The first update, asking for pink votes.

*********

Lian Manman’s family wanted to acquire property in Jinyang County Town, which Wang Youheng was aware of. The three restaurants were shortlisted by Wu Lang and Lian Shouxin from their previous visits to town, and because there were many interested buyers for this one, Wang Youheng had sent someone to convey this information, thus leading to the original owner making such a statement today.

In recent days, the Lian Manman family had already conducted an investigation into the county town shops’ prices, as well as the approximate daily foot traffic and business turnover. The price the original owner wanted was affordable for them, and they considered it reasonable.

And since there was some connection with the Wang Family, the process proceeded even more smoothly.

Both parties quickly signed a sales contract, and Lian Manman fully exchanged the agreed silver and taxes. Additionally, according to the county town broker’s customary practices, she gave Liu Yakuai a big red envelope, which included his brokerage fee along with an extra reward. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Apart from this restaurant, Lian Manman also decided to purchase the second shop they had just viewed. The location of that shop was also decent; whether it continued as a restaurant or became something else, business would not be an issue. The reason Lian Manman did not select that one today was because it only had two stories and was smaller in size, not meeting her requirements.

After buying this second shop, Lian Manman planned to do some minor renovations and then lease it out, collecting only the rent every month.

Once the properties were purchased, the next step was hiring people and renovating the shops.

The restaurant on the Nine-layered Pagoda side would naturally be renamed Lian’s; the shop renovation entailed not only repainting and replacing some new tables and chairs but also changing windows to glass ones. This way, irrespective of the season, customers seated in the restaurant could enjoy the exterior scenery without needing to open windows, especially taking in the sights of the Nine-layered Pagoda and the surrounding beauty. This would be a major attraction for customers to Lian’s Restaurant.

The main dish of the restaurant would be Lian’s Bun. Given that Lian’s Bun has already gained fame far and wide from their breakfast shop at Thirty Mile Camp, people from other villages and towns make a point to detour to Thirty Mile Camp to buy Lian’s Bun during the Qingyang Town market fair; even those from the county town passing through Qingyang Town would detour to Thirty Mile Camp to buy some Lian’s Bun.

For this reason, Lian Manman had the confidence to make such a large investment in opening Lian’s Restaurant in Jinyang County Town.

Besides the main course of buns, Lian’s Restaurant would also offer other meals and drinks. Lian Manman had long thought that to run a good restaurant, it first needed to be distinctive. Lian’s Bun was one of the distinctive features of Lian’s Restaurant. Additionally, Lian’s Restaurant would exclusively offer grape wine and grape juice produced from the Lian Family Vineyard. This was the second unique feature of Lian’s Restaurant. The third distinctive feature was that all the ingredients used were sourced from the Lian Family fields.

Using self-produced food materials guarantees freshness and quality. Moreover, by adopting such a self-supply system, the products from the fields could quickly realize added value while simultaneously increasing the profit margin of the restaurant.

In the following days, Lian Manman stayed at the residence in Willow Tree Well Alley, continuously exchanging silver, renovating three shops, stocking them, hiring people, recording, and verifying accounts. Sometimes, she would also personally visit the sites with Lian Shouxin and Wu Lang.

Still concerned about the family, Lian Shouxin and Wu Lang would take turns going back home every few days.

After nearly a month of busyness, the shop on Mopan Street was freshly renovated and already rented out by Liu Yakuai, while Lian’s Department Store and Lian’s Restaurant were both fully prepared, just waiting for an auspicious day to open.

In the main hall of the residence on Willow Tree Well Alley, a small table was set on the kang (a traditional heated brick bed), with Lian Shouxin sitting at the side of the kang’s head, and Lian Manman and Xiao Qi sitting together at the foot. Several chairs were arranged on the floor, Wu Lang sat on the one at the head, and the managers of Lian’s Department Store and Lian’s Restaurant, Shopkeeper Chiang and Shopkeeper Wang, were seated on the chairs beneath.

Xiao Qi held a name list and was reading it aloud.

Lian’s Department Store and Lian’s Restaurant were scheduled to open on the same day, only an hour apart in timing. This name list comprised the guests both shopkeepers, based on their own experiences and the owner’s requirements, had drawn up to invite. Now everyone was going through it together to finalize whether there was a need for additions or reductions. As for why Xiao Qi was reading the list, it was mainly because of Lian Shouxin.

Although Lian Shouxin was learning to read, his progress in literacy remained quite limited, so Xiao Qi could act as his teacher.