Chapter 36 Spicy Clams
For dinner, they ate steamed egg custard.
The bouncy steamed egg custard was like jelly, and Xiaoyu ate it with gusto. "Sister, this steamed egg custard is so smooth!"
After dinner, Xiaoyu helped Tang Yiyi clear the dishes. Only a few classrooms across the street had lights on; the rest were shrouded in darkness.
When there are no customers, Tang Yiyi sits down to rest, as her back and legs ache from standing for too long.
Fewer customers were coming into the store at this time, but the takeout orders remained the same.
Because of their clear division of labor, she and Song Man worked together in a very orderly manner.
We close promptly at around 8:30.
Song Man took her things and said goodbye to the boss and the others, "Sister Yi Yi, Xiao Yu, I'm going back now, bye-bye."
Today, she rode her bicycle and took Xiaoyu home.
A cool evening breeze was blowing.
Xiao Yu pressed his face close to her waist, clutching her clothes, still savoring the steamed egg custard, "The egg was delicious..."
Tang Yiyi smiled. Children are always so simple; a little food or a toy can make them happy for a long time.
After returning home, Xiaoyu went to wash up. She had been working hard lately, attending classes during the day and helping out at the store, and she felt sleepy around 7 or 8 pm.
Tang Yiyi calculated her daily income as usual. Today alone, she sold nearly a hundred takeout orders, which was no worse than her business in the store.
It was definitely the right decision to launch the food delivery service at that time.
Tang Yiyi prepared a special notebook to keep track of expenses, so that she could easily keep track of the monthly figures.
Xiaoyu's skin was moisturized and she looked adorable when she came out of the bathroom.
"Xiaoyu, do you want to watch TV?" she asked, looking up at him.
"No need, Xiaoyu is going to sleep," Xiaoyu said, running to his room as fast as he could.
Oh right, I still have three or four days until rent is due.
Most of the houses opposite the elementary school are used for restaurants or stationery stores. There are more than a dozen shops on the street, and the rent is paid every three months, which is not cheap.
With the summer vacation lasting two months and this month adding up to three months, the store's business is always at its worst during the summer and winter vacations.
I managed to use a portion of my income to pay the rent, but that left me with very little money.
Tang Yiyi decided that once she had enough money, she would expand and renovate the store to accommodate more customers.
The moon rose, and unknown insects chirped outside the window.
I have to work tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep now.
...
There was a faint light of dawn outside. The door was still closed. Tang Yiyi got up and checked the time; it was exactly five o'clock.
There weren't many ingredients left at home: a handful of noodles, a few eggs, and a carrot.
It's perfect for making noodles, enough for breakfast.
A simple noodle dish paired with a poached egg and shredded carrots, then broth is poured over the noodles, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and the aroma wafts through the steam, intoxicatingly fragrant.
Before I could even call Xiaoyu, he found the place by the scent, took a deep sniff, and exclaimed, "It smells so good!"
The noodles looked quite appetizing, and Xiaoyu picked up his chopsticks and started eating after washing up.
He slurped the noodles, then sizzled them – he was too impatient and burned his mouth.
Having not eaten noodles for several days, Xiaoyu had a great appetite and immediately picked up a fried egg and ate it.
Tang Yiyi fried the eggs in hot oil, turning them into poached eggs with a golden-brown, crispy shell and a rich, caramelized aroma.
When Xiaoyu took a bite, the yolk was perfectly runny with a rich egg flavor, while the egg white was crispy.
Xiaoyu even found the shredded carrots so crunchy that he couldn't stop eating them.
Later, Tang Yiyi took Xiaoyu to school, and his belly was bulging.
When she arrived at the market, there weren't many people yet, so she went straight to the seafood section.
Standing outside the seafood restaurant, Tang Yiyi looked around. The restaurant owner saw her and said, "Beautiful lady, the clams you ordered are here!"
I mentioned it to the seafood vendor yesterday, and I didn't see him remember.
"Let me take a look first."
In the pool at knee level, many clams lay quietly, most of them with their shells open, their tender flesh faintly visible inside.
Looking at the fresh clams, Tang Yiyi used a net to scoop out a lot of them, drained the water, and put them into a bag.
She bought quite a lot, and the shop owner even helped her drain the water again before weighing it.
Tang Yiyi went and bought mung beans, rock sugar, and some other ingredients. Each time she went back, her bicycle was laden with heavy loads.
Back at the restaurant, Tang Yiyi quickly cleaned up after Song Man, then brought a clean basin, poured all the clams in, filled it with water, and added a few spoonfuls of salt.
After washing the eggs, put them in the rice cooker with tea leaves and other ingredients, set the timer, and she doesn't need to worry about anything.
Song Huai lives near the primary school, and his company is far from home. He usually works the night shift, and he is too lazy to cook breakfast and lunch, so he eats at nearby restaurants.
His biggest worry every day is what to eat.
Home-style dishes? Special feasts? Dumplings and wontons? He's used to them all, and if he eats them again, he'll probably feel sick of them.
Okay, I'll just buy two steamed buns in the morning. As for lunch, I'll see.
An indescribable aroma of eggs wafted over, and Song Huai subconsciously looked over. Several shops came into view at the same time. Oh, he had eaten at all of them before. It seemed that these shops did not sell breakfast.
Walking further on, I found a small restaurant that was easy to miss among a row of shops.
He seems to have eaten here before, judging from the decor.
Song Huai approached uncertainly, the aroma seemingly wafting from this direction. Once inside, everything seemed unchanged – the arrangement of tables and chairs, the decor – yet it also felt as if everything had altered.
There are quite a few people queuing up... buying tea eggs? This restaurant wasn't this good before, and when did they start selling tea eggs?
The food at this restaurant is just so-so, but it's inexpensive. Sometimes you can get a meal for just over ten yuan, which is great value for money. Song Huai has eaten here a few times.
So he found a seat and decided to observe for a while before making a decision, to avoid making a mistake.
After dropping Xiaobao off at school, Wang Juan came to buy tea eggs. She knew the owner recognized her, but she wasn't embarrassed at all.
When it was her turn, Wang Juan said directly, "Boss, two tea eggs, please!"
She has to rely on tea eggs to get through each day of hard work.
"No rush," Wang Juan said, sitting down with two tea eggs in her pocket and starting to eat.
She smacked her lips, held the tea egg, and took a bite with great satisfaction.
Song Huai, sitting opposite, took in Wang Juan's reaction. "Wait, are these tea eggs really that delicious?"
Thinking that buying two would fill his stomach, Song Huai waited until no one was around and then went up to ask, "Boss, do you still have tea eggs?"
Tang Yiyi: "There are still some, but not many."
The shopkeeper was definitely trying to trick him into buying more, but he only wanted two tea eggs. "Give me two tea eggs," he said.
To be honest, these tea eggs aren't cheap; it says three yuan each on the blackboard!
It's because others are eating so deliciously that it makes him envious.
The tea eggs in the bag had even changed color in their shells. When you cracked them open and peeled them, the dark brown lines deepened like a spider web, which looked very tempting.
Song Huai took a big bite without hesitation. The soft egg white was delicious, while the yolk had a savory aroma of gravy, neither dry nor bitter.
Most importantly, it doesn't have that unpleasant herbal smell; it smells wonderful.
He ate one bite after another, finding them so delicious that Song Huai licked his fingers. He'd spoken too soon; three yuan for a tea egg was such a bargain! Even if the price doubled, he'd still buy them!
After finishing two tea eggs in one go, Song Huai was still a little unsatisfied.
It's only a little past eight o'clock; he can come back for lunch later.
Around 10 o'clock, Tang Yiyi started preparing ingredients in the kitchen so that she could serve meals to guests as quickly as possible.
Chop the ginger and garlic, and cut the scallions into sections, and put them in a bowl.
With a "ding-dong" sound, the food delivery platform at the checkout counter made a noise.
When Song Man opened the form and saw it printed out, she was almost dumbfounded.
Big order! The customer ordered twenty servings of spicy clams.
Moreover, it's a pre-order, and it will be delivered at 12 o'clock.
Song Man called out towards the kitchen, "Sister Yi Yi, a customer has ordered twenty servings of spicy clams!"
Upon hearing that there are twenty meals, an inexperienced chef would definitely feel dizzy. It would take forever to finish that!
But Tang Yiyi calmly replied, "Okay, I understand."
"It's still a pre-order, requiring delivery between 11:45 and 12:00," Song Man added.
No rush, there's still half an hour to cook the vegetables.
Tang Yiyi went to the front desk to look at the takeout order. The address wasn't very clear, but ordering so much food at once made her wonder if it was a mistake.
So she found the phone number on the list and called it.
"Hello, who is this?" A deep voice rang out from the other end.
"Hello, I'm the owner of Tangjia Restaurant. I'd like to ask if you've made a mistake in ordering twenty servings of spicy clams at once?"
The other party chuckled lightly and explained, "There was no mistake in placing the order. The twenty servings of spicy clams were ordered for my company's employees."
"Okay, sorry to bother you."
At 10:30, Tang Yiyi heated the wok, poured in oil, then added ginger and garlic to sauté until fragrant. She added a spoonful of fermented bean paste and stir-fried until the oil turned red. Then she added clams, and as if by magic, all the clams in the wok opened. She then added cooking wine, light soy sauce, salt, and finally scallions before serving.
Tang Yiyi can only cook two or three portions of clams at a time. She can't sacrifice taste for speed in order to prepare the food quickly.
After submitting the proposal, Shi Yi returned to her office feeling incredibly light and refreshed.
He coughed and then said, "Dear colleagues, you're in for a treat at lunchtime."
Upon hearing this, all the exhausted colleagues looked over and perked up.
"Shi Yi, what do you mean we're in for a treat at lunchtime?"
"Don't hide anything, or I'll teach you a lesson!"
"..."
Shi Yi: "The big boss ordered lunch for each of us, it was the same place we had before, the one with stir-fried pork with chili peppers."
"This is amazing! I absolutely love the big boss!"
"I love my job, and good food soothes my soul."
"That restaurant? The stir-fried pork with chili peppers they serve there is absolutely amazing!"
With anticipation in their eyes, the office staff were full of energy and eager to finish their work and go eat.
Shi Yi was no exception, but he was curious about what the big boss had ordered.
"Hey, do you know what we're having for lunch?" Gu Dawei suddenly swiveled his office chair and leaned over to ask.
Shi Yi spread her hands, indicating that she didn't know. "I don't know."
Meeting Gu Dawei's disbelieving gaze, he added, "Really."
At exactly twelve o'clock, the big boss came over and said, "The takeout has arrived. A few people come down to pick it up."
Everyone eagerly participated, hehe, this was their lunch.
Many employees feel at ease when food delivery is mentioned.
The big boss was happy to see this, after all, these employees had been with him since the company's inception. No matter how many difficulties and obstacles they encountered later, none of them resigned or jumped ship.
Shi Yi was the first to return to the office, followed by her colleagues: "..."
Upon opening the lunchbox lid, a fragrant and spicy aroma wafted out. "Spicy clams, not bad!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
