When he woke up the next day, Lu Bocheng didn’t rush out, but stayed in the house, insisting on following Su Qingyu, wanting to see how she got back a sum of money. Was money so easy to get? If it was so easy to get, why did he only save a dozen taels till today?

Lu Bocheng cursed in his heart, a country girl from the countryside knew how to tell lies.

He followed Su Qingyu around, chattering for a long time, and finally, Su Qingyu got tired of him and drove him away.

At noon, Su Qingyu said she was going out to buy some things and rushed to Jixiang Pastry Shop.

“You’re here!”

The fat shopkeeper greeted her with sharp eyes, pulled her, and whispered in her ear: “Our boss received the news and came from Pingchuan County early in the morning, right in the backyard.”

Su Qingyu nodded and went to the backyard of the shop.

She saw a young man in his mid-twenties sitting leisurely in front of the tea table drinking tea. The clothes were well-dressed, the movements were elegant, and the gestures were pleasing to the eye.

“Young master.” Shopkeeper Miao called and introduced the two of them.

“Hello, I’m Su Qingyu.” As she said this, he reached out to him.

The young master paused for a moment and then reached out his hand toward her as well: “Hello to you too. I am Xu Shaoyan.”

The two shook hands.

After withdrawing her hand, Su Qingying noticed the young master smiling and teasingly looking her up and down. It was then that she realized what she had done, her face flushing slightly. Some habits were hard to break. In modern times, when meeting clients, she would greet them and shake hands immediately.

What kind of hand do you hold in ancient times?

Su Qingying glanced at the plump shopkeeper with some annoyance and, sure enough, saw her looking shocked.

Su Qingyu’s face grew even more annoyed. The plump shopkeeper must have thought she was being too bold. What kind of newly married woman showed herself in public did not display a hint of shyness when meeting a man, staring at his face, and even shaking hands!

Shaking hands, really.

Su Qingyu gave her own hand a hard slap.

When he looked up, she saw the corner of the young master’s mouth raised and felt even more annoyed.

When the young master saw her looking over, he hurriedly lowered his lips and put on a cold expression: “Su Niángzi ^[1]polite form of address for a woman, you said you have two techniques for sale?”

Seeing him talking about business, Su Qingyu also calmed down and sat down opposite him.

She nodded: “Yes. I believe that shopkeeper Miao has told the young master’s family about my situation. I need a sum of money to give to my husband who is about to go to war. I live under the eyes of my father-in-law and stepmother-in-law, and I also want to have some money in the box.”

After hearing this, Xu Shaoyan nodded: “Su Niángzi is a sensible person.”

Su Qingying smiled and said, “People need to stay clear-headed and live with clarity to get through life smoothly.”

“Exactly,” Xu Shaoyan nodded in approval.

The two of them got down to business.

These days, skills were in the hands of individuals and families and would not leak out easily. As a result, many skills have been slowly getting lost over the years due to various reasons.

Of course, there was more than just Jixiang’s dim sum shop in Fengting Town, but they were all similar except for their appearance and taste.

Transportation in this era was inconvenient, so it was not as good as later generations being able to absorb the strengths of various schools from east to west, north and south, and even Western pastries.

“Xu Dujia says I’m asking for too much at one hundred taels, but once I’ve made it, you’ll see it’s worth every penny. Just look at the pastries you have outside, whether it’s yunpian cake, mung bean cake, osmanthus cake, or pea cake, they’re all sweet, fragrant, and soft, suitable for any palate. But you know, if I were to buy several portions to take to Pingchuan County or Guangning Prefecture, or even farther places, bouncing around on the road, they’d fall apart…”

“So we have set up branches in Pingchuan County and Guangning Prefecture.”

Although Xu Shaoyan said it, he agreed with Su Qingyu’s words in his heart. He couldn’t take it a long way, and he couldn’t let it stay good after for a few days.

Su Qingyu chuckled twice.

“Believe me, this is a pain point for pastry makers. Who wouldn’t want their products to sell more and be widely known? But the market is only as big as each town and village.”

Xu Shaoyan looked at Su Qingyu seriously this time.

This woman was obviously a farm girl from the countryside. She had never been to the town more than a few times. She was dark and thin. Now she was sitting opposite him and analyzing the pain points of the business and the market with him?

Xu Shaoyan felt that his previous carelessness might have been wrong.

Su Qingyu naturally noticed the change in his expression, glanced at the backyard, and said to the plump shopkeeper: “You have a kitchen, do you have ingredients?”

The plump shopkeeper glanced at her young boss and nodded repeatedly: “Yes, there are some. How can we, the pastry makers, not have a kitchen?”

After saying this, she received a signal from the young master’s family and hurriedly asked Su Qingyu to come over.

Su Qingyu stood up and said, “Wait a moment, Young Master. I’ll make two pastries and show them to you.”

“Su Niángzi, just go ahead.” After Xu Shaoyan finished speaking, he suddenly became a little more expectant.

This young lady married from the countryside might be able to bring him some surprises. The pastry shops were not improving much now, and the family wanted to close a few and collect some funds to do something else.

Now that the court was conscripting soldiers again, people in his clan were asking whether they could make some profit from this. With hundreds of thousands of troops, they’d need food, drink, clothes, and supplies. Although they might not compete with some large families, there should still be some opportunities. If the profit margins in pastry shops were too thin, it was possible that several branches in different towns would close down.

While Xu Shaoyan was thinking about it, Su Qingyu had already been led to the kitchen.

The kitchen was large and fully equipped. Su Qingyu looked around and quickly started to take action…

An hour later, she came out of the kitchen.

Shopkeeper Miao followed her with a plate in her hands, a look of surprise and admiration on her face. Looking at the two pastries on the plate, her hands couldn’t help but move, and her mouth smashed them a few times. Well, she still wanted to eat them.

It smelled so good, she couldn’t stand it anymore.

The young master must reward her with another one later.

Xu Shaoyan had already drank several pots of tea. When he saw someone coming out, he hurriedly leaned and looked over.

“This is a lotus? What a realistic lotus!”

There were four freshly fried lotus cakes on the plate. They were pink and tender in color. The petals exploded layer by layer, revealing the yellow stamens in the middle. Realistic, exquisite, and beautiful. There were more than ten layers of petals, each layer was as thin as a cicada’s wing, and the sweet fragrance made people move their index fingers.

The plump shopkeeper had just put the plate on the table. Seeing the shocked look on the young master’s face, she nodded and said, “The young master didn’t see that process. When the dough was fried in the oil pan, the petals slowly bloomed in layers. It’s like a lotus blooming, it was so beautiful!”

“How did you do this?” Xu Shaoyan looked so surprised that he couldn’t bear to speak.

Su Qingyao smiled: “The food is made for people to eat. Let’s try it, young master.” 

Xu Shaoyan picked up a piece. It was not big, less than half the size of his palm. He held it on his fingertips and looked left and right. He looked at it as a whole, looked at the petals, and then looked at the stamens in the middle, and admired it.

Finally, he was attracted by the sweet smell and couldn’t resist putting it in his mouth…

The moment he put it in his mouth, there was a squeaking sound and a crispy sound exploded between his lips and tongue. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It was really an extraordinary feeling.

“Not bad, really good!”

The plump shopkeeper couldn’t help but lick her lips when she heard the crisp sound, rubbed her fingers on her clothes, and stared at the plate, wanting to eat.

Xu Shaoyan ate two lotus pastries in a row, and then he looked away with some unsatisfied thoughts and looked at the pastries on another plate…

(End of chapter)