With a creak, the wooden door was opened from the inside.
Qian Laishun yawned and pulled open the door, startled to see a young woman standing outside. Five of his seven souls nearly fled from him. "Who are you? What are you doing standing outside my door so early in the morning? You scared me to death!"
"Sorry, I was just about to knock when you opened the door. I'm looking for you to help me find a store space."
Qi Huan apologized and explained her purpose.
Hearing that business had arrived, Qian Laishun immediately flashed a brilliant smile, apologizing with a smile: "No problem, no problem. I just overslept. You've come to the right person, Miss. I'm the most knowledgeable person in all of Mo County when it comes to buying and selling houses and renting shops. Please, come inside."
Once in the courtyard, Qi Huan was led into the main hall and took a seat.
To her left, Qian Laishun poured her tea as he inquired, "Miss, may I have your esteemed surname?"
"My humble surname is Qi."
"Miss Qi, what kind of shop space are you looking for? On which street? What will it be used for? Just tell me your requirements, and I guarantee I'll find you a suitable one within a few days!"
Qi Huan pondered for a moment before answering.
"I don't have any specific requirements for the street, as long as it has heavy foot traffic. I plan to run a restaurant, so I hope the shop will have a rear courtyard with a kitchen."
Upon hearing her, Qian Laishun excitedly slapped his thigh, his face creasing into a wide grin.
"Miss Qi, isn't that fortuitous!"
"Just yesterday, Ding Dafu from Qixiang Street came to me to help him rent out his shop. His shop used to be a tea house, with a three-bay storefront, a rear courtyard with a well, and three back rooms. Two of the rooms were combined into a kitchen area, and when I went to take a look, the space was quite large, with four large iron cauldrons under the windows and a good stockpile of firewood."
"The other room is a large storage room where the shop assistants used to live."
Seeing that Qi Huan was listening intently, Qian Laishun became more enthusiastic in his sales pitch.
"Miss Qi, let me tell you, this shop is really nice - great location, ample space, and a low asking price."
"It sounds decent. Can we go take a look?"
"Of course. Ding Dafu gave me the keys yesterday, and I still have them in my pocket. Let's go right now."
Without further ado, Qian Laishun locked up his door and hurried off with Qi Huan and her servant towards Qixiang Street.
Upon arriving in front of the shop, Qi Huan realized that the Ruyijiulou Restaurant was right across the street - it seemed the adage "no strangers, only fated connections" rang true.
Although she disliked Shopkeeper Chen, since Qian Laishun said the price for this shop was low, Qi Huan decided not to dwell on it and check it out first.
After touring the shop, she was very satisfied.
Seeing that a deal was likely, Qian Laishun began elaborating in more detail.
"The front shop and rear courtyard together cost thirty taels. You won't be losing out or getting cheated if you buy it!"
"Although our county town has a lot of land and few people, making shops not very valuable, this price is still extremely low..."
"Miss Qi, look, it already has large iron cauldrons, firewood, shelving cabinets, and even tables and chairs. Just these alone will save you a considerable amount of money, so I advise you to secure this shop right away."
"If the price were a bit lower, I could consider it."
Qi Huan remained poker-faced, feigning an attitude of willingness to buy but only at a cheaper price.
Based on her bargaining experience from her previous life, she couldn't appear too satisfied right away. She had to both lure the seller and brandish her bargaining knife to get the most reasonable price.
After some back and forth, Qian Laishun finally revealed Ding Dafu's bottom line price.
"Twenty-eight taels, not a cent less, otherwise I'll have to show you other properties."
In other places, twenty-eight taels would at most buy a kitchen - it was unheard of to buy such a large shop at that price.
But the original owner Ding Dafu was in a hurry to leave, so he priced it extremely low.
Seeing a good deal, Qi Huan agreed: "Alright, twenty-eight taels it is."
She went home to get the silver, and brought Li Shuchen along.
In the entire family, only Li Shuchen, a commoner, was not marked as a criminal. He was the only one who could purchase the shop, so he had to act as the "legal entity."
He would bear the responsibility, but she would earn the money. Yet, she would support him - neither would lose out!
Qian Laishun went to fetch Ding Dafu, and the group agreed to meet at the local government office.
After paying and giving the clerks a few taels as a "tea fee," plus Qian Laishun's one-tael commission, Qi Huan ultimately spent thirty taels to obtain the shop.
In the month after finalizing the property deed, while accumulating points, Qi Huan cleaned and renovated the shop until it looked brand new.
The three storefront bays each had a large door, but to conserve heat, Qi Huan only opened the middle door and went to a fabric shop to buy some coarse blue floral cloth, which she cut into half-door curtains.
Parting the curtains and stepping inside, the main hall's tables and chairs were leftovers from the former tea house. Qi Huan repainted them with fresh red lacquer until not a speck of dust remained.
The entire main hall had eighteen tables. The wall facing the kitchen had two windows and a door, and Qi Huan also made matching door and window curtains.
Continuing to the rear courtyard, there was a large well by the wall, covered by a stone slab.
Qi Huan had previously opened it to find that, strangely, the water had not frozen, likely because it was underground and insulated by the soil, keeping the temperature above freezing.
Further ahead was the kitchen. Although the windows were not wide, they were quite tall, allowing ample light into the kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen, to the right were four large cauldrons, next to a large water barrel and a neatly stacked pile of firewood.
To the left were shelving cabinets, which Qi Huan planned to use for storing bowls and seasonings.
She had also commissioned a carpenter to build a long workbench for cutting vegetables, placed in the space between the cabinets and firewood.
Under the workbench, she had the carpenter make a few wooden crates to match the workbench's length, width, and height, to be used for storing grains and vegetables.
As for the room next to the kitchen, its original setup was already quite complete. Qi Huan only added two cotton bedrolls.
She planned to hire a waiter to serve customers, while Li Shuchen had agreed to help keep the accounts, so she didn't need to hire an accountant. As for the chef, that would be her.
In this initial stage, she would save wherever possible to keep costs low.
If business boomed in the future, she could hire more staff as needed.
After inspecting the fruits of her and Li Shuchen's labor over the past half month, Qi Huan went outside and posted the hiring notice she had prepared.
The shop had yet to have its signboard hung, but Li Shuchen had already gone to get it. Once the signboard for Qi's Noodle Shop was hung, the entire place would be ready.
Qi Huan's decision to open a noodle shop was carefully considered. In such cold weather, nothing could be more comforting than a hot bowl of noodle soup.
Moreover, the renowned Ruyijiulou Restaurant across the street specialized in stir-fried dishes, so it would be unwise to directly compete with them from the start, as the investment risk would be too high. Therefore, Qi Huan decided to first test the waters with a noodle shop and build a reputation.
Additionally, the cost of making noodles was not high - she could buy a large crate of dried noodles with just a few points.
As for the noodle toppings, they would require far fewer ingredients than stir-fries.
This way, she could price her noodles affordably.
By securing the price advantage, Qi Huan gained more confidence in her noodle shop's prospects.
Refocusing, she began preparing for a bulk purchase.
Over the past half month, feeding Li Shuchen three meals plus a midnight snack every day, she had accumulated a good number of points, occasionally earning some related to Yan Qinghe's trio, as well as points for first aid or discounted medicines.
After a quick calculation, Qi Huan rubbed her hands eagerly, her eyes gleaming as she asked the system, "System, please tell me how many points I have now?"
"Certainly, Host. Your current balance is 6,789 points."
"Wow!"
After a few celebratory cheers, Qi Huan took out the list she had prepared and, following the plan, made bulk purchases of large quantities of noodles, Nordic-style tableware, and that crate of vegetables and grains infused with a parent's love.
After unpacking the express delivery, she put some of these supplies back into her spatial storage and some in the kitchen, then checked her balance again with the system.
"System, I've purchased so much, my points won't go into the negative, will they?"
"You worry too much, host. This system never operates on credit. Your points are still quite abundant, with a current balance of 2333."
