Chapter 97 - Sangu Restaurant
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Levs
March 25, 9 AM, Shanhai ship's dock terminal.
Ouyang Shuo led his officers and ministers to send off Zhou Haichen and the others, this time the military had chosen Lieutenant Hu Yibiao to set up the new territory's garrison team. The ex-infantry squadron lieutenant's mission was to establish a proper and reliable defense system.
As for the nomadic tribes, the task was left to the cavalry unit that would be stationed there in the future. After all, only the Cavalry Unit could handle open-field warfare against the nomadic tribes.
After he came back from the dock, he took some time and visited the alchemy workshop. Ever since Alchemist Magnus had been here, Ouyang Shuo was busy with the grade 3 town advancement. He had yet to visit the alchemy workshop, which came from a different culture, a different nation, and brought a distinguished building architecture.
Magnus, the man from far to the west, was always assessed curiously by Shanhai's residents. He had golden hair, white skin, thick hair, and was a non-fluent Mandarin speaker. Sure enough, these features were able to create gossip. Of course, there were a knowledgeable few that knew of the alchemist's origin: A Farang, someone of European ancestry.
The alchemy workshop was intentionally situated in the Northeast Military District, right next to the weapon workshop, so to avoid disturbances from the residents. Rather than the traditional China Taoist priests, Shanhai Town had instead recruited an alchemist who originated from the far west. Hence, the alchemy workshop constructed was based on western architectural building blueprints. It was a small house made of stone with two levels and a basement.
The ground floor was the hall and warehouse, and the second floor was Magnus's bedroom and his study room. As for an alchemist's most important laboratory, it was located underground, under close watch and strict protection.
With Magnus leading the way, the two walked into the laboratory. There were five or six oil lamps on the basement walls, with another huge complex-looking oil lamp on the ceiling; their lights wiped out every single shadow in the basement.
The basement was designed with the appropriate ventilation system. Otherwise, once the lamps had combusted all the oxygen, one would suffocate from lack of air.
In the middle sat a big table used for experimentations with test tubes, distillation bottles, crucibles and other experiment tools on it. On the sides were a few shelves with lots of pots, cans, and bottles.
"Magnus, what field do you usually experiment in?" Ouyang Shuo asked curiously while touring the workshop.
"The alchemy workshop’s main focus is the distillation of liquids and refinement of minerals," Magnus answered in arrogance, not expecting his lord to understand any of his words, and he even looked down on Ouyang Shuo pretending to inspect the experiment tools. Do you even know what those are and their uses? Oriental hypocrites. He whispered in his heart quietly.
But what he didn’t know was that Ouyang Shuo was a man from the modern world, and that the mysterious alchemy in his eyes was merely nothing but ordinary science and its applications.
"The distillation you are talking about, is it the one that uses the backflow of condensed vapor to obtain a purified liquid, the steam distillation?" Ouyang Shuo asked with a smile on his face while he randomly picked up a distillation bottle from the table.
Magnus' eyes widened, he exclaimed in excitement: "Yes yes, it is. Oh, God. Your wisdom is truly amazing." It was true that Farangs were all frank and honest people, once the alchemist knew that Ouyang Shuo wasn't a layman, he changed his attitude almost immediately, praising his lord.
"If that is the case, Magnus, if you have some time, you can visit the wine brewing workshop, and make some improvements to their distillation technique. If the amelioration is a success, I am sure the Finance Department will be more than willing to pay a reasonably large amount of remuneration, more than enough to support and fund your research." Ouyang Shuo gave Magnus a bait he couldn’t decline.
The moment Magnus heard the words 'research funds', a sudden white bright light flashed in his eyes, and he shouted, "No problem! Rest assured my lord, leave this matter to me!"
"As for the research regarding refinements of minerals, you can work with the Armory Division, as they have a large demand for fine irons. Other than that, Langshan Mining Field might need your services too, as it is no doubt your profession in finding better ways to refine minerals with higher purity, in this case, gold. In short, I hope the alchemy workshop would not stay by itself, but actively cooperate with territory affairs, achieving the best of both worlds."
Magnus had long put down his arrogance and preconceptions, and he respectfully said, "My lord, your wisdom is as deep as the ocean, Magnus will follow your words of wisdom."
"Good," before Ouyang Shuo left, he took out the wild boar fangs, long obtained and left untouched, and said with a smile, "Is there any way you can make it into an accessory?"
Magnus took it and said prudently, "I can try."
"Good, I will be waiting for your good news." As he finished his sentence, Ouyang Shuo turned and left.
He went straight to the market after leaving the alchemy workshop, gritted his teeth and spent 500 gold on purchasing an Advanced Shipyard Building blueprint. Ever since he had acquired the , he could not wait a second longer to turn the warships into reality.
But Meng Chong warships were intermediate warships, and they could only be manufactured by an advanced shipyard. That said, if he desired to establish a strong force of navy warships, he would have to use an additional 500 gold from the territory's limited capital funds, spending it for the shipyard's advancement.
When he got back to the manor, he saw Qing'er and Gu Sanniang gossiping at the side. Gu Sanniang looked a bit down, and Qing'er was comforting her. Ouyang Shuo asked out of curiosity, "What are you two gossiping about? So mysterious."
Gu Sanniang kept silent, while Qing'er curled her lips and said, "Brother, didn't you promise Gu Sanniang a restaurant before this? But according to Construction Division's pricing, a restaurant is so expensive! Adding on the salary for workers, money for raw materials, small bits here and there, it will require at least 30 gold. Plus there is no promise of the restaurant's future, as we still don't know whether the residents are willing to spend in the restaurant. That's why Sister Gu is really hesitant about it."
Ouyang Shuo nodded and as he looked at Gu Sanniang, he asked, "What Qing'er said, is it true?"
"My lord, I am indeed a little worried and I am financially unable to go through with this. I am afraid I will have to disappoint you this time. I think it is better for me to stay back in the manor, serving and taking care of everyone as usual." Gu Sanniang resigned herself to her fate.
Ouyang Shuo waved his hand, and said, "Sanniang, there is no need to regard yourself as an outsider, you can come straight to me for help if there are any difficulties. You don't have to sigh alone at the side. The promise I had made before will surely be kept. I will pay the capital for the restaurant, but I will claim a 50% share of the restaurant, what do you say?"
Gu Sanniang was wild with joy, and she was tongue-tied: "No no no, 10% of the shares is enough to me, I dare not ask for more."
"You don't have to decline it, I did not intend to leave you with 50%. But in order to manage the restaurant, capital is just the starting point. You will need to recruit workers, renovate the restaurant, research on the menus, a series of important work you will need to handle personally as the manager of the restaurant. To be honest, having 50% of the share by just providing the capital is already taking advantage of you." Ouyang Shuo explained his intentions to Sanniang.
Before Sanniang could say anything, Qing'er had already clapped her hands in joy, laughed, and said, "Sister you don't have to be so polite with Big Brother, he has just plundered a massive wealth from the raiders recently."
Ouyang Shuo glared at Qing'er, and he continued, "Of course, I will have the 50% of my shares for my own, 30% of it will be Yingyu's and another 20% for Qing'er. Let's take it as pocket money from the brother to his sisters."
"Ya," Qing'er did not expect that she would benefit from it too, the small little money-grubber hugged Ouyang Shuo's arm immediately, with a sweet and greasy voice said, "Big brother you are so good, you are so fond of Qing'er, Hee hee!"
Ouyang Shuo smiled, petted her small head and said, "It is good that you know, try not to be too naughty."
Gu Sanniang watched the scene, and she accepted the offer at ease, with a face of joy she said, "I shall then thank the lord for supporting me. My lord, please give a name to the restaurant!"
Ouyang Shuo pondered for a moment, searching through his mental mind for a good name, then nodded his head and said, "En, let's name it Sangu1 Restaurant. While it points out to whom the restaurant belonged to, it also carries the meaning of coming again, very suitable for a restaurant."
"Great, this name is great!" The little beneficiary voiced and clapped her hand.
Sanniang too was happy with the name, and said, "Thank you, my lord, for the name. And one more thing, if I am leaving the manor to the restaurant, who would be in charge of the manor's kitchen?"
"There is nothing to worry about, once the official residence is completed, other than me, Qing'er and the sisters, the others will dine in their own house, there is no need to cook a big portion anymore. Moreover, when the restaurant is done, if we are craving for food, we can go to the restaurant for free food. Please don't despise us for eating free food." Ouyang Shuo answered her question and made a small joke at the same time.
"My lord, you will always be welcomed in the restaurant!" Gu Sanniang responded to the joke with sincerity.
"As for the new manor's chef, I will leave it to you to choose a successor. The territory was not like before anymore; there are now quite a few chefs already." Ouyang Shuo ended the conversation with a mission for Gu Sanniang.
"Yes, my lord." Sanniang nodded.
After the impromptu discussion, Qing'er was eager to deliver the good news to her sister Yingyu. Ouyang Shuo did not interfere and let her off. He summoned Zhao Dewang to his office, and tasked him with the advanced shipyard's upgrade project.
The secretary's face turned bitterly sour. Lately, Ouyang Shuo had been giving him tasks and tasks endlessly, and construction projects were everywhere.
First, it was the city wall and moat, which had recently just been completed; followed by the grade 3 territory township upgrade reformation, which had just started not long ago; then came the Friendship Village city wall construction project, just when construction builders had left this morning, Ouyang Shuo gave him a new task again- to refurbish and upgrade the intermediate shipyard into an advanced shipyard, another big project. Even if he had three heads and six arms, he still almost couldn't manage it all at once.
Ouyang Shuo patted Zhao Dewang's soldier, and said with great solemnity: "Thank you for your hard work during this period of time, I promise the Construction Division will surely be rewarded with bonuses after this."
What else could Zhao Dewang do other than accept his lord's orders with a bitter smile?
1Sangu 三顾 : Part of Gu Sanniang’s name, and carries another meaning of coming again three times.