The village head sat in the main hall, lost in thought, while Cheng Yue and the others were busy as bees.
Chen Tong stood to the side, doing the accounts, and whispered to Cheng Yue, "Mom, business is even better today than the past two days!"
Now Zhang Shaowen has taken over, working with Chen Lin to weigh the goods and collect the money, while the sisters Chen Tong and Chen Ning are checking the accounts on the side.
Well, as for Chen An and her, they are now peripheral figures in the shop, mainly responsible for supervision, one supervising the weighing and the other supervising the accounting.
After all, they are just a few children, and I'm not comfortable letting them go completely.
Chen Ning said with a grin, "The good business must be because Mom gave us some braised eggs yesterday."
"Xiao Ning is so smart." Cheng Yue praised her as usual, and then continued, "But the braised eggs are just the surface. It's more about how people see what kind of people we are from the fact that we gave away braised eggs."
That's how business works. If people trust you as a person, they'll be willing to buy whatever you sell.
When she was in sales, the training always emphasized that the essence of sales is "selling yourself," a view she still agrees with.
After Cheng Yue finished speaking, the group thought for a moment and then nodded heavily.
It turns out there are so many tricks to doing business. Take braised eggs for example, it looks like they lost money, but in reality they made more money.
As they talked, all the braised food was sold out.
The village head sat in the back, dumbfounded. So much meat, and it was all sold out in such a short time.
No wonder Shaowen said this money was easy to earn; it really was easy! It only took a whole morning.
Seeing Cheng Yue and the others packing their things, he immediately got up and went to help. He hadn't come, but since he was here, he couldn't just stand by and watch if he could lend a hand.
Cheng Yue saw the village head reach for a rag and quickly stopped him, saying, "Uncle Village Head, please sit down. There are so many people here, why should you bother?"
The village head snatched the rag away, saying, "What's the big deal? You've all been busy all morning, but I've had enough rest. It makes me feel good to do something!"
Zhang Shaowen laughed, "Aunt Cheng Yue, let my grandpa do it. He's just feeling uncomfortable sitting here and wants to find something to do."
Seeing that she couldn't stop him, Cheng Yue stopped trying. Her grandparents used to be exactly like the village head, so she simply let him be.
Some elderly people are like that; if you don't let them do something, they won't feel at ease!
The village head smiled, and Cheng Yue had no choice but to go and cook.
The village head was also there today, so Cheng Yue made an extra dish. The stoves in the kitchen and the space were running at the same time, and soon five dishes and a soup were ready.
Sweet and sour pork, stir-fried pork with pickled cabbage, braised tofu with scallions, stir-fried bok choy, cold seaweed salad, and a tomato and egg soup.
Cheng Yue cooks this way almost every day. Although the family eats it every day, they can never get enough of it. They slurp it down with great gusto.
Zhang Shaowen is not as reserved as he was at the beginning, and he eats with gusto. The main problem is that he doesn't eat much himself, but Aunt Cheng Yue keeps piling rice on his plate, causing him to overeat every time.
The man at the table was so shocked his jaw almost dropped. He just stared wide-eyed without picking up any food. Now he finally understood why his grandson's cheeks had become so swollen after only two days of eating there!
If he eats like this, even this old man can gain two ounces of weight every day!
"Uncle Village Head, please try it all, A-Yue's cooking is delicious!"
Seeing that the village head wasn't touching his chopsticks, Chen An guessed what he was thinking and quickly picked up several more pieces of food with his chopsticks.
Let alone the village head, even he lives like he's in a dream every day—no, there's no white rice or meat in his dreams.
The village head came to his senses and took a sip of the soup in front of him; the color looked appetizing.
He knew the yellow stuff was egg drop soup, but what was this red stuff?
After taking a bite, his cloudy eyes brightened up a bit. "Wow! What's this sweet and sour stuff? It's so delicious with eggs!"
Chen An laughed and said, "It's called tomato, or tomato. It's said to have come from a foreign land. I bought it by chance while I was working abroad, and I didn't expect it to taste so good."
Spending so much time with Cheng Yue has made lying come naturally to him.
Cheng Yue: She's inherently ruthless, don't wrongly accuse her...
The village head muttered, "No wonder, I never knew what it looked like. Chen An, kid, do you still have any seeds left?"
That's how farmers are; they'll always inquire about any available vegetable or grain seeds.
Chen An glanced at Cheng Yue discreetly, asking for her opinion. These seeds originally belonged to A-Yue, and whether or not to give them to her required her permission; he couldn't make the decision for A-Yue.
Cheng Yue found it amusing and nodded slightly. Chen An then replied, "Yes, Uncle Village Head. I'll get it for you when I get home."
"No, no, I've never seen this dish before. It must be expensive. I'll pay for it; I can't take it for free."
We've already had such a good meal for free, how can we expect to get vegetable seeds for nothing in return?
Although the vegetable seeds in the village are exchanged among villagers, they are limited to the few commonly eaten varieties. It's hard to say how much money was spent on this one that no one has ever seen before.
Cheng Yue laughed and said, "Uncle Village Head, you're being too polite. Just exchange your vegetable seeds with us, otherwise we won't give them to you."
She had always wanted to grow vegetables, but it wouldn't be enough for just herself; she would have to get the whole village involved. However, it wasn't the right time yet; she would wait until the business was more stable.
Now that the village head has spoken, there's nothing wrong with giving some first, and we can at least leave some seeds.
The village head knew that Cheng Yue was generous and couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to agree, secretly wondering what good vegetable seeds he could exchange with Cheng Yue.
"Is there any noise up ahead?" Chen Lin suddenly stopped eating after slurping down a couple of mouthfuls of rice.
Upon hearing this, everyone stopped eating. Cheng Yue listened intently for a moment, then said, "It sounds like someone is knocking on the door. I'll go check it out."
They've been open for so many days, and the customers all know when they open and close. I wonder who came at this time?
"Mother, I'll go with you!"
Chen Lin also ran out in a flash. What if it was some bad guy? His father's leg was injured, and he was the only man in the family. He had to protect his mother!
Cheng Yue opened the door and saw a middle-aged man with a fair complexion, a plump build, and a neat appearance, sporting a mustache. "Excuse me, who are you looking for?"
After a moment of surprise, the man smiled politely, "I am Yu Maodong, the manager of Da Shun Zhai. May I ask if you are the owner of Cheng Ji Braised Food?"
Da Shun Zhai—it's clearly the name of a restaurant. Seeing that he was looking for her, Cheng Yue roughly guessed his purpose. "Indeed, Manager Yu, please come in."
"Xiaolin, go get me a glass of water."
Chen Lin's eyes darted around, and he called out to the backyard, "Little sister! Pour me a glass of water!"
This is an outsider; he must stay by his mother's side at all times.
Yu Maodong was startled by Chen Lin's loud voice. He noticed that Chen Lin was staring at him with a wary look in his eyes. He realized that Chen Lin knew how to protect his mother and was a good child.
"Manager Yu, you've come for braised food, right? Are you buying a son or supplying goods?"
Cheng Yue disliked beating around the bush and asked directly.
Yu Maodong hadn't expected Cheng Yue to be so straightforward. When he arrived, he was still wondering how to start a conversation since they didn't know each other.
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