"Uncle, is your boss the one talking to someone? What's his last name?" Qiao Lian'er secretly asked the shopkeeper.
"That's right, the boss's surname is Cai." The shopkeeper was quite straightforward.
Qiao Lian'er didn't rush to disturb him. When Boss Cai finished his work and was about to walk to the backyard, Qiao Lian'er called out to him.
Mr. Cai looked at a thin, small girl carrying a basket as she approached him, and he was a little puzzled.
"Little girl, what are you doing?"
Qiao Lian'er placed the basket on the table to the side and lifted the lid off the bowl on the plate.
"This is a new ingredient, and it tastes delicious when cooked. Mr. Cai, please try it."
It turns out they came to sell ingredients. There were people selling recipes and people selling ingredients, but it's hard to come up with creative recipes. Moreover, the restaurants have chefs who specialize in researching cooking methods, and very few people can pass this test.
As for the ingredients, they're just the same ingredients, it's just a matter of who has the freshest and best quality. If you're satisfied, you can just spend a little more money to buy them.
So, upon hearing the words "new ingredients," Mr. Cai wondered what kind of ingredients could be considered new ingredients—the kind that had been seen before but were used to create different dishes. Wouldn't that be the same as selling food recipes?
When his gaze fell on the basket, he couldn't help but pause for a moment.
It seemed like I'd never seen anything like it before, and it even had an alluring fragrance.
Inside the basket was a silver needle used for testing for poison. Qiao Lian'er had bought it from a shop on the way here. Shopkeeper Hu had readily tasted it, just in case other shopkeepers were not so sure.
Boss Cai glanced at Qiao Lian'er, but instead of using the silver needle, he picked up his chopsticks.
First, pick up the shredded potatoes; they're crispy yet slightly sandy, with a unique aroma. Then, pick up the dry-fried potato slices; they're caramelized, soft, and chewy, making your tongue tingle with their fragrance.
Having eaten so many dishes, Mr. Cai dares to say that few vegetarian dishes can compare to this.
People keep coming to sell recipes and ingredients, but they can't come up with anything fancy. He's getting a little tired of it. If this little girl hadn't come in first and been quietly waiting for him to finish his tasks, he wouldn't have bothered to see her.
Unexpectedly, this taste enlightened him.
"Little girl, what's this called? Where did it come from?" Boss Cai didn't realize that his tone was a bit urgent.
Upon hearing this, Qiao Lian'er knew there was hope.
"It was bought from foreign businessmen; we don't have it domestically."
Mr. Cai realized that this girl wanted to make a profit from the middleman's price and wouldn't tell his supplier.
He doesn't care about anything else as long as he can make money.
"So what did it originally look like?"
“My family has a stall at number eight on Changqing Street. This thing is called potato. We sell it fried, but there are many ways to cook it. In restaurants, it can be shredded and stir-fried, or it can be made into a dry pot. There are dozens of ways to eat it.”
Qiao Lian'er didn't reveal her other plans because she intended to use them to make another profit.
She came to sell ingredients, and also to sell recipes.
"Okay, take me to see it."
Qiao Lian'er led Boss Cai to the stall.
The crops in the space grew very neatly. These potatoes were all round, almost all the same shape and size, each weighing about half a pound.
Mr. Cai picked it up and examined it: "One should be enough for one plate, right?"
"No problem."
"How much does it cost?" It would be a lie to say that Mr. Cai wasn't tempted; the taste from the meal he had just eaten was still lingering in his mouth.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
