Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Li was very happy to hear this and urged, "Yutao, Yucheng, did you two hear that? All of these cartilage bones must be eaten. Don't throw any of them away. Eat them quickly."

As he spoke, he picked from his own bowl and put two large pieces of pork ribs with crispy bones into Yutao and Yucheng's bowls respectively.

Looking at Shen Yu's slender body, she put the last piece of ribs with crispy bones in the bowl into Shen Yu's bowl and said with some guilt, "You three are still immature. It's all because of your useless mother. Since your father passed away, you haven't had enough food and drink in the past few years. You haven't grown much, especially Yucheng, who is half a head shorter than Ergou, a boy of the same age in the village."

Then he said to Shen Yu, "I don't know if this rib is expensive. Forget it, we have to eat it even if it's expensive. Let's stew this crispy bone often in the future so that you can all grow taller. Although Yuzhi will be sixteen years old next year, if you eat more, you may grow taller."

The more Li talked, the more she thought it was possible. She couldn't help showing off, measuring with her hands and saying, "Tall people look more energetic, even if they are not so good-looking, they still look much better than those short and ugly ones. Look at your two uncles, they are both tall and look so energetic! Even your mother, when I was still in Lijiazhuang before I got married, was taller than the girls in the same village, and people praised me wherever I went."

The three children were just listening at first, but after listening for a while, they looked at Li's smug and ostentatious face and couldn't help laughing.

Li didn't take it seriously, and just told Shen Yu: "Yuzhi, remember to tell the butcher when he comes over again that we should send some of these crispy ribs to our house every one or two days. I will learn from your method and stew them for you to eat."

Shen Yu put the ribs in the bowl back into Li's bowl, and picked up a large piece from his own bowl and took it over, smiling and saying, "Mom, don't give us all the ribs, eat some too. These crispy bones will make Mom stronger and her waist and legs won't ache, which is good for her."

Then he pointed towards the kitchen and said, "Don't worry, mother. There is still more than half of the stewed pork rib soup in the earthenware pot, which is enough for us to eat. The price of these ribs is cheaper than that of leg meat, so you can eat them often in the future."

Li was trying to stop him from eating at first, but after hearing what Shen Yu said, she gave up and nodded, urging him, "Stop talking so much. Eat quickly. After you finish eating, we can prepare the steamed buns for lunch. If you're late, it will be terrible if we make people wait with empty stomachs."

The few of them then stopped talking and lowered their heads to eat their pork chop noodles.

After breakfast, Yucheng washed the dishes, Shenyu and Yutao made dumplings, and Li built another small stove next to the stove and cooked mung bean porridge. She sat alone in front of the stove, watching the fires on the two stoves.

The family worked quickly and well together, and in just an hour and a half, twelve baskets of buns and a large pot of mung bean porridge were ready.

The weather was still hot, so after the steamed buns had released some steam, they were not taken out of the steamer. Instead, two large, clean wooden boards were placed on the cart, and the steamers were stacked layer by layer, with six steamers in two piles. A large piece of cloth was used to surround the bottom, and they were shaken, but the buns did not move at all. The cloth could keep in heat, and it was very stable.

She moved a straw stool with a depression in the middle, put the pot of mung bean porridge onto the cart, placed it on the straw stool, covered it with a lid, and took bamboo tongs, a soup spoon, dried lotus leaves and other miscellaneous utensils. Li pulled the cart in front, just like when she set up the stall in the morning, and the three children pushed it beside her, and prepared to deliver the food.

There were only two stacks of steamers and a soup pot on the cart, which was much lighter than the full cart when the stall was set up in the morning. After walking a few steps, Li said while pulling the cart, "When we are out of the alley, just hold the steamers and soup pots. You don't have to push them. I can pull these small things with one hand."

Shen Yu and the others agreed, but he still pushed forward secretly from the back. The car was indeed much lighter than in the morning, and he could move forward easily without much effort.

Shen Yu took the booklet and started delivering it from the first store. When the shop assistant saw that it was Miss Shen who was delivering the food, he hurried over to greet her and said with a smile, "Thanks to you, Miss, I have been working in this store for two or three years, and this is the first time I can have lunch so early. I can eat hot and fragrant meat buns without even stepping out of the store. I never dared to dream of this before."

The shopkeeper also came over, and after hearing what the waiter said, he reached out and gently slapped the waiter on the back of his head, scolding him with a smile, "You only know how to talk nonsense, why don't you go and get the soup bowl? Can't you see Miss Shen is waiting to serve you the mung bean porridge? Who was the one who was shouting that he was hungry just now? Why don't you go and get it?"

The waiter shrank his neck after being slapped by the shopkeeper, and ran to the closed cabinet behind the store's counter. He came out happily holding two large soup bowls and a small bamboo basket with a shallow bottom and a large mouth.

Li took the soup bowl and filled it with mung bean porridge. The waiter took it, carefully carried it to the small table, and turned around to get another bowl.

Shen Yu followed the quantity written in the booklet yesterday, padded the bamboo basket with dry lotus leaves, put six meat buns, one vegetable bun and one red bean paste bun in it, and piled up a small basket full of steaming food. The waiter took it with a happy smile.

The shopkeeper watched from the side and thought that this steamed bun shop was really good. Not only were the prices reasonable, but the food was served earlier than that noodle soup shop. Miss Shen was always smiling and talking, which made people feel comfortable just by looking at her.

The Tan's soup and noodle shop that I often go to for lunch is far inferior to Miss Shen's.

If you go to a restaurant to eat, not only will there be a lot of people, but you will also have to wait for a while. If you want the food to be delivered, it would be fine if it was delivered late, but if the guy who delivers the noodles doesn't give him a few coins, he will turn his face away and refuse to leave, which is really unhappy.

After Shen Yu covered the steamer, the shopkeeper said with a smile, "Miss Shen, please send a portion to our shop tomorrow as you did today. Here is today's silver." As he said that, he handed over a string of seventy-eight copper coins that he had prepared long ago.

Shen Yuru did not take the money with her hands, just like she did when she was setting up a stall in the morning. Instead, she took the wooden box containing the money and handed it to the shopkeeper. She smiled and said, "Please put it here, shopkeeper. I will bring it over at this time tomorrow."

There are many shops on this street, and Shen Yu was well prepared. He delivered to all the sixteen shops in just one stick of incense.

Among these sixteen families, thirteen have booked meals for tomorrow, while the three that have not booked said that they have something else to do in the store tomorrow and they don’t know when they will be free to eat, and they still want to eat hot buns, so they will not book for tomorrow.

Shen Yu was not annoyed after hearing this, and still responded with a smile. He also said that when he delivered the meal tomorrow at noon, he would stop by to ask if they wanted to place an order for the day after tomorrow, so that the store wouldn't have to send a waiter to make another trip to place an order for the next day.

The shopkeeper was very satisfied after hearing this and sent Shen Yu out of the shop before going back.

When it was delivered to the last house, the buns had not cooled down or lost their flavor at all because they had been in the steamer with a cloth wrapped around the steamer. They were still soft and hot, just the right amount to eat. Even the porridge was still hot when the soup pot was placed on the straw mat, so it was still hot when the food was served to the last person.

After delivering the meal and returning home, Li parked the carriage and sent Yucheng to close the gate. She picked up the box of money and weighed it. She smiled and said, "This is a little heavier than what I collected this morning. There must be more than 2,000 coins in it."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Mom is getting better and better. She can even weigh the money now. She won't have to count it anymore."