Blissful Days After Widowhood

by Usui Takumii

not mine, word drain.

10. 161 to 180

After noon, the lively dragon boat race on the canal was over.

People who bought iced drinks went to the stall to return their cups, but there were only Chef Xu's two apprentices at the stall. Although they were very fast, they had to exchange the cups and sell sour plum soup.

There was no shelter on the pier, and the people hadn't dispersed, so the queue was not pleasant. The customers thought that they should go to Wencheng Street to return the cups instead .

It was rare to enter the city, and few people would just rush back at noon, most of them would still stroll. And Wencheng Street, where 'Food of Heaven' was located, was actually a bustling area in the center of the town.

At the intersection of Wencheng Street, one could see the magnificent plaque from a distance.

Even people who were illiterate could find the place with just a little inquiry.

When they entered the store, the first thing they felt was cool – there were ice tubs in the corners of the store, and then they smelled all kinds of foods, which made them hungry all of a sudden.

The prices in the store, five coins per spoonful of large meat, three coins for half a large meat, two coins for vegetarian dishes; the same price as the one sold outside, but just smaller steamed buns rolls as the staple food. It was even more expensive than eating at a small stall.

Moreover, they all drank the ice drinks made by Gu Yin. With the initial impression that although the food in the store was a bit more expensive than the ones sold in the stalls, the taste was good and the ingredients were solid, they were willing to try other things.

Afterward, Gu Yin and the others also brought up the prepared cold noodles, clearly priced at five coins for a large bowl. It was mixed with the sauce prepared by the manager himself the previous week, and then gluten, chopped peanuts, shredded cucumber and wild vegetables were added to it. It was the most suitable meal in hot weather.

The customers obviously only went there to return the cups at first, but most of them chose to stay for lunch.

There were more people in the store, and for a while there was a grand crowd like the time of their opening. There were also regular customers from the town coming over, but they didn't panic when they saw the crowd. Anyway, they could take out the food and just return the box.

When other out-of-town customers who had never bought cold drinks went to Wencheng Street, they found that a new store had opened.

That was not new, but what was fresh was that other nearby food stalls and stores would have more people than usual because of the Dragon Boat Festival, but they would not be crowded and full like them.

That crowd made them curious. As soon as they understood the reason, the cheap and dazzling dishes kept people.

Seeing the crowd, Manager Zhou went to the back to fry new dishes, while Gu Yin went on to make cold noodles and steamed buns.

The lunch meals were followed by the dinner meals, and there were no vacant seats in the store until it was dark, and people who were not locals hurried back.

When the last customer left, Manager Zhou closed the door, and the day's business was over.

Mrs. Xu and others went back to rest first, while Gu Yin, Manager Zhou and Mrs. Wang checked the accounts.

Gu Yin was the busiest person in the store, so Mrs. Wang and Manager Zhou didn't let her move. They helped her to count the returned cups and the bills together.

In the end, only twenty of the five hundred cups were not returned, but because the price that Carpenter Feng asked for was low, it was not a loss.

Among the three kinds of cold drinks, milk tea sold the least, selling one hundred cups, but milk tea was originally expensive and easy to stale, so Gu Yin also made it the least.

Four hundred sour plum drinks and mung bean drinks were sold. Later, Chef Xu's two young apprentices sold more than two hundred cups on the dock.

The combined gross profit was about two taels.

Gu Yin originally thought of the idea of relying on cold drinks to divert traffic to the store, so the profit of cold drinks was only a small amount, and the business of the store was the big one.

After Manager Zhou finished his calculation, the gross profit of the business in the store was about fifteen taels, which was definitely the most popular day for business since its opening.

Hearing these profits, Mrs. Wang and Manager Zhou had smiles on their faces, and it was not a waste of time for everyone to work hard for a day.

Gu Yin was also happy, not just because of the income of the day, but because of that successful publicity.

Since its opening, 'Food of Heaven' had gained some popularity in the town, but to customers from other places, the name was still unfamiliar. When the trend of 'Old Master Wen's Porridge' was still well known, there were a lot of non local customers. But there were still a few who could buy a bowl of porridge, especially since that trend had passed, and no one knew about it.

With the event, five hundred people knew about their store, just relying on cold drinks, and not counting the out-of-town customers who followed the trend and entered the store.

How many potential customers could these people radiate out? That thought made Gu Yin so happy.

After they settled the accounts, Gu Ye ran back from outside.

Gu Yin was about to find him, and when she saw him, she said, "I'm about to give you your wages, where are your little friends? Their wages are all calculated."

"They are all outside, I'll give it to them," Gu Ye put the copper coins in his robe, and held the list written by Manager Zhou on how many cups each person sold and how much wages should be paid.

These children were recommended by Gu Yi.

Gu Yin helped Mrs. Wang with the final cleaning work. She just wiped the table twice with a rag, and then remembered that something was wrong— the kid had never learned to read, he couldn't read or count!

She put the rag and followed to the street outside the store, and saw several children of different heights lined up quietly.

Seeing Gu Ye passing by, they shouted, "Brother Ye," one after another.

Gu Ye nodded with the same expression, then put the copper coins on the ground, gave the list to Wu'an, and asked him to read the list and count the coins.

Song Shiliu was No. 1, Gu Ye was No. 2, and Wu'an was No. 3, so he started shouting the numbers.

Every time a child's code name was called, that person would come forward to collect the copper coins.

They could get a coin for every two cups they sold. The one who sold the most got thirty coins, and the least one about ten coins.

Working half a day and doing part-time jobs, they could earn so much money, which made the children happy.

The number ten was a short, chubby child, half a head taller than Gu Ye. He came up with his hands twisting his shirt corner.

On the list, this little fat child only sold ten drinks in the morning, and he should be given five coins.

But Gu Ye took Wu'an's hand and said, "No. 10, no wages."

The little fat child's face suddenly collapsed, and he started to cry.

Gu Ye was unmoved, and continued, "You stole ice, so no wages for you."

There was also ice in their small box. Since Gu Yin considered that the children were not very strong, she spread a shallow layer of ice, which would be able to maintain the cold temperature inside the box.

These ices melted from the morning to noon, but the ice tray in the box was sealed. The water would not spill out, and it was still inside.

When they returned the boxes, Gu Ye looked at them one by one. There was a layer of water at the bottom of everyone's boxes, except Fatty No. 10's box was empty.

The little fat child's face was flushed, and he was too embarrassed to cry.

Gu Ye, with his hands behind his back, glanced at everyone in the row with his eyes, "I told you that my mother said that you can't eat ice."

Of course, there were edible ice cubes, which must be mined in a place with absolutely clean water sources, and the price was naturally expensive. If there really was that kind of good ice, Gu Yin would not only use ice as a supplement for freezing, but to make many desserts with ice itself.

The ice that 'Food of Heaven' was using was the one hoarded by Second Master Wen before. Needless to say, he was a businessman. If he really wanted to hoard ice that could be eaten, it must be very expensive. And there were few people in that town who could afford that kind of ice. They had to transport it to inland places to earn profit. Because of the transportation cost and the loss during transportation, Second Master Wen had no courage.

So he stocked up on the cheapest river ice, which people dug in the frozen canals in winter. That kind of ice, if eaten, may give people a stomach issue.

Gu Yin told these children not to eat ice, and Gu Ye also emphasized it, so he continued, "If you have a stomach issue, it's not my family who would lose money."

"I have a good stomach, so I won't get a stomach problem," the fat man argued in a low voice.

In fact, he really didn't want to eat it at first, but when a customer asked for a sour plum drink, he was curious about his small wooden box. He reached in and touched the bottom of the ice tray, and the sour plum drink in his hand also poured on it.

He smelled the sweet and sour taste and his saliva was dripping. He knew that the other drinks in the box were worth several coins. He didn't dare to move, even forgot to go back to the stall to replenish the drinks after they sold out.

"You won't be here tomorrow," Gu Ye finally added.

Gu Yin made so many cups and small boxes, definitely not only for the Dragon Boat Festival, but to sell in streets in future. She wanted to hire children to help with it.

The little fat man couldn't hold back his tears when he heard it, and begged for mercy, "Brother Ye, I was wrong! I don't dare anymore, let me come, woo…"

The little fat man cried out of breath, and some of the children had a good relationship with him. When a child saw that, he said, "Brother Ye, Fatty was just greedy for food, but he's actually quite reliable…"

Gu Ye raised his eyes and looked over, the child immediately closed his mouth.

But in the end, Gu Ye still said, "Fortunately, you know that you can't steal iced drinks, so I'll forgive you once."

The little fat man seemed to be forgiven. With tears and snot on his face, he was already smiling.

"I still won't give you the wages." Gu Ye counted two coins from his own wages to give it to him, "Work hard."

The little fat child blushed even more after taking the two-coins that belonged to Gu Ye, and immediately assured, "Thank you Brother Ye, I will definitely not do this next time!"

Gu Ye nodded in satisfaction, waved them all away, and asked them to come back the next morning.

Gu Yin watched the whole process in a stunned manner. When only her own family was left, she came out and said, "Xiao Ye, why do they call you Brother Ye?"

The youngest of the few children, the little fat kid, was still seven or eight years old.

Gu Ye raised his chin proudly and said, "They are all my subordinates."

He played outside every day, and naturally he met many children.

Not only adults had fights, but children's fights were also fierce.

Just like the open space at the end of Wencheng Street, where children liked to play Cuju and wrestle. There were many children and few places to play, so there must have been fights.

Gu Ye started his activities near Wencheng Street after 'Food of Heaven' opened.

He was small and new there. The original child king (boss) didn't like to see him at first, and he wasn't allowed to play there unless he called him big brother.

How could Gu Ye bear that? He just made an appointment.

The child was ten years old, and he was four years old. He was also small due to malnutrition earlier, and he knew that there was a huge disparity in strength.

But Gu Ye didn't fight him head-to-head, he just walked and played with him.

He was able to slip from Li Zhaotou around before he learned Kung Fu breathing techniques. He had already learned it by then, and it was easy to slip from a ten-year-old child.

That child chased him for an hour, and he couldn't even touch Gu Ye's piece of clothes.

Gu Ye suddenly became the new king, but of course there were still some who were not convinced by him, saying that he could only run and had no other skills.

But at that time, Gu Ye had already learned some fighting skills, and with his flexible body, even if he was fighting against a child older than himself, he would not be at a disadvantage.

Later, his mother said that she would hire a few children to help, and Gu Ye volunteered to take up the job.

How could the children of that era have pocket money? It was very generous for the adults in the family to give them a few coins during the festivals.

As soon as they heard that he could make money, Gu Ye's status was even more incredible. Even the original child king was recruited by him and became the number four in the team.

The other people had played well with him before, and they were honest and smart.

When they were in the team, Gu Ye made Wu'an and the original child king into a team to make sure that he would not cause any trouble under his own eyes, and the others would supervise each other in two teams-like the case of Fatty No. 10 stealing ice. In fact, as soon as he started eating, No. 9 came to tell him quietly. He deliberately didn't say a word, and didn't say it until the final settlement in front of people.

He still spoke slowly, and when he finished speaking, Gu Yin was surprised again, "I only told you to find a few good friends, and let them supervise each other in two groups. Where did you learn the rest?"

Just waiting for the settlement time to settle accounts with Fatty No. 10, and then give some of his wages to him after the settlement, it could be called a combination of grace and power.

In front of her, Gu Ye stopped pretending to be a little adult, tilted his head and asked in doubt, "It still takes learning? I just thought about it myself."

"What did this little head think about?" Gu Yin rubbed his little head in surprise.

He obediently let Gu Yin pat him, and said, "You have to give me five coins more than others."

He knew that his grandmother and Manager Zhou, as the front office and back kitchen managers, were paid more than others, so he felt that he should also have more money than others.

"Okay."

Gu Yin wanted to hand over the delivery department composed of children to the eldest Song Shiliu to manage, but she was really incomparable with Gu Ye, and this little brat was better than adults. As a boss, Gu Yin felt that she would be able to relax a lot in the future.

When Gu Ye got five coins more, he gave Wu'an two coins, "You worked hard."

Of course, he gave it to him because he helped to count the copper coins and read the list. Wu'an had no obsession with silver coins, and he didn't spend any money on a daily basis, so he immediately shook his head and said, "I don't want it, I got twenty coins today. "

"Take it." Gu Ye shoved it into his hand generously, "When I can read and count, I won't give it to you anymore."

Wu'an just accepted it, took his hand and said, "Then let's go back today. I'll teach you."

The Dragon Boat Festival was only one day, but the temple fairs in the town would be held for seven consecutive days.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, those who were not interested in dragon boat racing, as it was too crowded, or who did not go to the city due to family matters, would most likely come to the market at that time to join in the fun.

Before entering the city, they would often ask their friends who came to the city for the Dragon Boat Festival how it was and if they saw anything new, so as not to miss it when they entered the city.

In the past, they didn't have much to recommend in normal times, but not that time.

"You have to try the iced drink, the sour plum drink and mung bean drink for five coins, and the milk tea for ten coins. Alas, I didn't bring much money, I only drank a cup of sour plum drink. It's cold, and now I still think about it!"

"Isn't it just a sour plum drink? Aren't there many people in the village who can make it?"

"You don't understand. When we cook it by ourselves, we just put some black plums, and at least some sugar. What's so good about that? There are so many things there! And you also know that my wife is not in good health, and every year she faints while watching the dragon boat race. Thanks to the sour plum drink, my wife was not uncomfortable!"

"That's good. My mother can't stand the heat. I'll take her to buy it tomorrow."

"Oh, it's a pity that I didn't drink that milk tea. I heard from the people next to me that it's fragrant and smooth, but it was expensive. I'll have to try it when I enter the city next time!"

After chatting, they told people about other food in 'Food as Heaven'.

Whether it was dumplings or noodles, it was really affordable and delicious.

So the next day, Food of Heaven's business fell a bit compared to the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, but it was also several times better than usual.

In particular, the takeaway team headed by Gu Ye also sold cold drinks near the temple fair, and then promoted 'Food of Heaven'.

For seven consecutive days, Food of Heaven's daily gross profit fluctuated between twelve to fifteen taels.

After making a small profit, Gu Yin also gave every official employee in the store a tael of silver for the holiday, including Gu Ye, who was in charge of the takeaway team.

Everyone in the store was happy, but at Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall, the atmosphere was not so good.

Both of them were ready to fight with all their strength, especially thinking about suppressing 'Food of Heaven'.

As a result, 'Food as Heaven' didn't want to make a Dragon Boat Festival gift box at all, and only the two of them were left to fight.

In the past few days, their gift boxes had been sold out, but because of the low price, there was not much profit at all.

Of course, the two of them had more customers than usual on the Dragon Boat Festival, but Hanshan Town was the largest town in the county, and there were really not many rich people in other places, so the business was 20 to 30% better than usual.

In order to attract VIPs who had deposited silver, the two restaurants had offered various discounts on dishes, and they had already made a loss.

But they were both well established restaurants. 'Food of Heaven' was not stable and did not participate in the war. The two had been at a stalemate, and the winner was still undecided.

But when it came to that, no one dared to hold back, nor could they hold back, they could only grit their teeth and endure it.

And Li Cheng, the little helper of Full Moon Hall, was also scolded by Wang Dafu because of that incident. He removed him from his job as a manager helper, and reduced him to an ordinary server.

He scolded him, "Food of Heaven didn't make the Dragon Boat Festival gift box at all. It's just that you are full of nonsense, and tricked me into lowering the price of the gift box!"

If the price of the gift box was not reduced, how much more money could be made? Wang Dafu was heartbroken and dared not imagine.

Li Cheng assured, "This time it was indeed I who got the wrong news, and it is also Carpenter Feng's fault. He was cunning and deliberately induced me! Next time…"

Wang Dafu simply ignored him and let him go.

Li Cheng put the account on Gu Yin's head and waited for an opportunity to fix the situation.

On Food of Heaven's side, because of the addition of a delivery team headed by Gu Ye, who was very organized and didn't need anyone to worry about, Gu Yin was already thinking of other ways to make money.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather was hot every day, and Food of Heaven's business returned to its previous state of being slightly deserted.

Of course, it was not just their fault, but the common people did not come out from their homes unless necessary. There were fewer people on the street, and the business of other restaurants also became bleak.

That was to say, their food was affordable and delicious, with ice drinks to cool down the heat, so as to stabilize the attendance rate of 60%.

But since 'Food of Heaven' had a delivery team, it was a waste to just sell iced drinks, Gu Yin thought about asking them to help deliver the food.

No matter how fast the children's feet were, Gu Yin went to trouble Carpenter Feng again and made a small tricycle skateboard for each of them.

It had a pole, connected to a skateboard for standing with three wheels. There was also a slot on each standing board, just enough to hold a small wooden box on it.

Carpenter Feng had made a carriage for people before. That scooter had a simpler structure than it, and the principle was similar. He was very familiar with it, and maybe because he had been "squeezed" by Gu Yin more recently, his and his ten children's hands were getting faster.

When the Dragon Boat Festival's temple fair ended, ten scooters were ready, and it only cost five taels of silver in total.

As soon as that scooter was made, even Gu Ye, who pretended to be an adult in front of others, went crazy. There were even children who were willing to help even if they didn't get paid.

Of course, Gu Yin would give them money. Like later generations, the delivery fee was determined according to the distance, the nearest one was a coin, and the further was three coins. It was the children's hard-earned money. Gu Yin gave as much as the delivery fee should be, and each child would be provided with a meal and a glass of iced drink every day.

Of course, because there was no telephone and Internet, it was definitely impossible to order delivery in real time. They had to book in advance on the day of the meal, and pay the delivery fee on the spot. The two extra coins for the box were not charged as it would be collected at the door when the meal was delivered the next day.

Men who went out to work in the summer were too lazy to move and could deal with food casually, but their wives and children at home still had to eat.

In that era, all people burned wood. In that weather, even cooking the simplest meal would make people sweat. Not to mention cleaning the table and washing the dishes, which were all tedious tasks.

The food in Gu Yin's store was cheap. If people ordered a vegetarian meal, they would get two vegetarian dishes or a bowl of cold noodles with side dishes, which was only five coins. If they wanted to eat meat, it was more convenient. The meat stalls all used large steel scales, not the small ones of the drugstore. They never sold too little meat. People had to buy it all, which they would not be able to in one meal. But they didn't have to worry about that when they ate a food box.

And although the serving cost a few coins, the weight was absolutely the same as in the store. Women and children with smaller appetites could be full by eating one serving.

Even if the delivery fee of one coin was added, it was not much more expensive than buying food and cooking by themselves, and most people could afford it.

Therefore, at the beginning of the delivery service, many people came to order. As long as they stated their preferences, and then paid for the meal and delivery fee in advance, they only had to wait for someone to deliver food to their house.

The delivery service officially started after the temple fair. Gu Yin was afraid that the children would suffer from heat stroke, and told them to stop immediately if they felt uncomfortable.

But these children were very skinny. Even if they didn't do these activities, they would play outside all day. Since they were riding a scooter, no one was uncomfortable.

Originally there were ten children in total, but Song Shiliu had the original job as a clerk, and Wu'an had to go to study every day, so two places were vacated.

Since Gu Yin had delegated power to Gu Ye, he also had full authority to call the shots. Later, Gu Ye searched for two newcomers.

Before the start of the lunch market, the children of the delivery team were dispatched.

They played nearby every day, and they were familiar with the routes.

Gu Ye himself would deliver to those places that were a little further away – there was no place in the whole town that he was not familiar with.

In order to easily confirm each person's position, Gu Yin prepared a bell for each person and hung it on the faucet of the scooter.

The residential area in the summer afternoon was extremely quiet, only the sound of cicadas could be heard.

As soon as the crisp bell rang, the customers knew that it was a child from 'Food of Heaven' who came to deliver the meal.

Some customers gave the children a code name called Little Bell.

The customers not only ordered meals, but also ordered iced drinks. Gu Yin usually prepared a few more in the children's boxes, in case they accidentally spilled them, as a substitute.

But they were all the children selected by Gu Ye, and no one had ever been so careless or slipped on the scooters. In addition, the roads in the town center were also well repaired. Not to mention the lunch boxes, they didn't even spill drinks.

There was no need to take the initiative to sell those. When customers heard the bell, they would go out and ask if there were lunch boxes and ice drinks that had not been reserved.

The ice drink sold in that way also cost an extra coin, which was given to the children themselves. The two coins for the lunch box and the drink cup were also given separately, but everyone knew that they could return the lunch box and the cup for money, and no one thought of that as an expense.

The children who were only active for two hours before and after lunch, could sell one hundred or two hundred lunch boxes, and earn as little as ten coins to about thirty coins a day.

That afternoon, the children had all reached 'Food of Heaven' and the bells at the door rang.

Gu Yin had already set aside meals for them all, beckoning them to sit down to eat.

The children thanked her, but they didn't move after they sat down. Even the most greedy little fatty only drooled at the food and cold drinks, but didn't move his chopsticks.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Gu Ye was the last to come back – he was in charge of the distribution in the farthest area, and naturally came back the latest.

When he just parked the scooter at the door, the children all stood up and shouted, "Brother Ye!"

Gu Ye first walked in front of Gu Yin, asked his mother to help with the box and wipe the sweat, then took a cup of iced drink and took a few sips, then turned around and said to the children, "Sit down and eat!"

Hearing his order, the children sat down and started eating.

Gu Yin wanted to laugh every time she saw him pretending to be a seasoned veteran cadre, but she didn't show it in front of people. After the children had finished their meals, they were given their day's wages and went home.

Gu Yin said privately, "Why did you take all the orders of the places which are far?"

Gu Ye said while eating the rice, "They can't do it, but I can, and they think I'm amazing and are convinced of me."

It was funny, but Gu Yin wasn't surprised. Just like she had a talent for cooking, Wu'an had a talent for learning, and the little brat's understanding of people's hearts was another kind of talent.

"Besides, a quarter of an hour for one coin, and two quarters of an hour for three coins, it's not a loss!"

When Mrs. Wang heard that, she couldn't help laughing next to him, "No one else would believe that this little money fan is not your own!"

Gu Ye said, "I am originally my mother's child."

Soon he finished his meal, and instead of wandering outside, he went back to Jinyi Alley to find Officer Caotou or Li to learn martial arts.

In the past, he only studied for half a day in the morning, and then went to work in Food of Heaven. After eating in the afternoon, he studied, then went back to Food of Heaven in the evening to eat dinner, help with some chores, and learn to read with Wu'an in the night. He was more busy than the adults.

Seeing that he had lost a lot of weight recently, Mrs. Wang felt distressed, and privately told him that there was no need to work so hard.

He didn't feel it was hard, but persuaded Mrs. Wang, "Mother is also tired, why can't I?"

The mother and son competed against each other as model workers. By the end of May, Gu Yi calculated that because of the addition of delivery services, the so-called off-season did not affect their business much, and there was still a gross profit of two or three taels of silver a day.

The delivery of the pre-ordered lunch box was only a one-off. The children also brought the sold lunch boxes and drink cups, which were all to be returned. Once they came, they stayed for a meal.

Later, the reputation of Food of Heaven became more popular, and customers in the wealthy area began to order meals.

The meals ordered by the customers in that area were all expensive, and the profits were even more generous. Seeing the hot and sweaty children coming to deliver meals to them, they would give a few more coins to reward them. Gu Yin didn't intervene, and let Gu Ye arrange the manpower by himself.

He first recruited two other children, and also gave them Gu Yin's custom-made scooters and bells to expand the delivery team to twelve.

As for the rich area, he let No. 2 and the other top performers do it.

No. 2, the original No. 4, the child king of Wencheng Street before Gu Ye came, was named Fan Jinsong.

His home was in the vicinity of Wencheng Street, and his father was still the second manager in a well known store. Because his family was not poor, he had no shortage of food and drinks since he was a child. As his name suggested, he was like a sturdy pine tree. Although he was only ten years old, his body was strong.

A child of that age was already a teenager, and it was naturally impossible for him to lose to a four-year-old child.

It was just that he ran slowly, couldn't catch up with Gu Ye, and he couldn't get much advantage. So he had to live peacefully with Gu Ye.

Later, at the Dragon Boat Festival, he heard that there was money to be earned, so he signed up to participate. As he was working for 'Food of Heaven' and Gu Ye was the young owner, the relationship between the two eased a little.

But after getting along during that period of time, it could be said that he was completely convinced by Gu Ye.

In addition, the time Gu Ye gave him the credit for the good work – it was also a one-day delivery, and the wealthy area rewarded them with several coins more than other places. Later, he felt bad about it and wanted to share the reward money with Gu Ye, but the kid said no and let him take it himself.

The way he looked at Gu Ye was no different from that of his own eldest brother.

Whoever dared to complain, he was the first to scold.

Of course, they worked hard, played with scooters, earned money, and ate extremely delicious meals and cold drinks. No one would complain, but they were only afraid that they were not good enough, and others would rob them of their own job.

Not long after the order from the wealthy area was dispatched, both Hanxiang Ha ll and Full Moon Hall could not sit still.

In their opinion, the delivery service of 'Food of Heaven' was simply a petty mess. After all, their wealthy customers usually had servants who bought what they wanted to eat directly.

But they didn't think that the servant was also a human being. Who would like to run back and forth on that hot day?

The food was famously delicious, and it was no worse than a big restaurant. The servants were naturally willing to let their masters order from there. They said a few words in front of their masters, and in disguise it became a publicity aid for Food of Heaven.

The two restaurants also followed suit once again, and launched delivery services one after another, and if they were VIPs of their restaurants, then there would be no delivery fee.

As soon as that move was made, first of all, the VIPs of the two restaurants booked from their restaurants. Although their meals were more expensive, it was also within their affordable range.

At first, the two big restaurants wanted their staff to deliver the goods, but the staff were fixed, and they might not be able to take care of handling the restaurant when they were dispatched. And in that weather, it took a lot of money to recruit people.

So they also copied 'Food of Heaven' and recruited the children in the town to help.

As early as the preparation stage of these two restaurants, Gu Yin already knew the news in advance.

Because the scooters and the small wooden boxes were made by Carpenter Feng, both of them placed orders with Carpenter Feng after they found out.

Carpenter Feng was a kind person, and he did not promise anything, before asking Gu Yin.

Gu Yin told him to do it because the structure of the scooter was actually not difficult to make. The children rode it every day, and the wooden box had no technical content.

She might as well let Carpenter Feng earn that silver.

Of course, they couldn't be cheap. Before, Carpenter Feng only charged half a tael for a scooter and three taels for ten boxes. Later, he and Gu Yin negotiated and the price doubled directly.

The two restaurants asked for a total of twenty sets of scooters and small boxes, that was, an extra sixteen taels.

The money was divided between Carpenter Feng and Gu Yin fifty-five, eight taels per person, which was considered a sum of money.

Later, in June, orders from the wealthy area got indeed less.

But still, that was not the core business of Food of Heaven. 'Food as Heaven' had no such capital for fighting with the big restaurants for a few delivery orders for the time being. And in the past, Gu Yin still liked to watch scenes where neither of them could stand the other, but couldn't kill the other, so she gave them the stage.

Gu Yin remained calm, but Fan Jinsong in the delivery team was in a hurry.

After they finished their meal that day, Gu Ye asked them to stay for a while, and then imitated his mother's practice and held a summary meeting.

Of course, they didn't know what to say, in fact, it was just a few children whispering together.

When Gu Ye finished speaking, Fan Jinsong immediately said, "Brother Ye, several of our orders have been taken away, what should we do?"

When the little fat kid next to him saw Gu Ye frown, he immediately said, "Boss didn't speak, don't make Brother Ye embarrassed."

"That's right, we're all working. Do you want to make trouble because you're earning less?"

No one in that area would dare to talk to Fan Jinsong like that before. And although everyone was still terrified of him, they were more convinced of Gu Ye, and naturally they were on Gu Ye's side.

Fan Jinsong was not angry but his face was flushed and he was a little embarrassed. It was true that he didn't earn much anymore, and felt extremely uncomfortable, so he took the initiative to mention that matter without waiting for Gu Ye to speak.

When Gu Ye raised his hand, everyone went silent.

"This is really annoying."

Fan Jinsong had a happy expression on his face, squeezed his fist, and immediately said, "Then let's go beat them all up!"

Gu Ye said no, "Mother won't let us fight, I have another way."

…

Li Dachun was a new delivery child at Full Moon Hall.

Although he was only eight years old, he also knew that it was a good job – those children who were ringing bells, riding scooters every day, eating in restaurants and still earning several coins. He was the envy of the children of the whole town.

When he heard that Food of heaven was going to recruit two more people, Li Dachun was so excited that he didn't sleep all night, and went to sign up early that morning.

It was a pity that the leader Gu Ye let him go home as soon as he heard that his uncle was working in Full Moon Hall.

Li Dachun cried for several days after returning home, but not long after, Full Moon Hall also recruited children.

His mother was afraid that he would not be selected and would cry at home, so she immediately asked her husband to ask his brother to help.

In Wang Dafu's opinion, anyone could do that kind of work, so Li Dachun's uncle, Li Cheng, gave that job to his nephew.

Although the people in Full Moon Hall would take part of the delivery fee regardless of the meal, just being able to ride a scooter was enough to make the child happy.

One day, Li Dachun came out of Full Moon Hall and was riding a scooter majestically to start delivering his first order when he met Gu Ye who was also on a scooter.

"It's so hot," Gu Ye was sweating profusely. He put the scooter aside, hiding it in the shade to play with the spinning top.

The small whip made a rustling sound in his hand, and the spinning top was spinning so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.

Li Dachun couldn't help but stop.

Gu Ye handed him his little whip and asked him, "Do you want to play?"

Li Dachun's heart was excited, but he hadn't forgotten his errand, so he said, "No, I'll be late."

"You won't be late, I have experience."

Everyone knew that Gu Ye was the leader of Food of Heaven's delivery team, and his scooter was indeed parked beside him. Li Dachun immediately put the scooter aside and played with the spinning top.

After playing, he almost forgot his errand, but Gu Ye reminded him later that it was almost time and let him go.

Li Dachun quickly stepped on the scooter to start the delivery, but the time was delayed.

But he was young, and even if the customers were dissatisfied, they would probably not embarrass a child.

But it left a bad impression on the delivery service of Full Moon Hall, especially when Li Dachun's face was full of sweat, and his hands were stained with black mud, as he handed the food to them.

On the other hand, Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang were both people who loved cleanliness, and since Gu Ye was adopted, he also loved cleanliness day by day, so under his leadership, Fan Jinsong and the others began to pay attention. They not only cut their nails every day, they also carried a handkerchief with them. If they sweat, they would wipe their hands immediately. Although they did sweat, it would not make them dirty.

Moreover, Li Dachun was not careful when he put the scooter aside. The scooter was placed under the sun. Although there was a layer of ice in the small box, in the sun it had already melted it. When he delivered the food to the last house, as soon as the family opened the lunch box, the food inside had a faint smell of rancidity.

Gu Ye followed Li Dachun all the way, and assured that things were developing in the direction he wanted. He stepped on a scooter and returned with an empty wooden box.

After one success, Gu Ye didn't have to go out in person in the future.

Since the establishment of the delivery team, his appeal had not been comparable to before, and with Fan Jinsong, the original child king, it was even more powerful.

So every day near Hanxiang Tower and Wangyue Tower, there would be a lot of children with new things, some of them were spinning tops, some were fighting crickets (insects), and some were rolling iron rings, wrestling, kicking shuttlecocks, throwing sandbags…

All kinds of dazzling play! Not to mention children, even some adults couldn't help but take a second glance when they passed by.

Therefore, the delivery orders of the two large restaurants were overtime and dirty, and it was common for them to deliver stale food to people several times, and people to come to them and scold them.

The children of the two delivery teams changed batch after batch, and the gadgets that hooked them were also introduced.

One of the children's favorites was to blow bubbles with soapy water.

Gu Ye asked his mother when he couldn't think of other things. Gu Yin thought that he wanted to play, so she fiddled with it.

That thing was low-cost and simple to make. It could be made with a small flat circle made of strips. Gu Ye had seen it once, and then he turned his head and let Fan Jinsong make some out and share it with the children for free.

That was even better. The little delivery guys from those two restaurants not only had a good time, but also got soap suds on themselves. If they weren't more particular, they could even pour soapy water into the small wooden box.

It got even worse. Delivery orders were getting fewer day by day, but they got more door-to-door complaints.

In less than a month, Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall both dismissed the delivery team composed of children, and only hired part-time workers for the extra money to deliver the goods.

The wages of day laborers were calculated on a daily basis, but there were no helpers that could be hired for a dozen or twenty coins a day. The two did not make any money at all, but lost a lot of money because of complaints. They wasted a bunch of scooters and small wooden boxes.

The little delivery children hired by the two of them were having so much fun outside that they couldn't care less when the scooter was parked. Naturally, there were other children who went to play, and the scooters came all broken, even the wheels were off.

Later, Carpenter Feng came up with an idea to recycle them, and the two sold it to him at a cheap price.

Carpenter Feng took it back and tinkered with it, then turned around and gave it to Gu Yin directly. Whether it was to expand the delivery team in the future, or to replace it with a broken scooter, it would be very useful.

Gu Yin didn't know until after Gu Ye's plan was implemented for almost half a month – and it wasn't Gu Ye who told her, his mouth was tight and he didn't reveal a word. It was Gu Yin who found that many children came to Gu Ye to return toys and take toys every day, and the small box where he kept money at home also became lighter at a speed visible to the naked eye. She felt that something was wrong and bought the news with three cups of milk tea. The little faty in the delivery team only said a few words, and she guessed the rest by herself.

Since Gu Ye didn't want to tell her, she just pretended not to know because his plan was in order.

In June, Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall withdrew from the delivery market together, and 'Food of Heaven' was the only one who stayed in the delivery market. In July, when the business was the most popular, the delivery team expanded to twenty people. The approval of scooters and wooden boxes allowed Gu Yin to save money while making some.

In a blink of an eye, it was August, the weather was getting cooler, and the delivery service was coming to an end. Gu Ye had become the king of the town. Among the children in Hanshan Town, they may not know who the current Emperor was, but everyone knew Gu Ye. Even Li Dachun, who fell in Gu Ye's trap before, was now a solid supporter of Gu Ye.

At that time, he was sad when he lost his work and went home, to be scolded by his uncle. Later, when he met Gu Ye, he also called Gu Ye a bad person.

Gu Ye didn't get angry with him either, apologized to him, and continued to play with him…

All the toys were bought by Gu Ye, which was better than how his brothers treated him.

How much did they support Gu Ye? Gu Yin often met people who greeted her, "Brother Ye's mother."

Obviously, the children only called him Brother Ye and they often repeated it. So they all thought that 'Ye Ge' (Brother Ye) was his name.

Gu Yin did not explain. Anyway, big families in that era, or ordinary people who paid more attention, would also name their children Ge.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, a new round of competition was about to begin.

At the beginning of August, Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang took Gu Ye to see a doctor.

It was not that he was sick, but that he had grown too much.

An average three- or four-year-old child grew two or three inches a year, and he grew two inches in half a year.

Because Gu Ye and Wu'an were often in front of them, Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang didn't notice it at first, but Wu'an suddenly exclaimed, "Xiao Ye, how come you have caught up with me so fast?!"

Only then did the two notice that the two children who used to be one tall and one short, and who were very distinct, became almost the same height. Gu Ye was only one knuckle shorter than Wu'an. He was wearing the new clothes that Gu Yin bought for Wu'an before the summer, as his own new clothes were short for him.

After Wu'an's birthday in April, he was almost six and a half years old.

When Gu Yin transmigrated, Wu'an was much shorter than the children of the same age. Later, she started a business, and his nutrition improved. So his height had caught up with his peers.

In the winter of the previous year, the old doctor came to see Gu Ye. At that time, the old doctor said that his teeth and bone age should be about four years old. Since he was five years old, he shouldn't grow so fast.

"It's a good thing to grow taller, but his mother said that growing too fast is also a burden on the body, so please take a look at him again."

The old doctor checked Gu Ye again and said, "Children grow in different situations, although it is indeed common for them to grow two or three inches a year, but the old man has also seen children who grow three or four inches a year. And this boy's body is getting stronger, and the shortcomings in the past are now gone. I touched his bones, and he will definitely be much taller than the average person in the future. As for why he has grown so much recently, it is because of the recent activities. Do you exercise more, or eat well?"

It was true. When Gu Ye was just adopted, he wandered outside every day. He didn't go home for lunch, but only ate snacks, so he grew slowly.

Later, he began to learn martial arts, and in the summer, he also started to deliver food. At the same time as he exercised a lot, his appetite also increased. He ate three meals on time. At night, when he was tired from studying with Wu'an, he would eat an extra meal.

Knowing that he was in good shape, Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang were relieved.

Gu Yin still wanted to celebrate Gu Ye's birthday, but because she didn't know his birthday, he couldn't be counted as four years old.

In fact, as early as when Wu'an celebrated his birthday, Mrs. Wang wanted to celebrate the birthdays of the two children together.

Gu Ye was reluctant at that time, and Gu Yin thought he didn't want to, so she persuaded Mrs. Wang not to do that.

When she mentioned it again, Gu Ye was still unwilling. Gu Yin asked him why.

He twisted his fingers, rarely showing his shy side, and whispered to her, "I want to celebrate my birthday on the day I met you before winter."

Gu Yin's heart softened but Mrs. Wang's reaction was even bigger, and her eyes became red.

She responded immediately, "That's fine, then you can pick a date and tell your mother or me in advance. Our Ye's first birthday will be handled by us!"

Gu Ye's face was flushed, and he ran away without a word.

But when he returned to the store, his shyness was gone.

Because of his appeal, the business in the autumn store not only recovered to the previous level, but even improved to a higher level. The children all know that 'Food of Heaven' belonged to his family. When the family wanted to eat out, they would ask the children where they wanted to eat.

Their answer was naturally 'Food of Heaven'.

Because of that, Gu Yin asked Carpenter Feng again to make small two-person tables that she wanted to put in the aisle before the opening. Six double tables were added to the store in one go, and the seats were still full in the morning, noon and evening.

The children greeted him when they saw him, and when Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang came back, he became a little adult again.

…

The Mid-Autumn Festival was a big festival. From August 12th to 14th, the town would hold lantern festivals for three consecutive days. It would be lively from before dark to the next morning. Of course, there was a traditional thing they must do, where every household had to eat mooncakes.

Unlike the zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, which could be cooked by people with simple skills, the process of making mooncakes was much more complicated. They were usually purchased from outside. Even if the family was very ordinary, they would buy one or two mooncakes to share with the whole family.

For Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall, who could fight like black-eyed chickens for the gift boxes of zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, the mooncakes that every household would buy became a battleground between the two.

Of course, because the Dragon Boat Festival and the organization of the delivery team went unfavorably in a row, the two did not rashly do anything, and they were still waiting to see what new tricks 'Food of Heaven' would use that time.

Gu Yin didn't do anything new and was researching all kinds of mooncakes.

Mooncakes were well-known in Cantonese style and Suzhou style. In fact, if they were classified by production area, there were also Beijing style, Taiwan style, Dian style, Hong Kong style, Chao style, and even Japanese style to an innumerable variety.

However, after asking Manager Zhou, she got to know that the people in the town were still the same as later generations, and they still liked Cantonese and Suzhou mooncakes.

These two classic mooncakes must be made. Four types didn't sound good, and making five types would cost much more, so Gu Yin only planned to make Snowskin mooncakes.

Hanxiang Hall's chefs were from Guangdong and Guangxi, and they naturally made Cantonese mooncakes. On the other hand, Full Moon Hall had always made Suzhou mooncakes, and the ones made by Manager Zhou were also of the Suzhou-style. Gu Yin let him make those, while she was responsible for the other two.

For the Cantonese mooncakes, the key ingredient was the invert syrup.

Gu Yin mixed water and sugar in proportion, boiled them in a pot with good heat conduction and then added white vinegar, then turned to low heat. After more than half an hour, when the syrup turned light amber, she turned off the heat and poured it out to cool down.

The texture of the syrup was very similar to honey. It could be used as a substitute for honey in the cooking process, but the price was much cheaper than honey – after all, honey was natural.

She took edible soda flour and mixed it with water, inverted syrup, a little edible oil with a light taste, and stirred well. Then she added flour, stirred until there were no dry spots, and then pressed it with her hands. After fully mixing till she got a smooth and delicate dough, she kept it to rest for half an hour to an hour. She turned the pre-fried bean paste filling into a ball and wrapped it with salted egg yolk, then flatten it, which was wrapped in the dough.

While wrapping it, Gu Yin told Chef Xu who was watching, "This crust has no gluten. When wrapping, you have to push it with your palm, and turn it while pushing it like this. You can't pull it, otherwise it would be easily broken."

Once wrapped, she sprinkled it with dry flour to prevent sticking, and finally shook off the excess flour to prevent it from affecting the taste. After that, she put it in a flower shape, sprayed a layer of water to prevent it from drying out, and then put it in the oven.

In the era, there were only stoves and no ovens, but at the beginning of August, Gu Yin had asked Manager Zhou to find people in the backyard of 'Food of Heaven' to build an earthen bread kiln, which could completely replace the role of the oven.

She preheated the bread kiln for a quarter of an hour, then put the mooncakes into the oven and baked for a quarter of an hour on medium heat, and took them out. She brushed them with a thin layer of egg yolk one by one with a fine-bristle brush, and finally baked them in the kiln for a quarter of an hour.

After leaving the kiln, the sweet aroma of the mooncakes wafted toward them. Chef Xu and Shiliu Song swallowed, and Wu'an and Gu Ye also stared expectantly.

However, the taste of the mooncakes just out of the kiln was not the best. They had to wait for a day for the filling to seep into the dough. So Gu Yin asked them to wait another day, and then started to make butter.

She put the fresh milk on the fire and started cooking on medium heat, and stirred it occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the pan. After boiling, she turned off the heat. Then she put it in the ice cellar for half a day. There would be a thick layer of milk cream on the milk later.

Chef Xu and his two little apprentices took turns to go into battle, serving as a human-mixer, stirring at high speed.

They stirred the milk cream until it had a grainy texture, added a few spoons of cold milk, and beat it until it separated like bean curd dregs. Then they took it out with a spoon, pressed it on a filter with fine holes, filtered out the water, and wrapped it up and put it in the ice cellar overnight. The result was home-made butter.

When the butter was made, it happened to be the day when the mooncakes were ready. It was also the time when everyone looked forward to tasting the mooncakes.

The mooncakes she made were palm-sized, adults could eat one, and children could share a piece.

"It's so sweet and so soft, it's worthy of Master's craftsmanship!" Chef Xu ate the fastest, and he had already eaten half of the piece while he was talking.

The eyes of everyone were bright, but they couldn't say anything.

Only Manager Zhou finally said, "The crust is fragrant and soft, the bean paste is delicate and flexible, the egg yolk is fragrant, and the whole mooncake is well made. I actually prefer the Su style, but the Cantonese style mooncake from Dongjia is sweet but not greasy, I like it."

In fact, it was the first time for Gu Yin to bake mooncakes in a kiln, and after hearing Manager Zhou's words, she calmed down.

Because it was a trial, the number of mooncakes made were not large.

Both Wu'an and Gu Ye slapped their mouths reluctantly, and Gu Ye said, "Actually, I can finish one."

Wu'an nodded, and then the two of them looked at Gu Yin together.

The meaning was obvious. They only ate half, they still didn't eat enough.

"Don't worry, you'll have something else to eat today," Gu Yin rubbed their head and then started to work.

She put eggs and sugar in a bowl, and stirred them well. She then added milk and stirred again. Then added flour and wheat starch, and stirred until there was no dry powder left. After that, she added the prepared butter to the pot, boiled it over low heat while stirring continuously. Then waited until the butter melted and the liquid in the pot began to solidify. When the water evaporated completely, she took out the non-stick yellow dough that she got from the whole process to let it cool for fifteen minutes.

In another bowl, she added milk, oil, sugar, and glutinous rice flour, then stirred them all together. After stirring, she filtered the wheat starch with gauze.

She took out the dough, mixed it with a spoon, and set it aside to cool.

By that time, the custard filling had also been cooled, so she took it to the chopping board and kneaded it into a long strip, and then cut it into small pieces and rounded it.

After the dough was cooled, it was also cut into small pieces. Finally, she used the wrapping Cantonese style mooncakes method and pressed the crust to slowly gather it upwards, then she put it into the mold and made it into a flower shape.

The snowskin mooncakes did not need to be baked, and they taste best as long as they were sealed and stored in the ice cellar for half a day.

That mooncake, if made in the morning, could be eaten in the afternoon.

Wu'an went to study, while Gu Ye ended his martial arts practice early and waited.

When the two little guys arrived, Gu Yin asked someone to go to the ice cellar to take out the snowskin mooncakes.

Snowskin mooncakes were white and translucent, only half the size of Cantonese-style mooncakes. They looked so delicate.

Although they looked forward to it all day, Wu'an and Gu Ye were reluctant to eat such beautiful mooncakes, but Gu Yin urged them, and the two of them took a piece and put it in their mouths.

The crust was ice-cold, soft and glutinous and delicious. The egg yolk filling was full of milky taste in addition to the sweetness. The two delicate tastes were integrated into one, sweet but not greasy, fragrant and soft, especially suitable for children's tastes.

The two of them each took a small plate and divided them into three. Gu Yin gave the rest to Manager Zhou and Chef Xu to taste.

Chef Xu was fond of sweets. Cantonese style mooncakes were his favorite in the past. After eating these snowskin mooncakes, the order in his heart changed.

It was just that he was too embarrassed to fight with the children, so he could only lick his fingers aftertaste.

Seeing him like that, Wu'an and Gu Ye looked at each other, and each gave him one.

His face was flushed with shame, and he waved his hand and said, "No, no, it's enough that I took a taste."

Gu Yin let the two children go out to eat, and then said to Chef Xu, "If you want to eat it, don't worry too much. The Cantonese style and snowskin mooncakes will be handed over to you for half a month."

"I'll…make them?" Chef Xu became excited, and his breathing became a little heavier.

He had been always learning and working by her side, and had not yet taken the lead. Since he was entrusted with an important task, he was naturally both nervous and excited.

Gu Yin nodded and said, "Although the two kinds of mooncakes require more attention and the steps are a bit troublesome, in fact, the steps are not difficult. From now on, I will assign tasks to you little by little."

Food of Heaven's business was getting more prosperous. Manager Zhou was in his prime, and his big iron pot could just cook a plate of dishes at a time. In addition to the lunch market and the dinner market, he did not find it difficult to fry ten or twenty hot dishes by himself.

Gu Yin was not, in terms of physical strength, women were no better than men, and the things on the white cuisine were more trivial and took longer time. There were more customers, and she had to take into account the operation and management of the entire store while cooking, which had gotten difficult.

Especially when Gu Ye had grown so much. She was a mother. She felt very uncomfortable, and wanted to spend more time with her family.

So she made it again in front of Chef Xu on that day. She made more ingredients like butter and bean paste, so that Chef Xu could start from half-finished products.

After the children left the big kitchen, Gu Ye asked Wu'an to give him a snowskin mooncake.

Even though he knew that there were still three pieces in his hand, Wu'an generously gave him his own, and didn't forget to tell him, "We'll eat the evening meal in a while, so don't eat too much."

Gu Ye took the mooncake but didn't eat it. He took a small plate and went out to eat.

As soon as he came out, Fan Jinsong and the little fatty hugged him.

In the summer, they delivered food together every day. Recently, the delivery team was disbanded, and the children were not used to not seeing him often.

"Why did you come so early today?"

"Are you tired of learning martial arts?"

Everyone asked in a row, Gu Ye shook his head and then took the mooncakes in the bowl and shared them with everyone.

He bought a lot of toys with his own wages. At first, it was to cause trouble for the delivery teams of Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall. Later, when the goal was achieved, he distributed these toys to everyone for free. Because of that, the children in the town took him as their leader.

When the snowskin mooncakes were brought out, the children's eyes were shining, but no one reached out to take one.

The sponsorship was something Gu Yin had long thought of.

As early as a few days before the lantern festival, she and Mrs. Wang took time to visit the county magistrate.

They had already gone there once for the trial. They knew that the county magistrate had a clean sleeve, so they didn't send anything valuable, just snacks made by Gu Yin herself.

After asking someone to pass the information, the county magistrate met them and asked them if they had encountered any difficulties. After all, most people went to the yamen to complain.

Gu Yin said no, and directly stated her intention to sponsor the lantern festival.

The lantern festival was a custom in Hanshan Town. It was said that the yamen organized it, but they did not charge money from merchants for that event, but only charged the basic rent of the venue. Of course, the rent collected was used to maintain the basic operations of the town.

The county magistrate asked her what she needed from the yamen, and Gu Yin said, "Actually, there is no need to do anything, just put our own banner in the town to promote our mooncakes. Regarding the sponsorship fee, you decide the fee."

The county magistrate thought for a while, then said, "Then I think it's not troublesome. You don't need to give a fee. It happened that you made suggestions for the case last time, and I haven't rewarded you yet."

The county magistrate had a clear temperament. Knowing that Mrs. Wang had adopted Gu Ye, he also rewarded her. In that trial, Gu Yin offered advice twice, which greatly improved the efficiency of handling the case. Although most of the credit was taken by the prefect, the county magistrate was also rewarded, and he was mentioned in the report. Later, when Gu Yin delivered snacks, he mentioned it.

At that time, Gu Yin refused, as she offered her advice because it was a case related to her own family, and she did not want to rush to make contributions. Moreover, the yamen was really poor, and she couldn't let them be like her own mother-in-law, and let the Officers come to work for her.

Now that the county magistrate mentioned it again, obviously he had not forgotten that matter.

Gu Yin didn't refuse any more, she just said, "Then how about I send another hundred mooncakes to you? You can reward the public or send them to the welfare home and the lonely old people in the town. It's all up to you."

That spoke to the county magistrate's heart. During a festival like the Mid-Autumn Festival, the county magistrate originally wanted to send some things. But the yamen was really poor. Every year, they waited for the rent of the lantern festival to be collected, and then rushed to buy things and distribute them. It was in a hurry, and they couldn't manage to do it every year.

So everything went smoothly that year, Gu Yin exchanged hundred mooncakes for the exclusive sponsorship of the lantern festival, and the county magistrate did something. He asked Li Shaotou to help put up the banner of Food of Heaven. Every citizen who came to the lantern festival could see the banner that had his official seal on it, indicating that it was licensed by the yamen, and others could not destroy it at will.

Before the night fell, the people who came to participate in the lantern festival in advance saw the huge banner of Food of Heaven.

When the night fell, a circle of lanterns was lit around the banner, which not only made the words more clear, but also made it more festive.

The theme of the lantern festival was naturally to look at lanterns and guess lantern riddles. Gu Yin also had people send mooncakes. The taste was naturally the same as the ones sold in the store, but they were much smaller, and the cost of one piece was about two coins. A few pieces were given to each booth, and the owner of the lantern booth could give them to those who guessed the lantern riddle correctly as a prize.

Because it was given free of charge, the owners of the booths also saved a part of the money for preparing the prizes, and naturally they were not unwilling.

And 'Food of Heaven' also rented a small stall at the lantern festival, and then did a tasting event. People who saw the banner and tasted the prize mooncake thought it was delicious. When they saw the sign standing on the stall, they ordered mooncakes on the spot.

Master Bai of Hanxiang Hall and Wang Dafu of Full Moon Hall were almost furious.

In the past few days, 'Food of Heaven' was only playing a small game and didn't make any tricks. They didn't think she would make such a move.

How many people could the children they trained to sing nursery rhymes sing to? How many people would it affect?

And that banner, as long as one was not blind, they could see it. Of course, there were people who were illiterate, but when they saw such a big banner, as long as they were not dumb, they would definitely ask someone to find out what was written on it.

But there was no other way, the secret weapon that had been trained for so long should be used.

They had only trained a dozen or so children, and the two added up to around 30 children.

But as soon as the children were released, they were surrounded by another group of children.

As Gu Ye said, the few of them had not been trained in advance, and they would not sing any children's songs that praised their mooncakes.

But then he heard his mother say that there were other ways of publicity, so he changed his mind-

If it was not comparable, then they needed to do the opposite.

He had already divided two teams, one team was led by himself, and the other team was led by Fan Jinsong, waiting at the lantern festival.

Gu Ye finally gave the small plate to Fan Jinsong and asked him to distribute it.

Therefore, the No. 8 person who followed Gu Ye first, of course, could get a small piece, and the others could only get a little taste, and the later ones couldn't even eat the filling.

"Bingbing, so fragrant, so sweet, so delicious!" Little Fatty couldn't wait to put the snowskin mooncake in his mouth, and exclaimed loudly.

However, as he spoke, he swallowed the melted moon cake into his stomach at once.

"I haven't tasted it yet!" Little Fatty cried with a sad face. If it wasn't for Gu Ye watching from the side, he would have wanted to cry.

Fan Jinsong and the others didn't dare to finish it in one bite, only taking small bites.

"It's really fragrant and sweet, and the stuffing in it is the best, sweeter than sugar!"

"I didn't like the taste of milk originally, but the milk in this is too fragrant!"

"Woo, I ate it all at once. What is the flavor of the filling? Who can give me a bite?"

It was the first time that he had eaten something like that. Who was willing to share it with him? They ate it quickly to prevent him from grabbing theirs.

"It's called Snowskin Mooncake. Our restaurant sells this during the Mid-Autumn Festival," Gu Ye finally said.

After saying that, he let everyone disperse, as the children knew what to do.

Of course, the ones who tasted it still wanted to eat it again. It was even worse for those who hadn't eaten it. They couldn't imagine what kind of good taste it was, since everyone praised it like that.

The first thing they did when they got home, of course, was to tell their parents that they wanted to eat the snowskin mooncakes.

Although 'Food of Heaven' had only opened for less than half a year, after a series of publicity for its opening, people in the town had heard of it, even if they had never eaten there.

Everyone knew that food there was not very expensive, and parents who were rich or generous immediately agreed to it. Those who were not so rich and generous, of course, let their children stop being greedy, and eat their meals.

But the festival was meant to be lively and festive. Seeing their children unhappy, parents who didn't agree would reconsider. At least they went to inquire about the price first.

So the next day, Gu Yin received more than a dozen parents who asked about snowskin mooncakes.

The steps of making snowskin mooncakes were not complicated, but the cost of materials was high, and the price of a small piece was ten coins.

If it was some other time, the children of ordinary people would not be able to afford snacks for ten coins, but since it was a holiday, parents gritted their teeth and bought it for them.

The number of people who made reservations had been endless since that day. Seven days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, hundreds of snowskin mooncakes had been ordered.

Both Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall were keeping their eyes on 'Food of Heaven'. Seeing that Gu Yin who had been tinkering for a long time and only came with the mooncakes that children liked to eat, the two restaurants dismissed it. Children had small stomachs, how many pieces could one child eat? And no matter how much parents loved their children, they would not spend too much money on buying snacks for their children. Their profit would really be limited!

It was still the mooncake gift boxes that could make a lot of money.

At that time, Chef Xu was finally able to make mooncakes that satisfied Gu Yin, and the snowskin mooncakes that had been ordered could be picked up.

Cantonese style mooncakes were sweet and cost eight coins a piece, while Suzhou style mooncakes were fragrant and crispy.

As for the mooncakes gift box that the guests used to give as gifts, 'Food of Heaven' also made it.

A round wooden box was evenly divided into three, one for each mooncake, so that customers who liked all kinds of mooncakes could buy them. If someone bought the three types in a box, it would be two coins cheaper than buying just one type of mooncake, and they could get a small and exquisite wooden box for free. Although the wooden box was not valuable, it was very good for keeping small things.

As soon as that gift box was launched, the response was very good.

Someone immediately said, "My mother likes to eat Suzhou mooncake, and my wife likes Cantonese mooncake. Every year, I go to two restaurants to buy them, and my children want to try the new kind of mooncake, so this is convenient!"

"Yeah, the two mooncakes are sold in separate places, so we can't eat too much at one time. This moon cake is originally meant to be tasted, and it is for the holidays. How can ordinary people like us eat it?"

An impatient and greedy customer immediately bought a box and ate it on the spot after tasting. The three flavors were naturally delicious, and after eating it, he even picked up the oil paper on the bottom of the box and smelled it.

When he picked it up, he realized that something was wrong. "Good Luck" was written in the corners.

Upon seeing that, Gu Yin immediately said, "Congratulations, you have won our Mid-Autumn Festival Grand Prize! Anyone who gets a 'Good Luck' note is refunded ten coins!"

"There is such a thing?!" The customer laughed, "It seems that I have good luck this year. You don't need to refund the money, give me another box. I just haven't eaten enough!"

He opened the gift box and read the note first, but unfortunately at that time there were only five words "Thank you for your purchase".

Seeing that he was lost, others had to jokingly say, "What good things are you thinking about? Can they refund ten coins per box?"

"That's right, don't they want to do business?"

But that kind of propaganda method that may get real money was still a novelty, especially during the holidays. Who didn't want to be the one with good luck?

Also, in order to see the note inside, they didn't wait until August 15th to pick up the goods, but came early to get it and ate it directly.

There was definitely no prize in every box, but if a person got lucky, they would be happier than picking up money out of nowhere, and they could brag about their good luck when they go back.

Under that kind of publicity, a total of two hundred sets of Food of Heaven's mooncake gift boxes were sold. Of course, there were also those who didn't want the most expensive snowskin mooncakes. As long as the other two were bought, 'Food of Heaven' would also make good money.

The day before the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, Gu Ye came back and told Gu Yin that the two big restaurants had started selling mooncakes. A group of children would sing nursery rhymes at the lantern festival to promote how delicious their mooncakes were.

That time, they didn't get any information at all. If it wasn't because Li Dachun told Gu Ye, he probably wouldn't know it. And that time, both of them came prepared, and the selected children had all undergone secret training, and wouldn't be easily tricked by him to play.

Gu Ye felt that he couldn't handle it, so he went to talk to his mother.

"We have a lot of people, but we don't have training. I'm afraid we can't compare," Gu Ye's face was sullen like a little adult, and he was already thinking that if his mother let him fight, he would still have a way to take care of those people.

The kind of publicity method was naturally born out of Gu Yin's previous measures to hire children to sell cold drinks and deliver food, which was not new to her.

Seeing the appearance of her little kid as if he was going for war, Gu Yin couldn't help laughing, "It's okay, I have already prepared, you can play with your little friends at the lantern festival, don't worry about anything else."

Gu Ye, of course, believed his mother, and immediately stopped worrying.

On August 12, the first day of the Lantern Festival, many people gathered in the town center before dark.

And as soon as they got there, they would see a very eye-catching big red banner with a large line of characters on the banner—

"Welcome to the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival in Hanshan Town, exclusively sponsored by 'Food of Heaven' Mooncakes!"

The official seal of the county government was clearly seen on the banner.

When the trained children came, they followed, either fighting or laughing beside them.

If a few children sang nursery rhymes together, it was so cute and delightful that one couldn't help but listen to what they sang.

But all of a sudden, ten or twenty children gathered in a pile, laughing and making trouble, which made the adults naturally feel a little bored and avoid them.

Because of that, even after the voices of the children trained in the two restaurants became hoarse, only two or three people came to ask them what they were singing.

When they were about to report the name of the restaurant, those children who followed them would have an "accident".

Sometimes, one fell down next to them, distracting the other party, another time, a person burst into tears, saying that he couldn't find his family and asked for help, which made the other party immediately disgusted and they walked away.

Because the two restaurants suffered a great loss the previous time, the children selected this time were all children from the family. The adults in the family had warned that this work was related to the adults' jobs, so they should not be sloppy.

They were angry all the time, but there were so many people on the other side that they couldn't beat or scold the children who were making trouble.

By the end of the first day of the Lantern Festival, 'Food of Heaven' had nearly three hundred more orders, while Full Moon Hall and Hanxiang Hall received a bunch of crying children.

The quarrel made Master Bai and Wang Dafu extremely annoyed, and they could only say that they were not to blame, and the wages were paid.

When the first day of the lantern festival ended, the two families rushed to the yamen, scrambling to get sponsorships to hang their banner at the lantern festival.

The two of them had deep pockets, and naturally they could afford it.

But although the county magistrate lacked money, he also had a bottom line. Since he promised Gu Yin first, he would definitely not go back on his words.

In a place like the yamen, Master Bai and Wang Dafu did not dare to argue. After being rejected, they could only hold their noses and endure it.

As for giving mooncakes to stalls to give to the lucky winners, that was the route that 'Food of Heaven' could take for cheap mooncakes. Their mooncakes were priced at a high price, and they would immediately drop the grade if they were given away for nothing. And they didn't make small mooncakes beforehand. If they gave away so many for free, they might lose money!

On the third day of the lantern festival, Mrs. Wang persuaded Gu Yin and said, "I haven't seen this kind of excitement a lot this year. We have all taken turns to see it, but you were the only one who stayed in the restaurant and stall every day. Today is the last day of the lantern festival, you and your Aunt Xu can go to watch."

The lantern festival was lively. There was no business in the restaurant. Although there were many people coming to the stall, it was enough to have two or three people in charge.

Since there was really nothing to do, Gu Yin should go.

"Then I'll go shopping and be back soon."

After she finished speaking, she and Mrs. Xu set off together.

Before walking far, Mrs. Xu stopped under a big tree full of lanterns.

Gu Yin stopped and saw Xu Qingchuan waiting under the tree.

He was still wearing his usual half-worn scholar's robe, with a wooden hairpin on his head. He was still holding a book in his hand, as he stared intently at the lanterns on the tree.

Perhaps because of the warmth of the lanterns, his handsome face was coated with a warm golden light, and his estranged temperament was reduced by three points, and he looked a lot more good.

Several young girls who passed by slowed their pace or peeked at him, blushing and whispering to their companions, or some even more daring, stood directly behind him a step away, just thinking about how to talk to him.

It was a pity that Xu Qingchuan didn't realize it. When he saw Mrs. Xu and Gu Yin coming over, he put away the book and greeted him.

"Child, you are reluctant to put down your book even if you come out to relax," Mrs. Xu said to him with a smile, and then the three of them went shopping together.

There were lantern riddles on the lantern stalls. Seeing Xu Qingchuan dressed as a scholar, the stall owners would take the initiative to ask him to guess the lantern riddles.

"Mystery eighty-eight, this is the word 'm'."

"Ten mouths, one heart. It's a word for 'thinking'."

"At the foot of the bright moon and half-Evian, the remnant flowers still fall before the horse's hoof. It's a 'bear'."

"There is a lonely boat in the world, shoot a sentence from the Book of Songs. The answer is 'The Chronicle of the Southern Kingdom'."

Gu Yin still understood the first one, but after he guessed more things, her head became so big that she didn't understand the connection between the mystery and the answers at all.

Of course, it was not just her, Mrs. Xu also didn't understand.

She asked in a low voice, and Xu Qingchuan explained, "The production of lantern riddles is all based on pictograms, understandings, phonograms, pointing things, borrowing, and transferring notes. Mother sees the phrase "'Guiding the plum blossoms to bloom' is a guise, and the answer to the mystery is 'It's here'."

Mrs. Xu immediately praised, "As expected of my son, I really understood a little bit when you said that."

Gu Yin was dazed at the side, but she couldn't say anything. She could only pretend to understand with a smile.

Later, Xu Qingchuan guessed the riddles one by one, and the riddles became more difficult, but he didn't stop for a while. The moment he saw the riddles, he could guess it after reading it once.

Seeing her son being so smart and quick, Mrs. Xu was so proud that she stood up straighter, and the smile on her face never faded.

Gu Yin also smiled. But because she really didn't understand, she was starting to feel a little bored, her mind was no longer on lantern riddles, and she couldn't help thinking about the order.

During the three-day lantern festival, at least thousands of mooncakes were sold in boxes, and there were even more scattered ones, with a thousand or two thousand.

Although a piece of mooncake cost two or three coins, it was also a lot of money.

And in the future, when it comes to the delicious dim sum in Hanshan Town, people who had bought mooncakes would definitely think of Food of Heaven.

Although that signboard had only been in business for less than half a year, in terms of popularity and acceptance, it was not much worse than Full Moon Hall and Hanxiang Hall.

As for the wealthy customer group that the two families were dedicated to maintaining, 'Food of Heaven' was going to intervene sooner or later.

She was just waiting for an opportunity to become famous to let the rich customers know that the cutting-edge food of 'Food of Heaven' was no worse than the two well-established restaurants.

But there was no hurry. The first half of the year still had to be steady and only when the foundation was laid could they be eligible to confront those two restaurants head-on. When these two restaurants were put down, the profit would definitely be several times higher. At that time, she should plan the next step, or expand the scale, or open a branch in a big place like Fucheng…

She was in a trance when she suddenly heard a burst of applause from the side.

When she came back to her senses, it turned out that Xu Qingchuan had already guessed all the lantern riddles, and could get the king of lanterns.

Gu Yin also applauded, and turned around to find that Mrs. Xu walked away at some point.

"I think my mother went to see something lively and forgot about us," Xu Qingchuan smiled helplessly.

Gu Yin also pursed her lips and said, "It's okay. Before we came out, she was worried that it would be crowded, and she told me that if we get separated, we should go back to the big tree and wait."

"This is for you." Xu Qingchuan didn't pick the half-person-high lamp king, but picked the small and cute rabbit lamp. He handed the lamp king forward in his hand, and covered the emotions in his eyes with long eyelashes .

That rabbit lamp had a big head, a fat body, and a round white shape that was very flattering.

Although the things were not valuable, that was the lucky prize that Xu Qingchuan won by guessing the lantern riddles. Gu Yin naturally waved her hand to refuse, "This is the lucky prize that you deserve, I can't take it."

"It's just a toy, it's worthless. This is to thank you for taking care of my mother during this time."

During that period, Mrs. Xu earned half a tael of money every month. When the business was good, Gu Yin would also pay more, not to mention the pay for the holidays. With all of that, the monthly salary was almost more than one tael of silver.

With that money, Mrs. Xu's life was naturally much better than before.

And not just that, in the past, Xu Qingchuan studied outside and only returned home once in ten days. Mrs. Xu was doing nothing at home alone, and seemed lacking energy. Now, although she got tired every day, her energy was getting better day by day. Her temperament was more cheerful, and she looked younger.

And all of it was naturally thanks to Gu Yin.

However, Gu Yin did not dare to take credit. When Mrs. Xu was hired, it was indeed because the two families had friendship, so Mrs. Wang first thought of her.

However, as the owner, Gu Yin had a clear distinction between public and private. The wages, overtime pay, and holiday pay that Mrs. Xu got were all due to her serious work. Otherwise, if it was someone who didn't work hard even if that person was a friend, she would definitely be fired.

But Xu Qingchuan kept holding out the lantern, and Gu Yin was too embarrassed to refuse any more, so she said, "Then I'll take it, Wu'an and Xiao Ye will definitely like it. Thank you."

After the two of them spoke, they returned to the tree and stood three or four steps away.

None of them said a word, and Xu Qingchuan took out the book that he hadn't read before.

Gu Yin didn't feel anything at first, but after standing for more than fifteen minutes there, she felt that something was wrong.

No matter how careless Mrs. Xu was, she wouldn't have been separated from them for so long. She should have returned to the big tree.

Thinking back to the way her mother-in-law and Mrs. Xu were giggling and muttering beside her before they came out, no matter how stupid she was, she could guess that it was what they did on purpose.

As soon as she guessed their intentions, Gu Yin was so embarrassed that she blushed.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Xu Qingchuan noticed something was wrong with her and asked aloud.

"Maybe there are too many people, so I feel a little suffocated," Gu Yin resisted the urge to dig a hole and bury herself. She fanned the wind with her hands, while thinking about what excuse she should use to escape.

It just so happened that she saw a small figure leading a bunch of children running by.

"Xiao Ye!" Gu Yin was granted amnesty, and immediately called out to Gu Ye.

Although the lantern festival was extremely noisy, Gu Ye keenly caught his mother's voice. He immediately stopped and stood on tiptoe to look around, and finally saw Gu Yin who was beckoning to him under the big tree.

"Mother, you came out to play too?" Gu Ye ran up to her with a smile.

When he saw that Xu Qingchuan was standing next to her, the smile on Gu Ye's face stagnated, and then as if he didn't see anything, he smiled and took his mother's hand, "I found a lot of interesting stalls, mother come with me, I will take you to play."

Gu Yin smiled apologetically at Xu Qingchuan, and then quickly left with Gu Ye.

On the other side of the long street, Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xu peeked at them.

Seeing that Gu Yin was pulled away by Gu Ye, Mrs. Xu said regretfully, "Why did Xiao Ye come here? Wang Baoyun, didn't you say everything was arranged?"

"I didn't expect them to meet Xiao Ye!" Mrs. Wang didn't forget to turn her head and complain, "Don't just talk about me, did your Qingchuan really come out to take a look? Why did he bring a book to the lantern festival?"

"This… This is what Qingchuan usually can't put down," Mrs. Xu also was annoyed by him reading a book at the lantern festival, but it was useless to complain. Their plan was in vain. The two didn't stay much longer, and left while muttering the precautions for the next time.

After leaving the big tree, Gu Yin finally exhaled a long breath, took Gu Ye's hand and squeezed it.

Later, she joined the children. Although they were of different ages, Gu Ye and Wu'an took the lead. The other children were well-behaved and polite, and they didn't seem particularly noisy.

The same group of children ate and played, but Gu Yin thought it was more interesting and more in line with her interest.

The food at the lantern festival was not expensive, only two or three coins per serving. Gu Yin bought it and tasted it, and then distributed it to the children.

After everyone couldn't eat anymore, they also watched dragon dance together, and it was getting late.

When it was time to leave, Gu Yin remembered that she had brought the lantern all the way, and said to the two children, "Uncle Xu gave it to you."

She had carried her lantern for so long, and the children had seen it. Wu'an shook his head and said, "The lanterns are easily damaged. Sister-in-law, give it to Xiao Ye."

Gu Ye liked such a thing the most, but that time he also uncharacteristically said, "I don't like lanterns very much."

On the other hand, Fan Jinsong and the other children all liked this rabbit lamp very much. After Gu Ye said no to it, they still showed pitiful expressions. Because if Gu Ye took it, they could look at it more in the future.

Gu Yin said, "Then I'll give it to you."

One was that the children really liked it, and the other was that since she knew about Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xu's plan, she couldn't keep Xu Qingchuan's things around.

Fan Jinsong's eyes lit up immediately, and he promised, "Thank you, auntie. We will keep it well, and we won't damage it!"

Then Gu Yin pulled her child in one hand and went directly back to Jinyi Alley.

The door of the house was open, and Mrs. Wang came back earlier than them and was waiting for them in the main room.

Gu Yin first asked the two children to bathe, and then she went directly into the main room as it was necessary to chat with Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang was drowsy with her chin resting at the table. When she saw Gu Yin entering the room, she immediately recovered, stood up, smiled and said, "You guys are back? I don't know why today I'm so sleepy at this hour. Since you're back, I'll go to sleep first."

Gu Yin reluctantly called out, "Mother…"

Only then did Mrs. Wang stop, and said with a drooping head, "Yes?"

Seeing her like that, Gu Yin couldn't help but smile. The mother and son were similar, although Wu'an and Mrs. Wang didn't look alike, but after doing something wrong, the appearance of guilt and waiting for scolding was exactly the same

She said with a smile, "You and Aunt Xu specially arranged the matter between me and Xu Gongzi today?"

Mrs. Wang's mosquito voice hummed, "Um.."

"I've told you several times that I'm not planning to get married." Gu Yin took her hand and said seriously, "Don't do this next time, it's embarrassing. "

Mrs. Wang assured, "Next time I will definitely tell you, and I will arrange it myself."

She and Mrs. Xu both saw it, Gu Yin and Xu Qingchuan usually looked like smart people, and they were just as inflexible as the knot on the elm tree (block-headed) when it came to relationships. If they didn't tell them, it would be useless to create a hundred opportunities like that day's.

Gu Yin didn't know that she was still thinking about the next time in a fair and honest way. After hearing her promise, she did not worry about it anymore, and went to take a bath and rest.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, a steady stream of customers came to pick up mooncakes early in the morning.

Especially those who ordered snowskin mooncakes – the other two mooncakes could be bought any day. But, snowskin mooncakes needed to be refrigerated for the best taste, so they all choose to pick up the mooncakes on that day.

On that day, 'Food of Heaven' also completely sold out the more than a hundred boxes of mooncakes that were prepared. By noon, after the afternoon market, there was almost no one in the store, and they all rushed home.

Gu Yin let the family members off work ahead of time. As for her, Mrs. Wang, Manager Zhou, and Chef Xu, they simply spent the Mid-Autumn Festival together.

Two tables were set up in the backyard, one table for Manager Zhou, Chef Xu and his two young apprentices, and the other table for Gu Yin, and two children.

The delicious mooncakes, accompanied by the tea treasured by Manager Zhou, tasted really good even for Gu Yin herself.

She held her child in one hand, leaned half of her body on Mrs. Wang, and gossipped while admiring the moon. From time to time, she was fed mooncake by Gu Ye, and sipped hot tea from Wu'an's hand.

In the warm and quiet place, the Mid-Autumn Festival was over like that.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather got cold.

Chef Xu was no longer intimidated after he was responsible for making mooncakes once. Although he had worked very hard when making mooncakes, the ones he made at the beginning were not as good as what his master made.

Thinking of wasting so many good things in vain, Chef Xu beat his chest with hatred.

But Gu Yin was not in a hurry with him. Although the food that the apprentice made was not so delicious and could not be sold to customers, it was not a problem for them. As long as the employees could eat it, it was not a waste.

Moreover, she basically knew where he made a problem after tasting it, and once she gave him advice, he would naturally not make such a mistake next time.

That moved Chef Xu, and he said to his two young apprentices in private, "Meeting my master is the greatest luck in my life. We can repay this kindness by giving our master a pension in the future to support her in old age. "

Gu Yin heard them by chance and was speechless. Chef Xu was eight or nine years older than her, and the two young disciples were only four or five years younger than her. She really didn't want to get old earlier than them.

Afterward, Chef Xu began to help Gu Yin share more responsibilities, such as making simple white cuisine snacks. He had been watching Gu Yin for almost half a year, and it was more effective with less effort.

Manager Zhou was a little envious, and also had the idea of accepting apprentices.

In fact, that was not a thought that came to him just then. Yet when he was in Full Moon Hall, he had to operate the entire restaurant by himself, and he did not have the energy. Later, the operation of Full Moon Hall was on track, and Chef Zhao was placed in to sing opposite him. If he had accepted apprentices at that time, it would inevitably make people think that he was trying to form a gang against them.

Manager Zhou didn't want to take apprenticeships as a means to win over people, so he had been delaying it until then.

As soon as he proposed that idea, Chef Xu was the first to sign up. He already had the basic skills of the red and white cuisine. Of course, he wanted to learn the red cuisine as well, but he was also afraid that Gu Yin would mind, so he asked her first.

Of course Gu Yin didn't mind, and helped him by saying good things about him to Manager Zhou, saying that Chef Xu was really a person who was devoted to learning how to cook.

Manager Zhou also saw that, so he accepted Chef Xu as his apprentice.

Chef Xu got another master with superb craftsmanship. He didn't sleep that night.

But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't learn from two masters at the same time. After thinking about it, Chef Xu thought of his two little apprentices.

His two little apprentices were equal to Gu Yin and Manager Zhou's grand apprentices, and Gu Yin and Manager Zhou were naturally willing to take them.

It was also at that time that Gu Yin knew the names of the two little boys, the older one was called Zhen Ban (m. chopping board), and the smaller one was called Cai Dao (kitchen knife).

The names were obviously given by Chef Xu.

But it was not easy for him to raise two children, so there was no need to go much into it.

So the master and apprentices were divided into two groups.

Chef Xu knew that the two apprentices had some talent in cooking. Anyway, what he knew, he had taught them all over the years, and the two apprentices' cooking skills were not much worse than him. But he didn't expect the talents of these two people to be fully revealed after meeting Gu Yin and Manager Zhou.

Zhen Ban's talent was in the white cuisine. After Gu Yin taught it once, he could do it immediately. The flower rolls made by him were as good-looking as those made by Gu Yin.

The talent of Cai Dao was in the red cuisine. His knife skill was good, and the ratio of the seasoning was taught to him once, and he was extremely accurate.

Fortunately, Chef Xu was not a narrow-minded person. Looking back, the two masters were so powerful and the two young apprentices were so clever. Although he was not as good as them, it was already impossible to meet such people.

His two young apprentices were brought up by him, and they regarded him as their father. Of course, they did not despise their own father after learning the craft. Instead, they respected him more and coaxed him, for fear that he would be unhappy.

In that way, in September, Gu Yin only needed to stay in the back kitchen for two or three hours a day, a lot of time by herself.

And 'Food of Heaven' also launched a new product at that time – sweet-scented osmanthus cake.

The production of sweet-scented osmanthus cake was not complicated.

For the cake, she firstly mixed glutinous rice flour with lard, sugar, and water, then rubbed the flour into a sandy sieve, put the sun-dried flour into a square steamer, and covered it with wet gauze. After that, she used a knife to cut out the shape of a flat square, and lastly sprinkled chopped osmanthus and steamed it for two minutes.

After the pot was out, she used the syrup prepared before, mixed it with the sweet-scented osmanthus, and finally poured it over, and the sweet-scented osmanthus cake was ready.

The sweet-scented osmanthus cake was fragrant, white as snow, sweet and tempting.

In the past, customers would definitely be more willing to go to special dim sum stores or big restaurants to buy this kind of delicate dim sum.

But since they sold snowskin mooncakes once during the Mid-Autumn Festival, children and sweet-loving customers were full of praise.

Once the sweet-scented osmanthus cake was launched, there was no need to advertise it at all. The children passed it on by word of mouth, and the sales naturally increased steadily.

A piece of cake for three coins, even if it was not a holiday, parents were willing to buy it for their children.

And it was a seasonal thing, if they missed it, they would have to wait until next year.

So every day other than the main meal, 'Food of Heaven' could sell hundreds of sweet-scented osmanthus cakes every day.

However, pastries were snacks and seasonal things, so that time it did not attract hostility from the other two.

In mid-September, Gu Ye proposed to celebrate his birthday.

Although Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang had never urged him, they actually remembered that matter in their hearts.

After he brought it up, Mrs. Wang thought about it and said, "The time doesn't seem right. I only opened a stall at the wharf in September. It was vaguely October when I met you before the weather got cold."

That also made Gu Yin a little ashamed. This era was not as convenient as the calendar in phones in later generations, and the old yellow calendar was still used to see the date.

At the end of summer and early autumn, their family fled to Hanshan Town. At that time, they were really poor. If they didn't use the money Mrs. Wang took from her family, let alone set up a stall on the wharf, it would be a problem to live.

In such an environment, they didn't buy an almanack (an annual calendar), and counted the days by weather.

When they met Gu Ye later, how could they know that this little brat would become part of the family in the future? She didn't even remember the day they met him.

But what Mrs. Wang said made sense. Gu Yin also remembered that she met him before winter, he was scared away. Not long afterward, the weather suddenly cooled down. Pedestrians on the pier began to wear warm clothes.

"That's right." Gu Ye blushed, "Can't we celebrate it now?"

His mother and his grandmother didn't know, in fact, he noticed them as early as the first day they went to the stall, and from that day on, he smelled his mother's food and became greedy, thinking about eating it morning and evening.

Of course, it was not impossible. Anyway, he should have been counted as five years old. Since Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang couldn't remember the specific date, so they agreed.

Knowing that he had many friends who were inseparable, Gu Yin added, "Then I will set up a table or two for you, how about you call all your good friends home for a meal?"

After getting the answer, Gu Ye was overjoyed and jumped out.

He went jumping all the way to the outside, but seeing Fan Jinsong, little fatty and others from a distance, Gu Ye immediately slowed down and started walking slowly with his hands behind his back.

"What made Brother Ye so happy?"

Gu Ye's expression remained the same, and he announced that he was going to celebrate his birthday soon.

The children were all excited when they heard it, and asked him, "What birthday gift do you want?"

Gu Ye told them that he didn't want any gift, and then said again, "My mother told me to invite everyone to a meal when the time comes."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the number of people around him. He could count, and it was easy to count less than a hundred.

He counted to thirty in one breath, and they were only half of all the children around him. Gu Ye frowned again.

He couldn't invite so many people all at once, and even if his mother agreed, he was not willing to let his mother work so hard to entertain so many people in one go.

"The delivery team is invited to come to my house. As for the others…" Gu Ye looked at Fan Jinsong, "You decide."

A few months ago, Fan Jinsong was thinking of saying goodbye to Gu Ye, but he seemed to be Gu Ye's number one horse.

Hearing that, he immediately raised his chest proudly and said, "Brother Ye, don't worry, I will definitely make it fun for you!"

When it came to Gu Ye's birthday, Gu Yin started to prepare after the morning business.

The cake must be made, but Gu Ye specifically told her that she should not work too hard, otherwise he would have an uneasy birthday, so Gu Yin made a simple version of the cake.

She whisked egg yolks, milk and flour until it turned smooth, beat egg whites and sugar at high speed to form a foam, then added the egg yolk that was stirred before, and quickly mixed them well. After that, she poured it into a low disk, slid it with a toothpick to eliminate air bubbles, baked it in the preheated bread kiln for a quarter of an hour, took out a knife and cut a cross on the cake.

The baked cake was charred yellow, sweet and fragrant, and then topped with a layer of osmanthus syrup. It was really fragrant and could be smelled outside the store.

Of course, such a cake couldn't be compared with the cakes sold in later generations, but except for the step of beating the egg whites, the other steps were considered simple.

Thinking that there were other children coming, Gu Yin made four pieces in one go.

Then the cookies were baked. There was still some butter left from making mooncakes.

She mixed the butter with eggs and sugar, added flour, kneaded the dough into long strips, and put half of it in the ice cellar. After half an hour, cut the long strips into small round pieces and baked them in the bread kiln for more than a quarter of an hour.

Before noon, four pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cakes and hundreds of small butter cookies were ready.

Gu Yin also went from the back kitchen to the front hall, only to find that there were several children standing in front of the counter in the store. They were lined up, all holding strange and odd things in their hands.

Seeing her, Mrs. Wang laughed and said, "They all came to wish our Xiao Ye a happy birthday. I said at first that I wouldn't accept it, but they were still anxious. They said they wouldn't leave if we didn't accept it."

Gu Yin told the staff to take the biscuits she made and use them as a return gift.

The things the children gave were all kinds of strange things, such as candied haws, small pieces of caramel, wild flowers picked by the roadside, etc., which were all relatively normal, as well as rags from home and stones picked up by the roadside.

But it could be seen that those were the things they liked. The child who gave the rag said that it was the most beautiful piece of cloth in the world. Unfortunately, it was too small to do anything, so he could only hold it every day to sleep. The stone picked up by the roadside was the child's favorite toy, and he played with it.

But there were also some who startled them. There were children who gave their own sterling silver longevity locks (pendant) as gifts. Gu Yin didn't dare to accept that kind of precious thing, but only said that she had received his heart, and gave two biscuits as a gift in return.

Until lunch, Gu Yin helped Gu Ye to collect thirty or forty gifts, and it was painful to make the gift list.

Mrs. Wang couldn't help laughing next to her, and whispered to her, "Our Xiao Ye's birthday is like an official's big event. They are all toys, why are you still writing a gift list?"

Gu Yin also laughed and said, "I wrote it down to make Xiao Ye happy when he sees it."

Before lunch, Gu Ye and Wu An came back together.

Wu An specially took a half-day vacation to accompany him on his birthday, and Gu Ye also went to the Wen House to pick him up from school after finishing his morning martial arts lessons.

Not long after they arrived, a group of children led by Fan Jinsong also came to the banquet.

The afternoon business had already started earlier. Gu Yin borrowed two tables in advance and put them in the backyard, so they could just go there.

The four cakes drenched in sweet-scented osmanthus syrup, combined with the dozens of small biscuits left, made the eyes of older children like Fan Jinsong light up, while the younger ones were already drooling.

Of course, since they were inviting people to lunch, it was definitely not just desserts, but also hot dishes. But 'Food of Heaven' itself was in the food business. Gu Yin asked Manager Zhou to keep one plate of each of the hot dishes in the lunch market, adding up to ten plates of hot dishes, enough for the group of children.

They didn't need to be served by anyone, they brought dishes and chopsticks by themselves under the leadership of Gu Ye and Wu An.

By the end of the afternoon, the children's banquet had also dispersed.

After they left, Gu Yin took a look at Gu Ye and found that this kid was flushed and looked drunk.

Food of Heaven didn't sell alcohol, obviously someone else brought it to congratulate him on his birthday.

Gu Yin was terrified, thinking about taking him to see a doctor, but Mrs. Wang came over and sniffed the small cup on the table, then she said with a smile, "It's okay, it's fruit wine, it's called wine, but it's actually sweet fruit water made specially for women and children."

Wu An also said, "Don't worry, sister-in-law. There was only a small pot, and each person had a small cup of it. Look at me, I am alright."

Wu An was really not different at all.

Gu Yin was relieved, but touching Gu Ye's hot face, she still asked him worriedly, "Are you feeling uncomfortable or dizzy?"

Gu Ye shook his head and said, "I don't feel uncomfortable, I just want to sleep. Mother, can you carry me home to sleep?"

Normally, he wouldn't make such childish requests. He was obviously still drunk.

There was nothing to do in the afternoon, and it was his birthday, so Gu Yin and Manager Zhou carried him back to Jinyi Alley.

While returning home, Gu Ye slept like a piglet on her back, and started snoring on the way.

When Gu Yin put him on the bed, he didn't wake up, turned over and went back to sleep, snoring loudly.

She watched him for a while, and when she saw that the blush on his face had subsided, and there were no other uncomfortable symptoms, she got up and went back to the restaurant.

…

Winter in Hanshan Town came early, and it suddenly became cold in October. Gu Yin felt that it was time to tinker with something new.

It was getting cold, so what was the best thing to eat? Of course it was hot pot!

The cost of hot pot was high, and the current customer base couldn't afford it, so it would be replaced with Mala Tang. Unlike hot pot which was made to order and shared only by diners at a table, Mala Tang was cooked in a communal pot and diners could either eat on the spot or takeaway.

Gu Yin first went to Carpenter Feng to order a batch of bamboo long colanders, baskets, and sticks. Bamboo baskets and sticks were the simplest things, and they were sold in Carpenter Feng's shop. As for the long colander handle with a buckle, just enough to stick to the edge of the pot.

To make Mala Tang, she first boiled a pot of fragrant big bone soup, simmered it from midnight to morning, till the bone soup turned white like milk.

Then she washed the cabbage, bean sprouts, green vegetables, celery, potato slices, sweet potato slices, tofu and other vegetables, and served with the sausages Manager Zhou brought and the chicken meatballs, fish meatballs, lion head, egg skin meat dumplings and other meat dishes Gu Yin made. There were also staple foods such as fried dough sticks, hand-rolled noodles, and vermicelli.

With that, a counter with bone soup Mala Tang had been opened.

It was still the cheap route, vegetarian dishes and staple foods were worth one coin, and meat dishes were three coins.

One cheap meal may cost four or five coins. Of course, if they wanted to eat meat, then the money would definitely be unstoppable. In addition, they could add any other dishes they wanted to eat. They just had to talk to Gu Yin, and she would be able to tinker with it right away. And they could put vinegar and garlic paste according to their own taste. In addition, 'Food of Heaven' also provided chili oil and sesame paste. They could make a dry mix without bone broth. But the last two seasonings cost extra, two coins a serving, or three coins if they didn't want soup.

Once that thing was launched, Mr. Wen was the first to praise it.

He really liked the bone broth hot pot, but he never tried it again. When it got cold that day, he had already been thinking about it. The spicy dishes could be chosen according to his own taste, even if he ate them all at once by choosing his own dishes, it was easy to get bored.

Eldest Master Wen also liked it very much. The chopped pepper sauce that Gu Yin had sent before had already been finished, but knowing that she was too busy with her own business, he didn't have the guts to ask her to put down her chores and make another jar for him.

It was just that the peppers he bought elsewhere and processed by his own cook were not as delicious as Gu Yin's.

The bone broth Mala Tang was definitely not as fragrant as the butter and spicy hot pot, but the red chili oil was really spicy. Old Master Wen didn't want bone broth every time. He just had two extra servings of chili oil and sesame paste, and ate it dry.

And other regular customers of 'Food of Heaven' had long been accustomed to their restaurant launching new things from time to time. Although the time was short, it had been half a year. Every time they introduced new things, they were delicious and affordable.

Especially in November, it was cold and windy outside, and eating a hot meal could only warm the stomach.

So eating that spicy hot soup and hot dishes, made people comfortable and sweaty. They would not feel so cold when they go out. Of course, if they added a few coins and ate a bowl of chili oil, they would be warm for a long time.

Mala Tang was a simple dish. Gu Yin only needed to watch the heat and seasoning when boiling the bone soup, other people could make the rest.

She was liberated at once, and had more free time, so she began to make pickles.

After washing the mustard greens, she cut off the excess roots, then put them in a pot and blanched them in boiling water, and removed them immediately after they changed color.

Then she poured the rice water into the boiling water of vegetables, stirred well, added a little salt, removed them, and let it cool naturally.

Then, she put the hot mustard greens into a clean vegetable urn and pressed down, poured the cold rice soup into the mustard greens, then pressed down with a heavy object again, sealed it, and stored it in a dark place for three to seven days.

That was not complicated. After she demonstrated it once, Chef Xu and his two young apprentices all got started and marinated twenty jars in one go, not only mustard greens, but also cabbage, pickled radishes, and sour beans.

After seven days, the pickles were completely discolored and fully marinated.

Chef Xu thought at first that his master was cooking side dishes, but after such a large scale, he felt that he was thinking wrong.

It was of course not a side dish, there were so many things that pickles could be used for.

First of all, there was an indispensable fish in Hanshan Town. When it was paired with pickles, it really wouldn't have the slightest fishy smell.

In addition, the pickles could be used in the soup base as a new flavor of Mala Tang. In addition, there were stewed vermicelli, fried pork, stewed spareribs… There were so many things to make with pickles.

Launched again, the acceptance of the guests was still very high.

Although 'Food of Heaven' had set up a few double tables before, the people were barely able to get seats.

Once Mala Tang and Pickled Fish was launched, it attracted a large number of people, in addition to the original regular customers.

Food of Heaven was hard to find. In the past, the food became cold after the meal, and there were fewer guests. But since Mala Tang and Pickled Fish were fast and convenient to make, the restaurant had guests one after another, and there was an endless stream of people since morning.

Hanxiang Hall and Full Moon Hall were getting boring.

The cheap dishes and snacks from 'Food of Heaven' were already suppressed by them. But some new things were launched later. Each time they were launched, they received a wave of praise. The two of them could only comfort themselves that they were all seasonal things, and forget about it. But they couldn't stand Food of Heaven, which was launching new things all year round, and using various means of publicity in an endless stream, which made people dazzled.

The young master of that family had almost included all the children near Wencheng Street. In a few years, those children would be older and would be able to make decisions…

No matter how small an ant was, it could kill an elephant. They couldn't let her go on like that, they knew that sooner or later they would have to kill her.

Especially in the VIP deposit activities launched by the two restaurants. Those customers had almost eaten the money they deposited, and because there were too many discounts, the two of them actually didn't earn any money, and they dared not give that discount again.

Everyone knew that the diners liked new things, and after the deposit of silver was finished, those people would turn to Food of Heaven if they were not guaranteed.

Wang Dafu gritted his teeth and took out the special seasoning he had prepared a few months ago.

And Mr. Bai also reluctantly added the seasoning purchased at a high price overseas to the special treatment of VIPs.