Su Qingluan didn't notice her brother's momentary stiffness at first.
But after a while, a strange smell came into the air. Su Qingluan quickly covered her mouth and nose and patted her brother's arm: "You little bastard, I was kind enough to rub your belly, and this is how you repay your sister?!"
"I...I didn't mean it!" Su Xuanhe stammered in defense, "It's not...I can't help it..."
"But the smell is too strong..."
"Oh, stop talking!" Su Xuanhe shyly covered himself with the quilt, but immediately stuck his head out because he couldn't stand the "deliciousness" under the quilt.
"Hahahaha..." Su Qingluan heard the noise and laughed loudly in a very rude manner.
"Get out now!" Su Xiaoer was so ashamed and angry that he wished he could disappear right there.
"Alright, seeing you talking so energetically, you should be feeling better now." Su Qingluan fumbled to pick up the empty bowl on the box, "Go to sleep soon!"
With that, she walked out the door.
The next day, Su Qingluan went to Hongfu Building for a walk.
Su Qingluan's improved version of the ancient "Nori Rice Roll" was very filling because of its solid staple food and the inclusion of meat dishes such as smoked chicken and eggs. It quickly became popular among people who had some choice but needed to put in a lot of effort. This made Manager Liang praise Su Qingluan again when he saw her.
Even this time, before Su Qingluan even opened her mouth, Shopkeeper Liang took the initiative to ask, "Madam Su, if you have any new recipes, don't forget to visit our Hongfulou."
Su Qingluan understood that neither the wraps she sold, nor the so-called "Thousand Silk Rolls" and fish soup were particularly difficult foods that required special skills.
Even if you spend some time thinking about the seasoning and it takes a while to imitate, the dish itself is not difficult to make.
Because it is not difficult, it won’t be long before imitation dishes will appear one after another - in fact, "Juan Baicai" is already showing signs of this.
However, she did not intend to create any particularly difficult-to-imitate dishes for "Hongfulou".
In her opinion, many difficult dishes either use expensive ingredients or take a long time and cost to prepare, so the cost of making the finished product will also increase.
Especially in this day and age, without all kinds of convenient equipment, it is possible that it takes ten days or half a month to prepare a dish.
In this way, the time cost will further increase the production cost.
However, the consumers of this kind of precious dish are either rich or noble. Not to mention the small village of Huaxi Village, even in this town, there are only many business travelers passing by.
Even if there are a few wealthy families, they are few in number and there is simply not enough corresponding customer flow.
Therefore, Su Qingluan’s current strategy is to use simple and convenient popular delicacies, spend more time on seasoning to create a gap, and make small profits but quick turnover.
As for those "precious dishes" that were extremely troublesome to prepare in retrospect, she would consider them when she moved to a bigger and more prosperous place one day.
As for now——
"Please rest assured, if there are any new recipes, I will definitely think of Manager Liang!" Su Qingluan did not refuse, but did not say it too firmly.
When she returned, Su Qingluan saw that her parents looked a little listless.
Su Qingluan asked curiously, "What happened?"
Aunt Yang pulled Su Qingluan aside and whispered, "Miss Su, you have to persuade your father and mother."
Su Qingluan was wondering what was going on, but it turned out that the number of people imitating "Juan Baicai" had gradually increased in the past few days.
Although most of them are not as bad as "Dong Ji Burrito" which competes viciously by lowering prices, the taste is not too bad, the ingredients are more solid, and the price is slightly lower. As a result, fewer and fewer customers have visited Su's stall recently.
In addition, Mr. Xu Kekuan, who used to visit here every day, is now recuperating at home, so the previously bustling "Juan Baicai" stall now feels a bit deserted.
Although there are still many customers, it is far less than the previous constant flow of customers.
This kind of gap is not surprising to people who are used to doing business, but it is not so easy to accept for Su Guangfu and his wife who are setting up a stall for the first time.
Especially since the first stall was so busy, the gap was even greater.
Su Qingluan smiled and advised without surprise: "Dad, Mom, there is no profound knowledge about making this wrap. It's just the mixture of flavors. It's only a matter of time before it is imitated." What's more, the seasonings in this era were far less abundant than those in modern times, so the changes in style were also limited.
"But there are fewer and fewer customers..." Yang was still a little anxious.
Su Guangfu quickly came to terms with it. "What's the big deal? At worst, we can just close the stall and go back to farming." He looked down at his wife. "At most, we'll just go back to the old days."
Su Qingluan thought that wasn't the case.
But since they were outside now, she couldn't say too much.
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan said to Yang: "Mother, I'm going to Nong Moxuan."
"Go see Mr. Xu?" Yang raised her eyebrows.
"Have you forgotten that I just went to Mr. Xu's house yesterday?" Su Qingluan said with a smile, "I just went to buy some pens, ink, paper and inkstone."
"What are you buying those for?" Yang was shocked.
"Give it to my younger brothers and sisters." Su Qingluan said, "It's not good to always write on the ground with branches. We must learn to use a brush."
"Hey, why are you learning that crap?" Skinny Monkey came over nonchalantly after hearing what Su Qingluan said, "Are you really counting on your brother to become the top scorer in the imperial examination?"
"That is to say," Aunt Yang chimed in, "as long as you can write your own name and count coins, isn't that enough? Why learn so much? All that nonsense can't make you a living."
Su Qingluan understood that in this era, there were very few people who could even read and write, let alone be well-educated.
There are even quite a few people, such as Shouhouer and Yang Saozi, who think that studying is useless and is not as important as being able to weave and farm.
Even his own parents, although they also support his younger brother to find a teacher to start learning next year, but after hearing Su Qingluan's meaning that his younger sister should also be included, they also showed confusion on their faces.
"Why would a girl under four years old learn to read and write?"
They even thought that instead of letting Su Xueyan learn to read and write, it would be better to let Su Qingluan teach her how to cook delicious dishes. That way, when she gets married and cooks a table full of delicious dishes, she will be able to please her in-laws and husband more.
Even Su Qingluan heard Skinny Monkey and Aunt Yang talking to the customers queuing up to buy wraps. Everyone had a similar thought: What's the point of learning all that nonsense? It would be more practical to learn another job.
As for girls, needlework and the like are even more important. It is really a waste to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstone for a girl of three or four years old.
Su Qingluan looked at the people in front of her and did not feel the atmosphere, but suddenly a feeling of powerlessness emerged - that was the barrier between them and the times.
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