A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Miao began to doubt his life. They were supposed to debut as a group, but why did Douhua go solo
Among the customers who came and went, most of them only bought tofu pudding. They would rather go farther to buy sesame seed cakes and steamed buns to eat with it than buy the buns from his stall.
This puzzled Jiang Miao. He looked around and came to a conclusion that it was probably because his steamer was not opened that people could not smell the fragrance. So he opened the lid of the steamer a little to let the fragrance of the buns float into people's noses.
This method really worked. People walking on the street smelled the salty and fresh smell and looked for the source. But those who found his stall, looked at him a few times, and then left decisively.
Jiang Miao touched his face, thinking, with a serious expression. Oh no, everyone must have recognized the original owner. The buns made by the original owner were not delicious, and everyone automatically avoided risks after being fooled. Even if the buns smelled delicious, they still didn't dare to buy them.
He thought about it and asked the old man next to him to help look after him. He turned and went into the alley. When he came out, half of his face was covered with a cloth.
He stood back beside the stall as if nothing had happened, and before long, a customer came in. This was a fat man, and everyone knew that he was the owner of the grain store in front. His surname was Wang, and he had no other hobbies except eating. All the vendors on the street had done business with him.
"Oh, these buns smell good." Shopkeeper Wang walked to the stall and sniffed hard. Yes, that was the smell he smelled just now. He looked at Jiang Miao for a few times and guessed that he was dressed like this because he was afraid of catching a cold. In winter, people often dress like this.
"Not only does it smell good, it tastes even better. Would you like to have two to try?" Jiang Miao was very enthusiastic. If the business was not opened well, the whole day would be unlucky.
"How much is one?" When doing business with people he is not familiar with, Shopkeeper Wang is very cautious and will never buy anything without asking the price.
Jiang Miao already knew the price. The buns on the market were smaller than his, and they were divided into vegetarian and meat fillings. The vegetarian ones cost three cents for two, and the meat ones cost five cents for two, and the meat fillings were not pure meat.
His steamed buns were bigger than others, and they also had dried shrimps in them, so they should be sold for at least two cents each, right? So he just opened his mouth and said, "Two cents each."
When Shopkeeper Wang heard this, he laughed angrily: "This isn't stuffed with meat, so why are you selling it so expensively? Don't other people sell two for three cents?"
Jiang Miao had a look on his face that said, "You don't know this." He opened the steamer and pointed at the big white buns inside and said, "Look, uncle. Other people's buns are bigger than mine, and they smell as fragrant. I spent a lot of money just on the seasoning for these buns. To be honest, at two cents a piece, I'm still losing money!"
The aroma of the buns filled his nose, and it was much more tempting than when it was only opened a little. Shopkeeper Wang saw that the buns were indeed large, so he didn't save a penny and said directly: "Then give me two first. If they don't taste good, there will be no next time."
Jiang Miao took out the prepared oil paper and put two in it and handed it over. He took the money and smiled: "I promise you will come back to me next time after you eat it."
Shopkeeper Wang picked up the bun, blew on it, put it to his mouth and took a bite. He tasted the rich soup with just one bite. He took another bite and the radish inside was sweet and lifeless, with a salty fragrance in the middle. The fine granular texture made the bun taste even better.
He didn't care about the heat and ate the bun in three or two bites. Only after he finished eating did he utter two words, "Delicious!"
After eating two buns and satisfying his craving a little, Shopkeeper Wang was no longer in a hurry. He sat down at the stall next to him and asked Old Man Ding to make him a bowl of hot tofu pudding. Then he ordered two more buns and started to eat them happily.
Jiang Miao, who had already received eight cents, suddenly became more confident and stood up straighter.
Someone who knew Manager Wang saw how happily he was eating and followed his example, ordering a few buns and a bowl of tofu pudding to start eating.
People tend to follow the crowd, and all of a sudden, more and more people came to the bun stall, with one bun coming after another. Soon, all the more than 30 buns in the first layer of steamers were sold out.
Shopkeeper Wang had already eaten and drunk his fill. He wiped his mouth, came to Jiang Miao and asked, "Young man, will you come again tomorrow?"
Jiang Miao was busy picking up the buns and collecting money, but he still found time to answer him: "Yes, I will be here every day from now on."
"That's good, there's one more place to eat. They all make buns, but yours is much better than the young man in front. His buns are terrible! But I haven't seen him in the past few days. I guess he changed his career." Shopkeeper Wang had only eaten it once and could not forget the taste. He still feels a little disgusted when he mentions it now.
Jiang Miao was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and even wanted to tear the cloth off his face to show him.
The big steamer has three layers, and when the third layer was half sold, the neighbors in the yard came over. They had planned to come early in the morning to support Jiang Miao, but they didn't expect his business to be so good. They made so many buns yesterday, but they were almost sold out.
When Jiang Miao saw them coming, he smiled and said he would treat them to a meal, but was pushed away by Aunt Liu.
"You shamelessly ate for free yesterday, but today you've already opened your shop, so why should I treat you?"
Others didn't want it either. After a few words, they each paid for the buns and left. After they left, there were only two buns left in the steamer. Old man Ding, who was selling tofu pudding next to him, had been smelling it all morning and couldn't help but say he wanted to buy one to try.
Jiang Miao generously packed one and sent it over, saying he would treat him. Old man Ding felt a little embarrassed and made a bowl of tofu pudding and sent it over.
Only when there is give and take can the relationship last long. If there is no give and take, there will be no more exchanges after two or three times at most. Jiang Miao finished drinking with the remaining bun, washed it in the bucket beside him, and sent the bowl back. After saying hello to Old Man Ding, he went back with his burden on his shoulder.
At this time, it was just dawn.
After returning to his residence, he pulled out the small drawer for collecting money from his shoulder pole. It was filled with copper coins, both new and old, which looked particularly endearing in Jiang Miao's eyes.
He dumped them all out on the table, counting out those he had brought in the morning and then arranging them in piles of ten.
The total amount was 184 copper coins! Jiang Miao was very happy, but when he finished the account, his face drooped again.
The flour used to make these buns weighed about six catties. According to the market price he had inquired about two days ago, good flour cost seven cents per catty, and inferior flour cost five cents. The original owner bought inferior flour, so he spent thirty cents.
Among the fillings, radish was not expensive, a basket cost only seven coins, and one coin could buy more than a pound. Dried shrimp was more expensive, and he spent twenty coins on that, but he didn't put all of it in, so he spent about ten coins at a time.
Thirteen spices cost about ten cents each time, and the other oil, salt, green onion and ginger together cost about four cents each time, not counting other expenses. This alone cost 61 cents. In other words, one-third of the cost was gone, and he didn't even count the labor, otherwise he would make even less.
But today he was just testing the waters. If he sold more tomorrow, he would make more money. After figuring it out, Jiang Miao took the jar out, counted out a hundred coins and saved them, and put the rest outside to spend.
Jiang Miao was thinking about what he wanted to buy, and after he figured out what he wanted to buy, he went out with the basket. When he locked the door, Jiang Miao suddenly felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. When he walked to the side door, he realized, where is his fish? Where is such a big fish? !
He hurried back to the eaves and looked at the rope hanging in the air. There was only a fish's mouth hanging on it.
Stolen? Why didn't they take the rope with them instead of pulling it off
Suddenly, Jiang Miao thought of the fat cat in the yard. Maybe that guy was the thief. Sure enough, he walked under the jujube tree and saw a fish skeleton and torn pieces of meat underneath.
Jiang Miao looked around and finally found the thieving cat on the roof of the east wall. It lay there lazily, licking its paws from time to time. After noticing Jiang Miao's sight, it called "meow" softly, as if to greet him, without any awareness of being discovered by the victim as a thief.
Aunt Bai was sitting under the eaves of the main house picking vegetables. When she saw this, she asked him, "Brother Jiang, what happened to the cat?"
Jiang Miao said: "The cat stole my fish, but it's also my fault. If I hang the fish outside at night, how can I avoid attracting cats?"
Mrs. Bai smiled and pointed at the cat and said, "This bad thing is not usually so greedy. Maybe it's because it's pregnant recently and can't eat enough, so it wants to eat fish. It's the cat of the Li family next door, named Dahua. Because it's good at catching mice, the nearby families don't drive it away, so it always comes to visit."
Jiang Miao suddenly realized. No wonder. If he hadn't seen it often, he would not have ignored the cat and would have hung the fish outside.
"I'll talk to Aunt Li later and ask her to compensate you with a fish." Aunt Bai decided to seek justice for him.
Jiang Miao waved his hands quickly, "No, no, this is my own fault, how can I blame it on others?"
After saying that, he shouted to the cat on the wall: "Dahua, you ate my fish, so you have to catch the mice in my house as well." Ever since he saw the mice, he hasn't slept well for the past few nights.
Aunt Bai was so amused by the childish behavior that she couldn't straighten her back. Jiang Miao didn't care. He just said hello and went out.
He first walked towards the west city gate, where there was a lot of firewood for sale, including bundles of thatch and loads of firewood.
Jiang Miao picked a big brother with a dark red face and looked the most kind and spoke to him: "Big brother, how much do you sell your firewood for?"
The elder brother was a little embarrassed, rubbed his hands, and said, "This firewood is drier than others, and can burn more easily. It costs twenty-two cents a load."
Jiang Miao bent down and took out two of them to see that they were indeed dried in the sun as he said. Moreover, his load was a little higher than others, so it didn't matter if he earned a few more cents.
"I want this load. Big brother, please help me carry it to the corner of Tianshui Lane, Yifong Street. There is a small path leading inside. Then wait for me for a moment, okay?" Jiang Miao was not familiar with him, so naturally he could not pay first. If they had more dealings in the future, he could do this.
When the man saw that he didn't bargain, he was delighted and said it was okay, then he carried his load and walked over there.
Jiang Miao also quickened his pace to buy other things. He first went to the morning market and bought some radishes, and then went to Manager Wang's shop and bought ten kilograms of flour.
When he got home, the man had been sitting outside the side door for a while.
"Thank you for waiting, big brother. I'll pay you right away." Jiang Miao opened the door and waited for him to bring in the firewood and unload it in the yard, then he counted out twenty-two copper coins and handed them to him.
"It's no problem." The man took the copper coins, counted them, put them carefully in his arms, picked up the empty load and prepared to leave.
Jiang Miao quickly called out to him, "Big brother, please wait a moment."
The man stopped and looked back at him with some confusion.
"I run a small business, and I usually use a lot of firewood. I think this load will be burned in a few days." Jiang Miao explained. He didn't want to run to the West Gate to buy firewood every few days. "Can you send me a load every... six days?"
Jiang Miao quickly estimated how many days the firewood could be used and proposed a long-term transaction.
The man showed a touch of joy on his face and quickly agreed. He was always a bad talker, and usually he had to stand there for half a day before he could sell a load of firewood. Sometimes people would pick and choose and bargain for him. He didn't expect that today, he could get a long-term business.
Jiang Miao finalized the deal with him, and after happily watching him leave, he began to move the firewood piled in the yard in. It was a mistake, he should have asked Brother Hu to help him carry it in.
"Brother Jiang, did you buy firewood?" At this moment, Aunt Liu had just moved a bench out and sat outside mending clothes. Seeing Jiang Miao busy moving firewood into the house, she asked.
"Yes, steaming buns costs a lot of firewood, so I have to buy more and keep them."
"It's a nice day today, why don't you get some sun?"
"No, I've seen his firewood, it's very dry."
"It's good to have seen it. You don't know. The other day, Wang's daughter-in-law was fooled by someone. She bought half a load of firewood and brought it home. When she burned it, it smoked. When she looked closely, it turned out to be wet firewood. Now, every time she lights a fire, her mother-in-law sits at the door and scolds her, making the neighbors laugh at her..."
Aunt Liu shared the latest gossip with Jiang Miao, who listened with great interest and commented from time to time, coaxing Aunt Liu to tell him a lot of gossip.
(End of this chapter)