Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Everyone had no ill intentions, they just thought Miss Shen was kind and had a sweet smile, so they all wanted to say a few more words to her. But now they saw her standing there without saying anything, and although she was still smiling, there was a look of shame and annoyance on her face. They knew that the joke had gone a bit too far, and they didn't know how to end it.

A middle-aged man who was a little older and looked more serious coughed, cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, be quiet. Jokes aside, it's not right for a young girl to have her name changed by you guys. I think you should just call her Miss Shen from now on!"

The one who came out to speak was the owner of a big shop in the market. He had some prestige. After hearing what he said, everyone stopped joking and agreed. They were ready to leave and turned back to explain to Shen Yu, "Miss Shen, you must come early to set up your stall tomorrow. We are just joking with you. Please don't get angry and not come to set up your stall."

Shen Yu had long since returned to her usual smiling expression, and responded cheerfully, "I know. I'll definitely come earlier tomorrow. Anyone who didn't buy anything today must come earlier tomorrow to buy it."

The crowd dispersed, and the family packed up their utensils, closed up their stall, and drove the cart home.

After a long silence, as soon as they got home and closed the gate, Li said angrily, "These guests are too much. They just bought buns, why did they change your name? That Xishi is not good at all. My daughter doesn't want to live like her. I am so angry."

Shen Yu couldn't help laughing after hearing this. Yutao and Yucheng were standing by and just listened to everyone praising their sister for her beauty and dexterity. They didn't understand why Li suddenly got so angry. They looked at Li with confusion, then at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu pushed Li to sit on a small stool, and smiled and comforted her: "Mom, don't be angry, those people are just joking, they said I am Xi Shi, I became Xi Shi. If it is really so effective, why do you still work so hard to do business and make money, you can get whatever you want."

Shen Yu has the soul of a modern person. She doesn't think this is something worth getting angry about. At most, she thinks that everyone is praising her too much. The original owner, Shen Yuzhi, has a pretty face and is quite good-looking, but is far from being stunningly beautiful. What everyone says is just a good-natured joke.

Li didn't see it that way. She said with a stern face and worriedly, "Yuzhi, you are still a girl, you don't understand the pros and cons of this. As a woman, reputation is the most important thing. If you are called Xi Shi all day long, and your reputation of being as pretty as Xi Shi spreads, how will you find a good husband in the future!"

Then he said bitterly: "If I can't get married, how can I face your father? How can I face him after I die? You should ignore these customers who buy buns in the future."

After listening to Li's distressing and confusing words, Shen Yu finally understood what Li was worried about. Although he didn't think he had done anything wrong, in this era, it was always better to be more careful and avoid trouble.

So she put away her contempt and said to Li seriously, "Mother, I understand. From now on, when I greet guests, I will just stay by their side. If there are any frivolous ones, you can hit them with words harshly. When people see this, they will stop joking with me."

After hearing this, Li's expression calmed down a little. Shen Yu said seriously, "However, if people judge my daughter as a frivolous woman just because of a few jokes and a name, I will not marry such a husband-in-law no matter how good it is. I want to marry someone who understands me, knows me, believes in me and loves me, and I don't care about what others say."

Li sighed and said helplessly, "It's my fault that I let you, a young girl, take care of the business in front. From today on, I will practice the arithmetic. Your grandmother taught me before, but I didn't think it was useful and didn't study it seriously. I just learned a little bit and threw it aside. Now I regret it. When you are good at it, I will stand in front of the basket to sell buns, and you can just wrap and steam them at the dough counter."

Seeing that Li had calmed down, Shen Yu asked her to sit there and rest while she and Yutao went to make breakfast.

Since they would start steaming the buns for lunch soon, breakfast had to be prepared faster, and it was just a bowl of pork rib noodles per person.

I bought those ribs when I went to the butcher shop yesterday. I saw some top-quality ribs hanging on the counter, so I bought some on purpose.

Chop the ribs into small pieces two inches long, add cold water to cover the ribs and soak them for an hour. When the blood comes out, take out the ribs and blanch them in cold water in a pot. Rinse them with hot water and put the ribs into a clay pot for stewing soup.

Add scallion knots, sauce slices, some star anise and good rice wine, a small piece of rock sugar to enhance the flavor, add enough water into the earthenware jar and cover it with a lid.

Before going to bed at night, I added enough chopped firewood to the stove and compacted it, leaving only a small air inlet. I cleaned the area in front of the stove and put the clay pot on the fire before going to bed. I kept the fire in the stove burning slightly for the whole night.

When you come back from the stall in the morning, make some wide noodles and you can enjoy the delicious pork rib noodles.

The pork ribs stew in a clay pot was ready, and the other ingredients were also ready. In just a few moments, four bowls of pork rib noodles were ready.

The noodles are wide and thin, chewy and smooth, with a golden fried egg on top, a few pieces of ribs that have been stewed to the bone with a little crispness, a handful of green boiled vegetables, and a few chopped green onions sprinkled on. The noodle soup is clear without any oil, but it smells rich and fragrant. Eating such a refreshing soup noodle in the summer will fill you up but not make you greasy.

Shen Yu was making noodles while Yutao was lighting a fire in front of the stove. Yucheng didn't wait for Shen Yu to tell him to do so before he went to the car to unload the tools for moving the stall in the morning. Li was still sulking because of everyone's jokes in the morning. Seeing that her youngest son was having a hard time moving things by himself, she put her worries aside and the mother and daughter started moving together.

Shen Yu put the soup bowl on a tray, and brought it to the small table with Yu Tao, then called Li and Yu Cheng to come and eat.

As soon as Yu Cheng sat down, he shouted, "It smells so good, it looks delicious."

Mrs. Li looked at the three children who were waiting for her and said, "Eat quickly. It must be hard for you to get up at three o'clock in the morning."

Seeing his mother picking up her chopsticks, Yucheng couldn't wait to pick up a piece of pork ribs and take a bite.

The ribs had been simmered in a clay pot over low heat overnight and had long been boneless. With a light bite, the whole piece of meat slid into the mouth. The lean meat was not tough, and the little bit of fat on the side had long been stewed as if it had melted. A rich meaty aroma melted in the mouth.

Yu Cheng said nothing, with an intoxicated expression on his face.

Li and Yutao had become accustomed to Yucheng's enjoyable expression when eating anything in the past few days and were no longer surprised. No one paid any attention to him and everyone's attention was focused on the bowl of noodles in front of them.

Yucheng finished eating the ribs and was about to throw away the bone that was still on the tip of the chopsticks. Shen Yu picked up the chopsticks and pointed at the exposed cartilage on the ribs in his bowl, and explained to Yucheng: "The white and round part of the bone is cartilage. It tastes crispy and tender. It is not only delicious, but also has many benefits. You and Yutao can grow taller by eating this."

Li originally just thought that today's pork ribs tasted very good, and had a different taste from the meat slices and meat buns he had eaten in the past few days, but there was nothing special about it.

When she heard Shen Yu say that it can make people grow taller, she immediately became interested and asked Shen Yu, "Is it true? If children can really grow taller by eating it, then will it still be useful for Yu Tao and Yu Cheng to eat it now that they are so old?"

Shen Yu nodded with a smile: "Of course it's true, I heard it from the chef in the restaurant, and I wrote it down."

He put his hands together and silently said, "Chef Lu, Chef Lu, I didn't mean to pin everything on you. I didn't say anything bad about you, I only praised you. Please protect me and don't let anything slip."