Jiang Yanyi had taken over a noodle shop, and the very next day, she hired masons to give the shop a complete makeover.

The kitchen layout needed to be restructured, with new stoves built, more than a dozen new steamers added, and a row of earthen kilns constructed.

The veteran noodle makers at the shop were baffled by the new owner’s extensive renovations.

They had been making fine noodles for decades and had never seen a noodle shop arranged this way.

Though they didn’t yet understand their new boss’s nature, none of them dared to speak up.

Jiang Yanyi planned to keep the shop’s original staff, but she knew she had to establish her authority first.

It was still early in the day, and the neighboring antique porridge shop didn’t have many customers yet.

To make a strong impression, Jiang Yanyi brought along Yang Xiu and Bian Shao.

The noodle shop was located in the western part of the city. Though it wasn’t in a prime location, the courtyard was spacious.

The snow had stopped today, but the biting northern wind made the cold even harsher.

Jiang Yanyi sat in a large chair under the eaves, reviewing the contracts of the shop’s workers.

Yang Xiu and Bian Shao stood on either side of her like sentinels, stern and imposing.

Next to the chair, a brazier filled with dry wood crackled, its orange-red flames licking away the cold in the air.

Jiang Yanyi was dressed in a white gown with plum blossom patterns, covered with a floral brocade jacket, simple yet elegant.

When she wasn’t smiling, her eyes seemed like frosty lakes, cold and clear, making people too intimidated to meet her gaze directly.

The noodle shop’s workers stood in the courtyard, braving the wind, their hands tucked into their sleeves for warmth.

From time to time, they stole glances at their new female boss.

Those at the front didn’t dare act out of line, but the ones in the back exchanged whispers and quiet jokes.

Jiang Yanyi reviewed the contracts for the time it took a stick of incense to burn.

Only then did she lift her head to look at the workers gathered in the courtyard and speak in a clear voice, “My surname is Jiang, and I’m the owner of Jiang’s Antique Porridge. I am now also the new owner of this noodle shop.”

The workers fell silent, waiting for her to continue.

Two workers at the back, seeing that the new boss was a young woman with her hair still styled in the way of unmarried girls, felt a bit more daring.

They glanced at her and then turned to each other, making crude jokes.

Jiang Yanyi’s brow furrowed.

With her signal, Yang Xiu shouted, “The two in the back, step forward!”

Standing at eight feet tall with a fierce aura, his shout was enough to scare anyone.

The two workers exchanged a look, quickly dropping their playful expressions, and reluctantly stepped out of the line.

From the reactions of the other workers, Jiang Yanyi could tell that these two were likely the troublemakers.

They stepped forward and offered a half-hearted bow. “Boss.”

But their eyes roved over Jiang Yanyi, their expressions lewd.

In the bitter cold of the western provinces, it was rare to see such a beauty.

Jiang Yanyi didn’t even glance at them. She simply said, “Your previous owner may have been lenient, but I do not tolerate disrespect. Redo that bow.”

The two hadn’t expected this young, unmarried woman to be so composed and unyielding.

Her presence clearly came from someone who had seen and weathered storms.

Their confidence wavered, and they gave a proper bow. “Greetings, Boss.”

Jiang Yanyi took a sip of tea from the cup on the table and said calmly, “That bow still wasn’t respectful enough.”

The two workers’ faces darkened in anger, but when they glanced up and saw Yang Xiu and Bian Shao glaring at them, they knew they were no match for these men who had been through real battles.

They quickly straightened up and offered a proper bow. “Greetings, Boss.”

Only then did Jiang Yanyi give them a passing glance. “What are your names, and what work did you do here?”

The one with a sharp face spoke first. “I’m Ma You, and I used to be in charge of hanging the noodles to dry.”

Hanging the noodles was a simple task, requiring no particular skill, just taking the fermented noodles from the trough and placing them on racks to dry.

Jiang Yanyi found his contract and looked it over. “You were hired from outside?”

The sharp-faced worker nodded.

“How long have you been working here?” she asked.

“Three years,” he replied.

He had worked for three years and was still just a simple assistant, which clearly showed that he usually slacked off and idled through his days.

Jiang Yanyi got the general idea and let him go.

Her profound and mysterious attitude left all the workers in the noodle shop feeling uneasy.

When another worker responded, his attitude was noticeably more respectful.

He, like the sharp-faced worker before him, had been bought by the previous owner from a human trafficker.

After working for several years, he was still only responsible for basic tasks.

After Jiang Yanyi crushed the arrogance of these two troublemakers, the rest of the workers fell in line.

Whoever she called upon would answer her questions with great respect.

She asked more detailed questions to the senior masters responsible for making and shaping the noodles, inquiring not only about their skills but also their family situations, gaining a general understanding of both.

The questions about noodle-making were to assess their skills and whether they were capable of taking on greater responsibilities.

Understanding their family situations helped her evaluate their reliability and stability as workers.

Originally, the noodle shop had over forty workers.

After it closed down, most of the temporary and permanent workers had found other jobs.

Those who had some savings also bought back their contracts and didn’t want to stay any longer.

Now, among the dozen or so remaining workers, one group couldn’t afford to redeem their contracts, and the other group had been trained by the old owner, developing an attachment to the shop and finding it hard to leave.

One of the senior masters, an elderly man named Hong, was a long-time employee of the shop.

His noodle-making skills were superb, and many other shops had tried to poach him.

However, the old owner had entrusted him to take good care of the noodle shop before passing away, so Master Hong had stayed.

It was said that when he heard the young master had sold the shop, he even cried.

After getting a basic understanding of the workers’ situations, Jiang Yanyi addressed the lazy ones: “I’m new to the noodle business and don’t know how long this shop will last. You all are of good age and have a skill. Why not find work elsewhere?”

The workers had already noticed the decline in the shop’s fortunes.

If they had the money to redeem their contracts, they would have left long ago.

None of them had any intention of staying, especially after being reprimanded by Jiang Yanyi.

So, she had Shao Bing call a human trafficker to take them away.

When the trafficker arrived and saw it was workers from this particular noodle shop, he looked a bit strange.

He only offered one coin per person.

Buying a servant for one hundred wen? That was a joke!

Jiang Yanyi was almost amused by her anger.

The trafficker had lowered the price tenfold, and when she argued with him, he seemed to have some unspoken reason, leaving with the comment: “The servants from this noodle shop can only be sold for this price. You can ask any broker, it’s the same. If Manager Jiang is willing to sell, then sell.”

Jiang Yanyi remembered that when she had bought the noodle shop workers, the young master had slashed the price by half, provided she bought all of them.

At the time, she thought the young master was just desperate for money.

Now, it seemed like there was something unusual going on, with the traffickers intentionally suppressing the value of the shop.

But keeping these people in the shop would certainly cause trouble.

Jiang Yanyi didn’t want them stirring up problems for her, so she considered it a loss to buy some peace of mind and let the trafficker take them away for the price of one coin each.

She returned to the courtyard, having just dismissed several workers as soon as she took over the shop.

The remaining workers were clearly uneasy.

Jiang Yanyi had Yang Xiu bring out some instant noodles from the store and distributed three packs of noodles and a small jar of sauce to each worker.

Instant noodles were very popular in Xizhou, and the workers recognized them immediately.

“This is a small gift to welcome everyone,” Jiang Yanyi said. “From now on, our shop will be producing these kinds of noodle cakes.”

The workers were happy to receive the gift, but when they heard that they would be making noodle cakes like these, they started discussing among themselves.

After letting them talk for a while, Jiang Yanyi continued, “As for your monthly wages, I won’t set a fixed amount. In addition to your base salary, for every five noodle cakes you produce above the required quota each month, you’ll earn one additional wen.”

This was a combination of a base salary with piece-rate pay, designed to motivate the workers.

The more they made, the more they would earn, ensuring no one could slack off.

Jiang Yanyi had learned while working at the Xizhou military camp that the cooks there only earned a little over six hundred wen per month.

The regular workers at the noodle shop earned about five hundred wen.

In this era, a bowl of plain noodles sold for four wen, and each noodle cake sold for two wen.

Since the noodle cakes were made with real flour and required a lot of labor and resources, they couldn’t be produced as cheaply as in modern times with industrial manufacturing.

However, because they were half the price of plain noodles, easy to carry, and tastier, there was still strong market demand.

Some of the workers with weaker math skills didn’t quite understand what Jiang Yanyi was saying, but those who were better at calculations quickly figured it out.

If they made fifty extra noodle cakes in a day, they’d earn an additional ten wen.

Over a month, that would be three hundred wen, more than half their base salary.

As they murmured among themselves, those who understood the math were visibly excited.

This was exactly the effect Jiang Yanyi wanted. “Work hard, and once business picks up, I’ll increase your wages accordingly,” she said.