Chapter 76 Fuwang Candy Shop
Although Yang Qiaomai was kneeling on the ground with tears in her eyes, she still spoke clearly.
He didn't look up at Guo Baiwen, but instead lowered his head slightly and quickly recounted the events of yesterday from beginning to end.
Guo Baiwen pulled a stool from behind him and sat down against a pillar in the main room, finally understanding.
The reason why my journey to purchase raw materials today was so difficult.
Mr. Li, the owner of the candy shop on the next street, has seen his business slow down recently because his candy shop is a "latecomer" to the industry.
He originally thought that this shop, which had only recently switched from selling hot pot dishes to selling sweets, could only produce some novel sweets, so how delicious could they be?
Fuwang Candy Shop is an old shop that has been open for nearly ten years in the north of the city. Not to mention the skills of the master chefs, the regular customers also praise their candy shops.
But this confidence only lasted a few days before, when the accounts from last month were being reconciled.
After the accountant told him about the store's revenue last month, Mr. Li, who had been holding the purple clay teapot in his hand, couldn't even hold it steady.
It accidentally fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces.
As he painfully squatted down to pick up the shards, he still managed to look up in disarray to confirm last month's accounts with the accountant, "Half?! Really?"
"You mean our shop's business dropped by half last month?!"
Faced with Mr. Li's repeated confirmations, even the accountant was somewhat speechless. Seeing that Mr. Li was still asking him for confirmation, he could only nod emphatically and reaffirm that what he had just heard was correct.
"Yes! Compared to the revenue two months ago, it's down by a full half!"
These words were like a heavy hammer blow.
Forget about feeling sorry for his Yixing teapot, Mr. Li clutched his chest and started complaining of a headache.
Seeing this, the shop assistants from the pastry shop rushed over as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
One person was responsible for raising their hand, and the other for raising their foot.
The two men carried the chubby Mr. Li to the room in the backyard, as if he were a dish.
When the pastry chef arrived, he saw the pastry chef still clutching his chest and complaining of a headache.
Although I felt speechless, reason told me that this person was my employer, the one who gave me a living.
After repeating it several times, he was finally able to calmly face his now 'strange' employer and gently ask, "Master, what's wrong with you?"
Mr. Li tugged at the recliner a couple of times, making the bamboo chair underneath creak and groan, and then pulled out a small medicine bottle from somewhere.
He opened it and popped one into his mouth, ready to use his precious teapot to slurp it down with his saliva.
Only after reaching out and touching nothing did he belatedly realize that he seemed to have broken the teapot.
Feeling both distressed and saddened, he grabbed an ordinary teapot from the table and poured himself a bowl of tea.
After drinking two bowls, he finally had time to answer the pastry chef's question, "Did you know that a new dessert shop opened on the next street?"
"The next street?" The pastry chef repeated the question in confusion, then thought about it carefully before shaking his head. "Never heard of it."
Hearing this, Boss Li lost interest in explaining. He waved his hand, beckoned a waiter waiting outside, and reluctantly took out a dozen or so copper coins from his pocket, saying, "Go, go to that store and buy me a little of everything."
This clerk was listening in from behind when Boss Li was talking to the accountant.
Therefore, there was no need for Boss Li to give any further instructions. After taking the money, he quickly ran towards the door.
The pastry chef noticed that Mr. Li seemed to have recovered. He was about to say goodbye and go back to the kitchen to continue working.
But Boss Li seemed to see through his thoughts and simply raised his hand to signal him to wait a moment.
So the pastry chef could only continue waiting inside the house.
Seeing that the errand boy wouldn't be back for quite a while, he thought for a moment, then grabbed a stool and sat down.
I used to be busy in the kitchen and rarely had a chance to sit down and rest like this.
I wonder what's gotten into Mr. Li today.
The pastry chef was secretly thinking to himself, but he patiently waited for his assistant to return.
Finally, about fifteen minutes later, the errand boy returned with several things wrapped in dried lotus leaves.
Mr. Li immediately sat up from his recliner, stopped complaining about his headache, and pulled the pastry chef along, wanting to try it together.
The contents of the lotus leaf sachet looked ordinary, but before he even opened it, he could smell a sweet aroma inside.
The pastry chef, having worked in the industry for many years, couldn't help but comment upon smelling the aroma: "The sugar used here is of good quality."
To save costs, their shop doesn't use much syrup, so while it tastes sweet, it's not as fragrant as this lotus leaf-wrapped treat.
Having roughly figured out the reason for Mr. Li's "illness" this time, the pastry chef stopped talking, simply took a bite of the sweets in a lotus leaf bag.
The process of making these desserts is not difficult, but the amount of sugar they contain is genuine.
I wonder how much such a dessert would cost?
If the desserts are similar to those from his own shop, then as a customer, he would rather buy from the shop that uses more generous ingredients.
Seeing that the pastry chef had already tasted it, Mr. Li also looked at the contents of the lotus leaf package with a critical eye. After picking and choosing, he selected a piece of caramel crisp, picked it up, and took a bite.
With a crisp, clear sound, it made a "crackling" sound.
The crispy texture combined with the rich aroma of sugar makes it taste even better than homemade versions – the ingredients are truly top-notch!
Mr. Li, not believing in superstition, tried another jujube.
The pits of the red dates were removed and replaced with almonds. The soft dried red dates and crunchy almonds were tightly wrapped in sugar coated with milk powder.
One bite offers several distinct textures.
The aroma of milk upon approaching, the sweetness upon tasting, and the perfect blend of red dates and almonds inside.
This thing...
Just how much sugar did they use in this?!
The delicious taste made Mr. Li a little dazed. After a while, he quickly grabbed the shop assistant who had just gone to run errands and asked, "How much did you spend on all this stuff?"
Thinking that Mr. Li felt he had pocketed the 'price difference', the errand runner also looked wronged and shouted, "It's all used up, there's not a single bit left!"
Upon hearing this, Mr. Li became even more restless.
How much money did he just pull out of his pocket?
Do you have twenty coins?
Seeing that Mr. Li remained silent, the waiter assumed that Mr. Li still did not believe him, so he continued to explain with a hint of emphasis: "Shopkeeper, the seventeen coins you gave me have really all been spent."
Seventeen articles?
Mr. Li couldn't resist picking up the lotus leaf bun he had been so picky about and tossing it in his palm.
That's right, the two packs weigh about an ounce each. They don't look very appealing, but they are quite substantial.
For the same price, homemade candied winter melon and candied lotus root are not as delicious as these two.
He couldn't sit still any longer.
He stood up and paced back and forth on the ground a few times.
At this point, he didn't care about the money anymore. He changed his clothes and said he wanted to go to that store to take a look.
He bought a little of everything, and when he came out of the store, Mr. Li was a little dumbfounded.
Apart from the bowl-shaped rice cakes and the cheapest sweet soup, the whole pile in his hand cost less than a hundred coins.
Grandma Guo, unaware of the situation, saw that he had bought a lot and even gave him a few two-colored rice dumpling candies to eat.
As Mr. Li chewed on the zongzi candy, he carried bags and packages back into the shop through the back door.
He and the pastry chef each ate a little, and the accountant didn't need to say anything more.
Mr. Li frowned, looking rather downcast. "You eat it, do you think you could make it yourself?"
That's not right—
Isn't that a restaurant that sells hot pot dishes?
When the store first opened, he went there to join the crowd because the prices were cheap in the first few days.
Because he thought the taste was alright at the time, Mr. Li felt no threat when he later heard that they had turned into a dessert shop in the summer.
After all, hot pot and sweet desserts are two very different things.
The pastry chef can taste roughly what's used in the filling. He can't guarantee he can make it exactly the same, but he's certain that "even if he could, he probably couldn't sell it as cheaply as they do..."
In other words, given Mr. Li's personality, seeing how much sugar he used to make a dessert would probably make him furious.
Mr. Li naturally knew that with the increased availability of raw materials, the price would definitely not be cheap.
But the fact that they can accept this price and have maintained it for so long is enough to show that they must be making a profit at this price.
That means the pastry chefs aren't skilled enough; they haven't figured out the 'tricks' of how to save ingredients when making sweet treats.
if--
If he gets this 'trick'...
Let alone in this area north of Xiuning County.
Who knows, he might even be able to open his own shop in the prefectural capital!
...
After listening to Yang Qiaomai's story, Guo Baiwen felt that his feet, which had been running all day, hurt even more.
No wonder.
But when he looked down at the young man with tears in his eyes, he sighed silently and took two steps forward to help him up from the ground.
"If you choose to tell me about this, you won't have to be afraid anymore."
right.
I'm just scared.
He could feel Yang Qiaomai's shoulders trembling as he supported her.
Yang Qiaomai couldn't hold back her tears, and after a long while, she was able to continue explaining, "I never thought of hiding this from the shop owner."
After being contacted by Boss Li last night, he tossed and turned several times and couldn't fall asleep at all.
Especially in the morning, after her older sister found out about this, Yang Qiaomai was severely scolded.
Tell him to go find Boss Li himself and find a way to refuse this matter.
But before he even left the house in the morning, he saw the two men who had been following Mr. Li yesterday squatting in front of his house.
There was a pile of sunflower seed shells scattered on the ground. As soon as he stepped out, the two people who were squatting on the ground stood up and blocked the doorway completely.
"Kid—you know what makes a smart person, don't you?"
As he spoke, he proudly shook his two rather large fists.
The implication is self-evident.
He himself was naturally not afraid, but his sister and Tianqiao were still at home behind him!
Once his collar was grabbed, he finally gave up out of fear.
Finally, seeing that he was about to be late for work, the two men stepped back and let him go for the time being.
But before leaving, he said a lot of harsh things.
As a result, he couldn't help but get distracted while at work today.
Grandma Guo thought he was just too tired these past few days, so she gave him some sweets and told him to sit in the yard and rest for a while.
I stood in the yard thinking for a long time—
Since he didn't have the courage to go to Mr. Li, he still had to say what needed to be said to the shopkeeper.
As for whether the shop owner will be angry later, and whether he will lose his job as a result... we can only wait and see.
—Although he secretly felt that the shop owner wasn't that kind of person.
But he really needs this job...
My mind was wavering.
When he finally made up his mind to go find someone, he was told that the shopkeeper had already gone out to buy supplies that day.
It was only at this point that Yang Qiaomai belatedly realized that today was the day the shopkeepers took a break to go out and make purchases.
But when he tried to tell Grandma Guo about Mr. Li's affair... he looked at the kind old lady, but couldn't bring himself to speak.
So no matter how anxious I was, I had no choice but to continue working while patiently waiting for the shopkeeper to return.
And so they waited—
And so it has come to this.
Because of the long interval, Yang Qiaomai was worried that the shopkeeper wouldn't believe her story, and she was also worried that since she wasn't home, Boss Li might secretly send those two people to cause her other trouble.
Although my older sister is physically weak, she is not someone to be trifled with.
Even though she had been bedridden for a long time, she could still shut down a landlord who was trying to take advantage of her, leaving him looking livid.
But she was still worried that she might be at a disadvantage against two tall and strong men.
And sweet buckwheat...
After living in fear for so long, I became quite depressed.
However, it was only after Yang Qiaomai finished explaining everything that Guo Baiwen realized why his raw materials were so hard to buy today.
It seems that although Mr. Li was unsure of exactly what ingredients he needed, milk and sugar were definitely required.
So today, I decided to act first and buy up all the raw materials in the vicinity.
If the supply of ingredients is cut off, there will be nothing to sell even if you want to. Once your own shop can no longer open, you will no longer be able to compete with other shops for business.
But Mr. Li wasn't the only confectionery shop in the north of the city. His practiced and skillful series of moves didn't seem like the first time he'd used them.
Guo Baiwen pondered for a moment, then looked at Yang Qiaomai and asked, "You just said that Boss Li threatened and promised to ask you to help with something, what was it?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
