Chapter 13: Deciding to Add a Member

Only Cheng Yingzhen knew that her daughter had been sitting by her husband's side learning to read and write since she was three years old. She had scoured every book on her husband's shelves regarding cuisine, geography, and magazines; several of her recipes had been derived from those very books.

Her daughter was intelligent, which was why she felt safe letting her manage the household. However, seeing her daughter work so hard made her heart ache as a mother—it was all because her own body was failing her! For a moment, Cheng Yingzhen's heart was filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Legend has it that the earliest soup dumplings originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, serving as the premier delicacy of the capital, Bianliang. But Su Ruojin had been in the Great Yin for six years and had seen many breakfast stalls, yet she had never seen anyone selling soup dumplings.

The hallmark of a soup dumpling lies in its thin skin and abundant, juicy filling. One bite delivers a sense of satisfaction so exquisite that anyone who has tasted them falls in love.

Then there is Shaomai, also known as shumai, a type of steamed snack made with a scalded dough skin wrapped around a filling. Shaped like a pomegranate, it features thin skin and plenty of filling, offering a soft, chewy, savory, and fragrant taste that appeals to all ages.

For the first batch, Su Ruojin took matters into her own hands. She used high-quality white flour to ferment the dough for the skin and selected premium pork leg meat for the filling. She used a hen to create a rich broth, which was then boiled together with pork skin to create an aspic that was mixed into the meat filling.

She pinched out dough portions of equal size and brushed their surfaces with oil to ensure a better texture for the dumplings. When wrapping the soup dumplings, one must pull the hands upward to ensure the skin remains thin and the mouthfeel is optimal.

The steamed soup dumplings were cute, small, and lovely. When a chopstick tip pierced the skin, the silky broth flowed out. The thin skin, rich broth, and tender meat filling were the epitome of temptation.

Taking a sip, Su Ruojin tilted her head back. This was the taste—it had been far too long. Finally tasting the delicacies of her past life, she was so moved she nearly wept.

Under the lamplight, the onlookers stared in awe as they watched her eat with such enchantment.

Su Sanlang, being the youngest, was the first to lose his composure. He reached out to grab a dumpling from the table to shove into his mouth, startling Su Ruojin into quickly grabbing a small saucer to wait for him. "Blow on it... slow down..."

As soon as it touched his mouth, it was indeed scalding. Su Sanlang was young, but he wasn't foolish; he blew on it several times until it was no longer too hot before finally biting into it.

"First, take a small, gentle sip... yes... just like that..."

Under the tense and expectant gazes of the crowd, Su Sanlang finally finished one soup dumpling.

Su Yanli was the first to ask, his voice gentle and his eyes full of smiles: "How is it?"

Su Sanlang smacked his lips. "Delicious! I want more."

The tension in the room broke instantly, and everyone burst into laughter. "Haha..."

Su Ruojin was small and lacked strength, so she had only made ten. Aside from Cheng Yingzhen and Su Sanlang, everyone else received one, leaving them feeling deeply unsatisfied.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have eaten any. Now that I want more, there's none left. This feeling of being teased is too much," Shu Tong said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Su Ruojin pursed her lips and laughed. "Uncle Shu Tong, Nanny Dong, I'll leave the rest to you two."

The two immediately promised they would not fail the Second Mistress.

Three days later, the two sets of small steamers ordered through the general store were finally retrieved. During these three days, Su Ruojin had personally taught the two of them her craft. The final excellent batch was given to the neighbors to let them try something new. Whenever anyone asked, they said it was a recipe devised by Cheng Yingzhen.

The reason for giving them to the neighbors was twofold: first, as the old saying goes, "good neighbors are better than gold"; second, it served to spread the word that the recipes were Cheng Yingzhen's invention. This signaled that using the recipes for business was to prepare a dowry for her daughter and had nothing to do with Su Yanli.

What? Preparing a dowry so early? She was only six! That was too exaggerated!

It wasn't exaggerated at all. In ancient times, especially in a prosperous era like the Great Yin which resembled the Song Dynasty, wealthy families began preparing dowries from the moment a girl was born; otherwise, there would be no such thing as a "ten-mile-long red dowry procession."

For the sake of Su Yanli's official career, Su Ruojin tried to be as thorough as possible, determined never to hold his father back.

Running a food business meant being incredibly busy if business was good.

No matter how capable Su Ruojin was, her six-year-old body could only do so much. Shu Tong and Nanny Dong worked from dawn till dusk; while they earned money, they had no time to rest and were utterly exhausted.

Su Ruojin viewed these two as family, people who would live with the Su family for a lifetime.

This wouldn't do; they needed more hands in the house.

One midday, while Cheng Yingzhen was out in the sun with the baby, Su Ruojin shared her idea with her mother. "Mother, what do you think?"

Cheng Yingzhen looked at her daughter, who was talking while patting a sun-dried quilt, and nodded immediately. "It would be best to buy two."

Buy?

Su Ruojin was just about to discuss hiring a woman of a certain age when she nearly lost her composure in shock.

She came from a modern society of equality where both corporate and private labor were based on employment; buying and selling people was illegal.

Furthermore, when Su Ruojin had opened her eyes, Shu Tong and Nanny Dong were already with the Su family, and neither Su nor Cheng treated them as servants. For a long time, Su Ruojin hadn't realized that these two had been bought by Su Yanli as slaves.

"What is it?" While tending to her son, Cheng Yingzhen noticed the change in her daughter's expression.

"Mother, what if we hire them instead?"

Cheng Yingzhen shook her head immediately. "That is unwise."

"Why?" Su Ruojin had inquired before; there were many hired workers in this era.

As the sun shifted, Cheng Yingzhen adjusted her position to shield the baby's eyes from the light. After tucking the corners of the quilt, she looked up with a smile. "Have you forgotten? We make food at home. What if a hired person steals the recipes?"

"What if we use a contract to agree upon it?"

Cheng Yingzhen shook her head again. "If human hearts could be bound by agreements, there would be no such thing as profit disputes or wicked masters and cruel servants."

That was true. Not to mention a feudal dynasty ruled by men, even in a modern rule-of-law society where everything is signed with contracts, there are plenty of people without a sense of contract, and lawsuits are everywhere—let alone in an ancient era where resources were scarce.

Should she really buy people? Su Ruojin still couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

Seeing her daughter's hesitation, Cheng Yingzhen reminded her again, "If someone with ill intent takes your recipes to set up a stall or open an eatery, your business will suffer. Wouldn't that upset you?"

Su Ruojin wasn't afraid of her recipes being learned; these were traditional foods, not her private property. She wasn't afraid of others setting up stalls or shops, as the world was large—as long as they didn't open right next to her house to steal her business.

But what if she encountered someone who learned the recipe and opened a stall right next to hers? That wouldn't just be upsetting; it would be infuriating.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself mentally, Su Ruojin had to adapt to the realities of the Great Yin Dynasty.

"So you mean, one for the stall and one for the house?"

"Yes," Cheng Yingzhen said. "Not only are Shu Tong and Nanny Dong exhausted, but you do a lot as well. From the inside to the outside, you are either washing pots and bowls or sweeping and cleaning, and you often have to go out to buy supplies. It's truly impossible to manage with just two people."

Su Ruojin had indeed not considered the housework. Her original thought was to buy a woman to take over Shu Tong's duties to free him up.

The reason she wanted to pull Shu Tong away from the stall was twofold: first, a breakfast stall was more suitable for a woman; second, if she wanted the breakfast stall to become a breakfast eatery, she would need someone flexible and efficient to help the stall grow into a shop.

After thinking it over, Su Ruojin felt her mother was right. Since one was "buying" and two were also "buying," she might as well buy both. Although she had the mind of an adult, her body was undeniably that of a six-year-old. If she exhausted this small frame, forget about earning money to support the family—she might end up being supported by Su Yanli and his wife!

Once her mental resolve was set, Su Ruojin moved quickly. When business was slow, she had Shu Tong take her to the labor broker to buy people.

They also decided on the ages: one around seventeen or eighteen, and one in her thirties or forties.

The young woman would take over Nanny Dong's current duties and assist at the stall, while the woman in her thirties or forties would take over Nanny Dong's previous duties—the housework. Whether young or old, they had to be honest, reliable, and quick with their hands.