Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Old Man Yang put down his pen and asked, "Miss Shen, my wife said that your meat buns taste good. I wonder if you could send us a few after closing the stall every day these days? My wife sprained her waist and has difficulty getting up or lying down. If you cook some rice porridge every day and eat with buns, it will be easier for her to eat."

Shen Yu held the wooden board and replied with a smile: "What's the trouble? My home is in Liushu Lane in front, and it's only a few steps away. I wonder how many and what kind of fillings Uncle Yang wants every day. After closing the stall every day, I can ask my brother Yucheng to deliver it to me. He just followed me out today to get to know the way."

After hearing this, Mr. Yang smiled happily, as if relieved, and said, "That's great. Thank you Miss Shen in advance."

After that, he took a quick look around the room, then lowered his voice and complained quietly, "Miss Shen, you don't know, I'm not very good at cooking. I'm in a mess when it comes to cooking, and it's miserable. You're helping me a lot by sending me some buns every day. Please don't tell my wife that I don't want to cook."

Shen Yu also nodded quietly and smiled, which was considered as his agreement.

Old Man Yang went into the house and discussed with his wife. They decided to deliver ten buns every day, four juicy meat buns, four vegetable and mushroom buns, and two red bean paste and candied date buns.

Uncle Yang decided on the quantity and agreed to deliver it for five days first. After five days, he would see how his wife's back injury had recovered. If she couldn't cook, he would continue to deliver more.

After that, he asked Shen Yu to wait and wanted to go to the kitchen to get the money bag for buying vegetables. Shen Yu stopped him and said with a smile: "Uncle Yang, don't worry, wait until the buns are delivered before paying. We can settle the bill together in five days. Your home is here, with such carefully cared flowers and plants, and such a beautiful courtyard. Can you still leave it for a few buns? I don't believe it."

When Mr. Yang heard this, he laughed happily, looking like a child who was praised.

Seeing that everything was settled, Shen Yu and Yu Cheng were about to go back. Old Man Yang saw them off to the door and watched the siblings walk out of the alley before he closed the gate in a very good mood.

When the siblings returned home, Mrs. Li had already prepared the hot noodle soup.

Because we have to get up in the middle of the night to set up the food stall, and by the time we get back from work, it’s already past breakfast time, so the whole family is really tired and hungry.

In order to eat faster, Li made her specialty, mixed noodle soup.

Although the method is the same as before, it is obviously richer in content and tastes much better.

The black and easily scattered mixed noodles are gone, replaced by snow-white, smooth and chewy pure wheat noodles, added with fragrant poached eggs, green vegetables, yellow bean sprouts, and fried tofu that are golden on both sides. Two large spoonfuls of broth are specially scooped into the soup and boiled for a while. The soup becomes fragrant and rich, with an enticing aroma.

Shen Yu was busy all morning, but was really hungry. He washed his hands and sat down to eat. While eating, he praised: "Mom, your cooking skills are getting better and better. This dough is really chewy, smooth and delicious."

Li was praised by Shen Yu, and her eyes narrowed into a line. She boasted proudly, "That's right, my cooking is delicious, but my family didn't have enough money before, so I couldn't put these good things in the noodle soup."

Several children burst into laughter, and Mrs. Li was not annoyed. The atmosphere at the dinner table was warm and cheerful.

After finishing the meal and cleaning up, it was almost noon.

Li didn't let Shen Yu do it, and asked her to watch from the side. She kneaded the dough and then kneaded it with Yutao.

Shen Yu also wanted Li and Yutao to work together, so that they could do more work faster. After all, her production capacity was limited.

Shen Yu watched Li add flour and water into the basin. She had learned to do it twice and now she was very good at kneading the dough and had a good idea of ​​how to do it.

Shen Yu watched for a while and felt that there was nothing wrong, so he felt relieved and told Li that he wanted to go to the street to see how the shops solved the lunch problem.

Since Li came to the county town and started a food stall with Shen Yu, she made money. Unconsciously, she had regarded Shen Yu as her backbone and seemed to think everything she said made sense.

After listening to Shen Yu's idea, she immediately agreed and urged him, "Then don't just stand there and watch. What could go wrong when Yutao and I are kneading dough? Go and have a look. If the store can really order our buns, we can make more money. We have nothing to do after closing the stall, so it would be great if we can make more money."

Shen Yu smiled and agreed, then he straightened his clothes, took a bamboo hat to protect himself from the sun, closed the gate, and headed straight for the street market outside.

The street in front of the market is quite spacious, with shops of various sizes on both sides. Judging from the age of the houses, some are newly built, while others are old. I think because of the development of this market, shops opened in other places in the county town have gradually gathered here and opened branches.

Shen Yu walked slowly along the shaded area on the street, looking carefully at the shops along the street. She wanted to ask the shops on this street first, try small-scale meal delivery first, and then consider ordering meals from the shops in the market.

It was already noon, the weather was hot and not many people were walking on the streets. It was the time when all the shops were idle and preparing for lunch.

Although there are many shops on this street, there are not many restaurants. Shen Yu only saw two noodle shops making noodle soup and a cake shop. The only other place was the empty space on the corner where some people pushed carts to set up stalls selling chicken and duck skewers.

Shen Yu was a little confused. Why were there no decent restaurants on this street?

At this time, a waiter happened to be delivering food to a cloth shop with a lunch box.

After the waiter left, Shen Yu walked into the store. The waiters and the shopkeeper were busy setting up a small table for dining in the corner.

Seeing a customer coming in, the shop assistant hurriedly put down the small table in his hands and came over to greet the customer. He smiled and asked, "Miss, what kind of fabric do you want to buy?"

Shen Yu smiled and shook her hand, apologetically saying, "Excuse me, I'm not looking for fabric."

The shop assistant was not angry after hearing this, but still had a kind smile on his face and asked again: "May I ask what's the matter, young lady?"

The shopkeeper heard that the customer was not looking for cloth, and fearing that the clerk might not handle the situation properly, he stopped and walked over. When he saw Shen Yu, he smiled and said, "Oh, isn't this the girl who got up early to set up the bun stall at the market? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Customers came and went to buy buns all morning. Shen Yu was busy with his work and couldn't recognize them all. He just felt that the shopkeeper looked familiar and thought that he had bought buns from his stall.

She smiled and said, "Thank you for your courtesy, boss. I came here to ask you how you and your staff eat lunch this afternoon."

The shopkeeper laughed when he heard this, and said helplessly: "What else can we eat? It's just some noodle soup and pancakes. There are only noodle shops and pancake shops on this street, so there is no choice."

The waiter beside him also said, "Yes, this is what we eat all the time. Even though the boss is kind and makes sure we have enough to eat, this is all we eat every day."