"It's food, made from medicinal ingredients."
"Medicine can be eaten as food? Never heard of that before."
Boss Zhao still couldn't imagine what Meng Huai was talking about, but he still said to Meng Huai, "Boss Meng, we are old partners. If you don't mind me saying so, please don't put your restaurant kitchen next to Wen Xin Tang. Put it over there, over there!"
Boss Zhao pointed his thumb to the other side of Meng Huai's shop: "Put it on their side, they sell mecha parts, so they don't mind any smells. You know my side, it's all antiques and scholarly things. You say people who come to my shop to buy things, wouldn't it be inappropriate to have the smell of cooking oil everywhere?"
Meng Huai chuckled at Boss Zhao's disgusted expression.
"Alright."
Meng Huai only agreed to Boss Zhao, but she didn't say that her medicinal cuisine had any cooking oil smell.
The preparation of medicinal cuisine was different from ordinary food, and it had special cooking techniques. Oil, in this shop, did not exist. Moreover, the delicious food produced only had the aroma of medicinal herbs, which was very fragrant. Most importantly, didn't the fragrance of the medicinal herbs match the shop, Wen Xin Tang, even better!
Meng Huai didn't explain too much to Boss Zhao, only thinking that he would naturally know when it opened.
Meng Huai even invited Boss Zhao, as if she felt Boss Zhao wasn't scared enough, and wanted to add fuel to the fire: "Boss Zhao, you must come when we open in a couple of days to celebrate with us."
"Of course!"
Boss Zhao also laid his cards on the table, being upfront. Since he was invited, he would naturally show his support. After all, apart from opening a restaurant next to his shop, he thought Meng Huai was a very good business partner!
When the final dining tables and chairs arrived, Meng Huai was also preparing for the opening.
Now that it was the holiday, Wang Ziming and the others had gone home. Zheng Yiran and Jing Yuancheng, whose homes were on the Imperial Capital Star, heard that Meng Huai had bought a shop here and was preparing to open a business recently, so they came to visit often.
Today, Meng Huai was worried about the opening, and the two arrived one after another.
It wasn't Zheng Yiran's first time here, but she still sighed, "Meng Huai, you've really done a great job with this shop. It has a nice atmosphere!"
Jing Yuancheng said, "Junior Sister, what are you doing?"
Meng Huai sat at the counter, where a pile of wooden boards were placed. The wooden boards were palm-sized, with a hole at the top through which a rope was threaded. Meng Huai was currently using a small knife to carve characters on the wooden boards.
These wooden boards were from the old tree in the spatial dimension. It had managed to grow a few more meters, and Meng Huai had cut it in half again.
One had to sigh that the old tree had such a rough fate!
Meng Huai was busy with her head down. Seeing them arrive, she called out to them, "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, please sit anywhere. I'm working on the menus, and I'll be done soon."
Meng Huai was still carving characters on the wooden boards, and Jing Yuancheng stood aside watching.
"Seven Treasures Pigeon Soup, Yan Quan Rice Dishes..."
Jing Yuancheng read the characters Meng Huai had carved on the wooden boards, thinking: What are all these?
Jing Yuancheng was also restless. Seeing that some tables and chairs were not placed squarely, he helped to move them. The tables were brought in by three people at the time of installation, but Jing Yuancheng could lift one by himself.
Zheng Yiran sat aside, waiting for Meng Huai to finish her work.
Soon, Meng Huai had finished writing the names of the medicinal dishes on these wooden boards. After finishing, she said to Zheng Yiran, "Sister, I've arranged for some people to come for interviews today. Could you help me screen the candidates?"
Zheng Yiran was a commander and had an advantage in evaluating people.
Zheng Yiran readily agreed: "Okay."
Jing Yuancheng had just finished arranging a table. Seeing Meng Huai finish her work, he came over to fiddle with the wooden boards. The characters on the wooden boards were not very clear, so he asked, "Are these the menus? Are they finished? They don't seem clear."
Meng Huai shook her head: "They are just preliminarily carved, they still need to be polished, and ink will be added at the end."
"Is that so? You just mentioned interviews, what kind of people are you hiring for this shop?"
Jing Yuancheng looked at the shop. With the first floor plus the private rooms on the second floor, he roughly calculated how many tables could be seated at the same time.
Meng Huai had already thought about this and told him: "Two service staff, one chef, and one assistant chef are enough. Too many people and this small shop won't even have space to stand."
Meng Huai said with a half-joking tone, and Jing Yuancheng nodded in agreement: "That's true."
Jing Yuancheng followed Meng Huai's words, and Zheng Yiran glanced at him, thinking: This single soldier really doesn't understand social graces, he can't say anything nice, sigh!
When Meng Huai had tidied up these semi-finished wooden boards and cleaned the counter, the people she had notified for interviews in the past few days had all arrived.
There were three candidates for the chef position, two candidates for the assistant, and five people came for the service staff interview.
"Since everyone is here, let's interview the chefs first. Can the rest of you wait for a moment?"
Zheng Yiran directly helped to host this interview. Normally, interviews should be conducted one by one. She didn't expect Junior Sister to have people from different positions interview together, but it didn't matter.
It seemed that the others had no objections, so the three chefs stepped forward.
Zheng Yiran looked at Meng Huai and asked, "Junior Sister, should the chefs demonstrate their culinary skills?"
"Yes."
Meng Huai led them to the kitchen: "Here are the ingredients. Please feel free to choose and showcase your skills."
The three chefs were not young, and they had seen a lot. They were attracted by the generous salary and benefits advertised in Meng Huai's recruitment notice, which was why they came for the interview.
But was this not a joke?
A slightly stout chef asked Meng Huai in a not-so-friendly tone, "What are all these things! We've never seen them before, how can we cook them?"
Another tall and thin chef remained silent. He picked up the ingredients Meng Huai had placed in front of them and smelled them. Without knowing the taste of the ingredients, he couldn't cook, so he picked a small piece and tasted it. Soon, he spat it out with a disgusted expression and said angrily, "This is bitter, how can anything be made from it!"
As for the other one, he didn't complain about anything but carefully examined each item.
At this moment, the other interviewees, with permission, also came to the kitchen to observe. A little boy applying for the chef assistant position quietly raised his hand: "Excuse me, may I try?"