34: Section 34

As for the third option, setting fire to the brothel at night, wasn't that a joke?

If he really did it, wouldn't he be devoured by that thousand-year-old tree spirit?

...

You righteously refused the seduction of the two brothel women, and before the city gates closed, you left Qinglin County with the remaining five taels of silver.

Two hours later, you returned to the valley.

Seeing you return, Guo Lin was very happy.

After you handed her the soap and the remaining silver, you personally put on the silver hairpin you bought for her, which she greatly appreciated, and she was full of hope for your future life together.

But at this moment, Guo Lin smelled the fragrance of rouge on your body, and her heart was greatly alarmed, and she immediately began to question you.

"Why do you smell of other women!"

Upon hearing this, you immediately explained what happened in Qinglin County earlier. When Guo Lin heard that you had righteously refused, she beamed with joy.

"You're honest."

However, after speaking, Guo Lin's expression became troubled again.

"Although it's normal for men to have three wives and four concubines, will you marry other women in the future and treat me badly?"

Upon hearing Guo Lin's worries, you immediately held her gently in your arms.

"How can any other woman compare to my Niangzi?"

"In this world, the one I love most is my Niangzi."

Hearing your sweet words, Guo Lin was very happy, and after dinner, you spent a warm night together until midnight.

In the picture, Guo Lin's eyes were slightly closed, her delicate brows furrowed, and her arch formed a graceful curve...

In the following days, you continuously collected various medicinal herbs to sell in Qinglin County, occasionally bringing a few animal hides to sell to tailor shops.

The pharmacy owner also marveled that with you, the store could obtain high-quality medicinal herbs without needing to stock up.

If sold to Hangzhou Prefecture, it would yield at least fifty percent more profit.

He did not ask where you collected these medicinal herbs, and you marveled that you had met a good person.

But you also remained vigilant.

If you noticed someone secretly following you, you would detour to other places to shake them off before continuing.

However, the situation you anticipated never occurred.

The silver, however, accumulated more and more.

By the time you had collected all the medicinal herbs in the entire valley, three months had passed.

During this period, you earned anywhere from one tael to ten taels of silver daily. After deducting expenses, the accumulated savings had reached over five hundred taels.

Whenever you saved one hundred taels, you would go to the silver exchange to convert it into a silver note. The folk customs in Qinglin County were simple and honest, saving you a lot of effort.

As winter was approaching in a few months, you began to look for a suitable restaurant location.

Even if the restaurant didn't open, you and Guo Lin couldn't spend the winter in the valley.

Finally, you spent three hundred and ten taels to purchase a three-story building near the West City Gate of Qinglin County.

This location was close to the West Market, and although the foot traffic was less than that of the other three city gates, there was only one restaurant called "Chun Ke Lai Restaurant" and a few small eateries nearby, significantly reducing competitive pressure.

You firmly believed that with your cooking and brewing skills, you would not have to worry about a lack of customers coming to your restaurant to eat.

Moreover, this location was far from the East City Gate where the brothel was located.

You vaguely felt that the brothel was not a good place, so this location near the West Market was very much to your liking.

Once the land deed was in your hands, you spent another eighty taels to decorate the entire three-story building.

The front courtyard featured a main gate, a screen wall, a main hall, seating, a counter, and a cashier's desk.

The back courtyard contained a brewing room, a kitchen, two large rooms for male and female staff respectively, two latrines, a cellar, and an ice cellar.

You also specifically requested the addition of a stove in the backyard for heating water for baths.

The second floor had nine private rooms.

The top floor, the third floor, had only six rooms. The best and largest room was for you and Guo Lin, while the remaining five rooms were used as guest rooms.

The guest rooms had only basic furniture such as beds, tables and chairs, and wardrobes, sufficient for accommodation needs.

Your and Guo Lin's room, however, was exquisitely and luxuriously decorated, with a bed, wardrobe, dressing table, chairs, a screen, a bathtub, and various other ornaments.

The most crucial and important aspect was soundproofing.

You spent over ten taels of silver to make the room's soundproofing extremely thorough.

Finally, you named your restaurant "Yue Lai Restaurant" and spent three taels of silver to invite the local scholar Li to write it for you. Including the cost of making the plaque, it totaled four taels of silver.

When the "Yue Lai Restaurant" plaque was hung, it meant that your accumulation over the past three months had not been in vain.

The first step of the long march also began at this moment.

After picking up Guo Lin from the valley, she looked at the Yue Lai Restaurant in front of her with some disbelief.

This was the family business her lover had accumulated over the past few months.

That night, Guo Lin took her first hot bath in months, and you also enjoyed a mandarin duck bath in the room.

...

Su Mo continuously noted down the precautions for opening a restaurant in his mind.

Some of the pitfalls in the simulation he had also encountered.

He had to remember them.

This could avoid a lot of trouble.

...

You did not open for business immediately, and the Yue Lai Restaurant plaque remained covered by a red cloth, never revealed to the public.

You wanted to first brew the first batch of wine, and then hire a few staff and a cook to handle laundry and miscellaneous tasks, and then Yue Lai Restaurant could open for business.

But you knew that a restaurant with only one type of wine was not enough; it needed three different grades of wine to hold its own.

With your God of Cookery Talent talent, you quickly deduced several wine-making methods.

The lowest-grade wine was brewed from coarse rice and osmanthus, with a slightly sweet taste and moderate alcohol content. You named it Gue Hua Wine. It took about twenty days to brew and had a shelf life of less than one year, suitable for customers with little money who wanted to quench their thirst and cravings.

The mid-grade wine was a special brew made from barley and hops, which you named Ale. Its color was like amber, clear and bright, with foam rising like snow. It had a mellow taste and a long-lasting malty aroma.

Looking at himself in the picture, researching various wine recipes, Su Mo felt somewhat incredible.

He didn't expect to accidentally research beer.

If it succeeded,

he could even put this beer into the restaurant that was about to open.

With its special taste and color,

it would definitely become a major feature!

It was just that the high-grade wine, the one in the picture, he hadn't researched well yet, after all, it was the wine that would hold the fort.

From its name, concept, taste, and aftertaste, everything had to be top-notch to be considered satisfactory!

Chapter 41: Opening, Dou Qianli comes to eat and drink

You experimented with many wine recipes, and finally, by chance, you researched a rather special wine.

You named this special wine Immortals Intoxication.

The reason was that after drinking this wine, no matter how much you drank, as long as you lay in bed and fell asleep, you would surely sleep for three days before waking up.

Guo Lin was overjoyed when she saw you wake up after your deep sleep, and she held you for a long time.

Your feelings for each other grew stronger day by day.

As the brewing room continued to operate, you obtained enough brewed wine.

The opening date was also put on the agenda, and you planned to open on the day of the Winter Solstice.

However, the first thing was to recruit staff.

Ultimately, you hired two clever youths at a price of 2 silver coins per month to be the Dian Xiaoer, and also a female general worker in her thirties to manage hygiene, do laundry, and so on.

In addition, you hired two female cooks to assist you in the kitchen.

Guo Lin personally served as the accountant.

Thus, with everything prepared, accompanied by the sound of firecrackers, you opened for business on the Winter Solstice.

However, Yue Lai Restaurant's business was dismal on its opening day; not a single person came to eat.

You inquired privately and learned that "Chun Ke Lai Restaurant," directly across from you, was holding a promotional event on your opening day, attracting all the customers.

What do you choose now?

Option 1: Under the cover of darkness, set fire to "Chun Ke Lai Restaurant," and simultaneously lock the main door to ensure everyone inside burns to death.

Option 2: Learn from "Chun Ke Lai Restaurant" and hold a promotional event, accumulating reputation by incurring initial losses.

Option 3: Launch a free first drink promotion, offering all the Gue Hua Wine for free, and also introduce discounted meal sets to attract passing customers.

...

Looking at the first option, the living Yama, Su Mo immediately ignored it.

Are you kidding?

How could he choose that?

He might have chosen it before he knew there were rewards in "love affair life."

But now, it's clear that rewards are only given for higher evaluations, so unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't choose such an option.

As for the second option, Su Mo didn't want to choose it.

After various miscellaneous expenses, plus the cost of brewing and ingredients,

in the simulation, he now had less than 50 taels of silver left.

He couldn't afford to lose money.

He simply couldn't afford to lose money.

What he could do now was only the third option, introducing discounted meal sets.

As for the first drink being free, he could afford that loss.

Because the profit from drinks, it could be said, was the highest. The cost of that one cup of Gue Hua Wine was not even as much as a bowl of rice porridge.

Yet, it could be sold for three or four times the price of a bowl of rice porridge.

You chose the third option.

On the second day of opening, you grandly launched a promotion for a free first cup of Gue Hua Wine, and also introduced three different tiers of meal sets.

The low-end set was a mixed fish potsticker with a pot of Gue Hua Wine, priced at 25 copper coins, specifically to attract low-spending customers like porters and peddlers.

The mid-range set was roasted lamb with egg drop soup and ale, priced at 110 copper coins, specifically for mid-range consumers such as gentry and scholars.

The high-end set was your carefully prepared crab roe soup dumplings, stir-fried deer meat, mushroom soup, and Immortals Intoxication, priced at 400 copper coins. One string of cash was equal to one tael of silver, and one string of cash was 770 copper coins, so this set was more than half a tael of silver.

Even Guo Lin felt that your pricing was a bit too expensive, and that even wealthy merchants who weren't short on money would be reluctant to purchase this set.

You, however, smiled and explained to her.

"I'm introducing such a set not to sell it, but to pique people's curiosity. Only then can the other two sets be sold successfully."

"Of course, this doesn't rule out the possibility of a big spender wanting to try it, and if they get drunk, I can also charge them an extra three days of room fees."

Upon hearing your words, Guo Lin beamed with joy, praising your business acumen.

Soon, on the second day, you launched the discounted meal sets.

Combined with the dishes made with your superb cooking skills, you were full of confidence.