North and South groceries

Zhao Qi said that Luo Erniang was very aggressive in spending money. This statement was not completely unreasonable. Even if ordinary people have money on hand, they still have more reliable sources of information. When investing, it is inevitable that they still have to keep a hand.

Especially in the seventh century A.D., when the land was vast and sparsely populated, and it was in the western city beyond Liangzhou City, housing prices and land prices were not high. Locals basically had land and houses, and outsiders lived in There are not many real estate buyers here, and everyone is not very optimistic about the investment in this area.

It was also under such a general environment that Luo Erniang was able to purchase many properties in Liangzhou City at a relatively low price.

At this time, Liangzhou City is not very big. Basically, in the past half a year, she has gone through all the houses and properties in the city that she intends to resell, and bought the ones that are suitable. The remaining ones are either priced too high , or other issues.

When those Chang'an people rushed to Liangzhou and wanted to set up a property here, they couldn't find a few decent ones after searching. Most of the good properties were bought by the Lishi Luo Erniang.

For a while, some people speculated, why did Luo Sanlang build a road from Lishi County to Liangzhou City not far away from Lishi County? Is it for this reason?

"You guys underestimate Luo Sanlang too much." One day, in a restaurant in Liangzhou, several people were discussing this matter, and the restaurant owner said disapprovingly: "If he wants to make money, Naturally, there are ways, so why bother."

There are also rumors in Liangzhou City that there is also a sister's restaurant in Chang'an City. The order is tens to hundreds of catties, and the family servants go to pick up the goods, and they have to use a load to pick them up.

What kind of people are the brothers and sisters of the Luo family? If they want to make money, why do they need such stupid methods as building a road across thousands of miles.

In Chang'an City, Aunt Luo also heard about this not long after, saying that Er Niang spent a lot of money in Liangzhou City, and bought the property in Liangzhou City in front of those who planned to buy property in Liangzhou City. Most of the properties are vacant.

Many people were talking about how boldly and boldly Na Luo Erniang spent money. Looking at An Jing, a little lady, she made a lot of money without blinking her eyes.

The aunt is also a bit funny to hear it, she also knows that the second mother is indeed a bold one, you look at her as if she is a bit weak, she kills chickens and geese without even blinking her eyes, on the contrary, the aunt is not as good as she.

What's more, Erniang once told her that she didn't want to marry. In the past, the aunt only felt that her words were too childish. How can the little lady not marry when she is old? Now she wants to come, but she doesn't want to marry. Dare to think, but Erniang dared to think, and she should dare to do it, especially with Luo Yong's support behind her.

"Auntie, do you think this minced meat is ready?" On the other side, a woman put down the mallet in her hand, lifted the sweat towel hanging around her neck and wiped the sweat from her forehead, and asked the auntie.

Aunt Luo walked over, stretched out her hand to pick up some minced meat, twisted it with two fingers, and said: "It needs to be beaten for another quarter of an hour."

"Hey." Hearing that, the woman waved the mallet and continued to beat.

This woman was just introduced by Yalang a few days ago. In order to avoid making troubles, Aunt Luo, except for Xu Dalang's eldest son who was first brought here from Lishi, the rest are all women, some are older and some are young. Yes, a lot of new hires have been hired during this period, and there are already more than ten in total.

With so many people working, plus they started making tofu and selling tofu earlier, this stall took up a lot of space, so Aunt Luo rented a small one in Chonghuafang, not too far from Guangdefang. In the yard, the place where the workers worked was moved to this side.

There is a well in the yard. The house is not very new, but the yard is spacious enough and the rent is reasonable. From here to Guangdefang, you only need to walk through a not very long street.

"Is this load two hundred skewers?" A young woman was wearing marinated skewers in the corridor, and Erniang asked her when she saw that she had already put on two buckets, which were covered with clean linen.

"180 strings." The woman raised her head and responded, her hands kept moving.

"Understood." Aunt Luo nodded, and said again: "I'll take the burden to the shop first, and you should hurry up, these things need to be sent to the shop before the curfew."

This burden of 180 stewed skewers is not light.Not everyone can do the work of threading skewers. Aunt Luo had other women do it before, either because she was not sure, or because she always cared about things for her and wanted to cut down a few skewers. Well-intentioned, but not in line with my aunt's wishes. The woman I hired recently is not bad, she has good hands and quick work, and she knows how many braised skewers she wears in each bucket.

Aunt Luo basically doesn't look after the shop very much now, and the sales are mainly left to the young couple of Xu's family, and they also hired two people to help them.

Although she can trust the Xu family, she has to know how many things she takes every day. She has also developed the habit of keeping accounts. It is always easy to ask a word. When the auntie stayed at the shop all day long, there would often be some literate ladies who went to their shop to buy food. If the auntie asked them these things, the girls would be happy to teach them. she.

"Auntie, what are you carrying stewed skewers?" Aunt Luo had just walked to the vicinity of the West Market, and was stopped by someone before she reached Guangdefang.

"Why don't you go to the shop to buy it?" Aunt Luo laughed.

"Since you meet me, you can sell me a few skewers." The woman smiled.Her family opened a fabric shop in the West Market, and business was good at this time of the afternoon, so they couldn't leave. At this time, seeing Aunt Luo passing by carrying a load, she stopped her.

"Then how many do you want?" Aunt Luo carried the burden to the door of her cloth shop.

"Three." The woman asked her husband to continue to greet the customers in the store, while she ran out to buy stewed skewers.

"Auntie is here? Auntie, bring me two stewed skewers too." Someone shouted from the nearby shop.

"Hey, I'll buy a few too."

"Bring me five."

"I want three."

"..."

When Aunt Luo took up the burden again and went to Guangdefang, more than half of the brine skewers in the two wooden barrels had been sold, and there were more than 100 copper coins on her.

After deducting the cost, the money is enough for her to pay a hired worker a month's wages. She can earn this money just by doing this every day. After a month, there will be more after paying all the hired workers.

So she has to go this way almost every afternoon recently. The people in these shops may not even think about eating stewed skewers in the morning, and they are too busy in the afternoon. , They can't reach here again, so every time Aunt Luo walks by with a burden, someone will ask her to buy stewed skewers.

With copper coins in her arms and a burden on her shoulders, Aunt Luo walked briskly on the streets of Chang'an City.

I heard that Luo Erniang started a cashmere workshop in Liangzhou City, and that she bought a lot of real estate in Liangzhou City. Aunt Luo was actually a little envious. Hearing her news there, he felt very happy in his heart.

I don't know if Luo Erniang plans to focus on running the cashmere workshop in the future, but for Aunt Luo, this sister's restaurant is her only career.

From the beginning, when Luo Yong asked her to work in Xu's guest house, her wheel of fortune began to turn. This restaurant is her destiny, and she loves this destiny very much, and regards it as her own. final home.

Luo Yong was not partial, he gave Luo Erniang a huge amount of money, and even built a road to Liangzhou City. He also gave the aunt and sister a food shop, and many recipes that she had never heard of before.

The aunt still remembers that day, when Saburo solemnly handed over a small book to her, the bloodshot eyes were all over her eyes.He said that sisters of these prescriptions can slowly ponder and experiment, or they can handle it by themselves. The situation in Chang'an City is complex and changeable, and everything must be done with one's own safety as the most important thing. Money and food prescriptions are things outside the body.

……

When night fell, the women who helped the workers moved all the things made in the yard over there to the shop. Some lived close, and some went home, and some lived far away, or tomorrow morning. Those who want to get up and work live in the courtyard of Chonghuafang.

The busiest hours at Auntie’s restaurant are afternoon and evening. In the afternoon, the two young men from the Xu family are mainly in charge. In the evening, the aunt and the eldest daughter of the Zheng family will usually come to help, unless they have other plans. I have to be busy with other things, such as suddenly receiving a big order and having to work overtime in the yard over there.

"Let's go to sister's restaurant."

"You've been here for half a month, and you're still not tired of eating?"

"You don't know? My sister's restaurant is launching another fresh food. Today is the first day. There is a discount. Buy two and get one free."

"How much money are you short of?"

"Don't dawdle, hurry up, there will be a long queue if you go late."

As a result, when these young people walked over slowly and took a look, the queue was already very long.

A few people ran to the window to have a look, and saw that there was no other change behind the counter, except that a new large open pottery pot was added, and there were strings of meatballs cooked there, some of which were slightly darker in color. , some meatballs are slightly lighter in color, the soup that boils the meatballs looks clear and translucent, but the fragrance wafting out is very delicious.

"What is cooked in this clay pot?" A young man asked Xu Xiaolang in the shop.

Xu Xiaolang turned his head and saw that it was a regular customer, so he said to him: "The white ones are fish meatballs, and the darker ones are mutton meatballs. They are springy and crispy, delicious."

"What do you use to cook this soup?" the man asked again.

"It is to use fish bones and lamb bones to cook together." There is nothing to say about this, just now when a guest asked about it, Aunt Luo said it herself.

"How much is it for a bunch?" Another scent wafted out, and the round balls were rolling and rolling in the clear hot soup. The young man outside the window couldn't help but gulped.

"Two pennies, today four pennies can buy three strings, and tomorrow there will be nothing." Xu Xiaolang's young daughter-in-law also spoke at this time. The girl had just married the Xu family and followed them all the way to Chang'an City. There is still a bit of restraint, but after doing business with the aunt and the others for more than half a year, they have basically let go of their hands and feet.

"Give me three strings." The young gentleman said without hesitation.

"Hello!" The people at the back of the line who had been listening to them quit, knowing that these guys were dishonest, they pretended to be casually looking around, and wanted to jump in line after looking at them.

"Everyone, don't blame me. This friend of mine got excited and forgot, don't blame me..." His friends hurriedly dragged people to the back of the line. It's good to get in.

These few people were queuing up, and saw a few people creeping in from the square wall not far from them, patted the dirt behind them, and lined up behind the line as if nothing had happened.

Speaking of which, these people are fighting for a bite. Although it is not a sensitive period right now, even if they are caught by Zhi Jinwu patrolling the street outside, they will not lose their lives so seriously, but a board is definitely indispensable. of.

The young people did not squint, just pretending that they did not see it.

Then the next day they heard that some students at Shuxue were fined to carry water for a month in the cafeteria of their college because they climbed over the wall without permission.

How else can we say that Tianwang is not missing, but the meatballs in Xu's guest house are really delicious, crispy and springy, delicious, the more you chew, the more delicious it is.

However, it was the bouncy and crispy meatballs that became more delicious the more you chewed them, which almost dragged Aunt Luo into a dangerous storm.

The reason is that the matter of these students over the wall to buy meatballs was taken to the court to make a fuss, saying that the merchants in Chang'an City are becoming more and more unruly now, and they don't know what method they used to seduce the students into committing crimes. night ban.

It just happened that the emperor was in a bad mood that day, and he was too lazy to listen to his nonsense. He didn't wait for others to speak, so he yelled at the official on the spot: "No, otherwise, Ai Qing will go to the sister's restaurant to discuss with Mrs. Naluo. He must not make the food so delicious."

The official was stunned by the emperor and his face was red. Many people in the court laughed, and then someone said loudly: "What's wrong with delicious food?"

"The old man has eaten the food at sister's restaurant a few times, and it tastes very good. If you want to say that Mrs. Na Luo has misbehavior, and that those students are sentenced to night ban, that is absolutely impossible." A bearded man The veteran who was completely white said so.

"The food she cooks is delicious, so what does it have to do with her character?" The people over there still wanted to struggle.

"Hey, that's absurd." The old man squinted his eyes and said slowly: "It is often said that Taoism is as human as it is human, and for a person who cooks food, he can judge his virtue from the food he cooks."

"What kind of nonsense is this?" Just because the food she cooks is delicious, then she must be a good person?

"I think it's very reasonable to say that." But at this time, someone stood up and sang against him.

"It's reasonable." Many ministers next to him reconsidered.

"How can a person who can eat like that be a person with bad conduct?" Everyone said with certainty.

"Ridiculous! It's so ridiculous!" That guy almost jumped his feet, what kind of broken court is this, these people are still unreasonable!

"It's so absurd. I can't understand this point. It's really stupid." A military officer with a general's belly laughed.With such an IQ, he is still a civil servant, and even military generals like them are dying of laughter.

In their army, those who are really strong in martial arts are usually not too bad in character. For those who are full of crooked thoughts all day long, there are a few who can calm down and practice martial arts diligently.

Besides, this guy wanted to grab that sister's food shop just because a few students climbed over the wall. With such a low-level method, most people in the imperial court didn't like him, so they deliberately used words to anger him.

"Those students should be strictly disciplined." After a farce, someone finally mentioned those students who climbed over the wall without permission.

There is no need to go up and down the line for this matter, just discipline and discipline. If the matter really becomes a big deal, the future of those young people will be worrying.

These incidents above the court are not a secret, and within a few days this incident spread in Chang'an City, and then those students who made mistakes, in addition to carrying water, were punished for another month to clean up. bathroom.

When the neighbors in Guangdefang saw Aunt Luo these days, they wanted to joke with her: "Auntie, the food you cook is so delicious, I don't believe you are a bad person."

Aunt Luo is funny and thankful. Fortunately, someone is willing to say a few words of justice for her. The court of the Tang Dynasty was not so indiscriminate. If not, she still doesn't know where she will be reduced to. Fan situation.

Aunt Luo is also very grateful to those who speak for her, but with her current meager strength, she can't do anything for those people. The only thing she can do is to eat as well as possible Just eat some.

After this incident, Aunt Luo is more dedicated to food. Maybe the ministers just said a few jokes in the court, but Aunt Luo believes that even if it is just some ordinary food, as long as it is taken seriously, as long as Cooked with care, food can also have a virtue of its own.

Ever since Mrs. Luo started to have such thoughts, the elder sister's food shop seemed to have its own energy all of a sudden, like an ignorant child who finally learned to puff up his chest.

"Delicious is a virtue."

This sentence seems a bit funny and unreliable, but it actually has a lot of truth. Behind the simple word delicious, it contains a serious and meticulous spirit, as well as a consistent It is not an easy task to treat the food under one's hands just like treating one's own virtue.