125, Dragon Boat Festival
125, Dragon Boat Festival
May 5th, Dragon Boat Festival.
When it comes to the Dragon Boat Festival, the most indispensable thing is definitely eating rice dumplings.
While others were enjoying zongzi, Lu Mingfei's family was busy making and cooking them to sell. And this year, they were giving some away as gifts, so they had to make more. Knowing that business would be busy on this festive day, he decided to take a day off and help out at the stall.
Fortunately, his father and adoptive father did not leave the city today, and they brought back all the people who had gone out to work. It just so happened that all these people were sent to the backyard of the pancake shop to make rice dumplings.
There are seven or eight people making rice dumplings here, and six big pots boiling them, but the dumplings they cook are not enough to sell at the stalls outside.
The stall was full of customers queuing up for the rice dumplings, and some of them couldn't wait and kept urging them to come.
"Are the dumplings ready?"
"How long will it take to heal?"
"Wait, don't worry, it's coming soon."
While Liu Sanniang was trying to appease the impatient guests, she sent someone to the courtyard to urge them, "Ruyi, go inside and ask if the rice dumplings are ready. Ask them to send some out quickly."
Ruyi nodded and quickly turned around and went into the door at the back.
At this time, an impatient customer asked: "Do you have any wrapped rice dumplings? Raw ones are fine too. We can buy some and cook them ourselves."
“The temperature and time for cooking zongzi are very particular. If you have never cooked it before, the zongzi you cook will either be overcooked or undercooked. They are definitely not as delicious as the ones we cook here.” They have been selling zongzi at their stall for several years, and it is not the first time that they have encountered customers who can’t wait and want to take the raw zongzi home to cook.
Putting aside the question of whether customers will cook the rice dumplings themselves, the second thing is that if they sell the raw rice dumplings directly, people will know what ingredients they used inside the rice dumplings as soon as they open them, making it easier for them to make rice dumplings that are the same as theirs.
So no matter what, it is impossible for them to sell raw rice dumplings directly.
Liu Sanniang smiled and tried to appease the guests, saying, "You should wait here for a while until the rice dumplings are cooked before taking them away. We have several pots of rice dumplings cooking at the same time. This pot will be enough for all of you. The rice dumplings will be ready soon."
When the customer heard this, he thought, "If I take it home and don't know how to cook it, wouldn't that be a waste? I might as well just wait here."
Here, Ruyi went into the backyard and asked the people inside: "Are the rice dumplings in the pot ready? There are so many people waiting outside to buy them."
"Wait until this stick burns down." Lu Mingfei, who was wrapping zongzi, pointed at the incense burner on the table and said, "Tell my mother to let everyone wait for another cup of tea and the zongzi will be out."
As they wrap the dumplings inside, they can hear the clamor of people outside urging them to make them, so they know that many people are waiting for their dumplings to go home for the festival. They also understand that if they keep making people wait without a precise time, they will definitely get impatient, and they can understand this.
Knowing that zongzi would sell well during the festival, they had been working overtime since yesterday afternoon to wrap and cook them. However, most of the zongzi cooked yesterday afternoon had been taken away by customers who had pre-ordered them this morning, and the remaining ones were also bought up by customers who came early.
So now the guests coming from outside have to wait for the freshly cooked rice dumplings and they will have to wait a little longer.
"Okay." Ruyi responded and went out.
At this time, Lu Youtian asked his eldest son, "Didn't you say you wanted to set aside some rice dumplings to give away? When are you going to give them away? I'll go with you."
"When this pot of rice dumplings is cooked and there are fewer people waiting for rice dumplings outside, we can cook the remaining rice dumplings and give them away as gifts." Lu Mingfei saw that it was still early, so he was not in a hurry to give gifts too early.
"Oh, okay." Lu Youtian nodded.
Today they prepared a lot of ingredients for making rice dumplings. In addition to the ingredients on the table, there were several large buckets on the ground filled with soaked rice, pickled pork, sliced sausages, etc.
It's just that the salted duck eggs prepared are not enough. If the salted duck eggs are used up, the rice dumplings made later will not contain salted duck eggs, but directly put chicken eggs in. Although the taste will be a little worse, it is better than missing one thing.
Their zongzi have been sold for many years and have become increasingly famous, which is largely due to their willingness to use high-quality ingredients. Of course, the key is to have a good taste.
Fortunately, the second batch of rice dumplings were quickly taken out of the pot. After being drained, they were sent outside the stall to be sold.
But there were so many customers waiting for zongzi outside, and each person bought a lot of zongzi at one time. Hundreds of zongzi were given away, and they were all sold out in a short time.
The second batch of rice dumplings had just been put into the pot when someone outside came in and asked how much longer they would take.
"Let them wait a bit. These pots of zongzi won't be ready for half an hour." Lu Mingfei told the people who came in to ask. There was no end to the money to be made. They were already numb from making zongzi here.
Instead of working ourselves to death, it's better to take our time and earn as much money as possible. If we can't earn any, it's because we don't have the ability to earn it. Otherwise, we can't risk our lives to make money, right? Lu Mingfei has now gone from being anxious and flustered to calm.
"Oh, okay." Hearing this, Ruyi understood and went out.
Seeing that their rice dumplings were selling so well, Lu Youtian discussed with his eldest son, "Mingfei, how about we make some rice dumplings and sell them every day?"
"That's not impossible. But if we want to make rice dumplings, we have to arrange at least two more people to be responsible for this every day. Let's discuss it with my mother and stepmother later." Lu Mingfei thought that their family was not so short of manpower now, so they could arrange two suitable people to come here to be responsible for making and cooking rice dumplings.
Moreover, zongzi can also be sold wholesale. At that time, their zongzi can be wholesaled like sausages and bacon, which will bring in more income in a year.
Considering that their family is planning to buy a house in the capital, it would be better to earn more money.
Lu Youtian understood what his eldest son meant. He wanted to involve the Lu family in this business. He had no objection and said "OK".
For years, they had been using the Lu family's backyard. The pots and pans they used for their stall were stored there, as was the water they used for washing dishes. Every year before the Dragon Boat Festival, they would set up a table near the back door to make the dumplings, and use the large stove and pots to cook them. Every year, they would borrow the Lu family's stove and pots to cook the dumplings.
If it were someone else, it would be impossible to let them come in and out of the backyard of their home for so many years and borrow the space, but Lu Qingfeng and his wife never said anything to them.
So they also keep some things in mind.
The two families were already collaborating on sausages and bacon, and had even taken their meat sauce and butcher shops businesses and partnered with the Lu family. They were also now partnering on land outside the city to raise ducks, and in a few months they would build a workshop there. They could then take their sausages and bacon to the workshop for processing, eliminating the need for them to work in this small courtyard.
Even the zongzi business they are talking about now, if they produce a lot of zongzi every day, it seems that they can build a separate workshop outside the city to do the zongzi business? Lu Youtian pondered this matter in his mind.
***
It was not until the third batch of rice dumplings were cooked and sent out that the number of people buying rice dumplings outside gradually decreased.
Fortunately, it’s not too late now.
Later, they cooked another batch of zongzi, hundreds of them, and they didn't count them. But when the cooked zongzi filled several large baskets, the scene was spectacular.
They took the cooked rice dumplings and put them into baskets. The second batch of rice dumplings were put into the pot to be cooked. They planned to deliver the rice dumplings first, and then come back here to get rice dumplings to deliver.
Before he was about to leave with his father to deliver the rice dumplings, Lu Mingfei called him his adoptive father: "Adoptive father, you don't have anything to do at home, why don't you come with us to deliver the rice dumplings?"
"Okay, then I'll go out for a walk with you." Lu Qingfeng immediately understood the purpose of his adopted son asking him to go with him.
They do business in the city and now go in and out of the city every day. If they can establish a good relationship with the soldiers guarding the city, it will not only be more convenient for them to do business in the city, but also for them to enter and exit the city gate every day.
So when they went out, the three of them went out together.
The younger brothers had been sent to the escort agency to practice martial arts, otherwise the boys would have followed them out. It was such a busy morning, and without the boys messing around, they could work more easily.
So Lu Mingfei began to understand a little bit. In his previous life, when he was interning at the company, he heard some senior colleagues say that sending children to kindergarten would make life easier. It was true. Without a bunch of children making trouble at home, adults could also relax a little.
They used a donkey cart to load a whole cart with rice dumplings. The dumplings were placed in large baskets. The baskets were washed clean and covered with lids, so even if there was dust on the road, the dust would not blow into the dumplings.
There was also a pile of empty baskets on the car, which would be used to hold rice dumplings to give to people.
It’s a festival today, but there are a lot of vendors selling things in the city, and many people come out to buy things.
Every household will definitely prepare a table full of delicious food during the holidays, especially the wealthy families in the city. The housekeepers will come out to make a lot of purchases during the holidays, and the vendors in the city can also take the opportunity to sell more things and make more money.
So the festival is a good day for both of them.
"Let's go to the South Gate first."
"good."
After coming out, Lu Mingfei suggested going to the South City Gate first, because they were closest to the South City Gate, so they would definitely choose the place closest to start the delivery.
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