Shen Shaoguang brought a carpenter to measure the shop, determined to squeeze maximum value from these dozen or so square meters.

The original dining tables were arranged classroom-style. Suddenly remembering bar-counter designs replacing dining tables in small apartments from home decoration forums in her previous life, Shen Shaoguang walked around the shop measuring for a while, then decided to have the carpenter make several long table-counters along entire walls, somewhat similar to future bar counters but lower.

With more seating, scattered stools might look messy, so she decided to lay reed mats on the floor and replace all stools with cushions. Candleholders, decorative plants, and anything that could go on the walls would go up…

It wasn’t a big project, taking only three to five days to complete. White walls and natural wood-colored long counter-tables lined two walls, with two shorter dining tables in the middle, creating a staggered arrangement that didn’t feel cramped. Brown reed mats on the floor, yellow-brown cushions, and one wall fitted with high shelves holding white porcelain vases containing orchids and jasmine. The large patches of white, varying shades of brown, and touches of green created quite an artistic beauty—perhaps the other wall could use a calligraphy piece? Or leave it blank.

Shen Shaoguang dusted off her hands and asked A’yuan proudly: “How is it?”

A’yuan nodded: “It would be even better if it were bigger.”

Shen Shaoguang gritted her teeth and pressed down hard on the silly girl’s head—her talent for bringing up sore points was getting stronger!

She made a bitter vow: someday, she would open Chang’an’s largest restaurant, with a hundred-ping main hall, dozens of private rooms, and a special space in the center for variety shows—sword-swallowing, pole-climbing, fire-jumping, Hu whirling dance, Zhe branch dance, and sword performances, not missing a single one.

“Young Miss, one basket of jade-tip buns!”

“Coming!” Shen Shaoguang responded brightly, placing the soup dumplings on the customer’s plate and tossing the copper coins into the money basket.

Bouncing between dreams of a hundred-zhang-high restaurant and a handful of copper coins, Proprietor Shen felt no vertigo.

At any rate, the shop now had a place where people could sit and have a drink.

After ordering wine from the brewery and adding simple drinking snacks like dressed okra, fried fish paste, fried beans, braised pig’s head, and braised pork trotters to their signature dishes of Agate Meat and Lion’s Head meatballs, Shen’s Food Shop began its side business of selling wine.

Customers took well to Shen Shaoguang’s miniature tavern—it was clean with a somewhat rustic charm, and crucially, they no longer had to carry meatballs and Agate Meat around looking for places to drink.

After trying Shen’s side dishes, they found themselves coming back for more.

This Young Miss Shen’s culinary skills were truly excellent. The pancakes were fresh and clean, while the jade-tip buns and flower cakes were genuinely exquisite—those with experience said they had qualities of imperial cuisine. The Agate Meat and Lion’s Head meatballs were of the same caliber, qualifying as “rare delicacies.” Unexpectedly, even simple home-style dishes were prepared this well.

“Shop owner, another plate of fish paste!”

A’yuan strode swiftly with her big feet to serve dishes.

“Young Miss, why is your fish paste so fragrant?”

“Well—this servant doesn’t know,” A’yuan smiled sheepishly, “If you like it, sir, just eat more.” Her response echoed Shen Shaoguang’s earlier answer to similar questions: “If you like it, come by; why trouble yourself?”

In the kitchen preparing jade-tip buns, Shen Shaoguang smiled at this. There was no real secret—just adding fermented rice during pickling—the same jar from summer, hence the extra fermented rice fragrance. When frying, do it twice: first to cook through, then at a higher heat to crisp—that’s all.

Shen Shaoguang herself preferred these fried orchid beans. Boiled then fried, crispy, and fragrant, reminding her of the peanuts she loved in her previous life.

This was another of Shen Shaoguang’s great regrets besides chili peppers—peanuts wouldn’t be introduced to China until hundreds of years later in the Ming Dynasty. It was said that the great talent Jin Shengtan, before his execution, remarked, “Dried tofu chewed with peanuts tastes like ham.” The romantic Zhang Ailing enjoyed “sitting in a rattan chair in the breeze, eating salted peanuts,” while Masters Lu Xun and Lao She liked to read while snacking on peanuts.

Literati truly loved peanuts. Shen Shaoguang’s love for peanuts ran deep—but this didn’t stop her from satisfying cravings with fried orchid beans in peanuts’ absence. Shen Shaoguang felt her behavior somewhat resembled that of a scoundrel who pined for his true love while not hesitating to date others.

Unexpectedly, the devoted Assistant Magistrate White, who pined for his true love without dating, arrived and ordered these orchid beans first.

While Shen Shaoguang’s mind wandered to their character similarities, she inadvertently noticed Lin Yan’s hand pointing at the menu—long, delicate, with distinct knuckles, truly beautiful hands!

“Shop owner?” Lin Yan raised an eyebrow.

“These beans are named after orchids because when fried, they resemble blooming orchids,” Shen Shaoguang calmly moved her eyes from those hands, smiling as she answered Lin Yan.

Lin Yan nodded, then ordered cold dressed okra, salted duck eggs, and braised pig ears—all common folk dishes.

Perhaps everyone has this basic flaw: seeing something beautiful makes one want to destroy it somewhat. For instance, Shen Shaoguang rather hoped to see this elegantly mannered gentleman do something not so elegant. “Would sir like to try our pork trotters? Hot, they’re crispy, tender, and melting; cold, they’re chewy with texture—perfect for drinking.”

Lin Yan looked at Shen Shaoguang.

Shen Shaoguang smiled, bending slightly forward in an attentive pose.

“No need, just these,” Lin Yan handed the menu back to Shen Shaoguang.

Shen Shaoguang took it with some disappointment—no chance to see Chang’an’s vice-magistrate gnawing on pork trotters today. No matter, there would be future opportunities with chicken feet, lamb trotters, and such…

Lin Yan recalled the menu made of flower-patterned paper, written in a small regular script, unlike typical feminine handwriting, somewhat resembling Li Shaowen’s lean style from earlier times. The “Shen” character on the pancake bags and shop sign was in seal script, making it even more apparent.

Lin Yan couldn’t help but glance sideways at the busy shop owner behind the counter—almond eyes slightly narrowed, corners of her mouth upturned, appearing gentle and cheerful, quite different from her writing style. Thinking of her quick wit during their previous encounters—hmph, multiple faces, clever words, and false appearances!

Unaware of being criticized, Shen Shaoguang asked: “Shall I warm your wine, sir?”

Then asked: “We’re out of jade-tip buns, shall I make you a bowl of vegetable noodles later?”

Lin Yan withdrew his gaze, “That would be fine.”

This Assistant Magistrate Lin came late when there were no other customers, so Shen Shaoguang could manage well. During meal times, although most wine and dishes were prepared in advance, and A’yuan helped, they were still extremely busy.

While serving dishes, Shen Shaoguang added another entry to her dream notebook—in the future, she would have a team of chefs and hire a hundred or so servers!