Chapter 181 Appetizers with Drinks [Second Update]
Wen Fan spent his last summer vacation before his senior year of high school in a busy schedule.
The sausage gift box was launched first and received unanimous praise. As a result, the steamed rice noodles with sausage in the store have also become a must-try dish.
Some diners were mailing things to their families while eating, and even yelling into the phone that they would be back late.
"I'll wait two more days and buy a few more items!"
That's right, Wenji has started limiting purchases.
As the number of customers increased, some came specifically for the sausages. When they couldn't buy gift boxes, they started looking for scalpers. Sometimes, as soon as Wen Kee released some sausages, people would line up to buy them, and then resell them at a higher price after leaving the store.
To curb scalping, Wen's mother can only resort to purchase limits. While this can't eliminate it entirely, it at least increases the scalpers' costs.
A few days later, some neighbors told her that sausage gift boxes were being sold at exorbitant prices.
How much do they sell them for?
The neighbors made a six with their hands.
"Six hundred?"
Wen's mother never expected anyone to sell it for such a high price, and she never expected that anyone would actually buy it at such a high price!
The neighbors clicked their tongues in amazement: "There are even people queuing up to sell numbers, and one is being resold for over a hundred yuan. It's outrageous."
Seeing Wen's mother frown, the neighbor comforted her, "Don't take it too seriously. There are scalpers everywhere. As long as you're in business, it's inevitable. It just shows that your business is doing well. Besides, if it were really easy for scalpers to get numbers, they wouldn't be selling for such high prices."
A single sausage gift box costs six hundred, prompting locals to marvel at the tourists' spending power.
No wonder the city is so keen to develop tourism; just the spending stimulated by these visitors has created so much wealth.
Even her family's shop benefited from the situation.
To be precise, all the businesses on this street benefited.
With so many people queuing, it's inevitable that some will get impatient. No matter what's being sold on this street, it's packed with people at mealtimes.
Everyone was now marveling at Zhang Fengqiu's foresight in making steamed buns. Zhang Fengqiu's business was the best on the street because his steamed buns had a wide variety of fillings.
There are fillings like crayfish, braised tendon, and spicy bean curd...
Thanks to these fancy steamed buns, Zhang Fengqiu's shop has recently gained a lot of customers and has become one of the local internet celebrity shops.
With Zhang Fengqiu taking the lead, other shops also began to follow suit.
The neighbors sighed to Wen's mother, "Now, even after closing their shops, everyone stays in the kitchen, researching and working on their projects!"
We haven't seen any results yet, but everyone is very enthusiastic.
only……
The neighbors were a little embarrassed, but still asked, "Yingzhi, we used to buy your sausage seasoning powder. Now that you're making sausages, are you still selling the seasoning powder?"
Compared to the gift box, the powder is naturally cheaper, but doing so seems like taking advantage of someone else's business.
Mother Wen: "Sell it, but don't tell anyone else. Just make some for yourselves."
"Okay!"
The neighbors were visibly happy. Her child was already used to it, and if they suddenly stopped selling it, she would have to spend money to buy gift boxes. The price wasn't the main issue; the real problem was that she couldn't get her hands on them...
After the neighbors left, Wen's mother thought it over and over again, and then found the people maintaining order on the street and asked them to keep an eye on things.
"I can let one or two scalpers who are queuing up peacefully go, but those who resell numbers directly outside are a different story."
The city is determined to promote its tourism, and everyone is working with great enthusiasm, taking advantage of the summer holiday rush. Scalpers severely damage the tourist experience, and as soon as Ms. Wen mentioned it, the street officials confidently assured her that they would catch them if they saw them.
Wen's mother also asked Du Min to post a statement on the account advising everyone not to buy goods from scalpers.
Right now, it's just buying and selling. If these people think they're not making enough money this way, they might sell counterfeit goods themselves. If tourists end up eating counterfeit products, they'll just think that Wenji is all talk and no action.
While the crackdown on scalpers was in full swing outside, Wen Fan in the shop also received perfectly packaged fried shrimp balls and crispy fish.
Unpack the packages and distribute them to the employees, asking for their feedback.
Wu Na: "It tastes good, but the crust isn't crispy enough."
Qu Xiaoyu nodded.
Ji Baiyi: "The flavor is different from before, but it's still delicious."
That's true. The previous fried food focused on crispiness, especially the crispy fish, where even the bones were fried until crispy, paired with a savory and slightly sweet sauce, making it incredibly fragrant. Now, the fried and packaged fish pieces are soaked in the sauce, making it twice as rich. The outer layer of fish skin is first fried and then soaked, and the wrinkles created by frying the skin form natural gaps, allowing the sauce to seep into these gaps, transforming the dry and fragrant crispy fish into juicy fish pieces.
Master Da Jin: "Perfect with drinks."
Xiao Ge nodded as well.
After eating the crispy fish, everyone ate fried shrimp balls. The fried shrimp balls were chewy, and compared to the different flavors of the crispy fish after processing, this obviously diminished the original taste.
Wen Fan pointed to the label above, indicating that this was a product that needed further processing.
"It's eaten with instant noodles or snail rice noodles."
Wu Na immediately offered to cook a bowl of noodles for us to see. Surprisingly, the shop didn't have any instant noodles at the moment, so we went to a small supermarket and bought a pack. Wu Na raised her hand and said, "I'll cook! Your cooking skills are too good; they don't reflect the state of an ordinary person!"
Everyone laughed as they watched Wu Na hurriedly cook a packet of instant noodles.
Wu Na breathed a sigh of relief as she poured the contents into a large bowl.
"alright."
The others looked at each other and then at Wu Na.
Wu Na: "...Hey, don't look at me like that! I just have the skills of an ordinary person!"
Wen Fan smiled briefly, picked up a mouthful of instant noodles that was clearly cooked, and said, "Try them all."
Only then did everyone find chopsticks and start eating.
To be fair, Wu Na's cooking skills weren't that bad, but everyone had recently gotten used to Wen Fan's cooking, so they were all suffering from the food.
But when they ate the shrimp balls, everyone fell silent.
After soaking in the noodle soup, the fried shrimp balls have a texture somewhere between crispy fried tofu skin and shrimp paste. The outer layer of tofu skin absorbs the sauce exceptionally well, while the shrimp meat inside is bouncy and tender.
"tasty!"
Even instant noodles don't seem so bland when compared to the fried shrimp balls.
Master Da Jin: "That's convenient. You can cook it in tomato sauce and eat it as a dish."
It's simple and straightforward to operate, so even kitchen novices can easily make decent dishes.
The two new products received unanimous praise and were put on the shelves that same evening.
Wenji, needless to say, is so crowded that it's impossible to fit everyone in the shop.
The nearby Carp Village also became lively.
At the specialty store, Wenji launched new products. As soon as the staff put up the sign announcing the new products, tourists flocked to the store.
They didn't even see what it was before they started grabbing it.
Once I received it, I realized it was a package of crispy fish and a package of fried shrimp balls.
"Fried shrimp balls? What are these?"
After reading the instructions on the back, the tourists understood that this was eaten in the same way as the crispy tofu roll.
What else is there to say? Those who have the means start cooking instant meals before they even leave, such as self-heating pots, instant noodles, and snail rice noodles. As long as there is soup, just put them in and cook for two minutes and you can eat.
After finishing eating, I wiped my mouth and turned to join the queue.
Many people bring this item home as a souvenir, only to regret it after eating it.
"Why didn't I buy more packs!"
Wenji's shrimp balls can be prepared in many ways, and people quickly came up with all sorts of creative ways to enjoy them.
You can put a few in mala tang (spicy hot pot), a few in luosifen (river snail rice noodles), or even in casserole dishes.
Some have even more creative ideas: shrimp balls braised in tomato sauce, shrimp balls with garlic and butter, steamed shrimp balls with garlic and vermicelli...
Even deep-frying it again and then sprinkling it with seasoning is a good way to eat it.
Although crispy fish is not as famous as shrimp balls, many people have given feedback online after buying it.
[Momo: My dad says this is the best accompaniment to alcohol, and he's already invited me to several dinner parties these past few days. My mom is so angry she says she's going to throw away the crispy fish.]
[Little6: Throw it in my mouth! I bought two boxes, but my family ate them all!]
[Cat Sister: You guys don't understand the allure of this stuff for heavy drinkers. A few bottles of ice-cold beer in the evening, sitting on the balcony, ordering some grilled skewers, and opening a box of crispy fish... there's no greater enjoyment than this, family.]
[Cheese sauce: Your description makes my mouth water, looks like I definitely have to go to City X...]
...
As August arrived, the introduction of crayfish boosted Wenji's reputation once again, and Wen Fan was also about to start school.
Just then, Director Hao arrived again.
"That's right, the higher-ups plan to promote it again during the summer vacation, this time it's the Qingtang Mountain Cultural Festival."
Director Hao handed over a flyer: "We hope you will come and participate."
Strictly speaking, the leader meant that Wenji must go, as this year's cultural festival is also Qixi Festival, with the theme of the Magpie Bridge Fairy Meeting.
"A major TV station will broadcast it live."
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