Qin Li only felt the fragrance of fruity wood melting in his mouth. The duck skin, which he originally thought would be greasy, had a crispy and crumbly texture. Combined with the sweetness of sugar, it instantly captured the appetite of this wealthy daughter.
Then Xia Jingyun picked up a thin piece of lotus leaf pancake, picked out a little of his homemade sweet noodle sauce with chopsticks, and spread it on it. Then he picked up a piece of skin-on duck meat and put it on top, plus thin shreds of green onion and Wrapping the cucumber strips for a while, he handed them to Qin Li.
With the confidence she had just now, Qin Li reached out to take it, with a bit more expectation in her eyes.
She took a bite and saw the duck meat, which was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The aroma of the sauce and meat, the freshness of the cucumber, and the right amount of spicy sweetness from the green onions. The complex taste lingered in her mouth. She couldn't help it. He closed his eyes and felt it carefully.
It’s not an extraordinary delicacy, but it’s a novel way of eating that I’ve never experienced before.
Xia Jingyun looked at the neat semicircle on the remaining duck roll in her hand, and couldn't help but think about it, these teeth are really straight!
Qin Li carefully finished the remaining half of the duck roll, then looked at Xia Jingyun, "Mr. Xia, do you want to sell this dish to Mingyulou?"
Xia Jingyun breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried that Miss Qin would think that he was trying to lick a dog and offer a treasure. If he didn't handle it well, it might lead to trouble. He didn't expect her to be so transparent.
He smiled and said, "Yes and no."
Qin Li's smile slowly faded and she said calmly: "Mr. Xia, I admit that your cooking is very good, but for a restaurant, one dish can't influence much."
This gesture made Xia Jingyun immediately change his opinion of Qin Li. He suddenly understood why this Qin family's legitimate daughter could take charge of Mingyu Tower and make Mingyu Tower better and better.
It seems that the Qin family has survived for so many years, and not all of them are idiots like Qin Yuwen.
He smiled and nodded, "Miss Qin is right. I have several ideas. Miss Qin might as well help me with the details."
"First, for this dish, I plan to invite my sister, the Concubine De, to persuade His Majesty to entertain several high-ranking officials in the court, and then offer this dish. If Your Majesty eats it, he can praise it a few times. , this is the royal meal, it is a delicious dish that is praised by His Majesty, and it has a basis for publicity."
"Secondly, I plan to find the most upscale restaurant and invite a few of the most famous celebrities in the city to have a meal. Each person will be given an opening fee of one hundred taels to build up momentum for this dish and brag about its taste."
"Third, invite a few senior officials to host a banquet for subordinates or colleagues, and then tout it again and make it a must-eat delicacy for the powerful in Beijing."
"Fourth, let the restaurant I cooperate with launch a roast duck banquet to meet the needs of the city's rich and powerful."
"Finally, after a few days, we launched a simpler roast duck banquet with some of the ingredients replaced at a lower price, and sold it to ordinary restaurants in the city, so that ordinary people could try it. At this point, this dish became popular all over the world. City, after a month or two, when the trend of this dish passes, it will become an enduring delicacy and be sold to people coming to Beijing from other places, or spread to other places."
He smiled and said, "Miss Qin and I have an old relationship, so my first reaction is naturally to cooperate with Mingyulou, but if Mingyulou doesn't like it, then I will have to find another place. Mr. Qin asked me to I went to a place and I felt that the environment was pretty good and I could give it a try.”
Qin Li listened quietly, and sighed helplessly under Xia Jingyun's final threat, "Since Mr. Xia has such a far-reaching plan, it would be disrespectful to you if the young lady continues to bluff. How do you want to cooperate, Mr. Xia?"
It’s not about the price, but how to cooperate
Xia Jingyun confirmed that Qin Li had understood what he said, and said with a smile: "I have developed the roast duck technique, and I am responsible for teaching your master the skills of roast duck. You will gain the venue and reputation of Mingyu Tower, and the subsequent promotion in other restaurants will also be done by you." Mingyulou will execute it. Then I will provide the duck, and in the end all profits will be split in half between you and me."
Qin Li thought for a while after hearing this, "Then how much does Mr. Xia plan to sell it for?"
Xia Jingyun smiled and said, "Miss Qin, do you think a table of one hundred taels, mainly roast duck, is expensive?"
Qin Li glanced at several small dishes and shook his head, "It's cheap. Let's do this. I'll handle the pricing of Mingyulou. Anyway, it won't be less than one hundred taels."
As the owner of Mingyu Tower, she naturally knows the amount of money in the pockets of customers who can spend money at Mingyu Tower.
"Then it's settled. As for the common people, let's reserve a table for five taels of silver."
Qin Li smiled half-heartedly, "I have long heard that Mr. Xia is very close to the common people. It seems that it is indeed the case."
"Not really, but how much money do ordinary people have? If the price is set high, people can't even afford it. On the contrary, they can't sell it for a penny."
Qin Li said cheerfully: "Then it's settled, do we want to make a contract?"
"Miss Qin, don't agree in a hurry. I have another level of consideration when I find you this time."
Xia Jingyun said: "Earlier on the Lantern Festival, you told me about Mr. Qian. I thought the matter would be over. But I didn't expect that Mr. Qian would stir up trouble again a few days ago. However, today's fight The curtain has come to an end for now.”
Qin Li blinked, "It seems that Mr. Xia has won again?"
It ended with my brother being so angry that he vomited blood and fell into coma.
Xia Jingyun murmured in his heart and said: "The core battlefield of our fight this time is this duck, and I found Miss Qin to express my attitude. If your brother sees me unhappy, I will follow all your tricks, and I will do the same." Fight back boldly, but I have no intention of all-out hostility with the Qin family. I believe Miss Qin can understand the subtleties, right?"
Qin Li nodded seriously, "Actually, the Qin family doesn't want to have any grudges with Mr. Xia and Concubine De. The eldest brother behaves like this. I can't say much, but as you said, the eldest brother is the eldest brother. I It’s me, the Qin family is the Qin family, at least Ming Yulou, who I am now in charge of, is willing to cooperate with Mr. Xia.”
"That's good." Xia Jingyun smiled and nodded, "Then let's sign the contract."
Both parties had no objections, prepared pen and ink, and wrote the deed.
During this process, Xia Jingyun made a small adjustment and changed the object of sharing his technology from Ming Yulou to Qin Li himself. According to his explanation, he valued Qin Li and believed in Qin Li. He was worried that Qin Yuwen would use If Ming Yulou is taken back by the clan's tactics, then he will be a mute and eat Coptis chinensis.
Qin Li agreed with his explanation, blushed slightly, and signed the deed.
Putting the deed in his arms, Xia Jingyun raised his hand towards Qin Li and said, "Miss Qin, I wish us all the best."
Qin Li smiled and said, "Thanks to Mr. Xia's respect, I will do my best."
"Okay, there won't be any further delay. I'd like to ask Miss Qin to find a place in the back kitchen and pick a few trustworthy masters. I'll transport the tools over later and teach them the techniques."
Qin Li hummed, "Mr. Xia, please rest assured, Mingyulou has its own means to ensure that they will not leak the secret recipe."
Xia Jingyun nodded, said goodbye and left.
After a while, the leader brought four or five special stoves from Jiang'anhou's mansion, and also brought a lot of strange tools.
Then, he entered the back kitchen of Mingyu Building and went to the place arranged by Qin Li. He explained all the details of making roast duck to the three chefs Qin Li selected.
This busy work lasted until early morning.
The three masters first listened, then tried to do it themselves, and then continued to criticize and demand Xia Jingyun, making rapid progress.
Although it is still far from being truly proficient, at least it has been able to slowly produce a basically decent finished product.
Xia Jingyun looked at the sky and lamented that there was not enough time. He said, "You three, quickly find a place to have a good sleep. Don't run too far."
Although the three of them were tortured to the point of dizziness and ecstasy, they still felt a sense of accomplishment when they saw the progress of their skills. At this moment, they were tirelessly pursuing the victory. When they heard Xia Jingyun say this, they quickly said: : "Mr. Xia, we are not tired."
Xia Jingyun rolled his eyes, "You are not tired, I am! I only give you three hours, so hurry up and sleep!"
When he came out, Chen Fugui said, "Master, why don't you tell them the truth? What if they don't take the time to rest?"
Xia Jingyun twitched the corners of his lips, "How can they get some sleep this way? If I told them the truth, they might not be able to sleep for a moment."
He yawned and stayed up two nights in a row. Even if he hadn't done anything to make him weak recently, he still couldn't stand it when the villain raised his head every morning. "Let's go back and take a nap for a while."
——
In the early morning, Qin Yuwen woke up from a night of hangover and pushed away the long arms and long legs that were draped over his body. The oiran who was hugging him like an octopus also woke up leisurely and looked at him lovingly with her beautiful eyes. Watermelon Holding his arm, she touched his chest with her beautiful hands, and said in a coquettish voice: "Well~ Master, please sleep a little longer!"
After a night of indulgence, Qin Yuwen felt as if the depression in his heart had been vented out last night along with his sweat and energy. At this moment, his mind was filled with sages' teachings and elders' advice, so he pushed the oiran away rudely, got dressed and left without hesitation. When I walked out, it seemed as if the infatuation and depth last night were just a dream.
After returning to the Qin Mansion, he walked to Qin Li's courtyard and looked at the maids on duty, "Where's the lady?"
"Back to the eldest son, the young lady went to Mingyu Tower early in the morning."
Seeing how diligent his younger sister was, Qin Yuwen suddenly felt a little ashamed of himself as the eldest brother, and wondered: "I remember that she usually goes there after the hour has passed. Why is it so early today?"
"I heard that I had a big business deal with Mr. Xia from Jiang'an Marquis Mansion, and I came back very late last night."
"Who?" Qin Yuwen suddenly became excited.
The maid was startled and said weakly: "Young Master Xia from the Marquis Jiang's Mansion."
"Damn it!"
Qin Yuwen turned around and ran out. His undisguised anger made the maid instantly frightened. She realized that she had gotten into a big trouble.
When Qin Yuwen hurried to Mingyu Tower, Qin Li was sitting on the top floor of the main building, writing something on the table.
"What business did you discuss with Xia Jingyun?"
Qin Li looked at her brother who was like an angry bull and felt a little disappointed.
But no matter what, this eldest brother from the same father and mother had doted on her since she was a child. She couldn't care about such a trivial matter, so she took the initiative to get up, poured him a cup of tea herself, and said warmly: "He created it himself." It’s just a dish that I want to cooperate with Mingyulou.”
"What dish?"
"Roast Duck."
! ! !
Qin Yuwen stood up and understood instantly, son of a bitch, it turns out you had this plan!
"Cancel your cooperation with him!"
Qin Yuwen immediately spoke firmly.
Qin Li looked calm and said, "We have already signed the contract. If we cancel, we will lose money."
"How much? I'll pay for it for you!"
At this moment, he didn't even know whether he was angry at Xia Jingyun or because his sister, whom he had guarded since childhood, was tainted by the thief's thoughts.
Qin Li did not open his mouth to say any objectionable preaching, but smiled and sat down next to him, "Didn't the eldest brother lose a lot of money in this fight with Young Master Xia?"
Qin Yuwen snorted coldly.
Qin Li said with a smile: "Then I will earn back the money through this cooperation, and I will give it all to you when the time comes, so you won't lose money! This means that Mr. Xia's cleverness is in front, and Mr. Qian's calculations are behind. dont you agree?"
Qin Yuwen was a little moved when he heard it, and immediately reacted, "What the hell! I almost got deceived by you. If you can make money, can he make less? By then, won't he still make a lot of money by stepping on me! No way! , you must not cooperate with him."
Qin Li stretched out his hand and shook Qin Yuwen's arm like he did when he was a child, "Brother~~"
Qin Yuwen pulled her hand off and said, "Since you want to call me big brother, you are not allowed to cooperate with him!"
Seeing that there was nothing good he could do, Qin Li felt a little angry and straightened his face, "Brother, you're late, we can't help you now."
"Why can't we be left to our own devices? I said, I will pay for the breach of contract. When will my Qin family ever worry about money?"
Qin Li shook his head.
Qin Yuwen raised his eyebrows, "What? Is there someone else here? Who is it? Tell me who it is and I'll go find him!"
Qin Li sighed and just turned to look at the hourglass in the corner of the room, "It should be almost done."
Qin Yuwen frowned and asked, "What are you talking about?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sound of footsteps, "Miss, someone is coming from the palace."
Qin Li nodded and said, "Please come up quickly."
Not long after, a small yellow doorman came in. Seeing that Qin Yuwen was there, he quickly said, "I have seen Mr. Qin and Miss Qin."
Qin Li smiled and said, "You don't have to be polite, father-in-law. Why are you here?"
The chamberlain in the palace said: "Your Majesty heard that Mingyulou has developed a new dish. He specially ordered your servants to invite several masters to come to the palace and prepare it for Your Majesty and Concubine De."
Qin Li stood up quickly, "Okay, please invite my father-in-law to come to the living room and have a seat with tea. I will make arrangements right away."
After the palace servant followed him downstairs, Qin Li turned around and looked at his eldest brother, spreading his hands, "I told you, you're late."
Two in one.
besides.
(End of chapter)
