It turned out that two days ago, Qin Jinlian curiously asked about Sister Yu's salary. When she learned that she earned 60 yuan a month, Qin Jinlian was so envious.

She is only about ten years older than Yu Hong. She can do all the work that Yu Hong does every day. Yu Hong can earn 60 yuan a month, so why can't she?

There is no work in the fields in winter anyway, so she would just go home and play around. It would be better for her to stay in the city and help her daughter take care of the baby. She could earn 60 yuan a month and 120 yuan in two months.

When spring comes, she can go back to farm and it won’t delay anything.

Qin Jinlian was very happy with the thought, but she didn't think about the fact that if she left after working for two months, where would Shen Mingzhu find someone to replace her.

Although Shen Mingzhu was speechless, she was not too angry.

Qin Jinlian is willing to work and earn money herself, which is better than asking her for money directly.

After thinking for a while, she said to Qin Jinlian: "If you want to stay in the city to make money, I can think of a way for you, but it is impossible for me to quit Sister Yu and invite you."

…

Seeing Qin Jinlian coming back, Shen Jianguo put down his legs from sitting cross-legged on the sofa, put on his shoes and called to Qin Jinlian: "Pack your things and go back."

Although the two old people came into the city empty-handed, during the few days they stayed in the city, the two brothers of the Shen family and Pei Yang bought a lot of food and clothing for the couple.

"You go back by yourself. I'm not going back."

Shen Jianguo got angry when he heard this, "You're not going back? Do you still want to rely on your daughter and son-in-law for the rest of your life?"

Qin Jinlian boasted to her husband with some pride, "I want to stay in the city to earn money, and then I will go back with Chaobei and the others during the Chinese New Year. You can go back first."

Shen Jianguo was confused.

Going into the city and losing your spouse?

Under the guidance of Shen Mingzhu, Qin Jinlian set up a small stall in front of the noodle shop opened by the Shen Chaobei brothers, selling fried stinky tofu and starch sausage.

It’s cold in winter, so fry the stinky tofu in a pan until it’s crispy and then drizzle it with a special sauce, which will attract all the greedy people on the street.

There are also starch sausages, which are cut into beautiful patterns, fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and dipped in cumin powder and chili powder. The kids next door are so greedy that they are drooling.

From then on, Qin Jinlian got up early and went to bed late every day to set up a snack stall to make money, and had no time to bother Shen Mingzhu.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of light snow.

Shen Mingzhu used half a day to finish the work at hand, and then went to the vegetable market and picked up a lamb hind leg that she had ordered from the butcher in advance.

As winter was approaching, she planned to treat Zhong Qing and Yan Yi to mutton hotpot.

With her current ability and financial situation, coupled with the current environment, the only food she could buy was chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, etc. For families like Zhong Qing and Yan Yi, these were a bit too ordinary.

As for shabu-shabu mutton, it is a relatively new way of eating it, at least in Fengcheng.

After lunch, Shen Mingzhu began to process the lamb legs.

First, remove the meat from the three parts: the big three forks, cucumber strips, and ground chop, and put them in the freezer of the refrigerator. After they are frozen hard, they can be cut into thin slices.

As for the lamb bones and other lamb meat, they are simmered together with pork shanks, chicken, and medicinal herbs over low heat until the soup turns as white as milk.

In addition to rich side dishes, eating mutton hotpot also requires a soul-dipping sauce.

Sesame paste, chives, fermented tofu, fried sesame seeds, sugar, chopped green onions and coriander are all indispensable.

In fact, when Shen Mingzhu ate mutton hotpot in the past, she liked to add a little chili.

It’s a pity that it can’t be bought here, and she is still breastfeeding and can’t eat spicy food.

Pei Yang also finished work early and went home to help with the decoration and prepare the side dishes.

Around 7 o'clock, Zhong Qing and Yan Yi arrived as scheduled, and Ning Yuan came with them.

Ning Yuan was still cynical and joked with Shen Mingzhu as soon as he entered the room, "Mingzhu, you are so mean. You invited me to dinner but didn't even invite me. Fortunately, I am thick-skinned and came here on my own."

Shen Mingzhu smiled, "Well, it's my fault. It's mainly because I didn't have any good food to serve, and I was afraid that Young Master Ning wouldn't enjoy it."

"You are being modest. It's hard for others to say, but your actions, Shen Mingzhu, must be different from others."

Ning Yuan was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had long been tired of all kinds of delicacies, but the food cooked by Shen Mingzhu always strangely appealed to his taste.

As they were talking, Ning Yuan had already walked into the dining room following the smell. Looking at the steaming white soup in the copper pot, he rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Hey, are you eating mutton hotpot?"

Shen Mingzhu showed Zhong Qing and Yan Yi a seat while explaining with a smile: "It's cold now, and there are no good ingredients to buy in the market. I might as well treat you to a mutton hotpot meal. At least it can warm you up."

This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

Zhong Qing replied with a smile, "I haven't eaten shabu-shabu for two years. It's a good opportunity to try it."

After everyone was seated, Shen Mingzhu brought out various condiments in small bowls.

These side dishes are even richer than the authentic mutton hotpot that Ningyuan had in the capital.

Under Shen Mingzhu's introduction, everyone mixed their favorite flavors.

Put the paper-thin mutton into the snow-white soup pot, take it out after a few seconds, dip it in the sauce and put it into your mouth. The meat is tender and juicy, mellow and has no smell of mutton. It is simply supreme satisfaction.

In addition to shabu-shabu mutton, Shen Mingzhu also prepared honey-grilled pork chops and roasted pigeon.

Because Pei Ziheng doesn't like eating mutton.

After dinner, Pei Yang cleaned up the dishes, Shen Mingzhu took Yan Yi and Ning Yuan to visit their new home, and Zhong Qing played with Xiao Guoguo on the sofa in the living room.

She had come several times when Shen Mingzhu was in confinement, and she was no longer unfamiliar with Shen Mingzhu's new home.

After the visit, several people sat in the living room drinking tea and chatting.

Although Wang Hongcheng has been executed and the food factory has resumed production, the loss of cooperation with the two state-owned department stores is also a considerable loss for Shen Mingzhu.

When Yan Yi asked if he needed help in resuming cooperation with the two state-owned shopping malls, Shen Mingzhu politely declined.

With reform and opening up and the transformation of the economic model, state-owned shopping malls will soon decline and will eventually either be restructured or closed down.

Her original plan was to first leverage the reputation and popularity of state-owned shopping malls to open up the market, and then open her own store when the time was right. This would be a safer and more steady approach.

But now that the cooperation with the two state-owned shopping malls has fallen through, she might as well open a store directly.

In the next few days, in addition to her daily work, Shen Mingzhu spent all her time on market research, as well as store and site selection.

After a period of investigation, Shen Mingzhu chose three places.

After considering many factors and receiving advice from people around her, Shen Mingzhu rented a shop in the city center business district.

The total area of ​​the store is about 80 square meters, and Shen Mingzhu plans to divide it into a sales area and a baking area.

The food is made and sold freshly every day, and the partition walls are made of transparent glass, allowing customers to see the food production and delivery with their own eyes.

Just when Shen Mingzhu was busy with the decoration design of the store, something went wrong in the noodle shop owned by the Shen Chaobei brothers.