Chapter 22 Selling Spring Bamboo Shoots
In the evening, after the black-faced steamed bread and egg soup were ready, Li Wanyue looked at the lard in the earthenware jar which was almost empty, and scooped out a large spoonful of it with gritted teeth. The bamboo shoots would not taste good if there was not enough oil.
Melt the lard, add onion and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, put the soaked bamboo shoots in and stir-fry repeatedly, add soy sauce and salt to season. There is no other way, I don’t have so many seasonings at home, so sprinkle some chopped green onions at the end and serve.
The whole family looked at the plate of greasy bamboo shoots and wanted to eat it but were afraid that their mouths would get numbed.
"Try it."
Li Youshan picked up a piece with chopsticks first. It was crisp and tender, without any bitterness or astringency.
"It's delicious, try it."
Others started eating.
"Little sister, how come you can make something so bitter so delicious?"
“It’s delicious.”
"Then tomorrow, I'll take this to the restaurants in town and try to sell it."
"sell?"
“It depends on whether they want such ingredients.”
Li Youshan was very supportive. His daughter was different now and could give it a try if she wanted. The bamboo shoots were free anyway.
He nodded: "Okay, I'll go pick the bamboo shoots tomorrow morning and ask your mother to prepare them according to the method you mentioned. Then let Sandong go with you."
"No need, Dad. We brought back dozens of kilograms of bamboo shoots today. Let's go ask the shopkeeper if he wants them. If he does, we can break them later."
Li Youshan nodded.
The next day, when Li Wanyue woke up, Zhao Suying had already processed the bamboo shoots and changed the water four times.
Li Wanyue did not waste any time. She found two jars to pack the spring bamboo shoots and winter bamboo shoots separately, and went to the town with Li Sandong.
Half an hour later, the two arrived at Qingshi Town.
Although Qingshi Town is not as prosperous as the county town, it is also very lively. There is a big fair today, and there are stalls on both sides of the flat street, and the sounds of hawking can be heard one after another.
The two looked around, and Li Sandong said, "Sister, there are two restaurants in this town, and the rest are small stalls and restaurants. Should we go to a restaurant or a small restaurant?"
"Let's go to the restaurant first."
"good."
The two came to a restaurant called "Ruifulou". There were two lanterns hanging at the door. There were two floors, and people were already coming in and out before lunch time. It looked like business was good.
As soon as Li Wanyue walked in, a waiter came forward and said, "Two guests, come in..."
The guy saw the two people clearly and swallowed his words. He frowned and said impatiently: "Why are you guys here?"
Li Wanyue thought the waiter had told them to leave because he saw from their clothes that they had no money, but Li Sandong beside him said directly: "What did my cousin-in-law say? What's wrong with us? We can't go in?"
Li Wanyue then remembered that this was the second daughter of the Li family, her cousin Li Xiumei's husband, and also a villager of Daohua Village, Zhou Jiawang.
Li Xiumei is a few months older than her. After she got engaged to Zhou Jiawang, she boasted to everyone she met that her husband worked in a restaurant in town and earned a lot of money every month. So it turned out that he was working here.
Zhou Jiawang didn't have a good relationship with their family, and Li Xiumei also disliked them even more.
Li Wanyue was thinking when she heard Zhou Jiawang sneer, "This is a restaurant, the most popular restaurant in Qingshi Town. You dare to eat here without even considering how much money you have in your pocket? Come on, come on, don't delay our business."
Li Sandong snorted, "If someone doesn't know, they would think you opened this restaurant."
"I didn't open the restaurant, but I'm in charge now. If you poor people come in and smell the food, affecting our customers' meals, how can we do business? Especially since you're a divorcee, don't bring bad luck to our restaurant."
After saying that, he pointed to the door and said, "For the sake of our fellow villagers, I won't let anyone chase you away. I'll save your face. Hurry up and leave."
Li Wanyue grabbed Li Sandong who was about to hit him and smiled: "I feel sorry for your boss. He hired someone like you who grew up eating shit. Your breath is enough to make people vomit. I think it won't be long before the business of this restaurant will be ruined by an unlucky guy like you. Sandong, let's go, so as not to be affected by this person's bad luck and affect our good fortune."
"You slut, you're being divorced and you still don't behave yourself. How dare you scold me like that?"
Li Wanyue saw two people walking towards the restaurant outside the door and raised her voice, "The waiter at Ruifulou is really terrible. He calls me a bitch and looks down on women. It's okay not to let me in to eat, but there's no need to curse me. I wouldn't eat in such a restaurant even if I had money."
Li Wanyue took Li Sandong and turned away.
The women who were eating in the restaurant cast angry glances at Zhou Jiawang.
Zhou Jiawang suddenly felt a chill on his back. Seeing the guest at the door, he immediately went forward to greet him.
Before he could speak, the woman glanced at him and said to the man beside her: "Husband, this restaurant does not welcome women. Let's go to another one."
"Listen to my wife." The man said in a gentle voice, looked at Zhou Jiawang, said coldly, and the two of them left.
Zhou Jiawang’s smile froze on his face. He didn’t do anything, so how had he offended them?
Then he also said, "You are a poor guy who can't even afford a meal in a restaurant. Why are you pretending to be so high and mighty?"
The shopkeeper just walked out and saw Zhou Jiawang with a fierce look on his face and swearing. He looked in the direction of his gaze and saw only two backs.
He said unhappily: "Zhou Jiawang, our restaurant is a business. You are scaring away customers with your behavior. If you continue to be like this, you can stop working."
Zhou Jiawang froze, turned around and immediately put on a flattering face: "Boss, these two people are not here to eat, they are from our village, the woman was just divorced and came home, and wanted to borrow money from me, but I didn't lend them, so they left in anger."
"Humph, that's your fault. Be careful next time and don't let the guests see you looking like a cannibal."
"Well, I will pay attention."
Zhou Jiawang forced a smile and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the shopkeeper leave.
Here, Li Sandong walked and said angrily: "What a mean face, he is really a family with the second family."
"There's no need to be angry at this kind of person. Let's move on."
Li Sandong asked: "Sister, if no restaurant is willing to accept us, what should we do? Should we open a stall?"
Li Wanyue shook her head. She had never thought about setting up a stall. Not to mention the hard work of setting up a stall, there were many problems to be faced.
You have to pay stall fees, and if business is good, other stalls may become jealous and come out to cause trouble for you.
You don't need to be too clever. Just get a few beggars to surround your stall, which will be enough to annoy you. The beggars haven't done anything, so you can't hit them.
So she never thought about setting up a stall or opening a shop. Opening a shop would be easy, but finding an accountant and dealing with taxes would be quite troublesome.
First see if the restaurant accepts them, then go to a small restaurant, or at worst try the county.
She is confident about bamboo shoots and believes that someone will definitely like to eat them.
After walking a few steps, I saw a restaurant called "Zuixianju". It was also on the main street, also a two-story building, and of similar size. This restaurant was diagonally opposite Ruifuju, but its business was much quieter.
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