Chapter 24 You and your mother look so much alike!
With the support from above, the tea stall officially opened for business two days later.
The stall was a simple, green canvas tent built against the roadside wall. Next to it stood a white-painted wooden board with a line of elegant red characters on it: Yunhe Tea House.
The words were written by Shi Xiaoai herself.
There are two small coal stoves placed side by side near the door of the tea stall, with water boiling on the stoves and emitting billowing hot steam.
There were four thermos behind the coal stove, and next to the thermos was a long table covered with a piece of blue and white checkered cotton cloth, which looked very clean and tidy.
The top of the cotton cloth was divided into two parts. On one side were twenty medium-sized enamel pots. The pots were all white with golden sunflowers printed on them. They looked very lively when placed together.
On the other side of the table were twenty large glass cups with hexagonal edges. All the cups were empty and polished to be crystal clear. Each cup was covered with a square piece of glass, which was obviously used as a cup lid.
This glass cup is also a precious item nowadays. If a family has two, it is considered respectable, and if a family has four, it is considered wealthy.
And this row of twenty together looks very attractive, and can be said to be the most eye-catching thing in this simple tea stall.
Behind the long table stood two small low tables, each with four small stools. Although it was obvious at first glance that they were old, they didn't look ugly because they had been repaired neatly and wiped clean.
A little further inward, there are five small foldable stools for backup.
This is all the furnishings in the tent.
Outside the tent, Director Yu brought all the office employees who were working today to come and support Shi Xiaoai. They also brought a long string of firecrackers.
The sound of firecrackers attracted a lot of onlookers.
Amid the sound of firecrackers, Xiao Ai shouted to everyone, "The Yunhe Lane Convenience Tea Shop is officially open today! This is a convenience measure for our street, providing a place for neighbors and passers-by to rest in this cold weather.
Everyone is welcome to come sit down, rest, and chat. We provide boiled water and large bowls of tea. Boiled water is two cents per teapot, and fragrant tea is three cents per cup. These are all at cost price, mainly to provide convenience for everyone.
Selling large bowls of tea is not a new business, it has existed since ancient times. However, the government has not encouraged it in recent years, so it is no longer common on the streets.
Shi Xiaoai talked for a long time, and the onlookers noticed one sentence, which is - this is a government-run thing.
That means it is perfectly legal to sit inside, drink tea, and warm up, without having to worry about being pulled out for questioning by the security team or patrolling police.
Soon someone came in.
"Give me a cup of tea," the man said, handing over a nickel.
"Okay." Shi Xiaoai said as she took out a small wooden box from the drawer, then took the coin and put it in, then took out two one-cent coins from it and handed it back.
While she was giving people change, the two little tails following her had already started to get busy.
Mingxi stood on tiptoe and pinched a handful of wild tea from the ceramic jar on the corner of the table, while Mingrui quickly handed the glass to his sister.
Mingxi put the tea leaves in the cup, and the brother and sister handed the glass to Shi Xiaoai, and then looked at her eagerly together.
Shi Xiaoai took the teacup, picked up the thermos from the side and poured boiling hot water into it. The wild tea rolled in the hot water and soon gave off a pleasant fragrance.
"Hey, what kind of tea is this? It smells delicious!"
The man who ordered the tea was clearly an expert. He took the cup and didn't leave immediately. Instead, he held it up to the light, staring at the unfurling leaves inside. He nodded in satisfaction and praised, "This tea is good! I think it's much better than the green tea you get at the grocery store for 65 cents a bag."
"I hope you'll come often in the future." Shi Xiaoai said with a smile: "You can have a refill of tea, Master, take your time."
Seeing her good service attitude, the man smiled and agreed, then walked into the tent with the teacup.
If there is one, there will be two.
When the onlookers heard the man praising the tea, a few more people came to join in the fun, and soon half of the twenty empty teacups on the table disappeared.
There were also several fewer empty enamel pots.
While the mother and her two children were busy inside, Director Yu and Liu Hongxiang were watching at the door.
They had wanted to go forward to help, but were stopped by Shi Xiaoai.
So they simply stood outside and watched, which was also a way to support Shi Xiaoai. They told passers-by at any time that this was a public enterprise and that no one should try to take advantage of it and come over to cause trouble.
Director Yu and his colleagues didn't stay for too long. They left after making sure that the three women could run the stall.
After the initial bustle, the tea stall quickly returned to calm.
After the last tea drinker left, Mingrui and Mingxi busied themselves collecting the cups and wiping the table, while Shi Xiaoai pulled out two large basins from under the table and began washing the cups.
There is no running water at the tea stall, so Xiao Ai tried every possible way to ensure it is clean.
There are two basins under the table, one is used to store used teacups, and the other one contains clean water.
When a certain number of teacups have been collected, she will pour the water from the basin into the cups to wash them. After washing, the cups will not be used immediately, but will be boiled in a large pot on the stove to sterilize them at high temperature.
Although the two children were clamoring to help, Xiao Ai actually didn't let them do anything. She just gave them some small tasks to give them a chance to participate.
Just kidding, they are all kids under five years old, this is not the way to use child labor.
Fortunately, there wasn't much work at the stall, and she could handle it all by herself.
Just as Shi Xiaoai was squatting behind the table washing the cups, someone knocked on the table behind her, and then a woman's voice shouted from above: "Pour me a cup of tea!"
"Okay, please wait a moment." Shi Xiaoai agreed and stood up.
She wiped her hands with a clean towel, then took the glass from the table and began to add tea leaves, while quoting the price clearly: "Tea is three cents a cup, refills are available."
After saying that, she looked up and prepared to collect the money.
But the woman in front of him didn't show any intention of giving money, and she didn't even look at the teacup.
Instead, he stared at Shi Xiaoai and looked her up and down, with a look of deep scrutiny in his eyes.
After a while, he sighed and said, "You and your mother look so much alike!"
Shi Xiaoai put down the teacup in her hand and also looked at the woman in front of her.
He looked to be in his fifties or sixties, with short, gray hair. He was short, with a long, thin face. Perhaps from years of calculating, deep wrinkles appeared between his eyebrows and around his eyes.
The corners of his mouth turned down, his cheeks were sunken, and he looked mean no matter how you looked at him.
Although no one introduced her, the moment Shi Xiaoai saw the woman, she already knew who she was - Shi Laoer's wife, the biological mother of the original book's heroine Shi Xiaomei.
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