Blissful Days After Widowhood

Chapter 49

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Each of the ten children wore a cloth strip around their necks, and a wooden box was attached to the bottom of the cloth strip, and a small quilt was covered on the wooden box.

Among them, Song Shiliu was the biggest, but it was not long after she entered the city. It was the first time she encountered such a big battle, and she was entrusted with a heavy responsibility, and she was so nervous that her legs were fighting.

"You two young masters... you have to follow me closely, don't get lost."

Although Gu Yin later returned the deed of prostitution to her, Song Shiliu felt that she was their servant girl, but she refused to change her title.

Before he finished speaking, Gu Ye had already divided the people into two groups, "Team No. 1, go to the left. Team No. 2, go to the right... After they are sold out, go back to the stall to make up."

He pointed with a small hand, and the people who were pointed in the direction immediately acted.

In the end, there was a team of Gu Ye and Song Shiliu, and Gu Ye led her into the crowd.

“Delicious and cheap iced drinks... Cool and sweet!”

"Ice cold ice drink! It's delicious and not expensive!"

The vigorous shouting of the children spread through the crowd.

Song Shiliu's face flushed with embarrassment, for she was still thinking about leading the two young masters, but even the more shy-looking Young Master Wu An had more use than her!

"You shout." Gu Ye pouted at her.

Song Shiliu took a deep breath and shouted.

The people on the side of the canal crowded shoulder to shoulder, and the weather was sultry on this day, many people were dizzy and dizzy, but they couldn't let go of this annual event.

Suddenly hearing a child hawking beside him, many people would ask what they were selling.

Even a cup of iced drink of seven cents is not cheap for ordinary people, but there is no other alternative right now, and many people have brought their own children, adults can still endure the heat, but not They are willing to have their children suffer, and the two cents in the cup can be exchanged for two cents, so many people began to pay for money.

"It's so sour, so icy!" The customer who bought the sour plum soup took a sip by himself, sighed, and quickly handed the cup to the child.

After tasting it, the child said that his teeth were sour, but he did produce body fluid and quench his thirst. The summer heat dissipated with a smile, and he continued to drink in small sips.

A clever person like Gu Ye would say at this time: "The sour plum soup is sour, the mung bean soup and milk tea are sweet, buy another one."

There is no child who doesn't like to eat sweets. He looks at his own adults eagerly. When his own adults think about it, he can't enter the city a few times a year, and he will spend a few pennies.

The crowd began to sigh one after another, "It's so cold, so cool", and the children's business is getting better and better. When they sell out ten cups in their boxes, they will run out of the crowd and go to Gu Yin's stall to restock. .

Before the dragon boat race started, half of the five hundred cups Gu Yin had prepared had already been sold.

Chef Xu hurriedly put back some of the empty cups he had taken back for washing, then turned his head to prepare the ingredients for Gu Yin, and brought back the ice drink that was boiled by shopkeeper Zhou.

By noon, before the lively dragon boat race was over, the 500 cups on Gu Yin's stall had already been sold, including drinks.

It was really hot at this time. Gu Yin was busy until dawn, and couldn't wait any longer, so she summoned her own employees to go back first, and replaced Chef Xu's two apprentices with freshly frozen drinks. sold, but there were no cups with straws, so they just brought some empty bowls for customers to drink at the stall.

When the group returned to the store, they were all sweaty.

Gu Yin quickly grabbed a bowl of iced milk tea and drank it, and at this time, shopkeeper Zhou's hot dishes were also cooked and placed on the counter.

After the weather is hot, there are neither air conditioners nor fans in the stores of this era, and people sitting next to each other only get hotter. In summer, people's appetite is also poor, and it is not a problem to deal with two casualties at noon, and the business of the lunch market in the store is deserted.

On this day, because of the dragon boat race on the canal, there was no one in the store except for the food-for-day guy.

But Gu Yin didn't rest, she gasped for breath and immediately went to the back kitchen to start making cold noodles.

She kneaded the dough first, then added salt to the dough. After kneading, she covered it with a damp cloth and left it for a quarter of an hour. Then, she put water in the basin, put the dough in, and rubbed it repeatedly like washing clothes.

When the water shows a white luster, filter it into another large basin, add water, and then wash and filter out. Until the wash water is clear and yellowed gluten remains. After the gluten is washed and steamed, it is full of muscle.

Then there is still filtered water, which takes more than an hour. During this period, she shredded wild vegetables and cucumbers, and chopped peanuts into pieces.

During this period, shopkeeper Zhou and Mrs Wang heard that she was busy in the kitchen, and they all came in to help.

After a busy day, the batter water has settled down. Scoop off the top clear water, stir the remaining slurry with a spoon, and then put it on a large flat plate that has been brushed with oil and steam it in hot water.

At this time, the heat is very particular. When the dough is bulged and transparent, it must be taken out immediately and replaced with another plate.

Just changing one plate at a time, Gu Yin took them to make a hundred or ten pieces of Liangpi.

At this time, after noon, the lively dragon boat race on the canal was over.

People who bought iced drinks usually go to the booth to return their cups, but there were only two apprentices of Chef Xu at the booth. Although their hands and feet were very fast, they had to exchange cups and sell sour plum soup. .

There was no shelter on the pier, and the people hadn't spread out, so the queue was not pleasant. The guests thought that they could also go to Wencheng Street to exchange food for the sky, and most of them would pass by—

It is rare to enter the city, and few people will just rush back at noon, and most of them will still stroll. And Wencheng Street, where Shiweitian is located, is actually a bustling area in the center of the town.

At the intersection of Wencheng Street, you can see the magnificent plaque from a distance.

Even people who are illiterate can find them with just a little inquiries.

When I entered the store, the first thing I felt was cold - there were ice basins in the corners of the store, and then I smelled all kinds of vegetables, and I felt hungry all of a sudden.

Ask about the prices in the store again, five cents per spoonful of large meat, three cents for half meat, two cents for vegetarian dishes, and the same price as the one sold outside, but only smaller steamed bread rolls as the staple food, thick and thick. Forget it, it's not much more expensive than eating at a small stall.

Moreover, they all ate the ice drinks made by Gu Yin. With the initial impression that although the food in this store is a little more expensive than the ones sold at the stall, but the taste is good and the ingredients are solid, they will be willing to try other things.

Afterwards, Gu Yin and the others also brought up the prepared Liangpi, clearly priced at five cents for a large bowl. That thing is not hot. It is mixed with the sauce prepared by the shopkeeper himself last week, and then added with gluten, chopped peanuts, shredded cucumber, and shredded wild vegetables. It is not suitable for eating in the heat of the summer.

The guests obviously only came to return the cups at first, but most of them chose to stay for dinner.

There were more and more people in the store, and for a while there was a grand occasion like the one just opened. There were also regular customers from the town behind, but they didn't panic when they saw that there were many people. Anyway, they could take out bento and return the bento box when they came back.

When other out-of-town guests who have never bought cold drinks go to Wencheng Street, they will find that a new store has opened.

This is not new. What's more fresh is that other nearby food stalls and shops will have more people than usual because of the Dragon Boat Festival, but they will not be crowded and full like this.

This is not a good understanding, how can it be regarded as a trip to the city

Once you understand, the cheap and dazzling dishes will probably keep people.

Seeing the crowd, the shopkeeper Zhou went to the back to fry new dishes, while Gu Yin went on to make cold skin and steamed steamed buns.

The afternoon market followed the evening market, and there were no vacant seats in the store until it was dark, and people who were not in the town hurried back, and the number of talents gradually decreased.

When the last customer left, shopkeeper Zhou closed the door of the store, and the day's business was over.

Xu Shi and others were put back to rest first, while Gu Yin, the shopkeeper Zhou and Wang Shi left the accounts.

Gu Yin was the busiest person in the store, so Wang Shi and Shopkeeper Zhou didn't let her move, and they helped to count the returned cups and count the bills together.

In the end, only 20 of the 500 cups were not returned, but because the price that Feng Carpenter asked for was low, it was not a loss.

Among the three kinds of cold drinks, milk tea sold the least, selling 100 cups, but milk tea was originally expensive and easy to stale. Gu Yin also made the least.

The sour plum soup and mung bean soup were sold for 400 cups. Later, Chef Xu's two young apprentices sold more than 200 cups on the dock.

The combined gross profit is about two or two.

Gu Yin originally thought of the idea of relying on cold drinks to divert traffic to the store, so the profit of cold drinks is only a small amount, and the business of the store is the big one.

After the shopkeeper Zhou finished his abacus, the gross profit of the business in the store was about fifteen taels, which is definitely the most popular day for business since its opening.

Hearing these profits, Mr. Wang and Shopkeeper Zhou had smiles on their faces, and it was not a waste of time for everyone to work hard for a day.

Gu Yin is also happy, not just because of the income of the day, but because this is a successful publicity!

Since its opening, Shiweitian has gained some popularity in the town, but the name of Shiweitian is still unfamiliar to customers from other places - although it was attracted by the trend of "Grandpa Wen's Porridge" before. There are many foreign customers, but there are still a few who can buy a bowl of porridge specially, and now that trend has passed, and no one knows about it.

But this time, 500 people were advertised just relying on the drink cups, not counting the out-of-town guests who followed the trend and entered the store.

How many potential customers these people can radiate out... It makes me happy to think about it!

After they settled the accounts, Gu Ye ran back from outside.

Gu Yin was about to look for him, and when she saw him, she said, "I'm about to give you my wages, and what about your little friends? Their wages are all calculated."

"It's all outside, I'll send it." Gu Ye pocketed the copper coins in his robe, and held in his mouth the list written by the shopkeeper Zhou about how many cups each person sold and how much wages should be paid.

These children were recommended by Gu Ye, and Gu Yin also let him go. She helped Wang with the final cleaning work. She just wiped the table twice with a rag, and she remembered that something was wrong—this boy I haven't read a book, I can't read or count!

She put the rag and followed to the street outside the store, and saw several children of different heights, shorts, fats and thins lined up quietly.

Seeing Gu Ye passing by, they shouted "Brother Ye" one after another.

Gu Ye nodded his expression unchanged, then put the copper coins on the ground, gave the list to Wu An, and asked Wu An to help him read the list and count the coins.

Song Shiliu was No. 1, Gu Ye was No. 2, and Wu An was No. 3, so they started shouting from No. 4.

Every time a child's code name is called, that person will come forward to collect the copper coins.

They can get a penny for every two cups they sell. The most sold can get 30 cents, and the few can get about 10 cents.

Working half a day and doing part-time jobs and shouting, you can earn so much money, which is really a super happy thing for children.

After shouting until number ten, a short, chubby child, half a head taller than Gu Ye, came up with his hands twisted.

On the list, this little fat man on the 10th only sold ten drinks in the morning, and he should be divided into five cents.

But Gu Ye took Wu An's hand and said, "No. 10, no wages."

The little fat man's face suddenly collapsed, and he started to cry.

Gu Ye was unmoved, and continued: "You steal ice, eat a box, and have no wages."

There was also ice in their small box, but Gu Yin took into account that the children were not very strong, so she spread a shallow layer of ice, which would be able to maintain the cold temperature inside the box.

These ices melted from the morning to noon, but the ice tray in the box was sealed, and the water would not spill out, and it was still inside.

When they returned the boxes, Gu Ye looked at them one by one. There was a layer of water at the bottom of every box, and only Fatty No. 10's box was empty.

The little fat man's face was flushed, and he was too embarrassed to cry.

Gu Ye held his hands behind his back like a little adult, and glanced at everyone in the row with his eyes, "My mother said that you can't eat ice, I told you."

Of course, there are edible ice cubes, which must be mined in a place with absolutely clean water sources, and the price is naturally expensive. If there really needs to be that kind of good ice, Gu Yin will not only use ice as a supplement for freezing, but ice itself can make a lot of desserts.

And the ice that Shiweitian is using now was hoarded by Master Wen Er before. Needless to say, he is a man. If he really wants to hoard ice that can be eaten, it must be a very expensive cost. And there are few people in this town who can afford that kind of ice. If you want to earn the difference, you have to transport it to inland places. In addition to the transportation costs and losses during transportation, it is not Wentie that Master Wen Er has the courage. Chicken up!

So he stocked up on the cheapest river ice, which people dug in the frozen canals in winter. This kind of ice is used, and it is easy to eat bad stomach.

Gu Yin told these children not to eat ice, and Gu Ye also emphasized it, so he continued: "If you eat a bad stomach, my family will not lose money."

"I have a good stomach, so I won't eat bad." The fat man argued in a low voice.

In fact, he really didn't want to eat it at first, but when a guest asked for sour plum soup, he was curious about his small wooden box, reached in and touched the ice tray underneath, and the sour plum soup in his hand was also dumped on it.

He smelled the sweet and sour taste and his saliva was drooling. He knew that the other drinks in the box were worth several pennies. He didn't dare to move. I even forgot about going back to the stall to restock the drinks after they sold out.

"You won't be here tomorrow." Gu Ye finally added.

Gu Yin made so many cups and small boxes, definitely not only for the Dragon Boat Festival, but to hire children to help her walk the streets in the future.

The little fat man couldn't hold back his tears when he heard it, begging for mercy: "Brother Ye, I was wrong! I don't dare anymore, don't let me come woo woo woo..."

The little fat man cried out of breath. Among those children, there were some children who had a good relationship with him. When they saw him, they said, "Brother Ye, Fatty is just greedy, but he's actually quite reliable..."

Gu Ye raised his eyes and looked over, the child immediately closed his mouth.

But in the end Gu Ye still said: "Fortunately, you know that you can't steal iced drinks. Then forgive you once."

The little fat man seemed to be amnesty, with tears and snot on his face, but he was already laughing.

"I still won't give you the wages," Gu Ye counted two coins from his own wages to him, "hard work."

The little fat man blushed even more with the two cents of money that belonged to Gu Ye, and immediately assured: "Thank you Brother Ye, I will definitely not do this next time!"

Gu Ye nodded in satisfaction, waved them all away, and asked them to come back the next morning.

Gu Yin watched the whole process in a stunned manner, and when only her own family was left, she came out and said, "Xiaoye, why do they call you Brother Ye?"

The youngest of the few children, the little fat man number 10, is seven or eight years old!

Gu Ye raised his chin proudly and said, "It's all mine, subordinate."

He played outside every day, and naturally he would meet many children.

Don't think that only adults have fights, and children's fights are also fierce.

Just like the open space at the end of Wencheng Street, where children like to play Cuju and wrestle.

There are many children and few places, so there must be fights.

Gu Ye started his activities near Wencheng Street after Shiweitian opened.

He is small and new here. The original child Wang didn't like to see him at first, and he was allowed to play here unless he called him big brother.

How could Gu Ye bear this? Just made an appointment.

The child Wang was ten years old, and he was four years old. He was also small due to malnutrition earlier, and he knew that there was a huge disparity in strength.

But Gu Ye didn't fight him head-to-head, he just walked and played with him.

He was able to slip Li Zhaotou around before he learned breathing kung fu. He had already learned it by then, and it was easy to slip a ten-year-old child.

That child king chased him for an hour, and everyone ran away without touching a piece of his clothes.

He suddenly became the new king of children. Of course, he was still not convinced, saying that he could only run and had no other skills.

But at that time Gu Ye had already learned some fists and feet, and with his flexible body, even if he was fighting against a child older than himself, he would not be at a disadvantage.

Later, his mother said that he would hire a few children to help, and Gu Ye volunteered to take up the job.

How can the children of this era have pocket money? It is very generous for the adults in the family to give a few pennies during the festivals.

As soon as he heard that he could make money, Gu Ye's status was even more incredible. Even the original child king was recruited by him and became the number four in the team.

The other people have played well with him before, and they are honest and smart.

When they were in the team, Gu Ye divided Wu An and the original child Wang into a team to ensure that he would not cause any trouble under his own eyes, and the other people would supervise each other in two teams - like the case of Fatty No. 10 stealing ice, In fact, as soon as he started eating, Number 9 came to talk to him quietly. He deliberately didn't say a word, and didn't say it in front of people until the final settlement.

He still spoke slowly, and when he finished speaking slowly, Gu Yin was surprised again: "I only told you that you should find a few good friends, and let them supervise each other in two groups. Where are you the rest? Learned?"

Just waiting for the settlement to settle accounts with Fatty No. 10, and then distribute his wages to him after the settlement, it can be called a combination of grace and power!

In front of her, Gu Ye stopped pretending to be a little adult, tilted his head and asked in doubt, "It still takes learning? Think for yourself."

"How does this little head look like?" Gu Yin rubbed his little head in surprise.

He obediently let Gu Yin knead it, and after kneading, he said, "You have to give me the five cents on the tenth."

He knew that his grandma and shopkeeper Zhou, as the front and back kitchen managers, were paid more than others, so he felt that he should also have more money than others.

"Give it to you." Gu Yin wanted to hand over the delivery department composed of children to Song Shiliu, the oldest, to manage it, but Song Shiliu really couldn't compare with him, and now she sees that this little brat is better than adults. The top thing, Gu Yinzhen felt that she would be able to relax a lot in the future.

Gu Ye got five cents more, he smiled, and gave Wu An another two cents, "It's hard work."

Of course, it means that he just helped to count the copper coins and read the list. Wu An has no obsession with silver coins, and he doesn't spend any money on a daily basis, so he immediately shook his head and said, "I don't want it anymore, I got twenty pennies today. "

"Take it," Gu Ye shoved it into his hand generously, "When I can read and count, it will be gone."

Wu An just accepted it, took his hand and said, "Then I'll go back today and teach you."

The Dragon Boat Festival is only one day, but the temple fairs in the town will be held for seven consecutive days.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, those who are not interested in dragon boat racing, who are too crowded, or who do not go to the city due to family matters, will most likely come to the market at this time to join in the fun.

Before entering the city, they would ask their friends who came to the city on the Dragon Boat Festival, how they played on the Dragon Boat Festival, and if they saw nothing new, they were not to be missed when they entered the city.

Those are the things that come and go in the town, and I don't have anything to recommend in normal times, but not this time.

"You have to try the iced drink, the sour plum soup and mung bean soup are five cents a piece, and what kind of milk tea is ten cents. Alas, I didn't bring much money, I only drank a cup of sour plum soup. It's cool, and now I think about it with strength!"

"Isn't it just sour plum soup, there are many people in the village who can cook it?"

"You don't understand this. Let's cook it by ourselves, put some black plums, and at least put some sugar. What's so good about the sour soup and less water? There are so many things on the other side, I can't tell you anyway. And you also know that my daughter-in-law is not in good health, and every year I have to faint for a while watching the dragon boat race. Thanks to the sour plum soup this morning, my daughter-in-law is not uncomfortable!

"That's good. My mother can't stand the heat. I'll take him to buy it tomorrow."

"Oh, it's a pity that I didn't drink that milk tea. I heard from the people next to me that it's fragrant and smooth, but it's expensive. I'll have to try it when I enter the city next time!"

After chatting, I have to tell people about other food in Shiweitian store.

Whether it's white noodles or red noodles, it's really affordable and delicious.

So the next day, Shiweitian's business fell a bit compared to the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, but it was also several times more popular than usual.

In particular, the takeaway department headed by Gu Ye also sold cold drinks near the temple fair, and then helped to promote food for the sky.

For seven consecutive days, Shiweitian's daily gross profit fluctuated between 12 to 15 taels.

After making a small profit, Gu Yin also gave every official employee in the store a tael of silver for the holiday, including Gu Ye, who was in charge of the takeaway department.

Everyone in the store was happy, but looking at Hanxiang Building and Wangyue Building, the atmosphere was not so good.

Both of them are ready to fight with all their strength, especially thinking about suppressing the budding Shiweitian.

As a result, Shi Weitian didn't want to make a Dragon Boat Festival gift box at all, and only the two of them were left to fight.

In the past few days, their gift boxes have been sold out, but because of the low price, there is not much profit at all.

Of course, the two of them had more guests than usual on the Dragon Boat Festival, but Hanshan Town is the largest town in the county, and there are really not many rich people in other places, so the business is 20% to 30% better than usual.

In order to attract VIPs who have deposited silver, the two companies have offered various discounts on ordering dishes, and they have already made a profit at a loss.

But they are both old-fashioned restaurants. The food for the sky is not stable and they do not participate in the war. The two have been at a stalemate, and the Dragon Boat Festival is still unable to decide the winner.

But when it comes to this, no one dares to hold back, nor can they hold back, they can only grit their teeth and endure it.

And Li Cheng, the junior manager of Wangyuelou, was also scolded by Wang Dafu because of this incident. In front of a group of buddies, he took away his job as a steward, and was reduced to an ordinary running second. Pointing at him, he scolded: "People Shiweitian didn't make a Dragon Boat Festival gift box at all. It's just that you are full of nonsense, and you tricked me into lowering the price of the gift box!"

If the price of the gift box is not reduced, how much more money can be made, Wang Dafu is heartbroken and dare not imagine!

Li Cheng accompanied the smiling face to beating and scolding, and assured: "This time it is indeed the little one who took the wrong wind. It's also the fault of the carpenter Feng who was cunning and deliberately induced the little one! Next time..."

Wang Dafu simply ignored him next time and let him go.

Then Li Cheng put the account on Gu Yin's head and waited for an opportunity to make it up.

On Shiweitian's side, because of the addition of a takeaway department headed by Gu Ye, very organized, and no one has to worry about it, Gu Yin is already thinking of other ways to make money.