Border Cook

Chapter 530 There is no way to pass
"Hey!"

Gao Fusheng sighed, but still cheered up and continued to sell his goods all the way home.

When we got home, the smoke from cooking fires had already settled down long ago, and Gao Fusheng's family had already prepared their meal.

Pancakes made of tofu dregs mixed with flour, served with tofu soup stewed with freshly grown Chinese cabbage from summer plants.

Gao Fusheng was already starving, so he parked the car, picked up the pancake and stuffed it into his mouth.

His wife, Mrs. Tang, cleaned up the place very tactfully.

Seeing that there was still a lot of tofu left in the tofu basket, Tang sighed, "Why are there so many left today?"

"Yeah." Gao Fusheng replied in a deep voice, "Everyone goes to buy the tofu made by Wufu Workshop. They say it tastes better than our tofu."

"Then I'll soak less beans later." Tang said, "How about we lower the price of tofu?"

"I guess it won't be very useful." Gao Fusheng sighed again, "I went to buy tofu today and met Old Liu. I asked him about his business and he was very worried. He said that even if the price was a little lower, not many people would buy it. He also said that people are very picky nowadays. Even if the price is a little lower, those people will think it's not a big deal and are willing to buy the good taste."

"If we lower the price a little, we probably still won't be able to sell the tofu. If we lower the price too much, we won't make any profit. Even if the business is good, it will be a waste of time. It seems unnecessary."

"What should we do then?" Tang was very worried.

The parents-in-law at home are in poor health and cannot do much work. The three children are still young, and the food and drink of the whole family depends entirely on the money earned by the couple from grinding tofu.

If this tofu cannot be sold, the whole family will be in dire straits.

"I don't know..." Gao Fusheng was also worried.

He learned how to grind tofu from others when he was in his teens, and started selling tofu himself when he was thirteen. He has been busy with this business for more than ten years. If he was suddenly asked to do something else, he really had no idea what to do.

Seeing that her husband was helpless, Tang felt anguish in her heart. After a moment of silence, she could not help but complain, "This government is really obsessed with money. They even want to rob the livelihoods of ordinary people. They are really black-hearted!"

"That's not true. I heard that this workshop is not owned by the government. All the shares were sold to the people, and the money earned by the workshop was distributed to the people who bought shares." Gao Fusheng explained, "Yes, and they also said that this workshop was also to accommodate the refugees who fled from famine, so that they would have something to do and avoid causing trouble and instability."

"It's not what you said. They just wanted to steal our business."

"No matter what the reason is, it's not good that we are now forced into a dead end!" Tang felt aggrieved, especially when she saw so much tofu left in the tofu basket, her tears fell down.

Tofu is always ground and sold freshly, not to mention left overnight. Even tofu made in the morning will be picked on and said to be not fresh by dark.

Now that it is a hot day, the tofu cannot be kept for a long time, and it will be even harder to sell at night.

Even if you keep it for yourself and soak it in water, it won't last more than two or three days.

There was so much tofu left that it would take more than two or three days to finish, let alone eat it.

Besides, if we can’t sell all the tofu tomorrow…

Tang felt that the days to come would be like the sun that was getting lower and lower. At night, it would be pitch black without any light.

Seeing no hope is the most heartbreaking thing. Gao Fusheng knew his wife was worried, but he didn't know what to say to comfort her at this time, so he could only sigh.

Tears are always the most useless things. After crying, life must go on.

Tang wiped the tears from her face, cut the tofu in the basket into large pieces, put them into a wooden basin one by one, and soaked them in cold well water to extend the edible period of the tofu as much as possible.

Gao Fusheng put all the rice into his mouth in three or two mouthfuls and hurried to help.

The couple was busy when someone came to the door.

It was Old Liu who also grinds and sells tofu like him.

Old Liu is already forty years old. He lost his wife several years ago and is a widower. He has two sons and a daughter. All his children are married now. His two sons do not have stable jobs and make a living by doing odd jobs for others.

Life is not easy for everyone, so even though colleagues are enemies, they also understand and sympathize with each other, so the relationship between the two families is pretty good.

"Uncle Liu is here." Gao Fusheng hurriedly moved a stool, "Have you eaten yet?"

"I've eaten." Old Liu sat down and put the tightly tied oil paper bag on the table. "I just bought a few pieces of peach cakes at the street corner."

"Uncle Liu, you are so polite. We are so happy that you are willing to come and sit with us. What else do you want to take? Take it back and give it to the children." Gao Fusheng hurriedly declined.

Peach pastry is made with both oil and eggs. It is not cheap and tastes crispy and delicious. It is suitable for people of all ages and is a very popular snack nowadays.

But it is not something that can be eaten often and is usually only given as a gift when visiting each other.

"What are you talking about? Why don't you bring a few pieces of peach cakes for the child? If he doesn't accept them, it means he thinks my gift is too little." Old Liu was angry.

Gao Fusheng stopped refusing after seeing this and just kept thanking him, "Thank you, Uncle Liu."

"Uncle Liu, what's the matter with you coming here now?"

"My tofu business is not doing well, and I'm feeling depressed, so I thought I'd come over to talk to you."

As Old Liu was talking, he poked his head into the wooden basin and saw that the tofu cubes were almost coming out. He sighed and said, "It seems that yours is no better than mine."

"Yes, business is difficult." Gao Fusheng also sighed, "I heard today that Wufu Workshop will soon grind more tofu and open more tofu shops. I guess it will be even harder to sell tofu in the future."

"I've heard about this, too. They're planning to starve us all." Old Liu's eyes turned red as he spoke. "I've made a living from this skill all my life. Now I can't sell tofu anymore. I feel really bad, not to mention anything else."

"It's OK here. Even if I don't sell tofu, I have two sons and two daughters-in-law at home. They can earn some money to feed me. But here you have old people and young children to take care of. If the tofu business fails, how are you going to live?"

Gao Fusheng didn't respond, but just sighed again.

He really didn't know how to get by.

"This government office is really good at this. Even if they want to help the people make money and provide shelter for the refugees, they just gave us the title and don't care about our lives. Isn't this really too much?"