Chapter 165: To Resume Restaurant Business

Lu Lin visited the fisherman's dormitory and he delightedly found that most rooms were occupied.

"It went well!" Lu Lin said to Chen Xiao Mi.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "Yeah. Thanks to your welcome to have a visit policy!"

As the saying goes, what you hear about may be false, what you see is true. Many fishermen had doubts about Lu Lin's intention of establishing a fleet. However, Lu Lin came up with a policy to welcome people to visit the dormitory before they made up their minds. It worked, most fishermen couldn't resist the temptation of living onshore.

Besides, these people probably understood that Lu Lin was rich and he wasn't interested in extorting the fishermen's properties.

"The seafood center is having a soft opening now," Chen Xiao Mi said.

The seafood center still needed some final touches here and there, but some shops were already open.

Qin Lang and his wife were now selling Grilled Squid there, the business was pretty good.

......

In the fisherman's dormitory.

"Captain Qin, that grilled squid shop in the seafood center is owned by your family?" Zhou Shin asked.

Qin Ming nodded, "Yeah, my brother and sister-in-law own that shop!"

Qin Ming had a private room in the fisherman's dormitory. As the captain of the fleet, Qin Ming enjoyed some privileges. During this period of time, Qin Ming had been living on the dormitory and slowly he had won the fishermen's trust.

Zhou Shin was the first person to join the fleet except the Hans. He had a good relationship with Qin Ming.

Qin Ming now was perturbed by one thing. His Big Brother, Qin Lang also learned to swim, and he would even visit the fisherman's dormitory from now and then and show interest in becoming the captain in front of Lu Lin.

As far as Qin Ming knew, Qin Lang seemed to be not very interested in joining the fleet in the beginning, but since Lu Lin asked Qin Lang to supervise the manufacturing progress of the pilot ship, Qin Lang started to see the beauty of it and showed interest in becoming the captain.

"Captain, your family is really capable. People used to just throw away the squid, no one knew it was this yummy, but look how the table has turned now," Zhou Shin said.

"It's not me or my family who is capable, it's Magistrate Lu. The idea, the cooking method and the sauce were all provided by Magistrate Lu," Qin Ming said modestly.

Zhou Shin blinked and asked, " Magistrate Lu? How come a lord like him know so much about cooking?"

Qin Ming nodded. "His Lordship knows so much more than cooking, but have you heard the Roasted Whole Lamb? That was invented by him and now it was added into the menu of state banquet! His Majesty has even rewarded our lord 1000 taels of silver."

Qin Ming thought to himself, 'I better not tell him the story of His Highness Cheng who is obsessed with His Lordship's cooking. I heard Highness Cheng doted Young Master Mai so much that he had added a lot of jewels and curios in Young Master Mai's trousseau. Tut tut tut, it's just so hard to believe.'

"Roasted Whole Lamb? Yes, I've heard of it, I think our entire county has heard of it!"

The people inquired a lot about Lu Lin when they heard Lu Lin was going to succeed the post. What they heard most were Roasted Whole Lamb and Curved Iron Plough.

"I heard that the lord once had an auction and sold the dish for a ridiculous amount of silver, is that so?"

Qin Ming nodded and said, "There is such a thing. One of the young masters from the capital city paid 80 tales of silver at the auction."

Zhou Shin was surprised, "Fancy that, 80 tales! I haven't seen so much money my entire life!"

......

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi opened a restaurant featuring Roast Whole Lamb in the seafood center.

Lu Lin did not intend to open such a restaurant in the beginning, but the Yamen runners kept asking him about his plans of opening restaurants.

Lu Lin found that a bit odd, so he asked the yamen runners why they were so interested. It turned out the yamen runners were asking for the wealthy councilors in town who were desperate to try Lu Lin's cooking.

'It makes sense now, the yamen runners aren't earning big salaries themselves, but the wealthy councilors are different, they are very well-off, of course they would love to try new dishes from time to time,' thought Lu Lin.

Roasted Whole Lamb had been well-known throughout the country since it was added to the state banquet. The local councilors also wanted to give it a try, but the lamb was only available in Sha County. They didn't want to travel all the way across the country for a single dish. After Lu Lin came here, the local rich people couldn't help but look forward to trying new food cooked by him.

Many people were waiting for Lu Lin to open a restaurant featured Roasted Whole Lamb. However, Lu Lin seemed not to be interested in opening a restaurant after he came even though he had been studying all kinds of seafood delicacies. Seeing that Lu Lin had not make a move for a long time, the local rich people came up with the idea of asking the yamen runners for more information.

Lu Lin had been spending a lot on investing the dormitory and building the pilot ship, he figured it was a good idea to earn some cash by opening a restaurant. As expected, the restaurant won great popularity since its opening.

Lu Lin found the pricing part very tricky. On one hand, he didn't want to overprice the dishes considering it was a small county after all, but on the other hand, Roast Whole Lamb was on the state banquet menu, it didn't look good if the price was too low. So he priced it as 8 tales of silver in the end.

When the Roasted Whole Lamb first came out, it was sold for 80 tales at the auction. In this comparison, 8 taels of silver looked very affordable.

For the local rich people, 8 taels of silver was indeed not a problem.

No matter how delicious the seafood was, local people were used to it and they wanted to try something different.

Although the seafood made by Lu Lin was unique, people were still more interested in trying different food like pork and lamb.

The moment the new restaurant opened, they had a full house. The relatively high price was not a problem, local councilors and wealthy people from neighboring counties streamed into the restaurant.

The people from neighboring counties were here for the lamb, but they had also fallen in love with Grilled Squid after they gave it a try.

Lu Lin touched his chin and said regretfully, "I wish Cai were here, I have so many plans!"

Chen Xiao Mi patted Lu Lin's shoulder and said, "Take it slow, don't push yourself too hard. Cai should be coming soon."

Lu Lin nodded. "I miss him, it has been a long time!"

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "There's nothing we can do. Cai has a lot to deal with, especially with the Hot Springs Resort."

"I know, hopefully everything is going well and soon our big family will have a reunion dinner."

......

"Father, father, is it almost dinner time?" asked Yuan Bao with great excitement.

Lu Lin had been trying different recipes for seafood delicacies that he had eaten in modern society. As a result, the kids were excited about dinner.

"Soon," Lu Lin said.

Yuan Bao trotted towards Lu Lin and said, "Father, what are we having today Crabs? Lobsters?"

Lu Lin smiled, "I remember you are the one who looks so skeptical and calling them weird looking when we first had them, and now you want to have them for dinner?"

Yuan Bao scratched his head and made a face.

"We are having fish today," Lu Lin said.

Yuan Bao's face lighten up, "Yay fish! Do we still have shrimp porridge left from lunch? That was yummy as well."

Lu Lin patted Yuan Bao on the head and said, "You are asking me? You should be asking yourself and your round belly, you and Dash have finished the whole pot at lunch, remember?"

Dash subtly pointed at Yuan Bao and defended himself, "It was mainly my brother, I just had two bowls."

Lu Lin laughed, "We are having "hot and sour fish with pickled mustard greens for dinner."

Yuan Bao asked curiously, "Wow, something new again, what is that?"

Lu Lin shrugged and said, "You'll find out later."

At dusk, Yuan Bao finally got to know what hot and sour fish with pickled mustard greens. It had a sour and spicy taste, which was completely different from the steamed fish they usually had. Lu Lin asked Yun Niang to put some dried bamboo shoots in the soup base as well. The fish was thinly sliced and poached in a rich broth made from fish stock and pickles. The kids loved the velvety and silky texture.

"Father, this fish is so yummy!" Yuan Bao said.

Lu Lin looked at the Yuan Bao and said, "Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Let me ask you a question, kiddo, do you want to help out in the restaurant? I was already doing a part-time job when I was your age."

Lu Lin was just making up stories, and he felt a little guilty. In his previous life, his parents took great care of him and he stayed in school all day and never earned a penny when he was Yuan Bao's age.

Yuan Bao blinked and said, "Sure! Is there anything you need my help with?"

Lu Lin was so surprised, he did not expect his son to be so motivated.

Chen Xiao Mi couldn't help laughing when he saw Lu Lin's reaction. "Yuan Bao, good boy."

Yuan Bao clenched his fists and said in high and vigorous spirits, " I will make a lot of money in the future and become a big tycoon."

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi exchanged a look and smiled, they found it so cute.

......

Lu Lin sent Yuan Bao to the restaurant to learn from the current manager, Wan Li, this is how Xiao Cai started his first job as well, Wan Li was a reliable teacher.

Yuan Bao mainly helped Wan Li to check up accounts.

Chen Xiao Mi would deliberately leave some mistakes in the accounts to test Yuan Bao, Yuan Bao could detect them all and correct them.

Chen Xiao Mi could not help feeling proud when Wan Li reported this to him.

Lu Lin looked at the comments and corrections made by Yuan Bao on the account books and said, "Our son is a genius! I am such an amazing teacher who can always provide the right guidance."

Chen Xiao Mi glanced at Lu Lin and said, "When did you teach him?"

Lu Lin was very busy, it was Chen Xiao Mi who had been teaching the kids.

"I've given him so many coins to play with!" Lu Lin defended himself, "There's nothing better than counting money that can help you to learn math."

Chen Xiao Mi showed a doting smile.

Lu Lin made saving pots for the kids since they were little, he and Chen Xiao Mi would reward them with coins for running errands and sharing chores.

To their surprise, young as Yuan Bao was, he was great at earning money and saving money, he always had a plan when it came to spending.

"Our son has been doing such a great job in account checking!" Chen Xiao Mi said.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "I'm proud of our little boy, I used to think this is just a 3-minute passion, but he has been doing great indeed!"