"I heard that houses in the port city are very expensive, and the houses are like pigeon coops?"
"I've also heard that houses in mainland China are crowded, with very low ceilings and the whole family crammed into one room without even air conditioning."
"I've heard that food in Hong Kong is extremely expensive, several times more expensive than in mainland China?"
"I heard that imported goods from the mainland are subject to a lot of taxes, and mobile phones and computers are very expensive, much more expensive than in our port city!"
"It seems there's some information gap between us. How about we team up?"
"That's good. I've been in the mainland for so long, but I haven't met many people I can talk to about these things."
Han Chengshan was surprised to find that the gangsters from Hong Kong were actually chatting happily with the middle-aged men who were setting up stalls.
"Young man, let me treat you to dinner!"
"Uncle, when you come to the port city for tourism, I'll take you to eat the most authentic char siu rice!"
"I've made a lot of money following Boss Han, and now I have some spare cash, but I don't have time to travel. Once I've made some more money in two years and my son can take over the stall, I'll travel everywhere. You have to remember to treat me to char siu rice then!"
"One word! Uncle, I happen to be broke for dinner tonight, so you'd better remember to treat me to drinks and meat!"
"Haha, in short, I can afford to treat all of you to a meal, let alone just you!"
Wang Dao's eyes lit up: "Uncle, is that really true!"
"It's true! Let me tell you, I've made a lot of money this year, getting rich by following Boss Han! It's not too late for you to join us. Boss Han is the god of wealth, you'll definitely make even more money in Hong Kong!"
"Really?" Wang Dao inquired, "Uncle, would you mind telling me how much you earned this month?"
"These glutinous rice-stuffed hawthorns sell very well, and many tourists from other places come specifically to eat them. I earned 30,000 yuan a month!"
"Thirty thousand! That's quite a lot!" Wang Dao's eyes lit up.
The henchmen around him got excited: "We never thought selling candied hawthorn skewers could actually make so much money! That kid wasn't lying to us!"
"Maybe this uncle is very talkative, so customers like him and he has many repeat customers! If we were to sell to him, we might not be able to make money!"
"That's true, individual cases cannot represent the entire industry!"
"Let's ask other people; maybe some of them aren't making money and are even losing money!"
The younger men started chatting up other middle-aged men, and occasionally even an elderly gentleman.
They assumed the old man looked too old, was slow-moving, and not talkative, so he couldn't earn money.
When I inquired, I was shocked: "Grandpa, you earned 100,000 last month!"
"Sir, don't try to save face by bragging here!"
"Exactly! How could you possibly earn 100,000 yuan a month from just a small candied hawthorn skewer? Who are you trying to fool!"
"Is it because you think we're from Hong Kong and don't know the market, so you're exaggerating?"
The old man blushed deeply and, not being good with words, could only pull out his bankbook: "See for yourselves, I never lie!"
The gangsters passed the bankbook around, eventually ending up in the hands of their boss, Wang Dao.
Besides the old man's deposit records from last month, there are also the deposit records from the month before last, and going back even further... a whole two years!
The old man has been selling candied hawthorn skewers his whole life, but he has never been able to save any money. He lives a life of hardship, and it's already a good thing if he doesn't lose money each month.
To be honest, I only really started making money in the last two years after I started working with Boss Han. I opened my savings account in the first month when I started selling candied hawthorn skewers with Boss Han.
“10,000, 30,000, 20,000, 50,000, 80,000... 100,000... 120,000…” Wang Dao recited the deposit records one by one, his eyes red.
"The old man wasn't lying to us; he really is making money!"
“He clearly earned 150,000 last month, but he conservatively said he earned around 100,000, even underestimating it!”
"My God, is this stuff really that profitable?"
"Do you have any that made? Can I have a bite?" A gangster asked, his mouth watering, as he saw someone practicing making candied hawthorns on the shelf.
Old Xu chuckled and took out an iron plate covered with freshly made candied hawthorns sandwiched with milky glutinous rice chocolate. They hadn't been skewered yet, but there wouldn't be enough to go around if they were skewered, so now was the perfect time to give each of them a taste.
Each person received one and carefully examined its appearance.
The red sugar coating is crystal clear, encasing a hawthorn with its inside removed. Where the hawthorn pit should have been, there is white glutinous rice, which looks very soft and sticky.
Wang Dao took a bite and was surprised to find chocolate sauce in the middle of the glutinous rice.
This glutinous rice isn't just plain sweet glutinous rice; it's glutinous rice with a rich milky aroma, chewy and sweet.
The chocolate sauce, combined with the creamy glutinous rice and the sweet and sour hawthorn, creates a rich and layered flavor profile.
The chocolate isn't the overly sweet kind; it has a slightly bitter, pure cocoa flavor. But when combined, you don't feel the bitterness at all, and it actually eliminates the cloying sweetness of the glutinous rice and hawthorn.
"This...this is candied hawthorn?"
"This has truly defied my expectations!"
"This is a dessert, it's perfect for our port city's taste!"
"Don't even mention us Hong Kong locals who will love it, even the British living here will definitely love it! This milky aroma, this pure chocolate flavor, it's so delicious!"
"I originally thought it was the kind of old-fashioned candied hawthorn from the mainland, and I was worried that trendy people in Hong Kong wouldn't buy it. But now I'm confident that as long as we bring this to Hong Kong, those girls who love desserts will definitely go crazy for it!"
"Boss, this business is definitely worth it!"
"I can almost see huge amounts of Hong Kong dollars swarming towards us from all directions!"
Han Chengshan was initially worried that these gangsters would be too clumsy to replicate the new product, but he didn't expect that they were all very talented in cooking.
"I have many younger siblings in my family, so I learned to cook when I was very young."
"My mother is in poor health, so I cook all the meals at home."
“Our cooked food in Hong Kong is very expensive, so we usually go to the market to buy vegetables that are about to close and cook them at home.”
"Such excellent cooking skills, it's all because we're poor!"
"If we had money, we wouldn't have used our culinary talents."
"We also envy those rich kids who were born into wealth. They never lift a finger and probably can't even tell the difference between leeks and green onions."
"Actually, having a talent for cooking also reveals our poverty."
"Yes, children from poor families learn to be independent early and start cooking at a young age."
The middle-aged men from the mainland nearby chimed in, "That's right, who likes to be surrounded by cooking fumes?"
"Young men, you may not be born into wealth, but you can be self-made millionaires!"
"What we earn in mainland China is definitely not as much as what you earn in Hong Kong. If you go to Hong Kong, no one will compete with you for business!"
"Maybe in a few years, you'll all be able to buy a house in the port city."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com