Two days later, Su Ji Commercial Bank took away 2,000 catties of vermicelli and paid the rest as promised. On the same day, after receiving the shop, Zhao Yongzhong and Zhao Siniang went to the town to purchase as usual, but the rest of the people did not rush home as usual, but went to the new shop not far away to do a big cleaning, because tomorrow is the auspicious day for the opening of the new shop.

Originally, Zhao Siniang planned to build the new shop in the form of a front store and a back home, but after careful consideration, she finally decided to separate the shop from the house and design the shop to its current appearance.

The shop runs east-west like the official road in front of it, maintaining a distance of two zhang wide between the two, and paving a blue brick floor. The whole brick road is quite long, slightly exceeding the total length of the main shop, and at the ends of the east and west sides of the road, there are stables for livestock and simple warehouses for storing goods, which are convenient for merchants and guests to stop temporarily.

The shop is made of blue bricks and covered with blue tiles. Under the eaves around the shop are six-foot-wide corridors. The pillars supporting the corridor are two-foot-high balustrades between the columns, and the upper ends of the balustrades are covered with planks a foot wide that can be used as benches for resting.

Entering the main entrance of the shop, you can see that the huge shop is divided into two parts by a wall.

The eastern half accounts for two-thirds of the entire shop. On the east side of the main entrance is a long wooden counter, behind which is a one-man tall treasure shelf. Directly above the treasure rack hangs three rows of wooden water signs, which will be used to display the dishes sold that day. Not far in front of the counter are two long rows of tables running parallel to each other, with a space about four feet wide between them. If you look closely, you can see that each row of tables is made up of four long tables, the difference is that one row is a normal table, and the other row has three round holes with a diameter of one foot on each table, and a small stove is placed under the round holes. These two rows of tables will be used to accommodate different types of dishes.

In addition, there are 16 sets of tables and chairs in the eastern half for guests to eat. Thanks to the opening of several windows, most of the seats can clearly observe the dynamics of the stables and warehouses, so that the customers of the merchants can eat with more peace of mind.

The western half is split in half from the middle. It becomes two separate rooms with a connecting door in between. On the east wall of the room in the southwest corner are three rectangular windows side by side that can be used to buy food such as dry food, pickles and soy products that can be taken away. In addition, it is convenient for customers who do not want to eat at the restaurant. The original window on the south wall of the room was also converted into a take-out window, so that such customers could make purchases without having to enter the store, standing in the corridor on the west side of the main entrance.

The room in the northwest corner is the back kitchen, and like the room in the southwest corner, there are three windows on the east wall, which provide convenience for the preparation of dishes. Slightly different from the other windows, these windows are covered with half a piece of blue flower rag. In addition to increasing the aesthetics of the shop, it is more important to make it impossible for guests to see the specific operations in the kitchen. The most eye-catching thing in the back kitchen is the large stove with four large pots. On the side of the stove is a green brick countertop covered with smooth, thick wooden planks. Part of the L-shaped counter faces the three windows, and there is a large space under the countertop, which can be divided into two layers with wooden planks to store many commonly used kitchen items. Not far from the stove are a special oven, hanging stove and baking oven, while at the farthest point of the stove are a wooden cupboard and two rows of wooden shelves. These wooden shelves are designed to hold all kinds of ingredients, and there are two water tanks next to them. In order to facilitate the transportation of food and water, in addition to the front door, a back door has been opened in the back kitchen to lead directly to the backyard.

The backyard of the shop is surrounded by a one-foot high brick wall. The ground in the courtyard was not paved with green bricks, but the original mud floor was tamped. There is a door in the wall on the west side, through which things are usually transported to the shop. In the backyard, there are not only three huts, but also a chicken pen and a cowshed. In addition, a stone mill was added, and in order to ensure that it can be used normally on rainy days, a grass shed was built above the stone mill. In addition, in order to reduce the burden of carrying water back and forth, a well was dug in the backyard.

It is worth mentioning that because this land was originally overgrown with wild grass, Zhao Siniang was worried that grass would grow in the brick cracks, so she poured some salt water into it. And then for reinforcement. The brick cracks were filled with glutinous rice mortar made of glutinous rice soup and lime mortar. The blue brick house built in this way can guarantee that it will not be bad for decades, even if the daily flow of customers is huge.

Not far from the shop, its supporting project, the thatched house, has also been completed recently under the repeated urging of Zhao Siniang. Zhao Siniang, who was out of tune, actually asked to build a thatched house according to the standard of building a shop, and upgraded the thatched house to a brick house. And that's not all. A one-person-high brick wall was also built directly opposite the thatched house to ensure privacy. Finally, in order to beautify the environment, the four sides of the thatched house are the same as the east and west sides of the shop, and a lot of bamboo has been transplanted.

Although the family members clearly expressed their opposition to Zhao Siniang's unreliable behavior, if they decided to build it before, they would let Zhao Siniang pay out of their own pockets. But when it was time to build it, it was unanimously agreed to take the cost from the public account. was reluctant to let Zhao Siniang pay a penny for private money.

It is true that Zhao Siniang is sometimes reliable, sometimes very unreliable, so she sometimes makes the Hui family feel very helpless, but after the helplessness, she must give firm support, this is Zhao Siniang's family.

At this moment, the people who were cleaning in the shop suddenly heard a noise from the backyard. ran over to take a look, and it turned out that Zhao Yongzhong's father and daughter had returned with a cart full of things.

It's just something else, this time Zhao Siniang actually bought more than 20 ducks in one go. It is said that a duck farmer had an emergency at home and had to sell their ducks at a low price at the market. So Zhao Siniang, who originally only planned to buy a few ducks, temporarily changed her mind and wrapped them all.

The big guys also think the price is cheap, but this amount is really ...... That's it, I've bought everything, and now it's too late to say anything. The shop is about to open tomorrow, so let's hurry up and work!

A large family worked from noon until evening, and then sorted out all kinds of things. It's just that there are too many dishes to prepare, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the back kitchen.

After dinner, Zhao Siniang asked her father and mother to stay and help, and sent everyone else back to Jiang's house. And the family of three didn't plan to go back tonight, so they decided to stay in the shop.

As for the accommodation, of the three cabins in the backyard, one is a utility room, one is a storage room, and the other is a lounge.

"Although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs." In the small lounge, there was a kang on the plate, and some guys who moved from Lao Zhao's house were also placed, and in addition, Zhao Siniang, who was wealthy, also specially bought a new bedding to put in it. Therefore, although it is a little smaller, it is far more comfortable than going back to Jiang's house to squeeze a big kang.

The family of three was busy for a while, Zhao Siniang saw that the hour was not early, and thought that the task assigned to her father and mother by Ming'er was not light, so she persuaded them to go in and sleep first, and she was busy until the middle of the moon. (To be continued.) )