With matters settled, Li Yuling finally felt the heavy burden on her heart lifted.
She had been pondering this issue before.
Initially, Xiao Tian had asked Tian Xiaohe to open a braised meat stall in the county, asking for a twenty percent profit.
At the time, she thought it was a good thing, but Tian Xiaohe, with her simple mind, not only refused but also caused a lot of trouble.
One couldn't help but wonder what was on Tian Xiaohe's mind.
It was fortunate that Xiao Tian was not one to hold grudges, which allowed their relationship to continue.
Now, Xiao Tian was helping her establish herself in the capital.
For the next few days, Su Xiaocao took advantage of her free time to help Li Yuling purchase all the necessary items for opening the shop.
Teacher Xie Nan, being on holiday and with nothing to do, also volunteered to help.
After all, she had lived in the capital for many years and was familiar with the best places to find good quality items at reasonable prices.
While they were shopping, they did not forget to buy a set for Su Xiaotian as well.
Su Xiaotian had mentioned before that the bowls and plates purchased for the different stalls should be distinct, so they could be accurately accounted for when collected.
Li Yuling paid special attention to this when buying. Her mala tang stall used dark-colored bowls, while the ones for Su Xiaotian were made of celadon.
After a few days, all the pots, bowls, and utensils needed for opening a mala tang stall were purchased.
Following Su Xiaotian's advice, they chose the largest size reinforced pot for the mala tang.
It took some effort to find this particular pot.
A size forty-two pot was not commonly found in the market, and Teacher Xie Nan had to ask for a favor to obtain it.
Su Xiaocao also found thin iron wire and wove seven or eight hollow cylinders, which could be hung on the rim of the pot.
Looking at the cylinders woven by Su Xiaocao, each with uniformly sized openings, they were very delicate and cute.
Su Xiaotian couldn't help but feel that her future third sister-in-law was truly a skilled and resourceful person.
Seeing Su Xiaotian's liking for them, Su Xiaocao found some willow branches from somewhere and wove some willow plates for Su Xiaotian, each of them also incredibly exquisite.
Su Xiaotian herself was busy in the restaurant every day, receiving people interested in renting, and overseeing the placement of tables and chairs. Describing it as being frantically busy would not be an exaggeration.
The Su family's four brothers knew that Su Xiaotian was so busy and felt they could help, so they all came over to offer their assistance.
With the four brothers helping to manage things inside and out, Su Xiaotian was greatly relieved.
Finally, in the week before school started, all the stalls were rented out.
During this period, many people had come to look and then given up, and some had hoped Su Xiaotian would rent them at a lower price, but these requests were all dismissed by Su Xiaotian.
That afternoon, Su Xiaotian convened the first owner's meeting.
This meeting was essentially to allow everyone to get acquainted and understand each other's businesses.
Finally, each stall was to be given a name, and then a unified plaque would be hung.
The tenants were pleasantly surprised to hear that Su Xiaotian would also provide a plaque for each of their stalls.
They hadn't expected the young girl to be so thoughtful. They had been worried that customers might not remember their stalls even with large signage, but with the plaques, it would be different.
Su Xiaotian felt that her arrangement was top-notch; what other establishment could be so meticulous?
However, this was to enhance the overall standard of the food court, and Su Xiaotian believed that this money would not be spent in vain.
When the plaques were hung, they indeed looked quite impressive.
With Su Ciliang absent, Su Xiaotian personally wrote the calligraphy for the plaques herself and then found someone to make them.
Although Su Xiaotian's calligraphy was not as beautiful as Su Ciliang's, she had learned a bit over the years, and the result was pleasing to the eye.
At the very least, in the eyes of these stall owners with lower educational backgrounds, it looked very beautiful.
With the uniformly designed plaques hung, the entire place felt different.
There were all sorts of offerings, such as lamb noodles, Roujiamo, congee stalls, Dandan noodles, Chee cheong fun, and claypot rice.
Su Xiaotian felt that this was starting to resemble a proper food court.
With ten stalls, each business being different, everyone felt at ease.
In fact, when Su Xiaotian was renting out the stalls, she had divided them roughly by region, with only one stall dedicated to a particular type of cuisine from a specific area.
She had also rejected some with particularly unusual flavors to avoid affecting customers' appetites.
As a result, all the tenants were very satisfied.
After all, with no one competing with them, even if they were doing business in the same location, there would be much more harmony.
"Who would want to squat on the street to eat when they can dine in a place like this? Wife, I think we've rented the right place."
The man speaking was from the lamb noodle stall. He had been worried before about whether the money invested would be recouped, but now he had no worries at all.
He even had a premonition that this was a blessed place for him and his wife.
The opening day of the food court was set for the second day after school started.
The opening dates for the nearby universities were all around the same time, with Peking University opening the earliest.
When Su Xiaotian determined the opening date, it was set for the second day after the last university opened.
One reason was that with new students enrolling, it was a good time to do some advance publicity.
Secondly, only when the students arrived could they achieve a resounding success.
It had to be said that Su Xiaotian's idea was entirely correct.
Doing business requires good fortune; a successful opening is very important, especially for small eateries like these, where the number of customers on the first day is crucial.
Su Xiaotian brought people two days in advance to deliver snacks such as spicy pork skin, braised chicken feet, braised pig ears, and spicy pig trotters, which had been freshly processed at the factory.
For this purpose, Su Xiaotian specially purchased a freezer to store these snacks.
After all, these were not processed on-site.
All the items were semi-finished products that only required simple heating.
If the food spoiled and made students sick, it would be a real problem.
This is the downside of the food business; one always has to be cautious.
However, the Su family had been running restaurants for several years and had accumulated experience, so Su Xiaotian handled it with ease.
Li Yuling had also been busy. The most in-demand vermicelli, as well as dried goods like wood ear mushrooms and kelp, had been purchased and placed in the storage room.
Grandma Su came over in advance to help hold the fort. She was not worried about Su Xiaotian, but rather about Li Yuling.
After all, knowing their own family, she was very clear about what kind of person Su Xiaotian was – a child who excelled at everything she did.
With Grandma Su's strong support, Li Yuling was naturally prepared without any chaos.
With the help of Teacher Xie Nan and Su Xiaocao, it became even easier.
While guiding Li Yuling, Grandma Su also gave pointers to the other few families.
The families were very grateful to Grandma Su and felt that they had made the right decision in renting the stalls this time.
At this point, Su Xiaotian's main focus shifted away from the food court to prepare for the external publicity work.