135, turn the tables
135, turn the tables
"Boss, give me three bowls of braised pork rice, ten cents a portion."
"Okay, please find a place to sit down and I'll bring it to you right away."
In the morning when the city gate just opens, Liu Sanniang's braised food stall is the busiest.
After February, business at their stall gradually picked up, and it was getting better day by day. At this time of year, there were many caravans entering and leaving the city, and whether they were just arriving in Kyoto or on their way out, everyone liked to eat at their stall.
There are many people in these caravans, and every time they come, they are a large group. Just doing business with these caravans is enough for them to do.
Moreover, the people in these caravans have money in their pockets, so they are generous. Not only do they eat braised pork rice here, but they also bring some braised pork sauce and pork jerky to eat on the road.
So sometimes they are lucky and encounter many large caravans leaving or entering the city, so they can sell out the goods on their stalls early and pack up and go back.
Some caravans found their food delicious and would order some meat sauce and pork jerky, or sausages and bacon from them to sell elsewhere.
However, they now set up the stall in the morning, and a few people in the family make these things in the afternoon. The amount of meat sauce, pork jerky, and sausages and bacon they can produce each day is limited. Therefore, they can't take some big orders, and only take small orders that can be done, and earn as much as they can.
Therefore, if they want to take some big orders, they still have to wait until their workshops are built and hire more people to make these things before they can ship large quantities of goods to these caravans.
Seeing the silver slip away from her face, Liu Sanniang felt distressed, so she discussed with her husband and eldest son whether they should build the workshop as soon as possible so that they could increase production and take on some big orders. However, the eldest son said that summer was coming and their goods would not last long. He suggested that they wait until August or September, when the weather cooled down, to start working again. This would be just in time for the end of the year and a profit for the New Year.
They also knew that what the eldest son said made sense, so there was no point in being anxious at this time.
They were worried that after spending money to come here, they would not be able to sell the things they made, leaving them with nothing. Their family had worked hard for eight or nine years to accumulate a small fortune, and they couldn't let it all go to waste.
After hearing what their eldest son said, the couple knew that the time was not right yet and they had to wait a little longer. By the time the ducks were grown up, they could sell braised duck together, and their business would surely be even better.
It’s just a few months of waiting, and it will be here in the blink of an eye.
After the guests were seated, Liu Sanniang used her chopsticks to pluck three large slices of meat from the large earthenware pot. She then chopped them open with a knife, then fished out three braised eggs and cut each in half. Xie Liuniang, who was working alongside her, had already prepared three bowls of rice without her needing to be called out, topped them with vegetables, and placed them next to her.
"The food is here."
"good."
She placed the chopped meat and braised eggs on top of each bowl, poured a spoonful of braised meat sauce on top, and called Ruyi to bring it to the guests sitting in the back.
They had set up a few tables in the alley, and almost all of them were occupied. The two tables in the front had few empty seats either.
Fortunately, most of these customers eat quickly and get up when they are full, giving their seats to the next customer.
Business is particularly good today. Customers keep coming to eat, so they are very busy.
Boss Lu had brought my mother to the stall for a while, but there were too many people buying things in front, so they could only wait in the back. After waiting for a long time, he finally brought my mother to the front of the stall.
Seeing a customer approach, Xie Liuniang skillfully asked, "What would you like to eat? We have braised pork rice and braised vegetable rice, starting at five cents a portion." Did the man in front of her look familiar? Xie Liuniang simply assumed he was a customer who had eaten at their stall before.
At this time, Liu Sanniang was chopping meat with her head down and did not notice that the people standing in front of their stall were her uncle and mother-in-law from her hometown.
"Cough cough..." Boss Lu saw that his third sister-in-law was working with her head down and didn't see the two of them, so he deliberately coughed twice. His third sister-in-law didn't even look up at them.
At this time, Mrs. Lu's eyes were glued to the meat on the sticky board. She had been drooling when she smelled the aroma of the meat. Now, as she walked forward and saw the pot full of meat, she couldn't help but drool.
In her entire life, this was the first time she had smelled such a delicious meat, let alone tasted it. The most abominable thing was that this stall was run by her son, who hadn't even thought of sending a bite of meat back to his parents in the countryside!
Seeing that the third daughter-in-law ignored them, Mrs. Lu thought that the daughter-in-law was ignoring them on purpose, and asked angrily: "Liu, where are my third son and grandson?"
When she heard the voice, Liu Sanniang looked up and saw her uncle and mother-in-law standing in front of her. Her face suddenly fell.
"Why are you here?" Liu Sanniang saw her mother-in-law's greedy eyes looking at the meat in their pot. She snorted coldly, slashed the knife on the sticky board, frowned, and looked at her uncle and mother-in-law with sharp and disgusted eyes.
Seeing the knife stuck in the sticky board and meeting the murderous gaze of his third brother's wife, Boss Lu felt a pang of anxiety and said nervously, "We are here to look for our third brother and to see Qilang as well."
"You are such a good Liu!" Old Lady Lu's saliva started to flow out as she spoke. She wiped it away carelessly with her hand and pointed at her third daughter-in-law in front of her, accusing her: "You guys are living a life of luxury in the city, while an old woman like me and your father have to eat coarse food in the countryside. You can't even bring home half a pound of meat for us to taste!"
"Mother, what are you talking about? When the family split up, you and your father said you would live with the other three sons. Why didn't your eldest, second, and fourth uncles buy meat for you?" Liu Sanniang sneered, looked at her uncle, and asked, "Uncle, haven't you ever bought meat for your own mother, leaving her to eat coarse grains and vegetables all day long?"
"If I remember correctly, you took the dozens of taels of silver that the third brother earned from selling goods at his stall, but you didn't even give a single copper coin to his medical treatment. Dozens of taels of silver, isn't that enough to buy you a meal of meat?"
"I..." Boss Lu was speechless now. It was indeed his incompetence that made his mother, who followed him, not even have a good meal. Now the rice jar at home is almost out of food. If he doesn't find a way to borrow some food, his family will starve in the next few months.
There was no other way, so today he brought his mother to the city to borrow money from his brother to buy food.
Old Lady Lu's eyes rolled, and she sat down on the ground and cried, slapping her thighs and howling, "You are so heartless! Your son has married a wife and has forgotten his mother. I worked so hard to raise several children, and this third son came to the city and said he doesn't want me anymore, so he just abandons me. How can you be so cruel!..."
The attention of the customers eating at the stall was immediately attracted by the old lady sitting on the ground crying.
Even the people around looked at the old lady who was sitting on the ground crying.
Facing so many people's gazes, Boss Lu looked a little embarrassed. He reached out to pull up his mother who was sitting on the ground and crying, and advised: "Mom, please get up quickly, let's talk it out." He didn't know how his mother sat on the ground and slapped her thigh and cried after he started to say a few words.
But the old lady wasn't someone who could be persuaded to get up. She sat on the ground crying, criticizing her daughter-in-law as she cried. "Ever since my third son married you, we haven't wanted you anymore. If we hadn't been so kind and given you some rice soup to drink and saved your life, how could you, Liu, be where you are today?"
"You're such a bad person! You've taught my son to disown his mother, and my grandson to disown his grandparents, uncles, and relatives like us..."
"Sanniang, what should we do?" This was the first time Xie Liuniang had faced such a situation, and for a moment she really didn't know what to do. This old lady sitting on the ground crying was their boss's mother-in-law?
However, they have worked here for seven or eight years, and this is the first time they have seen this old lady.
Oh, this man! When Xie Liuniang looked at Boss Lu again, she remembered who this man was. Isn't this their boss's uncle? He came to see Boss Lu two years ago to go back and attend his son's wedding.
However, they had worked here for so many years and had only seen this uncle once. This, plus the second time, showed that their boss didn't have a very close relationship with his family. Why did this old lady sit on the ground and cry as soon as she arrived today, affecting their business?
"Heh!" Liu Sanniang was also amused by her mother-in-law.
Facing the pointing of people around her, Liu Sanniang did not feel guilty or retreat at all. She stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at the old lady crying and pretending with a frank face.
"What's going on outside? It's so noisy?" Xu Yueniang, who was in the pancake shop, heard someone crying outside and thought it was a commotion somewhere. She looked out and found that the noise came from the braised food stall next door. She thought to herself, "Oh no!"
"You two stay in the store and don't run out. I'm going to go take a look next door."
After calling the waiter to clean the shop, Xu Yue Niang rushed out, swinging the thick stick they used to roll out noodles.
"Make way, make way."
There were many people standing in front of her watching the excitement. Xu Yueniang pushed aside the people blocking her way and squeezed to the front of the braised food stall.
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