Chapter 82 082 Dumpling Soup [Second Update]
Although the weather didn't clear up all day Sunday, at least it stopped raining.
Wen's mother no longer organizes any family activities; instead, the whole family stays at home to rest.
Song Hui brought some crabapples.
“Yang Tao’s grandma lives in the countryside. There are several crabapple trees in her yard. Nobody used to eat them. I thought your Xiaotang has a lot of ways to cook crabapples, so I’m sending you some. If you want them, I’ll go back in a few days and pick them all.”
Song Hui's relationship with Wen's mother is getting better and better, and one of the reasons that cannot be ignored is Yang Tao's success in social media.
Last month he had only 800 followers, but this month, after Yang Tao returned to school, he already had several thousand followers. Yang Tao is a lively person and posts videos frequently. Although his number of followers may seem average, his activity level surpasses that of others.
Song Hui now sees Wen Fan as a mascot.
Since Wen Fan changed his ways and started coming to the shop more often, not only has the Wen family's business improved, but the business of the entire street has also become quite good.
Originally, not many students came to her school because it was a bit far from the school gate, but as the Wen family's business improved, the number of students passing by the gate every day increased several times over.
Song Hui handed a large bag of crabapples to Wen's mother and asked her warmly if the hat she had knitted earlier was comfortable to wear.
Wen's mother: "Everything's fine."
Song Hui's skills are better than hers. In the past, she only used a few stitches when knitting sweaters for her family, so her knitting was not as flexible as Song Hui's.
While Wen's mother and Song Hui were talking outside the door, Wen Fan carried the large bag of crabapples to the kitchen.
Crabapples have existed since ancient times and are also known as Fragrant Concubine Apples. The fruits are relatively small and have a sour taste. Traditional Chinese medicine says they strengthen the spleen and stomach, promote the production of body fluids, and quench thirst.
Wen Fan took one to taste, and this fruit was actually sweeter than the ones she had eaten before, but it still had a sour and astringent taste.
After finishing his meal, Wen Fan rinsed his mouth and found a few clean plastic buckets.
After exchanging pleasantries outside the door, Wen's mother entered and saw her daughter rummaging through drawers and cabinets looking for things.
"...What are you looking for?"
"I remember there were two bottles of baijiu at home?"
Father Wen added, "Didn't you already use it?"
Previously, Wen Fan bought a bag of extremely sour green plums at the market. Wen's mother wanted to throw them away, but Wen Fan kept the plums and soaked them in wine.
Wen Fan immediately remembered.
Father Wen: "Why do you need baijiu?"
"To make medicinal liquor."
"There are so many at home..."
Since the start of summer vacation, my daughter has been making wine whenever she has a spare moment. At first, she made wine from green grapes, then peaches, then plums, and now she's finally made wine from crabapples.
"Your dad and I won't drink that much."
In his younger years, Mr. Wen would occasionally have a few drinks, but later he stopped drinking altogether. Mrs. Wen felt that since neither she nor her husband drank, and her daughter was too young to drink, why should they just stand by and watch as they made so much fruit wine?
"Of course not." Wen Fan said while looking for ingredients and fiddling with the fruits. "I'm making fruit wine, so of course I need to use them."
The weather has turned cold, and winter will come soon, which will be her winter vacation again.
Wen Fan felt it was necessary to make more fruit wine. With winter approaching, hot dishes paired with fruit wine, especially on snowy days, would be even more appealing with a pot of warm wine and a pot of glutinous rice balls.
It just means there wasn't enough space, otherwise she would definitely have brewed some more rice wine herself.
Fruit wine is sweet and refreshing, while grain liquor is mellow and rich – the perfect pairing for snowy days!
Father Wen: "...I'm going out to buy some liquor."
After his daughter mentioned it, he found himself thinking about the fruit wine he had bought a few months ago.
After buying the liquor, Wen Fan kept his family busy. Wen's mother washed the fruit, while Wen's father dealt with the plastic buckets, washing and drying them to ensure there was no moisture inside.
Cut the crabapple in half, remove the top and bottom, discard the seeds, and put it in a container.
Wen Fan found several kinds of rock sugar and stuffed them in little by little. Finally, he poured in an appropriate amount of white wine, placed the bottle in a cool place, and wrote the date on it.
"It will be ready to drink in a month."
The whole family was busy cutting and soaking food, reeking of alcohol, and didn't even look at their phones.
It wasn't until they had all showered and were sitting in the living room that Wen's mother realized her phone was full of messages.
Some regular customers were lamenting why the door wasn't open, some neighbors were asking what was going on, and Yang Tao and his summer workers were sending a series of exclamation marks.
Wen Fan's phone was similarly filled with greetings from his classmates.
Han Lulu sent the most messages; she was still sending messages when Wen Fan picked up his phone.
[Lulu: Oh my god, could you be the beautiful and kind lady?]
[Lulu: It's confirmed, it's you!]
[Lulu: Waaaaah, you promised I was the only one who got to drink the brown sugar water?]
[Lulu: Is your shop incredibly busy today? Do you need me to come help you?]
[Lulu: I've been on your review page for two hours now, these people are so good at praising things!]
[Lulu: ...So, does that mean I can't mooch your special lunch anymore?]
...
Wen Fan was completely confused. She opened the class group chat, which seemed to have been flooded with messages from people tagging her and telling her to look at the trending topics.
Wen Fan opened the trending topics, and the big data didn't mince words, directly pointing Shi Xiaolei's complaint post in front of Wen Fan.
Coincidentally, just a few minutes after Wen Fan opened the page, XX Company quickly issued a second statement.
This statement was quite different from the first one; it not only had an official seal but also used much milder language.
[An investigation has confirmed that the issues raised by blogger "A Flower Bud" are true. Our company has initiated an internal review process. Project team leader XX has been found to have mismanagement issues and has been suspended pending the investigation results. We sincerely apologize to the public...]
The statement immediately propelled the matter to the top of trending searches, and amidst the public's various emotional outpourings, the name Wenji Restaurant was repeatedly mentioned.
Mr. and Mrs. Wen were dumbfounded, never expecting that such a trivial matter would turn into such a big commotion.
Wen Fan was alright; after looking around, he eventually managed to shift his focus.
"Are we about to get busy at home?"
Previous buzz was mostly minor, usually limited to local news accounts or city-wide trends, but this time the public opinion is much stronger than before, and the store's presence is also very strong.
Wen’s father and Wen’s mother: “…”
My feelings were mixed; I felt both proud and conflicted.
The shop is too small, but there are too many customers; the good business is daunting.
"Or let's hire another person."
We can't let the whole family get exhausted.
Wen Fan, however, felt that the most urgent task was to consider changing the menu.
The turnover rate of claypot rice is too low. Wen Fan taps the table with his fingers.
"Mom and Dad, let's make it a clay pot noodle dish instead."
She can prepare the sauce in advance, prepare the seasoning powder, and make sure the casserole noodles are not mixed with anything else; she can just use ready-made noodles.
They decided to do it right away, and the family opened the shop that afternoon.
Dozens of kilograms of noodles and rice noodles were urgently delivered. Wen Fan tried several recipes and finally settled on crispy pork casserole noodles and sesame sauce chicken casserole noodles. Rice noodles were also an option if you didn't want noodles.
The store's signboard has been changed, and the price hasn't been set too high—15 yuan per serving.
At 7 p.m., the regular customers who were still excitedly browsing the comments section suddenly discovered that Wenji's shop, which was closed for the day, had unexpectedly reopened.
However, today's food delivery platforms only offer three items.
Spicy beef noodles, crispy pork casserole noodles, and chicken diced sesame sauce casserole noodles.
There weren't many, only thirty of each item.
Due to its astonishing popularity, it sold out in just five minutes.
The moment Wenji opened for business, someone notified Shi Xiaolei in the comments section, and Shi Xiaolei immediately placed an order.
In the remarks, he expressed his gratitude to Wen Fan again.
A short while later, the deliveryman called.
Your meal has been delivered.
Shi Xiaolei put on her shoes and went to get her food. The heavy takeout box contained a box of vegetables, a soup, and a sauce.
A line of text was written on a sticky note.
If you're not feeling well, avoid spicy food and drink the dumpling soup while it's hot.
Shi Xiaolei opened the lid, and a wave of hot air hit her face.
The box was filled to the brim with a variety of ingredients for dumpling soup.
In this bowl of thick soup, finely chopped yam and lean meat are faintly visible. A touch of tomato gives it a slightly sour aroma, and the egg is shredded. The white dough pieces, as the main ingredient, are no longer particularly prominent.
Shi Xiaolei took a few sips, and her eyes gradually reddened.
The dumpling soup is thick, smooth, and creamy. The slight acidity of the tomatoes whets the appetite. The yam is cooked until sticky and soft, and the minced lean meat is also palatable. The dumplings are like bouncing little silver fish, disappearing between the lips and teeth, bringing an indescribable warmth and comfort when they fall into the stomach.
Shi Xiaolei took a picture and posted it online, then opened the box of vegetables again.
Compared to the comforting warmth of dumpling soup, this meal is quite vibrant.
A plate of stir-fried chicken cooked over a high flame, with a rich, dark sauce and an irresistible aroma!
Shi Xiaolei ate a few bites but couldn't bear to part with it, leaving half a box to steam rice with the rest the next day.
The company also sent a message trying to retain her, implying that headquarters was unaware of the previous overtime work, the assertive team leader had been suspended, and the insults in the comments section were instigated by that junior manager. The company now understands the situation and has announced that weekend overtime is no longer permitted, asking Shi Xiaolei if she would like to return to work.
After much deliberation, Shi Xiaolei ultimately declined the company's offer to stay.
She wrote down her choice online and left two photos of the dishes.
[A Flower Bud: In the end, I decided to go back home to develop my career. This city left a deep impression on me. I wish the shop owner great success in the future.]
The comments below are varied. Some say it's better to stay, as the reputation of a big company is still useful. If you leave after two years, your qualifications will be incomparable to those of someone from a small company.
Some people complained that if you make a scene like this, you won't get any good results going back, so it's better to change companies as soon as possible.
Many more people cried out in despair.
[Yuanyuan: No way, how could the restaurant give me special treatment?!]
[Lingling's Mom: This is amazing! The color... I'm so hungry!]
[A lettuce leaf: dumpling soup! Why?! It's not on the shelves! I'm going to make a scene!]
[Sunflower: I'm speechless. I just managed to snag the last serving of sesame chicken hot pot noodles. All I can say is thank you to the poster for letting me discover this hidden gem of a restaurant.]
[Green Onion Messenger: It's so delicious! I suggest opening branches all over the country. The spicy beef noodles are incredibly good!]
[Plum: I've already had a serving of crispy pork casserole noodles, now I want to ask when the dumpling soup will be available?]
The fact that the matter has been settled has not diminished the buzz; instead, it has drawn attention to Wenji's dishes.
In the comments section, some people, not wanting to miss out on the fun, shared photos of various delicious foods they had eaten before.
Rice bowls, noodle bowls, fried foods, braised dishes, cold dishes...
People from other places who saw it were extremely envious.
Of course, some local foodies also secretly got lucky.
"I'm going to queue up tomorrow morning!"
There's that persimmon cake, and that fresh meat sesame cake.
I am coming!
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