Chapter 28: Grabbing the stall
Wisps of smoke rose again above the roof of Liang Laoer's kitchen. Thick smoke floated out of the chimney and was blown away by the wind. Along with the smoke came the tempting aroma of food. It was Liu who got up and made a fire to cook breakfast.
Liu got up before dawn every day. Usually, Yunfeng Village was still in silence at this time, with only the occasional crowing of roosters.
Liu made coarse grain pancakes again today. She made two servings in total, one for breakfast for the family of three, and one to take to the county town to eat.
Later, Qianhuan also got up. After the family finished breakfast, Old Man Wang drove over with his ox cart.
Old Man Wang helped to load the things onto the ox cart, and together with Mrs. Liu, he lifted Old Man Liang onto the ox cart.
Originally, the fare for three people was 6 wen, but Qianhua gave Old Man Wang wen today. The main reason was that they brought a lot of firewood and chestnuts today, which took up more space.
Old man Wang didn't act pretentiously. He took the money and drove the ox cart to the county town.
When she arrived at the location where she had set up her stall yesterday, Qianhuan was dumbfounded. A middle-aged man selling pancakes had actually taken over her stall.
"Grandpa Wang, please wait for a moment. My stall has been occupied by someone. I will go down and ask what's going on." Qianhuan jumped off the carriage while instructing Grandpa Wang.
"Okay." Old Man Wang agreed readily.
"Qianhuan, try not to get into conflict with others. If that doesn't work, let's change positions." Liu reminded her worriedly.
"Mom, don't worry, I know my limits."
Qianhuan got off the ox cart and walked straight to the stall next door that sold vegetables, fruits and melons. She looked at the aunt from yesterday and asked, "Aunt, is the location of the stalls in this city not fixed? Can others occupy other people's stalls at will?"
"Of course not. Our stalls are basically fixed, unless someone doesn't come that day, they can use someone else's stall."
The aunt who sells vegetables ate two chestnuts from Qianhuan's house for free yesterday, so she patiently told her the rules of setting up the stall.
"Thank you for telling me, Auntie."
Qianhuan politely thanked the auntie who was selling fruits and vegetables, then turned around and walked to the pancake stall that occupied her stall.
She didn't want to cause trouble, so she tried to speak gently to the middle-aged man: "Uncle, did you go to the wrong stall? This is my stall. We just set up the stall here yesterday."
"You said the stall is yours, so it's yours? Is your name written on it? This stall is mine now." The middle-aged man yelled at Qianhuan with a fierce look on his face.
Yesterday, he set up a stall selling pancakes not far from Qianhuan's stall. He saw that people were coming and going in front of Qianhuan's stall and business was very good, but there were very few people buying pancakes in front of his stall.
He was extremely envious and always felt that Qianhuan's stall had a better location, so he decided to come early today to grab her stall.
"Qianhuan, let him take over this stall. Let's move to another place."
After all, Liu was still worried about her daughter, so she got off the ox cart. Seeing that the middle-aged man was not a good person, Liu decided to give in based on the principle of not causing trouble.
"Mom, the stall originally belonged to us, why should we give it to him?"
Qianhuan is not a pushover, she doesn't like being bullied.
"My name isn't on this stall, but your name isn't on it either. If you don't leave, I'll put my stuff in front of your stall and do business today."
Qianhuan also showed her own aura. Although she was only 13 years old, she was already 165 cm tall and looked like a little adult.
"If you dare to put things in front of my pancake stall, I will smash your stall." The middle-aged man was not to be outdone.
"Who dares to destroy the business on my territory?" A gangster's voice suddenly sounded.
"Are you the one who wants to smash the stall?" Young Master Cai looked at the middle-aged vendor selling pancakes while holding a dogtail grass in his mouth. Although he had a smile on his face, his tone was indescribably frightening.
He had just gotten up and was patrolling the streets when he saw some vendors making trouble.
"Master Cai, I didn't... I didn't smash the stall. I was just joking with them."
The middle-aged man's attitude immediately changed, and even his speech became a little stuttered.
"You occupied someone else's stall. Don't you have any idea of what's going on? Tell me why you occupied someone else's stall. Don't you know the rules here? If you can't give a reasonable explanation, don't even think about setting up a stall and doing business in this county town in the future."
Mr. Cai collects protection fees and does not allow customers to cause trouble. He also sets some rules for the vendors, one of which is that they cannot occupy other people's stalls.
Unless that person doesn't come, if he comes, he must give up the stall.
"Oh, Mr. Cai, please spare my life. I just thought that his stall had a better location. There were a lot of people coming and going here yesterday, and his stall was doing a booming business, so I wanted to set up the stall here." The middle-aged man hurriedly explained and begged for mercy.
After all this time, the other party was occupying her stall, and this was the reason. Qianhuan just found it funny.
She does not deny that a good location will indeed bring better business, but doing business does not rely solely on a good location. The key is to sell good things.
"They are coming now, why don't you get out of here quickly? Do you want me to ask my brothers to carry you away?" Master Cai yelled at the middle-aged man selling pancakes.
"I'll leave right away, right away." The middle-aged man quickly began to pack up his stall. He was afraid that he would be a step slower and anger the young man Cai in front of him.
"Master Cai, thank you for doing justice for us." Qianhuan clasped her fists to express her gratitude to Master Cai.
"You're welcome. You have to follow my rules when you're on my turf."
"However, I don't plan to keep this stall now. Since this uncle thinks that my business is good because of the good location, I will give it to him."
The middle-aged man who was packing up his stall stopped what he was doing immediately after hearing this. He looked incredulous and asked happily, "Young man, you really don't want such a good stall anymore? Are you really giving it to me?"
"Yes, I'll give it to you. It saves you from moving your stall."
"Are you sure you don't want it? Weren't you refusing to give in just now?" Young Master Cai asked with some confusion.
"If someone else takes my things, I certainly can't give them up. But now Master Cai, you have sought justice for us, and it's another matter if I don't want it."
Qianhuan explained to Mr. Cai that the meaning was actually very simple. There was no way you could steal it from me, but if I didn’t want it, that was another matter.
"When we run a food stall, the location is certainly important, but the taste and reputation of the food are more important. Having a good location does not necessarily mean good business, but having good taste will definitely mean good business. Since this uncle insists that he will have good business by occupying my place, then I wish him a lot of money." Qianhuan added.
"Mom, let's find another place." Qianhuan helped Liu get on the ox cart.
"You can set up the stall diagonally opposite the Zuixianju Restaurant on the east side. There is a good stall there." Young Master Cai caught up with Qianhuan and said.
"Okay, then I'll listen to you, Mr. Cai, and set up a stall over at the restaurant." Qianhuan said with a smile.
"Don't worry, no one will dare to steal your stall again. Whoever dares to steal it, I will not let him off easily." Master Cai patted his chest and promised.
"With your words, I feel much more at ease in the future. Thank you so much today." Qianhuan was very grateful to him in her heart.
"No need to thank me. Your sugar-roasted chestnuts taste great. I want to give some of my brothers a treat today. Just leave five pounds of chestnuts for me from the first pot. I'll come and get them right after I finish my patrol."
"Okay, I will definitely leave some chestnuts for you. This is today's protection fee, please keep it." Qianhuan smiled, took out two copper coins from her bosom and turned to hand them to him.
Master Cai took the copper coins and continued to patrol the streets with his younger brothers while collecting protection fees.
Qianhuan knew at a glance that the location that Mr. Cai mentioned was really great.
The restaurant opposite is obviously a place that only rich people can afford to eat. Her stall is located diagonally opposite the restaurant, which has both the advantage of location and the right people.
When the aroma of chestnuts drifts into the restaurant, won't the wealthy guests have to send their servants out to buy a bag of chestnuts to take back and try?
She happily helped Liu put everything in place. After the fire was lit, Qianhuan asked Liu to pour 40 kilograms of cooked sand into the pot. Today, 20 kilograms of chestnuts had to be fried in one pot, so naturally more sand was needed.
Everything was ready, and Liang Laoer sat on a high stool and started stir-frying.
As she expected, when the chestnuts were 70% to 80% cooked, the rich aroma drifted into Zuixianju through the air.
"smell good!"
"What smells so good? It smells like dessert."
"Does Zuixianju have new pastries? They smell so good. Ask the waiter to come in. We'd like to order one for our table."
As the aroma drifted into the restaurant, the young men, young ladies, masters and ladies who were having breakfast inside could not help but ask.
……
"Master, I will go ask the shopkeeper."
"Miss, I will go ask the waiter."
"Master and Madam, I will go out and ask for you."
……
"Master, the fragrance is not coming from Zuixianju. It's coming from a small stall on the opposite street selling sugar-roasted chestnuts."
"My lady, it's the aroma of roasted chestnuts."
"Reporting to the master and the lady, I have already inquired. The aroma is coming from a stall selling sugar-roasted chestnuts opposite the Zuixianju Restaurant. They are 10 cents per pound."
……
In a moment, all the gentlemen, ladies, masters and ladies dining in the restaurant knew that there was a new stall selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, and they all asked their servants to go downstairs to buy some to try.
The first pot was finally cooked, and Qianhuan left six pounds for Mr. Cai.
Thanks to his help today and thanks to him for pointing out such a good stall for me, I will give him this extra pound as a thank you gift.
The remaining fourteen kilograms were sold out in a short time.
The maids and servants who didn't buy anything could only stand in line in front of the stall and wait for the second pot to come out of the pot. They didn't want to go back empty-handed and be scolded by their master.
After collecting the protection fee, Master Cai brought a few of his brothers over to get the chestnuts. He counted out fifty copper coins and gave them to Qianhuan.
"Master Cai, thank you so much for your work at the stall today. I packed six pounds of chestnuts for you, and another pound is for you as a gift." Qianhuan took the copper coin and handed the chestnuts to him.
"Okay, I'll take advantage of you today. If anyone dares to steal your stall in the future, just tell me and I'll beat him to a pulp." Master Cai promised.
When he took the chestnuts wrapped in oil paper, he immediately spat out the foxtail grass in his mouth, picked up a chestnut, and began to peel and eat it.
The hot sugar-roasted chestnuts tasted really delicious, and the cut chestnuts were easy to peel. He didn’t have enough yesterday, so he didn’t even have breakfast today, and he was just waiting to eat the sugar-roasted chestnuts.
He gave some to each of his younger brothers.
The second pot of chestnuts was also sold out quickly. After tasting the sugar-fried chestnuts, the guests in Zuixianlou all thought they were delicious and asked their servants to buy more to take home for their families to taste.
So the third and fourth pots of chestnuts were quickly sold out.
Liang Laoer didn't expect that his sugar-roasted chestnuts were so popular, even though he kept stir-frying them and his hands were a little sore.
But seeing how popular his chestnuts were, he became more and more excited. Since he broke his leg, there was little he could do at home.
When the fifth pot was sold out, it was already past eleven o'clock.