Chapter 403 - Teacher
403 Teacher
Zhao Nian was now 15 months old. He could now call out to his parents.
He was so heavy that both Yue Jiaojiao and Madam Qin’s arms felt sore after carrying him for a while. Zhao Zhan had been so busy recently that he couldn’t help out much at home. After discussing it with his lover, he decided to make a cart for himself.
He was worried that the cart would be too heavy to push, so he used wood and rolling iron to make the necessary load-bearing structure. The seat and back were made with cotton pads that were wrapped with two crossed wooden sticks.
When Yue Jiaojiao went out today, she and Madam Qin pushed this cart to the streets.
“Jiaojiao,” Zhao Zhan was standing guard at the entrance of the bakery. He came up to her when he saw her. “Are you tired from coming all the way from home?”
“My legs are a little sore.”
If it wasn’t for the large crowd surrounding the entrance of the shop, Yue Jiaojiao would have definitely placed her entire weight on Zhao Zhan’s body. “Today is the first day of the restaurant’s opening. Why are you here?”
“Fang Tianliu and Chang Ning are both responsible people. Besides, I can also find out what’s going on over there in time.”
The restaurant was diagonally opposite to the bakery shop.
As it was the first day, there was a wheel at the entrance for the event.
It was a wheel that was divided into blocks of different sizes.
The smallest piece was occupied with the first prize. The prize was that today’s meal would be free of charge, and the maximum amount of silver was one hundred silver.
The second and third prize were free special dishes from the restaurant.
“Zhao Zhan, you’ve secretly smuggled goods in, haven’t you?”
Yue Jiaojiao pointed at the fourth prize on the wheel, which had taken up a certain space. The prize was a coupon that gave a discount in her bakery.
Then, there was the fifth prize, which was equivalent to the participation prize, and the prize was a bag of steamed buns.
When Zhao Zhan was organizing events for his family’s shop in Willow Village, the event planning was taught by Yue Jiaojiao step by step. Now, he could already draw inferences from one experience and plan the next event himself.
“This event will last for five days.” Although Zhao Zhan held his lover in his arms, he let her borrow strength from his arms for fear that she would be tired from standing too long. “Tomorrow is the opening day of the shop. At that time, the shop can make a name for itself in Shangjing with the discount on coupons.”
In the past few months, the shop had made a lot of rolls for all the products to be sold, and the standard amount of ingredients had been set.
After Zhao Zhan tasted it, he believed that as long as someone gave it a try, it would be impossible for customers to not come back.
This first batch of customers could be used by the restaurant to open the first sales for the shop.
The bakery had to take the elegant route, and his lover wanted to create her own path, so Zhao Zhan could only flatten the road for her.
“This way, I only need to open my shop quietly.”
The people surrounding the restaurant’s entrance had already blocked this fork in the street until not even a child could pass through.
“Let’s go into the shop first. Zhao Zhan took the key and opened the door. “Let’s take a rest inside.”
The layout of the bakery was still a secret. Outside the shop, wooden shelves wrapped in oil paper were set up high to block the entrance, hiding the situation inside and outside of the shop.
Zhao Zhan pushed the door open and pulled out a chair for Yue Jiaojiao to sit on.
Zhao Nian, who was sitting on the cart, waved his hands excitedly and struggled to get off the cart.
Seeing this, Zhao Zhan took him out of the cart and let him walk around the shop.
“All the equipment is in place.” Zhao Zhan was more familiar with the store than Yue Jiaojiao. He sat her down and explained everything to her. “The oven has been in use recently. Milk will be sent to us every morning and afternoon. As for the other raw materials, I’ve asked Chang Ning to get someone to purchase them all and send them to us every day so they will be fresh.”
“I’ve given all the recipes to Xiangjun. She’s in charge of tallying the ingredients. As for the rest of the physical work, I’ll leave it to Lady Yun and the others to handle it.”
Strictly speaking, Yue Jiaojiao had opened this shop to satisfy her taste buds.
“We won’t make much every day. Everything is limited in supply and will stop when it’s sold out.”
Yue Jiaojiao didn’t want to put in too much effort just because of a shop. Besides, low profit but high turnover had never been the path she wanted to take. Just the process of making butter by hand took more time than making bread.
“I specially brought this here today.”
Yue Jiaojiao pulled out the wooden board she had brought with her from the side of Zhao Nian’s cart.
The thick wooden board was painted white, and on it were the limited-edition baking products that Yue Jiaojiao had drawn with charcoal.
“If someone orders a cake, I’ll come over and make the patterns on it.”
This was also a helpless comparison if she wanted others to handle this. Aesthetics needed to be cultivated. Yue Jiaojiao had brought Lady Yun and Li Xiangjun by her side to teach them for two months, but the patterns they made were still very rigid and not creative enough.
This kind of thing could only be slowly cultivated and accumulated. Only then would it be natural to make special patterns.
“It would be great if we could find someone who’s good at design.” Yue Jiaojiao sighed softly, but she was not anxious. “Zhao Zhan, if you see anyone suitable, let me know. It’ll be great to find a down-and-out scholar, and then we’ll lend a helping hand at giving them something to do. The other party will be grateful for a job.”
The scholars today — no matter if they were rich or poor — had a temperament that would never bend over for five buckets of rice. The girls who could learn a good skill were mostly well-off unmarried daughters, and it was impossible for them to show their faces in public to earn money here.
“If I really find a scholar to come to this shop, what would you plan to do with them?”
Zhao Zhan knelt down on one knee beside Yue Jiaojiao, his large rough hand pinching her soft skin and kneading it repeatedly in his palm. “Didn’t you say you wanted to be my teacher? Why don’t you teach me too?”
He had already developed an overbearing possessiveness, and his lover could only stand side by side with him.
Upon seeing this, Madam Qin picked Zhao Nian up and brought him to the backyard.
Yue Jiaojiao tilted her head and looked at him. She pulled out her fingers and pinched Zhao Zhan’s stubbled chin. “When did you become this jealous? I only said to find a scholar who is good at design, and you made up a play in your heart?”
Yue Jiaojiao was sitting, so she was much taller than Zhao Zhan, who was kneeling on the ground.
He looked up at the smiling woman and suddenly leaned forward. He put one hand around her neck and pressed her down. “Of course I’ll give you anything you want. Even if I don’t know how to, I can learn.”
The novels that she loved to read were all about scholars being obsessed with many things in life.
Even though Zhao Zhan’s family was wealthy now, he still often secretly regretted that he was not a scholar.
“Teacher,” Zhao Zhan’s breath was intertwined with hers. “If you can, why not teach this student instead?”
Yue Jiaojiao’s breathing stopped for a moment. She was bewitched by him and lost in her thoughts for a moment.
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