Chapter 30 Business is booming at the beginning of the new year
It was still early and there were not many people on the street except for these gamblers. It would take a while for people to come out. Everyone would visit each other to wish each other a happy new year early in the morning, and they could only go out for a walk after the socializing was over.
I have to say that Jiang Shi was very accurate in his work. He asked everyone to come over to try the vermicelli soup after he praised it. The vermicelli soup tasted good to begin with, and everyone praised Jiang Shi for his good taste after trying it.
Some people won a lot of money and were very happy. They had a good meal in their mouths and generously took out a handful of money to reward him.
Soon the two tables were full of people. A Zhong was in a hurry to collect the money. Anyway, the ingredients were all matched together, so he took over the cooking of vermicelli and Baozhu took the money.
There weren't many people on the street at this time, and even fewer people selling food. As the sun rose, the streets gradually became more crowded. Vermicelli noodles were blanched in broth, and as the broth boiled over, the rich aroma spread, attracting more and more people to come and ask for their food.
There were so many people that there was no time to boil the vermicelli, so there was naturally no need to attract customers. Jiang Shi started to wipe the table and wash the dishes.
It was said that during the few days Jiang Shi had been at the Zhen family, from Grandma Zhen to Baorong, no one disliked him. He was sweet-spoken and had good taste. Even Zhen's father had praised him privately several times. It was thanks to A Zhong's vision that he was able to find such a talented person as Jiang Xiaoge.
In order to attract customers, Baozhu gave free drinks to everyone who came to eat today. When buying soup, you can choose pear soup or honey grapefruit tea. Pear soup is nothing special, many people have tried it, but honey grapefruit tea is rare, so this grapefruit tea is more popular.
If someone still wanted more, Baozhu could only say that she would give one free drink with each bowl of soup. After hearing this, many people actually ordered another portion, just to have another cup of grapefruit tea. Some even went so far as to ask for the free drink from the diners who had just bought noodles.
For a while, this grapefruit tea became in short supply. Many people wanted to drink it, so naturally few were willing to sell it. Everyone wanted to try what it tasted like. Those who could eat vermicelli soup were not poor people, so of course they would keep it for themselves.
After all, this grapefruit tea was something that even the most famous teahouse in Bianjing, Yinzipu, had never heard of.
The two tables were full on all sides. Some people who didn't want to wait sat at the corner of the table with their arms tucked in, drinking soup and eating vermicelli.
The firewood under the four small stoves was constantly being added. The eldest brother had greeted the neighbors in the streets and alleys in the morning, and now he had some free time to bring over the two buckets of soup he had cooked.
The clay pot was sizzling on the stove, and there were still many people queuing in front of the stall. Dalang simply didn't go back and stayed until almost noon before leaving.
Today I will not only give you drinks, but also pickled garlic and spicy vegetables, and there are salted duck eggs in the basket.
The Zhen family often buys duck offal, duck bones and old ducks. They are familiar with the owner of the duck farm. The duck eggs they collect are sold at ten cents per catty, not to mention the cost of the salt. If there are diners who want to buy, they will sell them for three cents each. This price is not expensive, but it is a way to earn some hard-earned money and attract customers to the stall.
Originally, there were few vendors who were jealous of the vendors at the dock, but now that they set up stalls at Zhouqiao, they attract a lot of unfriendly looks, perhaps because all the stalls in this area have to pay a fee.
There was a stall selling steamed buns not far from them. Seeing that their business was good, the male stall owner muttered a few words in a sarcastic tone. Then he saw Baozhu looking at him and thought that Baozhu was looking down on him. He wanted to come over and make a fuss, but was stopped by the woman next to him.
The female stall owner looked over here a little embarrassedly, but she still couldn't stop the hot-tempered man beside her. The man was cursing something and looked like he was looking for trouble. He only retracted his head when he saw the patrolling yamen runners coming over.
Baozhu looked over indifferently and greeted the several yamen runners who came over with a smile. When she was running this stall before, she became familiar with several chief officials of the Street Department, and even the yamen runners under her had prepared gifts to give to them. She was so thoughtful at that time just to have someone to support her when encountering such a thing.
Several yamen runners also greeted her with a smile. Baozhu was particularly enthusiastic. After chatting for a while, she invited these officials to sit down and have some soup.
The weather was really cold, and it was the first day of the new year. They were already hungry after patrolling the streets early in the morning. Seeing Baozhu wanted to treat them, they felt embarrassed to refuse, so they took out money and ordered a few bowls. They sat down and waited for their soup.
Baozhu poured tea first, served a plate of spicy vegetables and pickled garlic, and then poured each person a cup of warm grapefruit tea. After taking a sip in the cold weather, I felt warm all over, and the sour and sweet taste filled my stomach. Then, when I smelled the fragrance wafting from the pot, I felt even hungrier.
The man who was selling steamed buns over there had no business and had been staring at this place. When he saw that Baozhu was familiar with those officials, he gave up his contempt. He originally wanted to teach her a lesson, but now he didn't dare to show any weird look anymore, for fear that Baozhu would file a complaint and the officials from the street office would take back the stall.
Baozhu saw the man looking dejected and glanced at the stall again.
If there weren't so many people on the street today and few people buying food, those who were extremely hungry and couldn't find anything to eat and were dizzy would have gone to this stall. Otherwise, no one would have gone to his stall to eat.
Let’s not talk about what the steamed buns sold there taste like. Just looking at the circle of black grease on the edge of the pot and the dirty look of the stove makes people frown. Anyone who cares about cleanliness will stay away from that stall.
His own business was not doing well, but he thought that Baozhu and the others were blocking his wealth.
The stall selling steamed buns was also new. In front of the stall hung a wooden board with the words "Xu's Steamed Buns". He had finally managed to get a stall before the New Year and had to put in five strings of cash every month. But now the business was not good and he was afraid that he couldn't even get back his capital. How could he not be angry?
The better Baozhu's business was, the more the man selling steamed buns became upset, but he could do nothing about it.
The worse the business gets, the longer his face becomes, and even fewer customers come. If a woman says one more word, she will be scolded. Occasionally, two customers who don't know what's going on will sit down and frown at the scolding. The taste is just average, and there is not a speck of oil on it. The two thin slices of meat are thinner than paper, and a pound of meat can be sold until the twelfth lunar month.
They didn't bother adding any oil, salt or vegetables, so the food naturally tasted extremely bland. The diners who came to eat there wouldn't even have time to warm up their stools before they took a couple of bites of a bowl of steamed buns and left, shaking their heads.
There were so many people on the street today, but his stall was completely empty. Seeing this, passersby naturally assumed the food was bad or had some other problem, so no one dared to try it.
On the other side, the aunt who sold sesame cakes was quite nice. Seeing that Baozhu was new, she told her some unwritten rules of the street market in her spare time.
Baozhu's business was good. Customers who had bought vermicelli soup would occasionally come to her stall to buy two sesame cakes to go with the soup. The aunt remembered them and sent four or five sesame cakes to her at noon. Baozhu also asked Jiang Shi to bring two bowls of mutton soup.
In the afternoon, when there were fewer people, Baozhu and the others each ordered a bowl of vermicelli. Before they even touched the bench, an errand boy arrived, dressed in new clothes for the New Year.
Clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse. People who are well-dressed are more polite when speaking to them. The young masters of wealthy families are more willing to call them when they have anything to do. Although the clothes are good, they cannot keep out the wind. The errand boy stood in front of the stall and rubbed his hands with cold.
"Twenty servings of duck blood vermicelli soup."
It turned out that someone at the gambling stall had won some money and threw out a tael of silver to ask the errand boy to buy some food for others. The errand boy had been craving the soup for a long time, so he bought it and had a meal for himself.
He finished the first bowl by himself, and then waited for the next one to be delivered. Twenty bowls were not easy to carry, so Jiang Shi helped carry another one.
The person who won the money thought that the errand boy had just picked up some snacks from the shop. When he opened the food box and saw that it was vermicelli soup, he was about to curse, but when he smelled the smell, he immediately stopped talking.
The errand boy smiled and handed over the chopsticks. "Uncle, please try it. Dim sum is nothing. Only after you have a full stomach of this mutton soup can you become rich."
He asked the onlookers to empty the soup in the lunch box, and then a runner handed over the grapefruit tea, "This tea is even more delicious. You can't find it in the whole city of Bianjing."
For a moment, the gambling tent was as lively as a restaurant.
Gambling always has winners and losers, but the winners are always the minority. It's like a carrot and a donkey, luring people in and making them unwilling to give up. By the end of the day, Baozhu had seen many people so desperately losing their money that they'd even taken off their outer garments to pawn their money. After losing all the money they'd pawned, they'd walk around the shed barefoot, shivering from the cold, hugging their arms, trying to find some way to get more money.
By the afternoon, there were even more gamblers like this. These people are used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong. They only have money in their eyes and don't care about anything when their minds are in a daze.
Having seen so many red-eyed gamblers, Baozhu asked Jiang Shi to quickly find Baorong and Axiu and tell them not to set up the stall today. If they still wanted to, they had to squeeze out space on the stall for them.
Baorong came over and said, "There's a gambling stall over there that's been smashed. I think a gambler lost too much and went crazy, so the police just arrested him and took him away."
Baozhu shook her head, gathered her stalls together, and squeezed out a space. "Don't go out alone during the New Year. There are many people who are desperate to make a living and want to drag others down with them. If you want to set up a stall these days, set it up here."
"Then Sister Xiu and I will share the expenses for you."
Baorong handed over a string of money with a smile. Seeing this, Ah Xiu also took out a string of money and handed it to Baozhu. Baozhu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"It's just these two dollars that are missing."
After asking them, I found out that they hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I made two more bowls of vermicelli soup and poured them some grapefruit tea to warm them up.
That year, Ah Xiu made a cashmere vest for everyone in the family, and she was reluctant to spend any more money for herself. The clothes she wore today were also made by Xu. Although the clothes were thick, they could not keep her hands and feet from getting cold. She could hardly hold chopsticks, and her hands were swollen like steamed buns.
Seeing Baozhu looking at her, she shrank into her sleeves in embarrassment and said, "I get frostbite every year."
Baozhu said nothing, but went to the nearby medicine stall and bought a bottle of frostbite cream, stuffing it into the cloth bag beside her. Ah Xiu lowered her head, speechless. A tear fell into the bowl, she sniffed, and lowered her head even lower. After an unknown amount of time, she finally looked up and said thank you.
It was really cold in Bianjing. Baozhu pulled Baorong's hand over to look at it. There were thin calluses on the knuckles from long-term painting, and several places on the back of the hand were red and swollen. Whether he was painting at home or setting up a stall outside, he could not put his hands in his hands, and they got cold over time.
"Sister, don't look at my hands. You have frostbite on your hands too." Baorong turned her hand over nonchalantly and asked her sister to look at herself, who was also red and swollen from the cold. Running a food stall was the most tiring job. She couldn't even make a fist in the cold weather.
The three of them looked at each other and laughed out loud. Baozhu went to buy a few bottles of frostbite cream and took them home for the whole family to use.
Baorong finished his soup and patted his belly contentedly. "On the third day of the ninth lunar month, Sister Chusan will accompany me to visit Lady Yu. Lady Gu has already spoken to her."
It is said that this Lady Yu is a bit of a loner and won't bow down to those wealthy families. Baorong also likes such people in his heart. He thinks that even if he can't ask her for advice, at least he can get to know her.
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