After eating the noodles, everyone sat together to discuss the business of the shop.
Lin Yanxian said, "Does anyone have any ideas?"
Zhao Shiyun interjected, "We mentioned before that we wanted to sell tofu-related food. Should we open a shop that sells only tofu?"
Zhao Qiming thought for a moment: "If we want to sell breakfast food, we can sell soy milk and tofu pudding."
Li Yuemei agreed: "This can indeed be sold. It will only cost a few more barrels of tofu."
"Tofu pudding?" Yu Ge'er's eyes lit up. "I heard that people in the north eat salty tofu pudding. I don't know if it tastes good."
Lin Yan smiled slightly. "Let's try it tomorrow. If the salty tofu pudding tastes good, we'll sell both." He propped his chin up with both hands. "We can sell noodles at noon. The minced meat and tofu noodles we had last time, and the egg sauce noodles today, were both very good."
"The tofu and pork soup last time was also good," Yu Ge'er licked his lips and began to savor the taste.
Lin Yan thought it was feasible. Now he had three dishes. "Anything else?"
"We can prepare fragrant tofu and stuffed tofu. You can fry them when you have free time and heat them up when customers come."
After discussing for a long time, everyone decided to focus on selling noodles. For breakfast, they would sell soy milk and tofu pudding. For lunch, they would sell noodles with various stews, as well as fragrant tofu, stuffed tofu, etc. They also put a few plates of raw tofu in the store.
As for the manpower issue, in the early days there were only three people: Lin Yan, Zhao Shiyun, and Yu Ge'er, while his father and mother stayed at home selling tofu.
After deciding what to sell, the next step was to choose a name for the shop. Zhao Shiyun suggested "Fu Man Ying," meaning abundant blessings and abundant profits. Lin Yan, however, thought it was a bit cliché and wanted to come up with something more original.
Yu Ge'er tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, "Brother, how about calling it 'Yuekfang'? I hope every guest here will be happy." Lin Yan thought it sounded like an inn, so he rejected the idea. He thought for a while and said, "Our original intention was to sell tofu-related food. Although we mainly sell noodles now, there's no guarantee of what will happen in the future. How about calling it Zhaoji Douxiangzhai?"
When everyone heard it, they nodded in praise, thinking that the name was particularly suitable.
There was nothing in the kitchen of the shop, so I had to buy some. I had two deep wooden barrels at home that could be used to store soy milk and tofu pudding. I would go to the blacksmith shop to get two woks, and prepare a few large bowls and a steamer. I would keep the prepared sauce warm in the steamer, and add it to the cooked noodles when customers came.
There are still a lot of soybeans at home, but just in case, they need to collect more. Li Yuemei plans to go to her mother's village to collect them. Her mother grows a lot of soybeans every year because her family sells tofu.
The next day, Zhao Shiyun and Lin Yan went to the blacksmith shop, told the blacksmith what to make, and then they put on their backpacks and prepared to go up the mountain.
Lin Yan planned to gather some plants for making five-colored glutinous rice. The mountains were home to black maple leaves, euphorbia milii, yellow gardenias, buddlejasminoides, red indigofera, and purple indigofera. Every Qingming Festival, many families would go up the mountain to gather these plants for making glutinous rice, but some, finding it too hassle, would buy them at the market. The market sold both pre-made glutinous rice and plants for dyeing.
Zhao Shiyun picked a handful of Nanzhu branches and leaves and asked, "Should we take them to town to sell?"
Lin Yan thought for a moment and replied, "Alright, then let's pick more and sell them in town tomorrow. Bring some of the glutinous rice to Ah Mo."
Zhao Shiyun nodded and began to pick more diligently. The two of them were busy moving through the forest. Suddenly, Zhao Shiyun saw a beehive hanging on a tree, honey dripping down the beehive. His eyes lit up and he said to Lin Yan, "Brother Yan, look over there, there's a beehive. It would be great if we could get some honey."
Lin Yan looked up and after a moment's hesitation said, "This beehive is not easy to remove. The bee stings are very painful."
Zhao Shiyun searched for branches and leaves, made a simple protective mask, and carefully approached the hive. Just as he was about to successfully remove a small part of the hive, a bee spotted him, and a swarm of bees flew out instantly.
Zhao Shiyun quickly turned around and ran, and Lin Yan also came over to help drive them away. After finally getting rid of the bees, they were both panting. Lin Yan looked at Zhao Shiyun helplessly and said, "Now you know the danger, right? Let's just pick maple leaves honestly."
Zhao Shiyun scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. Then the two of them returned to their focus on picking, and soon their backpacks were full, returning home with their bountiful harvest.
Back home, Zhao Shiyun took two backpacks and continued up the mountain to pick leaves, while Lin Yan kept the leaves for home. He cleaned the rest, divided them into bunches, and tied them with straw. He would take them to the market tomorrow and sell them for a penny a bunch.
In the morning, he asked his mother to save a bowl of tofu pudding. Lin Yan still remembered the salty tofu pudding that Yu Ge'er mentioned, but he didn't know how it was eaten in the north, so he added a spoonful of pickled cabbage, a spoonful of chili, and a little soy sauce, mixed it a little, and tasted it carefully.
"Hmm..." Lin Yan frowned. He wasn't used to the taste. He waved to Yu Ge'er and asked him to come over and try it.
Yu Ge'er came skipping over and took the bowl with anticipation. He sniffed it first, a look of curiosity on his face. Then, he scooped a large spoonful into his mouth. After chewing it a few times, Yu Ge'er's eyes suddenly lit up. "Brother, this is delicious. Although it's different from the sweet tofu pudding we usually eat, it has a unique flavor."
Lin Yan was a little surprised. "Really? I think it's very strange." Yu Ge'er took a few more bites and said, "Yeah, it's really delicious. I think we can sell salty tofu pudding with this flavor. Maybe many customers will like it."
Lin Yan listened to Yu Ge'er's words, thought for a moment, and felt that it made sense. After all, everyone has different tastes, and having more options is always good. Just then, Zhao Shiyun returned carrying two large baskets of nanzhu branches. Seeing Yu Ge'er devouring them with gusto, he asked what they were. Upon learning that they were salty tofu pudding, he curiously tried a bite, only to frown and shake his head repeatedly, indicating that he couldn't accept it. Yu Ge'er laughed heartily at this.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
