"All the previous dishes will be priced as before, but as today is our grand opening, after you order, we will also give you one complimentary dish – our new creation. However, we must inform our customers that this dish is only free today and tomorrow; after two days, it will be sold at its regular price."
The shopkeeper looked puzzled. "Wouldn't that be a loss?"
Ye Qingcheng smiled. "We are promoting our main product, establishing its brand recognition. That's considered success. This will be our signature dish. When old customers return, they will naturally order this signature dish. Then, new customers will be brought in by the old ones, and our business will gradually prosper, won't it?"
The shopkeeper nodded.
Ye Qingcheng reiterated, "You must tell the customers that this dish is only free for two days. After two days, we will start charging for it."
The shopkeeper understood.
After a burst of firecrackers, the shopkeeper walked out with a grin, offering a respectful cupped-hand salute.
"Esteemed patrons, our restaurant, Shui Liu Nian, is opening today. As a benefit for our first day, every customer dining with us will receive a complimentary dish for the next two days, but only for these two days. First come, first served!" With that, the shopkeeper stepped aside, and customers swarmed in, eager to take advantage of the free dish.
Ye Qingcheng stood across the street, watching the lively scene.
She spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Ye Qingcheng raised an eyebrow. Xiao Wangye? Why was he here?
Bixi stood behind the princess, watching Lin Xiao push the prince into the restaurant.
"Princess, the Prince is showing you his vulnerability. He wants to seek your forgiveness."
Ye Qingcheng's mood immediately brightened, but she still haughtily turned her head. "Who asked him to come? Even if he's here, I won't forgive him."
Bixi just smiled and said nothing.
Ye Qingcheng understood that Bixi was supporting her. After all, the restaurant hadn't even opened yet, and the princess opening a restaurant had already become the talk of the town. This gesture was a clear message to everyone that he was here to support Ye Qingcheng.
She felt a surge of joy but kept her emotions hidden.
"Bixi, let's go."
Bixi watched the princess turn and walk away without entering the restaurant and asked, confused, "Princess, where are we going?"
Ye Qingcheng only showed her her back. "To buy chicks!"
Bixi scurried to catch up. "But Princess, we already have quite a few chickens on the farm!"
Ye Qingcheng looked at her helplessly. "We do have many chickens on the farm, about one to two hundred. But we can't just eat and consume without replenishing. We can't live off the land indefinitely!"
Bixi understood.
"We'll buy chicks. When the chicks grow up, we'll eat them."
Ye Qingcheng patted her head. "That's right. But we need to buy half male and half female chickens. Let them incubate, hatch chicks, and then wait for the chicks to grow. This way, we won't have to keep spending money to buy them."
Bixi understood.
As for where to raise them, they would be raised on the farm!
Nature has its cycles, its food chains.
People cultivate rice fields, which attract insects that eat the rice. Chickens eat insects. This creates a cycle. The rice fields are healthy, and the chickens grow up.
Isn't this wonderful?
This would save another significant amount of money.
Hahaha.
In the beginning, when Ye Qingcheng opened the restaurant, naturally, some people were envious and gossiped behind her back. But they never imagined that Ye Qingcheng's restaurant would be so successful.
Their signature dish, "Kou Shui Ji" (Mouth-watering Chicken), had become a sensation in the capital. Everyone who ate it praised its deliciousness.
After two days, the price of the dish was revealed.
Twenty copper coins, not expensive, so a great many people ordered it.
The success of this dish gave Ye Qingcheng more confidence.
Half a month later, Elder Jun's physical condition had recovered considerably, though he still needed to manage his internal injuries carefully.
However, he could engage in some basic sparring. Thus, Elder Jun, who had been missing and severely injured, finally remembered that he was Ye Qingcheng's master.
Elder Jun stretched his body. "Next, I will teach you some sect techniques. Whatever I do, you will follow. Do you understand?"
Ye Qingcheng nodded. "Yes."
Elder Jun then discovered that Ye Qingcheng had a strong ability to imitate and could quickly master martial arts movements.
Just then, Xiao Wangye was pushed over in his wheelchair by Lin Xiao. Ye Qingcheng's eyes twinkled with an idea, and she immediately attacked Xiao Wangye. However, before she could even touch him, she was knocked to the ground.
Ye Qingcheng was annoyed. After practicing for so long, against Xiao Wangye, her skills were still merely showy, not effective.
Elder Jun crouched down and teased, "Don't even think about it. You were still in diapers when Xiao Wangye started learning martial arts!"
Ye Qingcheng glared at him in complaint.
Xiao Wangye had come to see Elder Jun. "Do you have a guest?"
Elder Jun's expression froze, and he quickly stood up, inadvertently aggravating his wound.
"Ah~" Elder Jun rubbed his chest and asked Xiao Wangye, "Who is it?"
Lin Xiao explained, "She claims to be your disciple."
Ye Qingcheng was furious.
"Good! You old rascal, you're so devious! You already have disciples, yet you want to take me as one?"
The tone was rather like a woman confronting her husband's mistress.
Elder Jun twitched his mouth, feeling speechless. "Do you think at my age, I can't have my own disciples?"
Ye Qingcheng was speechless.
"Then what's my ranking?"
Elder Jun directly held up three fingers.
"Three?" Ye Qingcheng's anger flared.
"I'm the third disciple!"
Elder Jun nodded. "Ah! How nice! Such a number!"
Ye Qingcheng was speechless. "...Heh."
Just as Ye Qingcheng was about to say more, a voice called out from not far away, "Old man, I heard you've taken a new disciple. Let me see!"
The person who arrived was a woman. She held a sword in her hand, a whip tied to her waist, and wore her hair in a high ponytail, giving her a clean, sharp, and heroic appearance, like a chivalrous maiden.
Elder Jun stepped forward and smacked the back of her head. "What are you calling me? So disrespectful."
The woman, unfazed by the tap, immediately spotted Ye Qingcheng behind him. She pushed Elder Jun aside and grabbed Ye Qingcheng's hand, refusing to let go.
"Oh my! You must be that old man's disciple! Let me introduce myself. I am your second senior sister, my name is Yun Xia."
Ye Qingcheng smiled faintly.
She couldn't adopt the woman's overly familiar demeanor.