The fried eggs were done. He Wenlin stir-fried minced meat and eggplant. There was too much eggplant, so He Wenlin cooked it in three batches to ensure the texture. The vegetables were also cooked in three batches.
It was almost 11 o'clock when it was done cooking.
All three pots of boxed lunches have been packed, exactly fifty servings.
He Wenlin asked her younger brother to wash the rice and cook it, as the four of them would be eating soon.
He Wenlin quickly packed fifty portions of food, leaving four fried eggs, some stir-fried eggplant, and some greens, enough for her family of four to eat for lunch.
It was already 11:50 when I finished.
"Wenjun, come with me to set up a stall. Bring the small folding square table from home."
"Sis, if I set up a stall with you, will I still get paid?"
It hasn't been long, and the little guy has already learned to bargain.
"Here's a piece."
"OK."
He Wenlin packed the food into a cardboard box. He Wenjun, despite his small size, was hardworking and did his job well for the money. He knew to tie the small square table to the bicycle he had borrowed from He Qian, and then the two siblings rode the bicycle to the farmers' market to set up a stall.
There's a three-way intersection near the farmers' market with a lot of pedestrian traffic, mainly because there are many factories and migrant workers nearby.
He Wenlin opened the small square table, placed the food on it, and then shouted loudly, "Fast food, three yuan a serving! Fast food with meat and eggs, only three yuan a serving! Don't miss it! Three yuan, only three yuan..."
It's already noon, lunchtime, and there are many people coming and going.
"Little girl, does your fast food really have meat and eggs, and it's only three yuan?"
An older man stopped in front of her stall.
I'm not afraid of being questioned; I'm afraid of no one asking me anything.
He Wenlin randomly opened a box: "Uncle, look, there's a poached egg, minced meat with eggplant, and greens. It's only three yuan, a great deal. Judging from your accent, you must be from Hunan Province. This food will definitely suit your taste."
"You're from Hunan Province too?"
"Yes, we're from Luanshanpu."
"What a coincidence, I'm from Heicang," the uncle said, mentioning his hometown.
He Wenlin also said in her hometown dialect, "That's quite a coincidence, my maternal grandmother's house is in Turtle Pond."
Wuguitang belongs to Heicang Town.
“Turtle Pond isn’t far from my house, give me one.”
The word "fellow villager" brought them closer, and the dishes looked really appetizing, so the uncle didn't hesitate to take a bite.
"Uncle Manman (dialect for uncle), if you like it, come again this afternoon."
After seeing off the first customer, He Wenlin called out in Mandarin, "Hunan-style home-cooked fast food, with meat and eggs, only three yuan..."
Upon hearing the words "Hunan Province," several fellow Hunan natives quickly came over.
He Wenlin's cooking was indeed delicious. In addition, they were usually busy with work and didn't have time to cook for themselves. The food in the factory was too bland, and there were no fast food or stir-fries nearby. Seeing He Wenlin's fast food, with chili peppers and golden-fried eggs, it looked very appetizing.
Buy without hesitation!
He Wenlin has a sweet tongue, and for someone who earns a little over a thousand yuan a month, three yuan is a manageable sum. In less than half an hour, the fast food was sold out.
He Wenlin immediately gave her younger brother four yuan as a service fee!
Upon receiving the money, He Wenjun was overjoyed. He quickly folded it up and put it in his pocket, patting it as if afraid of losing it.
"Come on, I'll treat you to an ice cream!"
After packing up their stall, the siblings went to the farmers' market. He Wenlin spent a huge sum of one yuan to buy two popsicles, one for each of them.
"If you help me with the chores this afternoon, I'll give you four yuan back! I'll treat you to an iced Coke!"
"Really?!"
He Wenjun was so happy he almost jumped for joy.
Cola, his favorite drink, is something he doesn't usually get to drink.
Mr. and Mrs. He are the kind of people who are extremely reluctant to spend money, whether on themselves or their children. They never buy snacks or fruits, and they only eat three meals a day.
He Wenjun, the younger brother, came to Shaoxing last winter vacation. Although he was with his parents, his life there was much worse than He Wenlin's back in their hometown.
He Wenlin lives with her grandparents in their hometown, where they always have plenty of corn, watermelon, peaches, plums, and oranges.
She was given priority to eat eggs, but her younger brother wasn't so lucky. He had nothing to eat except for three meals a day without any oil or fat.
He Wenlin took him to the same grocery store they had gone to that morning and bought five jin of fatty pork to render lard, two and a half jin of lean pork, six jin of green beans, seven jin of cabbage, ten jin of potatoes, and five packets of pickled peppers, spending fifty-five yuan.
Vegetables taste better when stir-fried with lard, and pork cracklings can also be used to stir-fry green vegetables.
After buying the groceries, He Wenlin also bought two popsicles for one yuan each at the convenience store. These were for He Qian and her brother. Since she was running her own business, she couldn't very well use their pots and pans for free.
When I got home, my parents had already finished eating and gone to work.
"Linlin, are you sold out of fast food?" He Qian and He Jian, siblings, came over.
He Wenlin handed them popsicles: "These are for you. I need to borrow your wok and rice cooker this afternoon. I'll buy them myself once business stabilizes."
I'm broke right now, so I have to be careful with every penny and make do with what I can.
In business, you have to be thick-skinned.
He Wenlin didn't feel embarrassed about borrowing cooking utensils.
"You sold out everything you took out today?" He Qian asked, her face full of shock.
He Wenlin was able to treat them to popsicles, so she must have made money.
"Yeah, sold out. I'm dying of heat."
He Qian asked with a grin, "How much money did you make?"
"We're almost back to our investment."
We may have a good relationship, but whether or not we made money, and how much we made, is something we definitely can't talk about.
After the meal, He Wenlin started rendering lard and first chopped the lean meat, then stir-fried it with scallions and ginger until fragrant and ready to use.
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