border cook

Suddenly there was such a good business in the shop, Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to slack off at all, she watched the preparation of the dishes in the back kitchen herself, in case something went wrong, and asked Chef Yao to add some birthday dishes.

The lobby on the first floor also needs to be re-decorated. Red silk is hung on the wall, and a gilded birthday plaque is placed on the wall. pattern.

There are separate tables for men and women, and the tables in the lobby are arranged on both sides, with the twelve-leaf mahogany landscape screen that Yang Xiu bought in the middle separated just right.

"After the Si time, the guests celebrating birthdays in Anfu will almost have to eat here. Yang Xiu, you go and invite a troupe." When Jiang Yanyi was patrolling the lobby, he looked at the empty stage and told Yang Xiu.

Birthday celebrations are all about excitement. Although it costs a little more money to invite an opera troupe to sing, at least it is decent.

Yang Xiu was a little hesitant: "Boss, we'll just be in charge of attending the meeting and invite the theater troupe. Don't you have to pay for it?"

Jiang Yanyi said: "Just do as I tell you."

It is a big event for the old lady of Anfu to celebrate her birthday. From who to invite to what dishes to serve at the birthday banquet, it should be planned early in the morning. However, the servants of Anfu suddenly came to them. It is obvious that something went wrong in the house , unable to entertain these guests.

If this birthday banquet is successfully held, it will not only help An's family regain face, but also take this opportunity to make friends with An's family, and moreover, it will also spread the reputation of Ruyilou.

Those who come here to eat are all dignitaries. If they want to hold a banquet at home in the future, if they think it is troublesome to do it at home, and contract it to Ruyilou, it will be another big business. So today, even if it does not make money, they have to Do it beautifully.

Yang Xiu has been with Jiang Yanyi for so long, and he also knows that Jiang Yanyi has his own reasons for everything. Every time they feel that Jiang Yanyi is doing a loss-making business, but later makes a lot of money, this time he also chose to listen to Jiang Yanyi. .

When the An family's guests came over, the waiters on the first floor greeted them to sit down.

The guests who come to eat more or less depend on the meaning of Anfu's joke, but as soon as they enter the door, a waiter immediately greets them and takes the cloaks or cloaks they took off, saying that they are drying them. The guests at other people's houses celebrate their birthdays and entertain them thoughtfully, and the guests can't help but find it strange.

After being led to the banquet and seated, he found that the lobby was decorated in a festive manner. Not only did the waiter pour a cup of steaming tea, but he also brought a charcoal basin to keep warm, and the guests immediately felt good.

People who are acquainted with each other sit at the same table, chatting about family affairs or talking about the current wars in the Xuan Dynasty.

Some people don't like to eat antique soup, and they have never eaten it before. This time, they just came here to celebrate the birthday of Anfu. I heard that there are authentic works of the king of Liaonan here, and there are poems written by gifted scholars who came to eat in the restaurant. Curiosity will inevitably ask to take a look, and there are not a few people who are interested in composing poems.

Jiang Yanyi set up a place on the third floor to exclusively sell the Four Treasures of the Study, and the clever waiter would fool the guests to go to the third floor and persuade them to buy some pens, inks, papers and inkstones with a good tongue.It's no wonder they were active, mainly because Jiang Yanyi let go of the words in advance, as long as they persuaded the guests to buy the items they sold, they could be counted as commissions.

Opposite the shop selling the Four Treasures of the Study is the room that exclusively sells rouge. From time to time, female customers come up from the downstairs with Chu Shubao, or buy rouge and leave the room.The young man who was persuaded by the waiter in the shop was thin-skinned, afraid of being laughed at by the girls if he didn't buy anything, most of them would buy some paper and pens.

*

Seeing that the guests in the lobby were almost all seated, Jiang Yanyi ordered the kitchen to quickly bring up the pot.

Hosting such a large-scale banquet has to cater to the tastes of most people. Mutton is the most popular meat for entertaining guests. It is not common for the ancients to eat spicy food. There are old people and children during the banquet, so the birthday banquet is always prepared with mutton in clear soup. pot.

Side dishes such as lotus root, winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and tofu are served on a variety of plates in beautiful shapes, and a few plum blossoms are placed in the middle or on the edge of the plate. The original ordinary ingredients seem to have a little more artistic conception.

The guests were full of praise, and the original intention to read the joke was gone.

Mrs. An was supported by her daughter-in-law and grand-daughter-in-law into the restaurant. Jiang Yanyi went up to greet her, and was pleasantly surprised to find that this Mrs. An was the old lady who gave her and Feng Shuo a red seal in the Han Mansion.

"The old lady has a long life and a healthy life." Jiang Yanyi greeted her with a smile on her lips.

Mrs. An was deaf and couldn't hear what Jiang Yanyi said, but she seemed to recognize Jiang Yanyi, and nodded and smiled at her kindly.

"Mother, the guests are still waiting, let's go over there." The lady who was nearly forty years old and supporting the old lady An said, the corners of her eyes were raised, her lips were too thin, and her expression was very arrogant. He only regarded Jiang Yanyi as an ordinary business girl.

Jiang Yanyi guessed that the woman was probably Mrs. An's daughter-in-law.

Everyone else had spoken, and she was too embarrassed to say anything more, so she asked a waiter to lead them to the lobby.

Mrs. An's granddaughter-in-law nodded her thanks to Jiang Yanyi. Although her face was covered with makeup, her eyes were still red, and she looked like she had just cried.

Jiang Yanyi also nodded at Mrs. An, and Mrs. An's eyes gave her an inexplicably familiar feeling.

The guests had all gone to eat, and Chu Shubao and Chu Huibao also had to rest for a while.

Chu Shubao propped her elbows on the counter, and muttered to Jiang Yanyi with her chin in one hand: "Young Madam An must have been scolded and cried by her mother-in-law. Look at how mean her mother-in-law is."

Jiang Yanyi glanced at the lobby. Mrs. An had finished talking with a few old ladies and had already taken her seats at the banquet.

She made a silence gesture to Chu Shubao: "Speak less, it will be bad if people hear you."

Jiang Yanyi doesn't know what's going on with An's family yet, but when Chu Shubao was talking about makeup with a few young girls just now, she got a general idea of ​​what's going on with An's family. This daughter-in-law married Mrs. An only because General An was injured and was rescued by her in order to repay her kindness..."

This familiar and bloody plot...

Jiang Yanyi was shocked, and interrupted Chu Shubao, "Is this General An called An Yongyuan?"

Chu Shubao asked in surprise, "How do you know?"

Jiang Yanyi thought that if he didn't know, An Yongyuan was the villain of the Xizhou copy in the original book!

In the book, his wife was treated harshly by his mother to death, so that when he met the heroine, he found that the heroine had the same eyes as his wife, so he imprisoned the heroine, but the emperor came and chopped off her head soon.

No wonder she saw Mrs. An Shao just now, and felt a sense of familiarity in her eyes.

The reason why Jiang Yanyi can remember the villain An Yongyuan is because the emperor mistakenly thought that he touched the heroine, and the heroine refused to explain.

There were a lot of romantic romances in the early days, but the scale was definitely large, and the meat was stewed fragrantly. Unlike the later novels, the clear soup lacked water and was tasteless.

Jiang Yanyi glanced at the plot and found that the current timeline no longer matches the original book.The plot of An Yongyuan's imprisonment of the heroine is after the heroine ran away from home in anger by Lu Linyuan, before the Turkic prince kidnapped the heroine.

At present, both the Turkic prince and Jiang Yanxi are still in prison, and An Yongyuan's wife is not dead, so there should be no more episodes of him imprisoning the heroine.

Thinking about it, Jiang Yanyi still felt a little worried in her heart. Faced with Chu Shubao's question, she prevaricated: "The restaurant is going to hold an Anfu banquet today, how can I not even know the name of the host?"

When Chu Shubao thought about it, it seemed to make sense, she patted herself on the head: "I am stupid."

Jiang Yanyi left the counter under the pretext of going to the back kitchen to check, but actually went to the female customer's side.

Although she only met Mrs. An twice, the old lady gave her a good impression, and she still didn't want anything to go wrong at today's birthday banquet.Moreover, An Yongyuan can be regarded as a powerful general under Feng Shuo's command. In the original book, Mrs. An Shao's death dealt a huge blow to him, and he was almost devastated.

Now that Feng Shuo is employing people, she also hopes that Madam An Shao will always be well, so that An Yongyuan will not go into the plot of the original book.

Jiang Yanyi glanced vacantly, and found that Mrs. An was sitting next to Mrs. An, and Mrs. An would bring her food from time to time. The grandparents and grandchildren were very harmonious, but Mrs. An's dissatisfaction with her daughter-in-law was almost written directly on her face. up.

There is a table of women on the side talking about settling down while eating vegetables.

"Today's Anfu is thanks to finding the Ruyi Building, otherwise it would be embarrassing!"

"I don't know what happened to An's house? It was agreed to hold a birthday at the house, why did they change places temporarily?"

"Tsk, it's not the granddaughter-in-law of the An family who comes from a small family and doesn't know how to manage the house at all. The mother-in-law entrusted the old lady An's birthday banquet to her, wouldn't it be messed up?"

"To marry a wife, you still have to marry a virtuous person. An old man's birthday can be such a big event, but it can be seen that there is not much filial piety."

"It's nothing, I heard that the little daughter-in-law is restless in the room!"

"What's more? She was able to marry into An's family because of the smoke from the ancestral grave, isn't she satisfied?"

These words were deliberately lowered, and the women at the table unconsciously gathered together. Jiang Yanyi happened to be standing in the short place next to the wall where the teapot was placed, and she heard it clearly. She pretended to make tea to delay time on purpose.

I only heard the woman who said that Mrs. An was restless in the room whispered: "This scandal has been suppressed, it is said that she had a relationship with a small official named Lu in the government office, and the two of them cheated on each other. Falling into the lake, she was rescued by that Lu, and General An went to pick her up, his face was ashen."

"No wonder Mrs. An didn't see General An coming back from the barracks today after her birthday..."

This sentence is not a knife, but it is better than a knife.

Jiang Yanyi didn't make a sound, maybe she was sensitive, but when the women mentioned that there was a surname Lu in the government office, she immediately thought of Lu Linyuan.

However, in the original book, Lu Linyuan and Madam An Shao had nothing to do with each other, so it shouldn't be Lu Linyuan.

Seeing Xiaoer come over with a tray to serve dishes, Jiang Yanyi stopped his thoughts and went over to personally pick up two plates of birthday dishes and put them on Old Madam An's table: "This is a birthday dish from the shop, I wish you a happy birthday Bi Nanshan, blessings like the East China Sea!"

"Shoubi Nanshan" is soft-shelled turtle soup made of pumpkins carved with exquisite patterns. The slaughtered soft-shelled turtles are added with white fungus, shiitake mushrooms, and ham, and stewed in a casserole two hours in advance until soft.

The pumpkin carved with Fu Lu Shou Xi patterns is steamed in a steamer until it is seven times ripe, and then taken out. At this time, the pumpkin is ripe but not rotten, and it will not deform or break the wall of the melon after being poured into the soft-shelled turtle soup.Cover the pumpkin lid, the shape is very unique, the soft-shelled turtle soup is not only delicious, but also has a touch of sweetness.

"Furu Donghai" is a steamed fish. After the whole fish is changed to a knife, it is first fried in oil until golden on both sides. It is stewed with shredded mushrooms and ham in a rich bone broth, and then decorated with mushrooms and ham. Pour it into the belly of the fish for seasoning, and then stew it in a cage.The skin of the steamed fish is golden, and the meat inside is delicate and smooth, full of fragrance.

Mrs. An's ears are not good, but she still smiled from ear to ear when she saw what Jiang Yanyi said after serving the food, and nodded to Jiang Yanyi as a thank you.

Mrs. An also opened a rare golden mouth: "I thank the store on behalf of my mother."

She looked Jiang Yanyi up and down, maybe she felt that Jiang Yanyi's appearance was too gorgeous, and there was a little contempt in her eyes.

Jiang Yanyi was unmoved, and still said with a smile: "Madam, you are welcome."

After she finished speaking, she left.

The meaning of the two dishes is very good, especially the carved pumpkin of "Fortune is like the East China Sea", which attracted the guests' admiration.

This is Chef Yao's signature dish. It is not only a test of knife skills, but also a meticulous job. If the knife is a little harder, the pumpkin will be destroyed.

After Jiang Yanyi left, Mrs. An covered her mouth and nose with a veil, as if she smelled something that made her uncomfortable: "The owner of this restaurant looks very raw. I don't know where it came from. The place where you eat is still playing with makeup. I don't know. I really thought it was a place!"

The woman sitting next to Mrs. An whispered: "Mrs. An, you don't know that you devote yourself to worshiping the Buddha. This host is amazing. She is the second girl of the Chu family. The King of Liaonan just went to the Chu family to propose marriage a few days ago. Nazser's gift alone is astonishing."

Mrs. An pointedly said: "You look good."

These words are obviously a compliment to Jiang Yanyi's appearance, but in fact she is just an Israeli servant.

The Chu family got such a good marriage, many people were jealous, but they dared not say it in front of them.

After hearing Mrs. An's words, the woman also looked at Jiang Yanyi's back and covered her lips and smiled: "The girls of the Chu family are all engaged in this showy business, and those who don't know think it's them The Chu family can't get rid of it anymore."

The old lady An, who had been deaf all day, suddenly said, "Su Niang, I'm tired."

Mrs. An had no choice but to stop the topic, and said to the few officials and women at the table who were still eating: "You take it easy, my mother's bones are not good, I will take my mother down to rest first."

The officials and women said some compliments, Mrs. An got up, and Mrs. An naturally had to step forward to support her.

**

Jiang Yanyi was looking at the account book at the counter, while cracking his abacus, and did a rough calculation. It took less than half a day for Ruyi Building to open today, and it has already earned more than 200 taels of silver.

This number successfully soothed Jiang Yanyi's heart that had been hurt by spending money like running water these days.

She happily asked Chu Shubao beside her: "How much did you earn from selling rouge?"

Chu Huibao was in charge of managing the accounts, and immediately replied bluntly: "Thirty seven taels."

It was a good start, and Jiang Yanyi was in a good mood. Looking at the busy lobby, she was thinking of something delicious to reward the guys, when a waiter ran over in a panic and said to Jiang Yanyi: "Boss, Mrs. An fell!"

Jiang Yanyi was taken aback, thinking that Mrs. An had fallen, and hurriedly walked outside the counter: "Where did you fall?"

Xiaoer said: "Old Madam An is tired. After Madam An sent her to the carriage, when she got out of the carriage, she sprained her foot for some reason and fell directly from the shaft of the carriage, breaking one of her front teeth."

In front of Ruyi Building is the main street, which is paved with green bricks, and the front teeth knock on the ground, and there is a real possibility of breaking.

When Jiang Yanyi walked out of the shop, he saw a crowd of people gathered in front of An's carriage. Mrs. An was surrounded by several maids and women, and she covered her mouth with a handkerchief, but the handkerchief was already stained red with blood.

On the contrary, Mrs. An Shao was at a loss and was pushed aside.

Obviously the noisy person was in front of Anjia's carriage, but Jiang Yanyi seemed to have sensed it, and looked across the street, and sure enough, he saw a carriage parked by the side of the road, with the curtain half-raised, the person inside could not be Feng Shuo.

Why is he here?