Chapter 96: Can't fool Xiao Wu
This dog has become a spirit!
Xu Li is a mysophobia fanatic. He keeps his distance from all pets. Occasionally, he pretends to be polite and pets his friend's cat. This is the limit for him. Asking him to raise a cat or a dog? It's a joke. Absolutely impossible.
So, Hei Dou's intelligence is a little beyond his imagination.
Heidou pulled Jindou away and refused to eat the apricot in his hand. Xu Li smiled awkwardly and withdrew his hand a little embarrassedly. If the dog didn't eat it, he would eat it.
In order to hide his embarrassment, he forgot that he was complaining about the apricots not being washed cleanly, and stuffed them directly into his mouth.
"Um???"
Xu Li was a little surprised. He looked down at the remaining half of the apricot and made sure that what he was eating was an ordinary apricot that had just been picked from the tree.
How could it be better than any apricot he had ever eaten? This is unscientific!
Xu Li had the good fortune to eat a kind of apricots before. They were said to be from an old tree that was hundreds of years old. The apricots in that area were very famous. Almost all the planted apricot trees were descendants of that old tree. Such an authoritative old tree produced an average of thousands of apricots every year.
Just relying on this apricot tree, that family can live in a big villa. You can imagine the price of an apricot.
Despite this, his apricots are in short supply, with many people lining up to buy them, and you also have to rely on connections.
Xu Li was taking advantage of his master that time. Someone gave his master five apricots, and he ate half of one. The five apricots were auctioned for one thousand yuan.
It doesn't sound like much, but the price of an apricot is about two hundred yuan each. China has many rich people and many greedy people, so there are always people who want to try it.
Before eating, Xu Li thought that the name of that kind of apricot was just a marketing trick. After eating, he admitted that apricots that could be sold for two hundred yuan each were indeed of some quality.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t buy much even with his connections.
"What kind of apricot is this?" Xu Li asked.
"Sun apricots, our local apricot trees, you've never eaten them before, right?"
"Sun Apricot?" Xu Li carefully observed the color of the apricot flesh. It was orange-yellow with a hint of orange. It tasted eight points sweet and two points sour, with a moderate sweet and sour ratio. The taste was relatively dense, like eating apricot-flavored ice cream. No, it had a purer and softer taste than ice cream.
He didn't know how to describe it for a moment, but many ideas for new dishes popped up in his mind.
Xu Li was a little excited: "Are these apricots for sale?"
"Of course I sell them, but these apricots are not easy to sell. If they are not ripe, they are too sour. If they are overripe, they are difficult to send by express delivery because they are easy to damage. If they are packaged better, the cost will be too high. If they are sold too expensively, it is not cost-effective."
Xia Wu sold a lot of apricots a few days ago. Everyone who ate them said they were delicious, and they received rave reviews. But the breakage rate was so high that even the compensation alone made them almost unprofitable.
Xia Wu had no experience when he first started selling, and he sold the first wave of products too cheaply. Later, when he wanted to upgrade the packaging, some people refused to buy it.
All in all, Xia Wu planted about forty or fifty apricot trees this year. The peak harvest season is about to arrive, but he is stuck in selling them.
It would be really nice if Xu Li could buy it.
"What's the price?" Xu Li suppressed his inner surprise, calmed himself down, and negotiated the price.
Zhao Jing mentioned a price that made him unable to contain his joy.
Six or eight yuan per pound.
Sun apricots are large in size, with three apricots weighing more than one kilogram. This is one of the reasons why they are not easy to sell online.
There are only eight or nine apricots in a three-jin (100 grams) weight. Adding the delivery cost, most people think it is not cost-effective to buy a few apricots for more than 20 or 30 yuan.
But for Xu Lilaishui, this was a big surprise.
After finishing the remaining half of the apricot, Zhao Jing took Xu Li down the mountain, not forgetting that their destination for today was the vegetable garden.
Xu Li was thinking about new dishes all the way and had no other expectations for this trip.
Suddenly it felt worth living in a pigsty just for these apricots.
After walking for five or six minutes, Zhao Jing pointed to a vegetable patch not far away. Someone was still picking vegetables in the garden. "That's all there. I don't know what kind of vegetables you want. There are many that are ripe now. Feel free to take a look?"
"I can walk around on my own. You can go under the shade of the tree."
Although it is not too hot today, it is still a bit hard to be exposed to the sun directly.
Zhao Jing found a shade under a tree to rest, took out her cell phone and started typing.
Xu Li walked into the vegetable garden and looked around. It was several acres of land, and there were many varieties of vegetables planted there. Just as his uncle said, these vegetables were growing very well.
People who cook frequently can actually realize that vegetables also have vitality.
The vegetables bought in the supermarket are very durable, especially the tomatoes. It is like eating the flesh of Tang Monk. They can be left outdoors for ten days or half a month without rotting. The cucumbers are always juicy, and so are the leaves. There is no insect hole at all. Although they are exquisite, the taste is average. Although you won’t feel a stomachache after eating them, it always gives people a feeling of... making do.
Vegetables fresh from the garden are completely different from those in the supermarket, like the difference between a city ox and a country child: one delicate but tired, the other gray but happy.
The vegetables grown on Xiawu Mountain give people a feeling of vitality. They have not been sprayed with pesticides and have just been watered in the morning. The semi-dry land emits a fishy smell of soil. The sun is steaming, the water is evaporating, and the earth's air is in close contact with the vegetables.
The long purple eggplants were smoked hot, the green screw peppers were crooked, and the loofahs hanging on the vines were swaying gently in the wind. As soon as you approached the tomato garden, you could smell the scent of tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes were still green, with occasionally one or two tinged with red. The fragrance became stronger as you got closer.
Xu Li squatted down and picked a half-red tomato. He washed it briefly in the flowing water channel like Zhao Jing did. He took a bite of the red half. As the juice splashed out, he drooled wildly. It was the authentic taste of tomato.
It tastes just like the food grown in my own vegetable garden when I was a child.
Many people say that tomatoes nowadays don’t taste as good as they used to. In fact, this is because the varieties have changed, and because they are grown in greenhouses and supplied all year round, many vegetables are quick-grown, using ripening agents, growth enhancers, and all kinds of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
These vegetables are clearly meant to be eaten, but they are treated like a beauty pageant.
Vegetables should not only be edible, but also look good and have good appearance.
It is humans who use the aesthetic standards of human society to regulate freely growing plants, and in the end say that the plants have lost their original flavor.
Xu Li knew that his uncle had always looked down on those who made high-end dishes. He felt that their behavior of charging hundreds of dollars for a dish with such a small portion was like robbery. The purpose of cooking was to fill the guests' stomachs so that they could enjoy the delicious food.
Isn’t private cooking putting the cart before the horse and going against the chef’s original intention?
Xu Li felt that his uncle's ideas were too old-fashioned. It was a different era now, and it was not like the past when people could not get enough food. Modern people's pursuit of food had long evolved from being full to looking good and delicious.
The rapid development of society has enabled most people to have enough food and clothing. People can no longer feel superior by comparing themselves with others in terms of food and clothing, but enjoying delicious food, especially expensive food, has become another way to show off wealth.
Xu Li has always known it.
The path he took might seem crooked to Ma Xueqing, but it really made money.
What's more, as a chef, Xu Li has never given up his pursuit of creating dishes.
He traveled all over the world, visited nine continents, and went to various countries, just to find the best ingredients. Only with good ingredients can he make good dishes and make the customers' money worth spending.
But when he ate the tomato, Xu Li was still confused for a moment, and he felt that his uncle's insistence seemed to be right.
In the past, the tomatoes in his shop were used to make cold dishes, but now he just wants to pick a few tomatoes, find some local eggs, and honestly fry a simple dish of tomato scrambled eggs, preferably with a bowl of white rice.
"Xiao Wu, I feel this is a big fish, please come back quickly," Zhao Jing sent a message to Xia Wu to inform him, while observing Xu Li not far away. This guy is so strange, he stopped moving while eating tomatoes. Is he allergic?
Just when Zhao Jing was hesitating whether to go up and ask, Xu Li moved again. He ate the tomato devoutly in small bites, and even ate the unripe half. Zhao Jing felt a pang of pain in her teeth just watching.
Xia Wu drove the bucket truck at lightning speed and hurried back. When he parked the car halfway up the mountain, Xu Li was picking a cucumber that was still in kindergarten condition and was about to put it in his mouth.
Seeing Xia Wu coming back, Zhao Jing let out a breath as if she had seen a savior. She quickly stepped forward and whispered, "Xiao Wu, if you don't come back soon, he's going to try the peppers. These cooks are really weird. The old man surnamed Ma was the same last time. He picked whatever he wanted from the vegetable garden and ate it without washing it. This one is better. He knew to wash it..."
Xia Wu raised his hand to his lips and said, "Shh, as long as he can make us money, we don't care even if he chews on the loofah vines. I just called Ma Xueqing to get the lowdown. He's a big client, we have to get him."
Zhao Jing's eyes lit up when she heard that. If anyone was to ask who most wanted Xia Wu to make money, it would definitely be the villagers of Yanggou Village. So many old men and women depended on Xia Wu for their livelihood, and their lives were much more comfortable than before. Every day, they looked at the batches of ripe vegetables and fruits on the mountain and worried about Xia Wu.
In the past, some people contracted mountains, but later they stopped because they didn’t make money.
Everyone in the village was afraid that Xia Wu would quit his job because he couldn't make any money. Where could they find the good life they have now?
Zhao Jing is also one of the beneficiaries. Of course, she also hopes that Yantoushan can make money. After all, it is not easy to find a job near home, and she really doesn't want to go out to work.
Xia Wu patted her shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I'll take care of the rest. Go ahead and get busy."
Zhao Jing nodded desperately, chanting "Amitabha" in her heart, hoping that the Bodhisattva would bless the big customer to stay.
Xia Wu gave a standard smile and strode towards Xu Li. "Mr. Xu, right? Hello, I'm Xia Wu. Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Just as he put half a cucumber into his mouth, Xu Li heard someone calling him and quickly turned around. He saw a beautiful young girl walking towards him. She was fresh and full of vitality, just like the cherry tomato he had just eaten.
Xu Li's eyes lit up and he extended his hand. "Hello, are you Miss Xia? I've heard a lot about you. My uncle praised you in front of me a lot, but I didn't expect Miss Xia to be so young and beautiful."
Xia Wu had heard too many polite words. She smiled and politely replied, "Mr. Xu, you are very kind. You are also very young and handsome."
"Let's get down to business. I heard Mr. Xu runs a private restaurant?"
Xu Li opened a private restaurant in the heart of Huadong City, where land is extremely valuable. The restaurant covers an area of more than 500 square meters. In the early stage, he invested more than 3 million yuan in decoration and rent alone. After two years of operation, it has received rave reviews.
These days, cooking private dishes requires real skills. If you don’t have solid cooking skills and techniques, you won’t be able to survive.
"It's a small business, and I can't compare to Miss Xia's success. It's not easy to come back to your hometown and start a business at such a young age, not to mention that Miss Xia has done it so well."
Xia Wu smiled and said, "You wouldn't dare take on a job without the right skills. We're acquaintances, so I won't keep you in suspense. Mr. Xu, what do you think of the vegetables I grow on this hill? Are they good enough to be sold in your shop?"
"Miss Xia is a straightforward person. Let me tell you the truth. Many of the ingredients in my shop are airlifted in from abroad. Everything is made from the best domestically sourced ingredients. For some that are difficult to preserve, I even have a special plane to transport them. Do you understand what I mean, Miss Xia?"
Xia Wu not only understood, but also wanted to complain. She had seen Xu Li's tricks too many times.
After all, she had lived a wealthy life before. Eating in a private restaurant was as easy as drinking water and breathing. She could spend over ten thousand yuan on a single meal, and it was common for her to recharge her credit card.
In her opinion, these private restaurants are just gimmicks, and the emotional value must be given.
For example, if a customer spends three thousand yuan to eat a piece of pork leg, which one sounds more attractive, the black pork raised carefully by the villagers of Haotang Village, or the front leg tendon of a black pig raised at the forty-fifth latitude in Hokkaido and treated to milk for a SPA?
Of course it's the latter.
So some of the dishes made in private restaurants are really unpalatable.
The emotional value is enough, who would care about the taste? After all, rich people don’t really eat a lot.
This was also the case with Xia Wu before, but Xia Wu now would of course choose the former.
It’s not that she hasn’t eaten freshly caught salmon from Norway or top-notch wagyu beef from Japan, but they were just so-so after eating them. They didn’t make her immortal, nor were they any better than those she had never eaten.
But the vegetables she grows on the hill are different!
Is Xia Wu’s confidence solely due to the deliciousness of the vegetables she grows?
No! Her biggest confidence is the spiritual spring water!
Vegetables grown with spiritual spring water taste better than ordinary vegetables and are very beneficial to the human body!
She has evidence for this!
Look at the old man and old woman in the courtyard by the well. Since they started eating, drinking water and working here, they have been in better and better spirits. Their waists and legs no longer hurt, and they can eat more.
For people who are not short of money, if you talk to them about personality and then talk to them about health, if rich people have to choose one of the two, they will choose the latter.
Xia Wu was full of confidence. "Mr. Xu, you don't have to tell me too much. How you choose the ingredients for your store is your business. If you like the vegetables I grow, it means they have their merits. If they don't have their merits, Mr. Xu wouldn't be here talking so much nonsense with me."
Xu Li touched his nose and realized that he failed to fool the girl in front of him.
It seems that Xia Wu is not an ordinary young man who returns to his hometown to start a business.
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