Carefree Farmwife: Training the Husband, Raising the Bun - Chapter 30

“Alright, I’ll go with what little madam says. For this dish, I’ll pay you ten taels of silver.” The shopkeeper pondered for a moment before adding, “If you want to sell more recipes in the future, please come to our restaurant again. I guarantee I won’t treat you unfairly.”

Ying Su’s elegant brows moved slightly, her pupils dark and bright as lacquer. She replied simply, “Naturally.”

Hearing that, the shopkeeper was certain she still had more recipes in her hands. He secretly resolved to build a good relationship with this young woman, her culinary skills were truly remarkable!

“Shopkeeper, how do you plan to set the price for this dish?” Ying Su suddenly asked.

The shopkeeper, delighted and now taking her even more seriously, thought for a moment and said, “This dish will be unique to our restaurant. Naturally, it should be priced higher. Let’s set it at five qian.”

“Deal!” Ying Su replied with a bright smile.

Since the price was agreed upon, the shopkeeper took Ying Su into the kitchen. He calculated the value of the two buckets of fish she had brought, altogether one tael and seven qian, a very fair price.

Ying Su then taught the chefs how to slice the fish, carefully explaining each step of preparing the boiled fish slices. She went over the proportions, the key points to watch for, and even wrote everything down on paper.

“Look here,” Ying Su said, holding a fish in one hand and pointing with her knife at its backbone with the other. “There’s a tendon here called the ‘fishy line.’ As long as you remove it before cooking, the fish won’t have that muddy, fishy taste.”

The three chefs listened intently. Though they were not famous, they were among the best in the town’s restaurants and usually carried themselves with pride. Yet now, they all gazed at Ying Su with admiration. They had cooked countless fish but had never once known about this “fishy line.”

The shopkeeper, seeing Ying Su share her knowledge without holding anything back, grew even more fond of her.

Once she finished teaching, the shopkeeper took out a money pouch from his chest and counted out eleven taels and seven qian, handing it to her and asking her to check.

Ying Su weighed the pouch in her hand, her enchanting phoenix eyes curving like crescent moons. After counting, she raised an eyebrow and said, “Shopkeeper, the amount isn’t right.”

The shopkeeper stiffened nervously. “Impossible, I counted several times…”

Ying Su smiled, her gaze sharp and clear. “Did you forget the five qian? The boiled fish slices I made earlier, you forgot to pay for them. It may have been for the recipe, but it was still a dish. And you were the first to taste it! Oh, and the fish I used came from the ones I brought myself.”

The shopkeeper’s face froze in shock. He stared at her for a long while before reluctantly taking out another five qian from his pouch and handing it to her. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but grumble, ‘This little woman really doesn’t let herself suffer the slightest loss! No wonder she asked me earlier about the price we’d set for the dish!’

Carrying two empty buckets and a pouch heavy with silver, Ying Su left the restaurant beaming. The shopkeeper personally saw her off at the door, reminding her before she left, “Madam, whenever you want to sell more recipes, our doors will always be open to you.”

Ying Su paused, turned, and smiled. “I’m not in a hurry to sell more recipes. But I still want to sell fish.” She lifted the wooden bucket in her hand with a playful shake.

The shopkeeper immediately understood and replied readily, “Then in the future, bring all your fish to us! Our kitchen can’t do without them.”

Ying Su curved her lips into a satisfied smile. “Now that’s the spirit.” This shopkeeper really knew how to conduct business.

After bidding him farewell, Ying Su carried the empty buckets toward the workshop where Li Dalang worked. Though she had earned ten taels for the recipe and found a steady buyer for her fish, she calculated that if they wanted to build a house, that money would soon be gone. She decided she had better take on the wheelchair project as well.

Since everything usable in her home had been smashed to pieces, not even a cooking pot remained. Ying Su was determined not to let the little bun go hungry. After strolling through the marketplace, her hands were full of goods, while behind her trailed a thin, dark-skinned boy carrying a large iron pot.

When they reached the workshop where Li Dalang worked, Ying Su said to the boy, “Leave the pot at the door. You can go now.”

The boy placed it down and headed back to the blacksmith’s shop.

A clerk in the workshop recognized Ying Su as the neighbor who had come looking for Li Dalang the day before. He helped lift the iron pot and led her into the courtyard.

Before they even entered, a sharp, impatient voice rang out.

“Old Master Zhao’s birthday is in just half a month, and you people still have made no progress at all! Master Zhao has already sent someone to press me twice! If, by his birthday, you have nothing to show, then none of you will keep your jobs!”

Ying Su saw Li Dalang and his wife, Liu Chuncao, along with several carpenters, all standing with bowed heads and guilty expressions.

“Maybe… maybe we should just tell Master Zhao the truth…” One carpenter ventured timidly, sneaking a glance at the shopkeeper’s face as he made the suggestion.

The shopkeeper’s face darkened further, now tinged with shame and frustration. “I already accepted Master Zhao’s deposit in front of Old Zhang. If I admit now that we can’t deliver, how will I ever hold my head up again? That old fox Zhang would laugh himself to death! How could I show my face in Ten-Li Town after that?”

Seeing his boss in such a fury, the clerk, knowing this was not a good time, quickly tugged at Ying Su’s sleeve, trying to get her out before the shopkeeper noticed. But Ying Su only arched her brow, pulled her sleeve back, and didn’t move.

When the shopkeeper finished venting, he began pacing angrily around the shop. Looking up, he caught sight of the clerk and Ying Su. His temper flared again. “What are you doing? Don’t want to work anymore? Why are you dragging random people in here? You’re getting more and more useless! Get her out!”

Li Dalang and Liu Chuncao quickly signaled to Ying Su with their eyes, urging her to leave. The clerk tugged at her arm, trying to drag her out, while fawning at the shopkeeper, “I’ll take her out right away!”

But Ying Su slipped free with ease. Her delicate face remained calm, lips curving slightly. “Shopkeeper, pardon the interruption. I just have a few words for my sister-in-law.”

Liu Chuncao hurried forward with a flattering smile toward the shopkeeper. “This is my sister-in-law. She probably has something urgent to tell me…”

Though the shopkeeper was full of anger, faced with Ying Su’s bright, water-like eyes, he couldn’t quite lash out. He gave Liu Chuncao a stiff nod.

Liu Chuncao quickly pulled Ying Su toward the outer room, whispering anxiously, “The boss is furious right now. Couldn’t you have waited to tell me later? I was scared out of my wits! Stay out here for now. We’ll probably be home late tonight. If you’re hungry, just grab a bowl of noodles at the stall out front.”