She and the old shopkeeper hit it off well, and despite their age difference, they got along like old friends. The old shopkeeper did not cheat her and offered a fair price for her goods. Given these circumstances, why not sell to him?
The two agreed immediately, and the shopkeeper was overjoyed. Seeing the shopkeeper’s happy face, Jiang Chan paused and said, “Wait a moment, I’ve come up with a new dish. Try it.”
What she referred to was naturally the braised meat. The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. Was there an unexpected bonus? Soon after, Li Ma served a plate of thinly sliced braised meat, accompanied by long-soaked delicacies like chicken feet, pork trotters, and marinated eggs, all in a tempting deep red color.
The appearance alone was winning, and upon tasting, the shopkeeper felt this could be a great business opportunity. When he finally left, his smiling face was as blooming as a chrysanthemum, and Jiang Chan inside the house was also pleased.
She tossed the purse left by the shopkeeper, surprised at his generosity for buying the braising recipe for two hundred silver taels. This amount would serve as the capital for opening a small dim sum shop.
In this era, one silver tael was equivalent to 2,000 yuan in modern society, so two hundred taels amounted to 400,000 yuan. With the additional income from selling recipes, Jiang Chan felt unexpectedly wealthy.
Seeing Jiang Chan happily like a little fox, Lin Shi also smiled: “Do you like silver that much?”
Her eyes were squinting, and the corners of her mouth were raised more than usual, it seems that her daughter is also a money-lover.
Jiang Chan paused: “I like the silver that I earn through my own abilities. With silver, I can open a dim sum shop.”
She was also testing the waters with Lin Shi. Although it’s now acceptable for women to run businesses, she wasn’t sure if Lin Shi and Jiang Sen felt the same way.
In this family, what Lin Shi says is most important. As long as Lin Shi agrees, Jiang Sen wouldn’t have much of an objection.
Seeing Jiang Chan anxiously looking at her, Lin Shi laughed and said: “Opening a shop is good, a girl should have her own money so she won’t panic.”
Lin Shi clearly understands that the confidence of a woman lies in her ability to stand on her own without relying on others. Despite her gentle appearance, she also owns shops, but she doesn’t visit them often, leaving the management to the shopkeepers.
Every month, the shopkeepers would report the accounts to her for inspection. Jiang Chan, having only been home for a little over half a month, was unaware of these matters.
The reason Jiang Sen could occasionally dine out at the tavern over the years was all thanks to Lin Shi support. His meager salary from the academy was far from sufficient.
Of course, Lin Shi never mentioned this to outsiders. Jiang Sen just enjoyed eating, nothing more. Moreover, discussing money would hurt their long-standing affection.
“Mother, you agree to me opening a dim sum shop?” Jiang Chan didn’t expect to pass this hurdle so easily.
“I own two shops myself, it’s just that others don’t know they’re mine,” Lin Shi said lightly. This was part of her dowry when she got married, and it’s been over twenty years in a blink of an eye.
“You want to open a dim sum shop? I thought you were planning to open a restaurant given how many dishes you have in mind.” Lin Shi and Jiang Sen never asked where Jiang Chan learned her cooking skills, as long as they had something to eat, it didn’t matter where she learned it from. Some things are better left unexamined; it’s better to be blissfully ignorant in such cases.
“Running a restaurant is too tiring, a dim sum shop is just right, it doesn’t require too much time to manage, just make a set amount of dim sum every day.”
Seeing Jiang Chan planning so well, Lin Shi didn’t say much, only telling her to ask her if she couldn’t decide, and she could have the shopkeepers come and give her advice.
This was a ready-made master, and Jiang Chan naturally nodded repeatedly. In the evening, when Jiang Sen came back and heard about Jiang Chan opening a dim sum shop, he even specially mentioned that he could ask the dean of the academy to help write the plaque for the shop.
With both Jiang Sen and Lin Shi agreeing, Jiang Chan no longer had any worries. In less than a week, she found a good location for her shop, not far from the Jiang family, almost directly opposite to Mingyue Tower.
The shop had two sections: the front for the storefront and the back for the kitchen, complete with a well and stove, making it ideal for making dim sum.
Originally, this was a grocery store. The owner’s family was planning to move to the prefectural city and was in a hurry to sell the shop, which then became a bargain for Jiang Chan.
After buying the shop, Jiang Chan wasn’t in a hurry to open for business. She wanted to take her time to clean and organize the shop, planning to renovate it into a modern-style dim sum shop that looks refreshing and clean.
She prepared various dim sum at home, with Aunt Mo excelling in Chinese desserts like osmanthus cake, steamed cake, red bean cake, red bean pastry, mung bean cake, and water chestnut cake.
Jiang Chan could also make simple Western desserts, such as cake bases and sponge cakes, which she used to bake in an oven. However, without an oven here, she had to think carefully about how to adapt.
Persistence pays off. Later, Jiang Chan had a blacksmith make a large stove, and she managed to make the sponge cake. Jiang Sen and Lin Shi were amazed. They did not expect that after all Jiang Chan’s efforts, she actually came up with something new.
The sponge cake became the signature dish of Jiang Chan’s snack shop. She planned to create something fresh since there was a dim sum shop in town that mainly sold traditional pastries like red bean cake, mung bean cake, and almond pastry.
Jiang Chan had tried them too, but found them too sweet and cloying. Even Jiang Sen, who doesn’t like sweets, couldn’t stop praising her pastries.
With such success, Jiang Chan felt even more confident about her business.
Thriving in the Jiang family, Jiang Mu’s household faced a different scenario. Upon seeing Jiang Chan in town, Jiang Miao returned to the academy, troubled and unable to concentrate.
That evening, Jiang Miao hurried back to the village. Wang Shi was naturally overjoyed at his return, going as far as to kill a chicken among other things.
She was, of course, happy now that Jiang Miao had the funds to go for the examination. As long as Jiang Miao passed and became a scholar, their Jiang family’s status would rise, making it easier for Jiang Xing to marry well. Given Jiang Xing’s looks, matching her with a scholar was indeed feasible.
However, without Jiang Chan at home, Wang Shi had to work much harder than usual. Jiang Xing, being sweet-tongued, left most of the chores to Wang Shi, who, if she could, would still try to find time to be lazy.
After looking around the house, Jiang Miao did not see Jiang Chan, “Where is my older sister? I rushed back from town specifically to see her.”
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