Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 343 Grocery Store (Recommended for QQ Reading Android Platform)

That evening, Xiaowei finally got to eat dumplings with a mixed filling of fish and mutton.

fresh.

It was indeed fresh, and also had a chewy texture.

Chop the mutton and fish into minced meat, then add salt, pepper, minced scallions and ginger, and broth to make the filling for wrappers.

When cooking, the heat should be slightly lower than when cooking meat dumplings normally.

It's delicious, but it's really too much work. Xiao Wei pondered for half the night but couldn't come up with a better way to save effort. No matter what he did, he couldn't escape the fact that he had to remove the fish bones one by one. The biggest difference between freshwater fish and saltwater fish is their bones. Seawater has high pressure, so the fish meat is dense and has fewer bones. River water has low pressure, so fish need more bones to support their bodies.

I couldn't figure it out after thinking about it for a long time, so I simply stopped thinking about it. I couldn't sleep by myself, so I went to the living room and had a long phone conversation with Xiaohong for an hour and a half. I talked Xiaohong until she was completely asleep. Then I played some games by myself for a while before going back to my room to lie down.

Three days passed peacefully, and sure enough, Xiao Wen's Polaroid store was closed and never reopened.

"Looks like you're really quitting. What a pity. Actually, having more shops is a good thing; more people will buy." Li Wenhe said to Xiaowei while wiping his hands, "For an industry to truly thrive, the first thing is to have a lot of people in it. When there are many people in it, people will get used to it and feel that buying it is a matter of course. Look at the clothing and footwear markets; the more clustered together they are, the better the business is—that's the principle."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "I understand that principle. Actually, I didn't care that he drove me away. I'll just do my own thing."

Li Wen said, "Does having more stores mean better business? Boss, why don't we open our own? We can open five in Longcheng, and then you can open ten or twenty more in Fengtian. Boss, I want to go to Fengtian and be a store manager." She pouted and looked at Xiao Wei.

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Open it with your mouth? It's free! You don't need a master?"

Li Wen glared angrily at Xiao Wei and said, "Just tell me if you want to get over this or not, you're just going to oppose me."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, if Fengtian opens a store, you can go and be the manager, but you need your parents' approval, okay?"

Li Wen immediately beamed with joy and said happily, "Okay, my parents will definitely agree. If they don't, I'll cry."

Li Wenhe laughed and shook his head.

As soon as the shop door opened, a plump old man in his fifties, whom she didn't recognize, walked in. Li Wen put down her spatula and went up to him, asking, "Grandpa, is it your birthday? What kind of cake would you like to buy? Our cakes are delicious."

The old man was short, wearing a blue suit with a wool sweater underneath. His sparse hair was dyed black and neatly combed. Hearing Li Wen's question, he smiled and said, "I'm not buying cakes, I'm selling groceries. Is your boss here?"

Xiao Wei put down what he was holding and went out, saying, "Yes, it is. Is there something you need?"

The old man, with a broad smile, stretched out his hand and said, "I'm the manager of the grocery store, my surname is Sun. Young master, business is good, isn't it?"

Xiao Wei reached out and shook hands with Manager Sun, asking, "Hello, Manager Sun, is there something you need?"

Manager Sun rubbed his hands and said, "Well, what's this all about? The guy from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who runs this shop also opened one, but it went out of business after just a few days and he ran away. He still has some flour, sugar, cream and stuff, and a few pieces of equipment. I came to ask if you can take them back. He still owes me money for the flour and hasn't paid the rent. The stuff isn't worth much to me."

Xiao Wei turned to look at Li Wenhe, licked his lips, and said to Manager Sun, "I'll go with you to take a look, but I can't really say."

Xiao Wei turned to Li Wenhe and said, "Master Li, shall we go take a look together?"

Li Wenhe nodded, and the three of them went out to the grocery store.

The grocery store was a large building with one and a half floors. The upper half floor was offices, and the lower half was the grocery store. Due to the increasing number of privately-run grocery stores in the market economy, the grocery store's business had been declining. In the more than 500-square-meter store, there were only a few sales clerks sitting in a corner chatting by the fire. It was rare for even one person to come in to buy anything in an hour. Fortunately, at that time, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and tea were handled by the grocery store, otherwise even fewer people would come in.

Unlike a few years ago when the mall was filled with all kinds of goods, half of the counters were now empty. The meat counters that used to be crowded with people were gone, and only condiments and pickles remained, along with some candies, biscuits, canned goods, and jars, pots, and pans. The whole store was cold and damp, and the air was filled with the smell of dampness and pickles.

The mall has three entrances: front, middle, and back. Xiao Wen's Polaroid is located at the back entrance, separated from the mall by a partition wall. The space is about 60 square meters. The interior is a bit messy, with a row of wooden-framed counters against the wall. These are the old counters used for grocery stores, and they are decorated with what look like birthday cakes. There are some packaging boxes and ribbons scattered on the counters, and several plastic basins on the floor.

One end of this space was partitioned into a room, without a door but with only a curtain hanging on it. Presumably, this was where Xiao Wen and his wife lived. The equipment was placed outside the bedroom and looked a bit dirty and messy.

The large egg beater Xiao Wen used wasn't a ready-made machine; she welded it herself. It consisted of an angle iron frame with a motor mounted on it, claws welded from iron bars underneath, and a mixing bowl made of aluminum sheet. Next to it was a slightly smaller machine, a ready-made one, also with two claws, but it was from Jiangsu or Zhejiang province and only had two speed settings.

The oven was an old, single-layer oven, only about half the size of a desk, and the entire exterior of the oven was covered with black and yellow scorch marks.

The cake-making tools were makeshift; the turntable was homemade and visibly uneven, barely functioning. There were only two small, Jiangzhe-made knives, a large bowl of prepared butter, and an unopened box of yellow butter under the cabinet. A plastic sheet covered the floor in the corner, with three and a half bags of flour and a large bag of granulated sugar standing upright on it. You can't use granulated sugar for baking cakes; you have to use granulated sugar.

The homemade electric stove, its burner cracked and supported by red bricks, held two and a half baskets of eggs, probably the most valuable items on this floor. But these were originally sold at the grocery store; they could simply be carried out. Next to the egg baskets sat a nearly half-full bucket of salad oil.

Manager Sun looked at Xiao Wei and Li Wenhe with hope. Xiao Wei glanced at Li Wenhe, smiled bitterly, and said to Manager Sun, "Manager Sun, I probably can't help you with this. I can't use any of these things. They're all outdated or things I made myself to make do. They're not only worthless, but the things I made are just not good enough."

Manager Sun said, "He made his cakes using these things. What do you use? Aren't they just these machines? Isn't it the same?"

Xiao Wei said, "The cakes he bakes are different from ours. I don't sell this kind in my shop; it's an old, outdated variety. His machine can only make this kind of cake. What do you think I need him for? Besides, the oven is too small and useless, and the whisk is something he soldered himself. How much is that worth? The effect isn't good either." He shook his head. Actually, if the equipment was usable, Xiao Wei wouldn't mind buying it, since he would need it eventually anyway.

(End of this chapter)