I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 14.14. The Reliable Xia Family
As expected, the crayfish sold out quickly.

Two hundred kilograms a day, the stall opens at eight o'clock in the evening and is sold out before nine o'clock, which also greatly increases the sales of sweet soup.

Left with no other choice, Xu Ma had to temporarily give up her stir-fried snail business and focus on selling crayfish.

Yao Jinping remembered her son saying he would sell it for six yuan. She didn't dare to think that way, but she still raised the price to two yuan per jin, and customers still flocked to the restaurant.

After such a busy week, Xu Qingfan experienced for the first time what it means to reap what you sow.

Every day there are endless shrimp veins to process. Perhaps to show off her child, Xu Ma told the neighbors that her son had seen this recipe on TV. A bunch of housewives came to her door asking which TV station she had seen it on.

Xu Qingfan had no choice but to make up a story about Hong Kong Channel 2. Fortunately, the TV hadn't replayed the show yet, which allowed him to escape successfully.

Xu's father no longer goes to pick up guests; he runs between the village and the district every day, and crayfish are continuously transported over.

The villagers were curious and asked around when they saw the grandparents catching hundreds of kilograms of crayfish every day.

My grandfather was a clever man; he simply told them to sell it to a food processing plant in the city for one cent per pound to make cat food.

The round trip fuel cost to transport the goods to the district alone would be more than ten yuan. How much money could be made from that? Some people who were originally going to follow suit have given up on the idea.

Of course, there were also those who didn't believe it, but since capturing them would be of no use, they had no choice but to give up.

These past few days, even cooking has been a joyful experience for Xu Ma. In less than five days, she has earned more money than she did in half a year. If she can keep this up for another month or so, wouldn't she be able to buy a shop in the nearby commercial street?
However, the good times did not last long.

Five days later, the first shop selling crayfish appeared.

Immediately afterwards, crayfish appeared on the streets like mushrooms after rain.

But whether it was because they weren't deep-fried or the heat wasn't controlled properly, the crayfish sold outside never tasted as good as the ones sold by Xu Ma, so her business wasn't affected.

On Sunday, the Xia and Xu families had a family dinner together.

"There are so many crayfish vendors now, has your business been affected?" Xia's father peeled a spicy crayfish and put it in his wife's bowl, asking.

"It doesn't have much of an impact. Their crayfish don't taste as good as ours, and there are still a lot of customers. It's just that it takes longer to sell them. Before, we could sell them all before nine o'clock, but now we have to sell them until eleven o'clock." Yao Jinping looked at the crayfish on the table with some distress.

As someone also in the food service industry, she naturally knew that this was not a long-term solution. Before long, others would figure out her tricks for cooking crayfish, and might even make crayfish that tasted better than hers.

"I went back to my hometown to catch crayfish these past few days, but it's not as easy as before. Many people are just following the trend and keeping them at home after they've caught them." Mr. Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly as he recalled the scene of catching crayfish in his hometown yesterday.

[If I can't convince my parents, maybe I can try to convince Uncle Xia!] Xu Qingfan made up his mind.

"Mom, I told you a long time ago that crayfish should be sold at a higher price. Look now, crayfish are selling for two yuan a pound in the market!"

Yao Jinping knew perfectly well that she had sold it too cheaply, but she was still unhappy with her son's behavior of undermining her in public, and gave him a look that said, "I'll deal with you when we get back."

Xu Qingfan continued, "How much money can you make selling crayfish like this, working yourselves to the bone? If you ask me, Mom, you should publish how to cook crayfish and then let them order from you. In the countryside, crayfish are only a few cents a pound and nobody wants them, but if you transport them to the city, you can make ten times the profit. That's the real money!"

"What do you know about business? I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice!" Xu's mother gave her son a flick on the forehead in an annoyed tone.

"How dare you talk to your mother like that, you brat!" Xu's father looked around, already searching for a suitable weapon.

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Xia's father was in this line of work, and after Xu Qingfan's explanation, he immediately discovered the huge business opportunity hidden within.

"That's right, how come I didn't think of that!" Xia's father trembled, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up excitedly.

Everyone was bewildered by Xia Guofu's perplexing behavior, especially Xu's father, whose little hands, which were unbuckling his belt, looked completely lost.

"How did Xiao Fan get such a sharp mind? He's so young and he can think of all this." Xia's father slapped his thigh and sat down again. "Ah Ping, this is a great thing! We can capitalize on the fact that people in the countryside don't know how valuable crayfish are right now. There's a lot we can do!" Xia Guofu excitedly rubbed his hands together.

"Can it really work?" Xu's mother was skeptical.

"It'll definitely work! Go talk to those shop owners later and offer to provide the recipe free of charge if they order more than 1,000 catties. I'll drive back to the countryside to collect crayfish right now!" Xia's father picked up the keys on the table and prepared to leave.

Lin Jing patted her forehead helplessly: "Let's talk about it after we finish eating, what's the rush!"

After that, Xu Qingfan no longer needed to guide him. It is said that there is no such thing as a wrong name, and Xia Guofu certainly lived up to his name.

The four split up: Xia's father and Xu's father drove back to the countryside to buy crayfish at a low price, while Xu's mother and Lin Jing went to the store to discuss placing an order.

Although it was a week late, things eventually returned to the trajectory he had initially envisioned.

Having escaped the nightmare of deveining shrimp, Xu Qingfan was finally able to relax.

It's pitiful that he's only six years old. Those delicate, white hands must have caught at least tens of thousands of crayfish in just one week.

It's so cold and I'm shivering. When will this little kid be able to stand up again?

"I'm going out for a walk. You'll be home alone," Xu Qingfan said to Xia Xiao, who was watching TV at home.

"What are you going out for!"

[Here we go again, it should be a question, but it sounds more like a statement.]
Xu Qingfan certainly couldn't tell her that he was going to buy lottery tickets. The matter of the small wallet was still unresolved, and if Xia Xiaoxiao found out that he had stolen money from home to buy lottery tickets...
Thinking of this, Xu Qingfan couldn't help but feel a toothache.

"I'm going to find Lin Wanning to play!" He knew that Xia Xiaoxiao didn't seem to like Lin Wanning very much, so he said.

Xia Xiaoxiao: ? ? ?

[Not only did she go out and hang out with other girls behind my back, but she even told me!]
"I'm going too!" Xia Xiao said.

Xu Qingfan: ??? [The script shouldn't be like this!]
Clearly, as a virgin in two lifetimes, Xu Qingfan doesn't understand women's hearts.

"What are you here for?"

“Aunt Yao told me to keep an eye on you!” Xia Xiaoxiao said confidently.

Children have a sense of territory. Just like some children like to write their names on their toys, Xia Xiaoxiao felt that Xu Qingfan belonged to her and that he could not play with other little girls without her permission.

Xu's mother had indeed said those words before leaving, but they sounded like she was joking, leaving Xu Qingfan helpless.

"Alright, you can come along then." There was no other way but to see if there was any way to get away from Xia Xiaoxiao for a while.

"What do you mean I'm going with you? I'm going to keep an eye on you for Aunt Yao!" the little girl said proudly, hands on her hips.

"Wait for me, I'm going home to change." Xia Xiaoxiao seemed to remember something and ran back to her neighbor's house.

[You've earned so much money for the family these past few days, it's not too much to give them another hundred yuan as a token of appreciation, is it?]
He sneaked into his parents' room, opened the closet, and found it completely empty!
By the way, I've been earning almost a month's worth of money in a day these past few days. No need to ask, I've definitely put it in the bank.

Xu Qingfan was not giving up, so he searched his parents' coats and pants pockets again and actually found several dozen yuan in loose change.

With the 100 yuan he had prepared beforehand, Xu Qingfan confidently left home to become a monk.

(End of this chapter)