Chapter 55 Could it be that this sister-in-law wants to sell the recipe to the owner of Hongyun Restaurant?

During the past two days in Ankang Town, she has already figured out the situation here. There are three restaurants and five diners. The largest restaurant is Chunman Restaurant. As soon as she walked to the door of Chunman Restaurant, she saw the shopkeeper who wanted to buy her recipe before.

When the shopkeeper walked away in a huff, her face was very gloomy. If she hadn’t been worried that the shopkeeper would cause trouble, she wouldn’t have thought of taking the path of cooperation.

Jiang Wan adhered to his businessman’s demeanor and smiled at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper of Chunman Restaurant was named Shen. He sneered. It had been less than an hour and the sister-in-law regretted her decision. There was no way he would give out four taels of silver, only two taels at most.

When Manager Shen was thinking about how to lower the price, he saw Jiang Wan pause, turn around and walk towards the second largest restaurant opposite Chunman Restaurant, Hongyun Restaurant.

He stood up suddenly.

Could it be that this sister-in-law wants to sell the recipe to the owner of Hongyun Restaurant?

Hongyun Restaurant has always been surpassed by Chunman Restaurant. If they get the recipe for mint water, they will be able to tie for first place with Chunman Restaurant.

Shopkeeper Shen immediately rushed out to call for help, but he was still a step too late. Jiang Wan had already walked into Hongyun Restaurant with his three sons.

It was past lunchtime and not many people were in the restaurant. The shopkeeper and the waiter were standing by and chatting. When they saw an aunt in patched clothes leading her three sons, also in patched clothes, walking over, the waiter showed a trace of disgust on his face.

Shopkeeper Meng said nonchalantly, “Go ask this lady if she wants any tea.”

He was used to the fact that there were often beggars coming to the door of the restaurant asking for tea and leftovers.

The waiter walked over to ask, Jiang Wan took a look at the menu and saw that the price of noodles was two cents more expensive than at the stalls outside, ten cents a bowl.

Half a year ago, a bowl of noodles cost about five cents. Due to the poor harvest, grain prices increased and everything related to food increased, but wages did not increase. For example, the people carrying goods at the dock could still earn sixty cents a day two months ago.

In this severe drought, there is not much work to do in the fields, so the men in the village all come out to carry goods. Their wages have been lowered, and they only get 40 cents for a day’s work, or 30 cents for some. That’s enough money for a bowl of noodles. Of course, the men who carry goods are reluctant to eat the expensive noodles.

Jiang Wan ordered four bowls of noodle soup. The waiter was a little surprised. He didn’t expect that someone wearing such shabby clothes would be willing to spend forty cents on noodles.

The waiter notified the kitchen to make noodles. At this time, another table of guests came to the lobby. They were dressed in silk and satin. The shopkeeper personally went forward to greet them and led them to the private room on the second floor. After they came out of the private room, the shopkeeper stood at the door of the back kitchen and ordered: “Steamed lamb, roast goose, pine flowers, rabbit breast, whitebait… chicken in a tube… and a pot of wine.”

Every time the shopkeeper announced the name of a dish, Jiang Wan swallowed his saliva.

She casually calculated that this table of food would cost about five or six taels of silver.

She was still too poor and didn’t dare to order such expensive dishes. She had to work hard to make money so that she could eat whatever she wanted one day.

The three guys next to them were also swallowing their saliva.

They lowered their heads and ate vegetarian noodles crazily. In fact, the noodles were delicious, and the noodle soup was also very tasty. They were still not satisfied with the noodles and dared to fantasize about eating young chicken…

But what exactly is a broiler chicken? Is it a chick that has not grown up?

The three boys racked their brains but couldn’t imagine what kind of dish this was.

The mother and her five children finished their lunch quickly. Jiang Wan counted out forty copper coins and walked to the counter to pay.

The shopkeeper was counting the bills. When he saw her coming, he stopped what he was doing, counted the coins, and said with a smile, “Goodbye.” Jiang Wan did not leave. She smiled and said, “Shopkeeper Meng, have you ever heard of peppermint water?”

Shopkeeper Meng’s fingers paused. Of course he had heard of mint water. It became popular in Ankang Town three or five days ago. Some customers even asked him for a bowl of mint water when they came in. He had been busy all the time and had not found the time to check out what mint water was.

Jiang Wan took out a bowl of mint water from the wooden barrel.

She pushed the bowl of mint water over and said, “Manager Meng, you can give it a try. If you think it’s okay, then we can talk about cooperating to sell mint water. If not, then I’ll have to go find Manager Shen from Chunman Restaurant across the street.”

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Meng’s eyes suddenly widened.

Chunman Restaurant is a huge mountain standing before him. His goal in this life is to surpass Chunman Restaurant and become the number one restaurant in Ankang Town.

But Hongyun Restaurant is their family’s ancestral property, and Chunman Restaurant was opened from Cangzhou. He always felt that he would never be able to achieve his goal in his lifetime.

It would be fine if we couldn’t achieve it, but how could we be left further behind by Chunman Restaurant?

Shopkeeper Meng took a sip of the mint water and became more determined. He said, “Mint water recipe, nine taels of silver, how about that?”

Jiang Wan: “…”

Why are these restaurant owners always thinking about buying houses?
Seeing that she looked hesitant, Manager Meng raised the price: “How about ten taels of silver? If ten taels is not enough, then twelve taels. This is the highest price I can offer.”

“Manager Meng, why don’t we change our thinking?”

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Shopkeeper Meng stood there in shock.

After listening to Jiang Wan’s words, he actually felt that they made a lot of sense.

A bowl of mint water costs two cents, and he can sell it for about four or five cents in the restaurant. In other words, he does not need to spend a huge amount of money to buy the mint water recipe, nor does he need to find a special cook to make mint water. He only needs to prepare brown sugar, hawthorn and other things every day, and then he can sell the mint water directly in the restaurant.

The Hongyun Restaurant has about 35 tables of customers a day, which adds up to more than 100 people. If he can sell 100 bowls of mint water a day, his net profit can be more than 200 coins, which is several taels of silver a month. This is a business that is sure to make money.

Regardless of how much money is made, the most important thing is that Hongyun Restaurant has all the new things on the market, so that it can retain customers.

Jiang Wan knew that Shopkeeper Meng was tempted, so she continued, “But let me make one thing clear in advance. This mint water is not only for your Hongyun Restaurant. As long as you are willing to cooperate with me, I will supply it for two cents a bowl.”

Shopkeeper Meng was a little anxious: “Sister-in-law Ye, just make the conditions, I…”

“My family produces a lot of mint water, and Hongyun Restaurant can’t consume it all.” Jiang Wan told the truth, “I have reached a cooperation with Manager Ruan of Huaifu Academy.”

According to current calculations, their family can make at least ten barrels of mint water a day. The market in Ankang Town is limited, so she has to go to Hehua Town and the neighboring Biye Town to try.

Shopkeeper Meng sighed. There were only so many people visiting Hongyun Restaurant every day, and the restaurant was indeed a bit small. How could he have the right to ask them to supply only to him?
He didn’t mention it again and agreed on the delivery time with Jiang Wan.

Coming out of Hongyun Restaurant, Jiang Wan immediately spotted Shopkeeper Shen standing at the door of Chunman Restaurant.

When Manager Shen came to see her in the morning, he was still arrogant, but now he was walking around like an ant on a hot pan.

(End of this chapter)