Miao Chu

Chapter 231 Replacement
More than two months had passed since they parted ways. Although Cheng Zijian had told her that the students were eagerly anticipating "Song Ji's" food stall, saying they would love to eat anything from it, Song Miao was actually quite uneasy, not knowing how much of it was just embellishment.

She was confident in the sticky rice and wasn't worried about it not selling; her concern was about the new product category.

It's too hot to make shumai anymore. After all, eating it hot makes you sweat, and eating it cold diminishes the flavor. The vegetarian filling also lacks the color of bamboo shoots, and there are no suitable substitute ingredients, which makes several varieties, even the vegetarian shumai, a bit greasy.

However, if the new food is not accepted or liked by most people, we need to find another way.

Now that a big pancake has been added, although according to current practice, only a small monthly salary is given, the boy works with me from morning to night, taking everything seriously and working hard at all times. Is it really only this little bit of money that I'm going to give him?

There was also a second wife, who had a young child with her, and she also hoped day and night to earn more money and save up.

Only when the overall profit is substantial can the month-end profit sharing be truly surprising.

Most importantly, she also really wanted to make money.

With an additional member in the family, it's only fair that we should generate more income to avoid wasting our time and effort.

Make more money, pay off the debts as soon as possible, and quickly open the restaurant so that you can establish a stable foothold—after all, setting up a stall is not a long-term solution—only then will you have the confidence to do so.

As Song Miao was thinking this, the cart was being pushed along until it finally turned another corner, and she was about to see the corner of the food alley.

Dabing was both excited and nervous as he helped set up the stall for the first time. He couldn't help but ask, "Madam, I heard from Second Madam Cheng that Song's food is very popular. Every time we set up the stall, there are long lines of customers waiting. If I'm too busy and slow, will people dislike me? What should I do so that the customers won't be angry?"

Song Miao then said, "The guests from both schools are very polite and reasonable. Just follow your own steps and don't rush. Rushing will easily lead to mistakes. If we charge too little, we will suffer a loss, and if we charge too much, the guests will feel resentful."

He then emphasized, "You should pay special attention to the side dishes and snacks—there are always people who don't eat scallions, garlic, or cilantro. If you accidentally add them in, won't the guests feel uncomfortable? Even if the guests are easy to talk to, you yourself will feel embarrassed, right?"

"At this point, don't worry about the waste or the time it takes. We'll make a new one for the customer. If someone else asks for it later, we'll give it to them, but we'll also wait until their turn comes before giving it to them. Never skip the person currently in line and give it to the person behind you first. And don't argue or force the customer to accept it."

"It's almost finished. If others want it later, can't we give it to them first?"

"Don't give it to them first. Think about it, we put the wrong condiments in the first place. Even if the customer doesn't say anything, they'll feel uncomfortable. If you skip them and give it to the people behind you first, then the queue is just a waste of time. What's the difference between that and cutting in line? Besides, we've already treated people unfairly. It's unreasonable to treat them unfairly again and make them wait. Isn't that right?"

"Yes! Yes! I didn't think much about it at first, I just thought it was almost done and wouldn't take long. But after thinking about it again, my wife, it really makes sense!"

“If no one asks for it, we shouldn’t ask. We can just keep it for ourselves. I know you’re always shrewd, but I still want to remind you. This is a big no-no. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake. In business, the most important thing is to make money peacefully…”

Song Miao recounted the details of her daily stall operation, all of which seemed harmless at first glance, but once explained, each and every one of them became quite important.

Dabing nodded repeatedly, memorizing the words, and finally sighed, "I originally thought that running a stall was just a matter of being quick and efficient at selling things. Who would have thought there were so many pitfalls? You can easily fall into one and make customers uncomfortable without even realizing it. No wonder so many people like to eat at my wife's stall. She pays attention to everything!"

Song Miao smiled and said, "Customers are our bread and butter. Although we make a living with our skills, if we want our business to last, we have to do a good job. Otherwise, with so many stalls and restaurants in the capital, why would anyone come to your place to eat? Right?"

He added, "But don't worry. You've been closed for quite a while, and now you're suddenly setting up your stall. Most people probably don't know yet, so there might not be many customers. Take your time to get used to it, don't rush. With your usual intelligence, you'll be a pro in no time..."

As they were talking, the cart had already turned the corner.

Just as Dabing was about to answer, nodding his head, he saw several figures flash by in the distance before he could even utter a word.

Whoosh whoosh.

From afar, someone shouted, "Quick, quick! This time it's for real! Miss Song is setting up her stall today!"

"Any seats available?!"

"I've kept the reservations for the past few days, but none of them have come. I didn't dare to keep one today!"

"Hey, could you all please move aside and make room for Miss Song?"

"Hurry back! Song's is selling in limited quantities. I can't buy that many by myself. Go back and get more people!"

"Holy crap! It really came! They've tricked me so many times before, making me wait around thinking it was another scam! Luckily, I left early this morning!" — This was a student so excited that he swore.

Just as Dabing was about to reply, he heard the commotion in the alley and forgot what he was going to say. When he pushed the cart in and saw the scene inside, he instinctively shuddered and involuntarily took a half step back with the foot he was about to step forward.

Hey!
These people are standing way too close together!
— Right at the entrance of the alley, just a few steps away from the cart, there were at least twenty or thirty people blocking the way.

A line of people stood crowded together, all craning their necks to look over, their eyes wide open in a desperate effort.

Being so close, with so many eyes staring intently, filled with longing, Dabing truly understood for the first time what it meant to have "eyes shining."

When the crowd saw the "Song Ji" sign on the cart and Song Miao behind it, they almost simultaneously shouted.

"Street vendor Song!"

"Young Lady Song!!"

"You're finally back!"

"We've been in Huazhou for far too long!"

"Is Huazhou better than the capital?? Don't go anywhere else next time, there are so many mouths to feed here!!!"

"In ancient times there was the 'Waiting-for-Husband Stone,' and now there's the 'Longing for Song Sheng'! Do you know how much we've suffered waiting for you?!"

"Sticky rice is back! Ah! I'm back, sticky rice!!"

"What a miserable two months I've endured!!! Finally, Miss Song is back! Finally, I can be a decent human being again!"

A deluge of incoherent and nonsensical words rained down on Big Pancake's face, leaving him overwhelmed.

Further away, more people could be seen running up from behind, and as they ran, one could vaguely hear someone shouting and asking questions.

"Has stall owner Song arrived?" "Where is he?"

"Where did they go?!"

"Why is no one saving her a spot today?!"

"Hey, where are we setting up today?! Hurry up and reserve a spot, I need to wait in line!!"

Seeing this scene, Dabing forgot to shut up, his mouth agape. He couldn't help but turn to look at Song Miao, his eyes showing a rare expression of doubt—Wife, is this what you meant by "most people don't know yet" and "not many people will come"?

You should keep your word and give me the chance and time to "adapt slowly" and "there's no rush"!
It had been so many days since they last met, and the students were even more enthusiastic and excited than usual, which even Song Miao found a little overwhelming.

She answered one question but couldn't answer another, so she just gave random replies, thanking this person and responding to that person, wishing her parents could give her ten more mouths so she could answer all their questions.

As soon as the cart arrived, the students standing in front immediately made way for Song Miao to walk forward.

I set up my stall relatively early today, but "Song Ji" used to have a great spot, but since I haven't been here for more than two months, it's been taken by someone else, and it's a familiar face.

Upon seeing Song Miao arrive with her cart, the stall owner hurriedly said, "I didn't expect Miss Song to return today..."

He was about to give in.

Song Miao stopped her, saying, "These are all unclaimed stalls, so it's first-come, first-served. Your stall is already set up, so don't bother us!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than someone behind her shouted, "Street vendor Song, set up your stall here! I have an empty spot!"

"My place is great too! Come over here! It's closer, and you're free right now—come over here!!"

"I have a spot here too, I've saved it for you, Mr. Song, come over here!"

Several vendors nearby called out to invite him.

Song Miao's stall always had the biggest flow of people, so those who were next to her naturally had more opportunities to stand out. Those who couldn't buy what they wanted or couldn't wait to leave would often just pick up a few items from the stall next to her.

The surrounding vendors were all familiar with him from before. After observing them for many days, he had figured out their patterns and was naturally very proactive in inviting Song Miao to come and "warm up" his stall.

But the stall owner in front—the one who had taken Song Miao's spot—hurriedly shouted at Zuo Jin, "Go away! We've already reserved this spot for you! Don't try to take it!"

Then he immediately said to Song Miao, "Stadium owner Song, don't leave! This spot was reserved for you! We knew you would be back in a few days, so the two of us took turns reserving the spot for you every day—we only let the spot go when we saw that you really weren't coming!"

Sure enough, the vendor selling soy milk and fried dough sticks nearby hurriedly called out, "That's right! That's right! Miss Song, don't go! Didn't the three of us always set up a row of stalls? I haven't been able to get used to you not coming for two days straight!"

As she spoke, she indeed gathered up the several wooden buckets and two pots that were placed on the ground.

The person who had been taking up the spot was actually selling mutton soup, and he hurriedly pushed his stall to the other side.

With one person pulling and the other pushing, the two of them quickly cleared a large space for Song Miao to put her stall cart in the blink of an eye.

Among the food and drinks sold at "Song Ji", the portions are always small, and they are mainly savory with limited quantities of sweet options, complementing the offerings of the other two restaurants.

They had always gotten along very well, and now that they were taking such good care of her, Song Miao didn't hesitate or waste any time. She quickly thanked them, set up her stall, and was about to put up her sign when the first customer impatiently crowded around her, saying, "Miss Song, I want three large portions of glutinous rice—and I want some drinks too. What kind of drinks do you have? What's the filling for the vegetarian shumai? Or is it cabbage, mushroom, and tofu skin?"

Song Miao hurriedly hung up the signboard and said, "We have bone broth and dried vegetable and pork rib soup for drinks, but we don't have shumai today—it's too hot, and shumai is a bit too greasy. We'll serve it when the weather cools down..."

Upon hearing that there was no shumai, the student was visibly disappointed and hurriedly said, "Meat shumai may be a bit greasy to eat in the summer, but that has nothing to do with the vegetarian shumai, does it? The vegetarian shumai is perfectly fine, what did it do to offend anyone? Miss Song, you can't just make a blanket ban and wipe them all out!"

He then advised, "If there are no shumai, and you can only buy three servings of glutinous rice, it won't be a good breakfast option—besides, there's no meat or vegetables in the glutinous rice... You haven't been setting up your stall for a while now, and I... I've been thinking about those vegetarian shumai for months! I really love them! Can't you really make them anymore?"

"We simply couldn't prepare everything in time. If you would like a meal with both meat and vegetables, young master, we have prepared a new dish called rice noodle rolls..."

As Song Miao spoke, she opened the large cover in front of her, pointed to the food inside and a large tray, and said, "It's steamed rice paper with freshly rolled fillings. There are several kinds of fillings. Today I made stir-fried chopped eggs with chives and vermicelli, minced pork with green beans, minced pork with wood ear mushrooms, and stir-fried bean sprouts. There are also two dishes with stronger flavors: one is spicy, which is stir-fried carrots with dogwood, and the other is minced pork with pickled green beans..."

She named several fillings, and finally asked, "Although it's not shumai, it has both meat and vegetables, which is quite refreshing for summer. Would you like to choose one and try it to see if it suits your taste? Vegetarian rolls are three coins each, and meat rolls are five coins each. They are all made to order..."

A row of large bowls stood before her, and as Song Miao spoke, she had already removed the lids from the bowls.

The bowls contained different fillings, which were already cooked.

The student immediately spotted a large bowl in the very center.

The leaves were emerald green, the stems and roots were pure white, the scrambled eggs were a tender yellow, and there were translucent mung bean vermicelli strands inside. The four colors of green, white, and yellow complemented each other, and everything was coated with a very thin layer of oil. That oil was obviously just a light sheen, giving it a slightly glossy appearance. Just by looking at it with the naked eye, you could tell that it wouldn't be greasy. This filling must be incredibly refreshing and delicious—it's a filling of scrambled eggs with chives and vermicelli—he could even smell the aroma of chives!

"Chives! I want chives! Give me two rolls! Wait..."

He had just finished shouting when, in a blink of an eye, he saw another large bowl next to him.

Stir-fried carrots with dogwood!

The carrots were cut into thin strips and stir-fried until they had a very rich color—between bright orange and golden yellow, with a heavier oily sheen on the surface. The ends and the outside even had a slightly charred edge, indicating that they were thoroughly cooked. A layer of the stir-fried sauce had accumulated at the bottom of the bowl.

How fragrant and sweet this must be! It even has dogwood in it! And it's spicy!
Upon seeing the broken dogwood, the student's mouth immediately watered.

At this moment, he was truly fickle, having long forgotten the vegetarian shumai he had been thinking about for a month or two, and hurriedly scanned the various bowls with his eyes.

Minced pork with green beans, minced pork with wood ear mushrooms, stir-fried bean sprouts, minced pork with pickled green beans...

Each one is clearly made with very ordinary and common fillings, so why do they all smell so good and look so delicious at Song Ji's stall?
How are we supposed to choose?!

(End of this chapter)