Chapter 25: Making Money. Golden Chicken Soup.
Qiu Xuan's eyes turned, and the idea of selling food appeared in her mind again. She said, "These buns are homemade."
Just now on the road, she heard the vendor shouting, "Meat buns are three cents each, and vegetarian buns are one cent each."
These are steamed buns with beans and pork lard, which can be considered a meat dish. If she were to sell them, she would definitely have to pay three cents.
Qiu Xuan not only uses coarse flour but also adds a little fine flour to the steamed buns, which makes them whiter when steamed.
Coarse flour cost ninety-six wen per dou, or eight wen per jin. Fine flour was much more expensive, costing nearly thirty-five wen per jin.
Qiu Xuan steamed fourteen buns this morning, using less than a pound of flour, which came out to nearly fourteen wen. And the lard residue in the filling was made from the ten wen pig fat. It wasn't all used up, but beans and firewood are all free.
Qiu Xuan calculated carefully in her mind, if one bun sells for three cents, then fourteen would be forty-two cents. The cost is twenty-four cents, which is equivalent to a profit of eighteen cents. She can make more than one cent for each bun!
"Girl, is this meat? Can you sell it to us?" The man was afraid that she would not agree, so he quickly added, "I will buy yours for whatever price it costs outside."
Qiu Xuan brought a lot of food with her, so it wouldn't be a problem even if she sold two. However, the food was for them, and now she suddenly had to sell it to others, which made Qiu Xuan feel a little uncomfortable.
Zong Xiao happened to have finished a bun. Seeing Qiu Xuan frowning in thought, he said, "Don't look at me. You made your own buns, so you decide."
"Okay." Qiu Xuan smiled and walked across with the bamboo basket.
"It's stuffed with beans and lard residue, fried with lard." Qiu Xuan was afraid that others would think there was no meat in it, so she explained it specifically.
When the man heard this, he immediately took out six copper coins and said, "It's actually lard residue. I was wondering why it smelled so good."
It was Qiu Xuan's first time making money. She held the six copper coins tightly in her hands, feeling extremely happy.
If there is a first time, there will be a second time. If everyone praises the food, she can go down the mountain every day and sell it on the roadside.
Her food is clean and delicious, so why is she afraid that it won’t sell?
Just as she was thinking about it, someone in the room asked her if she wanted to sell buns.
Seeing this, Qiu Xuan sold four more, but then stopped selling any more. She had brought few buns today, and if she sold more, there wouldn't be enough for Zong Xiao to eat.
The grandmother sat on the kang and stared blankly. She had never thought that she could sell buns in the clinic. But then again, they were not here to sell buns today.
Zong Mu glanced at Zong Xiao and asked him softly, "What did the doctor say? Can Xiaobao's illness be cured?"
Zong Xiao wiped his hands and continued fanning Xiao Bao with a palm-leaf fan. "It's similar to the time with Xue Yatou. We were also delayed. The doctor said we have to stay in the clinic for a few days."
The grandmother breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the patient could be cured, it would be fine. Besides, Xiaobao was still so young. If he died, it would be the end of Aunt Feng's life.
"You don't have to stay here for the next few days. I'll stay with your Aunt Feng." The clan mother glanced at Huaixue. The girl wasn't in good health, so she naturally couldn't stay with a sick person all day. "Take Huaixue home with you. She'll stay in your courtyard for the next few days."
Zong Xiao was worried about his mother. After all, they were both old and no one could stay up all night.
"Don't worry, we can still look after a child." Seeing the sun rising outside, the clan mother waved at them, "Go home early while it's still cool."
"Okay, we'll come again tomorrow." Zong Xiao didn't refuse.
Seeing this, Qiu Xuan left the bamboo basket in the clinic. There were still a few buns and pancakes left in it, which was enough for her mother-in-law and the others to eat.
As for them, it’s not too late to cook when they get home.
The four of them left the clinic and tacitly agreed not to mention going home.
After finally coming to town, they always have to go shopping and buy some things before leaving.
Qiu Xuan asked Zong Xiao to take her to the place where rice and noodles were sold, and she bought a bucket of coarse noodles and two pounds of fine noodles as soon as she arrived.
Fortunately, we had a mule cart, so it was easy to bring back so many things.
No one knew what Zong Anji had bought. He was very secretive and didn't show it to them. Zong Xiao asked him a few questions, but when he saw that he didn't say anything, he stopped asking.
After all, Zong Anji is about to get married, and he is so shy. I guess what he is buying is not something serious.
On the way back, Qiu Xuan used the copper coins she earned today to buy a few meat buns and vegetarian buns sold in the town, one meat and one vegetable per person, spending sixteen cents.
"Sister-in-law, this business is a loss. The buns you make are much more delicious than this. Although this is a meat bun, there is very little meat filling inside. It is not even as delicious as lard." Zong Anji finished a meat bun in a few bites, feeling secretly regretful.
"Huai Xue, how about you try this bun?" Huai Xue was eating the candied bun that Zong Anji bought for her. Upon hearing this, she only took a small bite and then shook her head. "Auntie's is delicious."
Seeing that they all praised her, Qiu Xuan became more determined to sell buns.
If you can sell 30 meat buns a day, you will make 30 coins, and 900 coins a month.
For a family like theirs, if they can have such income every month, how can they not live a good life?
"But do you want to come to town to sell buns?" Zong Xiao, driving the mule cart, turned his head to look at her and saw through her thoughts at a glance.
Qiu Xuan didn't hide anything. She asked him openly, "Do you think it's feasible? I calculated that the profit from these buns is not small. If we go down the mountain every day, we can definitely make a profit."
"Selling buns?" Zong Anji's eyes gleamed. He shifted his hips and leaned forward. "Second sister-in-law, do you want to sell the buns I made today in town?"
Qiu Xuan nodded, "I thought of giving it a try. Coincidentally, my mother has been at the town clinic these days. We can deliver some food to them every day and sell some at the same time."
The idea was indeed good. After thinking about it, they felt that this was feasible. At worst, the unsold buns could be eaten by the family.
As soon as he returned to the village that day, Zong Anji went to buy thirty cents of pork fat. This stuff should be boiled early in the morning, and the lard residue will be produced at night.
Besides, lard residue can be stored for a long time and will not go bad even if they cannot use it all.
On the other side, Zong Xiao took out the pheasant he had shot yesterday from the bamboo basket. The pheasant had injured its leg and had not eaten for a day, so it was wilting and looked like it would not survive the night.
I just stewed it directly and made some chicken soup for everyone to nourish.
He did what he said. He killed a chicken, bled it, and plucked its feathers by himself. When Zong Anji came back, he had just finished.
Zong Xiao explained to him how to make lard, and then the two of them returned to their own courtyards, one in the kitchen making lard while the other stewed chicken.
Qiu Xuan was not idle either. She was coaxing the little girl Huaixue to sleep in the house. I don’t know if it was because Huaixue had been with her grandmother since she was a child and had never been taken care of by anyone else.
The little girl couldn't fall asleep without her grandmother's comfort. Qiu Yun had to tell her three short stories before she could coax her into falling asleep.
Qiu Xuan got up early this morning and was very sleepy. She yawned, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
When Zong Xiao finished stewing the chicken and entered the house, he saw the two of them cuddling together, sleeping soundly.
Zong Xiao did not wake them up. He glanced at them, covered them with a thin blanket, and quietly left the room.
When Qiu Xuan opened her eyes again, it was already 3 p.m.
The aroma of meat had already drifted in through the crack in the door. She woke up the little girl in her arms, and the two of them left the house together.
In the courtyard, Zong Anji was sitting on a small stool washing vegetables. He had picked a lot of beans and radishes from the yard next door. Both of these were seasonal vegetables, common in every household.
"Sister-in-law, how about using these two ingredients to make the filling?"
Seeing that the vegetables were all tender, Qiu Xuan nodded and said, "Dice the beans and shred the radish. We'll stir-fry them tomorrow morning."
Baozi tastes best when they are freshly steamed. The vendors don’t sell overnight ones, and Qiu Xuan and the others naturally don’t sell them either.
Zong Xiao heard the noise and poked his head out of the kitchen. "The meal is ready. Third brother, please clean up the table outside and I'll bring the food out."
The cooked chicken soup is golden, and the chicken is so soft that it falls off the bones easily with a bamboo chopstick.
The pheasant was a little bigger than the domestic one. The four of them ate more than half of it and kept the rest warm in the pot, planning to bring it down the mountain for their grandmother and the others to try tomorrow morning.
At night, Huaixue slept with Qiuyun. The child had slept with her during the day, so the night did not take as long as the day.
After only one story, the little girl fell asleep.
Qiu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. It was really too difficult to coax a child. It would be fine if she could just play with the child, but asking her to coax the child to sleep like this every day...that would be really unbearable.
She was just about to close her eyes and go to sleep when suddenly a muffled thunder sounded outside the window, followed by heavy rain pouring down, the sound of dripping rain ringing in her ears.
Qiu Xuan sat up from the kang instantly. She wondered if the rain could go down the mountain tomorrow after such a heavy downpour. Thinking of the fillings she had prepared, she felt a little pain in her heart.
Zong Xiao heard the noise and got off the kang in the dark. He half-opened the window, looked out, and said softly, "Go to sleep. The rain will definitely stop tomorrow morning."
"Really?" Qiu Yu was a little unconvinced. How could such a heavy rain only last for a short while?
Zong Xiao was born and raised in the mountains and was very familiar with the weather in the mountains. This kind of rain would not last long before the ground would be wet.
Qiu Xuan was still a little skeptical, but she was so sleepy that she fell asleep in less than a quarter of an hour.
It was a cold rainy night, and she was still covered with an ordinary thin blanket. In her sleep, she felt cold all over, and she raised her hand to grope towards the heat source.
Zong Xiao slept lightly at night, and he opened his eyes as soon as the hands touched his quilt.
Seeing Qiu Xuan curled up in the quilt with a frown on her face and a pale face in her sleep, he quickly covered her with his own quilt.
There was no extra bedding on the kang, so Zong Xiao didn't sleep. He sat quietly by the kang until the fifth watch. When the rain stopped outside, he quietly left the room.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
