Zhang Cuilan had never dreamed that she would one day live with the most famous slut in all the nearby villages and serve the same master with her. She really didn't know what to say at first.
Of course, Yu Caihe was aware of her own terrible reputation, so she wasn't angry or surprised to see Zhang Cuilan's reaction. She just calmly related her recent experiences and finished with: "Thanks to the kindness of the young miss, I was purchased despite my reputation. You don't have to worry, I will certainly work hard for the young miss in the future. Sister Lan, if you have any work that needs to be done, don't hesitate to tell me and I will definitely do it."
And wasn't Zhang Cuilan also a woman? She had also been bullied by the men in her own life before, so she felt a lot of sympathy when she heard what Yu Caihe had been though. Plus, just by looking at Yu Caihe's hands, she could tell the woman wasn't someone afraid of work.
Of course, she had heard the rumors that Mrs. Hu from the Hu family was a flirtatious woman who was always picking up men and, to be honest, looking at Yu Caihe's face it seemed like she really might have that capability. Therefore, at the very least, there was no reason for a woman who looked like Yu Caihe to sell herself as a maidservant, because there would undoubtedly be who knew how many men willing to take her in as a concubine.
So just the fact that she was willing to follow Su Tang lent some credence to her words. In the end, Zhang Cuilan concluded it was the scum men who were truly bad, and Yu Caihe was only another pitiful woman caught up in the machinations of such men.
She and Yu Caihe both had their own experience with scum men, and with that as a common topic, they quickly became familiar with one another.
Su Tang had mainly bought Yu Caihe because she was the only suitable worker for sale. Of course, the problem was that Yu Caihe had a bad reputation that was well-known to people living both close and far, which meant that although she was very pretty, Su Tang couldn't really put her somewhere where people would see her. After all, people were stupid animals that definitely wouldn't be able to see through the fact that the rumors were false. With that in mind, Su Tang could only arrange for Yu Caihe to follow Zhang Cuilan and make soap, because that way she wouldn't have to go out much and it would save everyone a lot of trouble.
But by doing things this way, it meant that she hadn't found anyone who could run the shop. She herself had to go to her lessons with her master every day, so she couldn't handle the task by herself, but for now there was nothing she could do about the situation. Since she hadn't been able to buy anyone suitable, she could only do the job herself.
Meanwhile, because Carpenter Wang had received so many orders from her all at once, he told her that it would take some time before he could finish everything. But Su Tang felt that her business shouldn't be delayed, so she had asked him to prioritize the work for the shop and to try to get it done within half a month. As for the furniture for the living space, it was less urgent, but she wanted to have it before the end of the year.
There was only one more month before the Spring Festival began and Su Tang still wanted to take advantage of the holiday to sell a wave of desserts, so it was important to get the shop up and running quickly.
Of course, Carpenter Wang also wanted to have everything finished before the new year, because that would mean he could be fully paid before the new year and have an extravagant new years celebration with his family.
Thus he went and found his brother, who was also a carpenter, and gave some of the work to him. From there, the two brothers began to work together feverishly in order to fulfill the order on time.
As this was going on, Chen Shuisheng had managed to prepare all the materials he needed for the job and went to Su Tang's yard the very next day. So that very morning Su Tang watched on as he began building the oven she requested.
Chen Shuisheng had never made such a strange stove before, but fortunately, it wasn't actually all that difficult to make. In the end, he managed to finish it in less than two days, and all that was left was drying the oven and firing the stone. However, Su Tang told him that he had done enough at that point and directly paid him to send him off.
At first, Chen Shuisheng had thought Su Tang was just a little girl and that she was playing around for fun, but when he saw the shop that Su Tang owned he began to suspect that the thing he had built for her should be useful somehow. However, because the shop wasn't open yet, and because Su Tang wouldn't say how the thing was used, he could only leave while secretly feeling curious.
After that, Su Tang had Zhang Cuilan and Baohe watch over the oven for the next few days in order to properly dry and fire the stone of the oven.
Thus, Su Tang was very busy for these few days. In addition to studying with Song Yi every afternoon, she also was running around doing various things like picking out cutlery and dishes for the shop, and other small things like that.
At the same time, all the other members of her household were also very busy with making soap. And in the twinkling of an eye, they had already found themselves in the midst of the twelfth lunar month.
Carpenter Wang had successfully finished the counters, tables and, chairs for the shop in front. Now, as soon as a person opened the door of the shop they would immediately be faced with a counter that was over one meter high for the people who just wanted to order and leave. Next to this counter, there was a door that led further into the shop for the customers who wanted to come in and sit down.
After entering this second door, there was another counter with a large cabinet full of various materials and cutlery behind it against the back wall. Then there were two tables and several comfortable chairs placed a fair distance from the door, along with a row of tables with small stools under them that were all affixed to the wall.
Although the area was a bit small, it could at least it can accommodate one or two dozen customers at once. In Su Tang's estimation that would probably be enough, because she didn't expect that the shop would ever be too crowded. After all, these people in the ancient era weren't like modern girls who had that habit of sitting around for long periods of time chatting and eating desserts.
Meanwhile, the door that led directly into the living area was hidden behind the cabinet behind the counter, making the whole shop a bit more private for both the people living there and the customers.
"Miss Su, are you satisfied with our work?" After Carpenter Wang found her to tell her the work was done, he asked this question.
Looking around, Su Tang thought, sure enough, this was the work of a craftsman who had been doing this kind of work for generations. She was very satisfied with the craftsmanship on display and nodded. "As expected, Carpenter Wang is truly an artisan."
Being praised like this, Carpenter Wang only gave a simple and honest smile, "En, I was confident I could meet your expectations, young miss."
Su Tang ran her hand across one of the tables, inspecting the delicately carved whirls and patterns that she had specially designed for the shop, and she nodded with satisfaction. "Now that this is done, I'll have to trouble Carpenter Wang for the remaining furniture for the courtyard behind."
Carpenter Wang nodded along happily. In fact, the things Su Tang had requested for her shop were really a bit troublesome, but the furniture for the back courtyard was much more simple work of the kind that Carpenter Wang was very familiar with doing, so he was happy to switch to that task.
Since Carpenter Wang got Su Tang's approval he was eager to go back and start work on the furniture but, as it happened, when he was leaving he noticed that the custom sign Su Tang had ordered was arriving so he stayed for a bit while Su Tang inspected the sign to make sure there were no issues.
After finding everything in order, Su Tang closed the doors to the shop and headed to the back courtyard through the small inner door. The furniture for the back courtyard hadn't been delivered yet, so the space back here still seemed a little empty, but Zhang Cuilan had already come and cleaned it up so it at least seemed very neat and tidy.
Meanwhile, the custom tools Su Tang ordered had all been delivered and had been placed on a shelf in the kitchen. Seeing that, Su Tang quickly took out some cream cheese, white sugar, and eggs from her space.
After burning continuously for half a month, all traces of dampness had been completely evaporated from the stone and mud used to build the oven. The orange cat had also taken a look and told Su Tang that the oven was finally ready for use, so Su Tang planned to try to make some simple cheesecake in a cupcake mold today.
She placed the two eggs, the sugar, and the cream cheese into a large bowl and stirred them all together with chopsticks until they merged together into a smooth and creamy mixture.
Then she put the mixture into a few customized palm-sized bowls she had ordered beforehand and turned to the orange cat, 'Is the temperature right?'
The orange cat bristled, 'Do you know that I am a Divine Beast? I am not a scale, nor am I a thermometer!"
Why did his master this time always insist on using him in such a way? Couldn't she let him display at least a little bit of his true power and ability?
Su Tang saw the orange cat whining and replied, 'You should be happy. At least as a thermometer, you're quite useful for making desserts.'
Orange cat: 'Why am I cursed this way?!'
Su Tang laughed and asked again, 'Alright, is the temperature right?'
'It should be right.' The orange cat relented. Although he was being used as a thermometer and a scale by his master, the noble Divine Beast decided to compromise for the sake of dessert.
When Su Tang heard the orange cat give his approval, she deftly put all the small bowls onto a tray and pushed them into the oven.
In fact, producing these sorts of Western desserts required fine control of both the quantity of the materials and the temperature of the oven. If either measurement were off, then you were very likely to end up with a failed product.
Su Tang only dared to bake this kind of delicate cake with her crude tools because the orange cat was around. Although she would usually complain that the orange cat was only good for eating, she at least recognized that he was very competent as a measuring tool.
Meanwhile, the orange cat, who had been reduced to a measuring tool, could only feel immense regret in his heart!
Around fifteen minutes later, Su Tang removed the tray from the oven and revealed that the small bowls now each contained some fluffy-looking cakes. Su Tang scooped out a small bite with her spoon and put it in her mouth. Immediately, she could taste the unique blend of cheese and sugar that cheesecake was known for. She thought for a moment and then murmured, "I think it would be a bit better if we could add some fruit to it."
Of course, Su Tang hadn't eaten such a cake in a very long time, so she was momentarily overwhelmed by the familiar taste from her previous life and she just stood there quietly with her eyes closed and savored it for a moment. But as a result, when she opened her eyes, she was immediately greeted with the bitter glare of a certain Divine Beast.
Seeing the accusation in the orange cat's eyes, Su Tang smiled wryly and quickly passed two small cakes over to him. Only then did the orange cat finally twitch his whiskers contentedly and happily begin to eat.
Judging by the omnivorous nature of the orange cat, Su Tang felt that she could only admit that Si Er was really no ordinary cat. (tl note: It's embarrassing but I've been mistranslating the orange cat's name. He's rarely ever properly named, but it's '四儿' as far as I can tell. I'll try to go back and fix it in previous chapters as well.)
And this one success proved that the oven she had designed was working properly, which meant everything was ready and she could finally open her shop.
Su Tang decided to have her grand opening the day after she confirmed that the oven was working, on the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Thus, she began baking cakes with Baohe early that morning. Of course, because the shop was just opening, Su Tang decided not to make things too complex or have too many items on the menu. For now, she was only selling the toffee she had made last time and the cheesecake she had made the day before.
Because there was no special paper for holding a piece of a dessert like a cupcake in this era, Su Tang was using small customized bowls instead. However, although the bowls were acceptable as a substitute, it also meant that people who were buying cupcakes in these bowls would have to eat in the shop and wouldn't be able to take them away. With that in mind, Su Tang also designed a pan that could make a larger cheesecake which could then be cut up to be sold and taken away piece by piece.
She had already put up the sign for her shop which she had ordered beforehand, just it was covered with a red cloth until the grand opening would take place. Meanwhile, Song Yi had found out that Su Tang's dessert shop would be opening today, so he had sent Pengmo over to help his disciple out.
Because today was the grand opening, Pengmo had bought some firecrackers and was ready to set them off later when the doors opened for business. Of course, Su Tang knew that there would be some difficulties because she was selling things that the people of this era had never seen before, but there wasn't much she could do about it. In the end, she decided to set out some of the dishes for guests to try as samples.
Because of that, Baohe came out and put some of the bigger cakes and toffees they had baked this morning on the counter at the front of the shop. Because the smaller cupcakes couldn't be taken away, they were only placed on the cafe's inner counter. Besides this, there was also a teapot sitting on the stove inside the shop where fresh milk tea was being brewed.
In addition to the three kinds of desserts, Su Tang's cafe also had fresh milk tea and fresh ginger milk on the menu. Of course, at present, the whole menu was only these three products.
Su Tang wasn't in a hurry though. She figured she could sell these things first and then slowly add more new products later.
Seeing that all the preparations were almost done and that it was almost time for the nearby academy's lunch break, Su Tang had Pengmo go out and set off the firecrackers. At the same time, she pulled the red cloth down and revealed the sign with the name of her shop: Dessert Cafe! (tl note: '甜品吧' is the raw for the name here. I dunno, 'Dessert Cafe' seems close?)
The sign only contained those two big words, but there was also a strange and unique pattern carved into the top left corner of the sign. This pattern was actually the logo specially designed by Su Tang, and it looked like a modern candy.
After that, Su Tang asked Pengmo and Baohe to take the flyers that she had specially designed and copied beforehand, take them to the two entrances of the academy, and start handing them out!
In this ancient era, not many people were literate, but all of the students in the academy were! With that in mind, Su Tang had decided to try drumming up popularity for her cafe with the most typical method that she knew from modern times: handing out flyers.
The flyers advertised the opening of the new store and mentioned some of the products being sold as well as their prices, while also inviting people to come and try some free samples.
Three lavishly dressed students came out of the academy and when they saw someone handing out flyers, they walked over out of curiosity and got one from Pengmo. After looking at it, one spoke: "'Dessert'? What kind of thing is this?"
"Hm, this seems like something new and fresh. Zhu Ran, would you like to go have a try?" These three young men were all children from well-known wealthy families in town, so they usually played together. The one who spoke first was Zhu Ran, and the one who spoke second was Li Qiang.
"A toffee costs five copper coins, a cupcake costs fifteen copper coins, ginger milk costs ten copper coins a cup, milk tea costs twenty copper coins a cup, and this 'cheesecake' costs fifteen copper coins? What kind of store is this? They must be running some kind of shady business, right?" The last teenager, named Wang Hong, asked.
After reading off all the prices on this flyer, Wang Hong's whole body radiated gloominess. After all, although these were some strange and never heard of things, the prices were just too scary.
For comparison, a bowl of plain noodles from one of the other stalls on East Street only cost one copper coin, and adding a fish ball would only cost another two copper coins, which was more than enough for a meal. But at this new shop, the cheapest thing on the menu cost five copper coins, so what was a person supposed to think except that the owner must be running some sort of shady business?
"It does seem a little expensive, but I'm also curious about why this 'dessert' thing has such a high price. Let's go over and see what this store sells."
Although Zhu Ran also felt that the things on this menu weren't cheap, it wasn't like he couldn't afford them. Rather than the price, he was more curious about whether these things he had never heard of were just some strange gimmicks or if they were actually really delicious and worth the price. So with those sorts of thoughts, the three of them went to look for the Dessert Cafe according to the address on the flyer.
However, many other students directly gave up after seeing the prices and didn't even want to go take a look. After all, no matter how good those things might be, it was no use if they couldn't afford to buy them. Besides, they were all things that they had never heard of before, so who even knew if they would be any good?
Of course, when Pengmo had seen these flyers, he had urged Su Tang not to write down the prices like this because many people would be scared off by the prices and wouldn't even come at all. However, Su Tang hadn't agreed and had stuck with her plan to publicize the prices clearly.
In the first place, fine desserts had never been targeted at the poor, even in the modern era. A good cake wasn't something cheap and could easily cost the kind of price that many people wouldn't ever even think of paying. Thus, since these people weren't the target customers, what was the point of attracting them?
Of course, in the modern era, the sales concept had shifted to letting those who couldn't afford things consume them anyway using credit, but this kind of method would generate issues in the long term so Su Tang had no interest in introducing it. Instead, she would rather just target the wealthy families to be her customers, and the best way to do that was to state the price clearly and up front.
In fact, she was mainly just trying to avoid any unnecessary troubles. Whether Pengmo understood that or not was unclear, but in the end, he didn't bother trying to persuade her any further. He had only spoken up in the first place because he was worried that Su Tang's shop might not do well, but in this ancient era, it wasn't too appropriate for a servant to say too much, so he quickly backed down.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ran had followed the flyer and eventually made his way to Su Tang's shop and found that it was actually quite lively in front of the shop. After all, the students were mainly all young children so when they saw something new pop up like this they would all be curious and would want to come over and take a look at the hustle and bustle, even if they couldn't afford to buy anything.
Su Tang saw these people and smiled, "Good afternoon everyone. The Dessert Cafe opens today and for our opening promotion if you buy one item you can get a second item at half price. Our take-out products include cheesecake, toffee and, if you have your own bowl, milk tea as well. Everyone is welcome to have a taste if you're curious."
"We've prepared some free samples of our products here that everyone can try." Su Tang pointed to the small bowl of free samples she had prepared for the guests to try. Inside there was some toffee, some cheesecake that had been cut into small pieces, and also a few of the cupcakes, so that people could sample all of her products.
After Su Tang finished speaking, everyone was still very cautious. After all, they were all frightened by the pricing on Su Tang's flyers and they felt that this shop must be doing some sort of shady business, or else the prices wouldn't be so high. For instance, maybe they would take one of the "free samples" and then the owner would immediately change her tune and try to extort money from them with blackmail?
In fact, if this was one of the larger cities, like the county seat, the prefecture capital, or the capital city, it wouldn't be strange to see these sorts of luxury goods. However, in remote places like Qinghe Town, the people all more or less had no concept of 'high-level consumption'. At most, the wealthier people might eat desserts or luxury snacks a few more times a year.
And because of that sort of mindset, when it came to things like desserts and snacks, the vendors made no distinction in their target markets. They all sold these sorts of things to ordinary people and rich people the same. Of course, contrary to that, there were still stark differences when it came to things like fabric or jewelry. The rich could wear fine fabrics and adorn themselves with gold, silver, and jade, but the poor could not. Moreover, the rich didn't wear the same styles of clothing or use the same kinds of embroidery on their clothing, so there were all sorts of differences in style depending on a person's wealth.
However, at least presently, the rich people of Qinghe Town weren't all that different from anyone else when it came to their diets. However, Su Tang was aiming to change that. She was specifically aiming for customers who had relatively better economic conditions, which was why the starting price on her menu was five copper coins. That was to say, in order to dine in her cafe, a person needed to be ready to spend five copper coins at minimum, and even then they would only get a small piece of toffee.
But Su Tang wasn't worried. She knew that by setting her prices like this, she wasn't just selling the item. She was also selling a sort of prestige to the buyer. A sense of 'I am a tycoon. What other people cannot afford to buy, I can afford easily.'
So when she saw that the crowd was all hesitating and not coming forward to try the free samples, Su Tang didn't feel anxious at all. She was confident that there would be at least one person who would want to purchase this sort of prestige. With this big crowd here, wasn't it the perfect chance for this sort of person? No one else can afford it, but he can afford it, wouldn't that make an impact? And whether the thing was good or bad, it wouldn't really be a loss. If it was really terrible he could take it up with the shop owner, right? So Su Tang wasn't worried at all.
"Is this thing here called cheesecake?" When Zhu Ran arrived he heard Su Tang advertising the free samples, so he went forward to take a look. On the plate, there were many small pieces of cakes and toffee, and he pointed at one of the small pieces of cake and asked to be sure.
When she heard Zhu Ran's question, Su Tang secretly cheered in her heart: The tycoon is here!
"Yes, that is the cheesecake. After some experimentation at home, I managed to make this thing with milk and cheese, and so I decided to call it cheesecake. My cheesecake has a dense taste, but it also easily melts in the mouth. Would you like to have a try sir student?"
"Melts in the mouth, eh? Sure. I'll try it." When Zhu Ran heard Su Tang's explanation, he was immediately curious what she meant by 'melts in the mouth'. He really couldn't imagine what sort of taste that was at all. As for the fears of being scammed that were holding the other people back, he wasn't concerned about that at all.
So he reached down and picked up one of the small pieces of cheesecake using a small wooden stick provided by the shop and put it in his mouth. After putting it in his mouth, he was surprised to find that this cake really did seem to naturally melt away, leaving only a unique flavor that was a slight mixture of sweetness and saltiness. At the same time, there was no strong smell of milk.
"It was actually true…" This 'cheesecake' had a very unique taste, but Zhu Ran felt that Su Tang's previous introduction actually captured its characteristics very well. The taste was dense, but the cake quickly melted in your mouth and only left a bit of lingering sweet taste behind.
Zhu Ran couldn't help but want to take another bite, and when he reached out he found Su Tang blocking his hand. She said with a smile, "Sorry, classmate, the first sample is free, but everyone can only eat one piece."
Having been blocked after unconsciously reaching out for more, Zhu Ran's face felt hot, but he quickly took out thirty copper coins and passed them over to Su Tang, "Give me two pieces!"
Then he looked at the other side of the sample dish, where there were small pieces of toffee, and asked: "What about these?"
"You can sample everything once for free so, of course, you can sample these pieces of toffee as well." Su Tang quickly gave permission. She was fine with giving out free samples, but only one of each.
Thus, Zhu Ran also picked up a toffee and tossed it into his mouth. The taste of the toffee was completely different from the taste of the cheesecake, and a sort of milky sweetness seemed to explode on his tongue. The candy was a little hard at first, but then it became chewy, and finally, after eating it there was a lingering taste in his mouth as if he had drank a large glass of milk.
"These pieces of toffee were also made from milk. In fact, after buying them you can even add them to hot water and, with two milk candies, you can create a big bowl of milk." Su Tang continued to introduce her milk candies to everyone.
Because her toffee was a little more crude when compared to the toffee commonly eaten in modern times, they were more or less just sweetened condensed milk and powdered milk. Thus, if you brewed them with water, you could return them back to their milk state.
In fact, Su Tang was telling everyone the truth about her ingredients for a reason. These people all knew how expensive milk was, so could candies made from milk be cheap? Of course not, right?
Su Tang had even specially ordered a lot of milk for her cafe beforehand to prepare for this day. After all, she was planning to do business seriously and for the long term, so if her cafe was selling products but not taking in any raw materials to make those products, wouldn't that be very suspicious if anyone ever decided to investigate in the future?
Su Tang would never take any risks that might expose her space, so in order to keep the deception up, she had even especially found a company to regularly send milk to her cafe. Of course, when actually making her products she used the milk from inside the space, and all of the milk she bought from outside she just sold back to the space for half-price.
Zhu Ran was actually very fond of sweets and, even though it tasted good, the cheesecake wasn't very sweet in comparison to the toffee. Contrarily, the toffee was very sweet and much more in line with his taste, so he liked them very much. Because of that, he directly took out fifty copper coins and said: "Give me ten more of these."
Truth be told, if the onlookers around hadn't known who Zhu Ran was, they might have suspected he was putting on a show with Su Tang. Just now he had tried both free samples and then immediately taken out money to buy after tasting each sample once. If he weren't such a recognizable face, people would have been suspicious that Su Tang had just hired him to act with her.
Wang Hong also felt something was strange, so he pulled Zhu Ran's sleeve and asked: "What's the matter with you?"
Zhu Ran waved his hand. "Try it yourself. These things are delicious. They really seem to melt when you put them in your mouth. I've decided to buy a few extra pieces and take them back to my grandmother. She'll love them."
When Wang Hong saw how convinced Zhu Ran seemed, he exchanged a look with Li Qiang. Anyway, it wasn't like it was a huge amount of money, so he felt that they might as well give it a try.
Thus, the two of them both sampled both the cheesecake and the pieces of toffee, and they both felt that these new sweets were very good. Li Qiang liked the taste of the cheesecake very much and bought two pieces immediately while Wang Hong, like Zhu Ran, preferred the rich sweetness of the toffee and directly bought ten.
When the gathered crowd saw the three young masters all managed to try the free samples without Su Tang jumping up and trying to demand money or anything, they all came forward to try the samples themselves one after another.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ran had received his specially prepared cheesecakes inside its small dish and tried a bite of it with a spoon. In an instant, he was completely conquered. "This is so delicious. I want two more of these. No, I want three!"
The cheesecake he had tried from the sample plate had a dense taste and melted in the mouth, but this new cheesecake in the little cupcake dish tasted even better than the one before. It seemed to directly melt as it touched his tongue and fill his whole mouth with its unique flavor. Zhu Ran loved the taste very much.
"I'm very sorry but, at present, only the toffee and cheese cake can be taken out of the shop. These cupcakes, as well as our ginger milk and milk tea, aren't convenient to sent out and can only be eaten inside the cafe. The milk tea can be taken away so long as you bring your own cup to drink it from."
Su Tang directly refused. She didn't provide this service mainly because her small cups and bowls all cost money, ah, so there was no way she would just give them away. If she let people take her dishes away, wouldn't that just drive her costs up? No way that was going to happen!
"Well since we can still eat them in the restaurant, let's just go in and eat!" When Zhu Ran and Li Qiang heard Su Tang's rule, they were eager to enter the cafe, but just as quickly they were stopped by the door.
The three men all exchanged confused glances, but then Su Tang explained: "Apologies but my Dessert Cafe only provides seating for girls, and male guests can only use the front counter. If you have female relatives who have come to East Street to shop and want to stop to rest my Dessert Cafe will always have our doors open. Female guests are always welcome to come and sit for a while and try our cakes and beverages."
"What? You don't let men into your shop?" What she said surprised the whole group of people outside.
Su Tang nodded. "Currently, it's a bit inconvenient for women who have come out to shop on East Street, so my cafe aims to provide a little help to such women."
Although there were many shops that catered to the students who frequented East Street because of the nearby academy, there were also many shops that sold jewelry and other things as well. Over time, East Street had become a sort of commercial center for the town so there were naturally many women who would come here to go shopping.
And as it happened, amidst the lively crowd of students who had come to see Su Tang's cafe, there was coincidentally a girl who looked to be about twelve years old and her maid there. When they heard Su Tang's words, the young girl's eyes lit up and she stepped out of the crowd to say: "This little sister, did you just say that your shop is only open to female customers?"
The crowd turned to look at this new arrival and saw that it was a small girl who looked to be about 11 or 12 years old. She was dressed in a neat pink dress under a fluffy fox-fur cloak. The white fox fur was brushing against the girl's round cheeks, and her sparkling black eyes were looking at Su Tang with curiosity.
Seeing who it was, Zhu Ran immediately stepped back and murmured, "Miss Lu!"
However, he spoke in a voice so low that the little girl obviously didn't hear him.
But Su Tang, who was standing closer to him, heard him clearly and felt a little surprised inside that there was someone who could make this little tycoon so hesitant. However, seeing that the little girl was looking at her with curious eyes and waiting for a response, she put that thought on the back burner. She focused on the girl and gave a smile and nod, "En, my cafe only serves female guests. Would you like to come inside and try one of our desserts?"
"How excellent, it just so happens that I'm a bit tired from shopping." Getting Su Tang's confirmation, the little girl happily grabbed her maid by the hand and headed into the cafe.
This time Su Tang didn't block the way so the girl got inside fine. At the same time, Su Tang sent the orange cat a meaningful look in order to get him to go and investigate where this little girl had come from.
Because the orange cat had eaten some delicious desserts today he was happy to run this sort of trivial errand for Su Tang. After receiving her look, he disappeared in a flash.
Meanwhile, Baohe had finished handing out the flyers, so Su Tang beckoned her over and let her handle the free samples and sales at the front counter. Once Baohe was at the counter, Su Tang turned and followed the other girl into the cafe.
The appearance of the little girl seemed to confirm things for the spectators outside. After she entered the Dessert Cafe they could see that this new and expensive 'cafe' with its strange and special rules was really only open to female guests.
The other thing that they had seen, was that these 'free samples' were really free, so they all began to go forward to have a try. Baohe asked them all to queue up and form a line in the way Su Tang had taught her to and began arranging to let them all try the samples one by one. However, it was a very busy scene, so eventually, she called Pengmo over to help her so there wouldn't be any mistakes.
"What kind of dessert would you like? Have a look at the menu here and take your pick." Su Tang followed the little girl into the cafe and found her just standing in the entrance and looking around with curious eyes. See that the girl seemed uncertain, Su Tang pointed to the menu hanging up on the wall and gave a brief explanation.
"So this is the menu?" The little girl had already seen the colorful paintings hanging on the wall that Su Tang was pointing at and she had thought they had looked pretty good, but she hadn't expected that they would actually be a menu. She felt this was a very curious and novel idea.
In fact, this menu had been hand-painted by Su Tang personally, and on it were all the products currently being sold by the Dessert Cafe. After all, this era didn't have the benefits of a modernized education system, so there were many illiterate people. Of course, as a person doing business, Su Tang wanted those people to be able to use the menu as well.
But, in the end, there just weren't that many people who could read so, in the end, Su Tang had decided to paint the menu herself and directly represent her products with colorful pictures. After all, she had an education in design, so she was very good at this sort of work.
"En, it is. Can I ask what the young lady interested in? I could make a suggestion." Su Tang nodded and continued introducing the cafe.
The little girl looked carefully at the menu for a while before saying, "I haven't tried any of your food before, so why don't you just recommend your best dish?"
Her brows were furrowed after looking for a while but, in the end, she didn't know what any of the things on the menu were, let alone which one was the most delicious or how to eat it.
Thus, she simply asked Su Tang. After all, she was the owner of this cafe, and the girl felt that the owner should certainly be able to make the best recommendation.
"Well, since the young lady hasn't ever tried food like this before, I suggest that the young lady try our special cupcakes. Today, when you buy one you can have the second one for half price, so the young lady could buy two and enjoy them with a cup of hot milk tea that our cafe brewed fresh just this morning."
Su Tang directly recommended her current best products for afternoon tea. She really felt that the cheesecake along with the milk tea was exquisite, ah!
The little girl nodded. "I'll have what you've recommended then."
"Understood. Then, young miss, please have a seat for now. Your bill will be 42 copper coins in total." Su Tang rapidly calculated the price and explained it to the girl, "The cupcakes cost fifteen copper coins each, but because of the promotion the second one is at half price and will only cost seven copper coins, and the milk tea costs twenty copper coins. If the young lady enjoys the food, you're more than welcome to come again."
When the little girl heard Su Tang talking about money, she asked quizzically: "I need to pay first?"
"Yes." Su Tang had decided to run her cafe according to more modern rules. People would pay as they ordered and only after payment was received would the kitchen start cooking, which would save trouble all around.
After hearing this rule, the little girl blinked curiously, "Your cafe really is quite different. Qing Ju, give payment."
Although the girl felt that this rule was a bit strange, she still asked her maid to pass the money over. Hearing the girl's order, the little servant girl quickly took out a purse, counted out 42 copper coins, and handed them to Su Tang.
Su Tang received the money, put it away, and then went to the inner counter where she deftly poured out a pot of warm milk tea and put two cupcakes onto a plate. Then she put the cup and the plate on a tray along with a small spoon and delivered the tray to the girl, "Here's your order!"
The little servant girl hadn't wanted to say anything, but when she saw that 42 copper coins had really been exchanged for the few things on the tray, she couldn't help but mutter, "It seems that this really is a shady business since those few things somehow cost 42 copper coins."
Her voice was relatively low, but given her position she really shouldn't have spoken at all. However, she couldn't help herself. She really felt indignant that her young miss had been tricked into wasting money. Although she knew the young misses' family wouldn't miss these few copper coins, she felt it wasn't good to let the young miss be cheated for nothing.
Of course, Su Tang heard what the little maid said, but she didn't care about it. Her things were expensive, sure, but she was also the only one selling them, so she felt the price was fair. Besides, she only sold to willing buyers. If they weren't willing, it wasn't like anyone was forcing them to spend money ah.
Having finished serving the customer, Su Tang went behind the counter, took a cupcake, poured herself a cup of milk tea, and leisurely sat down in the rocking chair before taking a sip. Her eyes narrowed in happiness: This was really the power of sweet food.
However, just as she sat down, the orange cat suddenly came back in. Su Tang casually poured him a bowl of milk tea and paid attention to his silent words: 'This girl's name is Lu Wan'er. She is 11 years old and the only daughter of the Deputy County Magistrate from Qingyuan County. It seems that she recently came back to Qinghe Town in order to accompany the elders in her family for the Spring Festival.'
After spending just a few moments outside, the orange cat was able to quickly dig up the little girl's background.
Su Tang was surprised to hear about this little girl's identity. She really hadn't expected that on her first day of business she would manage to hook a big customer like the young miss of a Deputy County Magistrate's family. It should be known that within a Qihuang Kingdom County, the biggest official was the county magistrate, a dignified seventh-rank official. These magistrates were all officials sent down by the Ministry of Officials after being recognized in the imperial examination.
Thus, within a County, the top official was, of course, the seventh-ranked County Magistrate but, in addition to him, there would also an eighth-ranked Deputy County Magistrate, a ninth-ranked bookkeeper, and also a few yamen who all worked in the County Offical's office.
So, naturally, a Deputy County Magistrate could be regarded as a very powerful official within a county, and since Lu Wan'er was Deputy Magistrate Lu's only daughter she had been spoiled since childhood. Even Zhu Ran, who was a rich young master in Qinghe Town, had only accidentally bumped into Lu Wan'er once before when his father had taken him to the county seat, which was how he had been able to recognize her. However, Lu Wan'er didn't know Zhu Ran at all.
As it happened, Deputy Magistrate Lu was actually a native from Qinghe Town, so this time Lu Wan'er had come to the small town to accompany her grandparents for the upcoming festival. However, in the end, there just weren't many interesting things in a small place like Qinghe Town, so when she happened to see that Su Tang was opening a strange new type of shop, she decided to come in and have a look out of boredom.
After finding out the girl's identity, Su Tang began to seriously consider. After all, since Lu Wan'er was the only daughter of Deputy Magistrate Lu, she was basically at the pinnacle of society within the county. The women in Lu Wan'er's social circle could definitely be called the noblest ladies in the whole county.
And, as it happened, her Dessert Cafe was aiming just for such customers. Su Tang sat in her rocking chair and looked at this Young Miss Lu craftily, her mind full of thoughts about how to use her to bring in more rich customers and earn more money for her cafe.
Lu Wan'er naturally had no idea that Su Tang had instantly started targeting her after meeting her only once.
At the same time, when the girl heard her personal servant girl saying that Su Tang's cafe was a shady business, she quickly glared at her and said, "If you speak nonsense again, your stipend for this month will be deducted."
Lu Wan'er was 11 years old this year, all the personal servant girls around her had been serving her since she was five years old. This one was only two years older than her, so after being scolded by her lady the little servant girl shut up with an aggrieved expression and dared not speak any further.
When Lu Wan'er saw that her servant had gone silent, she turned and looked at the tray in front of her with a meaningful gaze. Seeing her young misses' eyes, Qing Ju quickly stepped forward to pour her a cup of milk tea from the pot despite having just been scolded.
As she did that, Lu Wan'er picked up the small spoon that had come with the food curiously.
She looked at it for a while. It was small, barely the size of the pad of her thumb, and the rounded wooden handle was engraved with some unique and lovely patterns.
She briefly thought that this little spoon was very exquisite and lovely to look at, but then she quickly used it to scoop up a small piece of her cupcake. The milky white cake melted instantly in her mouth, and the unique flavor of cheese along with a mild hint of the flavor of milk slowly bloomed on her tongue.
"This is delicious!" Lu Wan'er was instantly conquered by this cake that melted as soon as it touched her tongue, and her big round eyes narrowed with excitement.
After that, she couldn't help but take a second bite, and then a third. When Su Tang saw the girl eagerly scooping the cake into her mouth one bite after another, she piped up, "Ah, young lady, you could also try eating it with the milk tea. I think you will find it tastes better that way."
With Su Tang's reminder, Lu Wan'er hastened to pick up her cup as well. The freshly brewed milk tea was still a little hot so she sipped it carefully. When she did, she was immediately treated to a fragrant and silky taste. The mellow taste of the milk combined with the scent and sweetness of tea to create a unique and full-bodied taste.
"This is delicious as well!" Lu Wan'er's eyes lit up.
Looking at the little girl who was wearing a happy smile that was smeared with a white circle of milk and speaking compliments one after another, Su Tang smiled as well and replied: "Thank you for your compliments young miss!"
In fact, most of the material used in her milk tea came from her space. The milk was directly produced in the space, while the tea leaves were grown and harvested from the space and then dried in her courtyard. Although the equipment for drying tea leaves outside the space were a bit primitive, because the base materials were so excellent the resulting tea was good too. Thus, her milk tea naturally had a different sort of taste compared to regular drinks that people of this era were used to.
In fact, Su Tang could even say that although she had tried many different brands of milk tea in the modern era, there weren't many that were as good as the milk tea she was making for her cafe here.
"Good, good. Good things like this must be properly complimented. These ideas for new foods you have are all really delicious, you're amazing." As she spoke, Lu Wan'er couldn't stop alternately taking a bite of cake and then a mouthful of tea over and over again.
"Because I'm in my mourning period I can't eat meat, but I'm at the age where children grow so my master told was afraid I wouldn't get enough nutrition and told me to eat more milk and eggs. But it's a bit boring to eat nothing but plain milk and eggs every day, so I experimented a bit and came up with a few new recipes. In the end, I thought the recipes were pretty good and decided to open this cafe."
After interacting with Lu Wan'er a bit, Su Tang felt her character was quite lovely and became even more eager to win the girl to her side and hopefully rope in some more big customers, so Su Tang even took the initiative to chat a bit.
Lu Wan'er nodded along as she listened to Su Tang's explanation. In fact, she had already seen that Su Tang was dressed all in plain white clothes with two little white flowers in her hair, so she had guessed that the other girl was in mourning.
So she wasn't surprised at all by Su Tang's revelation and just continued the topic, "Well, you really are quite skillful. This 'cupcake' you've made is really delicious, and the milk tea is delicious too."
"Since you like it, you're welcome to come and eat it whenever you like or even bring your friends along to eat it with you." Su Tang directly began her pitch with a smile when she saw that the other girl was being so generous with her compliments.
Lu Wan'er continued to nod along, "En, it's such delicious food, I need to be sure to tell my friends to come and try some too."
As she finished saying that, she finally managed to finish both of her cupcakes. When she saw there was no more, her brows furrowed unhappily, and she turned to Su Tang: "Hm, give me two more of these cupcakes."
Su Tang felt a bit uncertain. Although the cupcakes were small, they were still desserts, and probably two of them along with a whole pot of milk tea would be more than enough for a little girl alone. But unexpectedly, Lu Wan'er immediately asked for more after she finished eating the first two. Su Tang thought for a moment before saying, "Although these desserts are delicious, it isn't advisable to eat too much at once. Young lady, you still have half a pot of milk tea to drink, so you might not even want more food after finishing that."
"But I still want to eat more cupcakes." When Lu Wan'er heard what Su Tang said, her face crinkled and she gave Su Tang an expectant look before saying in a sickly sweet voice, "Little sister, just give me two more. I'm sure I can eat them."
In an instant, Lu Wan'er seemed to flip a switch and activate her coquettish mode and begin pouring out all sorts of cutesy tricks. Qing Ju, who was watching from the side, felt speechless for a moment before calling: "Young miss, young miss!"
Her young miss was at least the dignified daughter of a Deputy County Magistrate, ah, she shouldn't be here trying to act cutesy in front of a little girl who was even younger than she was!
But Lu Wan'er didn't care at all. When she saw that Su Tang was remaining silent even after her first volley, she quickly walked up to the other girl and began to tug on her sleeve while saying, "Good little sister, then just give me one more please…"
OMG. Su Tang was petrified on the spot. This was really the first time across both of her two lives that she had seen such a coquettish little girl. The worst part was that she didn't seem awkward at all as she acted so cutesy, instead, her actions seemed sweet and natural.
Who could withstand this cuteness? Su Tang smiled helplessly and said, "Young lady, you are the guest, and I'm trying to sell goods, so if you want to buy more how can I not sell to you? It's just that it can be bad if you eat too much sweet food at once, so I spoke up to remind the young lady."
Right now, Su Tang had every intention to get closer to Lu Wan'er because, no matter the girl's character, she was at least the daughter of the Deputy Magistrate. In the whole Qingyuan County she could be considered one of the noblest girls. After all, there was only one person above her father, and that was the County Magistrate himself.
Because of that, Lu Wan'er undoubtedly knew most of the wealthy and powerful families within the county and the ladies in those families, or to put it another way, she knew all of Su Tang's potential clients. But who would have thought that Lu Wan'er had this kind of character? Su Tang had the type of character that could be described as a bit lazy and a bit cold, but now she was faced with a girl who was both excitable and warm.
She was almost feeling regret at this point. Could she take it back?
Unfortunately, but expectedly, Lu Wan'er completely ignored the complicated feelings swirling in Su Tang's heart. Instead, having heard Su Tang's 'agreement', she immediately became happy and said: "Then I'll have two more cupcakes. Also is that toffee the same as milk tea? Whatever. Let me buy ten pieces of toffee and also two pieces of that cheesecake to take back to eat."
She reached down to pick up her cup, finished the rest of her cup of tea in one gulp, then looked up at Su Tang, and said: "Also, good little sister, can't you let me take out some of your cupcakes? I want to take some back to my grandma. She has bad teeth, so she'll love this kind of soft food."
Su Tang listened to this little girl calling her 'good little sister', with mixed feelings. To be honest, although she had the body of a loli, she did not have the soul of a loli, ah. Thus, being called this way by a little girl felt a bit awkward.
"Young lady, if you really want to take some cupcakes with you, it isn't impossible. However, when you take the dish away, you'll need to leave a deposit of two copper coins in exchange. After the cupcake had been eaten, you can come back and return the dish and I will return your deposit."
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