Great Imperial Merchant

Delayed by getting up early, the sun was already shining when Cheng Weizhe arrived at Xueta Lane.When he arrived at the alley and walked straight to Yang Zhongyuan's noodle shop, he only casually glanced at the business of his teahouse.

Yesterday, Yang Zhongyuan opened for free, so the popularity was naturally high, but Cheng Weizhe took a closer look today. Although he said that most of the guests had already left for the meal, there were quite a lot of used noodle bowls in the wooden basin at Yang Zhongyuan's feet.

Zhou Quanxu was sitting at the door and counting the copper coins at the moment, when he saw Cheng Weizhe coming, he immediately waved to him with a smile: "Xiao Zhe, here you are, have you eaten yet?"

Just as Yang Zhongyuan bent down to pick up the large porcelain bowl, when he heard his father's voice, he put the wooden basin back on the ground, wiped his apron on his waist, looked at Cheng Weizhe and asked, "I'm not busy now, what do you want?" What to eat? I'll make it for you."

Because of this simple sentence, Cheng Weizhe felt his eyes warm up. Cheng's family and this small noodle restaurant seemed to be two incompatible worlds, one was disheartening, while the other was full of warmth.

However, the Cheng family's carved beams and painted pillars are full of gold and jade, but this small noodle restaurant in Beicheng is simple and unpretentious.

Cheng Weizhe felt something was stuck in his throat, he couldn't speak, he just shook his head slightly, and walked over to help him lift the heavy wooden basin together.

The bowls in the tub were stacked one on top of the other, telling about the good business of the morning. Cheng Weizhe slowly calmed down and asked Yang Zhongyuan: "I have eaten, how is the business in the morning?"

Speaking of business, Yang Zhongyuan couldn't help being a little proud, he raised his chin towards the wooden basin: "See, I almost used up my bowls early in the morning, I'm amazing!", because the craftsmanship is affirmed, so Yang Zhongyuan now He was in a very good mood, with a bright and energetic smile on his face, with a little pride and show off.

Yang Zhongyuan often made that expression when he was a child, but now that Cheng Weizhe looks at it again, he finds it more eye-catching.He involuntarily stared at Yang Zhongyuan's speaking lips for a moment, until the wooden basin made a slight bumping sound, which pulled him back from his inadvertent distraction.

"Azhe, what's wrong with you, Azhe?" Yang Zhongyuan raised his head, seeing that he looked a little strange, he quickly reached out and patted his cheek.

Yang Zhongyuan was busy all morning, and his hands were wet all the time. Cheng Weizhe felt his face was wet and soft. The cold fingers lightly touched the softest part of his face, which made him feel itchy for a moment. Can't tell what it's like.

Cheng Weizhe stood up suddenly, he seemed to be in a hurry to leave the backyard, and said while running: "I have something to do in the shop, come back later."

"Hey, slow down, don't fall." Zhou Quanxu asked worriedly behind him, and then walked to the backyard with the money collection box.

As soon as he came to the courtyard, he saw Yang Zhongyuan standing by the well, looking down at his hands carefully.

Zhou Quanxu was a little surprised, and quickly asked him: "What's the matter, did you hurt your hand when you got up early?"

Yang Zhongyuan raised his head, his cheeks were a little red, he didn't know whether it was hot or tired, and he looked a little different from usual.

"It's okay, it's okay." Seeing that his father was staring at him, Yang Zhongyuan put down his hands like a thief, and rubbed hard on the apron again.

"Father, how much did you earn this morning?" Yang Zhongyuan wiped his hands clean, then went to help his father into the side room.

In fact, after a few days of recuperation with soup, medicine, food and supplements, and with his son by his side, Zhou Quanxu's health has become better and better in the past few days, and his energy has become much stronger, and he no longer feels groggy and drowsy every day.

However, he is still not fully recovered, and he still needs to take medicine for two months.So Yang Zhongyuan was always careful, and when he was busy in the morning, he was only willing to let his father sit at the door to collect money and count the number of people.

After all, he was a servant of a wealthy family, so these two things are more than sufficient, but seeing his son make bowls of noodle soup with a smile, he himself is quite happy.

Although I don't want to repeat what happened in the early years, but my son can learn such a skill, and he himself likes to do it, which is really a great thing.

"It seems that there are 25% fewer diners this morning than yesterday, but we are doing business seriously, and there are only two of us in the shop. It is already a bit difficult for people who are busy with this, so it is just right. I counted and got up early in the morning. I sold 450 bowls of noodles, which is [-] Wen, which is quite a lot.” Zhou Quanxu was very excited when he talked about this, and he said a long series of words in one breath like pouring beans.

Isn't it true that Yang Zhongyuan originally calculated that he could only sell [-] bowls a day without losing money, but now that he got up early and left more than half of it, then after the whole day, he might still earn some money, even paying the rent.

Thinking of this, the father and son looked at each other and smiled, feeling a little happy in their hearts.

This not only indicates that their own small shop will get better and better, but also proves that Yang Zhongyuan's craftsmanship is very popular, which is what really makes people happy.

After putting away the whole string of copper coins earned early, Yang Zhongyuan persuaded his father to lie down and have a rest. Then he picked up a small horse and sat by the well, and began to wash the dishes one by one.

The place he chose was facing the back shop door. At this time, there were not many people in Xueta Alley, so Yang Zhongyuan was distracted and stared at the front shop, fearing that he would not hear any guests coming.

Not long after, he saw Cheng Weizhe coming in from the next door carrying a bamboo basket, and hurriedly called out to him, "Azhe, why are you here again?"

Cheng Weizhe had calmed down now, as if the scene just now had never happened, he put the bamboo basket on the table, and seeing that Yang Zhongyuan had washed all the bowls with alkaline water, he went to the well to fetch water for him: "I'm done with work in the shop, and I don't have much to do. It just so happens that this summer's new tea has arrived. I brought some to eat with you and Uncle Quan."

Yang Zhongyuan poured the dirty water into the drain in front of the shop, and then started the second round of washing with the newly brought up well water by Cheng Weizhe.

Cheng Weizhe was sitting by the side, seeing that his hands were a little peeled from the soak, he felt a strange pang of distress in his heart.

Once upon a time, the young Yang Zhongyuan didn't do so many things. He only needed to go to class and study with him every day, and play around together after class. Life was always carefree.

But Cheng Weizhe didn't say anything, he just sat quietly and watched the blue and white porcelain bowls flying in Yang Zhongyuan's hands.

"Azhe, would you like me to add a side dish?" Yang Zhongyuan asked Cheng Weizhe.

"What? Are you saying you want to sell it?" Cheng Weizhe brought over the kettle that was screaming happily on the stove, and waited for Yang Zhongyuan to get up before he poured it on the cleaned bowl, "Are you busy? I It seems that the business is okay, don't force yourself."

Yang Zhongyuan flicked his sore wrist, and said indifferently: "Why is this work tiring? I can do it. What I mean is that there were too many people yesterday, so I didn't have time to take a closer look. Looking at it today, I feel that the guests are just Eating noodles is too monotonous, although the noodles are well seasoned, it would be better to add some side dishes, buy a portion of noodles, get a side dish for free, isn't it more attractive?"

Cheng Weizhe thought for a while, and thought his idea was good, but he was somewhat afraid that he would be tired, so he said: "It's good, but if you make it now, you will be tired, why don't you make some cold dishes that are easy to store, and get up early to make a Come in a basin and use it all day."

At this moment, Yang Zhongyuan could be rested. He entered the kitchen in the yard, rummaged through the cabinets on the desk, and found out a set of black porcelain tea sets.

He is actually a tea drinker, but he is busy now, and he really doesn't have time to make a pot of tea to enjoy life, so he can only buy a simple tea set first, and prepare it for the guests.

It was such a coincidence that Cheng Weizhe brought tea, this gift was really desirable.

"What tea did you bring, let's go ahead and drink and chat." Yang Zhongyuan scalded the tea set with the pot of hot water just now, and then urged Cheng Weizhe to open the bamboo basket.

Cheng Weizhe couldn't help being a little amused, and said: "I thought you didn't have a tea set here, and I brought a set to give you as a gift. Now that I see it, it's a waste of money."

He followed Yang Zhongyuan into the shop and reached out to take out everything from the bamboo basket.

The first ones were taken out were two round white porcelain teapots. The two bottles looked simple and elegant, and they were not too big, so they were obviously very easy to carry.Yang Zhongyuan picked it up to play with, and saw that one was written Bai Ting, and the other was written Ronghua.

Both of these teas are Danluo Hehe's famous good teas, Baiting is green tea, and Ronghua is black tea.One tastes light and refreshing, and the other is rich and mellow, which matches its name very well.

Followed by a set of shadow blue porcelain, this set is also a pot and four bowls, exquisite workmanship, high-quality glaze color, a few koi carp faintly carved on the thinnest part of the body, shining through the sunlight. Look, I feel that those few fish seem to be alive, lively and lovely.

This is an excellent tea set. When Yang Zhongyuan saw this set of tea set, he couldn't take his eyes off it. He stretched out his hand and snatched it into his arms: "You said you want to give it to me, so you can't take it away!"

Cheng Weizhe couldn't help but find it funny when he saw him holding on tightly, but he knew Yang Zhongyuan's character very well and knew that he couldn't laugh out loud in front of him, so he endured it very hard: "Okay, I just teased you, Are you serious?"

Yang Zhongyuan's face flushed, and he was a little embarrassed, but he said firmly: "You wait, I won't invite you to dinner."

Cheng Weizhe smiled, and took out the last few things from the basket, including a teaspoon for tea and a whisk for tea, and put them out one by one, all made of high-quality moso bamboo, with exquisite craftsmanship.

The Yang family is not used to drinking tea, but Yang Zhongyuan and Zhou Quanxu have always loved it very much. Later, when they went to Yong'an Palace, Yang Zhongyuan even saw the tea-ordering skills of the old stewards in the palace. Never forget.

Seeing this tea whisk now, Yang Zhongyuan couldn't help being a little dazed. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. After a long time, he said: "Your shop sells tea soup, why do you still have this thing?"

People in Daliang usually drink boiled or fried tea, but ordering tea is not uncommon. Many well-known and wealthy families often entertain guests with tea ordering, which can be regarded as a superb skill.

After hearing this, Cheng Weizhe couldn't help but smile: "I know how to order tea."