Lin Yuan was speechless for a moment; Old Iron Head truly was born in the wrong era—if he were in the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi would’ve treasured him to death!
Xia Zheng’s Potato Garden was no small venture and the potato harvest was plentiful. In addition to supplying the various shops, there were still many left over, perfect for making potato flour. The process of making potato flour was not complicated; after a series of extraction and starching steps, the starch was scented and dough was mixed. Then, using a strainer, the dough was shaped into strips in boiling water, and finally, it was cooled and dried in cold water.
After cooking, potato flour had a bright color, it was soft and elastic, and delightfully smooth and tasty. Especially when eaten in a hot pot setting, along with other side dishes, it could easily serve as a staple food.
Besides hot pot, potato flour could also be made into a snack on its own by adding finely shredded tofu skin and vegetables with marinated eggs, resulting in an authentic bowl of sour and spicy potato flour. However, Lin Yuan didn’t want to introduce sour and spicy potato flour just yet; great things shouldn’t be put on the market all at once, as they would lose their appeal. It was better to introduce them one by one to captivate people’s attention.
Once the tofu skin from the tofu workshop and the potato flour from the Potato Garden were ready, Old Iron Head had also produced the first batch of hot pot pots and stoves. Lin Yuan’s heart surged with excitement at the sight of the brand-new pots; this hot pot was her next innovation after tofu and pastries. Since the pots and stoves haven’t been completed in full, Lin Yuan planned to first introduce hot pot at Fuman Building before gradually rolling it out to the other branches.
In the midst of the busy preparations for the hot pot, news came from the Century-old Cake Shop: just as Lady Jin had said, Shopkeeper Chen, for harming the health of the citizens, was thrown into prison for five years by Li Chang. Though five years wasn’t long, for Chen Shopkeeper, who was approaching fifty, whether he could endure these five years was indeed a big concern.
Many people in town had already learned about Shopkeeper Chen’s imprisonment in advance. And just like Lin Yuan had found out, everyone must have realized that Chen Shopkeeper’s wife was not someone who could hold the fort. Thus, by the time Lin Yuan approached Lady Chen, many had already knocked on their door. Even Meng Family Wine House had set their sights on the shop, wanting to buy the Century-old Cake Shop.
However, Lady Chen was clearly no pushover; she set a high asking price. As she saw more people come knocking, she became greedy, or so it seemed, raising the price again and again, making it hard for many potential buyers to accept.
This led to others with ulterior motives to start scheming. If gentle persuasion failed, they turned to force. Many troublemakers from the town would go disturb the Chen family at night, sometimes throwing bricks, sometimes pouring manure into the courtyard. Some were even crueler, somehow acquiring a large bag of snakes in the dead of winter and throwing it into the Chen residence, causing the snakes to scatter and slither everywhere, scaring Lady Chen to paralysis, and her youngest son became so frightened that he fell ill for three consecutive days.
The troublemakers were not limited to these hooligans. Because Shopkeeper Chen had caused public outrage by adding Five Stones Powder to his pastries, many angry citizens, furious and resentful, blocked the gates of the Chen residence every day, throwing rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables, demanding that the Chen family give them an explanation. Consequently, the Chen family didn’t dare to step outside their door anymore.
With these disturbances, unable to leave the house during the day and living in dread at night, Lady Chen’s mental state was on the brink of collapse in just a few days. She deeply regretted asking for sky-high prices initially but had no one to help her make amends now.
At this moment, Shopkeeper Liu emerged like a hero and appeared before Lady Chen, quelling the public anger and driving away the troublemakers.
Lady Chen was immensely grateful and immediately signed the shop transfer agreement with Shopkeeper Liu. Although the price was a bit higher, it was still much fairer than her initial exorbitant demand.
With the deed to the Century-old Cake Shop in hand, a smile unconsciously formed on Lin Yuan’s lips. It was okay that the price was a bit higher; it wasn’t easy being a woman. Besides, she owed a thanks to those who were causing trouble behind the scenes; without them, she wouldn’t have known where to begin.
Since the shop was bought for Liu Limin, Shopkeeper Liu wrote her name directly on the agreement. Thus, from the outside, it seemed that the shop wasn’t purchased by Fuman Building at all but by a country girl.
Handing over the deed to Liu Limin, she was so moved that she was nearly in tears; she finally had her own shop, it felt just like a dream!
Although the Century-old Cake Shop claimed a century of history, it didn’t have such a longstanding past, so many things in the shop were new. After Liu Limin took over, she only needed to modify the shelves a bit, and there was no need for renovations elsewhere, especially in the elegant room on the second floor. This way, Liu Limin saved quite a lot on refurbishment costs.
Just as they began working on the shelves, fresh news broke out from the Chen residence. It was said that the day after Lady Chen transferred the Century-old Cake Shop, she dismissed all the servants. On the third day, both the mother and child of the Chen family had disappeared, and the original Chen residence had been sold at a low price. What deserved mention was that, along with the disappearance of Lady Chen and her son, the Chen family’s butler also vanished; this butler had served for many years, and though only in his thirties, was said to be quite capable.