Shao Jie was a straightforward person in both words and actions. Within two days, he came to invite Shen Shaoguang to meet his grandfather.
Since Shen Shaoguang was a young lady, it wasn’t appropriate for her to visit the Shao residence directly with Shao Jie. Therefore, the meeting was arranged at Guixiang Garden in the East Market.
According to Shao Jie, the elderly man was advanced in years and not very mobile, but he would still visit the pastry workshop daily to sit for a while, watching the cooks make pastries and customers make purchases. Sometimes he would even enjoy a piece or two with tea.
Eating sweets at such an age… Shen Shaoguang had imagined Elder Shao as a rotund old man with a thick waist, but instead, he was thin and lean, around seventy or eighty years old, with a straight back and a vigorous appearance.
Shen Shaoguang stepped forward to the bow, addressing him as “Elder Shao.”
Elder Shao smiled, “Young lady, please don’t stand on ceremony.” He then invited her to sit.
Shen Shaoguang took the guest seat, while Shao Jie sat below his grandfather. A servant brought tea.
Being of advanced age, Elder Shao wasn’t too concerned with gender propriety anymore. He carefully observed this young Miss Shen, noting her intelligent countenance and elegant demeanor—truly befitting a noble lady from a prestigious family.
Recently, the Qixi Festival pastries sent to Secretary Qin’s residence had earned praise from Madam Qin, who remarked they were “starting to show some refinement.” Coming from Madam Qin, a lifelong noble lady who was known as a talented woman in her youth, such praise was significant. Moreover, many visiting officials, scholars, and merchants from other regions who stayed in Chongren Ward would comment, “This is indeed the capital—even the pastries are so refined.”
Elder Shao had heard many such compliments in the shop lately. Even without tangible profits, this reputation alone was valuable—as someone who had been shrewd all his life, Elder Shao understood well the value of a “good name.” Furthermore, the account books showed that since implementing these changes suggested by Ninth Young Master, profits had increased by thirty to forty percent each month compared to the previous year.
It was just a pity that these ideas came from another family’s young lady…
While Elder Shao felt regretful inside, he politely said, “I must thank Miss Shen. I heard from Ninth Young Master that all the new varieties of pastries in our humble shop were guided by your suggestions. Customers have been full of praise.”
Shen Shaoguang hurriedly replied modestly, “How dare I claim to have ‘guided’ anything? They were merely some small ideas from our shop. It’s my honor that Young Master Shao found them worthy of trying in your esteemed establishment.”
“For such a young lady to think of so many methods is truly clever,” Elder Shao praised again.
“They’re just simple thoughts. Please don’t laugh at them, Elder Shao.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, they gradually moved to the main topic.
“Ninth Young Master mentioned you’re interested in opening branch stores in other wards. Why not consider the East and West Markets?”
Shen Shaoguang carefully explained her reasoning as she had done with Shao Jie before, then smiled and said, “While opening large restaurants in the East and West Markets would be good, it carries more risk than following our current model.”
Elder Shao nodded, impressed that someone so young could be so patient and level-headed.
“However, if we only open small restaurants, though the profit isn’t small, it’s harder to build a great reputation.” After all, the Shao family’s current business was tied to their former reputation as the “Pastry Gentry,” so Elder Shao particularly valued reputation.
“While the East and West Markets have greater foot traffic and can build reputation faster, establishing shops in various wards, as long as they can maintain themselves, can also earn genuine word-of-mouth reputation. Elder Shao, imagine if in every few wards across Chang’an’s east, south, west, north, and center, there was a branch store, making agate meat and jade dumplings something people crave when they’re hungry and can easily get within a few steps. Over time, this could become the taste of memories for a generation…”
Elder Shao smiled—the young lady was quite articulate.
Shao Jie felt quite proud, thinking this was indeed someone he had good eyes for…
Shen Shaoguang smiled, thinking whether to surround the cities from the rural areas or push from cities to rural areas, each had its advantages—it all depended on what was suitable.
“Has Young Master Shao mentioned to you about my experience setting up stalls at Qujiang during festivals?”
This was something Shao Jie hadn’t mentioned. Since the Shao family’s pastry business had also started from a small stall, Elder Shao listened with great interest to Shen Shaoguang.
Shen Shaoguang told him about her experiences setting up stalls at Qujiang, “Many customers who bought food by the river later specifically came to Chongxian Ward to dine and became regular customers of our small shop. The East and West Markets have high foot traffic; we could occasionally send people with ‘mobile food carts’ to sell some specialty snacks here, not for profit, but to build familiarity and atmosphere.” Shen Shaoguang was essentially proposing the concept of pop-up stores in the future.
While such an idea was ahead of its time, it wasn’t entirely impractical or impossible to implement. Elder Shao’s cloudy eyes lit up, “Miss Shen’s plan is excellent!”
Elder Shao was a lifelong merchant with plenty of experience, while Shen Shaoguang benefited from her transmigration with a broad perspective and a millennium of accumulated knowledge. They had a productive discussion with questions and answers, agreeing on some points and differing on others. They later discussed more detailed methods of building reputation, the relationship between “substance” and “appearance” in dishes and reputation, and other matters. Some of these Shao Jie had heard before, some he hadn’t, some he had thought about, and others he hadn’t considered, but hearing them now gave him new insights.
After such an engaging conversation with Miss Shen, Elder Shao felt even more regretful—if only she were his descendant!
Given how well they got along, cooperation was naturally not a problem. As for more detailed matters like profit-sharing ratios, the elder left those to Shao Jie—he wasn’t getting any younger, and it was time for more practice.
Elder Shao had his thoughts. After Miss Shen bid farewell and left, Elder Shao interrogated Shao Jie who had just returned from seeing her off: “Ninth Young Master, tell me, have you taken a fancy to the young lady?”
Shao Jie made a strange face, “Grandfather, how are you just like Grandmother, trying to match-make whenever you see a pretty young lady?”
Elder Shao glared at him: “You’re not young anymore, it’s time you settled down.”
Elder Shao frowned again, “This young lady being from a noble family isn’t entirely out of reach…” There were quite a few cases in the capital of merchant sons marrying daughters from declined noble families—merchants sought the refinement of noble families while declining old families gained practical benefits.
Seeing his grandfather still entertaining such thoughts, Shao Jie quickly said, “Dear Grandfather, I don’t have such intentions!”
“If this young lady were a man, I would have sworn brotherhood with her and Young Master Yang. This young lady is indeed clever and straightforward, but your grandson—” Shao Jie paused, then said sheepishly, “Your grandson feels that for a wife, he’d prefer someone sweeter and more delicate…” The last few words were cut off by the account book his grandfather threw at him.
“Shameless!” Elder Shao scolded with a laugh.
The elder grumbled reluctantly, “Without any educated descendants, we can’t even get an educated daughter-in-law. Such bad luck!”
Shao Jie: “…” Honestly, Miss Shen was truly excellent—learned in scholarship, skilled in business, articulate, capable, straightforward and interesting, and even beautiful. But for some reason, Shao Jie had no romantic feelings towards her. Instead, she reminded him of his scholarly classmates from his study days…
Soon Shao Jie discovered that it was fortunate he had no romantic feelings, otherwise, he would have been heartbroken.
With Elder Shao’s agreement, the plan to open branch stores was put on the agenda. Shao Jie had initially wanted to avoid involvement in management to prevent gossip, but Shen Shaoguang wouldn’t let him have his way—free labor shouldn’t go to waste, after all.
Shao Jie was also straightforward—since the young lady didn’t mind, he might as well get involved. While previously he had only been “maintaining the business,” now it felt more like “creating a business,” which excited Shao Jie.
They roughly divided the work between them: Shen Shaoguang would be responsible for menu design, food quality control, service training, brand planning, and marketing, while Shao Jie would handle “external relations”—hiring people, selecting locations, buying property, contacting suppliers…
Among these, location selection was crucial. For this reason, Shao Jie would ride his horse around Chang’an whenever he had free time, meeting with property agents. When he found promising locations, he would note them down, both to “compare options” and because, after all, this was a joint business venture, so he needed to consult with Miss Shen.
On this day, Shao Jie came to find Shen Shaoguang with drawings of two or three shop locations.
Shen Shaoguang invited him to sit and served tea and fruit.
Seeing the cool sweet bean yogurt drink in the bowl, Shao Jie smiled after his hot horse ride, “Miss Shen is truly a ‘timely rain’!”
Without using a spoon, he lifted the bowl and gulped down half of it, leaving mostly sweet beans at the bottom. Shao Jie then slowly spooned up the rest, “Sweet! Flavorful! And not cloying like red bean pastries.”
Shen Shaoguang smiled proudly, “Young Master Shao, please try this ‘Fisherman’s Three Delicacies.'”
Shao Jie laughed again.
The so-called “Fisherman’s Three Delicacies” consisted of water chestnuts, lotus root, and lotus seeds—common items for fishermen, hence the name. This wasn’t Shen Shaoguang’s original idea, but rather something she had read in “Mountain Home Delicacies,” merely borrowing someone else’s wisdom.
“Even if you couldn’t cook, you could make a living just by coming up with these names.”
Shen Shaoguang waved her hand, “I saw this in a book before, but—I’ve thought about similar things before. If I weren’t a cook, I’d probably become a Buddhist nun or Taoist priestess, making a living by interpreting fortune slips for people with my glib tongue.”
Shao Jie burst out laughing.
Though it was only the end of July, the water chestnuts, lotus roots, and lotus seeds were all tender, carrying the moist essence of the pond, making them quite delicious.
Shen Shaoguang then had Shao Jie try the Gordon Euryale seed and chestnut pastry from another plate.
Shao Jie took a bite, “Delicious! How is it made?”
He asked without reservation, and Shen Shaoguang answered straightforwardly: “The Gordon Euryale seeds are ground into powder, roasted, mixed with cooked glutinous rice flour, and a little sugar for the skin. The filling is made from this autumn’s first harvest of chestnuts. Don’t add too much sugar, or it becomes cloying.”
Shao Jie nodded, remembering that Gordon Euryale seeds were also from the water, and smiled, “Put together with water chestnuts and such, shouldn’t this be ‘Fisherman’s Four Delicacies’?”
Shen Shaoguang sagely raised one finger and waggled it, “No, no, there are chestnuts in it too. Chestnuts grow in the mountains, Gordon Euryale seeds grow in the water, so this pastry is called ‘Fisherman and Woodcutter’s Pastry.'”
Shao Jie: “…” Once again, he felt like he did back in his study days facing those classmates who could recite texts like eating melons and vegetables, whose writing always earned double circles from the teacher. He wanted to put a sack over their heads and beat them up, but looking at Miss Shen’s pretty face, he let it go…
Scholar Shen raised an eyebrow at Student Shao’s gnashing teeth.
When Lin Yan entered, he saw the two looking at each other.
Both Shen Shaoguang and Shao Jie stood up—Shen Shaoguang to greet her guest, and Shao Jie to bow.
Lin Yan smiled faintly, “Meeting Young Master Shao again.”
Shao Jie smiled in response.
Shen Shaoguang seized the opportunity to ask Lin Yan what he would like to eat. Lin Yan glanced at the items on Shao and Shen’s table and smiled, “Anything will do.”
Having spent time with him, Shen Shaoguang understood his meaning and quickly served him the same fisherman and woodcutter set.
Shao Jie hadn’t finished talking with Shen Shaoguang but felt awkward about leaving. Unexpectedly, Deputy Magistrate Lin invited him to sit together.
Shao Jie was talkative, and his friends weren’t quiet either, but now facing the high-ranking yet taciturn Deputy Magistrate Lin, he felt somewhat uncomfortable. He could only make conversation about the food on the table: “Shen’s ‘Fisherman’s Three Delicacies’ is very tender, Deputy Magistrate should try it.”
Lin Yan nodded, peeling a few lotus seeds to eat.
“This Gordon Euryale seed and chestnut pastry is also very good, sweet but not cloying.” Suddenly remembering the name Shen Shaoguang had given it, he added, “Oh, this pastry has an elegant name, called ‘Fisherman and Woodcutter’s Pastry.'”
Lin Yan glanced at Shen Shaoguang who was bringing tea, his lips curving upward—even naming a dish, she had to be so playful.
Shao Jie felt that Deputy Magistrate Lin’s smile was like the warm wind and sun of early spring melting ice and snow, and once again marveled at how important a good dish name could be.
“Does Young Master Shao also live in this ward? We don’t see you often.”
Rare for Deputy Magistrate Lin to initiate conversation, and since it wasn’t confidential information, Shao Jie explained the situation.
Lin Yan nodded, “Which ward have you chosen?”
Shao Jie was somewhat surprised—would such a solemn and quiet Deputy Magistrate of the Capital inquire about such matters? Perhaps there was some deeper meaning?
Then he heard Lin Yan say to Shen Shaoguang, who was holding a tray and about to leave, “Don’t be busy, weren’t you going to discuss the new store location with Young Master Shao?”
Miss Shen sat down at the side of the table.
Shao Jie: “…”
Shao Jie took out the drawings he had made from his sleeve. The drawings weren’t very detailed, just enough to get the idea: “This one is in Yongchang Ward, at a corner of the main street, about half again as large as the current shop, spacious inside with few pillars, good layout, but the asking price is a bit high. This one is in nearby Yongle Ward, slightly smaller, used to be a general store, a bit old—if we buy it, the doors, windows, and floor would all need to be redone…”
While Shen Shaoguang was still thinking after hearing this, Lin Yan had already said, “The one in Yongchang Ward isn’t suitable. His Majesty plans to build Princess Guangping’s palace there.”
Princess Guangping was the Emperor’s full sister and very favored. Her princess palace would surely be grand and expansive. Yongchang Ward wasn’t very large—a princess palace might take up half the ward, and how many potential customers.