Chapter 51 Chapter 51 Hot Sale. (Second Update)...
The clamor in the shop's main hall carried all the way into the kitchen. Lin Zhi heard it clearly, feeling both angry and amused. A moment later, Lin Sen entered the kitchen, his hands behind his back, and said with a cheeky grin, "We sold twenty boxes of Chongyang cakes! Not bad!"
Lin Zhi was silent for a moment: "...It's really good."
She no longer thought about why the development of her business was so strange - the hot-selling roast duck became the Chongyang cake topping for duck blood rice noodle soup. Haha, even if the braised duck head also ushered in a buying frenzy, it would not change her at all.
Linzhi paused at this thought, wondering if she had set a precedent for something truly remarkable. She reached out to brush away the blood foam that had floated to the surface, scooped out the cooked duck blood for later use, and expertly ladled out bowls of duck blood rice noodle soup, placing them on a tray. "The duck blood rice noodle soup is ready."
"I'm coming." After watching Song Jiaoniang carry the tray to the front, Lin Zhi couldn't help but reflect on himself: Could it be that he took the wrong path from the beginning? He shouldn't have opened a rice bowl restaurant and aimed directly at a small bowl restaurant, but should have opened a roast duck shop directly?
"Ms. Lin, long time no see."
"Hmm?" Lin Zhi suddenly pulled herself out of her thoughts and greeted the newcomer, "Hello, Craftsman Liu. You're here so early."
"I originally wanted to avoid business hours and finish the work before you opened, but I didn't expect to run into your business hours. I'm so sorry." Master Liu, a bricklayer, was embarrassed and a little confused. When he got the news, he also asked around and heard that the Lin family did not serve breakfast.
It was not until the group arrived at the door that they discovered that the main room was not only full of customers, but also filled with a wonderful fragrance, which made people recall the meals they had eaten in the past few days.
"It's not Craftsman Liu's fault. It's an accident, an accident." Lin Zhi shook her head and chatted with Craftsman Liu for a few words.
After Song Jiaoniang finished delivering the meal and returned from the front, she led Craftsman Liu to the backyard and said, "Thank you for making another trip, Craftsman Liu. We are really not able to handle one kiln, so we want to build another one in the yard."
"Your yard is a bit small..." Carpenter Liu walked into the yard, glanced at the kiln that was operating at overload, and then walked around the small yard, feeling very distressed.
Song Jiaoniang heard the hesitation of Liu the Carpenter, pointed to the area next to the kiln, and asked cautiously, "Look, what do you think of this side?"
In fact, building the kiln outside last time was a helpless choice. Firstly, the space in the kitchen was narrow, and secondly, the temperature in the kiln was relatively high when baking. It was bearable in winter, but it would be suffocating in summer.
But their yard is only this big, and the rest of the space is occupied by a well, fields and two little chicks.
Last night, the family of three was worried when they talked about building another kiln, and now they are even more worried.
"That won't work." Craftsman Liu explained patiently, "The kiln we built needs to dry in the shade for two days before it can be used. Otherwise, the stone walls inside will easily crack and break, making it difficult to maintain the temperature for long."
"But I see your kiln is in use, and it won't be shut down for a while, right?" Craftsman Liu glanced at Song Jiaoniang and got a firm answer: "That's it. The temperature difference on the left and right sides is too great. I'm afraid the solidification effect will be poor."
Liu, the craftsman, rejected Song Jiaoniang's suggestion. He then looked around for a moment, took a few steps, and arrived at the chicken coop. Two chicks, displeased with the stranger's arrival, chirped and pounced. Their heads were already full of feathers, and they were in an awkward phase, looking rather adorable and ugly.
"You two, go away!" Song Jiaonian picked up the broom and waved it twice, driving the chicks aside so that Liu the Carpenter could determine the place.
"How about this part? It's the part that will squeeze the fields. A part of it needs to be filled in to avoid the unevenness and make you stumble when walking." Carpenter Liu measured the dimensions and tried his best to show Song Jiaoniang the required size range.
"Okay, we both agree." Song Jiaoniang had no objection and agreed readily.
Everyone has their own expertise. People like them who don’t understand these things should just listen to the professionals.
Seeing that Song Jiaoniang was easy to talk to, Carpenter Liu felt relieved and quickly called on his apprentice to help move the chicken coop, and move the green onions, lettuce and other plants planted there into pots, and moved them all to the corner of the main room.
Seeing the backyard bustling with activity, Song Jiaoniang returned to the main room to help. As soon as she entered, she saw Lin Sen sitting on a stool, looking hopeless, and the shop door had been closed and locked again.
"Brother Sen, why are you opening the door..."
"Shh..." Lin Sen raised his finger, silencing his wife. He waited until he was sure there was no movement outside before he breathed a sigh of relief. "Someone just tried to come in for breakfast. I tried to persuade a few to leave, but I still felt it wasn't enough. After sending them away, I quickly closed the door."
Someone outside heard the news and came in, only to be met with regret at the locked door of Linzhi Ji. As for the lucky few who had gotten to enjoy the duck blood rice noodle soup, they were constantly boasting about it to those around them, some of whom were right in front of the steamed bun shop.
"The duck blood is tender and refreshing, the duck liver is delicate and dense, the duck intestines are crisp and chewy, and the duck gizzards are firm and chewy... Oh, just saying it makes me drool again."
“Is it really that delicious?”
"Really! That duck soup is so delicious!"
"That is to say, the price is still cheap..."
"It's hard to say the price, right? Didn't you just say we had to buy it with Chongyang Cake?" Another person shook their head and complained, "Their Chongyang Cake is not cheap at all, it's almost as expensive as at a regular fruit shop."
“That’s right too.”
"But I don't think so." The man who had spoken earlier laughed, "If this duck blood rice noodle soup is so delicious, maybe the Chongyang cake will be exceptionally good too."
A few people chatted and laughed as they walked into the pancake shop.
One of them said, "Boss, give me two sour-filled steamed buns."
Shopkeeper Zheng, beaming, quickly wrapped the steamed bun in oil paper and handed it to the customer. "Sir, is there anything else you would like? We've just made some mushroom cakes. Would you like to try some?"
"No, do you want to eat?"
"That bowl of rice noodles is enough to fill me up. I don't want it."
"Okay." The person in front paid and turned to leave with a smile: "I'm interested in what you said."
"Why don't you try it tomorrow morning?"
"I heard what the boss said..."
When the diners' voices became quieter and quieter and finally disappeared into silence, Manager Zheng casually threw a few copper coins into the drawer and turned his gaze towards Linzhiji, whose door was closed.
After a while, he turned sideways and asked Mrs. Hua, "Don't they make breakfast at home?"
Madam Hua, having just overheard them, knew that they had gone in to eat because Madam Yu had mentioned it. She didn't want to say anything, fearing that Shopkeeper Zheng would accuse her of it, so she simply said, "How would I know?"
Shopkeeper Zheng thought about it and thought he understood the Linzhi family's thoughts: "After all, they are from outside the city. They can't move when they see a little money. They are unwilling to give up a single cent."
"Look! They're asking people to buy two boxes of Chongyang cakes before selling duck blood rice noodle soup. If you don't know, you'd think it's something expensive."
"If you keep doing this day and night, you might not make much money, but your health will be ruined."
"Besides," Shopkeeper Zheng curled his lips, "there's no male heir at home. Working so hard is just making wedding clothes for other families."
Madam Hua's heart stirred, and she had other ideas. However, she glanced at Shopkeeper Zheng and kept it in her heart without saying it out loud. He said that the Lin family had no descendants, and he was referring to her. Besides, he sent all the good and bad things to his brothers' house and didn't remember to give more to his own family.
The couple seems to be doing business together, but in fact they each have their own ideas.
After finishing her morning business, Madam Hua went to chat with Madam Yu. Soon she mentioned what happened that morning: "I heard from the customers in the shop that you went to the Lin family for breakfast?"
"Oh, why are people still talking about this?" Madam Yu said this with great enthusiasm: "You have tried Sister Zhi's cooking, it is really the best."
Madam Yu was talking about the original meat sauce.
Then, she continued, "But Sister Zhi is only this old after all. I thought that just being able to cook a few good dishes would be enough. I never thought—"
Madam Yu reminisced about the duck blood rice noodle soup she had that morning and marveled, "That soup may not look impressive, but it's incredibly rich and mellow. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water."
She swallowed her saliva and smiled, "Everything in there is delicious. I don't know how Sister Zhi marinated the duck offal. Not only does it not have the slightest fishy smell, but each one has its own unique flavor. It's so delicious that it makes you want to swallow your tongue."
“Paired with the delicate and silky noodles, it tastes just like this: delicious!”
"Well, it was super delicious anyway. My husband and I were reluctant to leave even after returning to the shop, and I accidentally let it slip." Madam Yu lowered her voice awkwardly when she said this.
But after a few words, she raised her voice again with excitement. After a pause, Madam Yu continued, "And it's not just this."
Seeing her reaction, Hua knew that Yu was genuinely fond of him. Her thoughts grew stronger, and she even looked at Yu's questioning expression, "Oh?"
Madam Yu said mysteriously, "I'm telling you, Madam Song's family also braises duck heads and duck feet. It's said that the taste of those two things is also unique!"
"But they ate up yesterday's portion, and I don't know when today's portion will be ready. Otherwise, I will have to buy one to try."
"What you said makes me want to eat it."
"Oh, it's really delicious. Next time they sell it properly, let's go and eat it together!" Madam Yu smiled when she saw Madam Hua's curious face.
Mrs. Hua responded with a smile.
The opportunity came quickly. Five days later, Madam Yu made an appointment with Madam Hua to go to Linzhiji to chat.
The shop had just passed through the midday crowd and was now quiet and empty. Only Lin Sen was sitting in a chair, concentrating on calculating his accounts. His fingers were so fast that they produced double vision, and a series of crisp sounds were made on the abacus.
Just as Hua Niang stole a glance, she saw Song Jiaoniang coming out to greet her enthusiastically: "Come, come, come, Brother Sen is settling accounts and is making a lot of noise. Come with me and sit in the back."
Madam Yu was familiar with the Rong siblings and often came to the courtyard in the past, so as soon as she entered the backyard, she noticed something different: "This courtyard looks a little smaller?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Madam Yu suddenly realized, "I was confused. You moved the kitchen to the back and took up this space, right? No wonder the shop in the front looks so much more spacious!"
Song Jiaoniang nodded and invited the two to sit down by the well before going to the kitchen to get three plates of food. "That's right. Firstly, our family is focused on business. Secondly, there are only a few people in my family. My husband and I can share a room, and my daughter can share another. This little space is more than enough."
Madam Yu nodded, pointed to one of the dishes and said, "Madam Hua, look, this is the braised duck feet I was talking about."
After a pause, she asked, "Jiao Niang, why don't you take this out to sell? I see you sell dozens of roast ducks every day, so there should be quite a few duck feet, right?"
"Oh! You don't know." Madam Yu said this with a mixture of pride and helplessness on her face: "The duck heads and feet have all been bought up. These of ours were reserved by Sister Zhi in advance when she heard you were coming."
Just like duck blood and duck offal, as the second kiln joined the baking operation, the number of duck heads and duck feet also increased greatly, and soon reached the level that the Linzhi family, including Chen Yan, Tao Yingce and others, could not finish eating them even if they divided the spoils.
"It was originally going to be on the shelves in the next two days."
"But then the waiter from Guo Silang Teahouse came to our door and said a customer had asked them to buy a portion to use as a snack. Later, someone else came and said it tasted so good that they signed a contract with our family."
Song Jiaoniang said with great joy, "So now that we have finished braising, we will send it over directly."
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