Chapter 6: The Chivalrous Guest House

  In the evening, Old Wang brought his son and a middle-aged man who also had someone similar to his son with him to the courtyard where the demon horn was located.

  The servant brought in the dishes and the five of them sat down in the dining room, eating and chatting at the same time.

  "Old master, I am the shopkeeper in charge of Cangyun Wine House. You can just call me Old Qiao. This is my son, also sent by Young Master from the second family. You can call him Little Qiao," said the middle-aged man.

  "Hmm, let's talk about the situation at Cangyun Wine House." Youjiao asked, sitting in the upper seat.

  "Cangyun Wine House, the business is not very good. Although its framework is considered a second-rate wine house in the capital city, this street only has our one wine house, so there are not many guests coming to dine here. After deducting all expenses, the monthly income is only 200 taels, it's as if it can be abandoned at any time. In the past, Old Master had thought about changing industries, but he never got around to it. Nine years ago, after Old Master returned home once, he never appeared again, and we've kept it this way until now." Old Qiao said respectfully.

  Old Master, of course, is the father of Yao Jiao. The Second Cloud, nine years ago, suddenly disappeared. Yao Jiao's eldest brother may know, but he doesn't want to mention it.

  "It doesn't matter, I'll go with you tomorrow," said Yāo Jiǎo. "Now, let's eat first."

  Looking at this new master who is only eleven years old, the two shopkeepers, along with their two sons, do not show any disdain. This will be our future master, so we must guide him well.

  "Yes, sir," they said in unison.

  After eating, the four returned to the right wing, leaving only Youjiao in the left wing.

  At midnight, when the yin energy is strongest in a day, the demon horn sat cross-legged alone and began to cultivate seriously.

  The next day, Yaojiao followed Old Ge and his son through the back door to the Cangyun Wine House. The wine house was extremely large, with three floors and nearly fifty miscellaneous workers and twenty chefs. It was considered a truly big store, but despite its size, it only made two hundred taels of silver per month, which surprised Yaojiao greatly. However, looking at the relatively deserted first floor hall, Yaojiao understood why. Without business, even the largest store would be useless.

  He glanced at the golden signboard and walked into the hall with two bosses of different sizes wearing a horned hat.

  The shopkeeper immediately bowed and said when he saw Old Ke and his son.

  "Get everyone out here and meet the new boss," Old Joe said immediately.

  "Yes," said the young waiter respectfully.

  More than 70 members of the wine building quickly gathered in the first floor hall.

  "This is the master of the house, from now on everyone will just call him Old Master." Old Joe instructed the crowd.

  "Yes, we have seen the old master." The crowd immediately replied respectfully.

  "Hmm, just like at the pharmacy, on my first day here, everyone received a bonus of ten days' wages." said Ya Jiao with a smile.

  "Thank you, sir!" everyone exclaimed with joy.

  "Alright, now that you're all here, it's time to meet your new boss. Now, everyone can go back to work." Old Joe instructed.

  "Yes," everyone said.

  Then everyone went their separate ways.

  "What a lousy restaurant? Only that one dish of sautéed beef was edible, what were those other dishes?" A customer walked down from upstairs, scolding as he went. Behind him followed a group of customers who had come together, with similar expressions.

  The demon king sat on a chair in the great hall, watching that group of guests slowly walking out of the great hall.

  The first guest walked to the entrance of the hall, looked at the signboard of the wine building and said: "Cangyun Wine Building? Bah, not even a decent dish". Then he took a group of people and left.

  Old Joe and Little Joe looked at each other awkwardly.

  "Master, our business has been poor all along. To be honest, the only thing that really makes money is the early morning snacks. As for big banquets, we rarely prepare them and the dishes are not very complete." Old Joe said awkwardly.

  "Huh? Don't you usually prepare this many dishes?" The demon king said in a strange tone.

  "Business is very slow, if a large amount of expensive ingredients are put out, no one will ask for them in a few days, and the dishes will easily spoil, which will lead to even greater losses. Moreover, most restaurants are concentrated on those three food streets, so there are very few people who come here to host banquets." Old Joe shook his head and said.

  "What's with the soy sauce beef that customer just mentioned?" Youjiao asked again.

  "Sauce beef? That's the secret sauce that Old Master used to make, for making sauce beef. It's a specialty in Beijing too. Now only my son and I know how to mix it." Lao Jiao explained.

  "Uh-huh, I see. You guys go ahead and get busy." The demon nodded.

  "It's already past breakfast time and it's not busy now, let's just wait here," said Old Joe. Little Joe also nodded in agreement.

  Listening to Old Joe, the demon horn also nodded, although he didn't want to manage this wine tower, but also couldn't let it be so miserable, two hundred taels a month? Joking? He would still rely on it to gather funds in the future.

  The demon king was drinking tea like this, watching the people coming and going outside, thinking carefully.

  An hour later, the demon finally stopped drinking tea.

  "I've thought about it, this won't work," said the demon king suddenly.

  "Old Master, you said," Old Joe said immediately.

  "Let's change the name of this tavern first and call it 'Chivalrous Guest Tavern'", said Youjiao suddenly.

  "This is easy to change, I'm familiar with the person in charge of this aspect in the yamen, but can just changing a name do it?" Old Joe asked strangely.

  "Of course, just do as I say, make the wine shop sign a bit bigger, under the Xiake Wine House, write 'Ya Jiao Shop'" said Ya Jiao.

  "That's right," said Old Joe.

  "How much money is left in the winery?" asked Ya Jiao.

  "Nine years, all together eleven thousand two." Old Joe said.

  Hearing this number, Yao Jiao felt a chill in her heart. Nine years, just over 10,000 taels? It seems that the recent 200 taels are still a good business?

  "Take 10,000 taels and give me a major renovation. The second floor should be built to the standard of a top-tier wine house in Beijing. The top floor should be built to the standard of a top-tier private room in a high-end wine house. Downstairs, all tables will be changed to square tables. For now, only the first floor will be open, and we'll serve braised beef with ordinary but slightly better wine. Do you have this mid-range wine?" asked Yaojiao.

  "Wine? We have a very comprehensive selection here, Daughter Red is a medium-grade fine wine," said Xiao Qiao immediately.

  "Alright, let's have a 'hero meal', two pounds of nianghong and one pound of sauce beef, how much does it cost in total?" asked Yaogao.

  "About one or two silver coins." Old Joe estimated.

  "No way, from now on, we'll sell them together as a set, the Hero Meal Set, one set for ten taels of silver, and the braised beef will also be sold separately for ten taels of silver." The demon ordered.

  "Really? Who would buy this?" Xiao Qiao asked incredulously. After all, it's a tenfold difference in price. Which fool would spend ten taels of silver to buy something worth only one tael of silver?

  "It's definitely not possible now. Wait until the wine house is renovated, about a month later, it should be almost done." said Yao Jiao, thinking of his own book.