Chapter 59 Tofu Pudding

The second "Nine" of Yuncheng, Tangji Snacks Store No. 3, ushered in its first "marketing" after opening.

Early in the morning, Chen Minzhi posted a piece of paper as big as a poster outside the door. The paper was a striking red color, and on it was written in black brush: "New store opening, free delivery!"

The paper was posted large and the words were clearly written, and it quickly attracted a lot of people's attention.

Chen Minzhi stood at the door with her hands in her pockets, and when she saw someone coming, she shouted:

"New store opening, free delivery! Come in and try it!"

Nowadays, everyone is doing business honestly. At most, there are peddlers who go from village to village, carrying their gear on their backs while shouting songs like "scissors sharpening" and "junk collecting". There are very few people like Chen Minzhi who post big-character posters and shout slogans.

Many people were attracted and came over to ask Chen Minzhi how she got the free meal.

Chen Minzhi gave a brief introduction:

"It's like this. We will give a free card to new customers. The next time you come to make a purchase, you can get the snack written on the free card. Free cards can be added together. The more you eat, the more you get. There is no upper limit."

This speech successfully fooled the customer who came to ask.

Sure enough, after Chen Minzhi's sales promotion for a morning, the business of the three stores improved a lot.

And when those customers came into the store for the first time out of curiosity or greed, then thanks to Xia Tang's excellent craftsmanship, they would not be able to escape.

When Xia Tang arrived, it was the peak time at noon.

She stood outside and looked at the bustling crowd for a while before she opened the curtain and walked in.

Chen Minzhi was checking out and distributing purchase orders. When she saw Xia Tang come in, she quickly walked over to support her and found a quiet place for her to sit down.

Xia Tang couldn't help but laugh:

"I am not that weak."

"That won't do. You are a key protected person now, and you are very valuable. If anything goes wrong, your Qin Yue will have to come to me to settle the score."

Xia Tang smiled and asked:

"How's business today? I think it's better than before."

Upon hearing Xia Tang's question, Chen Minzhi couldn't stop talking and kept on talking about what happened today, and she was very excited.

At the end, she couldn't help but praise:

"Xia Tang, your idea is really good. How could you have known that this free card would be so useful?"

“It’s not that difficult.”

Xia Tang raised her almond-shaped eyes slightly and looked at the people queuing up, smiling.

"People love to take advantage but are afraid of risks. They don't dare to step into a new store like ours that is not well-known because they are worried that the food we sell is expensive and not tasty. In this case, let's let them take advantage of us and make a profit. After they have taken advantage of us, and our food is good, we can keep them as regular customers."

"After we have regular customers, new customers will naturally dare to come in when they see that there are people who are enthusiastic about the store."

“That’s true.”

Chen Minzhi agreed.

Xia Tang raised the corners of his lips slightly, called Chen Minzhi over, and handed her a few sheets of paper:

"I came here this time to discuss with you which of the new snacks we will serve at our first and third stores would be more suitable."

Chen Minzhi came over to take a look.

Xia Tang drew the snacks by hand on paper, and added the names of the snacks and a brief introduction next to them. You know what, it's quite detailed.

She didn't know much about snacks, but she watched it carefully anyway.

At the end, a slender and powerful finger pointed at the snack at the top:

"What do you think of this?"

Xia Tang looked at it and nodded:

"You chose the same thing as me."

They all chose tofu pudding, a very popular local ingredient.

Tofu pudding is a common soy product with a wide coverage. Tofu pudding is a snack available all over the country, but the ways of eating it vary.

For example, the tofu pudding in the north is made by adding salt to the slippery tofu. The salt is thickened with day lily, shiitake mushrooms, minced meat, etc., and it tastes full of salty flavor.

The tofu pudding in the south is mostly sweet. Honey or brown sugar is added to the smooth tofu pudding, which tastes sweet. It is a favorite snack for children and women.

In Yuncheng, the methods of making tofu pudding are even more diverse. There are sweet, salty, spicy, and even tea-flavored varieties.

What’s even more rare is that tofu pudding can not only be made into a bowl of snack on its own, but can also be added as a side dish to various other snacks, complementing each other without stealing the show.

After discussing with Chen Minzhi, Xia Tang decided to launch two series of tofu pudding.

The first way is to add tofu pudding to rice noodles to make a small pot of tofu pudding rice noodles; the other way is to make it into a snack with local characteristics - vegetable tofu pudding.

As the name suggests, vegetable tofu pudding is made by putting vegetables into hot tofu pudding that has just been made. The vegetables added to vegetable tofu pudding in different regions are also different.

Some places are light, while others are spicy.

Xia Tang plans to make a few more flavors and promote the vegetable tofu pudding so that it can become the signature dish of Tang Ji Xin Yi Dao.

The two of them became more and more excited as they talked, and Chen Minzhi immediately said that she would go buy all the ingredients in the afternoon and start cooking tomorrow.

Xia Tang naturally didn't disagree.

She looked at the energetic Chen Minzhi and felt happy for her.

After leaving the Du family, she seemed more positive and more sunny than before.

As the two were talking, they suddenly heard a noise coming from outside.

"What's going on?"

Xia Tang walked to the door, and Chen Minzhi accompanied her, with the corners of her lips curled up in disdain:

"It's Xia Dong. We're getting married at a state-owned hotel. Today is the right day."

"He invited me, but I didn't go, so my coworkers gave me a gift."

Without the relationship with Xia Tang, she couldn't really get to know Xia Dong well, so she had even less interest in joining in the fun.

On the contrary, many of the co-workers around me went to congratulate Xia Dong because her wedding banquet was held in a big hotel.

Thinking of this, Chen Minzhi couldn't help but say:

"I don't know what's so good about going there. I don't know what good it will do to cling to the Xia family like this."

Chen Minzhi said this, Xia Tang smiled faintly and said nothing.

There was more and more noise at the other end of the hotel.

First, there were deafening sounds of firecrackers, and then a large group of people came out of the hotel. It seemed that they were here to see the newlyweds.

Not long after, a small car drove slowly over. When the car door opened, the people walking in front were not the newlyweds, but Xia Lulu and Xie Minghui. Both of them were dressed to the nines, especially Xia Lulu, who was wearing a red tweed suit. If you didn't know, you would think she was the one getting married!

After Xia Lulu and Xie Minghui got out of the car, Xia Dong and the bride Wang Xinyue got out of the car.

They were also wearing suits and tweed skirts, with bright boutonnieres pinned crookedly on their left chests.

Wang Xinyue also put on heavy makeup, which was not very good-looking, but was quite in line with the style of the times.

Although it is a bit impolite, these days, how can an ordinary worker afford a car when getting married?

The two of them walked into the hotel holding hands a little nervously, and the crowd immediately cheered.

The sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums was deafening, and it was truly a lively scene.

Xia Tang and Chen Minzhi had seen enough of the excitement and were about to go back when they heard a long-lost voice:

"Xia Tang, is that you?"

Xia Tang turned around, but was surprised to see her aunt Xia Dafang looking at her. She looked at Xia Tang's slightly plump face, and finally her eyes fell on her belly.

His brows suddenly wrinkled.

"Are you married?"

Xia Dafang stuttered when he spoke to her:

"With him?"

This him, it goes without saying.

Xia Tang nodded and said:

"Nothing, I'm going in."

"etc."

Xia Dafang was unwilling to give up this rare opportunity to meet Xia Tang. When she saw Xia Tang stop, she walked over and got closer to Xia Tang:

"Why didn't you tell us you were getting married? I heard that you even quit your job at the herbal medicine factory? That's ridiculous!"

Xia Tang pursed her lips and didn't say anything, Chen Minzhi took over the conversation:

"Auntie, I'm telling you, when Xia Lulu and Xia Dong got married, you didn't inform Xia Tang either!"

Xia Dafang choked and couldn't help showing some anger on his face:

"Is this the same thing?"

Chen Minzhi shrugged: "If you say it's not, then it's not."

“…”

Xia Dafang also knew that it was Xia Dashan's family who did something wrong, but still couldn't help but scold Xia Tang:

"Even if your uncle didn't tell you, you should still come now that you know about it. We are all family."

After she said this, she couldn't help but come over and hold Xia Tang's hand:

"Otherwise, come in with me to eat."

His words were still those of an unquestionable elder.

However, when I stretched out my hand, there was nothing.

She looked at Xia Tang in surprise, but saw a hint of helplessness on Xia Tang's fair face:

"Aunt, I call you Aunt, but we are no longer a family."

"Besides, if I go over now, will I be congratulating you or just causing trouble? Can't you see that?"

"Or do you want me to go with you because the Xia family is getting nervous and you want to show off to me?"

"That's not what I meant."

Xia Dafang denied it subconsciously, but his eyes wandered away.

Xia Tang smiled faintly:

"I'm doing well now. I've opened my own shop and have a new family. If you really want to do good for me, then don't bother each other."

"But if you have any other intentions, I can only say with regret that I don't want to have anything to do with you."

After saying this, he and Chen Minzhi turned around and walked into the store.

She looked around the store and saw Xia Dafang standing outside the door with a sullen face, wondering what he was thinking.

After a while, the husband came over and she turned around and went into the hotel with the man.

When Chen Minzhi saw Xia Dafang finally leave, she couldn't help but say:

"He doesn't do anything good, but he always acts like an elder."

"I don't know what you are pretending to be!"