Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 259

Chapter 259: Chapter 259

The flavor of the lamb skewers received unanimous praise. Even Uncle Ping smacked his lips together, savoring the taste.

Looking at their surprised faces, Nanzhi couldn’t help feeling pleased.

She had never conducted any major business before and had assumed that she would just find a job after graduating from university, leading an ordinary life. She never thought she could make it this far.

While her life had been somewhat tumultuous, at least she was on the right path now.

She didn’t dare to consider what would have happened if she hadn’t taken that part-time job at the street stall, or if her master hadn’t taught her this craft out of pity.

What would she be doing now?

"Boss, we haven’t decided on the menu for our restaurant yet! We also need to recruit a couple of people for misc chores and dishwashing," said Wang Sheng, hesitating before reminding her.

After all, the boss didn’t seem like someone experienced in doing business and may have overlooked some details, it seemed beneficial to remind her as much as possible.

"We’ll post a notice to recruit dishwashers later. We just need to hire a couple of older women," Nanzhi said with a laugh, "As for the menu, we’re slowly sorting it out. I have asked someone to inform Master Lu, he will be coming to the restaurant tomorrow. We need to test the dishes. Selling these lamb skewers at three wen each, what do you guys think?"

"Three wen?"

The group exchanged glances, hesitating. Although lamb was expensive, you could have a bowl of noodles for five wen coin. Would it be too expensive to sell a skewer of lamb for three wen?

"Too high or too low?" asked Nanzhi, noticing their conflicted expressions.

With her portioning, a pound of lamb could make 30 to 40 skewers, so selling them at three wen each wasn’t too expensive nor cheap.

"It’s a bit pricey, but lamb itself is expensive, so it’s not unexpected," said Zhang Yun, scratching his head and speaking honestly.

His daily wage was only 60 wen, which meant he could only buy about 20 skewers with a day’s pay.

Although it was delicious, he believed it was a bit overpriced.

"I think it’s alright, after all, it’s lamb! And the taste is pretty good. Eating two skewers once in a while isn’t a big deal."

Liao Da chimed in from the side.

Although he was 21, and hadn’t yet gotten married, his parents didn’t manage him much as long as they had enough to eat and wear. As a result, he didn’t have many reservations.

"We also have other foods that we can roast, like potatoes and tofu, which are only one wen per skewer, and pork is two wen per skewer, I don’t think that’s too expensive."

Nanzhi had planned from the beginning to duplicate all the dishes from the food stall once the oven was ready.

However, the costly items were limited here, and the only dishes she could think of to roast were potatoes and bell peppers.

Eating dried tofu was considered extravagant, because vegetables basically covered just ten types.

Especially the lotus root, it could be sold for six wen per pound here. Calculating it, one skewer for one wen, she could basically only make profits with a high volume of sales.

"One wen per skewer is indeed cheap," said Wang Sheng, who was already married and lived in the restaurant for convenience. He would also regularly visit his home. With one wen per skewer, he could spend his day’s wages and let his family all have a taste.

When a new shop opens, some guests should be invited. In the end, Nanzhi pondered over who she could invite whilst inviting her family and Shen Miaomiao’s family.

After deliberating for about an hour, Nanzhi only managed to write out five invitations.

And this included invites for her own family as well as Shen Miaomiao’s.

The other three invites were for Liu Jie, the magistrate, Lin Fu, the owner of the cloth shop, and Shen Miaomiao’s uncle’s family.

Looking at the five invitations, Uncle Ping fell silent again.

Nanzhi’s handwriting was indeed rather poor.

In the end, for fear that others wouldn’t be able to read it, Uncle Ping rewrote the five invites for her.

While he was sending out the invitations with Liao Da, he found it strange that Nanzhi had kept two invites aside.

"Boss, are you going to deliver these yourself?"

"No, no, these are just invitations for my own home and Miaomiao’s. We will take them home later," Nanzhi waved her hand, smiling as she spoke.

"..."

Uncle Ping fell silent.

"I really couldn’t figure out who else to invite, so let’s just add to the fun," Nanzhi laughed.

She didn’t know many people, she felt strange not to invite guests for the opening. Otherwise, she really didn’t want to make a fuss.

"If the boss really doesn’t know who to invite, you can invite Hu San from Yahang," Uncle Ping reminded.

"Hu San is with Yahang, we will always have business dealings with them. Plus, it seems like he is acquainted with both the bosses. Inviting him over will facilitate things in the future."

"That’s true. Could you please write an invite for him too, Uncle Ping?"

After thinking for a moment, Nanzhi suddenly remembered another person, Wang Jingzhi, who was still an apprentice at Jihe Hall.

Even though she hadn’t seen him since she came to Yan City, they were still acquaintances after all.

Uncle Ping wrote two more invites and gave them to Liao Da to deliver along with the others.

Next, they wrote a recruitment notice on a piece of red paper and pasted it outside the restaurant.

Firstly, they were hiring a dishwasher for odd jobs, the salary was 800 wen a month, including two meals a day, with two days off a month.

Secondly, they were hiring a kitchen hand for cutting vegetables and other odd jobs. The salary was one silver tael and two wen a month, including two meals a day and accommodation, with four days off a month.

With the red recruitment notice outside the restaurant, many people gathered around to have a look. They all said that the Baiweizhai restaurant had closed for more than a month, but was it going to reopen?

Some people who discussed the matter also kept it in mind.

The next morning, as soon as Nanzhi reached the restaurant, she noticed an older woman sitting at the entrance.

"Auntie? Auntie?" Nanzhi gently tapped on the woman’s shoulder. Seeing that she responded, Nanzhi let out a sigh of relief.

At least she was alive.

"What is it?" The woman rubbed her eyes and saw a young girl standing next to her. Only then she asked: "Young girl, did you call me?"

"Auntie, what are you doing here?"

"I came here to look for some work. Yesterday, my daughter-in-law said this place was hiring," the woman massaged her legs which had become somewhat stiff from the cold, and slowly stood up.

Only then did Nanzhi have a good look at the woman’s face. She looked like she was in her forties, pale-faced and gaunt, her cheeks having lost their flesh. Her cheekbones were high and she tried to force a smile, which was slightly frightening to see.

"Auntie, please stand aside. I’ll get someone to open the door. You can go inside and sit down to wait."

The woman was clearly surprised upon hearing what she said, not understanding her intention.

After a long while, the woman moved aside a little.

Nanzhi saw her moving aside and looked at the door. Wang Sheng heard the noise and quickly took off the door panel and said, "Boss."

"Take off a few more boards from the door today." Nanzhi finished speaking and gestured to the old woman nearby.

"Auntie, go in. It’s too early now. We’ll start the job trial later."

The woman was still confused when she heard the restaurant’s staff calling Nanzhi "Boss". When she saw her telling her to go in, she was a little at a loss.

In the end, Wang Sheng removed three more boards from the door and saw that she still didn’t go in, he urged her again.

"Auntie, if you’re here to look for work, you should go in and sit down for a while. Our boss will begin the job trial later."

"Oh, oh, alright." The woman quickly nodded her head and finally stepped inside.