This is what I'm waiting for. Li Qi suppressed his smile and said seriously: "It's useless to just talk. Let me test your basic understanding of chefs first."
The more Li Qi said this, the more Wu Xiaoliu felt that he was not perfunctory with him, and said happily: "Okay, just ask."
Li Qi deliberately pretended to be thinking. After a while, he said: "By the way, can you write?"
Wu Xiaoliu nodded and said, "I studied with my uncle for a few years and can write a little."
Li Qi nodded and said: "That's good, let's do this. I'll give you a day. You go to some restaurants outside and collect the favorite dishes of the people of Bianliang for me. Remember, the more detailed the better.
"
"Just--just this?"
Wu Xiaoliu widened his eyes and said. He originally thought that Li Qi would ask him some knowledge about cooking, but he didn't expect that Li Qi would ask him to run errands instead. He felt confused and depressed at the same time.
Li Qi glanced at him sideways and said: "What? Do you think this is very simple? Do you know that understanding the tastes of guests is an essential task for a chef, unless you learn to cook just to cook for yourself.
"
Upon hearing this, Wu Xiaoliu felt that what Li Qi said was very reasonable. He nodded quickly and said, "I understand. I'll go there early tomorrow morning."
"Um!"
Li Qi was very satisfied with Wu Xiaoliu's attitude, nodded, and suddenly thought of something, asked: "By the way, Liuzi, do you have the key to the kitchen?"
"Yes, Brother Li, do you want to use the kitchen?"
"Well, I'd like to borrow it for a few days."
"No problem, no one is using it now anyway. Just wait a moment, I'll give it to you now." Wu Xiaoliu was worried that he would have no chance to flatter him. When he heard what Li Qi said, he hurriedly took out a piece of copper from the closet.
The key was handed to Li Qi.
Li Qi took the key and tossed it in his hand. His eyes flickered. An almost perfect plan to seize Zuixianju was already born in his heart.
In fact, what Li Qi ordered Wu Xiaoliu to do is the so-called "market research." Since he has decided to show his talents in Bianliang, Tokyo, market research is of course essential. Although he has also lived in this land before and now,
But time has changed, and people's tastes will definitely be different, so he must re-understand people's tastes now.
This move may seem simple, but for Li Qi, it is a top priority and there is no room for error. He originally wanted to do it himself, but due to time constraints and lack of manpower, he handed it over to Wu Xiaoliu.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Early the next morning, Wu Xiaoliu got up from the bed, said hello to Li Qi, and hurried out. This was the first task Li Qi gave him, so naturally he did not dare to neglect it.
Li Qi was not idle either. Before Wu Xiaoliu left for a cup of tea, he also went out with his money.
There were more than 70 restaurants, large and small, in the Northern Song Dynasty. If you wanted to go door-to-door to investigate, it would take at least ten days. This was really time-consuming, so Li Qi only asked Wu Xiaoliu to focus on it.
Investigate several restaurants with high traffic.
But even so, Wu Xiaoliu was still very tired, and by the time he came back, it was already evening.
Boom, boom, boom!
"Brother Li, Brother Li--eh? Not in the house." Wu Xiaoliu knocked on Li Qi's door for a long time. Seeing that there was no movement at all, he scratched his head and said to himself: "Isn't it already?
Come back? Impossible. It’s getting so late, so you should be back. Could it be that--it’s in the kitchen."
Wu Xiaoliu suddenly remembered that Li Qi said yesterday that he wanted to borrow the kitchen for a few days, and hurried towards the kitchen.
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw Li Qi standing alone in the kitchen, holding a rag in one hand and carefully wiping a large jar that could fit four adults.
"Liu Zi, you're back." Seeing Wu Xiaoliu coming, Li Qi put down what he was doing and said with a smile.
Wu Xiaoliu nodded, pointed at the four large urns, and asked doubtfully: "Brother Li, did you get this?"
"Um!"
Li Qi nodded and asked, "How was your harvest today?"
"Oh, right."
Wu Xiaoliu was startled for a moment, then reacted immediately, took out a piece of rice paper from his arms, handed it to Li Qi, and said excitedly: "Brother Li, look, this is the news I got today, it says
These are all vegetables and snacks that the people of Bianjing love to eat."
Li Qi took it and looked at it. The dishes above were basically based on mutton and beef, followed by fish, and very little pork. The taste was more salty and sweet, and less spicy.
Li Qi looked over it roughly, nodded with satisfaction, and praised Wu Xiaoliu: "You did a good job. This information is very useful to us, but how did you collect this information?"
Wu Xiaoliu chuckled and said, "Brother Li, do you still remember the two taels of silver you gave me this morning?"
"Of course I remember, what's the matter?" Li Qi nodded. These two taels of silver could be said to be the errand fees he paid to Wu Xiaoliu. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he said with a smile: "I understand, are you going to take these coins?"
I bribed the waiters in the restaurant and got this information from their mouths."
Wu Xiaoliu chuckled and said, "It seems I can't hide anything from you."
This boy is quite clever in his work. Li Qi chuckled and said, "Then you'll spend all the money I gave you?"
Wu Xiaoliu shook his head hurriedly, stretched out a finger and said: "There are still more than one or two."
"How many are left?" Li Qi asked in surprise.
"Brother Li, don't you know this? Their bartenders only gave away two or three copper coins." Wu Xiaoliu said with a proud smile.
"It seems that you also gained a lot of benefits when you were a bartender before." Li Qi joked.
Wu Xiaoliu chuckled a few times, acquiescing, and suddenly pointed at the four large urns and asked curiously: "Brother Li, what are these things used for?"
Li Qi smiled and said: "Oh, they are used to hold amaranth juice."
"Amaranth juice?"
Wu Xiaoliu scratched his head and asked: "Brother Li, what is this amaranth juice?"
"Do you know amaranth?" Li Qi asked.
"I know, some families like to pickle amaranth. Master Zhou did it before." Wu Xiaoliu nodded.
Li Qi smiled and said: "Amaranth juice is the juice left after pickling amaranth."
Wu Xiaoliu opened his mouth wide and said in surprise: "Brother Li, is the amaranth juice you are talking about the smelly water?"
Li Qi nodded.
"Brother Li, why do you want that thing?" Wu Xiaoliu asked in confusion.
"Don't ask about this yet, you will know when the time comes." Li Qigao smiled deeply, and then asked: "Do you think it's enough for me to spend a penny to collect this smelly water?"
"Of course that's enough. Anyway, they have no use keeping the smelly water," Wu Xiaoliu said.
"That's enough," Li Qi said, taking out another three taels of silver and handing it to Wu Xiaoliu, saying: "You can exchange these silver coins for some copper coins, and you can follow me for a walk outside the city tomorrow."
At this moment, Wu Xiaoliu knew that Li Qi was not kidding him.
Taking money to buy "stinky water", what was Brother Li going to do? Wu Xiaoliu thought about it for a long time and couldn't figure it out, but seeing that Li Qi didn't want to say anything, he didn't ask any more questions, but he was very much looking forward to it.
Early the next morning, Li Qi asked Wu Xiaoliu to spend money to hire a donkey cart. Then the master and the apprentice pulled the donkey cart to some small villages more than ten miles outside the city. Most of the people living here lived in the mountains.
The villagers live by chopping firewood and cultivating the land, and their living conditions are very difficult.
Since spring has arrived, most people have almost finished eating the pickles at home, and the remaining roots and juice are ready to be thrown away, because the new pickle season is about to begin.
When they saw Master Li Qi and his disciples coming to collect the "stinking water" with copper coins, everyone went crazy. They didn't want Li Qi to come and collect it. They all ran towards Li Qi holding their jars and cans at home.
.This actually helped Li Qi save a lot of time and effort.
Of course, Li Qi didn't just want "stinky water" when he saw it. First of all, it had to be amaranth juice or mustard juice. Secondly, he had to smell it. The stronger the smell, the more he liked it. But not long after it had just been marinated, he didn't want it.
This made Wu Xiaoliu on the side even more curious.
In less than a day, all four large jars were filled.
This was not over yet. On the second day, Li Qi took Wu Xiaoliu to the market for a few rounds and bought a large amount of bean drumsticks, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots and other side dishes, as well as four jars of fine wine.
He first put the purchased ingredients such as mushrooms and bean drum into a pot, first brought it to a boil over a strong fire, and then simmered it over a gentle fire. Then he discarded the residue and took water. After cooling, he mixed it with the wine according to a certain ratio and poured it in separately.
Inside the four large urns, the mouths of the urns were completely sealed with cloth, and then the four large urns were placed in the wine cellar of Zuixianju.
This made Wu Xiaoliu stupid. You just collected the smelly water, but you actually poured such good wine into it. This is not how you spend your money!
After Li Qi got everything done, Wu Xiaoliu finally couldn't restrain his curiosity and asked: "Brother Li, what on earth are you doing?"
"It's interesting." Li Qi smiled mysteriously, patted Wu Xiaoliu on the shoulder and said, "Go and call Uncle Wu tomorrow and tell him that I have a good friend who is willing to pay for Zuixianju."
"What!" Wu Xiaoliu exclaimed.
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