Chapter 10
After coming out of the department store, Su Miao had some inspiration. Now that his family had the capital, they could set up a small stall.
Making food is a good idea. A mobile stall does not require water, electricity, or rent, nor does it require spending a large amount of money to purchase goods like selling department stores. You just need to get up early to buy vegetables.
After confirming this intention, Su Miao began to observe with a purpose.
Nowadays, most of the food sold at street stalls are snacks, and the food that can be used as a full meal is basically sold in physical stores along the street.
In addition to restaurants where you can order food, there are also several rice noodle shops.
Slurping rice noodles is their specialty here. There are not many shops now and the variety is also limited. They are mainly divided into vegetarian rice noodles and meat rice noodles. Vegetarian rice noodles are 50 cents and meat rice noodles are 80 cents.
The noodle shop was doing good business, and was almost always full at meal times, but since someone else had taken the lead, she ruled out this option.
As we were strolling around, we came to the watch factory where my father worked. Some workers who didn't like the food in the cafeteria would occasionally get together to have a bite to eat, and now they were walking back in groups of three or five.
Oh right! She could set up a porridge stall! She could cater to office workers.
The temperature is high in summer and many people can’t eat, so they just cook porridge with side dishes at home.
Just now, she had walked all the way here and hadn't found any porridge stalls. In her memory, porridge stalls serving lots of side dishes didn't appear until she was in the second or third year of junior high school.
After that, they began to spread like mushrooms after rain. They were cheap, the bowls were large and filling, and people could eat as soon as they arrived. They were very popular among workers.
Later, it gradually developed to the point where parents were too lazy to cook in the morning and would just drag their children over to have a bowl of porridge and then send them to school.
It's decided! I'll go home tonight and talk to my dad about it and see what he thinks.
On the way back, Su Miao passed by Xinhua Bookstore. She went in to look for some cooking books that might be useful later.
But after searching for a long time, I only found a book in the corner called "500 Examples of Pickled Side Dishes". This is exactly what I need to open a porridge stall! I decisively bought it.
Finally, after shopping for most of the day, Su Miao stuffed the books into a shoe box and went home with the remaining three dollars.
When Su Yuanzheng returned home from work, the yard was quiet. He called his daughter's name, but no one answered.
He entered the room and knocked on his daughter's door. After more than ten seconds, Su Miao rubbed his sleepy eyes and opened the door.
"Miao Miao, are you sleeping? Are you too tired from reading?" Su Yuanzheng asked softly.
Su Miao waved her hand: "No, I went out for a walk today and fell asleep because I was too tired."
"Okay, then if you're still sleepy, just sleep a little longer. Dad will go cook."
Taking a nap too late will indeed make people dizzy. Su Miao washed his face and was stunned for a long time before he recovered.
In the evening, there was one meat dish, one vegetable dish and one soup. Now that his financial situation was better, Su Yuan was thinking about cooking meat dishes every day so that his daughter could eat better.
Su Miao showed her father her new sandals. Su Yuanzheng nodded and said they looked good. He then gave her another twenty yuan and asked her to buy two more new clothes.
Many families buy cloth and make it themselves, after all, ready-made clothes are expensive.
However, Liu Xu doesn't know how to make clothes, so their family always buys clothes.
In the evening, Su Miao reviewed her homework as usual, but she felt that something was wrong with her father. He seemed to be in deep thought since they started eating.
"Dad, what's wrong with you? Did something happen?"
Su Yuanzheng, who was in a daze, suddenly came back to his senses and shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, it's nothing."
Su Miao put down the pencil, turned around and faced his father and said, "Dad, there are only two of us at home now. If there is anything that happens, just talk about it and try to find a solution together. It's always better than being alone. As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers!"
Su Yuanzheng pondered for a moment and said cautiously, "Miaomiao, you said the other night that times have changed and policies encourage a market economy. So, if Dad doesn't work at the watch factory anymore, how about starting a small business outside?"
Ha! Su Miao had been thinking about how to convince his father to set up a stall, but now that he had his own ideas, he didn't have to bother talking anymore. But why was it so sudden?
"Dad, is there something wrong at the factory?"
"Well, I'm a temporary worker at the watch factory. I was temporarily placed here before the official job at the tire factory came in. Now that the quota has been given to your uncle, I naturally have to give up my position here to someone else. Even though I'm a temporary worker, there are many people lining up. Dad, I've lost my job."
Su Miao suddenly realized: "I see, if you don't want to go, then don't go! Dad, you want to start a small business, and it just happens to coincide with the idea I came up with today!"
Su Yuanzheng's eyes lit up. Now he would listen to his daughter. If his daughter said it was a good idea, then it must be right!
"What are you selling?"
Su Miao chuckled, took out the book "500 Examples of Pickled Side Dishes" from the drawer and said, "We can make food at home and set up a self-service porridge stall!"
"A self-service porridge stall? Selling porridge? But everyone can make porridge at home. Why would anyone pay for it?"
"Dad, when I was out today, I realized that quite a few workplaces don't have cafeterias, so many people often buy lunch outside. Now that the weather is hot, isn't it better to have a bowl of cool white porridge or corn porridge with some side dishes than steamed buns?"
Su Yuan was rubbing his chin, thinking carefully. "Indeed, the food in the cafeteria is getting worse and worse. Even the workers in our factory are running out to eat. But the problem still remains. There is no technical skill in making porridge. The cafeteria has plain porridge, and you can bring it from home. Why spend money to buy it?"
"Although the focus is on the porridge, the highlight is the self-service side dishes. We can set up a long table and put more than a dozen delicious dishes on it, and eat them as you like at the stall."
Su Yuanzheng slapped his thigh and said, "That's right! The porridge they bring from home is usually just a few handfuls of vegetables and pickles. When they see the dozen or so dishes on our stall, won't they be drooling?"
Seeing his father getting into the business, Su Miao's mood brightened. "Not only side dishes, but also different kinds of vegetables. We also need to get some cheaper, oily meat dishes to make it more attractive!"
"Cheap meat? Then... pig offal? Although it's a bit troublesome to prepare, it's indeed cheap. In the past, when I couldn't eat meat for a long time, I would buy some to replenish my fat and water. It's just a bit troublesome to prepare."
The father and daughter had a heated discussion for a while, and decided on the plan of setting up a porridge stall and listed the dishes. Many vegetables in the backyard vegetable garden were ready-made, and the family also had dried radishes all year round, and the rest could be purchased from the market.
Stir-fried cucumbers, stir-fried sweet potato leaves with garlic, stir-fried bitter melons, stir-fried pickled vegetables, stir-fried sauerkraut, pickled beans, pickled olives, appetizer pickled radish, pickled radish strips, dried papaya with sauce, stir-fried pig blood with leeks, and stir-fried pork offal.
Let’s tentatively decide on these first, and then make adjustments depending on the situation. There are still many things that need to be prepared.
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