Su Erhu raised his eyes and glanced at the old woman and the mala tang vendors who were quietly crowding around outside.
With his smile unchanged, he said, "As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Some skewers make you feel great, while others make you want to throw up your dinner from the night before."
There's a reason why vegetarian dishes are sold for one coin a skewer and meat dishes for two coins a skewer.
Otherwise, the old lady wouldn't have bothered to come all the way here, would she?
Upon hearing the commotion, the vendors outside glared at Su Erhu, feeling utterly disheartened. A wave of nausea surged through them. Was it really okay to bring up this shameful incident again and lash out at his corpse?
The old woman stared intently at the boiling skewers, her lips already wet from slurping.
She continued to argue, "These skewers of yours don't even weigh an ounce from start to finish. They're not worth this much money. How about we make it cheaper? Two coins for three skewers of vegetables, and three coins for two skewers of meat. I'll buy a few more from you..."
Before she could finish speaking, the diners behind her couldn't help but start making noise.
"If you're not buying, hurry up and move aside, vendor! Give me a skewer of cabbage and a skewer of lettuce leaves to try!"
"Me too, I'll start with a skewer of pork."
"I want one too, a bunch of spinach..."
The increasingly intense spicy and savory aroma was the complete opposite of the spiciness that had just made people sneeze, and it whetted the appetites of the diners.
They were all residents from the neighborhood. Yesterday, they heard people raving about the delicious mala tang (a type of spicy hot pot), so they came early to queue up. They didn't care about losing a few coins; they just wanted to have a taste of this delicacy.
However, learning from their previous experience, they each ordered only one or two skewers to try first.
"Alright, here's your cabbage and lettuce leaves, this is pork skewers, this is blanched spinach..." Whether it's one skewer or two, the Su siblings never complain about the amount and always happily serve the diners vegetables from the pot.
When diners tasted the spicy hot pot, their initial reluctance to try it changed instantly.
They hurriedly waved their hands and bought ten, twenty, or thirty skewers at a time from the Su siblings.
Beside the old woman, the little child with his hair in a high ponytail saw that most of the skewers had been emptied, his little mouth twitched, and he burst into tears.
While wailing and hiccuping, he cried, "Grandma... hiccup... Little Bao wants to eat skewers, wants to eat pig intestines... hiccup, Grandma wants to eat skewers..."
The youngest son and eldest grandson are the old lady's lifeblood.
Seeing her grandson's eyes red from crying, the old woman didn't want to waste time trying to persuade him. She quickly pulled out a handful of warm copper coins from her waistband. "Oh my little darling, buy it, buy it, whatever you want to eat, Grandma will buy it for you, okay..."
***
Zuixianju is located just across the street from Baichuan Academy.
The waiter returned to the restaurant with a grin. Upon seeing the man behind the counter, he quickly took out the large bowl he was carrying. "Master, I've bought back the spicy hot pot from the Su family. I specially asked them to add two extra spoonfuls of soup."
The man was about forty years old, wearing a dark blue brocade robe with a gauze trim, and pink-soled black boots. His face was slightly yellow, and his eyebrows were straight.
Beneath his brows were a pair of upturned eyes, their turbidity gleaming with a few wisps of dark light.
It was Song Jiaren, the owner of Zuixianju.
He reached out and took the large bowl. The hot pot had been held in the servant's arms the whole time. Steam rose from the bowl. The vegetables in the bowl were tender and the meat was smooth. They looked especially beautiful against the bright red broth.
Song Jiaren raised an eyebrow slightly. The rich aroma under his nose made him feel a little tempted, so he took a sip of soup from the large bowl.
As the warm soup entered his throat, a hint of surprise flashed in his shrewd eyes.
He's been in the food business for a long time, and he instantly understood why this spicy hot pot was so popular.
He quickly called over the head chef from the kitchen and handed him the rest of the mala tang intact. "This is the mala tang that was all the rage yesterday. You should try it. I'm definitely taking the recipe for this mala tang."
The man's face was full of determination.
Before Tianxianglou appeared, Song Jiaren's Zuixianju had always been the top restaurant in Qingshui County.
In every restaurant and eatery in the county, everyone who saw him respectfully addressed him as Master Song.
But everything changed when Tianxianglou arrived.
Tianxianglou is a large and powerful family, backed by the richest family in Dayu. The Li family would naturally not dare to use any means to touch it. However, if Zuixianju has its own unique and outstanding dishes that can surpass Tianxianglou, then the Li family will have nothing more to say.
Now, this spicy hot pot is a great gift from God to him.
Seeing the man's expression, the servant immediately beamed and began to play the straight man.
"Once the owner gets this spicy hot pot, our Zuixianju will definitely be able to win back all the customers that were stolen from us in the past. No matter how many horses Tianxianglou sends, they won't be able to catch up!"
Upon hearing this, Song Jiaren's smile deepened.
"Once the prescription arrives, you'll be well rewarded."
"Well then, I'll thank you in advance, sir." The servant bowed and scraped, his thin face beaming like a mountain rat.
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