Chapter 279: 279. Chapter 279: Betrothal Gifts, Opening a Restaurant

279. Chapter 279: Betrothal Gifts, Opening a Restaurant

"Good, good, good child!"

Xie Yin was overcome with excitement; she finally understood why her son was determined to marry Qiao Sheng.

She really is wonderful.

Xie Yin added more to the betrothal gifts; what they had prepared was already lavish—two thousand taels of gold, ten thousand and one taels of silver, one hundred bolts of fine cloth, a thousand sheep, plus the necessary items for the marriage proposal.

The added betrothal gifts.

The jewelry Xie Yin added—she selected jewelry worth ten thousand taels of silver, specifically for Qiao Sheng.

Qiao Hushui said, "In-laws, the betrothal gifts you gave are too much."

"Exactly, too much."

Lan Yue Niang echoed.

Seeing them say that.

Xie Yin replied with a smile, "Your Qiao Sheng is worth it!"

Having said it's worth it, they can't very well say it's not worth it, can they?

Qiao Hushui and the others had no choice but to accept the betrothal gifts, but they didn't intend to keep any of it; the next day they gave all of it to Qiao Sheng.

So that Qiao Sheng could take it with her when she married into their family.

As for the dowry.

They would give it to her later.

Qiao Sheng sold all the sheep since she didn't want to raise them; as for the other items, she distributed the edible ones to everyone and stored the rest in her space.

Xie Yin came here to help her son settle the marriage; once the matter was settled, she stayed only a few days before heading back to the Imperial Capital.

It wasn't that she didn't want to stay; rather, the Imperial Capital was where she could get news of Shi Lin more easily.

She undoubtedly also worried about Shi Lin.

What Xie Yin didn't know was that the assassin Feng An Nuan had hired was already on the way.

Upon learning that Xie Yin had come to Wu tong zhen to arrange the marriage, Feng An Nuan immediately hired an assassin; Shi Lin was the man she had set her sights on, and she could not allow him to marry anyone else.

Qiao Sheng naturally had no knowledge of this.

These days Qiao Sheng had been busy with the new shop; seeing a shop for sale, she immediately contacted the owner and bought it for two thousand taels of silver.

Why was this shop so expensive?

First, its location is excellent, situated on a bustling street; second, its area is much larger than that of her previous shop.

This shop used to be a restaurant; due to poor management, plus the owner's son had gambled away a lot of money and had no way to pay, they were forced to sell the restaurant to settle the debt.

Although they could have sold it directly to the gambling house, the gambling house would have paid far less.

Qiao Sheng no longer intends to run a small eatery; she plans to open a restaurant.

She has already hired Cheng Yuzhu and others to do the renovation; while the work was underway, she bought ten men, all male, picking the five with the best aptitude to be chefs and assigning the rest as assistants.

She does not intend to buy shop assistants and miscellaneous kitchen staff; she will recruit them externally.

The renovation was completed at the end of October.

After confirming there were no problems and paying the money, Qiao Sheng brought her subordinates to tidy up.

During this period she checked the dates and set the opening day for the sixth of the tenth month; she did not personally go to have the invitations made, but asked An Liu to help with that.

They have not yet been finished.

Because the reputation of Qiao Ji Restaurant has already spread.

Furthermore.

Qiao Sheng had promoted it for several days before opening; on the sixth of the tenth month, even though the restaurant had not yet opened, a crowd had already gathered in front of it, undoubtedly there to participate in the opening festivities.

The opening activities Qiao Sheng arranged were plentiful—not only various food tastings, but also free draws and consumption-based draws, plus competition prizes and membership rewards.

The food tasting is easy to understand: they simply let everyone sample the various dishes they had prepared.

As for the free draw.

Qiao Sheng randomly picked ten people who raised their hands from the crowd to come on stage and draw; whatever they drew is what they got.