Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12088

"Dad, why are you up so early?" Xiu Hong greeted Yang Yongjin from her cart.

Si Xi also stopped, gripped the handlebars of the wooden cart firmly with both hands, and bowed slightly to Yang Yongjin, saying, "Father-in-law."

Yang Yongjin approached the two men with a smile and saw the wooden bucket that was being carefully protected by Xiu Hong, as well as the basket covered with a cloth.

"Today is the first day, I'll go with you to the opening."

"What?"

"what?"

Xiu Hong and Sixi looked at each other, both of them surprised.

“Father, no need. Sisi and I are enough. This is just a small business…” Xiu Hong’s first reaction was to refuse.

Si Xi nodded repeatedly in agreement with Xiu Hong's words.

Yang Yongjin, however, had already made up his mind and said, "Don't stand on ceremony with me. Your mother and I discussed it last night. Today is the first day of business, and I have to go."

Yang Yongjin was very worried about his daughter doing business for the first time and showing her face in public.

He was afraid that some clueless person might come and cause trouble, so he personally accompanied them there, so that the vendors nearby would know that this stall belonged to Old Yang's family.

"Alright, it's settled then. Today is the first day, and you're not allowed to come tomorrow." Xiu Hong compromised.

She knew that her father's encounter here today was not a coincidence; he had already said that he had discussed it with her mother beforehand.

It's true... a mother worries when her child travels a thousand miles; the hearts of parents are truly pitiful!
Yang Yongjin was very happy and rolled up his sleeves to get started pulling the cart.

How could Sixi let his father-in-law suffer like this? Not only did he not let Yang Yongjin pull the cart, he even made Yang Yongjin sit on the cart as well, and he pulled it to town by himself.

Yang Yongjin said, "There's no need for us to sit. My son-in-law and I will walk in front and take turns pulling the carriage. Xiuhong can sit in the carriage."

"it is good!"

And so, the three-person team headed north into the thick of the night, heading straight for Qingshui Town.

In the second room, Cao Bamei was also awake, and she had no desire to sleep.

Today is the first day that my second daughter is opening her business. Last night, she and Yang Yongjin discussed that she originally wanted her to go and help out.

But after Yang Yongjin analyzed the situation with her, she decided to replace him with Yang Yongjin. After all, Yang Yongjin had been the shopkeeper in Qingshui Town for more than a year and was familiar with all the merchants, wealthy people, and local bullies in the town.

With him accompanying them to the opening ceremony, people would immediately understand his relationship with the young couple selling glutinous rice balls, and they wouldn't dare to openly bully Xiuhong and Sixi.

'This is the children's first day doing business. I don't ask them to make a fortune, I just hope everything goes smoothly,' Cao Bamei prayed in her heart.

……

When Xiu Hong and her two companions arrived at the south gate of Qingshui Town, it was just dawn, but there were hardly any pedestrians on the road.

The three men pulled a wooden cart past the entrance of Bai Mei Zhai near the south gate of the town. They immediately saw white steam rising from the entrance, and several stoves were set up in front of the shop, with charcoal fires burning brightly inside and large pots placed on the fire pits.

Some large pots were filled with boiling water, and on top of the water were stacks of bamboo steamers, taller than a person, filled with steamed buns, dumplings, steamed cakes and other food.

A large, open pot of boiling water sat nearby, with many long-handled ladles hanging around the edge, each containing noodles being simmered in soup.

Wide noodles, thin noodles, knife-cut noodles, noodle dumplings... you name it, they have it.

In the middle was a huge cutting board. In front of the board, Big White, wearing a white hat like a chef and an apron around his waist, was kneading, shaking and cutting dough. His hands were so fast that they left afterimages. The dough, which was originally a whole lump, was transformed into a circle of even noodles after he kneaded, stretched and patted it. With a few flicks of his wrists, the dough turned into a circle of thin and distinct noodles!
"This is amazing!" Xiu Hong sat on the cart, watching all this with wide eyes. "Uncle Da Bai's skills are truly incredible!"

If only she had that skill!

Si Xi slowed his pace as he watched, swallowing hard as he said, "No wonder Uncle Da Bai can run such a big shop, he's got some skills!"

Compared to the young couple's first experience of such an eye-opening experience, Yang Yongjin wasn't particularly surprised.

Although Da Bai is incredibly stubborn and still refuses to acknowledge Aunt Mei'er, it's undeniable that he has a real talent for making pastries.

He may have started this business by marrying Hongmei, the widow of the former shopkeeper, but soon it will be time for him to show his personal abilities.

"Although Da Bai isn't great in other aspects, his hard-working and resilient nature in managing the shop is something you two should learn from," Yang Yongjin said in a low voice to Sixi and Xiuhong.

Xiu Hong nodded gently: "That's right. Even though he's already the manager and has several employees under him, he still does everything himself."

They've already started steaming the buns and mantou, and are still kneading the dough, which shows that Uncle Da Bai got up in the middle of the night to get things done.

This kind of life, day after day, is really not easy.

When the group was traveling, they tried to stay on the other side of the main road and did not go towards Bai Mei Zhai. Especially since it was early in the morning, when it was just getting light, Yang Yongjin and Sixi were wearing hats and Xiu Hong had a handkerchief wrapped around her head. So when Da Bai heard the sound of the wheels between his chores, he looked up and glanced in their direction.

Not recognizing who it was, and seeing that the other person was only focused on walking and showed no intention of buying breakfast, Da Bai quickly looked away and continued with his work...

Xiu Hong and Sixi had no idea where the school was in town. They originally planned to ask around after they arrived in town.

Now that Yang Yongjin was with them, they no longer needed to ask around, and the three of them pulled the cart straight to the street where the school was located.

There is only one school in Qingshui Town. It was established by the village head and several wealthy men in the town. The school was registered with the county government. The students here are qualified to participate in various imperial examinations of the Great Qi Dynasty.

The school currently employs nearly eight teachers.

Of these eight teachers, two were successful candidates in the provincial examinations, and the other six were successful candidates in the county-level examinations.

A few years ago, Xiaojie's husband, Zhang Ban, the son-in-law of the Sun family, passed the imperial examination and taught at the town's school for several years before going to teach at the county government's academy.

These eight teachers have now created six classes based on the students' age, school age, and learning progress, with nearly 20 students in each class.

Whether it's Da Bai, Xiao Hei, or Tie Dan and Hong Er, they all graduated from the school in this town!

Let's not even talk about Da Bai and Xiao Hei; they didn't pass any exams, not even achieving the lowest level of proficiency.

However, Tie Dan and Hong'er passed the county-level imperial examination here. After passing the examination, they went to the county academy this spring to continue their studies in preparation for the provincial-level imperial examination.

“I’ve done my research. There are about a hundred students in this school right now, and school starts on the sixteenth of the first lunar month. Let’s set up our stall first, and we’ll open for business when the students start coming to school.” Yang Yongjin found a spot opposite the school gate, and together with Xiu Hong and Sixi, they put together the wooden tables they had brought and laid out all the ingredients on the tables.

A sign was erected next to it, with the items for sale and their prices written on it in calligraphy.

Everything was ready except for the final push. Although Xiu Hong and Sixi had rehearsed in their minds many times how to hawk their wares and attract customers, when they actually set up their stall, they found that things were far more complicated than they had imagined.

The mouth area seemed to be covered by an unseen force, even though the school door was clearly open and students were coming in one after another.

However, their mouths opened and closed repeatedly, and the sounds they made were like the buzzing of mosquitoes.

In addition, they discovered that they were not the only vendors trying to make money off students.

Not far away, in front of them and behind them, several more stalls appeared one after another.

There were vendors selling steamed buns and mantou, dumplings and porridge, and also fried dough twists and youtiao (fried dough sticks).

Those people were clearly more experienced than them, and they were willing to go all out. They quickly got customers.

On their side, however, no one paid any attention to them for a long time.

Yang Yongjin initially didn't speak, wanting to leave this opportunity for the young couple to practice.

As a result, they waited and waited, and before they knew it was broad daylight, if they didn't start hawking their wares, all the students who hadn't eaten breakfast would be lured away by other stalls, and they wouldn't make any money at all!
"I'll help you promote it!" Yang Yongjin rolled up his sleeves and took charge himself.

There's a saying that even the best wine needs advertising, and with Yang Yongjin's shouts, students have already started coming this way.

The student was somewhat thin, wearing a worn-out blue robe, and holding a scroll in his hand.

Judging from the fabric of his clothes, he didn't seem to be the son of a landlord. A poor family that couldn't even afford to cook wouldn't be able to afford to send their child to school. So, this student must be from a wealthy peasant family in town or village—the kind where they could eat their fill but didn't have much money left over, but weren't starving either.

"Hey bro, wanna try a sticky rice ball?" Xiu Hong took a deep breath, ready to take the plunge.

Her face was full of smiles as she took the initiative to ask.

The student looked at the tightly covered wooden bucket, then glanced at the sign next to it, and said, "Is it really only 4 coins to make a sweet sticky rice ball?"

The meat buns at the four-coin shop only cost two, and the filling was quite small, mostly just bits and pieces of chewy bits.

A bowl of wontons and dumplings costs at least 6 coins, but a bowl of wontons and dumplings for 6 coins only contains less than ten pieces, which is not enough to satisfy someone his age.

If you want to eat your fill, you have to buy 10 coins worth of dumplings and wontons, which means you'll spend too much money on food and drink every day.

So today a new rice ball stall came here, and he wanted to give it a try, since rice balls are more filling. He just didn't know if the rice balls made by this stall owner would be small.

"Young man, we do business with clearly marked prices, and we're honest with everyone, young and old," Xiu Hong said with a smile, already reaching to lift the lid of the wooden bucket. "Want to try one?"

"Okay, then I'll trouble you to make me a rice ball."

"okay!"

Once she started working, Xiu Hong became quite efficient. She scooped up a spoonful of rice. This spoon was specially customized by her to control costs and quantities. Two level spoonfuls were nearly three ounces of glutinous rice.

Why are there two flat spoons instead of one large spoon?

This is a form of visual deception.

If you scoop out a large spoonful, the customer might feel it's not enough, but if you use a level spoon for two spoonfuls, the customer will feel that the ingredients are plentiful.

The student's eyes lit up slightly when he saw Xiu Hong scoop up two spoonfuls of glutinous rice.

I thought the glutinous rice was just a gimmick, and that it would be mixed with sweet potatoes and corn to make up the amount. But I didn't expect this stall owner to be so honest. He said it was glutinous rice and that it really didn't contain a single grain of other grains.

Xiu Hong added another half spoonful of white sugar, then took a quarter of a fried dough stick from a bundle of fried dough sticks next to her, folded it, put it into the glutinous rice, and finally rolled it into a fist-sized, firm rice ball with a clean bamboo leaf and handed it over.

"Hey buddy, here's your rice ball."

"Thank you very much."

The student took out four copper coins and handed them over.

Xiu Hong held up the copper coin, her smile becoming even more genuine: "If you like it, come again!"

The student nodded, took the rice ball, and walked away while munching on it.

Xiu Hong looked at the four copper coins in her palm, still warm from the student's body, and felt as happy as if she were dreaming.

We're open for business! We've actually sold our first rice ball!

"Hong, don't just stand there! Your father-in-law has brought us another business opportunity!" Sixi reminded him from the side.

Xiu Hong looked up and saw that Yang Yongjin had indeed brought two students this way.

Xiu Hong immediately put away the coins and smiled as she began to solicit business: "Young man, how about a rice ball? We have both sweet and savory ones. You students work hard with your brains while studying, so we also have fried eggs to nourish your brains..."

"I want a sweet fried dough stick."

"I don't like sweet things, I'll have a savory one with a poached egg, and it has to be spicy!"

"Alright! Please wait a moment, gentlemen."

Xiu Hong got busy again, and after seeing the two students off, she received ten copper coins.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but once you get through it, you'll gradually get into the swing of things.

In the following process, Xiu Hong no longer relied entirely on Yang Yong to attract business. She started to hawk her wares herself, and Sixi was not idle either, helping out and carrying things. The young couple worked together very well.

As the sun rises in the east and students gradually arrive at school, the morning business here is basically over, and the other breakfast stalls next door are also closing up shop one after another.

Xiu Hong and Sixi were very excited. Although there was still half a bucket of glutinous rice left to sell, they planned to move on to Washi.

"You only need to pay one coin when you go to Washi," Yang Yongjin said.

Those with fixed stalls have a different process for paying money each month, while mobile vendors without fixed stalls only need to pay one coin each time.

In this regard, Daqi is very friendly towards encouraging small-scale business among ordinary people.

When the group arrived at Washikou, they had been delayed at the school, so the better spots had already been taken by other stalls.

They found a slightly secluded spot and set up their stall.