It seemed that good things came in pairs. After the barbecue restaurant found its footing, an opportunity to open a new hot pot restaurant came in front of Jiang Zhou.

It was a shop with a space consisted of two connected shops, and the owner was a friend of their barbecue restaurant’s landlord. They occasionally chatted, and Jiang Zhou became intrigued.

Originally, the owner shop laid unused and had been up for sale. However, recent unfortunate events led him to consider renting it out. When he heard that the small shop rented for only five taels a year from a friend, he was immediately interested.

The layout resembled an open warehouse with long strips of pavement on both sides. It also had two floors, each as spacious as the other. Access to the upper floor was by ladder against the wall.

Though the shop was quite large, it fell slightly short of Jiang Zhou’s expectations in terms of location. To open a hot pot restaurant, they needed to build a new kitchen in the back.

However, options for rent in town were scarce. The available spaces were either too small or too expensive. Relatively speaking, this one seemed quite suitable.

Jiang Zhou discussed with Lu Dalang and rented the place for twenty taels a year.

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Due to its size, Jiang Zhou initially planned for a hot pot restaurant with a standard soup base. However, they decided to pivot and include a barbeque restaurant-style concept.

The pots were crafted by a familiar blacksmith known for creating various “outlandish” designs. This time, he fashioned square pots on all four sides with a round one in the middle for mushroom soup base. The other four pots resembled those used at the barbeque restaurant, allowing guests to choose their preferred soup base.

Given its likeness to the barbeque restaurant, impeccable service was crucial. Jiang Zhou personally traveled to a slave market to select the staff.

Initially seeking individuals who were intelligent and hardworking, Jiang Zhou found himself dissatisfied with the candidates. They didn’t match his image of the big restaurant waitresses.

Frustrated, he shared his dilemma with friends and asked for assistance.

In response, Zhuo Bang shared some information.

It was rumored that a government official in the state capital had his household raided. All the servants signed documents relinquishing their status as official slaves.

Typically, if there was no one to take them in, they would be sent to the palace for menial tasks.

Servants trained by wealthy families were highly skilled in serving others. However, acquiring them would come at a steep cost, and the ownership would transfer to Jiang Zhou.

This presented a significant decision, one that left Jiang Zhou hesitant.

It wasn’t a matter of affording the expense, but rather the sudden increase in household members if he were to purchase them.

After some contemplation, he decided to discuss the matter further with Wen Yan.

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Wen Yan was obviously very happy in school these days. When Jiang Zhou went back to pick him up every day, he would have an obvious smile on his face. He would chat with him about the students in the school, which one was good in class today and which one didn’t listen in class today. One of them was mischievous again, but it was obvious that Wen Yan was still very popular in school.

After Wen Yan finished talking about what happened in school, Jiang Zhou told him about his own thing.

“You mean you want to buy some servants?” Wen Yan was surprised: “We don’t need them.”

Jiang Zhou held his hand and walked on the road, explaining: “It’s not for us, it’s for the new restaurant.”

“Oh.” Wen Yan actually didn’t pay much attention to the things in Jiang Zhou’s restaurants. It was not that he didn’t want to pay attention. Moreover, didn’t interfere much with the restaurant business. He felt that Jiang Zhou had always had his own ideas, and these ideas were obviously good. So, he never asked.

It was rare to hear him ask for his opinion, so he took it seriously: “Then… what do you think?”

Jiang Zhou frowned: “I don’t like holding a deed of sale for people.”

Wen Yan could see his hesitation: “But this group of people is the most suitable, right?”

Jiang Zhou was struggling with this. The barbeque restaurant’s service was so famous. If he put random people in the new hot pot restaurant, he was afraid it wouldn’t have the same effect.

Wen Yan smiled sullenly: “You are always trying to get into trouble. If it is really suitable, why don’t you buy it first? If you are really uncomfortable, just give them conditions and then find an opportunity to give them the deed of sale.”

Jiang Zhou knocked his head and suddenly realized: “Yes, am I stupid?” He just thought about not wanting to take the deed of sale, so why did he forget that he could still give it to them!

He picked up Wen Yan, spun him around, and kissed him: “My wife is so amazing!”

Wen Yan was startled and gave him a hammer. He looked around and saw that no one was around, he calmed his heartbeat. Then gave Jiang Zhou a hard look.