Baozi Xishi's Struggle

The Hu Bing here is very big. An adult man can be full with two. Shen Yu tore the little meat from the fried quail, ate a vegetarian Bing and drank some herbal tea, and he felt full.

The three Li family members finished eating five sesame Hu cakes, and then shared a vegetarian cake among themselves. The fried rabbit meat was not much to begin with, so they shared it all out. They also ate two fried quails each before stopping and slowly drinking the herbal tea in the bowl.

Yu Cheng licked his greasy lips, his face full of satisfaction and longing: "Fried rabbit meat is so delicious, it would be great if I could eat it every day."

Yutao also nodded and agreed: "Sesame Hu pancakes are also delicious, fragrant and crispy, with lots of sesame seeds."

Although Li was also satisfied with the meal, she said with a look of pain on her face, "It's delicious, but if we eat like this every day, we'll have to become beggars in a few meals. They're all jade branches, so just buy some sesame Hu cakes, and also buy quail and rabbit meat. With the delicious meat and vegetables, we can spend more on cakes."

Shen Yu looked at the three people's yellow and thin faces and satisfied expressions, feeling both heartbroken and amused. After listening to Li's complaints, he hurriedly said, "Mom, when the food stall opens, we will have income every day and can eat meat every meal. I'm afraid that by then, you will be tired of eating meat."

Yu Cheng opened his mouth wide after hearing this, with a look of disbelief and admiration on his face: "Big sister, you must be joking, meat is so delicious, how can I get tired of it."

Mrs. Li was delighted when she heard this: "If we can really eat meat every day as you said, we will have a good life."

After saying that, he started to worry again: "What you said is beautiful, but can we really make money with just us?"

Shen Yu thought of the food and customers at the food stalls on the way back to the inn, and said confidently: "Mom, don't worry, you can see that on the way back today, there were many customers at the food stalls on both sides of the street. As long as people here like to eat and enjoy eating, there are many diners, and the food is good, there will be no worries about no one coming to eat."

She saw that it was getting late. They had been traveling for two days in a row. Now that they were full, they were all feeling sleepy. She and Yutao packed up the remaining food, washed up briefly, and prepared to rest.

Because it was a large bunk bed, several people could lie on it with their clothes on, and it didn't feel crowded.

Shen Yu was thinking about getting up early tomorrow and going to the entrance of the market to see what food was available in the morning so that he could decide what to sell first.

She had little capital and no shop, so she planned to set up a breakfast stall first, earn some money while also finding out the food preferences of people in the county town before preparing to open a restaurant.

I was also wondering whether the kitchen utensils and other items here were expensive, and what I should buy.

After thinking about this and that for a few days, I couldn't stand the fatigue anymore and soon fell asleep.

The next day, when it was still dark and the fifth watch drum had just sounded in the street, Shen Yu groped her way out of bed. Li was probably worried about her daughter and was not sleeping well. When she heard the noise, she also sat up.

Seeing Yutao and Yucheng sleeping soundly beside her, she quickly pointed outside the door. Shen Yu knew what she meant and was afraid that talking in the room would wake up the siblings, so she nodded. The two of them followed each other out of the room, closed the door, and left the inn.

Shen Yu left the inn and saw people walking on the street. He said to Li: "Mom, why are you up? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Li looked at the sky and said, "Are you going to the market gate? It's not even day yet. I can't rest assured letting a young girl like you go out alone. I'll go with you."

Shen Yu originally thought that it was unnecessary. In modern times, she often went on business trips and was used to being alone. She didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Just as she was about to ask Li to go back and sleep a little longer, she suddenly realized that this was no longer modern times.

Here, Li was dressed as a woman, and it would be better to go out with her. After all, it was a different time and space. A single young girl walking on the street would still be quite conspicuous, so she agreed.

It was not yet dawn, but the soup and noodle shop on the street was already open for business. The food was steaming hot and there were customers sitting at the tables eating breakfast.

Shen Yu and Li walked along the way, looking all the way, and when they arrived at the open space at the entrance of the market, there were indeed five or six food stalls on each side, some selling rice porridge, Hu cakes, oil cakes, some selling soup noodles, wontons, and one cooking a fragrant gourd soup. Bright candles were lit on the stalls, and the lights were hot. There were some wooden tables and low stools next to the food stalls. After the diners chose their food, they sat around the wooden tables and enjoyed it slowly.

Shen Yu stood aside and watched, and found that some customers were in a hurry to leave. The only things that could be taken away were various Hu cakes and oil cakes. It was really hard to swallow the dry cakes in the morning. Those soupy foods had to wait for cooking, and they could not be taken away after cooking. In the hot weather, they had to sit down and eat slowly. So he could only shake his head and leave in a hurry.

Shen Yu's heart moved. The breakfast here was rich, but not fast enough. Although it was comfortable to eat some soup early in the morning, most of the people who came to eat at the food stalls were merchants from the north and south of the market.

Some of them are shop owners and clerks from nearby shops. They have plenty of time, so they can sit down and eat slowly before going back to the shop.

But there are more merchants passing by and resting here. Merchants wait for the city gate to open and then continue on their way, or go to the canal to board the boat, or turn to the official road to continue on their way while it is cool. They don't have time to sit down and eat slowly, they just want to fill their stomachs and set off quickly.

She recalled that in modern times, when she had time in the morning, she would go to her favorite store to slowly drink porridge or eat noodles, but more often, she would buy a few buns and a cup of soy milk to take away. When she got to the company, the buns were no longer hot and the soy milk could be drunk directly. After a few minutes, she could start her busy work. It was convenient and she could eat more comfortably. Sometimes when she had to go on a business trip or was in a hurry, she would take some bread, cakes, etc. bought in advance from home, add a box of milk, and she could also eat enough to replenish her energy.

After coming here, I have never seen well-made pasta, and I have never seen pasta that needs to be fermented, probably because the method of making pasta at that time was not yet advanced.

If you sell some food that is easy to pack and take away at the entrance of the market, it should be popular.

After Shen Yu decided what to make for breakfast, he began to look for where to sell it. There was a large open space in front of the market entrance. Although there were a dozen food stalls on both sides, there was still a lot of space left. This was probably a spare space for parking the goods of the caravan when there were many caravans during the day.

Shen Yu asked the woman selling herbal tea yesterday and was told that she could set up a stall here. She thought that as long as she didn't sell the same food as other shops, it should be fine.

I wanted to just leave but felt uneasy if I didn't ask clearly, so I walked to a food stall selling rice porridge.

The stall owners are an elderly couple. The old man just cooks and serves the porridge in front of the fire, while the old woman is busy bringing the prepared porridge to the small table for the customers. After the customers have finished eating, she is also responsible for collecting money and washing dishes.

Shen Yu glanced at the porridge that was being cooked in his house. There was only bean porridge and rice porridge, with a small bowl of pickles next to it, which was probably served with the porridge. The guests who came to eat the porridge bought various kinds of cakes from the cake stall next to them and brought them over to eat. There were not many guests at the table.

Shen Yu smiled and asked the old man standing in front of the hot pot waiting for customers: "Uncle, you are busy. I want to ask you if we can set up food stalls here freely?"