Chapter 18

Li Yao beckoned, and the attendant immediately brought over a tray.

A bag of copper coins, totaling 2160 wen.

And two whole silver ingots.

"The 2160 wen are for the braised goose," Li Yao explained, "The extra ten taels of silver are just a token of my appreciation. Please don't think it's too little, Miss Li."

Li Yao directly took the money for the goose, and didn't even glance at the other two ingots of silver.

"No need."

"This is..." He Jiajing didn't understand, "I don't have any other intentions, it's just a token of my sincerity."

"I already said earlier, I'm helping Boss Fan for free today," Li Yao said. "Although it's free this time, if you want me to help come up with ideas again in the future, I will charge."

As they watched Li Yao turn and walk out of the restaurant, and the silver that had failed to be gifted out, no one knew what to say.

Giving away ten taels of silver without the slightest hint of greed, just what kind of person was this Miss Li?

"Miss Li, please wait a moment." Boss Fan hurriedly chased after her.

"Is there something else?"

"Nothing else," Boss Fan said, "Just that I wanted to order a few more braised geese tomorrow..."

"No, we agreed on only 3 geese per day, so it will only be 3."

"Ah?" Boss Fan was surprised, "Why...why is that?"

Why? This was hunger marketing.

Of course she couldn't easily tell others the reason, after all Li Yao still wanted to earn a little money by selling ideas.

"Do you want it or not?" Li Yao was too lazy to explain further, and asked directly, "If not I can sell to others."

"Want, I want it," Boss Fan sighed lightly, "3 it is, please deliver them early tomorrow Miss Li."

...

Da Zhuang said, "Mother..."

"You want to ask why I didn't want those ten taels of silver?"

"Mm."

"Remember, don't take what you didn't earn," Li Yao said. "What's yours is yours, down to the last penny. What isn't yours, you can't take even if it's a mountain of gold and silver."

"I understand."

Seeing that he still seemed to have more to say, Li Yao asked again, "Did you see they sold over a hundred taels worth in one meal, and feel envious, thinking you also wanted to open a restaurant?"

"This is..." Da Zhuang was a little surprised, he didn't expect his mother to know what he was thinking, "I just thought, I don't have that kind of ability, and don't have that much money either."

"Don't underestimate yourself, you have ability, and money isn't a problem either," Li Yao said. "But there's no need to open a restaurant." "Why?"

"You'll understand in the future."

Li Yao also had plans for Da Zhuang's future path.

...

When she arrived at the braised food stand, San'er had already cleaned up.

Old man Kang who sold the geese was also there, holding 3 big white geese, and had waited for a long time. Hearing that he would definitely be able to buy all the geese in the village in the future, old man Kang was so excited he thanked them profusely.

Eager to hurry back and tell the villagers the good news.

"Don't know why, but business was especially good today," after old man Kang left, San'er started reporting, "sold out half an hour earlier than usual."

Good business was natural.

After all, they had done such big advertising today. Those who had tasted the braised goose but didn't have the money to dine at the restaurant must have come to satisfy their craving.

"Was the lunch for the old master from the academy delivered?" Li Yao asked.

"Delivered," San'er said. "Just as you instructed, gave him two extra pieces of braised goose meat."

As long as it was delivered, that was good.

Li Yao didn't care who the white-haired old man was, but one must be honest when doing business.

"Let's go home."

Just as they reached the market entrance, someone called from behind, "Miss Li, please wait!"

A dignified looking middle-aged man, along with two servants, hurriedly caught up.

"Miss Li," the middle-aged man said, "I am the owner of Zhang Restaurant, and wanted to discuss purchasing geese with you."

Coming only now, it was too late.

"I have a contract with He Restaurant, the braised geese are only sold to them."

Watching Li Yao's group leave, Zhang Guangcheng was so angry he stamped his feet right where he stood.

"Hurry back and tie up that bastard surnamed Shu!"

"It was clearly me who asked Miss Li first, yet he forcibly drove her away!"

"A bunch of blind fools. I'm going to skin him alive!" ...

The braised geese from Riverbend Village became famous. Not only did He Restaurant's business increase several folds, even the braised food stand followed and became popular again.

Every day they bought all the pigs they could, but it still didn't feel like enough to sell.

Da Zhuang and his brothers were full of energy, and also had to braise geese, so they got up earlier than chickens and slept later than dogs every day. Continuing long-term like this was definitely not ok, and would ruin their health.

So Li Yao once again looked for Li Zheng.

"Recruit workers from the village?"

Li Zheng was puzzled for half a day, wondering why they didn't just get their own family to do this good thing, but instead went through all this trouble.

If they weren't family, would they work as diligently?

"I have my own plans," Li Yao said. "The main job is to clean the pigs and geese every afternoon, 10 wen per person per day, pay them as soon as the work is done." Half a day's work for 10 wen, and not tiring at all. Where else could one find such a good opportunity?

If his family didn't already run a braised food stand, Li Zheng would have asked his daughter-in-law to go.

"Alright, I'll help spread the word now."

Li Zheng climbed up the big tree in his yard, and loudly announced the news.

After the previous "bidding" incident, the villagers' impression of Li Yao had changed somewhat. They put down what they were doing and rushed over in groups.

San Jie Shen Shi ran the fastest.

She didn't win the bid for the braised food stand last time, so this time she would fight for it no matter what.

In her anxiousness, Shen Shi went straight to Li Yao, "Sister-in-law, please let me have this. Don't worry, I will do a good job."

Asking Li Zheng to help recruit workers was so that Li Yao could avoid people getting the job through "backdoors". So she said, "It's up to Li Zheng to decide who to hire."

"For your family's matters, how could it be all up to him... We're all family..."

"You go sign up then."

Seeing that Li Yao didn't give her any face at all, Shen Shi was furious. But afraid that signing up late would ruin her chances, she hurriedly went to look for Li Zheng.

In the end, over seventy people signed up.

Some even wanted to voluntarily lower the pay like last time, fervently offering to work for just 5 wen a day.

Li Zheng knew the villagers all too well, and quickly picked two honest women in their thirties who could work steadily.

Loudmouths like Shen Shi were directly eliminated, angering her so much that she stamped her feet and went to tattle to her mother-in-law.

"Li Zheng, we already offered to lower the pay, how could you still pick them?"

"That's right, why not use the cheaper labor? Isn't that losing money?"

"Listen to me!" Li Zheng shouted, "Li Yao said it won't be long before she needs more people. Those who weren't picked, just wait for now."

"You must pick me next time!"

...

After the crowd dispersed, the selected Liu Sister-in-law and Hu Sister-in-law came to Li Yao's home.

The two honest women had never dared provoke Li Yao before. Now having to work for her family, they were still a little apprehensive. If they unwittingly displeased her, who knew if they would be scolded terribly or have their wages docked...

So the two kept their heads down working, washing the pigs and geese until they were spotless. After Li Yao inspected and saw no issues, she paid them on the spot.

"Come back tomorrow afternoon again."

On the way home, both were a little dizzy.

No matter how carefully one worked for others, no matter how easygoing the homeowners were, there would normally still be some petty fault found to nitpick and deduct wages. But this shrew Li Yao was actually so reasonable.

This definitely wasn't the Li Yao they knew!

Having two more people working made things much easier for Li Yao. She no longer needed to stay up all night, and was a lot more relaxed.

The next three days went smoothly.

The four braised food stands made 2600 wen profit each day. The three braised geese made 1200 wen profit per day. After deducting daily expenses, the family had 3500 wen of net income per day.

After a few days, Li Yao already had 15 taels of silver savings, surpassing the vast majority of commoners of this time.

But she wanted to build a comfortable big house, and this little bit of money wouldn't even cover the foundation.

Just as she was preparing to expand the braised goose business, problems arose on old man Kang's side.