Chapter 96 Qingze Store Opens
Zhang Ze was shocked by Zhang Qian's words. He didn't expect that his sister, who had never been competitive, would say such a thing.
But he did not refuse. Instead, he smiled gently and encouragingly and asked, "Tell me why you have such an idea?"
Zhang Qian heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Zhang Ze didn't blame her and didn't directly refuse.
After she felt relieved, she began to explain: "Brother, you often told us that after studying, we can understand things and learn useful things. Now everything at home depends on you. I think you are working too hard, so I want to help you share some of the burden after I finish my studies."
"If I get married, I may never be able to continue my studies and won't be able to help you in the future."
Zhang Ze laughed in silence, and was touched at the same time. He didn't expect that even though the family conditions had improved, his sister still cared about the family and wanted to contribute to the family.
Could it be that my sister has the attributes of a demon?
But, there's nothing wrong with it.
"If you want to study hard, then study hard. If you don't want to get married, then don't get married. No one will force you." Zhang Ze whispered to comfort her, then looked at Zhang Qing beside him, "It's the same for you. You decide your own life. I, your brother, will help you with some advice and check things out."
"Brother, you are so nice!" Zhang Qian smiled, and all the pressure in her heart was gone.
After all, Zhang Qing is only sixteen years old and doesn't have as many thoughts as her sister, but that doesn't stop her from knowing how good her brother is to her.
Therefore, he also urged himself to study hard and help his brother after learning knowledge.
In fact, the two of them have no idea at all now, and don't know how to help. They just know to read the book first.
Tong Shuyao supported her face with one hand, her eyes full of the man beside her.
She felt very lucky to have met such a unique man.
Because no matter which family the daughter belongs to on the island, after getting married, her fate is to do housework and take care of children at home, and usually she also has to help repair nets and weave nets to earn work points, and the same is true for her eldest sister.
She only needs to help with some housework, and the most thing she does is reading.
So she studied very hard, wanting to keep up with the man and become a good wife.
get out of class ends on time at nine o'clock in the evening.
Zhang Ze felt drowsy in class, mainly because what was being taught was all elementary school knowledge and he was simply there to accompany his child in his studies.
A fulfilling day just passed by.
The next day, Zhang Ze got up around eight in the morning, and his delicate and gentle wife was no longer by his side.
I got up, washed and went downstairs, only to find that Tong Shuyao was not there.
I went to the next door, but found it was locked.
Feeling a little puzzled, Zhang Ze went home to get the key to open the door, but he couldn't find anyone when he went in. There was only a small pot of porridge warming on the coal stove in the kitchen. The coal briquettes in it had gone out, and it was obvious that the person had been out for some time.
Zhang Ze drank the porridge and was wondering where everyone had gone when he saw Zhang's mother pushing a bicycle, Zhang Qian and Tong Shuyao holding a large bamboo basket together, and Zhang Qing helping to push the bicycle from behind.
"Where are you going?" He hurried forward and took the bicycle from Zhang's mother.
"We went to the beach. We didn't have any oysters or scallops at home, so we went to the beach to get some." Zhang's mother came over and patted her waist, saying.
Zhang Ze parked his bicycle at the door of his house and came to the bamboo basket at the back. He saw that it was full of oysters and scallops.
He immediately smiled bitterly: "Mom, I didn't make these because I wanted you to just make the five-spice crab today. If it sells well, it won't be too late to make these later."
"I'm exhausted after a whole morning. Do you still have the energy to cook for lunch?"
Zhang Huihong waved her hand: "Mom is not old yet, just take a rest."
Zhang Ze sighed. Now that it’s all here, let’s get started!
He first took out two bamboo baskets from the house, each containing more than 30 kilograms of large blue crabs and more than 20 kilograms of swimming crabs.
He secretly put the swimming crab into his space last night and raised it for a while, so it is still quite energetic now. Otherwise, it would be difficult to keep it from yesterday to now.
The coal stove was also brought out, as well as a few brushes.
There are three washing pools on the left side of the door, which were specially built by Zhang Ze. One is for washing dishes and two are for cleaning and processing seafood.
Next to it was a large plastic bucket he bought from a department store to hold his trash.
There are not many people on the road now, and everyone has basically eaten breakfast at this time, so they prepare the ingredients first and start the fire when there are more pedestrians around noon.
Time passed very quickly when they were busy. Although many passers-by looked at them curiously, not understanding what they were doing, no one came over to ask.
However, a female salesperson from Wuweihe who was nearby was currently free, so she came over to chat with Tong Shuyao and the others.
She is not very old, about the same age as Tong Shuyao, and is an unmarried young girl.
We were close to each other and went to Wuweihe to buy things on a daily basis, so we naturally became familiar with each other.
"Shuyao, what are you doing?" Ruan Yanrong stood at the door and watched curiously. She didn't understand why several people were washing these stones.
"We are washing oysters and scallops and roasting them with garlic at noon." Tong Shuyao turned around and saw that it was her, so she explained with a smile.
"Mashed garlic, roasted?" Ruan Yanrong was full of question marks and found that he didn't understand even more.
But the next moment, her heart suddenly moved, and she thought of how since Zhang Ze's family moved in, she would occasionally smell a very pleasant fragrance at noon or in the evening, which made her drool.
At first she was wondering whose food smelled so good that the word spread to her restaurant.
I went out to look for it, only to find that the sound came from next door.
The little girl was shy and didn't feel comfortable asking directly, but she still remembered the fragrance vividly.
Now that they were talking about this, she couldn't help but ask, "I smelled a very nice smell coming from your house before, could it be this garlic paste?"
"Well... maybe!" Tong Shuyao was a little confused. Her family could eat as much as they wanted now, and there was often delicious aroma of food. She was not sure what the other party was talking about.
Zhang Ze also chimed in at this time: "We are opening our shop today. The dishes include spiced crab, garlic oysters and scallops. The smell you smell is probably the spiced crab. We use more ingredients to cook crab, so the flavor is also strong."
"Five-spice?" Ruan Yanrong suddenly realized. She remembered that she did smell the scent of five-spice powder at that time, but the smell was so fragrant that it made her a little unsure.
But the word "crab" made her frown again.
She thought it was a hairy crab, but when she got closer and found out it was a sea crab, she was a little disappointed.
Sea crabs are basically eaten by fishermen. At most, they buy some dried crab meat to cook porridge to increase the flavor.
Zhang Ze naturally noticed her expression, but did not explain further that blue crabs actually tasted quite good.
Because as soon as the food is cooked at noon and the aroma spreads, he believes that someone will definitely be willing to try it.
Ruan Yanrong chatted with Tong Shuyao for a few more words and then returned to the store.
Business is average in the morning. Wuweihe has a kitchen upstairs, and the sales staff bring their own lunch at noon and heat it up upstairs before eating.
Ruan Yanrong was just about to go upstairs to heat up her lunch box when she suddenly smelled a strong fragrance from outside the door.
She was very familiar with this smell. It was the fragrance she often smelled during this period, and it was very similar to the smell of five-spice powder.
Maybe because the neighbors were burning food at the doorstep today, the smell was more fragrant and stronger than before.
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She immediately thought of what Zhang Ze said in the morning. Could this be the five-spice crab? Her stomach, which was already hungry, was stimulated and immediately made a gurgling sound.
Her colleague also smelled the fragrance and couldn't help but complain: "What kind of family is next door to us? They cook delicious food every day."
When Ruan Yanrong thought that the ingredients were just some unwanted "stones" and sea crabs that city people didn't like to eat, his face suddenly became a little strange.
Maybe eating these doesn't require good conditions, is it simply because other people's cooking skills are good? "Those things shouldn't be expensive, right?" Ruan Yanrong muttered.
"What?" Her colleague didn't hear clearly and asked in confusion.
"Nothing, go eat first, I'll go take a look outside."
"Hey, let's go together. I'm quite curious about what the neighbors are doing. It smells so good."
As they spoke, the two said hello to other colleagues, then went out together and went to the next door.
However, Ruan Yanrong did not expect that the room next door was already full of people. Obviously, everyone was attracted by the fragrance.
But people are just attracted to it, no one is buying it yet.
One of the men couldn't help but ask, "How much are these crabs for? And what are these roasted ones? Can they be eaten?"
"This five-spice mantis shrimp is 50 cents per portion, and the swimming crab is 40 cents per portion. Each mantis shrimp is guaranteed to be more than one kilogram, and you can put two small swimming crabs in a plate. You can choose as you like."
"If the crabs are not fat, you can change them. We guarantee that every crab is fat enough."
"The two types of grilled ones are garlic oysters and scallops. Oysters are 10 cents for two, and scallops with vermicelli are 8 cents each."
"So expensive?" An old lady yelled when she heard the price. "No one eats these crabs. Who would want them if you charge such a high price? And these roasted ones, who knows what they are? They're only 1 cent for two. Anyone who buys them is a fool."
Hearing this, Zhang Ze narrowed his eyes slightly. In one's life, one will always meet a few disgusting people who can't stand others being well and always like to cause trouble for no reason.
Such people exist in every era, but more of them are exposed in later generations.
As soon as the auntie said this, the crowd that was originally eager to buy suddenly lost their desire to buy.
Some people don't care about the price, they are simply attracted by the aroma and want to try it.
But now that the auntie has said that, wouldn’t they be fools if they still buy it?
But there are people who are willing to be this "fool". Ruan Yanrong squeezed in and immediately pointed at the oysters on the grill: "Two oysters and scallops each, and crabs."
When choosing crabs, she was a little hesitant and didn't know which one to choose.
Zhang Ze didn't expect that she would take the initiative to jump out and become the "fool" in the eyes of others. Seeing that she couldn't choose a crab, he went over and took a female blue crab weighing one and a half pounds.
This blue crab is very fat and has red and yellow roe, it will definitely be delicious.
"Choose the mantis crab. This crab tastes better."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Ruan Yanrong nodded without hesitation.
In fact, Zhang Ze was a little surprised at the girl's decisiveness. He didn't expect her to be so straightforward, and his liking for her increased a lot.
Afterwards, he processed the blue crab in front of everyone. When he opened the shell to reveal the red and yellow paste inside, the crowd at the scene became agitated and talked among themselves in low voices.
They don't eat sea crabs very often, but that doesn't mean they don't eat hairy crabs.
Therefore, they all know how delicious female hairy crabs taste when they are full of roe.
Zhang Ze used scissors to cut off the stomach, teeth and gills of the blue crab, cleaned the mud and dirt on the blue crab, and then cut the blue crab's body into eight parts according to each leg and handed it to Zhang's mother.
After the pot was hot, Zhang's mother poured a proper amount of oil into the pot without hesitation, without being reluctant as usual.
After the blue crabs were fried for a while, a pleasant smell emerged and filled everyone's nose.
Add the prepared five-spice sauce later and the flavor will explode instantly.
The crowd who were originally unwilling to be fools were moved again. After all, there was someone taking the lead this time! If everyone buys it, then those who don’t buy it will become fools. The blue crabs are not ready yet, but the oysters and scallops are already cooked. Tong Shuyao is in charge of grilling them. When Ruan Yanrong ordered the food, she had already asked the other party about his taste, and they all wanted it slightly spicy.
After they were baked, she cleverly placed the scallops on a small triangle of paper folded by Zhang Qian and handed it to her.
In this way, Ruan Yanrong only needs to hold the paper and will not get burned.
As for not having chopsticks, that’s not a problem either.
The other half of the shell was not thrown away, but cleaned, dried, and then set aside to cool.
Tong Shuyao took out a shell and handed it to her. After telling her how to eat it, Ruan Yanrong picked up the shell and put the vermicelli on it into her mouth first.
The sweetness of the scallops and the aroma of the minced garlic immediately filled her mouth, causing her eyes to widen immediately: "Wow, this is so delicious, isn't it?"
(End of this chapter)
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