Datang Hotel: The Leisurely Life of a Chef Dad

Three days later, outside the Datang Hotel, in front of the Liuli Shop on the West Market, firecrackers were set off in a low-key manner.

The crackling sound was not loud enough, but it was barely good, at least it could be heard.

Yaya, wearing a little red jacket, clapped her hands excitedly, and the people watching in the West Market were more excited than each other, and had no idea what was going on.

Outside the door, a young man bowed to the crowd: "Fellow villagers of Chang'an, friends of Datang, today Yaya Candy Shop in Chang'an West Market is officially open!"

Then he pulled behind him, and the plaque wrapped in red silk instantly revealed its true appearance. The red silk fluttered, and Yaya and Dazhuang clapped their hands happily.

When the onlookers heard the word "candy", they exclaimed instantly.

"Oh, this is a precious thing, young man, how do we sell candy here? Is it expensive?"

The old man stood on tiptoe with his hands behind his back, his eyes wide open, and curiously.

A disdainful voice came from the crowd behind him: "How can it be cheap, old man, do you know how much icing sugar costs now?"

"That's right!" The crowd began to make a noise.

In the Tang Dynasty, ordinary people wanted to eat some sugar all year round and have a little sweetness in their mouths. That was not an ordinary day.

Only during festivals can they eat meat, and there may be some gray and bitter sweetness in the soup. The words that the old people use to coax children are always "bitter first and sweet later", but the world of adults is very cruel. Only they themselves know that those bitterness cannot be removed, and those sweetness are also luxury.

The young man is Zhou Mo, the most handsome one among the guards who entered the Marquis' Mansion in the Jinwu Guard. Although compared with ordinary people, he still has some murderous aura, but compared with other guards, he is already handsome and kind.

At this time, he bowed to everyone and said: "Any candy in Yaya Candy Store is carefully prepared, and the price is cheaper than the icing sugar on the market in the Tang Dynasty, and more expensive than gray sugar."

Ordinary granulated sugar is basically ten coins per tael at this time. Of course, these are extracted from sugarcane, the process is complicated, and it is likely to consume a lot in the process, so it is normal to be expensive.

You know, at this time, one coin can buy two or three eggs, and this is when Li Shimin forced some prices down.

Ten coins can buy nearly thirty eggs, but can only buy one tael of granulated sugar.

The other one is more expensive, and the price is at least double that of granulated sugar, called rock honey.

The color is crystal clear and sweet, but the texture is hard. After Liu Xuan saw it, he felt that it was like rock sugar in the future, but it was made of honey.

The price is also about twenty coins per tael.

On the day when Yaya Candy Shop opened, Zhou Mo followed Liu Xuan's strategy and directly priced the crystal clear sugar produced by his own shop at fifteen cents per tael.

"The sugar in Yaya Candy Shop is crystal clear, white as snow, sweet and extremely excellent. The owner said that the price is fifteen cents per tael. From now on, we have to rely on the patronage of all the neighbors."

When hearing fifteen cents per tael, someone asked curiously: "Even the honey from the Western Regions, sometimes on cheap days, is only fifteen or sixteen cents per tael. Can your white sugar do?"

Zhou Mo was waiting for this sentence, and took out a crystal glass bottle from the side without saying a word.

This scene made everyone dumbfounded.

"Wow, using a glass bottle to hold sugar, what kind of handicraft is this?"

"It shouldn't be, glass is so expensive, no matter how good the sugar is, it can't be better than glass."

"Based on this handicraft, this thing can't be bad, can you try it?"

In the Tang Dynasty, many things can be tasted in business, but only sugar, if you agree to taste it, it will be immediately sold out. It is expensive, and a group of people will take a bite at a time and it will be cleared out in an instant.

But Zhou Mo smiled and looked at the people who were talking: "Of course, everyone, I asked someone to boil hot water, now take a small spoonful each time, and make it into sugar water, you can taste it at will."

The winter sun shines on the earth, and the wind from Chang'an blows over, chilly.

But in the West Market today, the onlookers held small porcelain bowls in their hands, slurped in their mouths, and the happy look on their faces was like being touched by gods.

Even gods don't have such good treatment, right?

"Sweet, sweet, really sweet."

"Among all the candies I've eaten, even rock honey doesn't taste this good."

Although rock honey tastes sweet, it's better than granulated sugar. The taste of natural honey is beyond doubt.

The granulated sugar in the Tang Dynasty is full of various impurities, and the taste is a bit worse. The icing sugar used by dignitaries is purified several times, and the price is about the same as rock honey.

In the attic not far away, Zheng Liwan stood next to Liu Xuan.

"Liu Xuan, are you the reincarnation of a god?"

Zheng Liwan's heart was pounding. She ate a lot of candy when she was a child, but every time, she would secretly eat a little when she encountered important things. Every candy was like precious gold.

Only legitimate children can eat it once a month, and illegitimate children like her can only eat it once every six months.

When she thought of the time when she learned a skill as a child, her mother would secretly take out a candy to reward herself. She would put it in her mouth, and the saliva and sugar would mix together. The sweet taste was like spring, flowing down her throat and swirling on her tongue. When she was reluctant to swallow it into her stomach, Zheng Liwan's eyes suddenly became moist.

Liu Xuan said unhappily, "Yourong, you are always talking nonsense. How could I be the reincarnation of a god? Where are the gods in this world?"

"Something like rock honey is brought back from the West occasionally. The people in Qiuci have not actually improved the method of making it."

"It's expensive, but that's all the money spent on the road. People brought it from thousands of miles away. It's okay to be a little expensive, right?"

"But now you don't have to think about it. It's all cheap."

Liu Xuan calculated the cost of making sugar. In the factory, with mass production and various tools, the cost of one pound can be controlled to about five or six coins using the sugar-making method of later generations.

The rock honey method has not been improved in the Tang Dynasty. In history, Wang Xuance brought back two sugar craftsmen after returning from Tianzhu and improved it once.

Even their improved products are not as cheap as Liu Xuan's current white sugar.

Zheng Liwan looked at Liu Xuan from the side, with various lights constantly appearing on her face. She felt like she was listening to some heavenly book, but she seemed to be able to understand it vaguely.