After the guests dispersed, Old Man Shu closed the shop door happily, preparing for the most exciting moment.
"Quick, put aside what you are doing and come here. Let's count how much money we made today."
The people who were cleaning immediately threw away their brooms and came over in a hurry.
Shu Mingxin, who was in charge of finance, took out the money box under the eager attention of everyone, opened the lid and poured it over. There was a crash, and the shiny copper plates piled up into a hill.
Old man Shu rubbed his hands excitedly, "I'll count them. After counting, tie them up with hemp rope."
Mrs. Shu reminded him: "Look clearly, don't count wrongly."
"Of course, what do I do for food?"
Old Shu shook his hands and counted at one end, while Yan Yan lay on the other end counting.
Now, Xiaotuanzi's arithmetic level has made a qualitative leap under Shu Mingxin's teaching. He has successfully counted from six to twenty. If the number of fingers and toes were not too few, he would probably be able to learn a few more numbers in the future.
.
The three young men also joined in the fun. They were not good at arithmetic, but they were better because of their loud voices. Yan Yan counted each coin and recited a number, and they also followed suit.
"Nine, ten, eleven..."
The three voices were extremely neat and loud, and as they chanted, they led old Shu at the other end into the ditch.
"Twenty-five, twenty-six, twelve, thirteen... No, where did I just count?"
Mrs. Shu couldn't see it, and with a wave of her hand, she deprived him of the ability to count money, "You stand aside, Mingxin, Mingwen, you two count."
I have to say that being rigid has its benefits.
No matter how loudly the little ones shouted, Shu Mingwen would not be led astray and would always count the coins at hand with peace of mind.
After about a stick of incense, all the copper plates were counted and converted into silver, which amounted to four taels and three coins and eighty-two copper coins.
Mrs. Shu slapped her thigh and said, "What a loss! I spent four or two or five dollars on groceries yesterday!"
Shu Mingzhi asked her: "What's the loss? How much is the table of food we treated Mr. Lin to eat?"
Eighteen dishes plus two soups, including a heart-wrenchingly expensive plate of abalone and braised pork, so...it's still a loss!
"I worked so hard for an hour or two to cook the food, and in the end I made a table full of food?" Mrs. Shu covered her chest, still unable to accept the reality.
Shu Mingxin took out the broken pieces of silver hidden in his arms and said, "There are some more here. I was afraid of losing them, so I kept them alone."
After counting the scraps of silver, they earned nearly two taels of silver from this meal, plus a table of hard food.
Old Man Shu was very satisfied with the result, "Not bad, not bad. I can earn two taels of silver per meal, and I can earn dozens of taels a month, which is enough for our family to drink snacks."
Although it is far inferior to selling coconut oil, this business is stable and not so tiring. Pushing and pushing all day long makes me stupid."
"You are feeling comfortable, how about me? The spatula feels like it is on my long hand, and I don't even have time to drink water."
Old Mrs. Shu sighed, "I don't think it's possible to sell like this. It's too messy. Let me do this and let me do that. Even if I have eight hands, I can't do it."
"What should we do? When it's dinner time and all the guests are here, we can't chase people out, right?" Old Man Shu scratched his head and asked tentatively: "How about you teach me and we can do it together?"
Mrs. Shu gave him a big look and said, "Put it down and let you take charge. I'm afraid our restaurant will be smashed."
Xiaotuanzi held his cheek and thought for a long time, and finally suggested in a low voice: "How about we have a buffet?"
The whole family looked at her and asked, "What is a buffet?"
"That is, we prepare the dishes to be sold that day in advance and put them in big pots. When the guests come, we will serve them whatever dishes they want. After serving, we will pay for the rest. We don't need to do the rest.
Take care of it.”
Mrs. Shu clapped her hands and applauded: "Okay, just do it this way, it's simple and hassle-free!"
"But if you prepare it in advance, wouldn't it be wasted if some of the vegetables are not sold out?"
Old man Shu frowned and asked, "You don't earn much from one meal. If you waste a little more, won't the profit be even smaller?"
"Ahem, let me say a few words." Shu Mingzhi spoke, "After my observation, there are a few dishes in our store that are very popular, such as the cold kelp shreds. Six out of ten people ordered it.
Otherwise, we can only select dishes that are popular and have affordable ingredients, and prepare several kinds of meat and vegetables. We will still order other dishes a la carte, and list the prices separately, so that we can make money without fear of waste."
This plan was unanimously approved by everyone.
The family listed several dishes based on their own experience, and finally combined them, the buffet menu was decided.
Shu Mingyi moved a few more tables from the carpenter's shop and prepared to put them in front of the store when it opens tomorrow.
After all, it’s not a problem to have guests squatting against the wall all the time to eat.
After working for most of the day, everyone is exhausted. According to Mrs. Shu's wishes, we will not sell dinner, clean the store, go to the market to buy some ingredients for tomorrow, then close the store and rest, and fight again tomorrow.
The title of Mr. Zhizhou is really useful. Within half a day after the restaurant opened, Shu Laosan and his family became celebrities at the pier, and people greeted them warmly wherever they went.
Old Man Shu's vanity was greatly satisfied, and he smiled crookedly all the way.
When we arrived at the market, the stall owner who sold abalone yesterday ran directly to the intersection to greet Shu Mingzhi, and his address to Shu Mingzhi changed from "brother" to "young master".
Upon hearing this, Shu Mingzhi became excited and waved his hands repeatedly: "Hey, brother, don't call me that, I can't afford it."
"Master, you are so humble." The stall owner nodded and bowed, and helped carry the bag, "I have heard that your restaurant's business was booming today, and the customers who were queuing up to eat were almost pushed into the sea!"
Shu Mingzhi shook his head modestly, "No, no, we just lined up on the beach."
The two of them complimented each other and came to the stall. The stall owner smiled slightly and took out the good things he had just collected in the morning, preparing to compete with him again.
Shu Ming has gained experience and is unwilling to buy expensive things no matter what.
Just kidding, if every day is like yesterday, spending four or five taels of silver just to buy ingredients, then they are not making money by opening a shop, but working for a seafood stall owner.
"Brother, I won't say anything vain. If we want to cooperate for a long time, your price must be lowered."
"It's easy to lower the price. How do you want to lower it?"
Shu Mingzhi turned around and winked at Shu Mingxin.
The latter took out an account book, opened the first page, and read out in a congenial manner: "Kelp costs two cents per catty, which is falsely high, but it has been reduced to three cents and two catties; clams, which cost one penny per catty, are falsely high and have been reduced to two cents.
Three kilograms of money..."
When the stall owner heard him finish the price, he felt bad, "You... this is not bargaining, you are cutting my flesh with a knife!"
Not only did he cut off his flesh, but he also wanted to drain his blood!
"Brother, that's exaggerated."
Shu Mingzhi put his arms around his shoulders and started cheating mode.