Chapter 82
After the pork is stewed, it's time to shred it by hand, tearing the large chunks into thin strips and then stir-frying them in the pan. Stirring constantly is necessary to avoid burning the pan and to dry out all the moisture in the meat. This job is quite tiring and requires great care. Fortunately, Gu Xinxin exercises every day, otherwise her arm strength might not be able to keep up.
She called Gu Xiangrong and Gu Wenshu to help, and used both stoves in the house. The two brothers each had a large iron pot.
After stir-frying for half an hour, the shredded meat began to change color.
An hour later, the meat floss that Gu Xinxin requested was ready.
Fluffy, soft, and savory at the same time.
Gu Xinxin weighed the meat floss again. There were five pounds of lean meat, but only three pounds of meat floss were fried.
But it looks like the volume has become a lot bigger, after all, it is fluffy.
She calculated the price and immediately decided that buying the meat floss by the pound would be more cost-effective. Storage conditions weren't ideal, so unless you were a large family, most people would buy in smaller quantities. Buying a pound... there was a real chance it would spoil before you could finish it.
Pork costs twelve copper coins per pound, plus five-spice powder, firewood, and labor, the price of meat floss is most appropriately fifteen copper coins per two ounces.
"Why don't we just talk to the village chief and have every household raise a pig? We can use the pork, we can use the lard, and we can eat the pig offal ourselves. Then everyone in the village will make money, and we can buy some back home to eat. It's a win-win situation no matter how you calculate it." Gu Xinxin said, and Gu Daniu frowned, "It's not easy to raise pigs. If there are too many, it will easily cause swine fever."
Gu Xinxin pursed her lips. She didn't have much experience in raising pigs.
However, she remembered that sugarcane residue can be fed to pigs?
"How about we try it at home first," Gu Xinxin said. "We'll start by raising three or five. Once we gain experience, we'll buy from families that want to raise them. Also, I plan to let everyone in the village try this meat floss thing."
Gu Daniu asked, "They sold it for one ounce of silver and gave you ten copper coins?"
Gu Xinxin's mouth twitched as she shook her head, "Of course we can't calculate it that way. After they speculate it out, we'll buy it back for twelve copper coins per ounce, and we'll sell it for fifteen copper coins ourselves."
After a pause, he added, "Twelve copper coins is too high. Eleven will do."
After all, they still had to deliver the food to the county town, and the wood for the snack cart and the rent for the house alone were all considered capital and had to be included in their costs. Therefore, the profit of four copper coins on an ounce of pork floss was barely enough.
Gu Daniu waved his hand: "You won't listen to anything I say anyway. You have your own ideas, so just do whatever you want."
Just do as you see fit.
Gu Xinxin didn't rush to find the village chief, but first went to the county town to find Shopkeeper Su for a recommendation: "Try to see if it can be sold. If it can be sold, I will start making a lot of it. If it can't be sold... I think it should be able to be sold."
She paused and continued, "Whether it's eaten by the elderly or children, it's very nutritious. It's not like pork that requires effort to chew. Besides, it can be eaten with porridge, rice, noodles, or even sesame seed cakes and steamed buns."
Shopkeeper Su was a little embarrassed: "The price is too expensive."
Fifteen copper coins make one liang, and one liang is about as big as a bowl as big as your face.
Gu Xinxin said: "If you use it sparingly, it will last a long time. One spoonful can make a bowl of porridge."
Shopkeeper Su pondered for a while and agreed to give it a try. However, since Gu Xinxin sent so little, he didn't plan to sell it in the shop. Instead, he took it home to eat at home. If his family liked it, it would mean that this business could be done.
The shelf life is slightly longer than that of pork. Gu Xinxin said that if it is sealed well, it can be kept for about half a month.
The snack carts were finally finished, and both carts were made to take care of Xinxin's requirements.
The people in the village were rather shy and reserved. After hearing Gu Xinxin say that they wanted to select two people to go to the county town to sell things, everyone waved their hands.
So, in the end, Gu Xinxin had to go into battle herself, and the other one was Gu Daniu. Although Gu Daniu was not very good at speaking, he was at least strong and not afraid of being robbed or troubled by others.
Furthermore, Gu Xinxin is an unmarried girl, so it is not appropriate for any man to go to the county town with her. Only her biological father Gu Daniu is suitable to go with her.
The items on the snack cart were all ordered by Gu Xinxin, including spicy strips, spicy fish, five-spice fish balls, meat floss, potato chips, and French fries. There are only these six kinds at the moment. It was previously said that the small fried dough twists were provided exclusively to Shopkeepers Su and Qian, so Gu Xinxin had no plans to sell them herself.
Not to mention how rare the items on the snack cart were, no one had ever seen the cart itself. When it was pushed onto the street, it quickly attracted the attention of passers-by.
Gu Xinxin made the sign very eye-catching. Not only did it have the big name of Gu's Snacks, but it also had pictures of the snacks. She drew them herself and had originally planned to carve them, but because she had no paint to dye them, she simply drew them on paper.
The paper is hung under the wooden sign and is very conspicuous. Although it is not very realistic, after all, Gu Xinxin's painting skills are demonstrated here, but it can give people a rough idea of what it looks like - the painting classes she attended since childhood were not in vain.
"Don't miss it if you pass by. The delicious snack stand is opening today. There is a big opening sale. Buy one hundred and get ten copper coins free." To run a business, you must know how to shout. Even good wine will not sell if it is not well-known. After all, if it is not well-known, it will not be popular.
Only when the aroma of the wine can no longer be hidden in the alley can you stop shouting.
As Gu Xinxin shouted, she opened the lid of the spicy fish dish with the strongest smell, and fanned it to help the smell spread.
"Spicy little fish, rich flavor, five-spice fish balls are chewy, potato chips are crispy, French fries are sweet, and spicy strips will open your head." Gu Xinxin continued to shout, and those who were curious came over and asked: "What are potato chips? Are five-spice fish balls just fish balls? Aren't they made from soup?"
Gu Xinxin quickly introduced: "Potato chips and French fries are both made of potatoes. French fries should be eaten with sauce. This sauce is free. Buy ten copper coins and you get a spoonful for free."
Originally, she should have used tomato sauce, but she couldn't find tomatoes yet, so she used a sweet and sour sauce made with vinegar and sugar. How should I put it, it's definitely not as good as tomato sauce. If it is used to make sweet and sour dishes, it must be a great sauce and can be used to replace tomato sauce... Anyway, she herself stopped eating it after trying it once.
But for ancient people who had never eaten it... it probably still had a certain appeal. Every time the aunties went out to set up stalls, they sold a lot of French fries.
"These potato chips are ten copper coins and two taels, and the French fries are the same price. These fish balls are ten copper coins for four, and the spicy small fish are ten copper coins for one tael. You can eat them dry, with wine, or with porridge. The spicy strips and the small fish are the same price, ten copper coins for one tael."
This is for the convenience of calculation. The prices are different. She can calculate it herself, but she is not sure if others can calculate it, so it is best to have a relatively fixed and similar price.
She simply standardized them, all worth ten copper coins, but with different weights.
Once the lids are opened, the rich aroma comes out - anything fried has a stronger smell than ordinary food.
"I've never seen this spicy strip before. Ten copper coins for it," the first person to arrive said. Gu Xinxin hurried to get a paper bag. She had asked Gu Chenshi to fold a lot of this stuff at home. Kraft paper was not cheap, but it was necessary to use it. Ordinary paper would leak oil.
Before she left yesterday, she told Gu Chenshi to go to the town to buy a large quantity of kraft paper, and then have the idle elderly people in the village fold it into paper tubes.
One hundred paper tubes cost one copper coin.
The price is not expensive, but for some elderly people who cannot go to the fields and have no energy to do farm work, it is an income source and a way to make money.
The paper tube can be opened directly to hold things. She had weighed it when she was at home to find out how much spicy strips can be put in. It can definitely be filled to the brim with potato chips, but not spicy strips - too little would look a bit uglier, so she had to make the paper tube smaller.
So there are three types of paper tubes under the cabinet, large, medium and small. The large ones are used to hold French fries and potato chips, the small ones are used to hold spicy strips and fish balls, and the medium ones are used to hold small fish - although the small fish are also large in weight, they appear larger when tied together.
Smiling, she weighed the paper tube in front of the customer and handed it to him: "Thank you for your patronage. Ten copper coins. Would you like to see anything else? Today is the first day of business. If you spend over a hundred, you can get ten copper coins for free. You can choose whatever you want."
The customer was a little hesitant. It’s a free gift, it’s free, why not refuse it?
But buying a hundred… He hesitated and asked, “Let me try it first. If it tastes good, I’ll order something else.”
Gu Xinxin nodded: "Okay, then you try it first."
Anyway, I have to make a name for myself today.
The customer picked up a spicy strip and stuffed it into his mouth. After a moment, he hissed, "It's too spicy. The taste is incredible. It's so spicy. I want another twenty copper coins!"
The people who were joining in the fun at the back couldn't understand: "Are you spicy or not?"
"Spicy, but flavorful," the man said, and ordered some small fish: "Twenty coppers for this, and ten coppers for these potato chips and fries. Thirty coppers short, so I'll have the fish balls. Thirty coppers for them."
He thought for a moment and said, "Send me some spicy noodles for ten copper coins."
He really likes the taste of spicy strips.
Gu Xinxin also breathed a sigh of relief. She was lucky that the first person she met could eat spicy food.
If someone couldn't handle spicy food, they would have left immediately. Thank goodness, I was so lucky.
She muttered to herself as she deftly took out a paper bag and weighed each item one by one, smiling and thanking them: "Thank you for coming. This is twenty copper coins. Take it... a total of one hundred copper coins."
Well, it’s open now.
Most of the time, people are willing to eat something rare and something they have never seen before. Although it is quite expensive, whether it is spicy strips or meat floss, as long as it can be used as a side dish and can be used for a long time, you can buy some to try.
Besides, you don’t have to buy one that costs a hundred copper coins. Can’t you buy ten and try them at home?
Children can’t eat spicy strips, but they can eat meat floss.
People always spend more money on children. When the meat floss is added to the white porridge, the taste is amazing, and the white porridge immediately tastes fresh and fragrant. Because it can be eaten by children, Gu Xinxin put very little salt in the meat floss. It is salty, but not like pickles, which have lumps of salt.
The meat tastes so good, but the meat floss and the meat taste different. The porridge with meat floss and the meat porridge also have different tastes.
Some of the things I bought in the morning came back in the afternoon to buy more meat floss because I have many children at home.
By the end of the afternoon, the meat floss was sold out. This was the first item to go. Then came the potato chips. Gu Xinxin hadn't expected them to be so popular, even better than the other items. Perhaps it was because there were so many children coming and going?
Then there are the spicy small fish. As long as you can drink, alcoholics will be willing to buy it.
Anyway, she sold everything she brought out.
She returned to the inn, but Gu Daniu hadn't come back yet. So she went out to talk to the agent about renting a house. It turned out that the snack cart business was viable, so she had to start the business as soon as possible. What else was she waiting for if she didn't rent a house quickly?
The rent wasn't cheap, so Gu Xinxin wanted to rent for a long time, a year. So, the other party agreed to leave the furniture: a table, four stools, two beds, and the kitchen stove and iron pot.
Gu Xinxin had to buy the bedding herself.
Gu Xinxin simply ordered it directly from the cloth shop to avoid having to go back and find someone to make it. Of course, it was a bit more expensive, but she could check out of the inn today and move directly into the rental house. It didn't matter if it was a little dirty, just make the bed and it would be fine.
After she finished all these, she went to the door of the inn to wait for Gu Daniu.
When Gu Daniu came back pushing the snack cart, it was already getting dark.
When he heard that Gu Xinxin had rented a yard, he asked how much it cost. After returning, he looked around inside and out without caring about being tired. He asked with his hands folded, "This yard is nice. Didn't you ask how much it would cost if you wanted to buy it?"
Gu Xinxin stretched out her hand, and Gu Daniu's eyes widened: "Two hundred taels?"
Gu Xinxin nodded: "Two hundred and thirty taels. This location is great. Wennan Street is right outside. You know there's a college on Wennan Street, right? The county school."
In modern times, this is a school district house. She added, "If Xiang Rong can pass the imperial examination and live here, he can reach the academy in just fifteen minutes. Besides, the academy is on the street in front, so the people coming and going are not poor."
I didn't ask for more than two hundred and thirty taels.
Of course, this wasn't the most expensive, because the houses on Wenbei Street were even more expensive. The wealthy families of the county lived there, known as the "rich area." The He family also lived there.
The houses over there all have at least two courtyards. Maybe even those with two courtyards can’t fit in. Only those with three courtyards or more can show off one’s wealth.
Gu Xinxin didn’t even dare to think about buying a house in Wenbei Street now.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com