When he came back, the water hadn't boiled yet, so he washed the vegetables he bought yesterday, chopped them up, and put them all into a large basin.
Then he reached for about ten more eggs, cracked them all into a bowl, and beat them with chopsticks.
The water has boiled now, so I took five handfuls of the rice noodles I bought yesterday, threw them into the basin, poured in the freshly boiled water, and let them soak.
Heat oil in a wok, fry the egg flowers first, then pour them all into a clean large bowl.
The rice noodles are now soaked. Drain the water, add some soy sauce and salt to the noodles, stir well with chopsticks, and finally add some cooking oil to prevent them from sticking.
All the preparations are done, now we can start cooking.
Pour oil into a pan, heat the oil, add the greens, stir-fry briefly, add some salt, then add the mixed rice noodles and stir-fry evenly. Next, add the fried eggs, stir-fry a few more times, and it's done.
Because the pot was small, this small amount of rice noodles had to be cooked in three separate batches.
As soon as it was cooked, Xu Minghan ladled out two bowls, then put the rest into a stainless steel bucket that had been scalded with hot water, and wrapped it with a small cotton quilt.
First, he put the bowl for his wife in the pot to keep it warm, then quickly ate his own bowl. After finishing and wiping his mouth, he saw that the clock on the wall showed 5:20. Seeing that there was still time, he washed all the pots and pans before carrying the big bucket out the door.
Xu Minghan realized halfway there that if he arrived at the factory gate, all the workers would have already bought breakfast.
So he rode along shouting, "Breakfast for sale! Special stir-fried rice noodles, you'll want two bowls after just one!"
Hey, you know what, shouting like that actually brought people over.
"Boss, you're selling fried rice noodles! How much are they?" Liu Yuan was rushing to work and hadn't had breakfast yet. He didn't want to eat steamed buns, as he ate them twenty days a month and was already tired of them.
"One yuan a bowl, want one?" Xu Minghan said, opening the lid of the bucket to reveal the still steaming fried rice noodles inside.
"Okay, one serving, give me a lot, I have a big appetite."
"Alright!" Xu Minghan had already put several layers of bags over the bowl, so now he just needed to use chopsticks to put the food in.
"Here, be careful, it's hot."
Liu Yuan looked at the rice noodles in the bag with satisfaction; there was quite a lot, the boss was indeed generous.
"Hey boss, where are you setting up your shop? Where am I supposed to find you later?"
Liu Yuan thought that he finally had a place to change things up, but he needed to ask about it first.
"This is my first day setting up shop, and I just wanted to try it out at the factory gate in front of it."
"Shoe factories?" Liu Yuan looked in the direction Xu Minghan pointed. There were indeed several factories in that direction, mostly shoe factories.
"Hmm, I see there are a lot of factories over there, I'd like to give it a try."
"Haha, that's perfect since we're going the same way. And let me tell you, lots of people stay in dorms over there, so having breakfast here is perfect. It saves them the trouble of going out to buy it, and business is sure to be good."
"Thank you for your kind words!"
When they arrived at the factory gate, before the car had even come to a complete stop, Liu Yuan quickly walked a few steps and shouted to his colleagues, "Hey, didn't you guys say there wasn't much fresh breakfast? Look, here's some stir-fried rice noodles. I tried it, and it tastes pretty good. You guys can try it too."
"Great! I was just thinking of trying something new, boss, give me one."
"Give me one too."
"I want one too, but I'm too lazy to go far, so I'll just grab a bite!"
"Alright!" Xu Minghan quickly packed the fried rice noodles for the customer, looked up at the customers gathered around him, and was overjoyed.
"Oh dear, this is the last one. Sorry, it's sold out!" Xu Minghan finished serving the last one and smiled apologetically at the customers queuing next to him.
"Oh, I haven't bought any yet! Boss, you haven't prepared nearly enough."
"I'm so sorry, this is my first day here, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sell them all, so I didn't prepare many."
"Alright, then boss, you'd better prepare more tomorrow. We have several factories here, and most of the people live in dormitories, so you can definitely sell breakfast."
"Yes, yes, it would be best to add more varieties. Just stir-fried rice noodles won't do. It would be best if they could come with some soup." This is because they don't like to eat dry food in the morning and want to have some soup.
"Okay, I'll keep your opinions in mind. But we need to take it slow; I can't do all this by myself."
"Okay, I understand, boss. Remember to come tomorrow!"
Xu Minghan smiled and nodded, then packed his things and rode his tricycle home.
When they got home, it was only a little past seven o'clock, and Zhang Xuemei hadn't even gotten up yet!
Xu Minghan moved the stainless steel basin outside, where there was a faucet installed. He squatted down and washed everything clean.
Zhang Xuemei vaguely heard a clattering sound. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked out the window to her left. It was already broad daylight.
She slowly sat up in bed, then dragged her slippers outside.
"You're back after selling everything? How was it?" Zhang Xuemei leaned against the door frame and asked Xu Minghan, who was busy outside.
Xu Minghan placed the cleaned bucket on the stone platform outside to drain, shook his hands, and helped his wife walk inside.
"You eat breakfast first. I left some for you in the pot. I'll also make you some seaweed soup, okay?"
"Yes, either way is fine with me."
Zhang Xuemei held the bowl, picked up some rice noodles, and ate while praising, "I can't compare to your skill in making stir-fried rice noodles."
Xu Minghan sat down next to her, emptied all the money from his fanny pack, and counted it one bill at a time, one coin at a time.
Because they hadn't prepared much, they quickly finished counting: "Thirty-three yuan."
"What about after deducting costs?" Zhang Xuemei pressed, wondering if this business was even viable.
Xu Minghan made a rough estimate in his mind, "I estimate that I can make about twenty-three or twenty-four yuan this morning, or even more. And that's with me not having prepared much. I still won't have enough to sell today!"
Xu Minghan thought that if he prepared about a hundred servings every morning, he could earn more than seventy yuan a day, which would amount to more than two thousand yuan a month. Thinking about this made him feel energetic, and he wished that tomorrow was already here.
"Are you sure you can sell them all? Besides, can one coal stove handle so many?"
You can't possibly prepare all this by yourself! I wish I could go out and help.
Zhang Xuemei is now just thinking about giving birth as soon as possible so she can help out. It's so upsetting to see that she hasn't earned any money.
"No problem, I'll just buy another coal stove and we can use both to burn firewood. It'll be fine."
Xu Minghan didn't see anything wrong with it; the money was right in front of him, so why not make it?
"Why did we always think about doing business in other provinces, and even specifically choose businesses with high costs? In the end, we lost everything. I really don't understand."
Zhang Xuemei glanced at him and said helplessly, "It's only because we know what will happen in the future. If we didn't have the memories of what happened in the future, we would still lose everything."
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