Eldest Sister, Why Haven't You Married Yet

Chapter 128. Sujiayan

Mrs. Su's original intention was to open a small restaurant. However, You Jin felt that since she wanted to do it, might as well make it big: "It just happens that the shop I bought at the beginning of the year is now empty. We’ll open up before the end of the year.”

"Mother just wanted to give it a try. Why don't we change to a smaller shop? If we lose money, we can pay less money..." Mrs. Su's heart was a little uncertain. She knew where the shop her daughter mentioned was. Of course, she knew how big the shop was. Although she was good at cooking, she can't cook in the kitchen all the time, can she? How could she support such a large restaurant business by herself?

You Jin smiled and said, "Although Mother's cooking skills are great, it's impossible for Mother to submerge in smoke and cook every day no matter if it's a big restaurant or a small restaurant, right? I want to make Mother a living signboard of our Suyan!"

"Living signboard?" Mrs. Su looked at You Jin with some doubts and uttered in puzzlement, "But if I don't become a chef, who’s going to be the chef at the back? Besides, my original thought is to do something by myself and resulted in wanting to open a restaurant, no?"

You Jin showed a sly smile. She poured a cup of thorn rose honey tea for Mrs. Su and spoke, "Rare things are precious. Mother's cooking is good. It’s one of the best in Luohe Prefecture. If everyone can eat it, isn't that the same as the restaurant next door. What difference is it to being able to eat just because one has money?"

Seeing Mrs. Su take in her own words and was lost in thought, You Jin chased for the victory: "Mother, think about it. If there is a restaurant, there are only ten rare dishes a day and only the first ten customers can eat. Everyone who has eaten it will linger and miss it. Isn’t it easier to attract more customers coming?"

Although she knew that Daughter was hoodwinking her doubts away, Mrs. Su felt that Daughter's words made sense: "Then what do you want to do, You Jin?"

Seeing Mrs. Su take the bait, You Jin smiled with satisfaction. She said: "Mother might as well sort out the recipes that you still remember during this time, record them in a book, and then try to make them one by one. If the recipe needs to be improved, improve it. The rest, leave it to me to worry about.”

Mrs. Su knew that she didn't know how to do business. In fact, her initial thought was that she felt that she was too leisurely every day and wanted to find something to do for herself and for the family. But when it came to it, Mrs. Su realized that she was lost and didn't know where to start. Now seeing Daughter act this confident, she involuntarily nodded and agreed.

***

You Jin spent 800 liang silver to buy the two houses behind the two-storey shop facing the street. Both totalled up to the size of a mu. Then she hired craftsmen to connect all the properties for future use. Complying with You Jin's idea, Third Master Huang hired one accountant, one manager, four different cuisine chefs, eight assistant chefs. Including apprentices, waiters, attendants and maids, a total of fifty-four people.

Mrs. Yu and Mrs. Zhao came from rich and noble families, so they naturally have some experience in decorating and arranging the courtyards. They knew that Su Family was preparing to open a restaurant. Due to being grateful to Su Family, they took the initiative to ask You Jin to take on the restaurant decoration: "We will definitely arrange it for you!"

You Jin had no choice. So she roughly explained her idea to the two of them. Unexpectedly, the two elders became more excited after hearing it and wished they could go to see it right away. You Jin was startled by the two elder’s overly motivated response and hurriedly waved their hands to stop them: "No rush, Madams. Let's take our time, shall we?"

When Mrs. Yu and Mrs. Zhao saw her evasive reaction, they realized that they were too excited. They smiled apologetically and replied, "We want to help you with something to repay your kindness to our family. We aren’t doing something bad out of kindness, are we?"

Seeing the two elders being so polite and cautious, You Jin didn't know what to say. How could she blame them for being too active? At once, she waved her hand to deny: "Madam, putting it like that would make me feel ashamed. We live under the same roof now and can be regarded as one family. Since we are a family, what need is there for you to be so polite?"

At this response, the two of them were relieved. Mrs. Zhao continued: "You Jin, since you say we are a family, then don't be so polite in the future and call us Mdama. You might as well call us Auntie!"

"Yes, yes, Younger Sister-in-law is right." Mrs. Yu nodded again and again. If it wasn't for the catastrophe that happened to her family and the sudden death of her son, Mrs. Yu really wanted such a daughter-in-law at this moment. You Jin was knowledgeable and sensible. No worse than the misses in the capital. The most important thing was this child's rare sincerity. It was a pity that there was no fate in the end.

Hearing what the two of them said, You Jin responded with a smile: "As long as the two aunts don't mind for being coarse, I will have the cheek to latch onto this relationship with two aunties."

Seeing her being so reasonable and immediately changing the way of addressing them, the smiles at the corners of Xiao Family's sister-in-laws' eyes deepened.

***

Since You Jin discussed with Mrs. Su, it had been almost two months. This period was the most fulfilling and happiest time in Mrs. Su's life. Every morning, she started to huddle in the kitchen with the family’s female cook and study the recipes that she remembered as well as putting it through trial and error.

"There are a lot of dishes here that Grandfather forced me to memorize. At that time, my family could barely eat enough. How can we possibly find these precious ingredients and try them?" Mrs. Su made two dishes today. Both dishes were trial products: Longjing Bamboo Fungus and St George Mushroom Fulfill Soup.