Chapter 39: One hundred taels for fried skewers!
Xu Zhiheng was unconcerned when his arch-rival came to mock him again. When it came to shamelessness, he had never lost. Xu Zhiheng cupped his hands in greeting and said leisurely, "Don't laugh at me, sir. We're evenly matched, why should we be like this?"
Zhang Xin was speechless for a moment, then finally spoke fiercely, "Hmph, what kind of skill is it to just talk big! Today I'll show you that my Baisheng Martial Arts School is not to be trifled with!"
He turned to his disciples behind him, his eyes gleaming with competitive intent. "Listen up, all of you! Whoever beats someone from Qingfeng Pavilion will be richly rewarded! And if you lose... don't blame me for being ruthless!"
After uttering those harsh words, Zhang Xin led his team away.
Jin Yu quietly walked up to Lin Yao's side and whispered, "Our young master simply doesn't bother with such a petty person. This man is called Zhang Xin, the only son of the owner of the Baisheng Martial Arts School in the neighboring Qing Shi Town. He is arrogant and domineering, all looks and no brains."
Lin Yao rarely saw Jin Yu so angry, it seemed the two families were at odds. Xu Zhiheng, on the other hand, remained calm, showing no signs of emotional fluctuation.
A good mindset determines a man's life; a person with such a good mindset will succeed in whatever he does.
The arena was packed with spectators, a sea of people surging around it.
A VIP section was set up at the front of the arena, where several elegantly dressed and distinguished individuals sat. Below the arena, various teams had gathered, creating a lively atmosphere.
A middle-aged man dressed in a brocade robe and wearing a square scarf walked onto the stage, holding a bronze gong in his hand. He struck it three times with a loud "clang, clang, clang," and the sound echoed throughout the arena.
"Fellow villagers and heroes, today's martial arts tournament in the prefectural city has brought together martial arts schools from several surrounding counties! It's all for the purpose of showing everyone the heroic spirit of our Great Yan warriors and for the martial arts schools to exchange skills! Without further ado, the tournament will now officially begin!" With that, the gong sounded again.
Lin Yao set up her own stall on one side of the ring.
Yesterday, she specially spent five large sums of money to ask a scholar in town to help her write a cloth banner.
At this moment, the cloth banner fluttered gently in the wind on the stall, with the four large characters "Lin Family Food Stall" standing out prominently.
On the arena, the first match has begun.
The disciple sent by Baisheng Martial Arts School was a burly man with broad shoulders and a thick waist. When he stood there, he looked like a small mountain.
On the other hand, Qin Hu Wu Xing was a lean but sharp-eyed young man, whose name Lin Yao remembered was Xie Chong.
After exchanging a fist salute, the two men took their stances.
The burly disciple was the first to attack. With a loud shout, he rushed forward and smashed his fist, as big as a casserole dish, straight at the opponent's face with a whooshing sound.
Xie Chong remained calm and composed. He nimbly dodged the attack and followed up with a side kick aimed at his opponent's waist and abdomen.
The two exchanged blows, and Lin Yao observed that the young men from the Tiger-Catching Martial Arts School were not as easily defeated as Zhang Xin had described.
Lin Yao's idea hadn't lasted long when Xie Chong was caught off guard and his burly disciple seized on his weakness.
The burly disciple seized the opportunity, suddenly stretched out his large, fan-like hand, grabbed Xie Chong's collar, and then swung him away, sending Xie Chong crashing heavily into the ropes at the edge of the arena.
The burly disciple thought that this attack would render Xie Chong unable to fight, and was preparing to press his advantage, but he did not expect that Xie Chong would use the force of the rope's rebound to charge at him.
Xie Chong swiftly attacked with both hands, aiming straight for the burly disciple's face.
The burly disciple hurriedly raised his arms to block, but Xie Chong's fist techniques were unpredictable and varied. After a few moves, the burly disciple's arms were hit several times, causing him to cry out in pain, and his originally steady steps began to stagger.
Xie Chong's final sweeping leg strike caught the burly disciple off guard, sending him crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
The audience erupted in gasps of amazement. "This young man is amazing! He managed to turn the tables!" "Yeah, look at his skills! The Tiger-Catching Martial Arts Team has really got something this year!"
After the judges announced that Qinhu Martial Arts School had won, Lin Yao looked at Xu Zhiheng, and sure enough, he was pointing a finger at Zhang Xin and showing off.
His face was full of smugness. Zhang Xin was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot, as if he was about to breathe fire. He glared fiercely at Xu Zhiheng, his eyes filled with a desire to devour him alive.
Lin Yao withdrew her gaze and, taking advantage of the break between the two groups, began to shout: "Fresh soy milk, fragrant and delicious! And freshly fried skewers! Crispy, spicy, and guaranteed to satisfy you! Ladies and gentlemen, the arena battles are exhausting and tiring, so have a bowl of soy milk to soothe your throat and a few skewers of fried food to satisfy your cravings!"
As she shouted, she deftly lifted the lid of the soy milk bucket, and the rich aroma of soybeans wafted out. Although the soy milk had been traveling for an hour and had long since cooled down, it was just right for this intense competition.
Hearing Lin Yao's hawking voice, Lü Dazhi came over. He had just shouted so hard to cheer Xie Chong on that his throat was hoarse, and he was just about to drink some water to moisten it when he asked, "Miss Lin, how much is this soy milk?"
Lin Yao smiled and quickly replied, "Brother Lü, four coins a bamboo tube!"
Lu Dazhi nodded, took out a few coins, and said, "Give me five coins, so my brothers and I can quench our thirst."
Lin Yao quickly ladled out the soy milk and handed it to the man.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoyu was skillfully flipping the fried skewers on the side.
The oil in the earthenware pot sizzled, and strings of pork belly, ribs, and vegetables rolled in the hot oil, gradually turning golden and crispy, filling the air with their aroma.
Among the row of stalls, their lively and down-to-earth atmosphere is the most dominant.
Three teenagers, drawn by the aroma, gathered around the stall, their eyes fixed on the fried skewers, whispering amongst themselves.
Lin Yao, seeing this, smiled and asked, "Young masters, would you like a few skewers to try? They're delicious!"
One of the children, dressed in a scarlet cross-collar shirt, licked his lips, pulled out a bag of copper coins from his pocket, and tilted his round face up: "I want three skewers of pork belly and one skewer of fried ribs."
Lin Yao counted out the corresponding number of copper coins from the bag, took the fried skewers handed to her by Wang Xiaoyu, sprinkled them with special five-spice powder, placed them on a palm leaf tray, and handed them to the child, saying, "Here you go, be careful not to burn your mouth!"
Lin Yao watched as several children stood by the roadside, eagerly eating their fried skewers, looking just like she did when she was a child.
After buying snacks at the convenience store, a group of friends would always start indulging in them as soon as they stepped out.
They sat head to head, taking turns eating, enjoying their meal immensely.
Lin Yao's prices for both soy milk and fried skewers are too high today.
This is similar to how food at tourist attractions in later generations is often more expensive.
After all, they spent a lot of time preparing the ingredients and traveled a long way to get here, so the price should naturally match the manpower and resources they invested.
However, to her surprise, she didn't need to do any hard selling today; customers came in droves.
Perhaps it was the intense and exciting atmosphere of the competition that made everyone more emotional and less rational when making purchases, or perhaps the aroma of the fried skewers was simply too tempting to resist.
The two large baskets of fried skewers they prepared disappeared at a visible speed, with almost everyone in the audience holding a skewer. Business was better than expected.
Lin Yao weighed the heavy copper coin in her hand and began to quickly calculate in her mind.
Pork belly is 3 coins per skewer, spare ribs are 5 coins, bean curd sheets are 3 coins, and other vegetables are 1 coin.
This time, I brought a total of 150 skewers of pork belly, 60 skewers of spare ribs, 30 skewers of bean curd sheets, and 370 skewers of vegetables.
A rough calculation shows that he earned nearly one tael of silver today just from fried skewers.
It seems this trip was definitely worthwhile; the gains far exceeded expectations!
When Xu Zhiheng walked over, he saw Lin Yao standing there grinning foolishly, her eyes narrowed into slits, seemingly happy about something. "Miss Lin, do you still have any bean curd sheets for sale?"
Jin Yu had just brought him a large portion of fried skewers, and the one he found most novel was the bean curd skin. It was fragrant, crispy, and delicious, leaving him wanting more.
Lin Yao was basking in the joy of making money when Xu Zhiheng's sudden question startled her. She quickly put on a polite smile, "Young Master Xu, you've come at an inopportune time. All the fried skewers were bought up by that customer just now."
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiheng cursed Jin Yu in his heart.
I should have only given Jin Yu one skewer. That kid ate three skewers by himself and even tried to take them from me, so I only got to eat two.
“That’s a pity. The taste of that bean curd skin is truly unforgettable.” He had a sudden thought and then said, “Miss Lin, why don’t we work together? I think this bean curd skin has a bright future in the market and is very promising.”
Lin Yao was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered and replied with a smile, "That would be excellent. However, making bean curd sheets involves a complicated process and many intricacies. Perhaps we could discuss it in detail another day?"
Xu Zhiheng nodded in agreement: "What Miss Lin said is absolutely right. This matter really cannot be rushed. How about we set it for three days later, when you come to Qinhu Martial Arts School to find me, and we can discuss the cooperation in detail? What do you think, Miss Lin?"
Lin Yao readily agreed: "Okay, it's settled then."
After Xu Zhiheng walked away, Lin Yao couldn't help but laugh out loud. Wang Xiaoyu, puzzled, asked, "Master, what did Young Master Xu just say?"
Lin Yao didn't plan to speak right now, as she still had important matters to attend to. "It's nothing, let's tidy up the things at the stall first, Brother Dazhuang and the others should be bringing lunch soon." As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Yao heard Liang's voice.
Lin Cheng and Liu Xu hurriedly stepped forward to help carry today's food. Several large buckets were full and quite heavy, which exhausted the group.
Seeing this, Lin Yao quickly went to greet her and took the basket from Liang's hands, which contained a large handful of chopsticks. "Thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law. Please take a rest."
It was during the intermission of the match, and the spectators around the ring were already starving. The aroma of food in the air made their stomachs rumble, and they began to gather in this direction one after another.
A tall, slender young man in white was drawn to Lin Yao's stall by the enticing aroma of food, and couldn't tear himself away. "Young lady, how much is your food?"
Lin Yao explained apologetically, "Young master, I'm really sorry, these dishes were pre-ordered lunch by Qin Hu Martial Arts School."
Upon hearing this, the young man in white looked disappointed. He subconsciously licked his lips, but the aroma of the food kept wafting into his nose. "So that's how it is. The people from the Tiger-Catching Martial Arts School are really lucky with their food."
When Lü Dazhi and his men came to pick up lunch, they happened to see Bai Yi there. "Hey Bai, why aren't you eating yet? Running around like this, be careful your dad beats you again!" After saying that, the group burst into laughter.
Bai Yi's fair face flushed red instantly upon hearing this. When he was young, he was a glutton. Once, during a break from a martial arts tournament, he ran to the west of the city to buy a candy figurine. His father searched everywhere for him but couldn't find him and was so anxious that he almost gave up the match.
Fortunately, after buying the sugar figurine, he managed to find his way back. However, after his father caught him, he gave him a severe beating right there in front of everyone below the stage, a scene that still embarrasses him to this day.
Seeing that Bai Yi's face had turned red, Lü Dazhi stopped teasing him. "You rascal, you're still so thin-skinned." Bai Yi didn't say anything more, hurriedly gave a bow, and ran away in a flash.
Several people carried several large buckets of lunch to the team's rest area. As soon as they opened the lids, the rich aroma of the food attracted the attention of the disciples of Qinhu Martial Arts School.
"Did the boss find some money? This lunch is really tempting!" "Yeah, my stomach is rumbling just from the smell!" The disciples joked and teased as they quickly gathered around. The group carried several large buckets of lunch to the team's rest area. As soon as they opened the lids, the rich and mellow aroma of the food instantly filled the air, attracting the attention of the disciples from the Tiger-Catching Martial Arts School.
Looking at his disciples' starving appearance, Lu Dazhi thought to himself that the Qinhu Martial Arts School usually starved them. He laughed and shouted, "You bunch of little brats, have we been shortchanging you? Don't rush, line up, everyone gets some!"
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Author's Note: Lin Yao: Money is going to fall from the sky!
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