Chapter 84 084 Braised Noodles in an Iron Pot [First Update]

The matter of expanding the store was not complicated. Qu Qingqing and her family quickly agreed after discussing it. She had originally planned to talk to the landlord, Yang Hong, about splitting off a storefront when the lease expired this year. Now, it was done a few months earlier. Wen's mother also expressed her willingness to compensate for the profits generated during the renovation and layout of the pharmacy.

Qu Qingqing agreed without hesitation, excitedly saying that she didn't need that much, half would be fine.

"I've been planning to renovate the shop for a while now, so I'm doing it all at once during this time."

The pharmacy had been open for seven or eight years, and the interior was quite outdated, with the counters warped and broken in various places. So, this time, we decided to replace everything.

After the agreement was reached with the Qu family, things became much easier for Yang Hong.

"No problem, you can discuss it and agree on the rent as usual."

As a landlord, she didn't have to worry about changing tenants, which was naturally very convenient. As a diner, she was also happy to see the Wen family expand their business.

"We should have bought more tables a long time ago."

In the summer, you can sit outside, but when it gets cold, the eight small tables inside can barely seat a few people. Add to that the riders picking up the food, and it's like a sardine can!

"How are you planning to renovate? Do you want me to find someone to help you?"

It's rare to see Yang Hong so enthusiastic.

Wen's mother said there was no need to look for one: "Qingqing's family also needs to renovate a pharmacy, so we can do it together."

This makes it faster.

Qu Qingqing quickly found a renovation team. They came, looked at the site, drew up plans, and said the work could be completed within a week.

Qu Qingqing's house needed a lot of renovations, so she simply posted a notice that the business was temporarily closed for renovations.

After careful consideration, Wen's mother decided to stop the business in the shop, but continue the business at the stall.

However, due to renovations at the store, the stall was moved to the side of the convenience store.

Yao Qingqin still eats three meals a day at fixed times: selling sesame seed cakes in the morning, sesame seed cakes with vegetables at noon, and fried food in the evening.

Wen's mother gave her a raise, and Yao Qingqin was full of enthusiasm.

Apart from mealtimes, Yao Qingqin updated the store's short video account with over a dozen videos.

Besides announcing the store's upgrades and the closure of dine-in and takeout services this week, she also filmed individual videos for each item. Yao Qingqin learned some video editing techniques and started filming from the very beginning, from cleaning the ingredients.

Take sesame seed cakes, for example. From washing the persimmons, peeling them and keeping the flesh, to kneading the dough and filling them, and finally wrapping them up and putting them in an electric griddle...

Aside from not filming the details of the ingredients, the entire production process is made into a video.

The previous buzz hadn't died down yet, and many people were a bit disappointed to see Wen Kee renovating at this crucial juncture. They reached out to Wen Kee's account to ask when they would reopen, but after clicking on the homepage for only a few seconds...

[Zoe: Ahhhhhh, give me a bite! I'll take anything!]

[XiXi: Please, stuff it in my mouth, stuff it in my mouth!]

[Tangyuan: I saw this at midnight, and I've lost all my strength and willpower.]

[An old friend listening to the wind: This looks awful. If it were, I'd eat it all!]

[AURO: ...Who placed this global targeted bet? Are you even human?]

[Hippopotamus: If I could have just a few bites of this, I'd be willing to drive luxury cars and live in villas every day!]

[Sexy Cockroach: It doesn't look appetizing at all, it just looks delicious. It's probably really awful... Give me a bite... lol. Actually, I don't really want any. I eat this all the time, it's nothing special. And you're such a good pretender... Please, just give me a bite!]

...

After a busy night, Yao Qingqin turned on her phone and was startled by a barrage of message notifications, thinking something terrible had happened.

When Yao Qingqin opened the backend, she almost stopped breathing.

Just as Yao's father and mother lay down that night, they heard their daughter suddenly scream.

Thinking something was wrong, Yao's mother patted her startled granddaughter and then went to knock on the door herself: "What's wrong?"

Yao Qingqin didn't even have time to put on her slippers before holding up her phone to show her parents.

"Dad, Mom, my video is trending!"

Wenji's account was originally a blank slate, and most of the videos Yao Qingqin posted before only had a few hundred views. But today, the kitchen cooking videos she posted each had hundreds of thousands of views!

Yao Qingqin's parents didn't understand what an account was, but they were genuinely happy for their daughter.

Mr. Yao even reached for his reading glasses, wanting to see more clearly.

"Very good!"

Yao Qingqin was so excited she couldn't sleep. She read through all the comments and decided to talk to Wen's mother the next day. It seemed like everyone really enjoyed watching cooking. She wondered if they could film the restaurant's kitchen in the future.

Wen's mother was shocked by the store's traffic and hesitated for a long time when she heard Yao Qingqin's suggestion.

In the end, the decision was left to the daughter.

After listening to what Yao Qingqin said, Wen Fan nodded indifferently.

"Boss, I'll cut out the crucial steps!"

Even the naive Yao Qingqin knew that good cooks were very wary of others stealing their techniques.

Wen Fan: "No need. If someone can learn it just by watching videos, that's their skill."

The culinary profession is never short of gifted individuals, but even a genius like her has put in countless hours of practice to master the fundamentals. If someone could truly recognize a skill at a glance, then it wouldn't matter whether that person secretly learned it or not.

Wen Fan's confidence gave Yao Qingqin a sudden boost of confidence as well. She organized her materials and then launched the store's new products.

Spicy beef rice noodles.

It must be said that compared to the steps involved in making sesame flatbread, the process of making spicy beef noodles is much more entertaining to watch.

Rice noodles are added to a bubbling pot of hot water, beef is quickly tossed up and down in a strainer to change color, and the spicy red broth seems to sizzle and make you stumble even through the phone...

The finished beef rice noodles come in a white porcelain bowl, with red oil beef and rice noodles soaking in the red oil. The beef slices and meatballs on top have a brownish texture from the meat. Wen Fan fried some dried chili peppers in the base as a decoration, and then garnished it with bright green scallions.

The comments section erupted into chaos once again.

[Sara: Posted at 9:30... Seriously, I feel like this world has played a trick on me.]

[Quiet: Good news, there's beef noodle delivery nearby. Bad news, it's raining heavily outside, so the delivery fee has gone up by fifteen yuan.]

[Momo: ...I ordered takeout, I hate you. You're not even open for business, you're just trying to seduce me!]

[Quiet: Okay, you paid fifteen yuan for delivery... are you happy now? You cold-hearted person.jpg]

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Am I the only one who noticed? The restaurant really puts in a lot of effort; the ingredients and meat are all high-quality. And speaking of which, daring to post a video like this shows that their kitchen staff truly have nothing to be ashamed of.]

[Ginger Cola: It just keeps popping up at night... I'm such a jerk, I can't sleep so I just keep looking at this.]

...

Yao Qingqin posted for three consecutive days, and more and more people gathered in the comment section.

Some people even update the store's renovation status in the comments section every day.

I was moving things today. The pharmacy next door was completely emptied out, and the shopkeeper even folded up all the tables and chairs.

They're painting the walls today, both rooms are being painted, and they're turning them so white!

A door was opened between the two rooms today.

【today……】

Today is Friday.

There was only a little finishing work left in the shop. After school, Wen Fan went to the shop for a quick look and found that his father had just bought groceries and was preparing to cook.

The construction team that Qu Qingqing found was not the kind of scattered, unorganized team, but the same team that her family had used when renovating their house before. The foreman was a short man who was over fifty years old and looked very capable.

This time, he took on two jobs at once. The work period was short and convenient. When he saw that Wen's father's place was a restaurant, he immediately offered to provide lunch and dinner for the workers to Wen's father.

"This way, we don't have to find someone to deliver the food anymore."

A worker gets a meal allowance of fifteen yuan, and Wen's father can't stay idle, feeling that this money is easy to earn.

Since I had nothing to do during the renovation period anyway, and I still had to come to the store every day, I might as well take this job.

Wen's father was an honest man. He cooked different dishes for several days in a row. He was skilled in cooking in the village and had cooked for construction sites before opening his own shop, so he was very familiar with the job.

Every day, the workers praised the meal, which included meat, vegetables, noodles, and steamed buns.

Mr. Wen got more and more enthusiastic as he worked. Tonight, he bought some pork rib noodles and pork belly to make braised noodles.

Wen Fan put down his schoolbag.

"I'll do it."

From yesterday to today, her midterm exams have finally arrived. After the exams, Wen Fan felt completely drained and desperately needed to cook to recharge.

Place the noodles in a steamer lined with an oiled cloth. Add some cooking oil to the noodles and stir to prevent them from sticking together.

Blanch the pork ribs, then caramelize them with sugar and add seasonings and Shaoxing wine. Add less rock sugar, more star anise and Sichuan peppercorns, and two-tenths more salt than usual. Simmer the pork ribs in an iron pot over high heat until the meat and bones can be easily separated with a pinch. Then add the steamed noodles to the pot, mix well, and simmer over high heat until the sauce thickens and the noodles are flavorful.

The foreman was directing the workers to install doors and windows, and the aroma of braised noodles wafted over.

"Old Wen, why does it smell so good today..."

The workers whispered among themselves and unconsciously quickened their pace.

Soon, the doors and windows of the Wen family's house were all repaired, and the roller shutter door at the entrance was also installed.

The foreman clapped his hands and went to find Wen's mother to come and see: "Once your tables, chairs, and benches arrive tomorrow, and this glass window is delivered, everything will be fine."

Now that there are two shops, Mrs. Wen had the workers open a door in the middle so that customers can sit in both. Mrs. Wen also replaced the tables, chairs and benches in the shops.

They sold the old tables and chairs to secondhand dealers and then bought even bigger ones.

The secondhand dealer sighed for a while when he saw Wen's mother selling things. He thought Wen's mother's shop was an exception, but it turned out that it had also gone out of business... No way!

The secondhand dealer stared in disbelief as Wen's mother sold the old items and then started looking at the new ones.

Wen's mother bought eight larger tables and chairs. Although the quantity remained the same, each table was obviously a bit bigger.

Mrs. Wen placed four tables in each room, and didn't put any more tables in the remaining space. Instead, she had the workers build a row of long tables facing the wall. The long tables could seat twenty people, which helped to alleviate the flow of customers in the shop.

At the entrance, Wen's mother had a table made specifically for placing takeout orders. Next to the table was a soup bucket where the store's free soup was kept. There were also two stools nearby for the delivery riders to rest occasionally.

With the kitchen expanded, Wen's mother completely separated the stoves for making rice and noodles from those for stir-frying other dishes. The original storefront housed rice, noodles, and braised dishes. The new storefront kitchen was dedicated to stewing soups and stir-frying. Wen's mother specially ordered several shelves and stainless steel countertops to store Wen Fan's sauces and jars.

Looking from the kitchen to the front, Mrs. Wen confirmed that everything was almost done and nodded in satisfaction: "Then we'll have to trouble you again tomorrow when the glass windows are delivered."

Since the two kitchens couldn't be connected, Wen's mother came up with a solution by adding a glass window in the middle so that people on both sides could see each other.

This is the only minor flaw.

However, Mr. Wen thought it was a good idea: "Xiao Fan needs a lot of seasonings and also needs to taste the dishes, so we really need to set aside a separate room for her."

The old kitchen was too small; there wasn't even enough space to separate the stove. Now, everything in the new storefront's kitchen is prepared according to Wen Fan's habits. Wen's mother is even considering when to move the fruit wine from home over, since there's enough room anyway.

Ms. Wen is very satisfied with the newly renovated storefront and is just waiting for it to air out a bit more before it can be officially opened for use next Monday.

After a long day of work, the foreman and workers would immediately wash their hands and prepare for dinner.

"Old Wen, what did you make today that smells so good?"

Father Wen carried a large iron pot, which was placed on the table with a rag underneath.

"Braised noodles in an iron pot".

Thin, flat noodles, steamed noodles with stir-fried green beans, bean sprouts, and bok choy in the middle, and slices of pork belly stir-fried until fragrant at the bottom of the pot. Ribs are flipped up from the bottom of the pot. The ribs that Wen's father bought are all large pieces, with a little tendon and fat still attached. A big pot of meaty and oily broth, sprinkled with some minced garlic when it's done, looks incredibly tempting.

The workers twitched their noses and immediately began serving rice in large bowls.

The braised noodles were a little salty, but the workers thought it was just right. Wen's father also made a large pot of seaweed and egg soup, and they ate a bite of noodles and a sip of soup.

The braised noodles soaked up the broth, and the steamed noodles were exceptionally flavorful. The group of people ate until they were reluctant to leave.

"Boss, how about I come tomorrow?"

Wenji's shop doesn't need many people anymore; tomorrow, just two people will be enough to finish the rest of the work.

Originally, this matter was insignificant; after all, it doesn't matter which construction site you go to.

The foreman is a decent person, and he has a long line of orders, so he's never short of work.

Many workers also dislike doing the finishing touches because if they encounter difficult customers, they will still complain after the final inspection, asking for things like drilling another hole or installing a light bulb.

But now...

The worker licked his lips: "I'm not afraid of tedious work, I'll do it!"

He wants more of this delicious braised noodles in an iron pot!

"What are you doing here? You said I was coming!"

"You are not as meticulous as I am."

"Nonsense! How am I not meticulous?"

Seeing the workers start arguing, the foreman finished his soup and wiped his mouth.

"Stop arguing, I'll do it!"