"What are you making? Why do you have so many stoves here?" a customer buying tea eggs asked curiously, looking at their stall.

"We call this 'skewers hotpot,' which is the kind where you can get together with three or five friends to eat. The broth will be cooked beforehand, and you just need to sit around, order your food, and eat as you cook," Xi Chun quickly explained, seeing that someone was finally paying attention.

"Oh, is that so? Then I'll invite one or two friends to come and try it at noon." As soon as the man said that, Xichun quickly introduced him to the man.

"This is our first day of business, so if you spend ten coins, we'll deduct two coins. For example, if you spend twenty-one coins, we'll deduct four coins, so you'll only need to pay seventeen coins. We calculate by counting the skewer, with each skewer representing one coin. You can calculate for yourself how much you've spent."

"That sounds interesting, I'll come back later." It's still morning, and many people have to hurry to work after eating, so in the morning they only sell tea eggs and hot pot that's cooked before eating.

However, since they didn't sell staple foods, the families selling pancakes, steamed buns, and mantou around them could also sell their own things, which made Xichun's stall seem much more appealing to them.

Tea eggs do taste delicious, and many people have heard of them, so their tea eggs are the most popular.

After a morning of sales, quite a few were actually sold. However, many people had never heard of mala tang before, and only a few bought it out of curiosity.

As noon approached, Taozi kept staring in the direction the customer from that morning had gone, hoping he would actually come.

"Taozi, quickly shout out the slogan I taught you before. Maybe other people will come over. You need to be patient in doing business." Xichun reminded him, seeing his expression.

"Sister Xichun, I was wondering why no one is coming to eat your hot pot, which smells so good." Taozi was a little annoyed. He had seen that Xichun's stall was always busy with customers in town, so he thought that there would be a lot of people buying it today as well, but things didn't go as planned.

"Even the best wine needs to be advertised, which is why I have people shout it out more often. Maybe if someone hears it, they'll get interested and come over to try it."

"Yeah, you're in such a hurry, kid. Running a business isn't about standing here waiting for customers. You see how well our business is in town? That's because we've been around for a while and have a regular customer base. If running a business were that easy, what would we have to worry about? Maybe everyone would be doing it."

Seeing how anxious he was, Aunt Zhang gave him a gentle nudge.

Taozi was persuaded by the two and earnestly promoted the skewers hotpot. When he saw people who were watching, he would run up to them to introduce it. Xichun saw that this kid was indeed quick to learn.

After promoting it for a while, two customers who had come together finally became curious and decided to come and try it.

Taozi arranged a good spot for them, stirred the fire to get it burning, Xichun was in charge of preparing the soup base, and Aunt Zhang asked them to order the dishes.

"Is this just taken and put in this basket?" The guests had never seen this way of ordering before, and they found it quite novel, so they ordered quite a lot.

"Sir, you can simply put this skewer in the pot. Once it's cooked, you can use chopsticks to transfer it to your bowl and eat it." Taozi served them the whole time, showing them how to tell if it was cooked. The customers thought the young man was quite nice and were very satisfied.

The two had come out of curiosity, and after tasting the soup base, they found it particularly delicious. After finishing what they ordered, their stomachs were so full they were about to burst.

"We've finished eating, buddy. Can you help us check how much we spent?"

"Okay, I'll count them for you right away." Taozi had been trained by Xichun these past two days and knew how to count the sticks quickly, so he counted them in no time.

"The two of you used a total of fifty-eight sticks, which cost fifty-eight coins. Since we're opening today, we'll deduct two coins for every ten coins spent. So, you'll get a total discount of ten coins, which means you'll need to pay forty-eight coins in total."

Taozi wasn't very good at math, so he asked Xichun to come and settle the bill with the guests himself.

“Is that so? It seems like this meal was quite a good deal. Here’s forty-eight coins, boss, please check.” One of the diners nodded upon hearing the price. It came out to twenty-four coins each for the two of them. In a restaurant, two people wouldn’t be able to get so many different kinds of dishes for less than a hundred coins, so they were quite satisfied.

"Alright, welcome back next time. Our discount is valid for today and tomorrow. Please also recommend us to other diners." Xi Chun received the money and quickly counted it.

"Okay, I didn't expect you to be the boss, young lady. Not bad, the taste is really good, and the price is reasonable." The two left satisfied.

The guest who said he would come in the morning didn't arrive until the evening. He had some things to do at noon and only remembered when he was chatting with his friends in the afternoon. By the time he arrived, there were already two tables of guests eating.

"Welcome, sir! Are you here for our hot pot and skewers?" Taozi recognized the man as the one who had said he was coming that morning and went up to greet him.

"Hehe, young man, do you still have a seat? There are three of us." Seeing that the man still remembered him, the customer felt respected.

"Yes, yes, yes, this way, please come this way, all of you. Can you all handle spicy food?" Taozi asked skillfully.

"Yes, please serve us. By the way, do you still have any tea eggs? Give us one each, their tea eggs are really delicious." The last sentence was said to his friends.

"Yes, yes, please come over here. All our dishes are here. If you need anything, just take it here and put it in the basket. We'll cook it in the pot later."

It was already dark, and all three tables of customers had paid their bills and left. Xichun and her team decided to pack up and close up shop. Business seemed to have been pretty good today, and all three of them were a little tired.

"Sister Xichun, I didn't expect we'd be so tired with only three tables of guests. I thought I could handle five tables," Taozi chattered on the way home.

"Since we just opened, everyone doesn't know how to eat yet, so we naturally have to talk a lot and it will be a bit tiring. After a while, when everyone knows, it will be easier."

“Yes, Taozi, you should learn from your sister Xichun. You’re already tired after just one day. What will you do in the future? Think about how envious your friends in the village are of you.”

"Auntie, I think Taozi has already done a great job. Let's take it one step at a time." Seeing that Aunt Zhang was not satisfied with his performance, Xichun still tried to persuade him. After all, Taozi is a child who is suitable for encouragement and education. He should not be suppressed too much, otherwise he will lose his self-confidence. He has already done very well today.