Chapter 109 Chapter 109 Shop Opening
After returning home, the grandmother looked up the old almanac to choose a suitable time for Lingzhi to open the shop. Miao Ying and Lingzhi sat together to think of a name for the shop.
Miao Ying himself was bad at coming up with names. Thinking of the small flags on the surrounding shops that all said something like "X Tavern" or "X Baozi", he thought that if they were too novel, others wouldn't be able to tell what you were selling, so it was better to keep things simple.
There were still a few pieces of cloth at home, which were produced when they were making clothes. Li Hongying was cutting the cloth into the shape of a flag. After they agreed on a name, she would just write it on the flag.
I thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with a good name. My grandmother had chosen a date, and February 2nd, when the dragon raises its head, was the best day.
Miao Ying thought of something else: "Your family used to be in business, so you should know more than me. Now that we have a shop, shouldn't we pay taxes and keep account books?"
Lingzhi nodded. "That's right, so before we open, all these things need to be done. I roughly know the process, so you don't have to worry."
"That's good." Miao Ying felt relieved. He really didn't understand the tax policy at this time of year. He had been thinking that they made quite a lot of money from setting up a stall, and no one would ask them to pay taxes. "Then let's set up a stall before..."
Knowing Miao Ying's concerns, Ling Zhi said, "The stall owners have paid the stall fee, which includes the tax."
"That's good, that's good." Miao Ying is essentially a good citizen who abides by the law. Although he used a pot of oil for a long time in the beginning in order to save some oil, it is better now. They change the oil more frequently than before.
It hadn't been long since they left Zhang's shop, and they could now leave their goods in the shop after selling them every day, which made them feel more at ease when they went to buy things.
Of course, when they set up their stall every day, they would tell their regular customers that they would soon have a shop, which would make it more convenient for them to buy things in the future. Everyone was happy to hear this, as now that they had a shop, they wouldn't have to worry about them running away. After all, buying a shop was expensive, and they would have to make more money to make up for it.
Although they don't eat it every day, they still crave it occasionally. Sometimes they crave it but can't eat it right away. They always think that now that there is a shop, they can eat it whenever they want.
"Then please come and visit us when the time comes." Lingzhi packed up the things and said to the person in front of him with a smile.
"That's for sure."
Miao Ying sat on the stool next to him and watched Lingzhi selling things. His stomach became a little fatter. Recently, he could no longer go to the county town, so he followed Lingzhi to the town. If he couldn't sell all the things at noon, he could lie down in the shop and rest for a while.
"How are the wedding preparations going?" Miao Ying and his team have been very busy recently. They have to prepare for the shop and Lingzhi's wedding. Although they don't need to hold a ceremony and just need to set up a banquet and entertain guests, Li Hongying found a few people to prepare the banquet. After taking a look at the dishes, they all felt that they were not very good, and the prices were not cheap. It didn't seem cost-effective, so she didn't want to let Lingzhi down, and the banquet had not been decided yet.
"How about this, mother." Miao Ying said, supporting himself with his arms, "Let's cook it ourselves. I'll be the chef."
"How can you cook with such a big belly?" Li Hongying looked at him disapprovingly. "Think of a solution. Or go ask the restaurants in town."
"How about this, call my mother and sister-in-law over." Miao Ying said, "My sister-in-law is a good cook, and I'll be there to give her some tips. She's quick-witted, so she'll definitely be able to do it."
Lingzhi hesitated: "Will this be too much trouble for her?" After all, he was not very familiar with Miao Ying's family, and he felt a little embarrassed to trouble them with his own marriage.
"Why don't we ask her opinion? Besides, aren't you going to pay her for asking her to help?"
"Then let Huo Xing go and ask your family if they're willing." Li Hongying said, "We'll definitely pay the same price as the ones we pay outside."
The next day, Huo Xing went to the Miao family, and when he came back, Miao Dong came with him. It had been a long time since their family had seen Miao Ying. She was supposed to go back to her parents' home during the Chinese New Year but was unable to do so due to the rain. The Miao family was worried and didn't know if she was doing well, so they asked Miao Dong to come and take a look and talk about the wedding.
Seeing that Miao Ying was in good spirits and his belly was much rounder than before, but he hadn't lost weight, he felt relieved and started talking about the banquet. "Why did you suddenly think of your sister-in-law?"
"My sister-in-law has such a good knack for cooking. I only told her once, and she made such delicious sausages." Miao Ying praised his sister-in-law, holding his belly. "I think she can do it well. Think of it this way. If we make this feast well, maybe someone will ask her to cook for us in the future. Isn't this also a way to make a living?"
"What woman would do this?" Miao Dong said.
Miao Ying kicked him and said, "What are you talking about? I have nothing to say to you. If you don't agree, I'll go talk to my sister-in-law myself."
Miao Dong quickly stood up and held his shoulder. How could he dare to let this ancestor go home? If he really went back, he would be skinned alive. "Don't move, I just said so."
"That doesn't make sense." Miao Ying rolled his eyes at him. "What do you mean?"
"Your sister-in-law said that she will come to help when the time comes." Miao Dong didn't dare to provoke him. If he really provokes him, these two families will not let him go.
"That's great." Miao Ying finally stood up, feeling a little sore in his waist, and twisted it again. "How's Pangpang? Are you behaving well?"
"He's so well-behaved, you don't know. Now Pangpang has grown up and looks exactly like your sister-in-law." Miao Dong talked a lot more when talking about his son. "He babbles all day long, causing a lot of trouble at home."
"Our family should be lively and bustling." Miao Ying also smiled, "As long as the children are healthy, that's all that matters."
After agreeing on the banquet, Miao Ying planned to treat everyone. Since they moved to Rongshu Village, they had not invited many guests. However, the villagers would always invite them along whenever they had something to do. The whole village got along very harmoniously, so Miao Ying planned to take advantage of Lingzhi's wedding to invite everyone who had invited them in the past.
"Our yard definitely can't accommodate so many guests. We'll have to borrow tables and chairs from the village. Buying vegetables is easy, and I can get meat from my family, so it won't be too difficult." Miao Ying looked at Lingzhi's blushing face, "I'll draw up a menu in the next two days. Our conditions are much better now, so I'm sure we can do better than when my brother got married."
Miao Dong snorted, but he still remembered that Miao Ying came to his rescue at that time. Even now, some villagers still ask Miao Dong which family prepared the banquet for his wedding.
This time, Miao Dong brought them about ten pounds of pork, knowing that they needed it for their business.
"I came to see you today and to tell you that your sister-in-law is willing to come back to help." Miao Dong was about to leave after having dinner at home. Li Hongying packed another bag for him, all for Pangpang.
After Lingzhi's wedding banquet was finalized, it was almost time for Lingzhi's shop to open, and this time even his grandmother went along.
They had already delivered all the ingredients for the next day to the shop the night before, and the next day they could announce the opening of their fried skewers shop by setting off a string of firecrackers and tearing off the red cloth.
Because they had said in advance that they would open a shop, there were many people watching on the opening day. Miao Ying and Ling Zhi unveiled the red cloth together. Huo Xing lit firecrackers the moment the red cloth fell, and there was a burst of cheers at the scene.
My grandmother, who had been sitting in the shop, now stood beside them on crutches, enjoying the excitement.
Li Hongying distributed the dried fruits she brought from home to the onlookers. Miao Ying then shouted, "Opening today! Buy one and get one free! Ten bunches for free!"
So everyone swarmed over at this moment, and Miao Ying quickly asked Huo Xing to maintain order.
The two children were shouting hard, Huo Xing was frying skewers without looking up, Li Hongying was helping Lingzhi pack, only Miao Ying and his grandmother were idle, so he took his grandmother out for a walk.
Grandma hadn't been out of the house for a long time, and her hand holding the crutch was shaking a little. Miao Ying supported her other arm and accompanied her around the streets.
"You haven't been out of the house for a long time. You're out of breath after just a few steps." Grandma held Miao Ying's hand with her other hand. "Are you okay?"
Miao Ying smiled and nodded: "I run all day long, this is not tiring."
"In the past, I could carry two baskets, one for my travels and one for shopping," Grandma laughed. "Now, I can barely walk properly."
Miao Ying felt sad. He knew that birth, aging, sickness and death were all part of human nature. In this era when people generally did not live long, his grandmother could be considered to have lived a long life. He just hoped that his grandmother could hold on for a while longer, until his child was born, so that he could at least see his great-grandson.
Grandma saw Miao Ying's worries and gently squeezed his hand, saying in a gentle yet firm voice, "Don't be afraid."
Miao Ying nodded and took his grandmother to a cloth shop. Lingzhi was getting married, and the wedding dress had not been prepared yet. They were all busy and no one thought about it.
But after looking around, I found that the ready-made clothes were not very good and the fabrics were a bit rough. I could only wait until I went to the county town to see if there were any suitable ones.
They prepared two days' worth of ingredients, and sold them all out today. It was still early when they sold out, but everyone was tired.
Lingzhi originally wanted to invite them to a restaurant for dinner, but Miao Ying felt that the food in the restaurant might not be as delicious as what they cooked themselves, so after preparing the ingredients for tomorrow, they went home together.
On the way back, they bought a lot of food. Miao Ying passed by a shop selling roast chicken and smelled the food, so Huo Xing bought one and some other snacks for the two children. Everyone went home talking and laughing all the way.
Miao Ying couldn't cook anymore and could only wait for his family to feed him. He sat in the yard on a recliner made for him by Huo Xing, with two dogs lying at his feet. Anyone who passed by would feed him something.
When Lingzhi passed by, she stuffed him a piece of dessert, which was sent by Fu Lingyou a few days ago; Xiaolin came out of the kitchen and broke off a piece of sausage cooked by Li Hongying and gave it to him; Xiaobao stuffed him a piece of candy, which he bought from a peddler when he was playing in the village these two days; when his grandmother went to the kitchen, she also fed him a few soft and glutinous chestnuts with trembling hands.
Only when Huo Xing passed by him, he didn't give him any food, but still stole the fragrance from him.
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