As soon as the morning bell rang, Pei Che boarded the carriage with the food Jiang Miao had prepared for him. Jiang Miao was going to the shop, so he took a ride.
Pei Che looked at the oil paper package in his hand. Inside were two large steamed buns cut in half, with meat sauce spread on the buns and a fried egg sandwiched in between. He took a tentative bite and found that it tasted pretty good.
"What's this called?" Pei Che had eaten steamed buns before, but never this kind.
Jiang Miao was also eating. When he heard him ask, he said, "It's probably a Chinese hamburger." Or maybe roujiamo
"This name is really weird and not nice to hear." Pei Che shook his head and took another big bite.
"As long as it tastes good, who cares what it's called?" Jiang Miao was casual about the name; what he cared about was the taste of the food.
"How can you be so perfunctory?" Pei Che disagreed. He had been to many restaurants where the names of the dishes were very elegant, making people want to try them.
"Then let's call it steamed bun with egg." Jiang Miao came up with a simple and crude name.
Pei Che choked, finally realizing that he couldn't persuade Jiang Miao in this regard, so he had to finish the food in his hand silently.
When he finished eating, they arrived at Jiang's shop. When Jiang Miao got off the car, Pei Che lifted the curtain and took a look. He found that the shop was quite distinctive after being renovated by Jiang Miao. Among the many shops around, this one was the most eye-catching.
"Okay, let's go." Jiang Miao waited for a while, but didn't see the carriage leave, so he stepped forward to urge them. After he finished speaking, he remembered something else and quickly told Pei Che, "Wait, when you return to the Imperial College, remember to explain to your teacher. If he wants to criticize you, let him say a few words and be nicer."
Pei Che raised his lips and chuckled: "Don't worry, I will take care of it, you go in first." Jiang Miao's worried look made him feel very useful, and it was worth his trip. The previous incident was hanging in his mind, making him a little absent-minded when studying.
Jiang Miao watched Pei Che's carriage leave, then walked to the back door of the shop from the side aisle. He just raised his hand and knocked on the door, and it opened.
"Boss, you are here!"
Jiang Miao looked at Li Ping and found that he was neatly dressed and did not look like he had just gotten up. Then he looked again and saw smoke rising from the kitchen, and they had already started fighting.
"You got up early enough. You can sleep a little longer next time." Jiang Miao said with a smile.
"I started at this time too when I was at home." Li Ping smiled shyly. Jiang Miao also noticed that of the two employees he recruited, Tang Lin was the more extroverted.
As they were talking, there was another knock on the door. Jiang Miao thought it was Tang Lin, but he didn't expect it was Aunt Wen.
"Aunt Wen, why are you here so early? It's okay if you come later next time." Jiang Miao quickly let the person in, introduced the two to each other, and then walked towards the kitchen together.
The kitchen in this courtyard was not very big to begin with, so Jiang Miao had a small utility room next to it opened up and expanded to become part of the kitchen, which made the kitchen much more spacious. Jiang Miao had two more stoves built, which would make it more convenient for steaming or boiling.
Aunt Wen was indeed a quick-witted person, and she did her work in an orderly manner. The kitchen, which was originally a bit messy, immediately looked much cleaner after she cleaned it up. After cleaning up, she took another look, brought the vegetables that Jiang Miao bought to the well, and began to wash them.
When Zhou Lin came, he saw her washing vegetables in the yard at first sight. At that time, he thought he had walked into the wrong door. Jiang Miao was a little amused after hearing what he said. It was obviously Aunt Wen who was recommended to him, but he didn't expect that he had only heard of her and had never even seen her.
After a while of work, Daniu arrived just as the door was about to open. After a quick breakfast, everyone was ready after yesterday's busy schedule. With more people, they were not as flustered as they were yesterday.
Most of the customers who came here had eaten here yesterday, that is, they were repeat customers. They were a little disappointed when they heard that tea eggs would not be served today, but this did not affect their coming in to order food.
Shopkeeper Zhang and Shopkeeper Zhong came again today, but they ordered the opposite of each other. Yesterday, they saw each other eating so deliciously that they couldn't help but be greedy for the food in each other's bowl.
Customers came in an endless stream and the food in the store sold very quickly. After the meals, there was a pile of dishes, which were all sent to the backyard by Daniu for Aunt Wen to clean.
Jiang Miao was busy in the kitchen, and he also took the time to pay attention to the number of each food sold. Yesterday's lean meat porridge didn't sell well, but today's sweet porridge sold well. It seems that there are still many people who like sweet food in Liangjing City. What Jiang Miao found most strange was those who ordered sweet porridge but also asked for side dishes. One bite sweet and one bite salty, how can this be delicious? But this is the customer's own choice, and he has nothing to say.
You don't feel the passage of time when you are busy. When Jiang Miao realized that it was already dawn, several hours had passed since he opened the door to do business.
The things in the kitchen have almost been sold out. What they prepared yesterday was about twice as much as the day before, but it was still sold out.
Jiang Miao counted the money he had earned, calculated some profits and losses, and felt relieved. If things continued to develop at this rate, he would be able to make a lot of money a month in addition to the rent and costs.
Jiang Miao happily took out the reserved copper coins, then poured the rest into the bag and hid it in the room. You must be on guard against others. Li Ping looks honest, but they have not been together for a long time, and no one can guarantee that he will not have bad intentions.
In the evening, Jiang Miao told them that he would come to the shop later tomorrow and asked them to open the shop after they were ready. Of course, they had no objection. The shop belonged to them, so they could come whenever they wanted.
Jiang Miao had a reason to go later. The next morning, he found Old Man Ding's home according to the address he had revealed before. He had planned to ask Old Man Ding about tofu pudding and soy milk, but who knew that Old Man Ding had not set up a stall at the original place these days, so he had no choice but to come to their house.
"Young man, who are you looking for?" There was a knock on the door. The person inside came out to open the door and found that it was a young man he didn't know. He couldn't help but feel a little strange.
Jiang Miao smiled and asked, "Auntie, is this Uncle Ding's home? My name is Jiang Miao, and I used to run a stall with him."
Before Jiang Miao could continue to introduce himself, the old woman looked at him with a look of sudden enlightenment: "So you are Brother Jiang, please come in. My family often talks about you. They say that your casual words have brought a new livelihood to our family, and our products are selling very well."
"Uncle Ding, you are too polite. Your tofu pudding is delicious. But since business is good, why haven't you come out to set up a stall these days?"
The old woman looked sad when she heard this. "Alas, he is also unlucky. On his way back from setting up his stall that day, he encountered a pothole on the road and accidentally stepped into it, spraining his ankle. He has been staying at home these days."
Jiang Miao hurriedly asked with concern: "Is Uncle Ding okay? I didn't know about this and I came here empty-handed." He was a little embarrassed.
The old woman smiled and said, "Now he can get out of bed. He should be well again soon. It's good that you can come and see him. Come in and sit down."
Jiang Miao followed her inside and saw Uncle Ding sitting in the yard basking in the sun. The sun was gentle in late March and it didn't make people feel uncomfortable.
When Old Man Ding saw Jiang Miao, his originally depressed spirits suddenly perked up.
"Brother Jiang, why are you here? Old lady, quickly bring some sweet water to Brother Jiang!"
"Uncle Ding, you don't have to be so polite. I came here today because I wanted to ask you to help me and ask if I could buy some tofu pudding and soy milk from your daughter. But you are not able to move around easily now, so I'll just wait a little longer." In fact, there was also dried tofu. Jiang Miao bought dried tofu from someone nearby for convenience, but it didn't taste chewy or fragrant.
"It's not inconvenient. I'll ask my wife to go to her house and tell her. I'll ask them to send it to you tomorrow as much as you want."
"This... Since you put it that way, I won't say much. Bring me one bucket of tofu pudding and soy milk every day, and ten kilograms of dried tofu."
This was a big deal, and Old Man Ding was so happy that he repeatedly made the decision for his daughter to take over the business. Jiang Miao told Old Man Ding the location of the Jiang family shop and asked him to deliver the goods there when the time came.
After Jiang Miao left, Old Man Ding was filled with regret. Jiang Miao and he had once set up a stall together, and in a blink of an eye, they even opened a shop. At that time, he felt that this Jiang was a very capable man.
The next day, someone really came with a donkey cart and unloaded these things in Jiang's shop. The dried tofu was too late to be used today, but the tofu pudding and soy milk were still hot. Jiang Miao put these two things in the most conspicuous place and asked Tang Lin to mention it when he greeted the guests.
The tofu pudding can be salty or sweet, depending on your taste. Jiang Miao secretly observed and found that among the customers who came to their store, more people seemed to eat sweet tofu pudding. If a salty or sweet contest was held here, I wonder if the sweet party would win.
The tofu pudding was pretty good, but the soy milk was pathetic in comparison. It was just a bowl of water, and few customers were willing to order it.
Jiang Miao thought about it, kneaded some dough, made some fried dough sticks, and threw them into a pot filled with oil to fry. The fried dough sticks have hardly been sold in the past few days, mainly because Jiang Miao didn't make them. This thing consumes oil, if it doesn't sell well, it will be a waste. Now that the soy milk has arrived, it's time for the old partner to come on stage.
The fried golden and crispy dough sticks were placed on trays and brought to the hall. Immediately, a customer smelled the fragrance and expressed his desire to buy one.
Jiang Miao said, "Would you like to have a bowl of soy milk? I heard that fried dough sticks and soy milk together are more delicious."
The customer was skeptical. He had never seen fried dough sticks before, so he didn't know who Jiang Miao heard it from. He looked at the price tag next to it and found that the two items together were not expensive, so he ordered one.
The fried dough sticks were crispy and crumbs fell off when bitten. They were delicious. After taking a few bites, the customer drank a sip of soy milk and found that the greasiness of the fried dough sticks was washed away by the soy milk, leaving his mouth full of sweetness, which made him linger in the aftertaste.
Seeing him eating like this, other customers ordered the same thing and started eating. In less than half an hour, the tray of fried dough sticks was sold out.
Jiang Miao returned to the kitchen and started kneading dough and frying dough sticks...
(End of this chapter)