Chapter 217: Dragon Boat Festival
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Heng Yi’s stare made his eldest brother feel guilty, and he couldn’t bear to look at him.
The excitement and good mood from installing the roof beam instantly vanished.
“I, I…”
“Not only you but also your wife. They only live in your house and not only that, they ate your family’s food. In fact, your family is even greedy for your parents’ food. If you don’t know what’s good for you, 1 will personally teach you a lesson.”
“It seems last time wasn’t painful enough to remember,”
“…” Heng Dalang’s lips trembled, “I, I understand. I will treat my parents well in the future.”
“Keep an eye on them. Don’t let them go to the county town. If they do, 1’11 teach you a lesson.”
Heng Yi put his hand on Heng Dalang’s shoulder, “Behave,”
One word was enough to scare Heng Dalang out of his wits.
For a moment, he was really afraid that Heng Yi would beat him to death.
Heng Yi came to Heng Family Village and returned to Puyi County without having lunch.
Everyone knew that Heng Yi didn’t have any feelings for his adoptive parents or his step-brothers.
He didn’t visit his other brothers, but no one dared to raise a word. The image of Heng Yi beating up his three brothers was still fresh in his mind.
What was the reason for his visit? The Heng family knew what was going on, and the outsiders didn’t have the courage to ask Heng Yi.
The atmosphere gradually calmed down once more.
At the end of the third month, Qiao Yi Fast Food Restaurant launched the green jiaozi and green dumplings.
They were all made with sage weed and glutinous rice flour, and the vegetables were cut into pieces. The green dumplings’ fillings were made with bean paste.
When it was just out of the pot, it tasted really good.
They made 2,000 a day, and even then they were still not enough.
Many people bought them as gifts.
Yihe Restaurant also had some business, but it wasn’t going well.
Zhao Huan and Zhen Niang tried hard to learn Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant’s model, but they couldn’t keep up.
Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant would have new dishes every once in a while. The taste was always good, and they had a steady flow of customers.
After deducting all the expenses of Yihe Restaurant and sealing 20% of the money, Zhao Huan’s mother and Zhen’s mother looked at the 221 taels of silver in front of them with unsightly expressions.
Han Qiao’s fast food restaurant earned a few thousand taels a month, while her other restaurant earned dozens of taels.
This was ridiculous.
It was ridiculous.
However, they couldn’t figure out what the problem was with their restaurant.
Their restaurant was also very busy. Although it was not full every day, there were still many customers coming and going.
“Could it be that we set the price too low?” Zhao Huan asked.
In order to compete for business, they put their prices lower than Qiao Yi’s.
“Let me think.”
Zhen Niang was also very helpless.
The difference between a few thousand taels and ten taels was too big. She could not accept it.
Next to Puyi County was Fenglin County, famous for its maple trees.
People said it was really beautiful in autumn.
Many writers liked to compose poems in autumn.
Han Qiao had the shop for her restaurant in Fenglin County already confirmed. It had four storefronts and a second floor.
There was a big kitchen and four courtyards at the back. It was also s.p.a.cious.
Han Qiao hadn’t seen it yet, but Bai Cha had personally gone over and brought back the layout.
The restaurant was bought for six hundred taels of silver. When the waiters, managers, and chefs found out who the owner was, they fought to the death to work in her restaurant.
After all, she had only opened her two restaurants in Puyi County for two months and had already bought a small courtyard and brought her family to the county.
The salary was not important, the dividends were the most key.
“Sister-in-law, do you want to go and take a look?”
Han Qiao was almost six months pregnant, and her belly was already growing.
What she did most every day was walk around the house. Walking back and forth a few times was not tiring and it was good to exercise her body.
“No. Bring the selected people here to learn.”
Truthfully, they did not need to learn much about all the dishes. Those who could become chefs were very talented in cooking.
Their sense of smell and taste were top-notch. They only needed to see the method once to ingrain it into their mind. With a few pointers, they could learn the essence.
“Alright,”
Bai Cha agreed.
On the third day of the month, people from Fenglin County came.
There were thirty chefs and waiters in total.
Han Qiao met them at Heng Manor.
The six chefs looked very friendly because their faces looked round.
The shopkeeper a.s.sistant also looked very smart.
Han Qiao knew that Bai Cha made good choices.
“Bai Cha, take them to the fast food restaurant.”
“Yes.”
Bau Cha led the group over.
Shopkeeper Zhu brought Shopkeeper Feng and Shopkeeper Yuan with him. One of them would be going to Fenglin County.
On the first day of working at Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant, these people had seen what it meant to have good business.
Being really busy.
Many customers came in and out with their own bowls. The waiters in the shop were also very enthusiastic. No matter who the people were or what their status was, they all welcomed them with a smile and asked kindly what they wanted to eat. Those who didn’t know what to eat were guided with recommendations.
The servers were so enthusiastic in greeting them that it felt a little embarra.s.sing if they didn’t buy anything.
The staff of Fenglin County would return on the fifth day of the lunar new year. Shopkeeper Zhu would bring Shopkeeper Yuan there to keep an eye on them for some time before returning.
On the fifteenth of April, Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant in Fenglin County opened for business.
Bai Cha had arranged everything well.
Wen Yu and Gu Jiu also followed along.
Han Chi begged Han Qiao to join them and was allowed to go along to broaden his horizons. After all, he was the young boss.
Han Qiao wanted to go, but she had been feeling unwell for the past few days.
So she didn’t go.
Heng Yi didn’t want her to go either.
Seeing that the Dragon Boat Festival was coming, every household wanted to eat sticky rice dumplings.
Han Qiao worked hard on the dumplings.
All were filled with different fillings such as red dates, red beans, bean paste, cured meat, salted eggs, fresh meat, green beans, eight treasures, and ham.
She even made three flavors, sweet, salty, and tangy.
Some were shaped into squares, some into triangles, and some into rectangles.
On the first day, it didn’t sell very well.
But on the second day, all the sticky rice dumplings were sold out.
Han Qiao asked people to hang a sign so that they could order dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The big families came to make a reservation and asked for all kinds of fillings.
Among them, salted egg yolks and ham were the best-sellers because other shops didn’t sell them.
The salted duck eggs that Han Qiao had been saving were finally put to use.
The business of the fast food restaurants in Fenglin County was even better than the two restaurants in Puyi County.
It was said that they had to rush to work in the early morning, so many of the workers stayed in the fast food restaurant to rest.
By the beginning of May, not only did the commoners in Puyi County have some money in their pockets, but the commoners in Fenglin County also had some money in their pockets.
Because Qiaoyi Fast Food Restaurant had good business, they needed a lot of things. Many people would take some things to the county town to sell it to them.
As long as the items were good, the price would be higher than if they were sold in the market. Many people also went to the village to collect them to earn a profit.
Before they knew it, the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth of May had already arrived.
Puyi County had a dragon boat race, and Heng Yi had already set up a platform by the river.
When the time came, he would bring the children and Han Qiao over to watch.
In order to go out and play, Han Qiao had put in a lot of effort to make masks for the children, to hide their faces and only leave their eyes visible.
The children all put them on.
The main reason was to hide He Cheng. Even when the young child had grown and changed a lot, there was a chance that Zhao Huan might still recognize him.
He was already a chubby meatbail who loved to laugh, play, and act coquettishly.
Han Qiao also specially prepared colorful ropes and sachets for the children.
When they came to the platform, she tied the five-colored rope around them and hung up the sachet.
Then, they hung the wormwood together.
“Mother.”
“Mother…”