Li Fu thought that sometimes when he went to the steamed bun shop in town, no one might be home.
"Okay, I understand. I'll come and check on market days to see if you're home."
Wei Yuyan nodded. It seemed she still had a task to complete, mainly because these workers weren't from her village.
Drinking water and eating are inconvenient. As for food, according to Master Huang, his wife cooked it at home at noon and delivered it over by oxcart.
Wei Yuyan would check on their progress whenever she had free time, and occasionally bring them water.
Wei Yuyan discovered that the people Master Huang had chosen were indeed not bad.
They are all very capable workers, quick and efficient, and none of them are old.
Master Huang said he specifically asked younger workers to do the job.
If the employer is not in a hurry, he will call on some older people who still want to work to balance things out.
At noon, Wei Yuyan was still cooking at home; the children would be getting out of school soon.
"Knock knock knock~".
Someone knocked on the door, and Wei Yuyan put down the kitchen knife and went to open it.
"Sister-in-law Zhang, Brother Licai, Brother Lifu, why are you here at this time? I didn't prepare any food for you."
Wei Yuyan was a little surprised. Wasn't today market day? They should have just returned from town.
But I didn't know they were coming today, so I didn't cook for them.
"Sister-in-law, we're not here for a meal. We have something important to tell you."
Brother Lifu walked in.
"What's the matter?"
Wei Yuyan had a bad feeling.
"Aunt Wang came today. She said she won't rent the house to us anymore because her son wants to start his own business."
Li Fu sat down in the main room, and the others followed suit.
"Huh? But we signed a contract."
Wei Yuyan was somewhat surprised; how could one problem not be resolved before another arose?
The steamed bun shop's mushroom and meat sauce buns were previously affected and sales were slow, but they've only recently started to recover.
Now that this incident has happened, Wei Yuyan realizes that doing business is far more complicated than she imagined.
"She said she would compensate us with one month's rent and give us three days. If we didn't move out within three days, she wouldn't compensate us anymore."
Sister-in-law Zhang added.
"Let's go to town together tomorrow to look at the new shop. Where's Sister Xiuhua?"
Wei Yuyan wanted to suggest that Sister-in-law Xiuhua stay at home to cook, but then she realized that Sister-in-law Xiuhua hadn't come over.
"She went home to cook. The child is about to get out of school, so should we leave her at home tomorrow?"
Li Fu realized what was happening.
"Yes, one reason is that it's inconvenient for the children to go with her, and another is that it's easier for the construction workers to get water if she stays at home."
Wei Yuyan thought about it and decided that she should go and choose a shop herself tomorrow, otherwise she wouldn't feel at ease.
"Okay, tomorrow Li Cai and I will go sell steamed buns. Call me when you get to town."
Sister-in-law Zhang thought that selling steamed buns was something one person could do, so she let Licai sell them while she and her sister went to watch.
"Okay, then it's settled."
Wei Yuyan prepared to stand up and pour water for them; even though they hadn't eaten, she still needed to pour water.
"No need to pour it, girl, let's go home for dinner too."
As they spoke, the three of them stood up and walked out. The children were about to finish school, and they were hurrying home to help with cooking.
Wei Yuyan thought the main reason for this was that they didn't have money. If they had money, they would buy a shop.
They already had more than ten taels of silver, and building a house was urgent. If they wanted to buy a shop, it would probably take several years just to sell steamed buns.
Wei Yuyan wondered if she could explore some new business opportunities.
This thought kept lingering in Wei Yuyan's mind, and she even became distracted while cooking, adding too much salt.
Xiao Lei picked up a piece of food and put it in his mouth, frowned, but still swallowed it, and then frantically shoveled two mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.
"Sister-in-law, why is the food so salty?"
Qianqian called out.
"Huh? Oh dear, let me try it, ptooey ptooey ptooey."
When Wei Yuyan heard Qianqian say that she had just put the cabbage in her mouth, she spat it out because it was too salty, she was surprised.
"Sister-in-law, why don't we just give it to the chickens?"
Xiao Lei stood up.
"Okay, you can just have this one dish. I'll cook something else for you tonight."
Wei Yuyan never imagined that she would cook such a terrible dish one day.
"Sister-in-law, has something happened?"
After finishing the meal, Xiao Lei finally asked the question that had been bothering him, because his sister-in-law seemed distracted even while eating, and occasionally sighed.
No.
Wei Yuyan smiled as she looked at Xiao Lei. How could this child be so good at reading people's expressions?
“…”
Xiao Lei didn't say anything, clearly indicating that he didn't believe it.
"Okay, I can tell you. It's about the steamed bun shop. The owner said they won't rent it to us anymore."
So, my sister-in-law is going to town to look at new shops tomorrow. You and your sister should go to Sister Xiuhua's house to play tomorrow.
We had lunch at Sister-in-law Xiuhua's house. She'll be back soon after she finds a new shop.
Wei Yuyan explained to Xiao Lei why she was feeling down today, so as not to worry him.
"Okay, I understand, sister-in-law."
Xiao Lei pursed his lips, secretly relieved that nothing serious had happened.
The next morning, Wei Yuyan had breakfast with the children, took one tael of silver with her, and went to Sister Xiuhua's house.
"You're here. Have you had breakfast yet?"
Xiuhua's family was eating there too.
"We've eaten. Sister Xiuhua, Xiaolei, Qianqian, stay home and play with Sister Xiaoya. We're going to town."
Wei Yuyan and Li Fu went out together.
After arriving in town by carriage, Wei Yuyan first went to the steamed bun shop to call Zhang Dasao, thinking that more people would make the search easier.
Liu Licai can sell steamed buns by himself.
"Where should we look?"
Li Fu looked at Wei Yuyan, wondering what she thought.
"The three of us will each take one street, and we'll be back to meet up within half an hour."
Everyone should share what good shops they know, including prices, layout, and location.
Wei Yuyan arranged for each of them to search an entire street, hoping to find a suitable shop today.
It's best to move within three days.
"OK".
Sister-in-law Zhang and Brother Lifu nodded and went off to search.
Wei Yuyan wasn't in a hurry; she took her time to look and ask questions.
But we didn't find a suitable shop, either because they were too small or there was no place to stay.
Either it's too big and expensive, or it's already closed and there's not much business.
After looking around the entire street, Wei Yuyan still hadn't found a suitable shop, so she walked back dejectedly.
I pray that Brother Lifu and Sister-in-law Zhang will achieve something.
"Yu Yan, you're finally back! I've found a shop that looks pretty good. Let's go check it out together."
Sister-in-law Zhang couldn't wait to take them both to see it.
"Okay, Brother Lifu, have you seen any suitable shops?"
As Wei Yuyan walked along the road, she didn't forget to ask about Li Fu's situation.
"I don't know if it was because I went at the wrong time, or because it wasn't market day."
Many of the landlords weren't there, so I didn't actually look at many shops.
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