Eldest Sister, Why Haven't You Married Yet Chapter 97

Published at 16th of March 2023 06:51:38 AM

After Xiao Lin Yu left, the usually peaceful Su Family became even more peaceful.

The business of Sujiaxiang shop was getting bigger and bigger now. There were ten people making snacks in the back kitchen. You Jin had specially found a woman surnamed Chen who had done some small business to be in charge at the front. Sister-in-law Chen was a quick-witted person who knew how to interact. Since the front shop was handed over to her, the business had improved a bit and there were more repeat customers.

Now You Yin was only in charge of the shop’s daily accounts. You Zhu tightly held the grasp of the snack recipes. The two sisters were more capable now. You Jin simply participated in the major matters of hiring for the shop and the monthly accounting. The rest of the business and its trivial matters were left to You Yin two sisters to discuss, so You Jin was free.

Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, Sujiaxiang had made mooncake molds and placed them in front for customers to choose and order. Currently, there are still ten days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. More than 700 orders for mooncakes had been received. Sujiaxiang's mooncakes were divided into three grades per set; which were four coins, eight coins, and two liang silver. One set was six pieces. It can be said to be expensive.

But there were many people in Luohe Prefecture and no shortage of rich people. In addition, when it came to snacks in Luohe Prefecture, everyone knew Sujiaxiang. Those wealthy people naturally didn’t care about this small amount of money. After all, moon cakes were for gifting people and what they wanted was face. If they gifted others stuff, it can’t be shown off. Then they’ll lose value! Therefore, the most expensive two liang silver set accounted for more than half of the seven hundred orders.

You Yin at the front happily worked away on the abacus. In the back kitchen, You Zhu led a snack team of ten people and started working overtime to make mooncakes. Although it was tiring, there was the worker incentive formulated by You Jin three sisters after discussion at the beginning of this year. For every snack sold, the front and back chefs can get a corresponding commission. The people in the back kitchen were a bit tired, but now the money they can get every month is almost two liang. This was more than double the salaries of snack shops outside! So no matter whether they have sold themselves into Su Family or not, all of them were determined to work under Su Family.

"Just now there is news from the front. Another thirty orders of mooncakes worth two liang silver had been received. From today onwards, we will have to stay in the store for food and lodging. We will make all the mooncakes at the latest by the thirteenth. Second Elder Sister and I had discussed it. Once the busy period is over, we will give everyone a three-day vacation in turn and properly rest!" You Zhu measured out the honey osmanthus into the red bean paste, handed it over to the others to mix it up and cheered everyone up. When Sujiaxiang changed the shop, You Jin purposely found a rather large shop. In addition to the kitchen, there were eight rooms in the backyard. Two of which were used to store the ingredients needed for making snacks. The remaining five were converted into a general shop and one room was used by Su Family sisters to rest on normal days. All the objects and furnishings were readily available.

"Third Miss, don't worry, we will definitely finish it!" A married woman patted her chest through a lotus-colored mask and declared, "Not for anything else, we sisters have to do it for money, right?"

Everyone also nodded in agreement. The tasks at hand were completed a little faster.

Now the back kitchen had formed a tacitly coordinated assembly line operation. Those who were responsible for mixing stuffing, kneading dough, and molding had a clear division of labor and cooperated with each other. The work of the snack kitchen took a whole day. In order to reduce the burden on everyone, You Zhu specially customized a long workstation table and stools that perfectly matched the height. Everyone sat on the stools when working. The days of not needing to stand the whole day and getting their feet swollen was much more comfortable.

Another fair-born woman grinned with curved eyebrows and remarked: "Not to mention other things, the honey from our family alone is much better than others!" Sujiaxiang’s bean filling snacks had the addition of honey from Su Family’s beehives on Houjiawan Mountain. There weren’t many beekeepers in Dafeng. There were even fewer people like Su Family who could add honey to make snacks. The unique sweet smell of honey mixed with the aroma of osmanthus. Countless people's cravings were stirred up by it. Now bean paste snacks have become a must-buy snack for Sujiaxiang's customers.

There was a faint smile on the corner of You Zhu's mouth. She didn't comment though. Right now only Mother, Eldest Sister, and her in the family knew the snack recipes. Although the people in the shop knew the ingredients, the specific ratio formed by Eldest Sister and her from staying up many nights. They tasted all those snacks with only subtle differences in taste until they vomited before perfecting the recipe. This was the recipe that her family relied on for a living. She couldn't leak it out.

You Jin was the one with the sharpest tongue among the people in Su Family. Even if it was a little sweeter or the heat was a little overdone, Eldest Sister can always taste the difference. So every time You Zhu had a new idea, she would pull her in for advice and ideas. Although the food cooked by You Zhu was still not good, she was creative and daring to be innovative. Sujiaxiang had a few well-selling snacks that were all made by her sudden ideas and experiment. The conditions at home were getting better and better. So, You Jin can be rest assured to let her toss around.

The fact that only a few girls in Su Family knew about Sujiaxiang's recipes was known to everyone who worked in Sujiaxiang. It wasn’t that other snack shops hadn’t tried to bribe some people who worked in Sujiaxiang to steal recipes. All of them failed. Some were even caught by Eldest Miss and directly driven out of Sujiaxiang.

With those lessons learned from the past, the workers didn't dare to inquire about it despite being curious. For a while, it was peaceful.

***

"Miss, this year our saplings in Houjiawan have all grown up. Sweet-scented osmanthus and thorny roses have a good harvest. The hundreds of chickens from before have also grown a lot. From the looks of it, we will be able to sell them to the slaughterhouse at the end of the year." After Song Hua went to Chaxiang, Uncle Song was now in charge of the affairs of Houjiawan. He was very busy every day.

You Jin looked through last month's account book carefully and nodded slightly: "It's autumn now. The cold-warding work for the trees and adding cover to chicken pens should be kept up. Now there are many matters at home, and I have to trouble Uncle Song to work hard."

Now that Su Family's business was getting bigger and bigger, there may not be many people to use. In total, there were only a few. So Song Family's father and son had it hard.

"It's what old servant should do. It's our good fortune to be heavily favored by Miss. I never found it hard." Uncle Song cupped his hands and said with a smile. Although he had worked in a rich household before, he wasn’t as comfortable as he was in Su's house now. The masters trusted and respected him, so he naturally put in more effort.

You Jin closed the account book and looked at Uncle Song, "I sent someone to deliver a letter to Chaxiang a few days ago. Song Hua will definitely not miss the Mid-Autumn Festival. When the time comes, your family will be reunited and have a good Mid-Autumn Festival." You Jin had her own plans. Calling Song Hua back this time was also to arrange for one more person to go to Chaxiang. One was for them to help and rely on each other. Second, the sky was high and the emperor was far away. Two people were better than one.

"Thank you, Miss!" Uncle Song only had one son, Song Hua. It went without saying he hoped that the family would be reunited during the Mid-Autumn Festival. But they sold themselves as slaves. Whatever the master said was whatever goes. So he didn't dare mention the request of his son to come back for the festival. Since Eldest Miss brought it up first, it went without saying he was grateful.

The old and the young talked for a long time in the study dedicated to You Jin before Uncle Song was sent out.

As soon as he left the door of the study, he saw Han Li standing at the door wearing a chinese style jacket and pants. He nodded with a smile and went out.

Han Li didn't know why Eldest Miss called him here. But as instructed, he waited at the door for several minutes. Shortly after Uncle Song left, Eldest Miss’s voice came from inside: "Come in!"

Then he walked into the study.

Qiu Fen came in to refill the tea. She silently retreated under the signal of the Eldest Miss's eyes and stood guard at the door. Qiu Fen and seven others were maidservants bought back by Su Family. You Jin was too lazy to come up with names and named them after eight of the twenty-four solar terms. After entering Su's house and receiving Auntie Song’s teaching for more than ten days, Qiu Fen was assigned to take care of Eldest Miss because of her prudence and honesty. After Qiu Fen entered into Su Family, she knew that the business of Su Family was run by Eldest Miss. Although Eldest Miss was about the same age as her, she was always in awe of Eldest Miss. Whatever Eldest Miss said, she treated her like a bellwether and complied.

"You've been with our family for almost two years?" You Jin gently blew the steaming tea in the cup. Looking at Han Li who was standing a little awkwardly, she softly asked.

Han Li was almost sixteen now. In the past two years, he had eaten well and dressed warmly in Su’s house. He had grown into a handsome and strong young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Normally, when he was moving around outside, he attracted the gaze of many young girls in Wuliqiao. Hearing Miss's question, Han Li was a little puzzled, but he replied honestly: "Replying Miss, it's been two years and three months."

"It's been so long?" You Jin put down her teacup, remembering when Han Li and Er Hua came to Su's house and they were still two dirty little beggars. Unexpectedly, two years passed in a blink of an eye. Time passed so quickly !

... Han Li didn't know what to say, so he simply stopped talking.

Looking at Han Li with his head lowered, You Jin smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. Sit down first. Let's have a good chat."

"Yes."

Seeing that he didn't say a word, You Jin sighed slightly. Why did You Yin set her her eyes with such a blockhead goose? That's right, although You Jin was busy every day, she knew something about the relationship between this pair of young children who can be regarded as childhood sweethearts.

It wasn’t that You Jin didn't like Han Li. On the contrary, after getting along with him for the past two years, she had a general understanding of Han Li. He was honest and frank and had no evil intentions. The point was that he was parentless. You Yin had always been a little weak-natured. If she marries far away, she may not be able to protect her if she was bullied in the future. But if marrying Han Li, it would be a good choice.

"You're also sixteen, the age to talk of marriage. What's your plan?" Although she asked straightforwardly, You Jin was a little embarrassed. She coughed with slight self-consciousness after asking.

Han Li, who was sitting awkwardly, didn't expect that Eldest Miss would call him over to ask this question. A suspicious blush appeared on his tanned face. He stumbled over his words and couldn't speak: "I, I , I..."

His heart was also turbulent. His first reaction turned out to be a guilty conscience. He felt that Miss had discovered what was hidden deep in his heart.

Chapter end