Cao Muchen couldn't calm down for a long time. He couldn't help but sighed, "Oh, you're so good at studying. I said I was a genius student, but I'm nothing in front of you."
Lin Dan returned the new edition textbook to Kang Shaojie and said slowly, "If you treat learning as a task, the effect will certainly not be good. Do you know what the essence of learning is?"
"What is it?" Cao Muchen didn't dare to answer casually. In front of this little country girl, he was actually a little timid.
“The essence of learning is not to remember what knowledge, but to trigger your thinking, which is the fun of learning. Don’t force yourself to remember something, just gain something.”
Cao Muchen exclaimed "Ah", and actually felt that this famous saying coming from the little girl's mouth was very thought-provoking, and was no longer an empty saying he had seen in a book. Kang Shaojie and Shen Jiayi felt impressed and both gave a thumbs up.
Lin Dan patted the table and said bluntly: "Tell me, what do you want from me?" After spending a few days together, she had figured out that these three people were the type who would not come to her unless there was something important. If someone had milk, they would be her mother, like her; if there was no milk, they would curse her as their mother, like Jiao Xiao'e who was treated humiliatingly. I’m afraid these new teaching materials are just an introduction.
Cao Muchen cleared his throat, then took out two pieces of paper. On the first page were written four big words - Redemption Plan.
Lin Dan stared at the paper without saying anything.
Kang Shaojie poked Cao Muchen, and Cao Muchen quickly explained: "It's like this. Before we came, the program team told us that as long as each of us earns 5,000 yuan, we can go home early. This redemption plan is actually our money-making plan. You see, the three of us are also planning to set up a stall at the school gate and sell some things. In order to increase the popularity of the stall, we are also preparing to perform three programs at the party the day after tomorrow. When everyone knows us, we can at least use facial recognition cards when we make money, right? By the way, we won't sell breakfast to compete with you. Don't high school students have to study in the evening? We plan to set up a stall to sell dinner after school in the afternoon, and sell some midnight snacks after the students finish their evening study. We can earn a few hundred yuan a day, don't you think?"
Lin Dan answered the question irrelevantly: "The school is going to hold a party the day after tomorrow?"
"Yes, the principal told us today."
"What are you going to sell?"
"So we are asking you! You are the soul of our small team! We sincerely invite you to invest in our booth with your technology! We will give you half of the income. The more we earn, the more you will get. How about it, do you agree?"
"It costs money to set up a stall. Where does your money come from?"
"The director gave us 300 yuan as start-up capital, and also approved a three-wheeled truck and several sets of folding tables and chairs for us." Cao Muchen is also a man with great action ability. Once he had a plan in mind, he immediately negotiated with the director team.
The Lin family is very poor. Their house is old and leaks when it rains. The courtyard wall is loose and could collapse with a kick. The big iron gate is rusted beyond recognition. If it is not repaired, they will not be able to live in it for more than a few months. High school is not part of the nine-year compulsory education system. Tuition, tuition, accommodation, food, materials, and transportation all cost money. You will also need to go to college later, work, and buy a house...
Without money, Lin Dan didn't even dare to think about the future, so she agreed immediately: "Okay, I'll invest. Three hundred yuan can't do much. Let's sell spicy hot pot and barbecue first. This business doesn't require too much cost. Students' spending power is too low, so we won't set up a stall at the school gate. Let the director find a place with a lot of traffic and safety for you, preferably one where there are a lot of late-night snack stalls."
"Yes, you are right! Dan, if we brothers succeed in redeeming you, we will never forget your kindness in this life!" Kang Shaojie excitedly held Lin Dan's hands, like a young wife who was abducted to the countryside and was eager to escape back home.
"Okay, I'll go negotiate with the director now!" Cao Muchen picked up the plan and left, as if he had been injected with chicken blood.
Shen Jiayi looked left and right, then asked with a smug look, "Dan, when will we have dinner?"
With the help of the program team, the location Kang Shaojie and his team got will definitely have a lot of traffic, so they won't have to worry about making money if they set up a stall. Thinking of this, Lin Dan felt very happy and nodded, "Give me ten minutes. I'll finish my homework and then cook."
"Okay, okay, write quickly." Shen Jiayi ran into the kitchen and poured a bowl of warm water, and said attentively: "Come, drink some water."
"Leave it there. I'll just make you some spicy hot pot and barbecue tonight. You can try them and then decide whether to set up a midnight snack stall. Can you use the tricycle that the director approved for you? While there's still time, go to the town and buy a basket of pork bones. Also, ask the villagers to buy a local chicken. I'm going to make the soup base." Lin Dan was doing his homework while talking.
"Yes, I have a driver's license. I'll go." Kang Shaojie responded positively.
"I'm going too." Shen Jiayi followed happily.
The three of them left one after another, and the Lin family's courtyard returned to silence, with only the sound of Lin Dan quickly writing his homework. Lin Shuanzhui didn't ask anything. He didn't understand a word of what the other person said. Asking would only embarrass his granddaughter. Why bother? Fortunately, the TV station staff had returned and were standing on the ridge talking to Cao Muchen. He became bolder and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Jiao Xiao'e, you have lost your conscience. You cheated the five-guarantee households out of their money! Jiao Xiao'e, you have lost your conscience!"
Jiao Xiao'e slammed the door of her house.
The director and Cao Muchen who were negotiating were amused by the old man, and the villagers coming and going were also laughing and watching the fun, which made Zhou Cuicui very embarrassed and angry. She immediately moved the small desk back to the main room and no longer dared to sit in the yard to do her homework.
Lin Dan quickly finished the exercise book and cooked a few more barrels of rice so that there would not be enough to eat later. Then he washed the large earthenware jar for soup, put it on the fire to roast, and used a piece of fatty pork to wipe the inner wall continuously. As soon as the fatty pork touched the hot inner wall, it made a sizzling sound and released rich fat, which soon soaked the earthenware jar and left a sweet aroma unique to lard. This is called boiling the pot, and it can quickly remove odors from a clay pot that has not been used for a long time. It is the same principle as maintaining the furnace in the alchemy method.
After the pot was ready, Lin Dan washed the vegetables, sliced them, peeled the leaves, steamed a few pieces of rice skin, cut them into thin strips, soaked the sweet potato flour in boiling water to soften it, and finally sharpened a handful of bamboo sticks, cut a bowl of thin pork belly, and put the slices on the bamboo skewers one by one.
All preparations were ready, and Kang Shaojie and Shen Jiayi returned with a basket of pork shanks and a processed native chicken. Lin Dan put the pork shanks and chicken into the boiling water and boiled them. When only two-thirds of the water was left, the soup had turned milky white. Lin Dan kept skimming off the floating residue and excess oil and simmered it for more than an hour. Surprisingly, the milky white soup became extremely rich. You could feel its viscosity and density when you stirred it with a spoon. A sweet fragrance spread in the air, which was not overbearing, but very intoxicating.
After the soup base was ready, Lin Dan took another pot, scooped a few ladles of soup, mixed various seasonings in different proportions, wrapped them in a gauze bag, immersed it in the soup and continued to stew. For some reason, the originally milky white soup base suddenly became clear, and a spicy taste merged with the previous sweetness, making people drool.
Only at this point was the pot of spicy hot pot ready. Lin Dan mixed the roasted sesame seeds and peanut butter with pepper oil, chili oil, minced garlic, chopped green onions and fermented tofu to make a bowl of dipping sauce and set it aside for later use. Then put the dozens of skewers of pork belly on the charcoal stove and grill them, sprinkle with five-spice powder, cumin powder and other seasonings while turning them over.
I don't know how she did it, but the grilled meat was not burnt or crispy at all, but tender instead, like the mutton hotpot just out of the pot. It tasted salty and fresh, and was rich in fat, like a delicious fried food. It explodes on the tip of the tongue.
The vegetables blanched in the soup are original, crisp and delicious, yet have a spicy taste that relaxes the pores. The cooked rice skin is quickly scooped out from the soup, drizzled with bright red dipping sauce and sprinkled with green chopped green onions, then stirred and mixed with chopsticks, and then slurped up a bite. It is fresh, smooth, spicy, yet slightly chewy and tastes simply amazing!
As soon as Lin Dan laid out the ingredients, the three teenagers snatched them all away. Even the photographer secretly took away a few skewers of grilled pork belly, for which he was strongly condemned by the director. Lin Shuanzhui ate three bowls of rice noodles and still felt unsatisfied, so he asked his granddaughter to boil him a bowl of sweet potato noodles and cook a plate of cabbage leaves, which he ate up in gulps with the spicy sauce.
"Oh, this spicy hot pot will definitely sell well. It tastes better than the most authentic hot pot I had in Shuzhou, and the price is cheap. Let's set up this stall!" Kang Shaojie said confidently.
"Anyway, I love it to death." Cao Muchen expressed his love simply and succinctly. His lips turned bright red, and his already handsome face even looked a little weird. Just based on his good looks, his business will definitely be booming if he sets up a stall.
"Dan, do you have any rice noodles? I'm not full." Shen Jiayi didn't care about making money at all. In fact, he was the one who least wanted to go back. He was neither addicted to the Internet nor had mysophobia. His only hobby was eating. Lin Dan was a great chef. Staying with her was like being in heaven. It would be strange if he was willing to go back.
"Wait a moment, I'll go steam a few. There are too few types of barbecue. Tomorrow you can go to the market and buy some mutton, beef, pork kidneys, beef tendons, butter, etc. If there are any crayfish and scallops, buy some, so that you can attract as many customers as possible." Lin Dan wrote down the ingredients he would need in a notebook and instructed, "If the cost is not enough, you don't have to buy crayfish. I'll pay for the pork ribs and native chickens today, and you can pay me back when you make money later, because this soup base is used every day. I have plenty of vegetables in my fields, you can buy them from me."
"Dan, you are so smart. You have made all the money that can be made!" When taking the notebook, Kang Shaojie couldn't help pinching the little girl's tender face.
The three of them cleared the table, swept the floor, washed the dishes, and cleaned the Lin family courtyard thoroughly before leaving contentedly, with the photographer following behind like a remnant soul. They really didn't even get to eat a mouthful of soup today, and they felt deeply resentful.
That night, Lin Dan slept well, but was unexpectedly awakened by a loud noise at around two o'clock in the middle of the night. It turned out that the neighbor to the west got up to go to the toilet and found several dark shadows on the road. They ran away after shining a flashlight. It must be a ghost! He was worried, so he shouted to his neighbors to check if their houses had been robbed.
Lin Dan took a flashlight and walked around outside. He found several sets of messy footprints outside the wall and traces of trampling on the wall. He immediately realized that these black shadows were coming towards his home. However, the Lin family is a notoriously poor family in the area. What can a thief steal from their home? If it's not about money, is it retaliation?
Thinking of this, Lin Dan's eyes dimmed and his face turned cold. She is not afraid of anything when she is alone, but Lin Shuanzhu is unable to move, so isn't he in danger all the time? This time we have to find a solution to solve the problem once and for all.
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