Chapter 188

However, many people were destined to lose sleep this night. In the middle of the night, Xu Ran was woken up by a scream.

Liu Tong also woke up. Xu Ran kissed Liu Tong and said with a smile, “I told them not to listen. They didn’t believe me.”

Liu Tong also smiled, “We had nothing to do anyway! Besides, there would have been no problem if you told another story.”

Xu Ran put his hand on Liu Tong’s waist, hugged him, and then said, “I can hardly remember anything else. You guys are probably fed up with stories in Four Great Classical Novels, so I just wanted to try something new. Besides, aren’t you not afraid either? They are cowards themselves.”

Liu Tong said, “Then you are the same with me. I’m bold to begin with, and I don’t believe such things either.”

Xu Ran said, “Why not? Think about me.”

Liu Tong shook his head. “That’s different, and those are obviously artificial.”

Xu Ran kissed Liu Tong again, “Tongtong, you’re so smart. You even know about this.”

Liu Tong smiled, “Alright, let’s not talk about this. Let’s sleep! Aren’t you going to town tomorrow?”

Xu Ran looked bitter, “But I don’t want to sleep now!”

Liu Tong stroked his face, “Then what should we do?”

Xu Ran suddenly gave an evil grin,”Then let’s do something meaningful!”

Liu Tong naturally knew what he was talking about and nodded with a blush, “Fine.”

…

The next morning, Lin Hua seemed to have forgotten about the nightmare that he had had last night. He ran cheerfully down the stairs, “My foot is well! My foot is well! Xu Ran, my foot is well.”

His tone was so excited, as if he found himself pregnant.

Xu Ran walked over and patted him, “Alright, why so excited? It’s just that your ankle recovered. It’s not like you’re pregnant.”

Lin Hua stamped on Xu Ran’s foot with his injured foot yesterday, “I’m not a Ge’er. How could I get pregnant?”

Xu Ran’s foot hurt, “Then why are you so excited?”

Lin Hua chuckled, “How could I not be excited? I recovered overnight.”

Xu Ran folded his arms over his chest, “Then you have to thank me. If it weren’t for the words I said last night and baijiu, how could you have recovered so quickly?”

Lin Hua curled his lips, “Thank you so much.” Lin Hua said with no sincerity at all.

Xu Ran said, “Alright, stop dillydallying. Go wash your face and have breakfast. We are going to town after that. Although it’s a small town like He Shui Town and there’s not much difference between them, it’s still worth a visit.”

“Ha ha, I’m going now.” Lin Hua said and left. Xu Ran looked at him from behind and found that he didn’t limp anymore, so he should have recovered for real.

The purpose of his trip to town today was to have the things of the deli settled. Although he had not been busy by day recently, he had had to stay at Tangtang and Guoguo’s side at night. He hadn’t gone to town for some time, and all things had been handled by Qin Shuwu alone. Now it was time for him to visit the deli, or else he would feel sorry.

Lin Hua was very excited that he could go to town. After breakfast, he urged Xu Ran to leave.

It was naturally impossible for Xu Ran to leave soon because he still needed to send the old Qin couple back.

Xu Ran had initially wanted them to stay for another night, but the old couple kept thinking about home and insisted on going back.

In fact, there was nothing in their home that needed them to worry about, but it was probably because they were not used to living in other people’s home. Xu Ran could understand it, so he did not force them to stay.

Xu Ran asked Liu Tong to pack up some food. There were still a lot of leftovers from yesterday and they couldn’t finish them, so it was perfect for the old Qin couple to take the food back with them.

They left when it was about noon.

Xu Ran first sent the old Qin couple back to the Qin’s house, then parked the carriage and brought Lin Hua and Zhao Chen to visit Qin Shuwu.

The deli, which was next to Qin Shuwu’s fruit shop, was almost done renovating. Xu Ran even saw that the plaque had been hung up. Qin Shuwu was quite efficient.

Xu Ran didn’t brought Lin Hua and Zhao Chen here for no reason. After all, they were the first ones who had started to sell cooked food. Lin Hua and Zhao Chen could have a look at the decoration style, and comment on it.

Anyway, it was to kill two birds with one stone.

Yesterday, Lin Hua and Zhao Chen had met Qin Shuwu and talked a little, but not much.

Xu Ran had also told Lin Hua and Zhao Chen about the deli frankly.

Lin Hua praised Xu Ran, “Aren’t you doing great! You shops are everywhere.”

Xu Ran said with a smile, “I just came up with this idea. It’s you guys who offer all the money. I hardly do anything. But Lin Hua, your words just reminded me. Let me tell you. When you go back, open another branch shop of your current one. You couldn’t manage all business with just one shop. Some customers would think it’s too far away from them so they don’t want to visit your shop. With one shop on each side of the city, people are closer to your shops, so that there will be more customers.”

Lin Hua touched his chin, “Well fine. Then I will go back and do some further research. But should I name it the same way?”

Xu Ran said, “This is simple. The original shop is the main one, while the subsequent ones the branch shops. Then put the number on the name. When you open your branches to other places later, it will be easier for you to manage them.”

When Xu Ran finished his words, he saw Lin Hua staring at him with a frown, and Zhao Chen and Qin Shuwu’s expressions were also a little funny. Xu Ran was confused, “Why are you guys looking at me?”

Lin Hua went around Xu Ran, and then said in a tone that sounded even more confused than Xu Ran, “I haven’t noticed anything different about you! Yet how could you come up with so many ideas?”

Xu Ran broke out in cold sweat. He couldn’t really take the credit. It was just because he had lived for so many years in his previous life, and remembered a lot of things even if he didn’t want to remember. He happened to put them in use this life.

This would only prove that the wisdom of the later generations was not worse than that of their ancestors.

Xu Ran said, “I don’t know how I came up with them either. Anyway, I did. Besides, don’t be bothered with how I came up with them. Since you are silly, do you want me to be silly like you?”

Xu Ran’s last remark cut Lin Hua deeply.

Lin Hua trembled and felt very hurt.

He looked very funny though, which amused the other two people.

Qin Shuwu said, “Alright, you guys might discuss that when you go back. Today, let’s talk about my shop. Lin Hua, haven’t you two sold cooked food before? Could you tell me what are the best-selling products? I’ll prepare more on the day of my opening.”

Lin Hua did not hold back the truth and told him all the names of the dishes. It was just those few things, not too much. Qin Shuwu wrote them down carefully.

Xu Ran asked Qin Shuwu, “Brother Qin, when will the shop open? Do we need anything else?”

Qin Shuwu said, “I’ve found some fortune-teller to tell me the date. He said that March 12th was an auspicious date and would be perfect for store opening. As for what we need, we don’t need anything else. But you have to show me how to put the food on the wooden shelf. And about the training you mentioned, I’ve also got the clerk, and he will be here tomorrow. You could train him then.”

Xu Ran nodded, “No problem. I’ll show you how to display the food on the wooden shelf right now. As for the training of the clerk, I will come to town tomorrow again.”

“Okay!” Qin Shuwu nodded, then took the key over and opened the door next to his shop.

The moment the door was opened, a strange smell greeted them. Xu Ran said, “Brother Qin, you should keep this door open! This shop is used for food selling. If it smells strange, no one would dare to buy food here.”

Naturally, Qin Shuwu also smelled it. He said, “Got it. I will leave the door open at daytime these days. I guess it’s from the renovation. Before the lime on the wall went dry, I closed the door.”

Xu Ran didn’t say anything more. The wooden shelf had already been placed in the shop. He walked over and took a look at it. When he had asked Xu An to make the wooden shelf for him, he had also asked him to make something else. When he had sent the shelf to Qin Shuwu, Xu Ran had been in a hurry so he hadn’t told him that much about these things. He had just put them in a sack.

Xu Ran glanced at the sack still lying on the ground, guessing that Qin Shuwu had not even opened it yet.

Xu Ran asked Qin Shuwu to move the sack out with him, opened it and took the contents out.

Those were the wooden frames and wooden tongs that Xu Ran had asked Xu An to make. Wooden frames were used for displaying the food and put on the wooden shelf, so it would be easy to move different kinds of food. As for the wooden tongs, they were naturally used for picking up the food.

Xu Ran hadn’t found the springs, so he had asked Xu An to use nails. People might not be used to the wooden tongs at first, but they would definitely get used to them after some time.

Xu Ran put the wooden frames on the shelf one by one and explained to Qin Shuwu and the others why he had made these. He also showed them how to use the wooden tongs.

Qin Shuwu had never seen how things were sold in delis, so he felt it ordinary, but Lin Hua and Zhao Chen felt different.

After all, they knew how food were sold in delis. They had been using chopsticks and it took longer for people to pick up what they wanted. In addition, they had been using metal bowls to display food. They were heavy and ugly.

Seeing these, Lin Hua got delighted. He squatted down to help Xu Ran sort out the stuff and asked him, “Xu Ran, how did you know these would work without telling us about it? It’s not like you don’t know how we sell things.”

Xu Ran smiled, “I didn’t come up with this idea before! If I really didn’t want you to know about this, I wouldn’t have brought you here today. Take a closer look at this thing and memorize it. When you get back, find a carpenter and make one like this. I thought about it. Not only can this thing be used for cold dishes, but also for pastries.”

Lin Hua looked over the wooden shelf with wooden frames on it and then nodded, “It’s indeed a good stuff. Only you have a bright mind.”

Xu Ran laughed. After all, he had lived another life. How would he survive if he didn’t know anything?

The originally empty wooden shelf wasn’t very good-looking, but it looked much fuller after wooden frames and tongs were put on it. If food were put within the frames, with the engraved and dyed dish names in front of the frames, it would look really good.

After Xu Ran finished the work, he clapped his hands and said smugly, “Let’s not talk about anything else. Just this wooden frame is quite attractive. Brother Qin, pay attention for me whether anyone will come to buy this kind of wooden shelf then. Brother Xu An has helped me, so I have to get some work for him.”

Qin Shuwu nodded. “No problem. I will ask my spouse to cook some dishes tomorrow and bring them over to check it out.”

Xu Ran smiled, “This is naturally good.”

Then they talked about the interior decoration of the shop for a while, and Qin Shuwu advised that they go to town to hang out.