Although he didn't have to sell vegetables today, Xu An still got up at four o'clock in the morning to prepare boxed lunches.
After getting up and washing up, I took a flashlight and rode my bicycle to town.
When we arrived at the town's wholesale market, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the market was already bustling with noise.
Based on his memory from yesterday, Xu An found the area where fresh and chilled ingredients were sold.
While chilled ingredients are indeed not as fresh as fresh ingredients, food that can enter wholesale markets and be sold must at least meet national food safety standards.
It just doesn't taste quite as good as fresh ingredients.
"That kid over there, yes, I'm talking about you."
While observing which of these suppliers had better quality ingredients, I suddenly heard a voice and instinctively looked up. The speaker was a burly, bald man with large tattoos on his arms, who was pointing at me.
Xu An was certain he didn't recognize the man, so he stood still and quietly watched the bald man.
"Bald Chen, I told you to wear long sleeves but you wouldn't. With your appearance, who wouldn't be scared?" The stall owner next to Bald Chen laughed mercilessly upon seeing this.
"What kind of weather is this? Wearing long sleeves would be unbearably hot."
After hesitating for a moment, Xu An still went over, since among these shops, Bald Chen's meat was of the best quality.
“I saw you yesterday, kid. I thought you wouldn’t come here to buy meat, but I didn’t expect you to come today.”
"Why does the boss think I won't come?" Xu An took out the box of Double Happiness cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and handed it to Bald Chen.
Bald Chen took the flyer and tucked it behind his ear, leaning towards Xu An. He spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I saw it yesterday. When you went out, that person handed you a flyer. After reading the flyer, you walked over there."
Eight out of ten people who go that way will never come back. They're all blinded by money, obsessed with it. Especially the younger ones, who seem to think it doesn't matter.
It turned out he had witnessed what happened yesterday. Xu An smiled but didn't reply, instead carefully selecting pork from the stall.
The best way to make steamed meatloaf is with pork that has some fat. Too much lean meat will make it dry, and too much fat will make it greasy. A ratio of 3:7 or 2:8 is the most suitable.
I picked out a few pieces and put them in a red plastic bag. I weighed them and they were about ten pounds. I handed them to the bald boss to weigh.
"Eleven catties, seven yuan per catty, a total of seventy-seven yuan."
He took out some money from his inner pocket, counted out seventy-seven yuan, handed it to the shopkeeper, took the meat, and then turned into the household goods section.
One hundred disposable plastic lunch boxes cost 35 cents each, totaling 35 yuan; one hundred disposable plastic soup containers cost 10 cents each, totaling 10 yuan; one hundred pairs of disposable chopsticks cost 5 yuan; fifty disposable spoons cost 6 yuan; a bundle of one hundred transparent plastic bags cost 6 yuan; the total cost is 62 yuan.
If it weren't for the 300 yuan his grandmother gave him, and if it weren't for Uncle Dongliang's guarantee that he could bring 20 people, Xu An planned to start by making 10 boxed meals to try it out. If sales were good, he would gradually increase the quantity, and he wouldn't buy so much stuff all at once.
On my way out, I passed a steel products stall and saw the soup buckets that are commonly found in restaurants and fast food outlets. Suddenly, I was tempted.
It takes more than an hour to cycle from home to the Zijing Garden construction site, and the ride is quite bumpy, so the soup is likely to spill. If it's packed in a whole bucket, we can repackage it at the construction site and avoid this problem.
After inquiring about the price of fifty-one, Xu An gritted his teeth and bought one anyway.
I've bought most of what I needed for today, and I carried a huge pile of things back to where I parked my bicycle. I put the items into the basket and secured it to the back of the bicycle seat with a hook strap.
During this time, Xu An saw several figures walking towards Anxin Food Processing Company.
Business is really good.
Xu An muttered something to himself, then got on his bicycle and rode towards home.
Back in the village, Xu An saw a man riding a tricycle blocking his doorway from afar. As he got closer, Xu An recognized the man – it was Xu Heping.
"You're so disloyal! You didn't even tell me you were going to do business. If it weren't for Uncle Dongliang, I would have been completely kept in the dark!" Xu Heping started yelling as soon as he saw Xu An.
"I didn't know if it would work at first, that's why I didn't call you." Xu An got off the bicycle and pushed it closer: "Where did this tricycle come from?"
“This is an old relic from my house, unused for years. I thought you might need it, so I cleaned it out. I fiddled with it all night, and it works.” Xu Heping patted the tricycle seat proudly: “This is much more reliable than your bicycle.”
Since Xu Heping had come to him of his own accord, Xu An had no reason to refuse. He led him into the courtyard and comfortably directed him to help.
Although Uncle Dongliang doesn't finish work until midnight, workers with different functions on the construction site finish at different times, and people start leaving work one after another from 10:30.
Therefore, Xu An's group should arrive at the construction site no later than 11 o'clock; otherwise, everyone would be eating out.
Chop what needed to be chopped, marinate what needed to be marinated, and mince what needed to be minced. We were busy from seven to eight o'clock before we finally got all the ingredients ready.
When Xu Kang and Xu Le woke up, they saw Xu An and Xu Le busy in the yard. They stopped playing in the sand and followed behind the two of them, constantly clamoring to help.
The two four-year-old toddlers were no help washing vegetables, let alone chopping them. Finally, they were made to sit in front of the stove and wait for the food to cook, and help with the fire; only then did they stop causing trouble.
Although the two were young, their fire-starting skills were already at the highest level. Xu An could start a big fire at will and a small fire at will, making it even more convenient than a gas stove.
At 9:30, the rice was cooked and put into the soup pot.
Xu An continued working by the stove, preparing to cook a tomato and egg drop soup. Xu Heping started packing the food into boxes, while Xu Kang and Xu Le placed chopsticks and spoons on each of the packed meals, the process proceeding in an orderly manner.
The food was packed into two large styrofoam boxes brought by Xu Heping, fifteen portions in each box, which fit perfectly.
I rinsed the soup pot, dried it with paper towels, and then poured in the freshly cooked tomato and egg drop soup.
Xu An easily moved two styrofoam boxes filled with boxed lunches and a soup bucket onto the tricycle, secured them with belts, and the preliminary work was complete.
The five of them ate lunch with the leftovers. It was exactly 10 o'clock when Xu An and his companion set off for the construction site.
Before leaving, Xu An felt something was missing, and after a moment's thought, he realized there was no sign. He went back inside, found a piece of cardboard, wrote today's menu on it, and wrote 'Xu's Fast Food' at the top.
While Xu An was fixing the signboard, Xu Kang and Xu Le saw that there was still half an empty space on the tricycle after the boxed lunches were put down. The two of them climbed on and squatted on the back, refusing to get off no matter what.
Xu An had no choice but to go inside and get two straw hats for the two men to wear, and then have them sit down and hold on firmly in the carriage.
With a stride onto the pedals, Xu An rode his tricycle ahead, while Xu Heping followed behind on his bicycle, heading towards the Zijing Garden construction site.
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