Chapter 108 He opened a noodle shop without really knowing what was going on.
The stove was connected to the kang (a heated brick bed), and the hotter the stove, the warmer the kang became. Before she knew it, it was the next day. Liu Ye locked the door and was about to go to town. When she passed by Wang Dani's house, Wang Dani stopped her at the door.
"Wait a minute, are you going to the market? I'm going too. We can go together. Wait for me a moment while I go inside to get my basket."
After Wang Dani finished speaking, she quickly ran into the house. Liu Ye pouted and walked away quickly. "I'm not waiting for you!" she thought. By the time Wang Dani came out of the house with the basket, Liu Ye was long gone. She was so angry that she chased after her!
Wang Dani chased after Liu Ye to the village chief's door, but couldn't catch up. With a quick thought, she went into the village chief's house. A little while later, she and Wu Xincao came out carrying baskets. The two walked along, whispering to each other, their eyes full of calculation and their faces full of mischievous smiles, as if they were plotting against someone again.
Liu Ye, who had already arrived in town, found many people on the street, in groups of three or five, all looking worried and talking about something. She overheard a bit, and it seemed to be about food.
"Oh dear, this is really killing us! In such a big town, there's only one grain store open. They don't have any coarse grains, and rice and flour are ridiculously expensive. Who can afford them? And the government doesn't care. Is the imperial court trying to starve us poor folks?" the woman cried, her face full of bitterness.
The old woman nodded with tears in her eyes and said, "That's right! Yesterday, my son went to Shuangxilian Store and bought rice. It cost two taels of silver per catty, which is ridiculously expensive! My son bought five catties of rice with the silver. There are twelve of us in the family. I cook a small handful at a time, and the rice disappears as soon as it hits the pot. I drink a lot of water, and I pee twice and it's all gone. We're so hungry that we're trembling all over. If this continues, I think we'll all have to eat tree bark!"
"Hey, have you heard? The old Wang family on our back street, the old man and woman both starved to death, and so-and-so's second daughter also starved to death. I heard that quite a few people in the village have starved to death, either old people or children."
"I heard that, I also heard that Old Zhao's youngest son starved to death, oh oh oh, beep beep beep..."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ye realized what was going on. Just two days ago, three grain stores were open, but now only one remains. What happened? Why can't the grain from the south be transported here? If this continues, how many people will starve to death!
She did have grain in her spatial storage, but she couldn't sell it. The grain stores had no grain to sell. She had grain; wasn't that just courting death? She definitely wouldn't take it for free. She wasn't some saintly white lotus; she pitied others, but who pitied her? The original owner of this body, that silly girl, starved to death. If all else failed, she would open a noodle shop. Whoever could afford it could eat there; if they couldn't, they could starve to death—it wasn't her problem. Okay, that's settled. Besides, everything was readily available in the noodle shop, and there was firewood in the backyard.
When Liu Ye arrived at the shop, she started tidying up inside and outside. After sweeping the snow in front of the shop, she closed the door, took out tables, chairs, pots and pans from her space, and prepared to try making noodles.
In her previous life, she often made noodles. She knew how to make homemade hand-pulled noodles, but she didn't know how to make ramen in restaurants. Ramen requires a higher level of skill, so she would just make hand-pulled noodles instead.
Liu Ye waved her hand towards the ground and took out a large bag of flour from her spatial storage. She filled a large basin with flour, kneaded a large dough, and started kneading noodles. After kneading the noodles, she heated oil in a wok, sprinkled some chopped green onions, and started cooking. After cooking the noodles, she looked at the large pot of noodles and began to worry about how to sell them.
Should she go outside and shout it out? Otherwise, no one will know the noodle shop is open. Yes, she should have someone outside shout it out.
Liu Ye opened the door and stood at the entrance. She took a deep breath and shouted loudly into the street, "The noodle shop is open! Folks who want to eat noodles, come in and have some!"
Liu Ye's shout was like a bomb thrown into the street, causing people to rush towards the noodle shop: "I want noodles, give me a bowl, how much is a bowl?"
Liu Ye turned around and quickly ran into the shop, otherwise she was afraid of being trampled to death. Good heavens, her shout attracted more than 100 people: "50 coins a bowl of noodles, please sit down if you want to eat, I will serve you noodles right away."
When everyone heard that a bowl of noodles cost only 50 coins, it was more expensive than before. In the past, a bowl of noodles cost 10 coins, but now it was cheap, as wheat flour cost 2 taels of silver per catty.
"Give me a bowl," the old woman said as she rushed into the house and quickly found a seat.
"Give me a bowl too." The uncle who spoke quickly went inside to find a seat.
Before long, all the seats were filled. Liu Ye would collect the money, serve a bowl of noodles, and deliver it. The process was a bit slow, and some customers got impatient and simply came to get their own noodles. Once one came, another followed. Eventually, all Liu Ye had to do was collect the money, scoop the noodles out of the pot, and the customers would take them to their tables to eat.
The pot of noodles sold out quickly, but there were still many customers. Liu Ye quickly kneaded the dough, cut the noodles, and cooked the next pot. The customers waiting to eat the noodles saw that she couldn't manage on her own and was having a hard time kneading the noodles, so they took over to help her knead the noodles. Some of the customers who were waiting for their noodles were also anxious and came over to help her tend the fire.
Liu Ye wasn't idle either. She quickly kneaded two more basins of dough, lit another large pot on the fire, heated oil in the pot, and cooked noodles. She sold pot after pot of noodles like this until the sun set and it got dark. Only after the last customer left did she sit down to catch her breath.
Oh dear, Goddess Nuwa is exhausted today. Actually, she's not too tired, just incredibly busy. Ever since she drank the spiritual spring water, she's had plenty of energy. If there are just as many people tomorrow, she won't be able to handle it all by herself. She can't always rely on her guests for help.
"Miss Liu, may I come in?"
Liu Ye looked at the man standing at the door. Wasn't this Sun Erdan, the owner who sold her the shop? "It's Boss Sun! Please come in. What brings you here today?"
Sun Erdan came in from outside with a smile: "I came in this afternoon, but I saw that there were a lot of people in the noodle shop, so I didn't dare to come in and disturb you."
When Liu Ye heard that he had arrived in the afternoon, she wondered if he had been there for half a day. Did he have something to discuss with her, or did he regret selling the noodle shop and, seeing how successful it was, want to buy it back? "Boss Sun, please have a seat. Is there something you need from me?"
Sun Erdan scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly and sat down on a stool. "Actually, it's nothing. I noticed you don't seem to know how to make noodles very well, and you can't manage it all by yourself. I wanted to ask... do you need any help? I'll come and help you out..."
Liu Ye immediately agreed, as if it were a godsend: "Yes, you can see I can't manage all this by myself. I just made the noodles haphazardly, and the last pot turned into a dumpling soup. It would be great if you could come and help. I'll pay you whatever others pay. I don't know how much wages are paid outside, so just name your price."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com