First setback
"Good morning, Auntie, Xizi, Xiuer..."
At nine o'clock in the morning, Huizi parked her bicycle with a smile on her face, picked up Niu Niu from the back seat, and greeted everyone with a smile. Niu Niu also smiled and greeted the elders.
Time flies. I have been working at Lao Qin's house for almost half a month. During this half month, the mother and daughter have become completely familiar with the Qin family. Huizi was just as Yang Xiu said, hard-working and thoughtful. Niu Niu is also a lovely little girl. She doesn’t cry or make a fuss, and is very soft and sweet. Qin Shu, who was originally unhappy because Qin Yu went to school, now had a new playmate and no longer clamored for his sister to go home.
Hu Yufeng saw the performance of the mother and daughter and was happy in her heart. Although the rented yard was only two miles away from home, Hu Yufeng thought it was troublesome for them to walk back and forth every day, and she was especially worried about Niuniu's short legs, so she asked Huizi to ride their own bicycle back and forth.
Huizi refused to agree no matter what. He said that providing food, lodging and child care was already very generous of her. If he gave her a bicycle, she was afraid that she would not be able to afford it as she was too lucky. It was Yang Xiu who persuaded her that the bicycle was just there anyway and that the time saved by riding back and forth could allow her to make two more twists of dough. Only then did Huizi reluctantly nod. With the help of Yang Xiu, he spent an afternoon learning how to ride a bike, and then rode back and forth every day.
"Wow, Niuniu looks so beautiful today, and her hair is so lively..." Xizi touched Niuniu's head and praised.
Niu Niu felt a little embarrassed by the compliments. She smiled shyly and couldn't help touching her little bun.
Xizi felt jealous and pinched the girl’s little face again.
Hu Yufeng was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. What a person! She doesn't see any maternal love in her two sons, but she shows great maternal love towards Niu Niu.
In the kitchen, Huizi combed her hair and put on the white hat specially distributed by Hu Yufeng. She washed her hands and then took the dough from Yang Xiu's hand and flattened and rolled it into a ball as if by magic. Yang Xiu looked at Huizi's thin but well-proportioned arms and couldn't help but admire him again, saying that this guy really made the right choice.
The two chatted while kneading the dough, and soon all six large bowls of dough were ready.
Yang Xiu wiped his sweat and went out to find Hu Yufeng.
"Mom, let Huizi and Xizi go with me today. Let them get familiar with the procedures. In half a month, they will be able to go out on their own."
Hu Yufeng nodded, "Then let Wenli add another chopping board."
Speaking of the chopping board, she inevitably thought of Lao Zheng. She didn't know how his wife was doing and whether she was still alive. As for the eldest brother, I heard from Xizi that he has been very well behaved since the last time and always cleans up the house. But since I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I still feel a little worried.
Forget it. He claims to be a hard-hearted person, but why does he always give in to Big Brother? Hu Yufeng shook her head irritably, trying to get rid of everything about Hu Deyang from her mind.
"Mom, what's wrong? Does your head hurt?" Hu Yufeng looked up and saw Qin Wenli looking at her puzzledly.
"No, what did you call me for?" Hu Yufeng asked instead of answering.
"I'm going to visit a few communes today to see if I can get our fried dough twist. I want to ask if you want to go?"
Now that Xizi and Huizi are in the family, the production of fried dough twists has increased rapidly. The four shops including Lao Fang and Lao Zhao cannot produce enough of them, so they have to be exported. Qin Wenli was about to go for a run after delivering the tofu.
They say good wine needs no bush. The homemade fried dough twist is fragrant enough, but this alley is deeper than the sea. It's not enough to just sit at home and wait for customers to come, you still have to go out and sell things. As her thoughts came to light, Hu Yufeng happily responded, "Go..."
Qin Wenli agreed and went to load tofu into the car. Speaking of the tofu at home, Hu Yufeng didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Ever since she and Wenli went to the commune to receive the award certificate, the purchasing officer of the commune recognized Wenli when buying tofu, and has been placing orders from his shop ever since. I don’t know if this is the reason, but the commune’s health center, primary school, and the big hotel near Wenli’s stall were all booked by themselves. Some are delivered every two days, and some are delivered every three days. In this way, the tofu in our family has achieved targeted mass production ahead of fried dough twist. Well, these units all have a common problem of signing orders. They agree to settle the bills once a quarter, but they always feel uneasy before they get the money.
However, due to this direction, the tofu stall was no longer needed, so Hu Yufeng exchanged with Sister Li next door and doubled the size of the fried dough twist stall.
As a result, the production of fried dough twists increased, sales also increased significantly, and the family industry achieved a perfect upgrade. Well, it would be perfect if we could find a few more distributors.
In Shangguan Town, the sign of "Yufeng Mahua" is hung high.
On the horizontally placed long table, plates of fried dough twists were covered with thin gauze, revealing their alluring colors. Adjacent to the long table were two large chopping boards placed vertically. In front of each chopping board stood a young woman wearing a white hat, bending over and rubbing twisted dough sticks.
In the middle is a large oil pan, and the fried dough twists in the pan are flying up and down in the boiling hot oil. A young daughter-in-law stretched out her long chopsticks. With each flip, a strong burnt aroma wafted towards the face, domineeringly attracting every passerby.
The passerby couldn't help but take a deep breath of the sweet fragrance, hesitated for a moment, touched his pocket, and finally squeezed forward.
Huizi was rubbing the dough twist with her hands, but she pricked up her ears to listen to the interaction between Yang Xiu and the customers.
His lips opened and closed slightly, silently repeating Yang Xiu's hawking words. Xiu'er said that in half a month, she and Xizi would be able to set up their own stalls. So she felt a sense of urgency. She could only set up the stall four times in the past half month. During these four limited times, she had to learn how to hawk and communicate.
Compared to the studious Huizi, Xizi is like a happy child. He was twisting his hands into twisted dough sticks, humming a song from the barber shop, and tapping his feet from time to time. Yang Xiu couldn't help laughing when seeing this.
Compared to the joyful atmosphere at the stall, the atmosphere here of Qin's mother and son was much more solemn.
The 16 towns and villages in Yang County, Shangguan Town, Sancha Township, Yangqiao Township, Linjiagou Township and Caiping Township are collectively known as the Five Northwestern Townships. These five townships are distributed in a "V" shape, with Sancha and Linjiagou on the left line, Yangqiao and Caiping on the right line, and Shangguan at the intersection.
Qin Wenli’s idea is this: “The Five Townships of the Northwest”, from this name, there is a natural closeness. Therefore, if we want to expand our business, we must first take over this northwest area, and then use it as our base to advance towards the entire county.
The idea was good, but unfortunately I suffered a heavy blow just after taking the first step.
They first went to Yangqiao, and then found the largest store in Yangqiao to discuss cooperation. The boss was a very nice person and praised the fried dough twist very much, but there was one thing he didn’t want to sell!
There are two reasons: First, Yangqiao Township is relatively small in area. Compared with Shangguan, which has 15 villages under its jurisdiction, Yangqiao only has 6, which is less than half of Shangguan. The smaller the village, the smaller the population and the smaller the flow of people. Loose twisted dough sticks are different from other sealed foods. If they cannot be sold for ten days or half a month, they will either grow mold or become damp. Once the taste is affected, they will be even harder to sell. Second, our own fried dough twists do not have packaging bags, so they are just loose goods. The price of 35 cents is a bit high for loose goods.
After the boss said this, Hu Yufeng and Qin Wenli fell silent. Because what the boss pointed out was exactly what we had overlooked. Why ignore it? Because the current orders from the family are concentrated in the two big townships of Shangguan and Sancha. The fried dough twists ordered by each family are never kept for more than three days, so there is no problem of moisture.
But if you want to sell it to other places or remote areas, moisture and taste change will be a problem that needs to be solved urgently.
Now that we have discovered the problem, let's solve it immediately. The mother and son looked at each other, stood up and said goodbye to the boss tacitly, then started the tricycle and left.
The speed and change confused the boss. I mean, why are you just leaving without saying anything? I don’t really want it, but... can we talk about the price?
"Mom, we still have to go to Qingyuan to see if there are any packaging bags?"
Hu Yufeng nodded. The mother and daughter had the same idea in mind: let’s go straight to Qingyuan. It's only eleven o'clock now. If I run fast, I can be back at four in the afternoon, which is definitely in time.
There was no need to look for Qin Wenping this time. The two of them went directly to the custom bag workshop.
They were all old acquaintances. When the boss saw them, he smiled and greeted them: "Auntie, brother, why did you come in person today? What would you like to order?"
Qin Wenli gave the boss some cigarettes and went straight to the point with his demands.
The boss understood what he heard and asked someone to take the sample and said, "There is a bag. You can see the sealing strip on the side. Put the fried dough twist in, and then tear off the film on the top. It's tightly sealed."
Hu Yufeng reached out and took it, looked at it, and asked, "Can this block out moisture?"
The boss glared at her and said, "Auntie, let alone moisture, even air can't get in. Don't worry, as long as there's no leakage, there will be no problem in ten days or half a month..."
The two discussed it and finally decided on this.
"Is this the same style or can it be customized?" Qin Wenli asked again.
"Brother, we can make whatever you want. The only difference is the price. This custom-made one is more expensive than the regular one."
After some discussion, the mother and son finally decided to have it custom-made. If we can reach thousands of households with the help of a small packaging bag, then this little money is nothing.
There are still four golden words "Yufeng Mahua" on the transparent bag, with a small mahua painted next to it. As usual, you pay first and the goods will be printed and loaded on the bus two days later.
After saying goodbye to the boss, the two of them rushed towards Shangguan at lightning speed.
Shangguan Town. The six pots of fried dough twists I brought today were all sold out. The three of them were so tired that they could hardly lift their arms, but they still looked excited.
"Sister-in-law, you sold five hundred today, right?" Xizi asked Yang Xiu with blinking eyes.
"Almost. We won't know the exact amount until we go back tonight to check the accounts." Yang Xiu looked at the two of them with a smile and praised them, "You two worked hard today. Thank you for your hard work... And Huizi, how do you feel?"
Huizi had a gentle smile on her face and shook her head gently when she heard it: "I'm fine, this is much easier than carrying manure and firewood at home. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, who would pay me a penny if I worked long hours at home? But it's different now, I can do six more pots, and I feel full of energy when I think about making money."
Xizi laughed: "I can't do that. This is my limit. I won't move even if you pay me..."
Yang Xiu couldn't help but laugh at her: "You are the one who feeds the whole family. Who can be as generous as you?"
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