Chapter 18 The food stall provided a good lunch for the laborers...
The laborers ate well at noon, but felt depressed. Without resting, they went back to the village entrance to set up the shed.
No matter how Qiu Yuru tried to persuade him, she couldn't stop him, leaving only the old Qiu, who was getting sleepy after eating.
Since everyone was so eager to help, Qiu Yuruo couldn't just rest. While Su Jingshu was clearing the dishes and washing them, Qiu Yuruo went to prepare just the right amount of warm boiled water for those who were helping.
After boiling water and letting it cool, and settling Su Yunting in, it was time to prepare dinner.
Since they helped out early, we should let them finish early so they can get paid early and have mixed grain steamed buns for dinner.
When Qiu Yuruo first returned from her previous life and regained her memories, she analyzed the diet and concluded that the diet of this era should be equivalent to that of the late Ming Dynasty.
It wasn't until much time had passed that I realized I was living in a period after the Tang Dynasty. However, in my previous life, the period after the Tang Dynasty was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, while this era followed a different historical trajectory after the Tang Dynasty.
After the Tang Dynasty came the present-day Dayong Dynasty. The Dayong Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, but it has completed the large-scale introduction of food from the previous six or seven hundred years. Foods introduced in the Ming and the Ming Dynasties of the previous era are all available in this era.
When Qiu Yuru first learned about it, she seriously suspected that there was a time traveler in the team that founded the Dayong Dynasty.
However, apart from the introduced food, Qiu Yuruo did not discover anything else that far surpassed this era, so she was not sure whether there was a time traveler or whether the time traveler was a person from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Whether or not there is a time traveler doesn't matter much to her; if there is, she will thank them in her heart.
Thanks to the introduction of high-yield food, in an era without high-tech fertilizers, the Qiu family was able to support more than a dozen people and even a scholar on their hundred-odd acres of land.
If it weren't for those high-yield crops, Qiu Yuruo felt that Old Lady Zhou would never have been willing to let herself eat only half full.
Although I'm now in charge of the household, life is still tight, so my staple food is still mainly coarse grains.
Today, we're entertaining guests, and with 30% of the food being steamed buns made from wheat flour, it's already a pretty decent meal that a farming family could offer.
A shed was set up by several strong laborers around dusk, with all the necessary materials. Not only was the shed built, but a stove was also erected next to it, with pillars placed beside it so that boards could be put up to block the wind on windy days.
We got the shed and stove set up in one day. Tomorrow we'll let them air out for a day, then go to town to pick up the ordered goods, buy the necessary ingredients, and the day after tomorrow is market day, so we can open for business right away!
Qiu Yuru was so excited that she put her heart and soul into cooking, turning the most ordinary ingredients into a delicious dish that even the restaurants in town couldn't match.
Shuncai and his son, along with Su Huai, enjoyed the stew made by Qiu Yuruo for lunch, and they gave it a thumbs up for dinner.
Dafei even said, "With your skills, sister-in-law, our village entrance will be bustling with activity from now on!"
Dafei is one year older than Su Yunting, so he calls Qiu Yuruo his sister-in-law.
Everyone else also expressed their approval of Qiu Yuruo's cooking skills.
The afternoon ended early today, and we ate dinner early as well. The event ended before 7 p.m.
In early autumn, at this time of day it's still not dark, and Uncle Qiu will be harnessing his oxcart to go home.
If they went back at this hour, it would be dark by the time they got home. Even though Qiu Yuru didn't like being lectured by Old Man Qiu, she didn't want them to walk at night, so she persuaded them quite a bit before finally letting them stay.
...
After a busy day, Qiu Yuruo tidied up and lay on the bed, arranging Su Yunting so that they were facing each other. She then began to review the day's events.
Before setting up the shed, Qiu Yuruo thought that Uncle Shuncai would come to help, but she didn't expect that Su Huai would also come to help.
She exclaimed, "When Brother Su Huai came to help today, I finally understood what true benevolence and righteousness are. Compared to him, my old man is really... I immediately understood the meaning of seeking fame and fortune!"
Su Yunting couldn't help but smile inwardly after hearing this. Compared to Qiu Yuruo's thoughtful, steady, and virtuous nature during the day, she was a mischievous little girl at night.
Qiu Yuruo boasted again about how she had prepared two decent meals for less than a hundred coins, and then meticulously calculated the cost of building the shed.
At this point, the topic shifted to how much it would cost to open a small food stall.
Lord Su, who had once handled millions of taels of silver, didn't find the calculations of a few coins and coins in his ears tedious at all.
After calculating today's expenses, Qiu Yu started calculating how much she would need to spend to go to town tomorrow.
After she finished calculating, her heart began to bleed.
Qiu Yuruo wailed, "My ten taels of silver! They've said goodbye to me in just two days!"
Su Yunting reassured her in his heart, "Don't worry, your cooking is so delicious, you'll earn it back in no time."
Just as Su Yunting finished offering his words of comfort, Qiu Yuruo stopped wailing, remained quiet for two seconds, and then sat up.
"No, I need to give my food stall a name that won't be easily imitated. My skills are so good that it won't be long before the food stall becomes famous. If someone opens another food stall with the same name, I'm not afraid of them stealing my business, but I'm afraid they'll ruin my reputation!"
Qiu Yuruo originally named her food stall "Village Entrance Food Stall", but now that she thinks about it, she feels that it is not appropriate.
If it's called "Qiuji Snack Stall," then anyone who follows suit will dare to call it "Autumn Snack Stall." Suji is even less likely to be accepted, since most people in Sujiazhuang are surnamed Su.
Qiu Yuruo looked at Su Yunting, who was still lying quietly on his side, and asked, "What kind of name should we choose that won't be easily imitated?"
Su Yunting: 'This is indeed a difficult problem. Whether it's elegant or popular, as long as others see it, it can be imitated.'
Qiu Yuruo also racked her brains but couldn't come up with a suitable name. She glanced at Su Yunting, thought for a while, looked back at him again, and suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind.
Su Yunting has the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). There aren't many Xiucai in Qingshi Town, and Su Yunting is the only one in Su Family Village. Why not call it 'The Scholar's Snack Stall'?
Qiu Yu felt that this name was not very suitable, but the more she thought about it, the more suitable it seemed.
Looking at Su Yunting lying there obediently, 'unaware', she suddenly felt incredibly good and leaned down to give him a big kiss on the cheek.
Su Yunting was thinking of a name for a snack stall that wouldn't be easy to imitate when he suddenly felt her get close. Before he could think any further, his body was pressed down, and he felt a soft, moist sensation on his face.
Su Yunting: '!!!!!...!!!!!'
Qiu Yu had no idea how shocked Su Yunting was when she kissed him as if he were a beloved toy.
Her eyes were full of joy as she knelt down in front of him and whispered, "You did so well in the imperial examination for the title of Xiucai!"
Su Yunting: '...'
He knew he had done well in the imperial examination for the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations), and he also knew that she had known about his Xiucai title for a long time. But he didn't know what this had to do with her suddenly leaning over and kissing him.
Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to be kissed by her.
He simply couldn't understand why she would suddenly kiss him.
Fortunately, Qiu Yu Ruo immediately answered his question: "You have the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations), so our food stall will be called 'Xiucai's Food Stall.' You are the only Xiucai in Sujiazhuang. If you set up a stall at the entrance of Sujiazhuang village, the clan chiefs of other villages will definitely not allow them to set up stalls. Even if the villagers in our village set up stalls, they will not dare to call it 'Xiucai's Food Stall'!"
Su Yunting: 'So that's why... Okay, with a name like that... ordinary people wouldn't dare to imitate it easily, and those who would wouldn't even consider a small food stall.'
After resolving a major concern, Qiu Yuru felt sleepy and yawned. She adjusted Su Yunting to lie flat, then lay down on the bed herself and fell asleep in no time.
Su Yunting was left alone, reflecting on the emotions on his face just now.
...
The next day, I got up on time, tidied up, ate breakfast, took the money, and went to town to buy things.
According to Old Man Qiu, only he, Lao San, and Qiu Yuruo needed to go.
However, if Qiu Yu wants to take Su Yunche with her, he is a boy. Even though he has his own way of doing things now, she can't treat him like a girl. She needs to let him see more of the world.
Since we're taking Su Yunche with us when we go out, we can't leave Ersheng behind.
So what was originally a group of three became a group of five.
I went shopping in the morning and tidied up the house in the afternoon. The new pot needs to be seasoned, and the meat sauce for tomorrow needs to be made today.
After making the meat sauce, Qiu Yuruo took Old Man Qiu with her to the clan chief's house, gave him two small jars of meat sauce, and announced that the business would be opening tomorrow.
With Old Man Qiu, who was always good at saving face, following along, Qiu Yuruo learned a lot of polite phrases. Unfortunately, once she left the clan leader's house, the polite phrases she learned flew away with the wind.
Back home, Old Man Qiu said to Qiu Yuruo, "I've done everything I could to help you. Whether or not it can be opened depends on you."
Regardless of why Old Man Qiu was willing to come, he had indeed helped her, so Qiu Yuru expressed her gratitude to him.
Having done all he could to help, and with the time running out, Old Man Qiu didn't linger and immediately told his third brother to hitch up the cart.
When her family wanted to leave, it wasn't that Qiu Yu Ruo didn't want them to stay, but rather that Old Man Qiu was too fond of lecturing. These past few days, Qiu Yu Ruo had been in charge of the household and had lost the patience she used to have for him. Nevertheless, she still gave them plenty of the food she had prepared over the past two days that could be stored for a while and saw them off at the entrance of the alley.
...
With the autumn harvest approaching, when the market opened in Qingshi Town, the number of people from the surrounding villages who came to the market was 20% higher than usual.
People from several villages north of Sujiazhuang discovered a shed erected at the intersection of Sujiazhuang roads, with a sign hanging in front. Those who could read read: "The Scholar's Snack Stall"
Although only a few people are literate, everyone has eyes and noses. They could smell the aroma even before they got close. Once they entered and saw the tables and chairs in the shed, as well as the large pot steaming nearby, everyone would know that this was a small food stall.
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