming through the window, she saw something about four fingers thick coiled around her arm, smooth to the touch—no wonder she couldn’t use her arm in the dream.

In the next moment, Xu Qinyu’s scalp tingled. The fear of having something strange pressing on her arm made her want to scream in panic. But before the sound could escape her throat, she suddenly realized that the thing coiled around her arm was Bai Yu.

That little white snake!

Of course, she couldn’t call it a little white snake now; it had grown quite a bit.

Xu Qinyu never expected that after Fourth Brother sent Bai Yu away a month and a half ago, it would sneak back on its own.

Looking at the sky outside, it was already the hour of the rabbit, almost dawn.

Xu Qinyu felt a bit helpless but not too scared. After raising Bai Yu for more than three months, she naturally wasn’t afraid of it anymore. So, how did it find its way back?

She got out of bed, dressed, and went to the kitchen.

Bai Yu lifted its head to look at Xu Qinyu, stretched its body, and slithered off the bed, following her to the kitchen.

Lighting the oil lamp, Xu Qinyu noticed that Bai Yu’s jade-colored scales were covered in dirt, indicating that it had been living in the wild for over a month. But it looked bigger than before.

Not only that, but it also seemed fatter?

No, it wasn’t fat. Xu Qinyu realized that Bai Yu’s belly was bulging like it had just eaten. Then Bai Yu looked at her with its eerie red eyes, and Xu Qinyu felt a sense of foreboding.

Bai Yu began to wriggle its belly…

Xu Qinyu’s face turned pale as she began to stop it, “No, no, ahhh!! Don’t throw up the food!!!” Her voice was a bit distorted.

However, Bai Yu didn’t listen to her and continued to wriggle its belly…

Finally, it spat out a wild chicken that hadn’t been digested much.

Xu Qinyu stared at the wild chicken on the ground, dumbfounded.

So Bai Yu thought they didn’t want it because it kept eating her food every day but couldn’t hunt for her. After finding its way home, it even caught prey to bring back???

Bai Yu slithered to her side, rubbing against Xu Qinyu’s leg, looking proud as if offering her the chicken.

Xu Qinyu pointed at the wild chicken, her hand trembling a bit, “Xu, Bai, Yu, swallow it back!”

Previously, when Bai Yu and Mo Yu were around, the family would occasionally call them Xu Baiyu or Xu Moyu, saying she raised them and took her surname.

When the two occasionally made her angry, she would call them by their full names, including her surname.

Xu Qinyu never expected that raising a snake would lead to it hunting and bringing prey back home, but she really didn’t need it at all.