Read Novel Full Chapter 70.1 – Buy a Fake (I)
Chapter 70.1 – Buy a Fake (I)
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Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen were eagerly awaiting the weekends, and so did Xiao Feng. Unfortunately, high school students no longer had full weekends off; Xia Mian only had one day off every week.
Finally, Sunday came in—Xia Mian’s only chance to sleep in. Half asleep, she noticed her blanket being gently pulled back and something soft crawling into her arms.
She smiled with her eyes closed and lowered her head to nuzzle the child’s head with her chin. “Awake so early?”
Xiao Feng’s joyful voice rang out, “Auntie doesn’t have school today!”
“Right, Auntie doesn’t have school today, so she’ll spend the day with Xiao Feng!”
Xiao Feng rolled happily in her arms.
The aunt and nephew lingered under the covers for a while before hearing the lively sounds outside: fresh grass carp had arrived. The main ingredients for making fish tofu and fish balls were fish meat, and because the demand for their products was steady now, Xia Wenyue had already arranged with the supplier to deliver on time every day. After the fresh fish arrived, scaling and deboning had to be done by hand, usually Xia Wenyue got up early to handle it.
At first, Mao Huimei also helped early in the morning, but after getting covered in a fishy smell, Xia Wenyue refused to let her do it anymore. After all, Mao Huimei still had a job, and they worried it might affect her. On weekends, however, everyone would help out.
After getting dressed and freshened up, Xia Mian and Xiao Feng went to check the makeshift production room in the back. “So many fish?”
The sight of piling fish looked quite amazing.
Xia Wenyue, expertly handling the fish, said happily, “A few days ago, Old Jia from the compound over there introduced us to a chef. That big restaurant officially placed an order today, and the quantity is quite large.”
“And the hot pot places and barbecue stalls also order more on weekends.”
Mao Huimei also had a smile on her face, “There’s also quite a bit sold individually.”
When the stall was open, Xia Wenyue would often give some samples of their new products for the customers to try. The New Year hadn’t passed yet, and many families were eating hotpot, so they would toss the samples into their pot and immediately enjoy it. Neighborhoods nowadays were still tight-knit, and word spread fast. Before long, neighbors were coming in daily to buy in small quantities for dinner.
“I think the machine can run half a day today,” Mao Huimei laughed. “That’s 100 or 200 yuan income for the day.”
Xia Wenyue had a relaxed smile on her face, “That’s about right.”
At this rate, if they got a few more regular bulk orders, the machine could run all day and would pay for itself in less than one year.
Xia Mian said, “Second Aunt, I think you could hire two people like Old Jia to help with sales. If they bring in orders, give them a commission. That way, you can expand faster.”
Xia Mian knew Xia Wenyue was a cautious person. She had drive but wasn’t reckless, and was certainly not ready to hire people solely for sales. But offering commission on a part-time basis was a good compromise. Nowadays, anyone is eager for a chance to earn extra money.
Xia Wenyue threw the fish bones aside and exclaimed, “Hey! That’s a good idea!” Her mind raced quickly. “Old Jia has a wide network; after this order sells, I’ll see how much commission to give him, directly, so he will continue to promote us.”
Mao Huilan said, “He seems to have quite a few brothers, maybe some relatives would want to help.”
Her elder sister laughed, “Then if our orders increase, we’ll need to hire people, right?”
“Yes, we will,” Xia Wenyue said. “But we have to find trustworthy people, after all, we’re still doing the stall, and that business also needs help.”
Mao Huilan worried, “Can we hire outsiders? What if they secretly learn the recipe and start their own, like Fatty Wang’s mom? That’d be a disaster.”
Xia Wenyue obviously worried about that too, “That’s why we have to think carefully.”
Actually, division of labor was the most suitable, but their place was small, so it was hard to maintain secrecy.
“If the orders get real big,” Xia Mian said, “we’ll have to open a factory.”
After personally doing it, Xia Wenyue also realized the benefits of a factory—not just saving time and effort but also lowering costs and effectively keeping the recipe secret.
“I went to check the instant noodle factory,” Xia Wenyue said helplessly, “it probably needs 40,000 or 50,000 yuan to get it started.” She already made a decision. “Anyway, we can first hire someone to handle the carp, and the rest can be dealt with slowly.”
Xia Mian didn’t say more. Starting a business from scratch sounds easy, but there’s a lot involved. She could only offer ideas; the real step-by-step hard work was still Xia Wenyue’s.
“Sister Mian, didn’t you say you’re cooking today?” Mao Huilan eagerly said, “Hurry up, I’m hungry.”
“Just wait!”
Having promised to spend the weekend with Xiao Feng, Xia Mian planned to start by making cute food. The dough on the stove had already risen, and when the cloth cover was lifted, Xiao Feng couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow! Green, orange, yellow!”
She had stayed up late last night, mixing spinach juice, carrot juice, and pumpkin juice with milk and eggs to make colorful dough for fermentation. Now the dough had risen nicely, and alkali was added next, ready to shape little animals for the child.
“Little piggy!” Xiao Feng’s eyes lit up.
Seeing his small eyes widen like saucers, Xia Mian couldn’t resist showing off, making all the shapes she could think of for him:
“Snail!”
“Butterfly!”
“Flower!”
Xiao Feng patted the dough lovingly.
From outside the window, Xia Mian saw Mao Huizhu sleepily coming out of the east room, clearly just waking up. She gave Xiao Feng a sly smile and whispered, “Let’s scare Aunt Huizhu a bit.”
Saying that, she quickly pinched off a piece of green dough and shaped a caterpillar. Making the caterpillar was very simple: just roll the green dough into a thumb-thick strip, and use the back of a knife to press horizontal lines about two millimeters apart. Then gently squeeze along the strip with two chopsticks. Finally, cut a row of little legs on both sides with scissors, and a chubby caterpillar was formed.
For the finishing, two black sesame seeds were used for the eyes, giving it a lively look.
Once it was done, Xia Mian suddenly stretched it out in front of Xiao Feng, who was so startled he spun around and hugged her leg.
She laughed heartily.
Xiao Feng realized it was his aunt trying to scare him and couldn’t help but smile quietly.
Hearing Mao Huizhu’s footsteps approaching, Xia Mian made a shushing gesture. Xiao Feng turned around and lay on the countertop, eager to watch the show as he stared at the door.
The kitchen entrance was right by the countertop. The moment Mao Huizhu lifted the curtain, Xia Mian pushed the caterpillar toward her. “Whaaaaa, a caterpillar!”
Mao Huizhu screamed and slapped it away, then turned and ran, “Ah! Mom! There’s a big bug!”
Xiao Feng was stunned for a moment, stood on tiptoe to look at the lump on the countertop, blinked, then looked up at Xia Mian. “Auntie, it’s squished.”
Xia Mian laughed helplessly, “Yeah, squished.” What a wild child!
Xiao Feng tiptoed closer, eyes fixed on the dough in her hand.
Xia Mian smiled and teased him, “What should we make next?”
The child pursed his lips, a mischievous glint flashing in his grape-like big eyes as he whispered, “Caterpillar.”
Xia Mian laughed, “Alright, let’s make caterpillars.”
Soon Mao Huizhu dragged her sister into the kitchen. Seeing a row of green, yellow, and orange caterpillars, her eyes immediately widened.
The girl’s face lit up with excitement when she caught on and reached out, “Sister Mian, give me one!”
Xia Mian slapped her hand away, “Wait till they’re steamed, then you can have one. Raw ones squish easily.”
Mao Huilan also found it amusing, “These look so real, especially the green one—it gives you chill just looking at it.”
Mao Huizhu pointed at the green dough, “Sister Mian, make this one, make this one!”
Under Mao Huizhu’s strong insistence, they made lots of caterpillars instead of cute animals.
When the doughs were done steaming, the caterpillars crawled one by one on the steamer rack. Although their puffed-up, chubby shape was somewhat cute, some looked fierce due to deformation. Mao Huizhu immediately picked the scariest-looking one, “Sister Mian, I want that one!”
Xia Mian picked one for her and one for Xiao Feng. The two kids held them and blew on them to cool. After they cooled a bit, they refused to eat and ran with the caterpillars to the house across the street.
Xia Mian shook her head smiling and called out loudly, “The meal’s almost ready. Call Chenchen and come over quickly, okay?” While steaming the buns, she had already prepared several more dishes and planned to make an egg soup to complete the meal.
Checking the time, she remembered Ning Shaobai was on duty today. Thinking how she had made him run around for her matter, she took out an aluminum lunch box, put a few pieces of thick omelette, braised beef in soy sauce, and chicken wings in it, picked up some hand-torn cabbage with two chopsticks, and paired it with a few crispy pickled radish strips, and then…. put in the most hideous-looking caterpillars.
With a mischievous grin, Xia Mian put the lunchbox into a cloth bag and went next door.
Just as she reached the gate, she saw Ning Shaobai passing by. “Dr. Ning, what a coincidence.” Her eyes curved into a smile as she handed him the cloth bag. “It’s a love-love lunch box, to thank you for your great help.”
Ning Shaobai paused, looking warily at the bag. “What scheme are you up to this time?”
Xia Mian pretended to be hurt. “Dr. Ning, how can you think like that of me? That hurts my feelings. I’m clearly just repaying a favor.”
As she finished speaking, Chenchen suddenly screamed and ran out from the opposite gate, with Mao Huizhu laughing wildly behind him, holding a terrifying caterpillar.
Xiao Feng’s short legs couldn’t keep up with them, so he followed at a steady pace. When he saw Xia Mian and Ning Shaobai, his eyes lit up; holding the bug, he happily ran over and puckered his lips, making a “woo woo” sound to scare Ning Shaobai.
Ning Shaobai stepped back, and Xiao Feng immediately giggled. “Uncle Ning.”
Ning Shaobai tousled his signature tuft and tapped Xia Mian’s head. “Repaying favor?”
“Of course! Yours the cutest—I saved it just for you.” Xia Mian’s tone was a bit regretful.
‘Alas, these mischievous kids! Dr. Ning’s surprise is gone.’
Ning Shaobai rolled his eyes, took the cloth bag, and said grumpily, “Well, I really appreciate it then.”