Chapter 11: The Spring of Fuli Inn (Part 1)

  The next day, Wang Kuang slept in until the sun was high in the sky before getting out of bed. Wang Xian had already gone out to play somewhere. After washing up and drinking a few mouthfuls of well water, his stomach started growling with hunger. When he came to the kitchen, Master Wang wasn't there, probably out buying ingredients, so only Zhu Si Niang was busy inside. Seeing Wang Kuang come in, Zhu Si Niang greeted him warmly: "Young master is up? I've got food hot for you in the pot." She had witnessed what happened yesterday and knew that this was someone her master valued, so she took extra care, plus Wang Kuang was only around ten years old, the same age as her own children, and an orphan to boot. Her maternal instincts were stirred up without realizing it. So even before Sun Zhu told her to, she had already heated up food for Wang Kuang in the pot that morning.

  Breakfast was simple, a big bowl of porridge and a plate of pickled eggplant. Wang Kuang loved good food, but he wasn't a picky person. As long as there were conditions to eat well, he would; if not, even something plain could be eaten with relish. A bowl of hot porridge downed, his stomach felt comfortable, and he didn't complain anymore.

  Just after eating, Sun Zhanggui led in Hu Liu, who had sold fish yesterday. It turned out that Hu Liu was a farmer from Liu Village outside the city, and during his spare time, he not only went fishing but also helped people with some bricklaying work. Today, he came into the city to look for some work to do, and if he couldn't find any, he would go fishing again. He was squatting at the city gate when Sun Zhanggui saw him. Sun Zhanggui knew that Hu Liu was good at bricklaying, so he brought him over to help Wang Kuang renovate his kitchen.

  After the incident with the mud eel and taro yesterday, Sun Zhanggui had already thrown away his slight dissatisfaction with Wang Kuang to Java. Now, in his eyes, Wang Kuang was the god of wealth of the inn, a great treasure. He began to pay attention to Wang Kuang's affairs. Having been an innkeeper for decades, he knew that every master chef has their own preferences when it comes to kitchen layout. So, he led Hu Liu to find Wang Kuang and see how the kitchen should be renovated.

  Wang Kuang couldn't lift the big pot, so since that kitchen was made for his own use, he took Hu Liu to that room and instructed him on what to do. First was the stove, telling Hu Liu to build a double-stove, one large and one small, the large one for heating water, the smaller one for cooking dishes, as for steaming things, they could just go to the inn's main kitchen. Next to the stove, he also built an earthen oven, convenient for stewing things. The stove was still a high-platform stove, but next to it, a high platform was built, making it convenient for Wang Kuang to operate, and when his height increased later, they could change the platform. After finishing the instructions, Sun Shui Gen, who had been waiting on the side, also understood the general size of the pot, usually when building a stove, one would first have the pot and then build the pot platform according to its dimensions, but before going to buy the pot, he was stopped by Wang Kuang.

  Wang Juan knew that the pots nowadays are all big and handle-less, so he designed a small stove himself, but the pot to go with it would probably need to be pre-ordered. Since they had to pre-order anyway, why not make one that's just right, with a handle? Later on, when he had more energy, he could re-experience the joy of stir-frying and flipping the wok. After explaining for half a day, Sun Shuigen still didn't quite understand what Wang Juan wanted. So, Wang Juan followed Sun Shuigen to the blacksmith's shop and told the blacksmith himself, also ordering some household items that they didn't have yet, such as a plane for shaving wood and a tool for squeezing garlic juice.

  The blacksmith's shop was not far away, and there was one on the south gate. Before getting up, Sun Zhanggui mysteriously pulled Wang Kuang aside and handed him a money bag, which was heavy inside, estimated to be several tens of dollars. It turned out that the master had specially instructed Sun Zhanggui last night to no longer pay Wang Kuang according to the rules of the past, but to give him small amounts of money as needed, and then give him his annual bonus at the end of the year. Sun Mingqian had already thoroughly regarded Wang Kuang as an equal partner. This attitude was correct, and it laid the seeds for his great wealth in the future, but that's a later story, not to be mentioned for now.

  After arriving at the blacksmith's shop, the blacksmith, having worked with iron for many years, understood what Wang Kuang wanted as soon as he explained and demonstrated. The large pot was already cast, but the small one couldn't be cast and had to be forged, which would take some time, but it could be done by afternoon. After instructing the blacksmith to deliver the pots to the inn after they were finished, Wang Kuang let Sun Shui-gen carry the large pot back. With money in hand and nothing else to do, Wang Kuang decided to stroll around and see what good things he could buy. It would have been a delightful thing for the two brothers to walk the streets together, buying some food to eat, but unfortunately, Wang Er had run off somewhere.

  After walking around the city, I didn't see anything good to buy. When I walked in front of a pharmacy, I suddenly remembered the pickled mustard greens I had for breakfast. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen any braised food at the inn, only sauce meat. So I decided to buy some medicinal herbs to braise something. The formula for the braising spices was something Wang Kuang had figured out himself. After figuring it out, he discovered that the ingredients were roughly the same as those of the thirteen-spice blend sold on the market, but with different proportions. Later generations still had a large jar of braised soup that had been simmered for many years in his refrigerator.

  Went to the pharmacy and bought some star anise, tsaoko, nutmeg, dried tangerine peel, cloves, astragalus, licorice root, angelica, prepared rehmannia, fennel, white angelica, good ginger, and sand ginger (small bean cardamom). The other spices are already in the kitchen of the inn, so there's no need to buy them. No soy sauce is also simple, just scoop some from the kitchen and filter out the liquid to use. The pharmacy was quite meticulous, since Wang didn't bring a prescription, they helped Wang package each herb separately to avoid mixing them up. Jokingly, if they got mixed up, during decoction, one small mistake would cause problems, wouldn't it be said that the pharmacy is not good? The shopkeeper grumbled in his heart, wondering which family let such a young child buy medicine without clear instructions. He didn't know that Wang was buying them for something entirely different from making medicinal soup.

  As he passed by Yake's sheep stall, he saw that the two small tables in front of the stall were already crowded with people, and business seemed to be booming. Yake was busy, but when he looked up and saw Wang Kuang, he hurriedly called out: "The young master has arrived! Come have a bowl of mutton soup." His eyes were quite sharp, and he noticed that Wang Kuang was wearing new clothes, with wooden clogs on his feet that had leather straps - the kind used by wealthy families, far more luxurious than the hemp ropes used by ordinary people. This made Yake realize that Wang Kuang must have had a stroke of good fortune.

  "No, thank you, Uncle. You're busy, I'll come back another day. To be honest, not having your mutton soup for a day makes me miss it." Wang Kuang smiled and declined, seeing that the business was going well with the person who had helped him, he was also happy.

  "That's settled then, I'll definitely come." Yike saw that Wang Kuang was holding several small packages in his hand, and there were probably still things to do, so he didn't persist anymore.

  Back at the inn, Sun Zhanggui saw Wang Kuang holding several packages wrapped in grass paper, which looked like medicine. He couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart: Has this young master fallen ill? He hastily stepped forward and supported Wang Kuang, not even considering his own old arms and legs. He turned to scold Sun Er, who was wiping the counter: "You have no eyesight, didn't you see the young master holding something? You didn't even come to help him." Then he turned to ask Wang Kuang: "Young master, what's this...?" He dared not mention the word "illness" casually, as it was a taboo.

  King Wang didn't know that in just this short while, the old man had already thought of many twists and turns. He smiled and said: "Grandfather Sun is too fond of his little son, it's just a few packets of medicine, light as a feather, he can come himself, besides, Big Brother Sun is not busy."

  As soon as the words were spoken, trouble arose. Sun Er heard them and quickly dropped his rag, rushing over in three strides, shouting: "What's to be done? What's to be done? Master, I'll carry you back to your room to rest." Meanwhile, Sun Zhangang was already yelling at the top of his lungs: "Shuigen! Shuigen! Where has that little scamp gone? Go quickly, hurry and go to Beimen to invite Old Master Hui to come over and take a look!"

  They said they wouldn't be nervous, but look at those insignificant and uneaten loaches from yesterday, after being handled by Wang Kuang, they became a delicacy that people fought for. Several customers have already booked a table for tonight to eat the loach taro soup again. At this time, Wang Kuang has become a treasure among treasures, and everyone is worried that something might happen to him. Seeing him bring back medicine, they are really concerned that something bad might happen to their benefactor. Not to mention that the boss would punish them, but even if nothing happened, they wouldn't be able to bear it themselves. This is the god of wealth we're talking about! With him around, the prosperity of the inn is just around the corner. And with the boss's temperament, they would also benefit greatly from it. Besides, this young kid is so polite and courteous, calling everyone "big brother" and "grandfather". Even if Wang Kuang didn't have that incredible cooking talent, they would still be nervous because he's just a child after all.

  Wang Kuan only then realized they had misunderstood, but was also deeply moved by their concern. He hastily explained: "Grandfather Sun, Big Brother Sun, I'm fine, this isn't medicine for me to take, it's for cooking."

  After listening to Wang's explanation, Sun Zhanggui finally calmed down and patted his chest: "Scared the old man to death, scared the old man to death..." Then he asked incredulously: "Young master, is this medicine really for eating? Don't deceive Grandpa Sun, if you're ill, invite a doctor to take a look, don't worry about the money."

  "It's really for eating, what am I hiding from Grandpa Sun? The little one knows in his heart that Grandpa Sun loves and protects me tightly, and he will definitely not hide anything from you."

  "That's good, that's good." Sun Zhanggui finally put his mind at ease and waved his hand to let Sun Shuigen, who had been helping with the renovation of the kitchen in Wang Kuangyuan's house and had rushed over after hearing the boss's call, go back: "Nothing's wrong, go ahead with your work."

  Finally calming down the crowd, at this time there were already customers eating and drinking in the hall. Seeing the old shopkeeper and his apprentices so anxious about a small child, they became curious and someone asked Sun Er: "I say, is this young master your boss's only son? Look how anxious you are."

  Following the instructions of his master, Sun Er naturally wouldn't tell the truth and only said: "This is our master's nephew from afar, who has been loved by the family since childhood. He is intelligent, and after his parents passed away, Master took him in to raise as his own. We are worried because we have spoiled him too much."

  "That's right, your master's reputation is well-known far and near, and his own nephew is even more precious, good fortune to the young lord."

  Awkward smile, Wang Kuang didn't respond either, just nodded and went to the kitchen with a few bags of medicine.