Chapter 50049. What's there to be afraid of?
Vegetarian dishes are not worth the money.
Two cents can buy a big bunch, and the grocer will give you a discount if you buy more. There are large areas of wood ear and water celery in the mountains. You can just pick a few baskets in the morning and send them to the county town.
The mushrooms are bought from Miao Fulang at the market price, but they are of better quality. The eggs are laid by our own chickens, and the meat, ribs and pork offal are not worth much.
The most expensive item is the pork belly used to make braised pork, but at six cents a spoonful, you can still make a few cents.
At Lei Li's urging, the use of expensive condiments such as soy sauce was reduced - on the basis of appropriate amounts, it changed from heavy oil and salt to healthy fat-reducing.
Fortunately, the spices were all dug by themselves, and the things from the mountains were free of cost. Otherwise, with Zhou Yi's level of extravagance, he would have been scolded to death by Lei Li.
The soup is a total loss.
The soup is free, but it tastes good and can strengthen the body. I received a lot of compliments on the first day and gained a good reputation, so it can be considered a gain.
From lunchtime, I worked overtime until noon, that is, from 11 o'clock to 4 o'clock in the afternoon, plus the preparation work, the whole day was -
Five thousand three hundred and seventy-two coins.
It’s just over five taels.
I earned back a month's rent for the shop in just one day. After deducting the cost of buying vegetables and firewood, although it was a small loss, today was only the first day of opening the shop!
Without counting the odds and ends of a few cents, Lei Li hadn't realized how much he had earned. Once he did, he was shocked and counted it carefully twice more.
It really is five thousand three hundred and seventy-two coins.
A large coin box couldn't hold all the copper coins, so they had to be put in an extra cloth bag. It was heavy and felt particularly heavy in the hand.
"With our pricing, some people come in and eat for just two or three cents, with a big bowl of soup. I'm afraid I'll lose money, and I've been worried all day..."
Lei Li fondly touched the money box, listening to the jingle of the money falling from his palm into the box. He felt a sense of relief and joy in his heart. "I never thought I could really make money, and quite a lot at that."
"Small profits but quick turnover."
Zhou Yi strung copper coins together with thread. Five hundred coins to a string was equivalent to one hundred coins here. "The prices in the county town are high. Restaurants and diners sell crabs by the plate. We are the first fast food restaurant to distribute crabs on demand. The first one to eat crabs always gets the best."
"Once others see that our model can make money, they will imitate it and open fast food restaurants. This is inevitable."
"Besides, there are many experts among the people. They may cook better than us and have a richer variety of dishes. After all, people in the county know the local tastes better than us, and they have more channels and can get better quality and cheaper raw materials."
"So in a few days our business will decline and we won't make as much as we did today."
Lei Li had thought of this, of course, but it didn't matter. "I've already made back my money, so I'll just take whatever I can earn. The worst that can happen is I'll just run away and go back to the village after three months."
The shop rent can be paid annually, semi-annually, or quarterly. The shop rented by Lei Li and Zhou Yi is paid every three months, which is fifteen taels of silver.
The residential land that Lei Li bought in the village was only sixteen taels. You can imagine how expensive the prices in the county town are.
"However, our business is booming, so we can't guarantee that some foolish people will come and cause trouble."
Lei Li frowned and said, "For example, there are bugs in our soup or vegetables and they want to extort money from us. There are also people who say there is medicine in our soup that will kill people, and there are also people who want our recipes--"
"A lot of people today have said our dishes are delicious, and I haven't seen many of them before. Maybe someone is watching them."
"Don't worry too much."
Zhou Yi comforted him, "With the strength of the two of us, we can even defeat a wild boar. It's just a few people... Besides, our store is in such a noisy port. If someone causes trouble, they will easily get beaten."
"That bald guy today was pretty good. He contributed to a portion of the sales."
"really."
Lei Li nodded.
Their soup is not given away for free. If someone really causes trouble, there will be at least a few people who will help.
“Just less chili.”
Zhou Yi thought about today's dishes that were moderately salty and felt that they would be less flavorful without chili peppers. "Otherwise, they could be even more delicious. The five-color peppers are a bit lacking in seasoning, and you wouldn't let me use them, saying they were too expensive..."
“It’s expensive to begin with.”
Lei Li rolled his eyes at him, snatched the copper coins he had strung together, and put them in the money box. "Don't try to get the five-colored peppers, especially the pickled ones and the pickled bamboo shoots."
"If you want ox horns, go pick them yourself in the mountains. Don't pick the ones at home. It's not easy for them to produce fruit. If I pick them for you every day, you'll almost have them all bald."
"Dad said it tastes better with ox horns..."
Zhou Yi retorted softly, but after being glanced at by Lei Li, he silently shut up.
—
The food arrived faster than expected.
Five o'clock in the afternoon.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi closed their stall, hung a sign saying "See you tomorrow" at the door, and prepared to go home with their wallets.
The ox cart is at home in Sanlihe Village.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi went back by oxcart from Silihe Village. The owner of the cart was an old man who was quiet and accommodating. He was so quiet that he just spread his hands and stared at people when collecting money. He didn't care about the weeds growing on the road.
The old man would only scold the driver if his old cow got hungry and ate grass along the way.
The uncle and aunt in the car had gossiped about Lei Li before, but the real person was here. They didn't get close to him or talk too loudly, nor did they avoid the two of them at all. They just kept arguing and talking about all the gossip in and out of the village.
Most of them are exaggerated.
Only Zhou Yi frowned when he heard this and said, "Even if you cheated on me, you can't hit me. If you can't live together, can't you just get a divorce?"
"What you said..."
"What's wrong with getting beaten for cheating? If this were my daughter-in-law, I would beat her too. Not only that, I would also take her to her parents' house to demand compensation!"
"The child is already seven or eight years old. How can they just get a divorce?"
"It's because the man is away doing business all year round, leaving the woman at home to suffer from the abuse of her parents-in-law. It's no wonder she would cheat..."
The uncle and aunt talked at once, and somehow they turned the conversation to Zhou Yi.
"You look unfamiliar to me. Are you from the county town?"
"No, I'm from Sanlihe Village."
"What are you going to do in the county town?"
"Do a little business."
"Oh! You're doing business in the county town! Business is good. Where do you do it? What kind of business do you do? You make a lot of money, right?"
"...a small business."
"How many people are there in your family? Are you married? If not, my cousin's daughter is very pretty... My uncle's son is not bad either..."
“…”
Zhou Yi couldn't handle this kind of enthusiasm, and looked at Lei Li for help, as if he was checking his household registration, but Lei Li just looked at him with a forced smile.
What it means is that you have to deal with the problems you cause yourself.
Zhou Yi could only reply to himself: "There are four people in my family: me, my parents, and my husband. I am a son-in-law..."
“…”
There was silence in the oxcart for a moment.
Even the old man driving in front with a sullen face turned around to glance at Zhou Yi, with an expression that said, "With your physique, you want to marry into the family? You are kidding me!"
"Ouch!"
An old lady suddenly slapped her thigh, but it was the old man next to her who was slapping her leg. "Are you the son-in-law of the Lei family in Sanlihe Village?"
"It's me."
"I was wondering why he looked familiar yet unfamiliar, and he came up with Li Ge'er. Turns out he's Li Ge'er's husband. It's like a flood flushing out the Dragon King Temple, hahahaha..."
The old lady smiled a little awkwardly.
She was the one who just said she would introduce Zhou Yi to someone. When she saw Lei Li and Zhou Yi getting on the ox cart and they hadn't spoken to each other, she thought they weren't in the same group. Who knew...
It's too close to the face and too big.
The last time Lei Li and Zhou Yi went to the county town to deliver medicinal herbs, she said that they gossiped the loudest. Their main point was that it didn't matter whether they knew each other or not, they had to gossip.
It can't be called gossip either.
These are all half-truths, it would be more appropriate to call them rumors. I don't know how many rumors she has spread...
Lei Li glanced at her.
The old lady's palms suddenly became sweaty, and she blurted out, "Just now we were talking about a young woman in town who was cheating on her husband, not you..."
The old lady stopped talking abruptly.
“…”
The oxcart was completely silent.
“Ahahaha…”
"What were we talking about just now..."
"Aren't you going to the fields tomorrow to catch some scabies to eat? Let's go together later, haha..."
These uncles, aunts, and grandpas suddenly understood each other.
He looked up and down and spoke awkwardly, like a student who had skipped class. When he was suddenly called upon to answer a question, he immediately pretended to be serious, except for saying, "This ox cart is really an ox cart..."
The ox cart slowly fell silent.
Some people pretended to sleep, some pretended to study their hair, some stared at the road, and some chewed their steamed buns again and again, but no one looked up at Lei Li.
Zhou Yi's understanding of Lei Li's lethality has reached a new level.
...From now on, these uncles and aunts won’t dare to gossip about strangers, right?
—
The fork in the road between Sanlihe Village and Silihe Village.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi got off the cart. Before they had gone far, they heard bursts of relaxed breathing sounds from the ox cart, and the just silent atmosphere suddenly became lively.
Zhou Yi suddenly felt that Lei Li was quite pitiful.
It was clearly self-defense, but he became a murderer that everyone avoided, but no one said anything about the robber.
Because he is dead.
What's there to be afraid of when someone is dead? But Lei Li is still alive, and he might still kill someone.
No matter what good things he had done, no matter whether he had any intention to harm others, even if he spoke to them with a smile on his face, they always felt fear and wariness when facing Lei Li.
Even if they would ask Lei Li to go home to slaughter a pig, they would not keep him for a meal.
That's why Lei Li always has a stern face.
He looks like a cold-blooded, miserly person who strangles people at every turn and says, "If you don't obey me, I'll castrate you." He is always foul-mouthed and doesn't allow Zhou Yi to help others.
But Xiaohua, who sells flowers, was exploited and bullied by her father, and it was Lei Li who secretly gave her money.
Miao Fulang had been abused by Niu Dali before. It was Lei Li who beat Niu Dali so hard that he couldn't say a word. When Xiaobao was missing, he couldn't hide the anxiety on his face.
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