Last night, Er Gou told his mother that the fish would soon be a big seller. The old lady bought more than 100 catties of fish overnight and delivered them to the store before dawn today. They were all lively and jumping around, and were kept in the pond in the backyard. They were killed and prepared on the spot, so they were very fresh.
Before the barbecue restaurant could even open its doors, firecrackers started popping up at the Wang shop across the street. Lan Yamei grabbed a handful of peanuts and leaned against the doorframe to peek over. What kind of happy event was this so early in the morning? Was it a baby birth or a concubine taking in?
Manager Wang has been running a restaurant on this street for over ten years. As the firecrackers went off, a crowd gathered at the entrance to watch the spectacle.
With a broad smile, Manager Wang greeted the crowd, "Fellow villagers, my Yingxiang Restaurant has been around for almost 20 years. Today, we have a new dish—Boiling Fish Slices. It's absolutely a new dish that none of you have ever tasted or even seen before. If any customer who comes in today is willing to try our Boiling Fish Slices, we'll also give you a complimentary serving of our signature beef. Please come in! Please come in!"
Despite the warm welcome from Manager Wang and his staff, quite a few people still entered the store.
"Boiling fish slices? Fish slices?" Lan Yamei rolled her eyes and thought for a moment. "Could it be that they copied my recipe?" She stepped out the door and headed towards Manager Wang's shop.
The waiter at the door tried to stop Lan Ya Mei, but Manager Wang pretended to be magnanimous and said with a smile, "Guests are guests, so don't be rude."
Lan Yamei didn't stand on ceremony and ordered the boiled fish fillets directly. The first thing served was a plate of thinly sliced braised beef. Lan Yamei tried two pieces and thought it tasted good.
Immediately afterward, the boiling fish slices were served. Looking at the fish in front of him, he was dumbfounded. This! Isn't this the new product that was supposed to be a big seller today? How could Manager Wang have...?
No need to taste it, the aroma is exactly the same as mine. The plating, the oil drizzle, it's practically identical to what I made! But I was the only one in the kitchen at the time; everyone else was busy grilling! Could it be that Manager Wang also has a time traveler here? And knows how to slice fish?
Seeing Lan Yamei's suspicious expression, Manager Wang said with a hint of smugness, "Manager Lan, won't you try some?"
"Oh, okay, eat, eat." Lan Yamei realized she had lost her composure and picked up her chopsticks to eat. The taste was exactly the same! This was even stranger. What was going on? With her mind preoccupied, Lan Yamei paid the bill and left after only a few bites.
Watching the other person leave, Manager Wang spat and continued to greet the guest with a smile.
Back at the shop, Lan Yamei immediately gathered everyone together and said dejectedly, "We can't serve today's new dishes."
"Why? The fish have already been delivered." Er Gou didn't understand.
"So many customers wanted to eat there yesterday, business should have been good today. Why aren't you selling anymore?" Tie Tou asked, puzzled.
Lan Ya Mei sighed and looked at everyone, saying, "Manager Wang on the other side somehow got hold of the secret recipe, and our fish have been intercepted!"
"What? How is that possible? We've never seen you cook fish like this before. There's absolutely no way anyone else could do it," Tie Niu said anxiously.
"Manager Lan, what exactly happened?" Er Gou's wife asked anxiously.
"Everyone, don't panic. I haven't figured out the situation either, but we can't sell this dish. New products have to be branded as new! If others have it, we can't have it too!" Lan Yamei could only accept her bad luck.
"Alright, I'll listen to the manager." Er Gou didn't know much about business, but he knew that Manager Lan had her reasons.
When everyone was looking dejected, Lan Yamei said, "Tonight we're going to introduce a new product, called Paper-Wrapped Fish. Tie Tou, you and the brothers should promote it well tonight. Er Gou, go and buy a few dozen sheets of high-quality oil paper, and I'll teach you how to make paper-wrapped fish right away."
Then he said to Tie Tou, "Tie Tou, go to the blacksmith's shop and buy five iron plates. The thinner the better, but they can't be deformed. They don't need to be too big; the width should be just right to fit on our grill, and the length should be about the length of the fish in our tank. Hammer a groove in the middle of the iron plates to make sure they don't leak when filled with soup."
"Understood, I'll go take care of it right away." After saying that, Tie Tou hurried out to buy things.
Are there new products today? Everyone was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and no longer looked downcast. They all went back to work seriously.
Qiu Zeyu and Wang Fengyang went out to practice their martial arts before dawn, unaware of all the things that had happened at the shop. Lan Yamei didn't want to tell them either; the more people knew, the more they would worry.
Standing in the kitchen, Lan Yamei carefully recalled the paper-wrapped fish she had eaten and seen, and roughly figured out a way to make paper-wrapped fish.
Then, I prepared minced ginger, scallion segments, garlic slices, chopped celery, diced pork belly, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, onions, potatoes, and bean sprouts.
Er Gou moved quickly and ran back with a bundle of oil paper. Lan Ya Mei took out a sheet, cut it into four pieces, and gave one piece to Er Gou and his wife, saying, "I'm only teaching you two this skill. Watch me do it and then you'll do the same."
And so, the three of them fiddled around in the kitchen for forty or fifty minutes.
Finally, the kitchen door opened. Er Gou brought out three dishes one by one and invited everyone to taste them.
Unwrapping the oiled paper cloth, a fragrant aroma immediately filled the air, and the soup bubbled and simmered. While it was still hot, a handful of chopped scallions were sprinkled on top. After everyone had eaten their fill, they still couldn't tell which dish was made by Manager Lan.
"Okay, let's do it this way tonight. It's almost noon, so let's work hard and make sure we don't lose to them."
"Good! Go! Go! Go!" everyone shouted in unison.
Despite the staff's hard work, the lunch business was still bustling with customers, but Lan Yamei felt uneasy. In this era, there's no such thing as intellectual property rights, and therefore no such thing as plagiarism. Even if she could bring all the food here, other restaurants would quickly copy it. If that didn't work, how could she possibly stand out and overtake Hua Man Lou?
Lan Yamei unknowingly walked to the place where Qiu Zeyu and Wang Fengyang were practicing martial arts in the suburbs.
Seeing her from afar, Qiu Zeyu came up to her with a smile and asked, "You look so worried, is business not good at the store?"
Lan Yamei, her shoes twirling over pebbles on the ground, said irritably, "Sigh, business is alright."
"Business is doing alright, why aren't you cheering? Tell me, what happened?"
"How can one achieve uniqueness?"
"I don't know much about business, but when it comes to martial arts, I have a lot to say." Qiu Zeyu sat down by the embankment, and Lan Yamei sat down to listen.
"To stand out in the martial arts world, you need your own unique secret technique. This unique technique is something that others don't know, and it's not something that anyone can learn just by practicing diligently and studying hard. Do you understand?" Qiu Zeyu really didn't hide anything.
"A unique secret technique?" Lan Yamei listened intently, muttering to herself as she fell into deep thought.
Seeing this, Qiu Zeyu did not disturb them and got up to walk towards Wang Fengyang.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
