Chapter 75 The Boss Throws People Away
Xiao Cheng's deep eyes were as cold as an icy pool, and his tone was unapproachable: "If you don't know your place again, don't come back."
Wang Cuihua's smile froze.
It felt like being doused with a bucket of cold water from head to toe, chilling you to your very heels, as if you had fallen into an ice cave. Your whole body stiffened, and the hands gripping the bicycle handlebars were gradually covered in frost.
Ever since she married Xiao Zhongbiao, she knew that Xiao Cheng was the leader of their little group.
He is cold-hearted, ruthless, and cruel, but he rarely speaks, doesn't like to talk to outsiders, and can't be bothered to even glance at the petty gossip between women.
Not to mention, he would say something to her that was unprecedented and sounded like he was kicking her out.
After saying that, they didn't leave, as if they were trying to shoo them away.
Wang Cuihua felt that Xiao Cheng wasn't trying to get rid of her, at least not out of respect for his deceased brother Xiao Zhongbiao.
She must have arrived too early and disturbed him and Bai... Xiao Wei's breakfast.
"I remembered there's still porridge cooking on the stove at home, but the fire hasn't been lit yet. It's probably boiling by now. I need to go back and check on it. I'll come back to find Bailu later..."
Wang Cuihua hurriedly finished explaining and left.
She pushed her brand-new old-fashioned bicycle so fast it looked like a ghost was chasing her.
Xiao Cheng turned to close the door when a small figure carrying a schoolbag rushed over and squeezed out through the gap in the door, which was still half closed. The figure didn't dare to look up at him, but kept its head down as it ran out, greeting him as it went.
"I'm going to school."
The last notes drifted further and further away with the sound of small footsteps.
Just as he was about to close the door, footsteps sounded in the courtyard again, and Xiao Cheng raised his eyes slightly.
A girl with long hair tied in a low bun, wearing a sky-blue apron, hurried out of the kitchen carrying a spatula, found a large basket in the hallway, and carried it back.
Before long, the kitchen echoed with the sounds of spatulas, sand, and chestnuts clattering and being stirred, and the chestnuts and sand being sifted through a large strainer and falling into different large baskets.
The door slowly closed, blocking all view. Xiao Cheng turned and walked out, his eyes lowered in thought.
When Wang Cuihua came to Bai Lu's house again, it was almost noon. She had eaten lunch before coming.
Knocking on the door, a sweet, caramelized aroma wafted out, and once inside, the entire courtyard was filled with the fragrance, as if one were immersed in a pile of roasted chestnuts.
Sweet but not cloying, with a rich caramel flavor.
Wang Cuihua couldn't help but swallow her saliva at the smell, and couldn't resist taking one to try and satisfy her appetite.
But remembering what happened that morning, I held back my anger.
Bai Lu sat down on the old wooden chair next to the large basket, shook her hands lightly, and patted her aching right arm with her left hand and her aching left arm with her right hand.
Seeing Wang Cuihua standing in front of four large baskets filled with roasted chestnuts, looking left and right, unsure which basket to choose, as if she would suffer a loss if she made the wrong choice.
“Take the leftmost basket. That basket only weighs fifty jin, while the other three baskets weigh seventy jin each. Since it’s your first day setting up a stall, the sooner you sell out, the sooner you can go home.”
Upon hearing this unfair distribution, Wang Cuihua immediately protested: "Why can't I take seventy jin?"
“There are three baskets of roasted chestnuts weighing seventy jin there. Aunt Wu can’t sell that many. There are also cheaper roasted chestnuts from Li Shuixian’s family in town that are competing with her business. If we leave so many for Aunt Wu, wouldn’t it be a waste if she can’t sell them all?”
“It would be better to give me a basket of seventy catties. Aunt Wu wants two baskets of seventy catties each, and one basket of fifty catties. I will go to Dashi Town next door to sell them. People there have never eaten roasted chestnuts before, so the business will definitely be good. I will definitely sell them out faster than Aunt Wu.”
Today is the auspicious day for the opening of the third sales channel for roasted chestnuts, and Bailu doesn't want to say anything unlucky that might bring bad fortune.
She said calmly, "Fifth Aunt's basket weighs seventy jin, yours weighs fifty jin, and the other two baskets weighing seventy jin each are for Yu Fugui. Yu Fugui has already placed a large number of orders in the city."
Two baskets weighing 140 jin (approximately 60 kg) are still not enough.
Aunt Wu's order quantity was not just this much. After finishing her meal, Bailu still had to pick up the pomelos and keep working hard.
Otherwise, Aunt Wu will run out of stock this afternoon.
During the Qingming Festival, Wen Xiuyun and Yu Fugui each accumulated hundreds of kilograms of orders. It has to be said that the purchasing power of their customers over the past ten years is truly impressive.
Wang Cuihua felt that Bai Lu was biased towards Fifth Aunt and Yu Fugui, and that she wouldn't let her make a lot of money on the very first day.
Regardless of anything else, he carried a basket of 70 jin (35 kg) of roasted chestnuts and ran outside without saying a word.
She is usually weak and pitiful, needing help with everything, but when it comes to snatching things, she runs faster than a young man.
They even solemnly made a promise—
"Bai Lu, don't worry, I'll definitely sell them all faster than Aunt Wu. It's only seventy catties of roasted chestnuts, I can earn all the money before the sun goes down!"
Before he finished speaking, the man had already ridden away on his old-fashioned bicycle, with a large basket on the back seat, and it seemed to have sprouted wings.
Bai Lu was too lazy to chase after them, so she got up and went to the woodshed to continue bringing out chestnuts to roast for gold coins.
Yesterday, when Xiao Cheng went to the countryside to exchange chestnuts, she and Xiao Wei emptied and cleaned the woodshed.
This space is used to store the chestnuts that Xiao Cheng brought back, and will serve as a dedicated storage space for chestnuts in the future.
Xiao Cheng brought back six cartloads of chestnuts, filling the woodshed to the brim; as far as the eye could see, there were only small brown hills.
Bai Lu squatted on the ground, holding a small iron shovel about the size of a face, and poured chestnuts into a bamboo basket one scoop at a time.
At this moment, she missed the powerful boss with amazing arm strength who had roasted seventy catties of sugar-roasted chestnuts for her early in the morning and only left after being interrupted by a knock on the door.
Because of the surge in supply, she took out the spare pot that the original owner had left behind in the corner of the woodshed, which had never been used, cleaned it, and started cooking in both pots at the same time.
Xiao Cheng not only possesses amazing arm strength, but he can also stir-fry two pots of chestnuts at the same time, and he can reasonably allocate the most suitable intervals for stir-frying time, so that the pot never burns once from beginning to end.
The chestnuts were so delicious when they came out of the pot that even the neighbor's kid was drooling.
Unlike her, who messed up her first two attempts at cooking.
Those sugar-roasted...charred chestnuts were so burnt that you couldn't even pry them off the wall.
Fortunately, Bailu knew her own limitations. She didn't cook much in the double wok on her first try, but the old hen in the backyard was kind enough to eat it and devoured all the burnt chestnuts for her.
Otherwise, she herself would not be able to forgive herself for the heinous crime of wasting food... The elderly people living in the countryside still rely on chestnuts for their three meals a day.
How many people still don't have enough to eat...?
"White Dew".
The courtyard gate was not closed, but only slightly ajar. Wen Xiuyun knocked three times lightly, greeted the gatekeeper, and then entered.
Yu Fugui followed closely behind.
Seeing the three large baskets of roasted chestnuts still steaming with a warm, caramelized aroma in the yard, both of them beamed with joy.
Bai Lu only stir-fried two batches of 10-jin (5 kg) this time. She doesn't have the strength to stir-fry two batches of 25-jin (12.5 kg) for now, so she needs to take a break.
Take the twenty jin of chestnuts that have just been separated from the winnowing basket and move them out into a fifty-jin large basket.
"Fifth Aunt, Uncle Fugui, you should take these roasted chestnuts to pay for the order first. All three baskets weigh seventy catties each. I'll roast a little more this afternoon."
(End of this chapter)
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