The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Xu Ruohuan's maternal grandmother, who lives far away in the capital, is ill. Madam Xu is preparing to take her daughter and her second son and his wife to the capital to visit her.

Packing has already begun.

Xu Ruoxian eagerly wrote to Su Qianqian: "Mr. Su, I'm going to the capital to visit my maternal grandmother. Should we open our Golden Jade Hall Inn there?"

When she lived at her maternal grandmother's house in the capital, she was always ridiculed by the noble ladies of the capital for being the daughter of a poor prefect. But once she opened the magnificent Golden Jade Hall Inn, let's see if those people still dare to laugh at her for being poor!

In addition, she genuinely wanted to help Su Dongjia make money.

Her father was a man who cared deeply for the people; all his salary over the years had gone to the people. The family was dirt poor, and it was only thanks to the help of Master Su that she was able to earn money.

Therefore, he was extremely grateful to Mr. Su and made up his mind that he would only work for Mr. Su for the rest of his life and wanted to help Mr. Su make more money.

Xu Ruoxian received Su Qianqian's reply a day later—

【Ruohuan, let's not open an inn yet. The capital is a melting pot of all sorts of people. If we want to expand our business here, we need to understand the situation in the capital first. Teahouses are the best place to gather information. You and my cousin can open a teahouse together to do that.】

Xu Ruoxian thought this made a lot of sense and decided to gather information carefully after arriving in the capital to lay the groundwork for opening an inn and restaurant there.

Su Qianqian is very well prepared for opening a teahouse in the capital.

She knew that running a teahouse required not only providing tea to customers, but also offering snacks.

The Gu family has a talent for cooking. Gu Ying's skills are more than enough to support a teahouse, and there are several pastry chefs who have been trained in advance, enough to support the shops in the capital.

As for the teahouse's accountant, Xu Ruofeng can continue to take on that role.

Su Qianqian also sent her elder brother Su Ping'an to Pengcheng to take over the Jinyu Mantang Inn.

Su Ping'an's leg is almost fully healed. During his recovery, he has been learning to read and write and keeping accounts at an inn in Qinghe County, and he has become more confident.

Moreover, Su Ping'an himself is quite good-looking, which has attracted the attention of many young women.

People came to propose marriage in droves, all wanting daughters from wealthy families, drawn by Su Qianqian's reputation.

After all, the Su family gave his cousin Gu Ying such a lot of valuable treasures as a dowry, so when his brother gets married, he will definitely receive plenty of good things as well.

Su Qianqian had already trained the waiters who would open the teahouse in the capital. Now that these people have left, Gu's Tea House in Qinghe County is short-handed and needs to recruit another batch.

Outside the main gate of Gu Ji Restaurant in Qinghe County, under the towering ancient banyan tree, the sound of gongs and drums was particularly loud.

"Gu's Restaurant is selecting employees, everyone hurry up and sign up."

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the open space outside Gu's Restaurant was filled with people.

The landlady was collecting rent in the communal courtyard of Chrysanthemum Lane, but after collecting from only one house, everyone in the courtyard heard Gu Ji calling for help in the distance and all ran away in a swarm.

Even the landlady's kitchen knife couldn't scare them; they all ran faster than rabbits.

The landlady had lived for decades and this was the first time she had ever witnessed such a scene in Qinghe County where everyone was out in force. She marveled at how capable Miss Su was; she had only had someone shout out that she was hiring, yet she had already attracted the entire town.

I bet even the county magistrate would be envious and jealous if he saw this scene.

However, if someone from the tenement can successfully get a job at Gu's, it's their good fortune. Sugar Man Ding, who used to live in the tenement, was very lucky.

She gave away sugar figurines to Miss Su's younger brother for free, and then she had good luck.

Now that Tang Ren Ding works at Gu Ji's, he has gained a lot of weight and is no longer skin and bones like before, barely able to afford a meal.

The landlady thought to herself, "Forget it, if I can't collect rent, I'll just go watch the show at Gu's place."

She tucked the kitchen knife into her waistband and walked towards Gu's Restaurant.

The landlady was right; Magistrate Tang was indeed very jealous.

He stood at a distance, looking forlornly at the entrance of Gu's Restaurant.

Magistrate Tang passed the imperial examination at the age of 25 and is now 40 years old. He has served as an official for more than 10 years, and has been the magistrate of four different counties.

His colleagues, when talking about women, felt that they were nothing more than tools for procreation and pleasing men, and Magistrate Tang himself shared the same view.

Throughout the entire Great Qi Dynasty, men held a status superior to women.

But now his limelight has been stolen by a woman.

This is utterly upside down, contrary to the laws of nature.

In the entire Qinghe County, everyone knows the owner of the Gu family's Su family, but when it comes to the county magistrate, no one says a word.

The selection process for employees at Gu's Restaurant is in full swing outside the main gate.

The original job posting said they would hire 200 people after the New Year, but they've already started hiring. I heard they're hiring 30 people this time.

Everyone hoped to be chosen by Su Dongjia.

Joining Gu's is like being reborn; the generous benefits Gu's provides to its employees are enough to change the fate of ordinary people.

I heard that thirty skilled workers are going to be sent to work in the capital, right under the emperor's nose.

The people were very excited. Kyoto was a place that ordinary people longed to visit, and everyone wanted to go to the capital to broaden their horizons.

The capital city is thousands of miles away, and for ordinary people, it is just a legend.

The vast majority of ordinary people never get to visit the capital city in their entire lives.

But Gu's Restaurant sent thirty waiters to the capital all at once, covering all travel expenses, providing food and lodging upon arrival, and even doubling their wages. They're really rich and powerful.

If I could go to the capital and broaden my horizons in this lifetime, it would be worth dying for.

A woman in the crowd said proudly, "My Wangcai has been selected to go to the capital. I need to prepare more clothes for Wangcai and offer incense to our ancestors so they can share in the pride."

Everyone around envied the woman who was speaking.

"Old Li's family, your ancestors' graves must be emitting auspicious smoke! If Wangcai finds you a local Beijing wife, your family will be able to achieve a leap in social class."

"Yes, it's really enviable. I hope my daughter can also get into Gu's this time, and maybe she can go to Beijing to broaden her horizons next year."

"Su Dongjia is such a young girl, she's really capable of getting so many employees to work in the capital."

"I estimate that people in the capital didn't even know there was such a place as Qinghe County before, but I believe that as long as Miss Su is here, Qinghe County will definitely become famous in the capital."

"My uncle's seventh aunt's second cousin said that our Qinghe County is already famous in the capital. The beautiful clothes from Qinghe County are being snapped up by rich people in the capital. The paintings by Su Dongjia are also very popular. I heard they can sell for more than two thousand taels of silver."

Less than a street away from Gu's Restaurant, a woman was being tied up by her parents and put into a sedan chair. The woman struggled to stick her head out of the window, tears streaming down her face.

"Father, Mother, I don't want to marry Master Li. He's already beaten three wives to death."

A neighbor advised, "Old Zhang, I heard you only got twenty taels of silver for selling your daughter. You might as well have sent her to Gu's Restaurant; they offer much better treatment there."

Other neighbors chimed in, saying, "I heard that last month, the workers at Gu's restaurant were paid a full tael of silver. Just think, if your daughter joined Gu's, she could earn twenty-four taels in two years, and then there would be a steady stream of money coming home. Wouldn't that be better than selling your daughter?"

"That's right, Lao Zhang, think about it. You've lived most of your life, but have you ever seen a scene where everyone in Qinghe County is deserted? The reason for this spectacular scene is because Gu's Restaurant is hiring, and everyone went to Gu's."

"Normally, restaurants only hire men as waiters, but Mr. Su says that men and women are equal, so girls have a chance too. Old Zhang, hurry up and send your daughter to Gu's restaurant, or she'll miss out."

Old Zhang's expression suddenly brightened, and he decisively pulled his daughter out of the sedan chair. After untying the ropes, he said, "A-Lian, go and try. If you can get into Gu's shop, I won't sell you. If you can't, you will still have to marry Master Li as his concubine."

The neighborhood girls who grew up with A-Lian were very happy for her and sincerely prayed for her.

"I hope Ah Lian can successfully join Gu's company."

"In the past, the selling of daughters was common in Qinghe County, but the proportion of female employees in Gu's restaurant was very high. Many people found that it was better to send their daughters to work as employees in Gu's restaurant than to sell them. As a result, the phenomenon of selling daughters in Qinghe County has been greatly reduced. In fact, we women really have to thank the owner of Gu's restaurant, Mr. Su."

"That Mr. Su once said that women can hold up half the sky. As long as we work as employees at Gu's and earn money, we can have freedom in choosing our spouses, and Gu's will even teach its employees to read for free."

When the girls heard the saying that women can hold up half the sky, they were all incredibly excited, as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

In the past, parents and brothers would say that girls were a financial burden, and when they reached marriageable age, poor families would basically sell their daughters.

But now Su Dongjia is telling them that women can hold up half the sky.

I've heard that the students at Qingsong Academy greatly admire Master Su, so what Master Su said must be very reasonable. Otherwise, how could he be so popular among so many scholars!

So women really can hold up half the sky!

"Let's go, let's give it a try and try to get a job at Gu's."

Ah Lian was lucky; she had secretly studied martial arts in the open space in front of Gu's house these days. In order to successfully escape the arranged marriage, she secretly practiced martial arts every night.

Therefore, she successfully entered Gu's Restaurant based on her excellent overall grades.

Ah Lian vowed to work hard to repay Gu Ji and Su Dongjia, because Su Dongjia had given her a second life.