CHAPTER 60

Wang Luosheng thought back to the good days in his previous life and then thought about the unhappiness of his present life and felt a little confused.

In his previous life, he seemed to have never had any worries, but now, every time he opens his eyes, all he thinks about are annoying things. What’s going on? He is studying hard, even harder than in his previous life, but he just doesn’t feel like things are going well.

Wang Luosheng recalled that in his previous life, he often interacted with Yunyan. Yunyan often gave him some good ideas, and when he listened to them, everything went smoothly.

But in this life, because Su Wan left the Wang family, he had to take the initiative to do a lot of trivial things, and he had less time to study. As a result, he didn’t have time to interact with Yunyan, and Yunyan naturally didn’t have time to talk to him about these things.

Originally, he wanted to call Su Wan back, but seeing her current condition, she was already engaged to Shen Lin, so no matter how beautiful she was, he couldn’t condescend to call her back.

In the final analysis, the reason why Su Wan and Shen Lin got engaged to each other was probably because she couldn’t get me what he wanted, so they did such a ridiculous thing. Even if their stall was doing good business, they were just a small vendor after all, and their status as a scholar could not be compared with mine.

In fact, if he were to ask himself, seeing Su Wan’s beautiful appearance and booming business, Wang Luosheng also regretted it in his heart, but he could not admit this regret. She was just a little village girl; how could she be compared with the well-educated Yunyan, who was the dream girl of many young men in Qingyun County? But Yunyan only liked himself, and no one else could desire her.

Today’s business at Shen Lin and Su Wan’s stall finally dealt a blow to Wang Luosheng. Wang Luosheng couldn’t help but feel that he had to marry Yunyan as soon as possible.

After Yunyan came into the family, she could help his mother with the housework and also take care of those trivial matters for himself, allowing him to concentrate on his studies. Moreover, Yunyan could also bring a lot of dowry money. Didn’t his father and mother say that they didn’t have the money to open a shop in Qingyun County? With Yunyan’s dowry money, this matter could be accomplished.

Yunyan was also very good at businesswoman. In his previous life, Yunyan often went to the mill and gave his father some ideas. His father listened to Yunyan’s ideas and expanded the mill step by step. Finally, it became one of the best mills in Qingyun County. His family’s life became better and better.

Alas, his studies have been stagnant these days, and all his attention has been put on studying, which inevitably led to the neglect of Yunyan. This time, he has to coax Yunyan well, and by the way, he also has to talk to his mother about the proposal of marriage.

Su Wan and Shen Lin are together, and their business is booming, but it still makes Wang Luosheng feel uncomfortable.

After lunch, Shen Lin washed the dishes and went to the market to buy various ingredients. He added a few more items than Su Wan had bought before. The brisk business at noon was naturally due to those scholars. If those former classmates did not come in the afternoon, the business would not necessarily be as good as at noon. Although many diners who were not late said that they would come in the afternoon, it was just their words after all, and one could not blindly buy more ingredients based on their words.

Shen Lin bought ingredients for about ninety bowls of Malatang, spending more than three hundred coins. These ingredients were all cheap, so after making them into Malatang, he could make a lot of money.

Shen Lin bought some vegetables and returned to the stall and started washing them. Shen Lin was busy from morning to night. Su Wan hurried over to help wash the vegetables, but Shen Lin said that Su Wan had been cooking Malatang for the whole afternoon and needed to take a good rest because she still had a lot of work to do in the afternoon; otherwise, she would have no energy in the afternoon.

Su Wan insisted: “You have been busy since morning. Your work is heavier than mine. Let me do the dishes.”

Shen Lin was even more insistent than Su Wan: “I am a man, I am strong; these are what we should do.”

Su Wan couldn’t snatch it from Shen Lin, so she had to let Shen Lin do it.

By the afternoon, customers had already started arriving, and thirty bowls had been sold before lunch time.

Shen Lin found that he had seriously underestimated the sales of Malatang.

Eighty-four bowls were sold at noon, and there are still six bowls left. It will definitely not be enough to sell in the evening. Shen Lin and Su Wan said that they should buy more ingredients tomorrow.

When it was time for lunch in the afternoon, many guests who had not eaten at noon came to eat Malatang, and some who had eaten at lunch came back to eat. Among them were several scholars who wanted to eat again in the evening after having eaten at noon.

On such a cold day, eating a bowl of spicy, hot food and working up a light sweat is really comfortable.

In addition to these guests, there were also new passers-by who came here because there were so many people.

Naturally, this stall could not accommodate so many customers, so Su Wan only made the remaining six bowls, closed the shop, cleaned up the dishes, and went home.

Those who didn’t get to the front to have a bowl felt very regretful.

After eating, everyone praised the food for being delicious and said it was comfortable and satisfying. This restaurant does not sell alcohol and it is not easy to squeeze in. Otherwise, you could buy two taels of wine and drink it. Then it would be like a god’s day.

As usual, Shen Lin washed the dishes, then hitched up the carriage and took Su Wan and Shen Yaya back home. When Shen Lin finished washing the pots and pans, it was not yet time for dinner on this snack street.

Miss Xu, who was selling snacks nearby, waved to Su Wan, who was sitting in the carriage: “Your business is really good, because of it my business is three times better than usual. This is all thanks to you.”

Su Wan smiled and said, “Your dim sum must be delicious, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to sell so many.”

The couple selling buns next door had a sullen look on their faces. Although the dim sum business was improving, they thought their business was negatively affected.

Many customers who originally came here to buy steamed buns saw that the restaurant next door was so popular, so they went there to buy Malatang.

The woman selling buns cursed at the air: “What bad luck! They were supposed to be my customers, but now they have gone to other people’s stalls.”

Miss Xu couldn’t stand it and argued with the woman selling buns: “How can you say that? There were many people who bought buns because they saw that Malatang was good, but there were many more who came for Malatang but didn’t buy it and bought your buns. Not only are you not grateful to sister Su, but you are also making sarcastic remarks here.”

The woman selling buns cursed: “Oh, according to this statement, I am still benefiting from her, but it is obviously she who benefited from me.”

The owner of a nearby shop retorted to the woman selling steamed buns: “There are many people who bought steamed buns and also bought Malatang, but there are indeed more people who didn’t buy Malatang but bought steamed buns. If I were you, I would thank Sister Su before its too late.”

The woman selling buns didn’t want to hear this and turned her face away.

Neither Su Wan nor Shen Lin argued with the bun seller. It was not worth wasting time talking to such a person.

On the way back, Su Wan said to Shen Lin: “Look, it’s a good thing you didn’t leave, otherwise I would be exhausted to death.”

Shen Lin said, “That’s true.” Having said that, Shen Lin was thinking, if the business of the Malatang continued like this, he would naturally be able to endure such hardship, but for Su Wan, it would be too hard. As a man, he should let his woman enjoy the happiness.

But now at a glance, Su Wan was still worried a lot.
Su Wan said, “Actually, I asked you to stay for help ,but helping is secondary. The most important thing is that there will be an imperial examination in March next year, as you have seen. Now we have a way to make money, so you don’t have to delay your future to support your family. You can help me for a few more days, and when our business is stable, I will hire a maid to work with me, and you can go to school.”

Su Wan knew Shen Lin’s ability in studying. Even if he couldn’t pass the special examination this year, he would definitely pass it in the fall.

Shen Lin was in deep thought. A shop like this could conservatively earn two taels a day. If he could open more shops in Qingyun County or other counties, he could earn more every day. However, if he didn’t do all these things himself, he would have to hire people. This would be another expense. But even so, he would earn more than the previous shop he opened.

Moreover, Su Wan’s business is good now, and it won’t be long before many people will follow suit. In this way, the business of this Malatang stall will certainly not be as good as it is now, and there will definitely be people coming to steal the business. In this case, why not take over all the Malatang business in Qingyun County by themself? In this way, after others learn how to make Malatang, several Malatang restaurants will already be opened in the county. In this way, it will be difficult for others to do business.

And, another important thing is that the method of making Malatang is actually not difficult. Just by tasting the flavor of the Malatang, Shen Lin can roughly guess what seasonings are used, and the ingredients are visible. Therefore, it is easy for an experienced chef to imitate it.

If everyone only recognized Su Wan’s Malatang, the business would not be taken away by imitators.

Shen Lin told Su Wan all his doubts and thoughts.

Su Wan couldn’t help but admire Shen Lin. Although she studied business in the 21st century, she had never applied those theories in practice. When she first started making Malatang, Su Wan just thought that this food must be easy to sell, and because the raw materials were cheap, there was a lot of profit margin, but she never thought about opening a chain.

What Shen Lin meant by saying this was to build a brand and open a chain. Undoubtedly, if a chain was opened, she would not have to work from dawn to dusk and would only have to manage all the stores.

Su Wan repeated Shen Lin’s words according to current business theory. Shen Lin nodded. This was what he meant. Su Wan expressed his thoughts in more accurate words.

Seeing that Su Wan’s eyes were full of approval, Shen Lin began to analyze. Considering the size of Qingyun County, it would be difficult for others to open five such stores.

Shen Lin also gave Su Wan some advice on how to open more stores, and pointed out many problems that might arise and their solutions.

Su Wan sighed, he was indeed a wealthy businessman who was able to start from scratch. He was indeed different from others. Ordinary people did business on a small scale, but Shen Lin had the idea of expanding and he thought carefully about every aspect.

Su Wan told Shen Lin that she would hire people to do the dishes and vegetables washing work starting tomorrow, and asked Shen Lin to look for shops elsewhere in Qingyun County to implement the plan of opening a branch.

Shen Lin was able to distinguish the important from the unimportant, so he told Su Wan that he would go to look for a place after hiring someone tomorrow.

At the same time, the daughter of Master Yang, the private school teacher, came to the school to find her father this afternoon, but heard the scholars praising Su Wan. The scholars praised Su Wan for being beautiful, cooking delicious food, and doing business so well. She was really a good girl.

When Yang Yunyan heard this, her face immediately darkened. No wonder Brother LuoSheng had been so lukewarm towards her these days and not as warm as before. It turned out to be because of this.

In the past, the person that the young men in Qingyun County talked about and praised was always Yang Yunyan. Yang Yunyan was the most talented woman in Qingyun County. She had always grown up in praise, and no one could be more brilliant than her.

Su Wan is just a village girl. How can she compare with me? She and me are like fish eyes compared to pearls. They are incomparable.