She Only Cares About Cultivation
Chapter 293: 【292】Tasty and Pretty Fisherman 143 (6 Updates)

Chapter 293: 【292】Tasty and Pretty Fisherman 143 (6 Updates)

Xiao Yu was a woman of action. On her way back, she also bought all the grain seeds needed for her space. Out of the fifteen acres, she planned to plant wheat on ten since it was the season for wheat. She planned for the remaining land to be planted with potatoes, canola, spinach, coriander, garlic, and other crops.

In Yan Country where Xiao Yu lived, the climate was neither as warm as the Southern region nor as cold as the Northern. It struck a balance between the two, which made it possible to plant many crops after autumn, like potatoes and sweet potatoes, which could be cultivated for several seasons a year. (This is a fabrication, please do not delve into it).

Under Uncle Yuan’s leadership, the long-term workers were still in the stage of ploughing the land. It would take another two or three days to finish the ten acres.

Over in Beijing, they were experienced with planting wheat. Since these long-term workers knew how to sow, Xiao Yu did not need to oversee that herself. She could focus her attention on her own store.

Therefore, that evening, she discussed the matter with everyone and then turned to look at Uncle Yuan’s two children.

"Yuanbao, Fubao, would you like to learn cooking with me?"

Uncle Yuan and Aunt Yuan were shocked. "Boss, how could this be possible?"

"Why not? Although I am your boss, I don’t have that many things to take care of. Our noodle shop can’t just rely on me and Yaya. It’s too tough. So, if you two are willing, come with me to the noodle shop tomorrow. We need someone to pass messages between the farm and the shop, so runners, kitchen help, we need people. If we have the four of us, that should be about right. How about it?"

Yuanbao and Fubao were not suited for farming because they had schooling, which made Xiao Yu think highly of them and want to give them opportunities. Now that she had bought them, they were essentially her house slaves. Although she was just a commoner, she was better off than those slave owners who ran into trouble and had to sell their slaves due to penalties.

In Yan Country, once a person became a slave, they were one for life, unless Xiao Yu decided to free them one day. Otherwise, even their children would be born into slavery.

While it seemed like she was discussing the matter with them, in reality, it was akin to giving them orders. Moreover, they liked this command, as learning a skill was much better than just staying here farming.

When it was time to act, they did so promptly. The next day, Yuanbao drove Xiao Yu into the city in a horse carriage while Yaya stayed behind to clean. Xiao Yu went to have a signboard made, and Yuanbao and Fubao went to buy tables, chairs, benches, pots, pans, and ladles. Xiao Yu made a detailed shopping list that required them to run around to many places to make the purchases.

After busily running around for three to five days, they finally got the signboard for "Fisherman’s Noodle" hung up. In addition, Xiao Yu painted a cartoon character resembling something out of an animated show, cradling a bowl of noodles—the word ’noodle’ was written exceptionally large, allowing people to see it from a distance.

Once the signboard was hung, and the kitchen equipment was in place, the pantry was stocked with flour she had bought—stored in large crocks. She also had a pasta machine, a manual one, because serving a lot of people meant hand-rolling noodles would be exhausting, so using the machine to help with the workload was already a big improvement.

Besides offering free meals, there were also seasonings, various vegetables, seafood, dried goods, and more. Everything she could get from the merchant city was made use of.

Thus, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the Double Ninth Festival, Fisherman’s Noodle officially opened for business. On the opening day, she even hired a Dragon and Lion Dance Team to liven up the event. Considering there were no fireworks or firecrackers in this era, setting off firecrackers was not an option. Inviting the team and distributing candies and sunflower seeds to the crowd fulfilled the opening festivities for her noodle shop.

The noodle shop was only prepared on the first floor, as she had not decided what to do with the second floor yet, so it was left aside for the time being. She would consider it once the noodle shop was running smoothly.