ABD - Chapter 50

They were so busy helping Shen Xuan sell goods that they didn't have time to make their own lunch.

Shen Xuan directly gave each of them twenty wen and told them to buy food nearby.

Shen Xuan had prepared a total of sixty chickens early in the morning, but unexpectedly, by noon, forty had already been sold.

Seeing that they were running low on stock, he quickly rushed to the butcher to buy an additional forty chickens.

As for the spicy skewers, he had prepared a thousand meat skewers and a thousand vegetable skewers, and there were still some left.

In the afternoon, the opera house and nearby brothels officially opened, and there were even more pedestrians on the street.

Guests coming to see the opera had also heard that there was a new shop nearby that made exceptionally delicious fried chicken and skewers, so a long queue quickly formed outside the shop again.

Even the courtesan of a nearby brothel sent a pimp to queue up, saying that a distinguished guest inside had smelled the fried chicken and refused to eat the brothel's roasted chicken, specifically requesting this fried chicken.

Just after Shen Shi (3-5 PM), all one hundred fried chickens at Xiyuan Xianwei were sold out.

By this time, the butcher's shop had already closed, and Shen Xuan didn't want to add more ingredients. He waited another half an hour, sold all the remaining skewers, and then closed the shop.

After closing all the wooden boards at the shop entrance, Shen Xuan and his group sat in the backyard. Qing Kang and Qing Ping were already exhausted, and Sheng Fu and Sheng Cai's voices were hoarse.

"Everyone worked hard," Shen Xuan said, instructing Jin Zhi and Jin Gui to bring sour plum juice to the backyard for them to sit down and drink together. He, meanwhile, began to calculate the day's income.

On the first day, they sold a total of one hundred fried chickens and two thousand skewers, all prepared by them early in the morning.

After deducting the unpaid items given to Xue Fenglin, Shen Xuan calculated today's income. The gross profit was nineteen taels of silver. After deducting less than four taels of silver in costs, there was still a net profit of fifteen taels.

A profit of fifteen taels in one day meant four hundred and fifty taels of silver in a month, and five thousand four hundred taels of silver in a year.

After deducting the shop's rent of one thousand two hundred taels, there was still a net profit of over four thousand taels, which was a huge gain!

"You all did well today," Shen Xuan said in a cheerful mood. "If we can sell this much every day from now on, besides your monthly salary, I'll give each of you one tael of silver as a bonus at the end of the month."

Upon hearing that they could receive one tael of silver as a bonus, Sheng Cai and Sheng Fu, who were already very tired, perked up.

Before, when they served young masters in wealthy households, their monthly salary was only two hundred wen. Although they occasionally received bonuses, they were mostly small amounts like a few or dozens of wen.

Only those who served intimately in marquis or princely mansions could receive such large bonuses as one tael of silver. They had witnessed it before and were incredibly envious, thinking that others were simply luckier to be bought by royalty or nobility as servants. They never expected to have such an opportunity themselves.

Sheng Cai looked at the sky outside and said, "It's still early. Zhijin Street is bustling right now. We can prepare more things tomorrow and sell for more money."

Sheng Fu also said, "Yes, those young masters who go to the brothels only come out at night. It's still early now. It's a real shame for us to close up shop so early."

Shen Xuan chuckled upon hearing this, looked at them, and shook his head, "Haven't you worked hard enough today, waking up before Mao Shi (5-7 AM) to prepare ingredients?"

"Even if we sell more tomorrow, if you get exhausted and fall ill, will my shop still be able to operate?"

Sheng Cai and Sheng Fu were both articulate, and at this point, they started praising Shen Xuan, "Shen Ger is benevolent and treats us so well, afraid of us getting tired."

"Exactly, following a master like Shen Ger, we're happy to."

Qing Kang and Qing Ping, being from the village, weren't as talkative, but they also nodded in agreement, "We hardly ever ate meat back home. After following Shen Ger, our food and lodging are much better than before."

"Yes, at noon, he even let us buy meat wontons to eat. Back in the countryside, it was rare to have them even during the New Year."

"Alright, you two talk less. You'll need your voices tomorrow," Shen Xuan said helplessly.

He then left them two hundred wen for them to go out and have a good meal, before leaving in his carriage.

"Shen Ger, you treat them so well," Jin Zhi couldn't help but say on the way back.

Jin Zhi often ran errands throughout the capital and had seen many things. Servants bought from outside shops, unlike those in wealthy households, were generally treated like beasts of burden.

Who else would provide accommodation, food, and even bonuses like Shen Xuan?

"Shen Ger has always been benevolent and treats us very well too," Jin Gui also added from the side.

Shen Xuan didn't say anything upon hearing this. Although he was technically born in Great Jin, his two years of being transmigrated to the modern world had already ingrained in him the principle of equality for all.

So, after returning, Shen Xuan always approached these servants from the perspective of a boss, never truly treating them as slaves.

***

The next day, Shen Xuan went to the shop early again. It was still early, and he saw Qing Kang and Qing Ping chopping firewood, while Sheng Fu and Sheng Cai had already gone to the butcher and vegetable market to buy the ingredients needed for the day. The four of them were sitting around, threading skewers.

Seeing them work so diligently on their own, Shen Xuan was quite satisfied.

He deliberately didn't intervene today, just waiting to see how his subordinates would run the shop.

Because of yesterday's reputation, as soon as the wooden doors outside the shop opened this morning, passersby started forming a long queue.

Shen Xuan watched as Qing Kang and Qing Ping unhurriedly set up the stoves, pouring new oil into one pot, while in another pot, a rich bone broth had been simmering for a while.

Soon, the pots were hot. They put the prepared ingredients in, and Sheng Cai and Sheng Fu, one collecting money and the other calling out, all worked in an orderly fashion.

Actually, the reason these servants were so proactive wasn't because they were naturally well-behaved.

While Qing Kang and Qing Ping were relatively honest, Sheng Fu and Sheng Cai were quite cunning.

People are inherently prone to laziness, but they worked so hard because they saw Shen Xuan's clear system of rewards and punishments. 

Even though they were servants whose contracts had been bought out, as long as they did their job well, they received ample rewards, and their lives weren't any worse than ordinary citizens working outside.

With hope for a better life, they naturally worked very proactively. Without needing anyone to supervise them, they kept the shop running smoothly and prosperously.

Xiyuan Xianwei quickly began to operate very well. Shen Xuan didn't even need to supervise it daily. He just needed to send Jin Zhi once a day to collect the cash and then exchange it for silver at the money changer.

Since its opening, the shop's business had been growing daily. It had a daily limit of two hundred chickens and two thousand skewers, and the shop would close once they were sold out.

When business was good, everything would be sold out before Shen Shi (3-5 PM).

One day, in a private room of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, after the courtesan Liu Rumeng finished playing a "Seeking Joy" tune, she heard a commotion in the hall downstairs.

"Who's making such a commotion?" asked a sturdy man in his early thirties, seated at the head of the table.

Liu Rumeng immediately sent her maid to inquire. After a moment, she bowed respectfully and said to the man, "Reporting to Young Master, it's Master Wang, who deals in tea, drunk and causing a ruckus downstairs, demanding fried chicken."

"What kind of chicken? Don't you have it in Hundred Flowers Pavilion? Just make him one!" a young man in his early twenties, seated below, spoke up.

He was the sixth son of Master Qian, the Minister of Revenue, and a legitimate son, very much favored. He was accustomed to being dissolute and was a frequent patron of Hundred Flowers Pavilion.

Liu Rumeng immediately said, "Young Master Qian, you don't know. Master Wang isn't asking for ordinary roasted chicken, but the fried chicken sold at Xiyuan Xianwei. Its taste is exceptionally unique. You won't find a second shop like it in the entire capital."

As soon as she said this, others spoke up, "What quality could things from an outside eatery have? And it's not even clean. This Master Wang must not have eaten good food before."

Liu Rumeng heard this and said, "Gentlemen, you may not know, but Master Wang is quite the epicure and very particular about food. Xiyuan Xianwei is a newly opened shop. The items inside are clean and fresh, brought back from the market every morning and prepared right before your eyes."

"Even the oil they use for frying chicken is changed twice a day. The old oil is directly sold to oil vendors outside, and other hawkers and shop owners even specifically pay an extra one or two wen to buy this fried chicken oil for cooking, saying it makes the food taste even fresher."

After Liu Rumeng's introduction, many guests sitting in the private room became extremely interested in this fried chicken called Xiyuan Xianwei.

They were all young masters from prominent families in the capital; what good things hadn't they seen? But this was the first time they had heard of such a fried chicken shop, and they had to taste it no matter what.

"If that's the case, then send someone to buy some fried chicken over, and we can also have a taste," someone said.

Liu Rumeng looked a bit troubled upon hearing this and could only shake her head, "Unfortunately, that shop only sells two hundred chickens daily and never sells more, even if business is good. So, they close before afternoon every day."

"It's already Wu Shi (5-7 PM) now. Where would you find fried chicken for sale? If it weren't for this, Hundred Flowers Pavilion would have already bought the fried chicken for Master Wang."

They just wanted to eat some fried chicken, and they couldn't even get it?

The young masters in the private room immediately became displeased, and even more curious about what this legendary fried chicken tasted like.

The next morning, many prominent families, including that of Master Qian, sent household servants to queue up, specifically asking to buy Xiyuan Xianwei's fried chicken.

As they were lining up, a small sedan chair suddenly stopped in front of them, and then a young eunuch stepped out.

After approaching the Xiyuan Xianwei counter and taking a look, he had the sedan chair bearers help him join the queue.

"Isn't that Eunuch Ning, who serves His Royal Highness?"

"Why is Eunuch Ning also here buying fried chicken? Could it be that His Royal Highness wants to eat it?"

"What good things aren't there in the palace? Even His Royal Highness sends someone to buy this fried chicken to eat. This fried chicken truly is 'immortal flavor'!"

The household servants of those prominent families recognized Eunuch Ning immediately and couldn't help but discuss it amongst themselves. Upon returning home, they relayed the matter to their masters.

Soon, the name of the shop, Xiyuan Xianwei, became popular within the entire upper class of the capital.

It was as if not having eaten the fried chicken from this shop meant one was outdated. After all, this was fried chicken that even a prince specifically sent someone to buy!​