As life gradually settled into a steady rhythm, Wen Fan’s thoughts drifted back to the specialty sauces and fruit wines she had crafted in her past life.
During imperial banquets, whenever a minister’s flattery particularly pleased the Emperor, he would occasionally bestow her creations as rewards. Those gifted items eventually made their way out of the palace and became a sensation. Once or twice, young eunuchs had come to flatter Wen Fan, mentioning that they had seen sauce shops outside the palace walls modeled after her recipes.
The flavor, of course, was inferior to the palace standard, but by using the vague reputation of being “from the palace,” they sold remarkably well.
Wen Fan had sighed upon hearing that news in her past life. When she was twenty-five, she had entertained thoughts of leaving the palace. However, before she could even submit her request, the head eunuch at the Empress’s side arrived with an imperial decree. In a tone as if granting a great blessing, he announced that the Empress, mindful of her diligent service, had specially granted her the “honor” of remaining in the palace.
Wen Fan had no right to refuse; her entire future was laid out before her at a glance.
With no hope of leaving, she had to re-plan her life within the walls. She had even begun selecting candidates from the newly arrived young palace maids, intending to take on a few personal apprentices.
But before she could take any pupils, disaster had struck…
Wen Fan shook her head, forcing herself to stop dwelling on the memories within those red walls.
She organized the various sauces that had been well-received in her past life, but she realized most of them couldn’t be made now. The Emperor, after all, possessed the wealth of the four seas, and tributary states often sent rare and exotic fruits. Wen Fan wasn’t even sure if some of those raw materials still existed.
After narrowing it down, the only thing she could make for now was Watermelon Bean Paste.
She soaked the soybeans until they were ready, then boiled them in a pot of seasoned water. Once cooked, the beans were drained, coated in flour, and placed in a flat wicker basket to ferment.
Only after finishing this did Wen Fan have the hands free to prepare today’s meal.
According to the menu set last night, today’s dish was Sliced Meat in Hot Chili Oil.
The tenderloin was sliced into “willow-leaf” pieces. Salt, scallion, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorn water were beaten into the meat in several stages. After “hitting the water,” the meat slices became smooth, tender, and supple. She then added a bit of starch slurry and sealed it with a thin layer of oil to lock in the flavor.
She heated the wok, adding a generous amount of oil and various spices—most importantly, several types of chilies.
She fried them until the red oil emerged and the pungent chili aroma filled the entire room, making eyes sting. Only then did Wen Fan slide the marinated meat slices into the soup base. With a few gentle stirs, the dish was ready to be plated.
Finally, she poured scorching hot oil over minced garlic, chopped scallions, and Sichuan peppercorns. With a loud sizzle, the dish was complete.
Mother Wen was so affected by the spice she could barely keep her eyes open. With red eyes, she began packing the meals.
As the number of meals had increased today, the delivery rider looked troubled.
“This is too much; my delivery box won’t even fit it all.”
Mother Wen apologized profusely and gave him a free portion of rice with toppings, which finally allowed the meals to be sent out.
“Maybe we should look for a steady student worker for the summer?”
Seeing the business flourish day by day during the summer break, Mother Wen felt the sting of the delivery platform’s commission. Whether it was the platform’s own riders or the “errand” couriers she called, a significant portion of each order went to the platform. The price for errand runners wasn’t cheap to begin with. As orders grew, one trip wasn’t enough to deliver them all; running multiple trips made the delivery fees a serious problem.
However, Mother Wen felt that hiring a full-time employee wasn’t quite necessary yet.
She didn’t know if her family business could truly grow large. Even these past few days, the daily profit was only four to five hundred yuan. It was more than before, but who knew what would happen once school started?
The more Mother Wen thought about it, the more she felt that finding a reliable, steady rider was the best solution.
But finding the right person was another issue; she didn’t feel comfortable with strangers. So, Mother Wen took the initiative to ask the neighbors who frequented the shop.
The Wen family restaurant had shops on both sides. To the left was the end of the street, where a pharmacy stood. To the right, toward the school, was a small convenience store. The three shops didn’t compete and their owners saw each other often, so Mother Wen had become quite familiar with both.
The pharmacy’s regular customer was the owner’s daughter, Qu Qingqing. A few years older than Wen Fan, she had been running her family’s pharmacy since graduating from health school. She hadn’t visited much before, but lately, she had been reporting for every meal.
The owner of the convenience store, Song Hui, was about Mother Wen’s age. Plump and jolly, she looked like a wealthy and kind-hearted woman.
Mother Wen mainly asked these two. Both lived nearby and knew the area much better than she did.
Song Hui slapped her thigh the moment she heard the request.
“You should have said so earlier! My son has been lying around the house every day lately, living like a nocturnal weasel. He’s perfect for the job!”
Song Hui showed no pity for her son; her voice was full of urgency to seal the deal, followed by a torrent of complaints.
“He plays games all night and sleeps all day. This morning when I got up and looked at the kitchen, I almost thought we’d been robbed. The whole room was a mess. I dragged the boy up to ask, and he said he was too hungry last night and made himself something to eat…”
Song Hui was at her wit’s end. Her son had just finished his driver’s license exam and had nothing to do. It was too late to find a decent part-time job, so she could only watch him mope at home.
While Song Hui was rambling, Qu Qingqing’s eyes also lit up.
“Wait, Auntie Hui! If you’re putting it that way, my younger brother is a good fit too. He just finished his exams and has nothing to do lately.”
“Hasn’t your brother applied for colleges yet?”
“With his grades, there’s no suspense—local vocational college it is. My parents can’t stand the sight of him these days. If that kid stays home for a few more days, he’ll probably be exiled to the countryside.”
Song Hui’s eyes flickered. “Is your brother eighteen?”
Qu Qingqing paused for a second before saying, “In a few days. Besides, you can work at sixteen, so what’s the difference?”
Song Hui replied, “Qingqing, don’t put so much pressure on your brother. He finally gets to catch his breath; let him rest this summer.”
Qu Qingqing retorted, “Rest more? With the scores he got, he’s rested plenty over the years. He’s had a grand old time during these three years of high school.”
Mother Wen and Song Hui: “…”
In the end, Mother Wen made the decision.
“Let both the boys come then. My shop doesn’t have that many orders; it’s mainly just the lunch deliveries to the library. Sister Hui, Qingqing, I’ll be direct: I’ll provide lunch and dinner, and I’ll pay one thousand yuan per month for each boy. How does that sound?”
It was Mother Wen’s first time negotiating like this. The words left her heart thumping. She was afraid of offering too little, but also afraid they would think it was too little, making future neighborly interactions awkward.
To her surprise, Song Hui and Qu Qingqing’s eyes sparkled. “It’s a deal!”
Was one thousand yuan low? It was a bit low, but they had to consider the size of Mother Wen’s shop. Song Hui and Qu Qingqing didn’t want their boys to work too hard anyway; going out to run errands during mealtimes while getting two free meals was a great deal!
Song Hui couldn’t wait to go back and tell her son.
“I’ve accepted on behalf of that brat! It doesn’t matter how much he earns, as long as he stops turning his days and nights upside down!”
Qu Qingqing looked down and typed away furiously. Without even waiting for a reply, she said, “Qu Xiaoyu is fine with it. He’ll be at the shop in a bit.”
Mother Wen gave a dry laugh, thinking that Qu Xiaoyu probably didn’t have the power to say no.
Mother Wen turned off the platform-provided delivery and switched to self-delivery. However, as soon as she made the switch, she noticed something wrong.
The shop originally had no promotional activities, but for some reason, her shop on the platform now had a label saying “10 off 25.”
When Mother Wen checked her backend earnings, she found that five orders had suddenly come in, but each one had utilized the discount. After the deduction, they were significantly cheaper than the in-store prices. Worse yet, the backend showed a 500-yuan deduction for “Traffic Promotion fees.”
Mother Wen called the salesperson who had promoted the app to her before. “Hello, we didn’t participate in any activity. Why did a platform promotion suddenly appear?”
The salesperson played dumb. “You’re a new shop. I’ve been watching; your reviews are great, you’re just lacking traffic. The platform added the activity for your own good. With a stable daily traffic push of three thousand, your orders will definitely increase day by day…”
Mother Wen frowned. “We have no plans to join any activities for the time being.”
The shop currently had three sources of income: walk-ins, which filled the tables every mealtime; the library delivery program, which was growing steadily; and the general takeout.
In fact, Mother Wen had noticed problems with the delivery platform over the last few days. Even though her initial reviews were good, the order volume wouldn’t rise. The platform only generated seven or eight orders a day, and some customers even said they couldn’t find the shop on the app.
Mother Wen knew this was because she wouldn’t run promotions, so she wasn’t getting any platform traffic. Still, she suppressed her anger. “Please take down the discount. Our shop doesn’t do ‘X off Y’ deals.”
The salesperson hesitated, and the phone was quickly handed over to someone else.
An arrogant male voice rang out: “You’re Xia Yingzhi, right? Your shop’s online traffic is performing too poorly. I only pushed it because I think you have potential. Don’t be so stubborn. If you earn less on delivery orders, you can just pack a little less—use smaller boxes to compress costs…”
Mother Wen interrupted, “This isn’t about compressing costs. Who are you?”
“I’m the manager for this district. To be honest, your shop has been open for a week; if we don’t push traffic, you’ll just be buried at the bottom. I’ve seen your reviews; you have the potential to be a thousand-order store…”
The man rambled on.
Mother Wen remained firm: “I don’t need it. Please withdraw the activity, or I will file a complaint.”
There was a silence on the other end. The phone changed hands again, and the salesperson took it back, sounding helpless. “Alright then, I’ll process the refund for you and take down the activity.”
The call ended.
The salesperson looked at the manager beside him. “I told you this shop wouldn’t agree.” This manager was a new appointee, and since it was the end of the month, he was desperate for good results. However, this act of running promotions behind a shopkeeper’s back would result in a penalty if the headquarters found out.
The manager smoked irritably, his voice thick with frustration. “I told you to just gloss over it, but this woman is so stubborn.”
“Should I process the refund then?”
“Refund it. And downgrade their store’s weight in the algorithm. It’s laughable; she thinks she can grow big just on walk-in customers. Nowadays, if a restaurant doesn’t do online business, it’s essentially a slow death. I’ve seen plenty of small shops like this; a huge number of them collapse every year. Won’t participate in activities, eh? Fine. You won’t have to participate in any from now on. Let’s see when this shop closes down.”
Mother Wen had no idea someone was waiting to watch her fail. All she knew was that with two part-timers in place, the daily deliveries were taken care of.
Qu Xiaoyu and Yang Tao were dragged to the shop by their parents. The moment they stepped in, the spicy aroma hit them, causing them both to sneeze.
Mother Wen said amiably, “Come, come. Let’s eat first before we talk.”
The anger of being dragged out of bed suddenly vanished like a deflated balloon. Qu Xiaoyu and Yang Tao sat down obediently.