Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 134 - 132 Iconic Architecture

Chapter 134: Chapter 132 Iconic Architecture

These days, Xiao’er has been very busy - recruiting talent, training talent, dealing with the construction and renovation of the building in the town. Before dawn each day, she starts training the senior staff for the opening of her shops. These people were bought from various brokers in the county and town.

Every morning, Xiao’er instructs about a dozen chefs on how to prepare tea snacks, buns, dumplings, pastries, porridge and all kinds of dishes. She also encourages them to create their own tea snacks and dishes. Whoever’s ideas are adopted will be rewarded with one tael of silver, fueling the enthusiasm among the staff.

After lunch, she rushes to the town to check if the craftsmen have any issues with the renovation.

In the afternoon, she seeks suppliers for various departments in the supermarket, negotiates cooperation plans, and signs contracts.

For the supply of vegetables and meat in the supermarket, Xiao’er consults with the village chief, expressing her willingness to buy the crops and poultry raised by the villagers. The price of the vegetables is one coin cheaper per pound than the market day prices, provided they are fresh, clean, without any yellow or rotten leaves or dirt. The price of poultry is also one coin cheaper per pound than the market price.

The villagers were thrilled to hear this news. The people who were idle after planting began to get busy again. Those who were growing crops started retouching their vacant vegetable gardens, sparing no corner, started growing vegetables, raising chickens, geese, ducks and pigs.

Official purchases will begin from Qixi Festival!

Xiao’er has hired a few capable and honest women from the neighboring village to take charge of bundling the vegetables into one-pound bundles.

She also hired some strong men to handle the slaughtering of chickens, geese, ducks, and fish in the supermarket’s back stage, ensuring a daily fresh supply of meat.

As for snacks, Xiao’er has signed contracts with a large grocery store in the county. She also often goes to the market to find households that excel at making snacks and signs supply contracts with them.

For daily necessities like wooden plates, wooden barrels, baskets and such, she has visited several villages to find the right craftsmen to work with.

Shen Chengyao took Xiao’er on these visits. Over a few months, they both have worn themselves out!

Entering July, the weather got unbearably hot. Xiao’er’s seven-storey building in the town - Shen Tower, was finally ready to open after six months of preparation.

The words "Shen Tower" were written by Shangguan Xuanyi at Xiao’er’s request and are also stamped with his private seal. Not many people know about this seal, but those who do, enter the building with the highest respect and humility, not daring to act arrogantly in the slightest.

The first floor is Chengyao Wanjia Supermarket, the second is Four Seasons Tea House, the third to sixth are the Garden Hotel, and the seventh floor is used as an office, meeting room, resting room, and VIP room.

The opening of this building did not need any advertising. The seven-story building itself was the best advertisement! The whole structure made of concrete, the roof without a single tile, without any timber used for beams, but large glazed windows instead, were all the best advertisements one could hope for.

On the second floor, there was a small garden platform in the middle with a rockery host in a pond, full of colorful koi. It was surrounded by strange and beautiful flowers. Dining in such an environment was simply pleasing to the eye, naturally boosting the appetite.

Looking up from the garden, you could see a rectangular roof made entirely of colored glaze.

You could also see the colorful flowers planted on the rectangular balconies on each floor.

The flowers bloom so splendidly and vigorously, full of wonderful colors!

They’ve never seen a house built like this before! This was like having a garden inside the house, rather than just displaying bonsai!

The supermarket on the first floor had areas for vegetables, meat, fruits, snacks, beverages, and daily necessities.

The tea house on the second floor was like the Cantonese teahouses of their previous lives. It had a large hall, as well as private rooms to suit guests who needed independent dining spaces.

The morning meals were tea snacks: seaweed rolls, steamed dry, shrimp dumplings, cowboy bones, pork ribs, phoenix claws... various steamed bun classes, various types of congee, meat pies, stir-fried noodles, dim sum, fruit juice and so on.

For lunch and dinner, they served an array of dishes: kung pao chicken, pickled fish, water-boiled fish, water-boiled beef, pork stomach chicken, duck blood spicy soup, tea shrimp, spicy shrimp... both spicy and non-spicy were available.

They also had a buffet area, which charged 150 coins per person, per meal and 100 coins for kids. Customers could eat as much as they wished but could not take away or waste food. The buffet received unanimous praise.

Xiao’er’s building became a symbolic architecture of the town. Many people from other counties came to enjoy the grandeur of the big building and the delicious food after she opened her business.

The exquisite items in the supermarket were all from Xiao’er’s space, and the selling prices were very high. For example, a pound of cabbage could sell for 200 coins per jin, and anyone who had eaten it was willing to buy it again! Therefore, no matter how many exquisite items were put on the shelves each day, they were always sold out!

If it wasn’t eaten all the same day, it could be put until the next day. Who knows if you could buy it the next day!

Anyway, these variety of exquisite items, unless you are among the first ten people to enter the supermarket as it opens, you would surely miss out!

After Shangguan Xuanyi and Di Zhaowei tasted the food from Xiao’er’s space, they lost their appetites for any other food. These two men were very particular about what they ate, which led to a constant state of hunger when they were slightly away from the town.

After the opening of Xiao’er’s supermarket, business at Shen Chengguang’s grocery store fell sharply!

Five days after opening, Shen Chengguang finally couldn’t stand it anymore. Everyday he saw the bustling crowd at his younger brother’s shop, where people would queue up before dawn just to buy the exclusive items.

The supermarket was like that, and so was the teahouse, where many servants of rich households queued up for a place.

The queue for the private rooms in the restaurant was said to be until next month!

The garden hotel on the upper floors was always fully booked every night. Many guests came early but couldn’t get a room and had to leave with a disappointed face!

Shen Chengguang and Mrs. Lan were both incredibly jealous!

Now they understand how their younger brother made his fortune! The house in the village was simply too low-profile!

The bikes from the blacksmith shop, the furniture from the furniture shop, and now this building, their younger brother’s wealth was simply growing exponentially!

He really regretted splitting up from his family!

The provincial examination was coming soon, and Wen’er needed silver to pull some strings! After becoming a Xiucai (scholar), he would need to take part in the central examination after the New Year, which would also require silver. If the silver in his younger brother’s house all belonged to his own, how wonderful that would be!

Then, Wen’er could buy not just one scholarly title, but ten!

He has to go home and think of a plan with his father!