Chapter 045
Chu Xia followed Lin Xiaohan back to the office.
The two of them first finished the unfinished work for the day, and then made a list together.
It was already late when they made the list, so Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan did not go to find Qin Xue immediately.
They would go back to the educated youth site after get off work as usual and do the things they did every day.
The next day after get off work and lunch, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan took advantage of the lunch break to find Qin Xue and handed him the list.
Qin Xue finished reading the list and said, "Okay, I'll let you know when it's done."
Chu Xia was happy but also a little nervous, and asked with concern: "Is everything OK?"
Qin Xue looked at her and said with a smile, "It's definitely not difficult to buy some tables, stools, pots and pans. What's a little troublesome is communicating with the commune, but it's not a big problem. After the communication is done, sign an agreement with the grain and oil station and the food station, and the supply of ingredients will not be a problem. Our brigade has its own grain and vegetables, and we only have such a small stall. I don't think we can sell many bowls of noodles a day, so we don't need much supply, so it's not difficult."
After hearing him say this, Chu Xia was naturally completely relieved.
It's a state-owned business, with the national government backing it up, so there's really nothing to worry about.
Even if they have to worry about it, it is the business of these cadres.
What she needs to worry about is whether the noodle stall can make a profit after setting up.
If there is no profit, there is no point in doing this, and the team will definitely consider whether to continue this.
But this is something to consider after the stall is set up.
After Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan handed the list to Qin Xue, they returned to work and classes with peace of mind.
But within another week, the team had completed all the procedures for setting up the noodle stall.
Once the formalities are completed, the matter will naturally be a done deal.
Although summer vacation has not yet arrived, all preparations can be made.
The brigade bought all kinds of things needed for the noodle stall, and also sent wheat, soybeans and corn to Chuxia according to Chuxia's request.
These things are needed in early summer so that the sauce can be made in advance.
It takes a relatively long time to make the sauce. We will start making it now and it will be ready by summer vacation.
You don't need to prepare noodle sauce all the time. You can spend half a day cooking wheat, soybeans and corn and drying them, and then you can make them after work.
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan just focused on doing their own things.
Because apart from work, my thoughts and energy have to be focused on running the noodle stall, so I usually don't pay attention to how Han Ting and the others are doing.
But there was no change in Han Ting and his family's lives.
I complain about eating plain steamed buns every day, and I cry out from time to time that I can't bear it anymore.
When you feel the hardship and pain are really unbearable, you can't help but shed tears of grievance.
The ten of them remained united and harmonious in most situations.
Although there would be minor frictions and conflicts when encountering problems, and when they were emotional they would argue with red faces and raised voices, but with Han Ting to calm the situation, there had never been a real fight.
Because life in the countryside is too depressing and boring.
They often get together to play and laugh, release their emotions and find joy in suffering.
The feelings between Han Ting and Su Yun became increasingly passionate and intense amidst this depressing and miserable situation where they could see no hope or future.
It seems that only in this way can the mental and physical suffering be offset.
The only little hope in their lives is probably the vegetable seedlings they planted for the second time.
Because of the lessons learned from the first time, they were much more cautious when growing vegetables the second time, and they seriously asked their fellow villagers for a lot of experience.
The young seedlings took root and grew in the scorching sun and rain without encountering any further accidents.
But if you want to eat this vegetable, you have to wait until autumn.
***
"Classmates, today is our last day in school. This semester has officially ended. Starting tomorrow, we will begin the longest vacation of the year - summer vacation. After everyone goes home for the vacation, in addition to working and playing, we must also review and consolidate the knowledge we have learned this semester, so as not to forget everything when the next semester starts..."
After Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan announced the official start of summer vacation, the classroom suddenly erupted with cheers and clapping of tables that almost blew the roof off.
The children jumped up and down with joy, but they still lined up in an orderly manner when leaving the school.
After seeing off these children for the last time this semester, Chuxia breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s not just students who look forward to the holidays; teachers feel the same way.
After locking the gate of the yard, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan also left the school with their schoolbags.
Chu Xia held the strap of her schoolbag, turned to look at Lin Xiaohan and asked, "We have a day off tomorrow. The day after tomorrow is Sunday, the commune market day. We are going to officially start the noodle stall. Are you nervous?"
Lin Xiaohan said calmly: "Why are you so nervous?"
Chu Xia said: "Of course I'm worried that the noodles won't be sold."
Lin Xiaohan's tone was still calm and indifferent. "If we can't sell it, then we can't sell it. Anyway, we won't lose anything. At most, it's just a waste of effort."
Chuxia was about to continue talking when she suddenly felt that what she was saying was not good.
Things haven't even officially started yet, but she's already started saying discouraging words to affect morale. Especially in front of someone like Lin Xiaohan who never thinks about anything else and worries about nothing, he will definitely feel annoyed.
So she stopped worrying and didn't say anything more.
Instead, he looked at Lin Xiaohan, smiled and said, "My cooking skills are so good, I will definitely be able to sell them."
***
Because I’m on vacation, I have fewer work tasks and pressure, and I feel a lot more relaxed mentally.
The next day, apart from eating, feeding chickens and reading, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan did not go out to do anything else. They stayed at the educated youth point and rested completely relaxed for a day.
After a day of rest, I feel refreshed.
The next day, I got up early in the morning as usual.
After dinner, the two went out together and went to the brigade headquarters.
In order to support this noodle stall, the brigade not only purchased the things needed to set up the noodle stall, but also cleaned out half of the storage room in the brigade headquarters to store these things.
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan went to the brigade headquarters, opened the door and entered the storage room, but did not immediately pull the cart to the market.
They set up the table and weighed out a pound and a half of flour, then kneaded the dough and rolled out five portions of noodles.
This is my first time setting up a stall, so I don’t know what the specific situation will be like, so of course I’ll take it easy.
After rolling the noodles, he cut some side dishes and then pulled the cart to the market.
The market in Qinghe Town is L-shaped, with stalls set up along two walls.
After the brigade and the commune communicated and discussed, they built a small square earthen stove at the corner of the courtyard wall.
In conjunction with the courtyard wall, two thick straight bamboo poles were used to support a soft shed made of old snakeskin bags.
When Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan pulled the rack to their stall, the other stalls in the market had almost been set up and there were quite a few people coming out to shop.
Seeing Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan, the other people setting up stalls looked at them curiously.
Chuxia couldn't help but get nervous when being stared at, but she still did her work in an orderly manner.
Put up the small table and stool.
Chuxia continued to pack up the stall, and Lin Xiaohan went to the food station with the supply certificate.
After Lin Xiaohan left, the old man who was selling watermelons nearby looked at Chuxia for a while and couldn't help asking, "What are you selling, pots and stoves?"
Chu Xia smiled and pointed to the words on the wooden sign next to her: "State-owned noodle stall, selling noodles."
Hearing this, the old man shook his head and clicked his tongue.
After he finished his comment, he asked Chu Xia, "Which brigade are you from? Why are you setting up a noodle stall in the market? I'm afraid that won't work. In the state-owned canteen over there, they have steamed buns, steamed rolls, noodles, and dumplings."
Chu Xia did not refute the old man's words, and said with a good temper: "Uncle, we are from the Tanxi Brigade, and we also want to give it a try and be the first to eat crabs."
The old man asked with a puzzled look: "Can the noodle stall be the first to eat crabs?"
Chu Xia laughed, "It's a noodle stand. Isn't ours the first one on this street?"
If it wasn’t the first one, I wouldn’t be so interested.
He continued to ask: "What kind of noodles do you sell?"
Chu Xia did not refuse the old man's face, and continued to clean up and replied: "We mainly sell noodles with soybean paste, which are not available in the state-owned canteen."
The old man clicked his tongue twice and shook his head, saying, "I don't think it's possible anyway."
Chu Xia smiled and didn't respond to his words. She just packed her things.
The old man had an expression that said "If you don't listen to the advice of the elderly, you will suffer the consequences", shook his head and said nothing more.
When Chuxia had almost finished packing up, Lin Xiaohan brought back a pound of pork.
He did not sit idle when he came back. He put the pork in a basin, took it to the water well outside the street to fetch water to wash it, and then brought it back and put it on the chopping board to cut the meat into cubes.
Chuxia started to make a fire when Lin Xiaohan had almost finished dicing the meat.
The firewood started a fire at the bottom of the stove, the water in the iron pot quickly disappeared, and blue smoke rose from the pot.
After the pan is hot, pour a proper amount of oil into it, add the scallion and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant.
Then pour the pork belly into the pan and stir-fry to remove the excess fat in the meat and fry the meat until it is golden and fragrant...
The old man selling watermelons next to me was chatting with other stall owners after selling a watermelon.
As they were chatting happily and laughing, they suddenly smelled the aroma of meat, so he stopped laughing and sniffed twice.
Naturally, other stall owners nearby also smelled it.
They turned around with the melon seller to look at Chuxia’s stall, and saw steam rising from the stove by the wall, and the fragrance was all coming from the pot.
In early summer, the pork belly is stir-fried, and then mushrooms and minced garlic are added and stir-fried, and then the prepared sauce is poured into the pot.
Next, when you fry the sauce over low heat, the aroma is so rich that it cannot be covered up.
The aroma of the fried sauce wafted along the street with the hot steam, and soon attracted many people over.
When people gathered around and stretched their heads to look, their first reaction was to swallow their saliva.
Because it was not yet time for lunch, they didn't ask anything after swallowing their saliva.
They just stood together and whispered in a tone of watching the fun -
“Is this the new noodle stall?”
"What kind of noodles are you making that smell so good?"
"This is so fragrant that it can be smelled from two miles away..."
…
The fragrance spread far away and could be smelled by almost the entire street.
People who were farther away smelled the smell and sniffed curiously:
"Do you smell the fragrance?"
"Whose family is suddenly hosting this banquet?"
"I can't stand the smell of this for a while."
…
At the stall.
Fried with sauce in early summer.
Seeing more and more people gathering around, she turned and smiled at Lin Xiaohan.
This was something they had discussed.
Originally the fried sauce could be made ahead of time and brought along, and the one without meat is made ahead of time.
But in order to make the fried sauce play a greater role, they discussed it before and decided to save the fried sauce with meat and make it directly on the street.
So far, it seems that the effect is still very good.
It takes a little longer to make the sauce.
More and more people came to the stall to watch the fun, and they changed several groups.
Some people came and went, and sometimes they came and went two or three times, lingering around the stalls.
When the fried sauce was almost ready, the sun was rising.
The appetite has been whetted enough, so Chuxia serves the fried sauce, washes the pot, adds water, boils the water, cooks a bowl of noodles, and blanches the vegetables that need to be raw.
The vegetables are placed on the noodles, green, crispy and yellow.
Pour a spoonful of fried sauce on it, and the color will be even brighter and more attractive.
It was almost time for lunch. Lin Xiaohan picked up the bowl of noodles and deliberately walked around the edge of the shed, showing it to the people watching nearby from a close distance and letting them smell the food.
After the walk, he took the initiative to say, "We are members of the Tanxi Brigade. This is our first day setting up a noodle stall. If you think our noodles are okay, you can have a bowl to try. A bowl without meat costs 20 cents, and a bowl with meat costs 40 cents. You don't need coupons for meat or vegetables, but you need three taels of grain coupons for noodles."
The onlookers looked at the noodles up close and swallowed their saliva again.
Someone asked, "How much meat is there?"
Lin Xiaohan replied: "Two taels of diced meat."
After understanding all the circumstances, many people had greedy and hesitant expressions on their faces.
After all, some people did not plan to eat out, while some people planned to eat out and also planned to go to the state-owned canteen.
People were attracted by the smell and came to watch the fun. Some were just there to watch the fun, while others were hesitant.
You looked at me and I looked at you and hesitated for a while, and suddenly two girls squeezed out of the crowd, walked under the soft tent and said, "We want two bowls, with diced meat."
Judging from their accents, they should be educated youth from the city.
Hearing this, Chu Xia's expression brightened up, and she quickly responded with "Okay", then turned around and went downstairs.
The first bowl that came out was placed in front of one of the girls. After the other bowl was ready, Lin Xiaohan brought it over and placed it in front of another girl.
The two girls picked up their chopsticks and mixed the noodles together and ate them.
When they took their first bite, they were both tentative, cautious and slow, but after chewing the noodles a few times and swallowing them, they looked at each other with wide eyes. Then they stopped talking and just started eating their noodles.
The people who were still watching the fun outside the tent became even more impatient after seeing this scene.
After a long while, another person seemed to grit his teeth, walked into the tent and said, "Give me a bowl, too, or with diced meat! If I don't eat a bowl, I don't think I can leave this street today!"
He tried to walk three times!
Every time I reached the end of the street, I stopped and turned back!
There's no way to get away!
Chu Xia naturally smiled again and responded crisply: "Okay!"
***
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan only prepared five servings of noodles.
But after the first three bowls of noodles were sold, the next two bowls were sold out quickly.
Fortunately, they brought noodles, so there was enough noodles.
Vegetables are cut as needed. If they are not enough, we can go directly to the vegetable stall of Tanxi Brigade to weigh them.
Because most people order dishes without meat, there is no need to worry about adding meat.
Before the noodle stall opened, Chuxia was nervous.
But when she started kneading the dough again, she felt completely at ease.
Although the business was not so busy that she could not handle it, she was still very happy with a smile on her face.
She and Lin Xiaohan did not have a clear division of labor, but they had a natural understanding when doing the work.
For example, the hard work of kneading and rolling the dough is done by Lin Xiaohan, and Chuxia has the final say on how much water to add and how thick the dough should be.
You can cook noodles and blanch vegetables by yourself in early summer.
She has to control the heat and time to ensure that the noodles and vegetables taste the best.
After a busy lunch break in an orderly manner, there were not many people left in the market.
The street became deserted, and Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan also sat down to eat.
I felt comfortable after filling my stomach and my mood became better.
I sat on a small stool in early summer and breathed a sigh of relief. Although I was tired, I felt my soul was light as if it was flying.
Lin Xiaohan stood up and took the last few sets of dishes to the well to wash.
Chuxia sat on a small stool without getting up. She reached out and picked up the palm-leaf fan to fan herself.
Because their stall was against the wall, the wall and snakeskin bags blocked the sunlight, and there was shade from the trees across the street, so there was a cool breeze blowing from time to time, so it wasn't that hot.
It’s just that I spend most of my time in early summer near the stove, facing the heat, so I feel hotter than others.
Chuxia fanned herself with a fan for a while, and her eyes suddenly met those of the old man selling melons next to her.
The moment their eyes met, she felt that the old man had been staring at her for a long time.
As they looked at each other, she thought of what the old man had said in the morning about her being incapable of doing so.
Chuxia raised the corners of her mouth and smiled at the old man, not ostentatious but confident.
The melon seller: “…
After I started making fried sauce in the early morning of early summer, I stopped paying attention to the man selling melons.
After smiling at him, she didn't say anything proud, but looked away and continued fanning herself.
The old man selling melons had been tortured for half a day.
He really didn't expect that this little girl had the ability to make the noodles so fragrant that people couldn't resist the smell. They gritted their teeth and took out money and food coupons to eat a bowl.
He didn't have any food coupons, otherwise he would have gritted his teeth and eaten a bowl of rice.
I smelled it for so long and watched others eat it for so long.
If the conditions were not so, who could have endured it?
He no longer acted like he was taking advantage of his seniority.
He smiled and spoke to Chu Xia: "Little girl, you've been busy for so long, would you like to have some melon?"
Chuxia heard the voice and turned to look at him again.
She wanted to, but she said helplessly: "Uncle, I don't have a ticket."
Hearing this, the melon seller also looked very helpless.
He looked at Chu Xia, smacked his lips, sighed, and looked up at the sky, saying, "Alas... I don't have a ticket either..."
puff……
Seeing the melon seller like this, Chuxia pursed her lips and couldn't help laughing.
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