As soon as she stepped into Goldfish Lane, Cai Wei was greeted with the strong aroma of grilled skewers flowing freely in the air, which surprised her a bit. It was neither too early nor too late, around Chen hour, who would be eating meat skewers at this time?
When she returned to the restaurant, she was instantly shocked by the scene in front of her!
Outside the door, several long skewer grills were packed with fragrant meat skewers. Jiujin and Uncle Zhou were grilling, so busy that they couldn’t even lift their heads. The shop assistant was running in and out from time to time, shouting, "Table Six, another fifty tendon skewers..."
"Upstairs, in the Tianzi Room, another order of grilled pork chops..."
Outside the door, there was a line of people waiting!
Wow, what’s happening? How could this place be so popular? Doesn’t it give other pubs a chance to survive? Cai Wei stared in disbelief.
In the midst of bustle, Jiujin looked up and saw Cai Wei carrying a large basket back. She was leaning to one side due to the heavy basket, he quickly put down his work, and ran over to take the basket from her.
The basket was large and heavy. Lifting the straw mat covering, it was filled with fresh cabbage, cucumbers, eggplants, leaf mustards, enoki mushrooms...
Uncle Zhou, who was grilling skewers on the side, saw Cai Wei carrying so many vegetables back by herself and couldn’t help worrying, "Sister Wei, next time you go shopping, remember to hire a porter to carry it, spending three or four copper coins is worth it. Don’t tire yourself out..."
Cai Wei laughed lightly and said, "Uncle Zhou, I’m not tired!"
She was telling the truth; she had only put these vegetables in the basket with her thought when she was almost home, she wouldn’t be tired at all!
The restaurant was bustling, with plate after plate of meat skewers constantly being served. The customers enjoyed their meals and kept praising.
Cai Wei noticed she couldn’t really help, so she went into the kitchen to help Aunt Zhou string the meat skewers. After a while, Old Haizi ran over to her, reporting that Xie Zhongren from the Broker House had brought a bunch of men and women.
Upon hearing this, Cai Wei hurriedly stood up and went to their backyard.
She entered the door and saw about three to four dozen men and women waiting to be sold. They were packed so densely that they almost filled the entire yard.
"Miss Mu, I brought you the cream of the crop. Please feel free to choose!" Xie Zhongren greeted her with a beaming smile and humble words which he always used to treat his patrons who provided him with food and clothing.
Mother was with Cai Fei, Wen’er and Wu’er, standing at the door, looking at the people. When Cai Wei came back, Mother asked her to select.
Without standing on ceremony with Mother, Cai Wei knew she was buying people who could work in the restaurant, not for household service. Therefore, she had already planned what type of people she wanted to buy.
"You, you, and you two, come forward."
She toured among the crowd for a while, chose a man who looked honest, two neat and tidy women and an eleven or twelve-year-old girl.
Lady Du, having seen the people Cai Wei selected, nodded and said, "As the saying goes, recognize strangers by their faces; Just by their looks, I can tell they are dependable individuals."
Mother also liked these people, so Cai Wei then discussed the price with Xie Zhongren; four people, costing a total of seventy-five taels of silver. After the silver was weighed and the transaction finalized, Xie Zhongren was about to leave with the remaining dozens of people when a boy about twelve or thirteen suddenly ran out from the crowd, knelt down before Cai Wei, kowtowed and pleaded, "Miss, please be kindhearted and buy me too. I’m of low status, as long as you feed me and I don’t starve, anything will do. I can do any work, bear any hardships, please buy me, Miss..."