078, years ago
078, years ago
"Boss, give me a bowl of braised pork rice."
"Hey, I'll be right there. Please find a seat first."
“…”
The few days before the New Year are the busiest time for people on the streets. Every household rushes out to buy New Year's goods to take home for the New Year, so the shops and roadside stalls on the streets are doing very well during this period.
Liu Sanniang's family's braised food stall has also welcomed a peak in customer flow. Their business has been particularly good in the past few days. They even temporarily hired two more people to help with the work, but they are still a little overwhelmed.
The same was true for Lu Youtian's stall on the other side. He hired four people to work.
Business had been busy at home these past few days, so Lu Mingfei had come over to help his mother. The braised food stall was overcrowded, so after discussing it with his parents, he set up a separate table at the entrance of the sesame cake shop and sold the braised meat sauce, pork jerky, and Chinese sausages and bacon made by both families.
As for his two younger brothers, they were playing in the backyard of the pancake shop. His stepmother would go back to check on the two children from time to time, so he was temporarily unable to take care of his younger brothers. Now that the pancake shop has hired four more people to help, his stepmother is not so busy and has time to take care of the two children.
Customers leaving the pancake shop would come to this small stall and ask, "Give me ten pounds of meat sauce and ten pounds of pork jerky."
"The meat sauce is available in two-jin, five-jin and ten-jin packages. How many jin do you want? The price is the same, fifty cents per jin." Lu Mingfei pointed to the jars on the table and on the ground and asked the customer.
"I want the five-jin one," the customer said, taking a look at the size of the jar.
"Okay, please wait a moment." Lu Mingfei took two five-jin jars of meat sauce from the table and gave them to the guests.
After asking the customer's opinion, he wrapped the ten pounds of pork jerky into five portions with oil paper, each weighing two pounds.
Each wrapped portion of oil paper is tied with straw rope, with a piece of red paper printed with their food logo in the middle. Finally, the wrapped pork jerky is placed in a basket and handed to the customer, along with the price: "Meat sauce is fifty wen per catty, so ten catties is five hundred wen. Pork jerky is one hundred wen per catty, so ten catties is exactly one tael of silver, which adds up to one tael and five hundred wen."
"This basket is for you. You can take it home and use it to store your things." It just so happened that his father had recently stopped setting up his stall, and they had some baskets left over, so they brought them over to give to customers. These woven baskets were not expensive, and customers were happy to receive them as gifts.
"Okay." The customer directly took out two taels of silver and gave it to the young boss as change.
"Did you count correctly?" Lu Mingfei took out a string of copper coins from his waist bag and gave the customer five hundred coins in change.
"There's no mistake." The man picked up the copper coins, glanced at them, and put them back into his arms without counting them carefully. Then he picked up two jars and a basket of pork jerky and left.
After a morning, Lu Mingfei's stall was doing very good business. Many customers who had eaten at the braised food stall and the pancake shop came to him to buy meat sauce, pork jerky, sausages and bacon when they left.
Passersby would stop to ask about the prices, and most of them would buy some to go after trying the pork jerky and meat sauce. However, a few people would leave after hearing that a pound of meat sauce and pork jerky was much more expensive than raw pork.
Lu Mingfei never tried to persuade customers to leave. The transaction was voluntary. If they found the pork too expensive, they could just buy it and cook it at home. The price they offered was reasonable. They used fresh, high-quality pork, not cheap meat like dead pork or lymph meat. Pork was not cheap in winter, and the spices used were very expensive, so the cost of these things was not low.
Their products are now sold at this price, and the profit they make is not too high. At most, they earn some labor costs and a small profit.
However, there are still many wealthy people in Kyoto Prefecture. Most of the old customers who have eaten their food know that their food is good, and rarely complain that it is too expensive when they come to buy things from them. Moreover, most of these old customers are generous, and each of them takes away ten or eight kilograms of food when they come to buy it.
"Take care, and you're welcome to come back next time after you finish your meal." Lu Mingfei handed the food to the next customer again, took the silver from the customer, and said with a smile.
The young man who was greeting customers with a smile had no idea that in the teahouse opposite, there was a pair of eyes looking at him.
Zhao Lang, holding a teacup in his hand, stood at the window and looked downstairs, where he could just see Lu Mingfei selling things across the street. He had actually been here for quite a while, but seeing that Lu Mingfei was busy, he didn't ask Lu Mingfei to come up to see him as usual.
After being stared at for a long time, Lu Mingfei finally felt that someone was watching him. He looked left and right but didn't see anyone. When he looked up at the building opposite, he saw someone standing in front of the window on the second floor opposite.
Seeing that he was discovered by Lu Mingfei, Zhao Lang didn't feel embarrassed. He raised the teacup in his hand and gestured to Lu Mingfei from a distance.
Lu Mingfei was busy at the moment and couldn't leave, so he raised his chin and smiled at Zhao Lang. At this time, customers kept coming to ask about the products, and he was busy introducing the products to customers and selling things.
After he packed up the last customer's things, collected the money and sent the customer away, he looked up and looked across, but the person by the window was no longer in sight.
But he knew that Zhao Lang was still waiting for him in the teahouse.
…
He was busy until after noon. There were not so many people on the street and not so many customers coming to his stall to buy things. Then Lu Mingfei called a shop assistant to come over and help him pack up the things on the stall and take them back to the store.
"Godfather, I'm going to the teahouse across the street to deliver some food." He found a small basket and filled it with a deluxe clay pot rice. After saying something to his godfather, he went out with the basket to deliver the food.
Boss Lu was about to ask his adopted son to take a break and have the shop assistant take the basket, but he saw that his adopted son had already left with the basket. However, since he saw that his adopted son was heading to the teahouse across the street, he didn't care.
Lu Mingfei crossed the street and came to the teahouse. He went up to the second floor of the teahouse and saw the guards guarding there. He knew that Zhao Lang was still inside.
The guard at the door recognized him and pushed open the door of the box to invite him in.
As soon as Lu Mingfei came in, he saw the person sitting in the box. He smiled and said to him, "My godfather's store has newly launched clay pot rice. I wonder if you have ever tried it? I brought you a portion." As he spoke, he took off the lid of the basket, then took off the lid of the clay pot, and handed the rice to Zhao Lang to see.
"No." Zhao Lang looked down at the things in the basket and said.
"Hehe, then you're in for a treat today. This clay pot rice tastes pretty good." Seeing several steaming dishes on the table and a set of clean bowls and chopsticks, which were obviously prepared for him, Lu Mingfei looked at the young master sitting opposite him and asked with a smile, "Are you sure that I will come to see you?" As soon as he saw the dishes on the table, he knew that they must have been sent by Zhao Langgang.
Zhao Lang didn't answer this question, but just looked at Lu Mingfei with a "Isn't it?" look.
"Okay, you guessed right, I will come to find you." Lu Mingfei smiled, took out the spoon from the soup, separated the rice and meat in the clay pot, and gave a portion to Zhao Lang, "Try it. If you like it, I will pack some sausages and bacon for you to take back later and write down the recipe for you. You can ask the chef in the mansion to make it for you."
"No need to bother." Zhao Lang looked at the rice in front of him. He smelled the aroma of rice mixed with meat. The aroma of the meat was a bit special.
After a pause, he added, "I'll come to you if I want to eat."
"That's fine. However, my adoptive parents' shop will be closed for three days during the Lunar New Year holiday, reopening on the fourth day. Our stall is also closed from the first to the third day of the Lunar New Year, opening on the fourth day." Lu Mingfei had just had breakfast this morning and hadn't eaten lunch yet. He was starving after a busy morning. He took a spoonful of soup from his bowl, drank it, and sat down on the chair behind him.
Seeing that the young master was just staring at the bowl without moving his chopsticks, he asked the young master, "Eat, why are you looking at the bowl? The rice won't go into your mouth by itself."
Only then did Zhao Lang pick up the chopsticks, hold up the bowl in front of him, and put a piece of meat into his mouth.
Lu Mingfei smiled and asked the man, "Is it delicious?"
"Hmm." The meat slices tasted salty and fragrant. Zhao Lang quite liked eating this meat.
As soon as Lu Mingfei saw the young master's expression, he knew that he liked eating this clay pot rice. After drinking half a bowl of soup, he also filled his own bowl with half a bowl of rice. While eating the dishes on the table, he asked the people who were also eating, "Is the Imperial College also closed for the holiday?"
"Yeah." Zhao Lang responded.
The two had known each other for so many years that Lu Mingfei had long been accustomed to the young master's frugal nature. However, even though the young master was frugal with words, he would always answer whatever he asked.
As for how this young master gets along with others, he has no idea.
But he thought, it definitely wouldn't be more than when she was with him.
So, when the young master is with him, he should be considered to be the one who talks a lot, right? He guessed.
"Today's meal should be the last meal we have together this year. Chinese New Year is the day after tomorrow. What are your plans for the New Year this year?" Lu Mingfei asked the man.
"Go to the palace tomorrow." Zhao Lang said.
Lu Mingfei asked, "Oh, you are going to the palace to have the New Year's Eve dinner?" Tomorrow is the last day of the twelfth lunar month, and every household will have a New Year's Eve dinner. He knows that Zhao Lang would go to the palace to have the New Year's Eve dinner on New Year's Eve in previous years, and this year should be no exception.
"Yeah." Zhao Lang paused while eating, then continued eating.
Lu Mingfei could tell from Zhao Lang's pause that he probably didn't like celebrating the Lunar New Year in the palace. However, considering Zhao Lang's situation, he was afraid that many things were beyond his control, so he could only say to him, "If you have time during the Lunar New Year, come to my house and I'll make you something delicious."
"...Okay." Zhao Lang looked up at the young man who invited him sincerely and nodded gently.
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