Chapter 538 - Changes and Developments (2/2)
Little Black and Little White also came along. To them, the mountainous deep forests in Dongshan Village and West Mountain were considered their true home. Thus, the tiny little patch of mountains behind the Imperial Plantation wasn’t enough for them to play around in. It was only during the trip to the hunting grounds that they were able to show off their true natures and they nearly terrorized almost half of the beasts living there. However, these two didn’t stay with Xiaocao as she traveled back. Instead, they ran on the small side roads around them. At this time, they were probably already back at the West Mountain, playing around.
Speaking of time pa.s.sing, it had been a long time since Xiaocao had visited the braised food shop in the prefectural city. Her eldest maternal aunt’s family had bought a residence in the prefectural city to make it easier for them to keep an eye on things and they had moved over. The braised food store and pickled vegetable store continued to grow and grow. They even bought all of the shops in the nearby area to expand and create a giant workshop. The two stores were now a wholesale business run by her maternal aunt’s family.
“Right now ah, we have hired around thirty or so women to help out with our stores. However, the most vital areas involving the recipes and manufacture of our goods are being taken care of by the servants that we have bought off of the market. Other than Huang Xiaomei and her family, we also bought another dozen servants. Five of the new ones are also from one family.” Liu Xiaoyan noticed that Xiaocao seemed very interested in this and pulled her into the back courtyard to view the kitchens.
About a dozen or so back courtyards of the previous small shops had been renovated into one large area. The place was split into the braised food kitchen, the smoking kitchen, the roasted duck and chicken kitchen…the braised food kitchen was the largest out of them all as that was the most popular product they sold.
“Mother and Father spend all day managing this business. In order to understand the account books better, my parents have both learned quite a few words. My father also learned how to use the abacus recently and is quite skilled at it now! Since my parents have never undergone formal learning before, they find it a little hard. Younger Brother, on the other hand, was sent to a school to learn how to read when he reached the age of six. As for myself and my older brother, we hired a tutor over and we spend two hours each night learning how to read and write. Sometimes, my parents will also sit in on the lessons!”
Liu Xiaoyan brought Xiaocao into the braised food cooking room and there were a dozen large stoves all roaring with warmth. On top of the stoves were large cauldrons that simmered with large puffs of steam coming out. The entire room was filled with the dense fragrant smell of braised food. The workers inside all were wearing snow-white smocks paired with light green ap.r.o.ns. They also all wore white caps on their heads. Although the room was a bit chaotic inside, it was still very clean and hygienic.
“Xiaocao, you always emphasized the importance of having a clean and tidy kitchen. Even though the scope of our business has gotten larger, we have not relaxed our restrictions on cleanliness. Every day, I’m in charge of making sure each worker is following all of our cleaning procedures. As soon as I discover that someone has broken the rules, I fine them with three days' salary. If they end up violating the rules three times, then they are sentenced to wash pig intestines and do the most dirty and tiring work in the business.” Liu Xiaoyan was quite satisfied with the way she handled things here. At least she didn’t make her younger cousin lose any face.
Yu Xiaocao nodded her head in satisfaction and then turned to see a familiar face. Xiaomei’s mother was no longer the cowardly and timid woman as she first was. Now, she ordered the people below her with a practiced ease as she monitored the people in charge of mixing the spices and adding them to the bubbling cauldrons. When she saw Yu Xiaocao and her cousin enter, she revealed a warm smile and came up to greet her masters.
Liu Xiaoyan excused her from greeting them in a manner that really bespoke of a head manager. The two of them exited the braised food area and she smiled, “For the past two years, it wasn’t just my family who has improved and matured. In the past, Xiaomei’s mother would turn red even from speaking to someone. Now, she’s a bustling and energetic woman and very suited to being the head manager of the braised food operations.”
She paused for a bit and then continued, “My mother listened to your advice and delegated all of the normal working responsibilities to other people. It’s like you said, there’s no point in making a lot of money if you’re exhausted every day and you harm your body from working too hard. The pickled vegetable store is now under the control of Huang Xiaomei. She’s pretty much learned all of the techniques and recipes you came up for the pickled vegetables. Furthermore, she’s very proficient at them. In a moment, I’ll take you to the neighboring pickled vegetable store. Do you want to try her handiwork?”
“The braised food kitchen is under Xiaomei’s mother’s management. As for the smoked food kitchen, that’s under the family we bought later and is managed by Lanying, who is the wife of the man of that family. Their whole family had migrated from Sichuan province and the people living there are all good at smoking foods. Thus, she was able to quickly get accustomed to things here.”
“Since we ration the number of sales of roasted chickens and ducks every day, we don’t need to make too many. Thus, I usually manage that kitchen. The two people I have under me are also quite nimble and agile, so I’m sure before long I won’t need to be there in person anymore. Then I can focus on handling the day-to-day money management!” Liu Xiaoyan liked the feeling of exchanging so much money that her hand cramped. Thus, no matter how busy their sales were every day, she was still very happy.
“At the moment, many of the braised food shops in the prefectural city get their goods from us. Not only that, but there are also quite a few wholesale buyers from the nearby Zhou Prefecture who come here to buy large quant.i.ties of braised food and picked vegetables. Although we sell wholesale items at a slightly lower price, the increased quant.i.ty that is sold more than makes up for it ah!” Whenever she got started about the booming business, Liu Xiaoyan could talk all day. In fact, if you gave her three days to talk about it, she’d likely be able to fill your ears without stopping without repeating a single thing.
“It’s around mid-morning right now, so there shouldn’t be too many people at the retail store. However, there are plenty of customers at the wholesale business. Let’s go and take a look!” Liu Xiaoyan pulled Xiaocao to walk to the west. There was already a long line of people already waiting there.
“The wholesale business opens at the crack of dawn until the end of midmorning, when most of the customers are gone. At that time, that’s when the retail stores become more busy. Fortunately, we have hired enough people and they are all good hands at work.” This was all said in a slight boasting tone. Was she trying to fish for compliments?
Yu Xiaocao was quite surprised by the booming braised food and pickled vegetable business in the prefectural city. Two years ago, she would have never dreamed to have it expand to this state. Although the stores were under the ‘Yu Family’ in name, the management had pretty much been taken over by her eldest paternal aunt’s family.