Wang Damei said: "I think the Feng family is still alright. Although they sent a matchmaker to your house before, it's human nature to want to climb higher. It's normal for the Feng family to have that intention. But since Young Fang didn't agree, they didn't make trouble. Not like my little sister-in-law, who's downright nasty. I don't know if her heart is even black."
Zhao Ger mumbled without saying anything.
It wasn't that Fang Zichen disagreed; it was that Fang Zichen simply had no clue about the whole matter.
But it didn't matter if he knew. His husband said he only liked him. Thinking of this, Zhao Ger felt delighted inside and chatted with Wang Damei even more energetically.
Seeing him like this, Wang Damei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as Zhao Ger didn't hold a grudge against their family by association, everything else was manageable.
The sun had come out a few days ago, warming up for just a day, as if giving people a breather. Once the breather was over, the weather turned even colder.
In the bitter cold, most people craved something warm to eat. Zhao Ger had worried that roast duck might not sell well in such weather. But when he arrived at the shop, he found the roast duck business was still booming, with demand outstripping supply. Selling just ten ducks a day was nowhere near enough. During the winter, when the cold kept people indoors with little to do, everyone turned their attention to food. Once rice noodle rolls were added to the menu, they became just as popular as the pumpkin cakes.
However, these two snacks were considered small-scale. People bought them, tried a few bites, and could probably figure out how to make them themselves.
Roast duck was different. Zhao Ger used spices to prepare it, making the duck meat fragrant and delicious. Some shop owners had their kitchen masters try to copy it, but the roast ducks they made never had the same flavor as the ones Zhao Ger sold.
Moreover, roast duck was most delicious with the dipping sauce. That sauce smelled amazing from far away. Even if the roast duck was made, if the sauce couldn't be replicated, people would still rather buy from Zhao Ger's shop.
Some shopkeepers had ideas and wanted to buy the recipe from Zhao Ger, but Zhao Ger never agreed. This was a goose that laid golden eggs. He wouldn't do the stupid thing of killing the goose to get the eggs.
Though chili sauce also made money, he wouldn't put all his eggs in one basket.
[把鸡蛋放在一个篮子里 (bǎ jīdàn fàng zài yīgè lánzi lǐ): lit. to put all eggs in one basket; fig. to risk all resources or prospects on one single opportunity].
Next year, when their family moved to Yuanzhou, he still wanted to sell roast duck to support Fang Zichen's studies, how could he sell the recipe?
Some people didn't pay much attention to him. On the day the shop opened, Fang Zichen didn't invite many people. Plus, Zhao Ger rarely showed his face at the front. Some shopkeepers, seeing that soft methods didn't work, wanted to try hard ones. They hired a few local ruffians to come and threaten the shop. Fang Zichen hadn't even needed to step in to handle the situation before Lin Xiaoxia took matters into his own hands—he went straight to their doors, carrying his knife.
Who dared to provoke a tiger-hunting man? Plus, everyone in Fu'an Town knew he was Fang Zichen's man. Fang Zichen was on good terms with the big bosses of the gambling den, the slave broker, the pawnshop, and several influential figures from the local underworld. Immediately, no one dared to entertain any further malicious schemes.
Yang Mutao wanted Zhao Ger to supply some roast duck to Zuixiao Restaurant as a main dish. But he thought about it and first summoned Fang Zichen upstairs to ask.
Not making money when you could was the kind of stupid thing only a pig would do.
Fang Zichen agreed. But how the roast duck was sold, how many coins per jin, Fang Zichen didn't have a clue. There was a plate of pastries on the table. Yang Mutao wasn't fond of them, but whenever he came, the fatty chef would bring up a plate. Fang Zichen lifted his clothes to make a pouch and poured half the plate into it: "You'll have to discuss this with my fulang. I'm not too clear on it. I'll help you go get him."
Yang Mutao looked at the few remaining pastries and shook his head with a laugh.
Although Fang Zichen had the bearing of a scion from a prominent family, his way of doing things...
Better not to say!
After distributing the pastries to Guaizai and Jiaojiao, Fang Zichen then pulled Zhao Ger along to Zuixiao Restaurant.
On the way, he took out two pastries for Zhao Ger. Zhao Ger had thought they were all given away earlier and hadn't expected there to be more.
He felt warm inside. The shop wasn't too far from Zuixiao Restaurant, but Fang Zichen still took off his cloak and draped it over Zhao Ger.
Zhao Ger took a bite of the pastry: "What does Master Yang want me for?"
"He wants to place an order for some roast duck from you," Fang Zichen said. "The main dishes in the restaurant are just those few, over and over. They've already made a few customers sick of them. He wants to add a new dish."
Zhao Ger hadn't expected that the roast duck his family made could catch Yang Mutao's eye: "Really?"
Fang Zichen turned his head to look at him. "I thought I had the face of a serious man."
Zhao Ger chuckled. "A serious man's face? Not at all. But the face of a charming scoundrel? Absolutely."
The two chatted and laughed. Just one look and one could tell the couple was very close, which made several young girls around them extremely envious.
Although Yang Mutao didn't manage much, only checking the accounts at month-end, and most matters at Zuixiao Restaurant were handled by Shopkeeper Yang, when it came to major decisions, Yang Mutao still had some skill. Otherwise, Zuixiao Restaurant couldn't have remained dominant for so many years.
If it were an ordinary person, Yang Mutao could bargain them down to their last thread. But today, facing Zhao Ger, with Fang Zichen watching fiercely from the side, he only bargained down two coppers coins.
Zhao Ger sold it for twenty-six coppers per jin in his shop. He gave Yang Mutao a base price of twenty-four coppers per jin.
Saying it was a base price was just to trick Yang Mutao.
Duck meat wasn't oily, not as expensive as pork. Pork was eleven or twelve coppers per jin, duck meat only eight coppers per jin. Zhao Ger turned it into roast duck, instantly tripling the price.
In the village, people would definitely be reluctant to buy it. If they wanted to eat it, they'd rather buy a live duck. It was all duck meat in the end, so there was no need to waste money on the roasted duck.
But people in town were much more generous. They didn't eat it every day either, just bought it now and then. Spending over twenty coppers was something they were willing to do. Although it seemed a bit expensive, one had to consider the whole process, buying a live duck meant losing nearly half a jin once the feathers, entrails, and other waste were removed. On top of that, slaughtering and cleaning a duck was a troublesome chore. In the end, people still preferred to buy the ready-made roast duck.
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