Chapter 365 - Feeling Bad (2/2)
The Yu’s Braised Food Store had recipes that everyone wanted. Whether it was for the roasted chicken, roasted duck, or braised food, any of those secret methods could help someone make a fortune. Thus, as the braised food shop continued to grow, they would definitely need to hire more people. It was important that they carefully consider who to hire to avoid hiring someone who had ulterior motives.
Next door, the Yu’s Pickled Vegetable Store had also opened for business. Most of the salted and pickled vegetables in the shop were bought wholesale from Xiaojiang’s pickled vegetable stand in Tanggu Town. Currently, most of the products at Xiaojiang’s pickled vegetable stand were made with Xiaocao’s recipes, so their taste was guaranteed to be good. In addition, Yu Xiaocao also produced a few more secret recipes for the Yu’s Pickled Vegetable Store. These products were all personally made by her and all had unique flavors. Not long after it was first opened, the business at the Yu’s Pickled Vegetable Store was doing as well as the braised food shop.
There were also issues with the business doing too well. Yu Xiaocao spent every day in the picked vegetable shop, weighing the vegetables and handling the money. It got to the point that her voice became hoarse from interacting with the customers and she started sounding like a duck quacking. It wasn’t a pretty sound. When Madam Liu came over to the prefectural city for a visit, she also started helping out at the pickled vegetable store. Originally, she was only planning on staying one day before going back. However, she ended up spending more than half a month there helping out and was unable to leave.
When Zhu Junyang was heading back to the capital, he stopped by the prefectural city to check up on her. At that time, Xiaocao, who originally had a small and thin face, now looked as if she didn’t have an extra ounce on her. Her chin was so sharp that it looked like it could stab a person to death. Zhu Junyang felt his heart hurt seeing her like this.
He raised his hands to his chest and was puzzled, ‘Just when did I get an internal injury here? In the past, I never had problems with chest pangs but why is it happening so often now? That’s not okay, when I get back to the capital, I need to have an imperial physician inspect me carefully. I don’t want to suddenly die early.’
Zhu Junyang stood silently across the street from the Yu Family’s braised food shop and pickled vegetable shop. He mutely watched as the figures inside the stores ran back and forth as if he was spellbound by the sight.
By the time it was noon, the customers at the braised food shop and pickled vegetable shop left. Everyone working there let out a sigh of relief. Yu Xiaocao used a wet cloth to wipe her hands before she took off the flowery apron. She shook out both her arms and legs to relax.
When she raised her head, she saw Royal Prince Yang across the street, so she hurriedly ran out of the shop and grinned in welcome, “Young Royal Prince, when did you come over? Come inside the residence and rest a bit ah!”
Royal Prince Yang silently nodded his head and went through the main gate next to the braised food shop. The front courtyard was now very neat and tidy. There was a small tiled road in the middle of the courtyard and on both sides were gardens. One side was planted with all sorts of green vegetables while the other side was currently growing autumn vegetables. All of the plants were flourishing in the gardens. Zhu Junyang quirked up the corners of his lips, ‘I just knew with this lass around that she wouldn’t let a single inch of land go to waste.’
He walked in further and the main residence had osmanthus trees planted on both sides of the building. Both trees were dotted with tiny yellow flowers all throughout, resembling tiny stars. The dense, sweet fragrance of the flowers wafted throughout the main courtyard.
As he carefully smelled the air, he detected the pungent and tantalizing aroma of meat coming from the inner courtyard. Zhu Junyang stopped moving and changed his direction to the small gate at the side.
Yu Xiaocao tried to stop him, “Young Royal Prince, we braise all of the meat in the inner courtyard, so it’s a bit of a mess back there. How about you rest in the main courtyard ah?”
“It’s not a problem. This prince just wants to see just how exactly you guys braise such delicious meat. What? Are you afraid that I’ll steal your secret methods?” Zhu Junyang raised an eyebrow and slanted a look from his phoenix eyes at her. A smile graced his lips that made him look devilishly handsome and vaguely seductive.
When confronted with such a stunningly handsome man, Yu Xiaocao was almost unable to control herself and barely managed to keep the saliva from dripping out of her mouth. She chuckled dryly and then said, “Your Royal Highness, if you really want the secret recipe, I will gladly ‘present it’ to you with both hands!”
After hearing the little lass’s flattering remarks, Zhu Junyang suddenly felt like the weather and surroundings were incredibly pleasing today. He deepened the smile on his lips and snorted, “What would this prince do with your secret recipe? I have no interest in making small change like you are!”
This was the guy who had brought back countless treasures from the western hemisphere. Every single item from the west was worth quite a bit of money. For example, the pocket watch that Zhu Junyang gifted Xiaocao was priced at five thousand taels at his Treasure Pavilion, yet they had all been sold out within half a year. The cost of buying one of these pocket watches in the west was only around a dozen taels. This meant that every item that was sold at the prince’s Treasure Pavilion made a few hundred-fold in profits. There weren't many people in the capital who could compete with Royal Prince Yang’s personal wealth at this point! In comparison, the Yu Family’s braised food shop made around a hundred to two hundred taels in profit every day. This wasn’t a small sum, but in the eyes of the prince, it was merely ‘small change’!
When he entered the inner courtyard, he looked through the wide open kitchen door and saw four giant pots simmering over the fire. The dense smell of meat wafted out of the room and was even able to overcome the sweet scent of the osmanthus flowers.
After noticing Yu Caifeng and her son sweating buckets as they labored over the pots, Zhu Junyang frowned a bit and asked, “Have all of you been working like this every day for all this time? With no time to rest?”