Chapter 84 - Why Is He Such a Fool? (1/2)

…When Xiao Baozhu came back to the kitchen her face was still beaming.

Ye Xiaoxian was currently busy, but seeing that Baozhu was back she hurriedly said to her, “Baozhu, hurry up and help me to stir the fire.”

When Xiao Baozhu heard that she had to stir the fire she became reluctant again, with her radiant smile being replaced by depression.

“What’s wrong?” Ye Xiaoxian asked her while waving the spatula.

“Noth…nothing…” Xiao Baozhu went back to the stove and started tending to the fire. The fire was burning merrily now and the flames warmed her face, making her feel a little sickly. She suddenly thought, ‘Am I going to spend my whole life idling in front of the stove?’

Ye Xiaoxian was doing sweet and sour ribs and taught Xiao Baozhu while cooking. “Baozhu, look at how I stir-fry these ribs. It’s pretty easy so you can do it the next time I’m not around. You just need to put the marinated ribs into the wok with some oil…”

Ye Xiaoxian taught with her full pa.s.sion but Xiao Baozhu was learning without any spirit and forgot as soon as she looked, making an “mhmm” sound from time to time.

Ye Xiaoxian noticed that Xiao Baozhu was not very keen on cooking so she did not force her to learn.

Firstly, everyone had their own ways and secondly, Ye Xiaoxian very much a busy bee. There were so many dishes she was yet to cook and so many orders being put on hold.

…They did not have fridges in this era and as they were in the southern area they had no cellar with which to save food. Because of this the ingredients would easily go off, so Ye Xiaoxian and others would purchase quantified ingredients in the morning and once a certain ingredient was sold out, guests simply could not order those dishes.

Sometimes they were short of certain ingredients and sometimes they had extra to store up.

Ye Xiaoxian would cook the extra ingredients for others including the two hired hands, Little Five and Little Six.

“The Xiaos’ Cuisine” also provided dinner and after they had seen off the last group of customers, by then the day had usually become completely dark and all of them would have their dinner by candlelight.

The days just flew by once they were fully occupied.

The restaurant had been open for a month and Ye Xiaoxian calculated and checked the accounting book for the current month. After expenses their net earnings were forty tales of silver that month.

While Ye Xiaoxian was doing her accounts, Xiao Baozhu bent over the counter admiring the abacus as it made its “popping” noise in Ye Xiaoxian’s hands.

“Sister-in-law, you’re brilliant. You know everything!” said Xiao Baozhu sincerely.

Ye Xiaoxian smiled. “A smattering of everything.”

“Sister-in-law, can you teach me how to do the accounting job?” asked Xiao Baozhu tentatively.

Ye Xiaoxian stopped moving the beads of the abacus and asked Xiao Baozhu, “You want to learn accounting?”

“Mhmm, is that okay?” Xiao Baozhu asked shyly.

“Why do you want to learn accounting all of a sudden?”

“I think doing the accounting job requires me to learn more and it looks great. I also can be in contact with more people in the lounge and bring in more guests together with Ma,” said Xiao Baozhu.

Ye Xiaoxian hesitated. She meant to teach Xiao Baozhu her cooking skills.

It looked very good to do accounting but Xiao Baozhu would have no other way out once she left “The Xiaos’ Cuisine”. It was different from being a master chef which allowed one to make a living everywhere.

Still, different people have different aspirations, so since Xiao Baozhu had her own idea, Ye Xiaoxian chose to respect her decision.

“I can let you do the accounting,” said Ye Xiaoxian. “But for now, during the daytime, you still have to tend to the fire in the kitchen and I’ll teach you during evening. When you master it, I’ll allow you to take the bills and do the accounting job.”

Xiao Baozhu was cheered up and said excitedly, “Sister-in-law, thank you, I’ll learn hard.”

…Li Hongmei was tidying up tables and chairs in the restaurant and had heard everything that Xiao Baozhu said.

Li Hongmei could not help turning around and saying to her daughter, “Baozhu, it’s actually better for you to learn cooking skills from your sister-in-law. You should know that little Ye’s cooking skills are unique and n.o.body else knows of them. If you learn them well you can give a hand to your sister-in-law, right?”