Based on Ah Mian's observations over the course of an afternoon, she discovered that business was slow at all three tofu pudding stalls.
She secretly memorized the customers of the three stalls using an abacus, and the best one was "Zhen Amian's Tofu Pudding Stall", which was located in the same spot that Amian used to frequent.
A-Mian estimated that this business made about a hundred coins a day.
The real formidable opponent wasn't those three imitators, but a new stall selling braised pork trotters.
The pork trotter rice stall had a long queue, and the price was about the same as the tofu rice with meat, priced at eighteen coins a bowl. Just hearing the name suggested meat, which was much more appealing than the tofu rice!
Amian also went to queue up.
"We've been starving all morning, let's hurry and get in line at the Three Sisters' Pig Trotter Rice stall, or we won't be able to buy any!"
The process of serving braised pork trotters rice is even simpler than that of serving tofu pudding rice, because they don't have as many side dishes as tofu pudding rice, so the food is served faster.
The three sisters must have prepared the pig's trotters at home, blanched them in boiling water, then soaked them in cold water to cool them down, removed the hair, washed them, drained them, and then put the pig's trotters and eggs into a pot to braise them.
After setting up a stall in the city, the fixed dish was a bowl of mixed grain rice, topped with four or five small pieces of braised pig's feet, a braised egg, a few green vegetables, and finally a spoonful of pig's feet braising sauce.
This process is very simple, and you don't need to cook too many vegetables. Two girls, around ten years old, can complete the cooking and serving steps at the stall.
The older sister was a very cheerful woman. She took the coin from Ah Mian and said, "What a coincidence, there's a table available right now. Go quickly."
As soon as A-Mian sat down, the braised pork trotters rice was served.
She tried it and fell in love with the flavor. The pig's trotters were stewed until tender, melting in her mouth like a creamy paste, yet still retaining a subtle elasticity between her teeth. The tendons were irresistible, making her want to eat more and more!
Ah Mian ate heartily, quickly emptying the blue porcelain bowl completely.
My belly is round and full, but my head is empty. What should I do?
She couldn't think of any ideas for the time being. It was impossible for her to open a fourth tofu rice stall. She might not even be able to get a sip of soup this time.
The idea of chrysanthemum tofu cannot be used for the time being.
This thing is elegant (slow to prepare and expensive), it's not something you can sell at a street stall.
Besides, she hasn't even mastered it yet!!!
Ah Mian's business is facing a major crisis, and she returns to the blacksmith shop with a worried look on her face.
“Auntie, you’ve come just in time!” Tiger jumped up and waved. “Come and see!”
The blacksmith shop was filled with laughter and cheerful voices. Ah Mian hurriedly looked over and saw that little Ah Yue had learned to crawl!
Meng Chijian laid A-Yue down on the mat and placed the cloth tiger a little further away. A-Yue tried to reach the cloth tiger, so she kicked her little legs and learned to crawl around like that.
Amian quickly clapped her hands, "Amazing! You've got a great idea! Yue is so clever, quickly crawl over to your mother."
Now that A-Yue had seen her mother who had just disappeared for some unknown reason, she was full of energy and crawled over to snuggle into A-Mian's arms.
"How about I weave you grasshoppers and little rabbits when we get back?"
The little dumpling trusted the person in front of her wholeheartedly. She didn't know that all the gold in her family had been spent, nor did she know that her parents were artisans and merchants (the traditional social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants) who were looked down upon by others. She only felt that she had arrived in a warm and comfortable place and had seen the most important person in the world.
"You can't eat tree leaves, and you can't eat grass either..."
Amian quickly stopped the baby from putting leaves into his mouth.
Meng Chijian smiled and went to greet the people who had come into the shop.
The visitor was Wen Qiao, who had given a generous gift (a silver bracelet) at the baby's 100-day celebration.
Seeing his silly, doting fatherly expression, Wen Qiao said, "Your baby is almost six months old, right? He can crawl now."
"Yes, just like her mother, she's clever and active, but she needs someone to keep an eye on her, otherwise she'll climb off somewhere in no time."
Moreover, Little Yue is very greedy and wants to put everything she sees into her mouth.
Wen Qiao glanced at him and teased, "Look how happy you are. I've never seen you like this before. Having a daughter really changes things."
Ah Mian thought to herself, "It's not just that you haven't seen it; even last night, she had never seen him carrying little A Yue on his back and crawling around on the bed."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Wen Qiao ordered two iron kettles and then left.
Ah Mian was telling someone about what she had seen in the food street that afternoon: "The pig's trotter rice is so popular, and there are also three tofu pudding stalls. I'm afraid I won't be able to sell any lunch. I was thinking... maybe I should sell breakfast, like soy milk and steamed buns."
Breakfast is hard-earned money; it has to be prepared before dawn and rushed to the city, probably requiring getting up around four in the morning.
Meng Chijian disagreed: "You've never made breakfast before, it's too tiring to get up so early. We're not short of money at home."
Amian said, "If we don't have any money, you'll just give us grass to eat. I don't want that."
She wouldn't fall for it. Whenever the family ran out of money, the Meng siblings would frantically dig for wild vegetables at the foot of the back mountain.
Meng Chijian said, "The money will come in when the autumn harvest comes, and I definitely won't spend it recklessly this time."
Amian ignored him and went to talk to Xiao Ayue, "Baby loves to eat meat, and also wants to drink chicken soup and eat candied hawthorn, right? Why are you drooling? I'll go find a clean handkerchief..."
She was wringing out a handkerchief when she turned around and saw that the baby had already crawled to the edge of the mat.
Little Ayue carefully placed one hand on the bluestone brick, then quickly withdrew it, as it was getting a little hot from the sun. Little Ayue seemed to find it very amusing, repeatedly placing both hands on the brick in turn, climbing off the mat, and then soon happily scrambling back onto it.
"I've got it!" A-Mian suddenly shouted, "I've got it! I've got a way!"
A-Yue was also giggling in a daze. A-Mian held the baby and spun around a few times before excitedly running to Meng Chijian.
"Hmm, it should be about as long as my arm, only half the width, and have edges on all four sides... it should be square!" A-Mian wanted Meng Chijian to make a very strange iron cooking utensil, which was neither a wok nor a stew pot, but looked like a large iron plate.
Although it's called a plate, it has a low rim around the edge, making it inconvenient to hold water, and you can't tell what kind of food it's for at all.
“This is unique, and they can’t copy it this time!” A-Mian was proud of her brilliant idea. “You have to make the bottom of this plate very flat… Oh! If someone comes to you and asks you to make something just like this, you can’t agree to it.”
"That's natural."
“But if it costs a few hundred taels of silver…” Ah Mian imagined, thinking that this unique dish would definitely become popular all over the country. “Oh, we’ll discuss it then.”
Meng Chijian was also curious about what she was going to do, and after several days of work, he finally made what she wanted.
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