Shi Zhen bought only a piece of pork belly that day, and didn't buy any other vegetables.
He's not well-off right now, so it's better for him to be frugal.
Because he had been eating braised pork head, braised eggs, and braised tofu every day recently, Shi Zhen didn't want to stew this piece of pork belly like that again, so he simply boiled it in plain water.
He didn't cook one half for long before taking it out to offer as a sacrifice to his ancestors. When he came back, he sliced it, added garlic leaves, and stir-fried it into twice-cooked pork. He left the other half in the pot to simmer for a long time, then sliced it, sprinkled it with minced garlic, drizzled it with soy sauce, and made Shi Zhen's version of garlic-flavored pork belly.
With a few more vegetables, dinner became quite sumptuous, and Guan Baiyu's eyes even squinted as he ate.
This was the first time this naive boy had ever eaten twice-cooked pork. Shi Zhen gave him a slice, but he couldn't bear to eat it all until the very end.
As for Shi Xinghuo... he would eat whatever was good first as a sign of respect, and only after finishing the meat would he eat rice with vegetables.
After dinner, people came one after another to deliver folded silver ingots. Shi Zhen paid the wages and took a moment to calculate the day's accounts.
Today, his gold ingot stall earned over two hundred yuan after deducting costs, and his cooked food stall over there also earned over thirty yuan. He made nearly two hundred and fifty yuan in one day.
This is a large sum of money for him.
But he's already sold almost all of the artificial flowers and ribbons he bought, so he probably won't earn that much tomorrow; at most, he'll earn a little over a hundred.
Even so, he could earn more than 300 yuan in two days. With the 300 yuan Guan Baiyu gave him and his previous savings, he could buy a tricycle and some other things.
With the tricycle, he can also do some other business.
After April, the weather will get hotter and hotter, making it no longer suitable to sell cold-cut pig's head.
The next day was Qingming Festival, and Shi Zhen went out to set up a stall to sell silver ingots as usual, and indeed earned more than a hundred.
With the money, he didn't waste any time and took the bus to Changxi City again on April 6th.
Shi Zhen first found a shop selling tricycles and bought a fairly large and spacious one. He then rode the tricycle to buy the largest rice cooker available. He also went to the farmers' market in Changxi City and bought a sack of peanuts.
Locals generally don't grow peanuts, so peanuts are actually cheaper to buy in Changxi City than in Anshan Town.
After returning home with these items, Shi Zhen began preparing for his new business.
Shi Zhen plans to continue selling braised eggs and braised tofu. He wants to change the cold-cut pig's head meat to cold-dressed pig's head meat. In addition, Shi Zhen plans to sell glutinous rice balls every morning and fry some ham sausages, sausages, rice cakes, dried tofu and other things on a coal stove in the evening.
He wants to make as much money as possible in the next month or two.
There are so many places where money is needed: living expenses for family members, Guan Baiyu's tuition fees...
Developing new products takes time. Shi Zhen tried making cold pig's head for a long time, experimenting little by little, until he finally found the flavor that best suited the locals after making a whole pig's head.
In his past life, he ate cold pig's head salad, which was mostly served with chili oil and cilantro. But now, people in J City can't handle spicy food, so they can only add less chili or even none at all. Cilantro is not even sold here anymore. Even twenty years later, many people still don't like it, so it can be completely removed.
Shi Zhen then prepared a seasoning with soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic, and vinegar. He also prepared some chili oil so that anyone who liked spicy food could add some.
Shi Zhen also plans to sell pig's head meat by parts, such as pig's ears and pig's snout, which can be sold for more than other parts of the pig's head.
As for how it's sold, Shi Zhen will cook the pig's head meat in advance and mix the seasonings beforehand. When a customer comes to buy it, Qian Qi will cut a piece of meat for the customer, weigh it, calculate the price, and then cut it into small pieces and mix it for the customer on the spot. When mixing, cucumber shreds, tofu skin, and fried peanuts will also be added.
Summers in J City are long, and a cold dish like this would be popular when it's hot.
The cooked food stall was still managed with a salary, while Shi Zhen ran the other businesses himself.
He found a shop in town that sold fried dough sticks and asked them to put the fried dough sticks back into the pot to continue frying until all the moisture was squeezed out and the dough sticks became very crispy.
Then, he
I cooked two pots of glutinous rice in a rice cooker, put them into a large cylindrical pot, wrapped them in a cotton quilt to keep them warm, and took them to town.
When someone comes to buy rice balls, he scoops a spoonful of rice from the pot, puts it on a plastic sheet, wraps it with fried dough sticks and other fillings, and pinches it closed to make a rice ball.
There are two kinds of rice balls: one is sweet, filled with fried dough sticks, fried peanuts, and white sugar mixed with sesame seeds; the other is savory, filled with fried dough sticks, fried peanuts, and stir-fried pickled vegetables.
As for the price of the rice balls, it's set at 50 cents each. Of course, if someone wants a rice ball for one yuan, they can make one too, just add more rice and filling.
If customers pay extra, they can also add a whole sausage to their rice ball.
Shi Zhen's cooking skills are not very good. At least, even if he could make the roast chicken and braised duck sold at other food stalls in town, they wouldn't taste as good as theirs.
Therefore, he chooses simple items to sell, such as rice balls, which require no special skills and can be made by most people after a few tries.
Shi Zhen came up with the idea because when he was working on the construction site, the cook he hired would make rice balls for everyone's breakfast in the morning.
The cook's version wasn't as refined as his. It didn't include fried dough sticks or differentiate between sweet and savory; it was just plain rice wrapped around pickled vegetables and fried peanuts, then shaped into a ball. But everyone thought it tasted delicious.
The cook used to make "fried noodles" for everyone. It was basically a big bucket of noodles that had been cooked, then mixed with boiling oil and soy sauce, and finally given to each person a big bowl.
Shi Zhen had considered selling fried noodles, modifying the flavor and selling them for 50 cents a bowl; he figured there would be customers. However, it was best to use plastic bowls for fried noodles, unlike rice balls which could be packaged in plastic bags, which would increase costs. Weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately chose rice balls.
A small business like making rice balls won't earn you a lot, but it won't do you badly either.
April 10, 1994, the 30th day of the second month in the lunar calendar, is an auspicious day for opening a business.
That day, Shi Zhen sold rice balls in town for the first time, and Qian Qi's cold-cut pig's head meat was also changed to cold-dressed pig's head meat.
The two stalls were right next to each other, and soon after they separated, regular customers came in.
"You don't sell cold-cut pig's head anymore?" A regular customer was disappointed, but still decided to try the new cold-dressed pig's head. "How much is this cold-dressed pig's head?"
Qian Qiqi told the man the prices for different parts of the pig, and after hearing this, the man ordered a pig's ear.
Qian Qi took a pig's ear, swiftly chopped it into thin pieces, then added cucumber strips, tofu skin, and fried peanuts, along with a spoonful of Shi Zhen's pre-prepared sauce, minced garlic, and after mixing it all together, handed it to the customer.
The customer was very satisfied to see that the pig's ear had become a large plate after being mixed. He reached into the cold dish he had just bought, took a piece of pig's ear, ate it, and licked his fingers after finishing it: "This tastes good."
"Then come back to buy again next time!" Qian Qi smiled. "This cold pig's ear salad is especially good with drinks!"
With pig's ears and peanuts, it's definitely perfect for pairing with alcohol!
Since a new dish was introduced, many people came to buy it, and naturally some people noticed Shi Zhen standing next to him.
Shi Zhen had been setting up a stall in the town for almost a month and had become a familiar face. Now, he was greeting people coming and going, asking them if they wanted to buy rice balls. Some people who had come out early to buy vegetables and hadn't eaten breakfast yet stopped to buy them.
Some of them were buying breakfast for their families to take back home, and some even bought several at once.
Rice balls cost 50 cents each, which isn't expensive. They're filled with fried dough sticks and peanuts, so they must taste delicious.
Like pig's head, rice balls are made on the spot, and the fillings can be changed according to each person's different tastes. For example, some people don't eat fried dough sticks, and some people don't eat peanuts.
Of course, most people want them all.
The primary, middle, and high schools in the town are not far from the market. Shi Zhen and his friends set up a stall on the roadside outside the market, which attracted many students. Shi Zhen was also willing to shout out his wares, so even more people came to buy rice balls.
Some kids come from wealthy families and not only want a one-dollar deluxe rice ball, but also add a sausage; they're really extravagant.
The large pot of rice that Shi Zhen had prepared was gradually running out, and by nine o'clock in the morning, there wasn't much left.
Since no one was buying breakfast at this point, he scraped off the last bit of rice and made three rice balls.
He and Qian Qi had been busy for several hours and were starving. They each ate one, and gave the remaining one to Guan Baiyu.
Guan Baiyu's taste is quite interesting. He adds pickled vegetables, sugar, fried dough sticks, and peanuts, and the final combination tastes... surprisingly good.
Guan Baiyu hasn't been going to school these days. He helps him with chores every morning and evening. During the day, when he's setting up his stall, he goes to the Xinhua Bookstore to read books. He's living a very fulfilling life.
After two days, Guan Baiyu started bringing a notebook and a pen with him every time he went to Xinhua Bookstore, and he would do his exercises there. He was really diligent.
Shi Zhen used to hear people complain about how their children didn't like to study or were unwilling to study. Now that he has met Guan Baiyu, who is proactive in learning, he feels that everything about him is good.
My own child is just outstanding!
Shi Zhen delivered the rice balls to Xinhua Bookstore and then went home to prepare for the evening's business.
He planned to spend two or three hours in the evening selling fried sausages and the like.
At this time, people don't have many entertainment options. Some people will stroll around town in the evening and watch a movie or something. Shi Zhen has already scouted out the location.
That evening, Shi Zhen set up a stall outside the movie theater, selling various fried foods.
Among them are sausages, ham sausages, rice cakes, dried tofu, chicken hearts, shrimp chips, and so on.
These things are easy to source; they're available in town. The profit margin isn't particularly high, but the cost isn't high either, so you can make a profit just by selling them.
Shi Zhen also prepared some fried peanuts, mixed them with fine salt, and placed them aside to sell. If someone wanted them, he would scoop a spoonful into a disposable cup, about half a cup, and sell it for 50 cents.
Quite a few people bought it.
On the first day of setting up his stall, Shi Zhen was worried that he would prepare too much stuff and not be able to sell it all. So apart from ham sausages and other sausages that could be stored for a longer time, he prepared very little of everything else. By 9 p.m., he had sold out almost everything.
Running two different stalls every day is incredibly tiring.
Despite the exhaustion, he earned a good amount of money. He could earn about 20 or 30 yuan selling rice balls in the morning and another 20 or 30 yuan selling fried food in the evening.
Other people in town also set up stalls, but they generally only sell one thing, like breakfast or radish pancakes and stinky tofu sold in front of the movie theater in the evening. They can earn a wage income. As for him... he can earn around ninety yuan from his three stalls, which is considered a high income.
Shi Zhen got home around 10 p.m. that night. He quickly washed up and went to sleep. He got up again at 4 a.m., tiptoed into Guan Baiyu's house, and cooked rice in the rice cooker.
Just as Shi Zhengang started cooking the rice, Guan Baiyu came out of the bedroom.
"Xiaoyu, why are you up so early?" Shi Zhen frowned.
Guan Baiyu waited until he got home before going to sleep yesterday, and then got up so early today. He didn't get enough sleep!
"Brother, didn't you get up this early too?" Guan Baiyu looked at Shi Zhen disapprovingly.
Shi Zhen was speechless for a moment.
Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, let me help you."
Shi Zhen thought about it for a moment, but in the end he didn’t refuse. He just said, “After I leave, you can go back and get some sleep.”
Guan Baiyu nodded.
The braised eggs and braised tofu were already simmering on the coal stove last night, and they're quite flavorful now. The pig's head was taken from Butcher Zhu's house last night and is already cooked in the pot.
Guan Baiyu helped scoop the food out of the pot, and then took a knife to cut cucumber strips and tofu skin, while Shi Zhen started preparing the seasonings and frying peanuts.
The sesame and white sugar used for making rice balls also need to be made fresh—if they are not made on the same day, they will become damp if left for too long.
Of course, the pickled vegetables should also be chopped into small pieces before stir-frying.
By the time they had finished all the preparations, two pots of rice had already been cooked.
At six o'clock, Shi Xinghuo and Qian Qi arrived.
After they ate something, Shi Zhen told Guan Baiyu to go to sleep, and then went to town with the others to set up a stall.
At nine o'clock in the morning, Shi Zhen closed his stall and delivered a lunchbox to Guan Baiyu, who was studying at Xinhua Bookstore. Inside were rice balls and lean pork salad with cucumber and tofu skin, which was Guan Baiyu's lunch.
After delivering the food, Shi Zhen went home to take a nap until 1 p.m., then got up to prepare for setting up his stall that evening.
do.
Around five o'clock, Shi Xinghuo, Guan Baiyu, and Qian Qi came back together. After everyone had eaten, Shi Zhen went to town to set up a stall, while Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo prepared the braised eggs, braised tofu, and the pig's head they would use the next day.
Shi Zhen couldn't handle everything by himself, so he taught Guan Baiyu to do most of the work.
If Shi Xinghuo were a little smarter, Shi Zhen would have stopped him from doing odd jobs and let him help out at home. But Shi Xinghuo... Shi Zhen only used three kinds of spices for making braised eggs, and there wasn't a very precise amount to use. Even so, Shi Xinghuo still didn't dare to make them, saying he didn't know how.
Shi Zhen couldn't do anything about him.
At six o'clock in the evening, Shi Zhen set up his stall in front of the movie theater. People in the town also came out for a stroll after finishing their dinner.
Everyone likes fried food, and many people come to Shizhen to buy things. The extra peanuts fried in the morning can also be sold.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he can close his stall at 9:30 PM, get home around 10:00 PM, tidy up, and should be able to go to bed around 10:30 PM.
Shi Zhen felt that he could adapt to this schedule and intensity, and did not plan to change it for the time being. As for the future... once his family came here, they could take care of these businesses, and he could free up his time to do something else.
"Boss, I'd like two skewers of fried sausage, two skewers of fried chicken wings, and two skewers of dried tofu." Young men who bring their girlfriends shopping are always particularly generous.
"Give me a skewer of fried ham sausage." Another child saw Shi Zhen's stall and got hungry, so a parent came over to buy a skewer to appease the child.
Shi Zhen was busy when suddenly someone appeared beside him.
Guan Baiyu has arrived.
There were streetlights outside the movie theater, but the lights weren't bright; the warm yellow light made Guan Baiyu look much gentler.
Shi Zhen asked, "What brings you here?"
Guan Baiyu couldn't contain his excitement. He squinted his eyes and said happily to Shi Zhen, "Brother, I won the third prize in the city league last time!"
Guan Jinjin told Guan Baiyu about this after dinner tonight.
The results of the city league are out, and he once again ranked first in the entire school.
That's not all; his results this time were outstanding, and he even won an award in the city.
In this exam for the third year of junior high school, Changxi City will award prizes. Although there are not many first prizes, there are quite a few second and third prizes, totaling several hundred.
However, Xiaqiu Junior High School has never won a single award in previous years.
But this year was different; Guan Baiyu won third prize.
This award wouldn't be considered particularly valuable in other junior high schools. For example, in the junior high schools in the town, first prize is something everyone gets, let alone second or third prize.
But at Xiaqiu Junior High School, this is a record-breaking achievement!
Xiaqiu Junior High School has a large number of students, and this year there are two spots for direct admission to the city's key high schools. With these grades, Guan Baiyu is sure to get one of them. Of course, Guan Baiyu needs to go to the school to confirm this.
Upon learning of this, Guan Baiyu was overjoyed and immediately went to town to find Shi Zhen.
"That's amazing!" Shi Zhen laughed and put a sausage into the pot.
He sells a lot of things, but his own family hasn't eaten them much.
They are still too poor.
But now, he wants to fry some for Guan Baiyu to eat.
"It's nothing... it's all because you bought me practice problems, brother," Guan Baiyu said modestly, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.
Shi Zhen used chopsticks to pick up the food the customer wanted from the oil, rolled up the bamboo skewers with a paper towel, brushed them with a local sweet sauce, and then asked if they wanted it spicy...
After serving the fried skewers ordered by the customers, Shi Zhen scooped up the freshly cooked ham sausages, brushed them with sauce, sprinkled them with a little chili powder, and handed them to Guan Baiyu.
Guan Baiyu was able to eat spicy food in his past life, but he hasn't been able to develop that ability in this life yet, so he can only eat a little bit of spice for now.
"Brother, is this for me?" Guan Baiyu asked in surprise, then added, "I don't need it, I'm not hungry at all right now!"
"This isn't for filling your stomach, it's a snack, and also a reward for you," Shi Zhen handed him the fried sausage. "Good luck on your high school entrance exam, and good luck on your college entrance exam too! I'll reward you with something else then!"
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Bai Yu held the fried sausage, her eyes crinkling as she nodded earnestly, "Mm!"
After nodding, he held the sausage to Shi Zhen's mouth: "Brother, you eat some too."
Shi Zhen wanted to refuse, but seeing that Guan Baiyu looked like he wouldn't eat unless he did, he took a bite anyway.
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