He Jiajing gave a wave of his hand, and a waiter immediately brought over a tray. On it sat a cloth bag of copper coins—2,160 wen in total—along with two solid silver ingots.
“The 2,160 wen covers the payment for the braised geese,” He Jiajing explained. “The additional ten taels of silver are just a small token of my appreciation. Please, Lady Li, do not look down on such a modest sum.”
Li Yao reached out and took only the payment for the geese. She didn’t even spare the two silver ingots a second glance.
“I don’t need it.”
“This…” He Jiajing was baffled. “I meant no offense. It is truly just a token of goodwill.”
“I said before that today was a favor to Manager Fan,” Li Yao replied coolly. “And that favor only applies to today. If you want me to help you brainstorm ideas in the future, I will charge for them.”
As Li Yao turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving the rejected silver sitting on the tray, the onlookers were stunned into silence. She had turned down ten taels of silver without so much as a blink. What kind of person was this Lady Li?
“Lady Li, wait!” Manager Fan chased after her, his pace hurried.
“Is there something else?”
“Nothing major,” Manager Fan said. “It’s just… I’d like to order more geese for tomorrow…”
“No. We agreed on three geese a day, and that’s all you’ll get.”
“What?” Manager Fan blinked in surprise. “Why… why is that?”
Why? It was called scarcity marketing. Of course, she couldn’t simply explain the concept to everyone; after all, she intended to make a living selling her ideas.
“Do you want them or not?” Li Yao didn’t care for long explanations and cut straight to the point. “If you don’t, I can sell them to someone else.”
“I want them, I want them!” Manager Fan sighed. “Three it is, then. I only ask that you have them delivered as early as possible.”
…
Dazhuang walked beside her, hesitant. “Mother…”
“Are you wondering why I refused those ten taels of silver?”
“Yes.”
“Remember this: never accept a reward you haven’t earned,” Li Yao said firmly. “If it’s the money you’ve rightfully worked for, you must collect every single wen. But if it isn’t yours, you mustn’t touch it, even if it were a mountain of gold.”
“I understand, Mother.”
Seeing that he still seemed to have something on his mind, Li Yao asked, “Are you envious because you saw a single day’s business bring in over a hundred taels? Do you want to open a restaurant of your own?”
“I…” Dazhuang hesitated, surprised that his mother had read his thoughts so clearly. “I was just wondering about it. I don’t have that kind of talent, and certainly not that much silver.”
“Don’t belittle yourself. You have talent, and silver is never an issue,” Li Yao said. “But there’s no need to open a restaurant.”
“Why not?”
“You’ll understand in time.”
Li Yao already had a clear plan for Dazhuang’s future.
…
When they arrived at the braised food stall, Third Son had already finished packing up. Old Man Kang, who had been selling the geese, was also waiting nearby with three more large, white geese. Upon hearing that Li Yao would definitely be able to buy all the geese in the village moving forward, the old man was so moved he bowed repeatedly in thanks, rushing off to deliver the good news to his fellow villagers.
“I don’t know what happened, but business was especially good today,” Third Son reported once Old Man Kang had left. “We sold out half an hour earlier than usual.”
That, of course, was expected. After such a massive advertisement at the restaurant, the people who had tasted the braised goose but couldn’t afford to dine at the restaurant had naturally flocked to buy some of her braised offal to satisfy their cravings.
“Did you deliver the lunch to that old gentleman at the academy?” Li Yao asked.
“I did,” the Third Son replied. “Just as you said, I added two extra pieces of braised goose meat for him.”
Good. Li Yao didn’t care who the white-haired old man was, but she believed in honesty in business.
“Let’s go home.”
Just as they reached the edge of the market, a voice called out from behind: “Lady Li, stay your hand!”
A well-dressed, middle-aged man accompanied by two servants hurried up to catch them.
“Lady Li,” the middle-aged man said, “I am the owner of Zhang’s Restaurant. I’d like to discuss purchasing some of your braised geese.”
He had come now, but it was already too late.
“I have already signed a contract with He’s Restaurant; the braised goose is theirs exclusively.”
Watching Li Yao and her group walk away, Zhang Guangsheng stamped his feet in fury. “Go back, now! And tie up that Shu fellow!”
“Lady Li came to my shop first, and he pushed her away by force!” he snarled. “That blind, incompetent fool—I’ll peel the skin off his back for this!”
As the He-wan Village braised goose grew in reputation, it not only elevated He’s Restaurant to new heights, but it also fueled a massive spike in popularity for Li Yao’s original braised offal stall.
They were buying every scrap of pork offal they could find in the area, but it still wasn’t enough to meet demand. Dazhuang and his brothers were full of energy, but with the added workload of preparing the geese, they were rising before the chickens and sleeping long after the dogs. This lifestyle was unsustainable; they would burn out or fall ill long before they saw any real reward.
Li Yao decided, once again, to seek out the village chief.
“You want to recruit workers from the village?”
The chief was silent for a long moment, unable to fathom why she wouldn’t just hire her own kin for such a lucrative setup. If they aren’t family, how could they possibly be loyal?
“I have my own plans,” Li Yao replied. “The main tasks are cleaning the offal every afternoon and prepping the geese. The wage is 10 wen per person, paid daily upon completion.”
Working half a day for 10 wen without breaking a sweat? Such an opportunity was unheard of. If the chief didn’t already have his hands full with his own braised food stall, he would have sent his own daughter-in-law over in a heartbeat.
“Fine. I’ll call them for you right now.”
The chief climbed a large tree in his courtyard and, at the top of his lungs, broadcast the news across the village.
After the “bidding” event, the villagers’ perception of Li Yao had shifted. Many were now willing to set aside their work and gather in groups to see what she offered. Shen, the second sister-in-law, was the fastest of them all. Since she had failed to land a spot for a braised food stall last time, she was determined to secure this opportunity at all costs.
“Sister-in-law,” Shen cried, desperate, finding Li Yao in the crowd. “Could you count me in this time? I promise you, I’ll work harder than anyone else!”
Li Yao had asked the chief to handle the hiring specifically to avoid anyone trying to “use the back door,” so she said, “Who gets hired is entirely up to the village chief.”
“It’s your own family business! Why are you letting him decide? We’re all kin, aren’t we?”
“Go sign up, then.”
Seeing Li Yao refuse to give an inch, Shen was livid, but afraid of losing her spot, she scurried off to find the chief.
By the end of the tally, over seventy people had applied. Some even tried to compete by offering to work for as little as 5 wen a day—the competition was fierce. The chief knew the villagers better than anyone, and he quickly selected two women in their thirties known for being steady, hardworking, and honest.
Shen, with her loose tongue, was rejected immediately. She stamped her feet in rage and ran home to complain to her mother-in-law.
“Chief, we offered to take a lower wage! Why did you pick them instead?”
“Yeah! You’re ignoring cheap labor—aren’t you losing money?”
“Everyone, listen to me!” the chief shouted over the noise. “Li Yao said that she’ll be hiring more people soon. If you weren’t picked today, just wait for the next round.”
“Then you’d better pick me next time!”
After the crowd dispersed, the two selected workers, Sister-in-law Liu and Sister-in-law Hu, timidly arrived at Li Yao’s house.
Both were honest women who had always been terrified of Li Yao. They were nervous about working for her—what if they accidentally displeased her? Would she scream at them? Would she dock their pay? They threw themselves into their work, scrubbing the offal and geese until they shone. Once Li Yao inspected their work and found it spotless, she paid them their wages on the spot.
“Same time tomorrow afternoon.”
On their way home, the two women felt dazed. Usually, when working for someone else, the employer would find small faults to hold over their heads, regardless of how well the work was done. Yet, this woman—the infamous shrew—had been perfectly reasonable.
This must not be the Li Yao we used to know!
With two extra pairs of hands, Li Yao no longer had to stay up late, and she felt a great weight lift off her shoulders.
The next three days went smoothly. The four braised food stalls brought in a daily profit of 2,600 wen, and the three geese netted 1,200 wen. After subtracting daily expenses, the family had a net income of 3,500 wen per day. In just a few days, Li Yao had saved up 15 taels of silver—more than most commoners in this era ever saw in their lives.
But it wasn’t enough to build the comfortable, sturdy house she had envisioned; it wouldn’t even cover the foundation. Just as she was preparing to scale up the goose business, she received word that trouble was brewing on Old Man Kang’s end.