Border Cook

Chapter 13: Noodles

If Aunt Xia gets angry, they will definitely not be able to get any delicious food in the future, so they must make sure this matter is handled well.

anyway!

"Don't worry, mother and Aunt Xia. We will complete the task!" Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu nodded vigorously, picked up the small bamboo basket left by Zhang Mingyi and the others yesterday, and walked towards the county school.

Their expressions were serious, their steps were firm, and they even looked around vigilantly, fearing that someone would snatch the cake from their hands.

Twenty-four cakes were worth twenty-four taels of gold.

Mrs. Lu couldn't help but hold her forehead with her hand, and Xia Mingyue also smiled with her lips pursed.

"I really don't know if these two bastards can do a good job." Mrs. Lu was still very worried.

"The children have grown up and need to experience more. I think Da Hu and Er Hu know their limits and will be fine."

Xia Mingyue consoled her, "Sister-in-law, you should put your heart back in your stomach."

Mrs. Lu opened her mouth, but in the end no words came out. Instead, she nodded.

She tried not to let her heart rise to her throat.

After sitting there anxiously and waiting for more than half an hour, Lu finally waited for the return of Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu.

As soon as the two entered the door, Mrs. Lu came up to them and grabbed their arms, "How is it? Did you deliver it? Did you get the money back?"

"Don't worry, mother. The twenty-four meat patties didn't even have any crispy crust missing. They were all delivered to the county school and given to Mr. Zhang."

Zhao Dahu straightened his chest and said, Zhao Erhu took out the purse in his arms, "Two hundred and ten coins, not a penny less."

Two hundred and ten cents?

This time it was Lu's turn to be surprised, "Why are there so many more?"

"Mr. Zhang said he wanted some more cakes," Zhao Dahu replied.

"That's right." Zhao Erhu nodded. "Mr. Zhang said he wanted twelve black vegetable meat patties, ten scallion meat patties, and ten chive egg pancakes, so he gave us a deposit and asked us to bring them back. He also asked us to tell Aunt Xia."

"That's not right." Mrs. Lu counted on her fingers for a long time, "Thirty cakes, half of the deposit is only 118 coins, how come there are two more coins?"

"Mr. Zhang said it was money for the two of us to run errands," said Zhao Dahu, "but I've discussed it with Erhu, we don't want the money, we gave it all to Aunt Xia."

"That's right." Zhao Erhu said, "We are paid for our work, so we can't take extra tips from customers. We have to hand it all over."

Seeing the two brothers say this, Lu felt relieved.

As Xia Mingyue said, these two children have really grown up.

Not only does he do things that make adults feel at ease, but he also has good intentions and does not try to take advantage of small gains.

"Well done. I'll make you some scrambled eggs for lunch." Mrs. Lu was very generous. "Two for each of you!"

When children do something right, they should be rewarded promptly so that they can do better next time.

Xia Mingyue was also cooking lunch and making noodles at home at this time.

Usually, hele noodles are made with buckwheat flour, but the hele noodles here are made with sweet potato flour.

The noodles pressed out of pure sweet potato flour are shiny black, with excellent color and unique taste. However, because the sweet potato flour is not sticky enough, the pressed noodles are very easy to break when cooking. Xia Mingyue added white flour in a one-to-one ratio when kneading the dough.

The noodles pressed out in this way have the fragrance of sweet potato noodles and the tenderness and smoothness of white noodles. After being cooked in the pot, pour a ladle of cold water before serving, which makes the noodles more chewy. Stir-fry some meat cubes specially left over from making meat patties in the morning with garlic sprouts, add enough soy sauce to make the soup bright in color and rich in taste, and finally add spinach that has been blanched for a while, which tastes slightly sweet and full of fragrance.

When you are ready to eat, scoop a spoonful of the fragrant chili oil and pour in the right amount of vinegar...

It is smooth, sour and spicy, and extremely delicious!

After taking a mouthful of noodles, Xia Mingyue felt that every inch from her throat to her esophagus to her stomach was soothed and comfortable.

If Xia Mingyue were to add a word of praise for this bowl of noodles, she thinks it should be "have another bowl"!
In the next few days, the pancake stall business was as usual.

Zhang didn't dare to cause trouble again, and the number of cakes made by Xia Mingyue and Lu increased day by day. Now they need to make more than 150 cakes every day and sell them on the street.

The number of pancakes sent to the county school gradually increased to about fifty per day.

A rough calculation shows that the money earned every day can reach six or seven hundred coins.

The future is expected!

Xia Mingyue raised the corners of her mouth, took out some of the money buried in the kang hole, went to the street to buy two new baskets, and then went to the blacksmith shop on the street.

A kitchen knife, a one-foot-two-inch iron pan, a customized large-sized cast iron pan with a flat bottom that is more convenient for making pancakes, and a large soup pot.

The owner of the blacksmith shop was named Guo. After listening to Xia Mingyue's description, he scratched the back of his head and said, "Madam Xia, I know you sell cakes at the street corner. You probably bought these things for business. But the iron used for the things you want is really too much. I have a lot of work these days and don't have enough pig iron. I guess you have to wait for a while."

During times of war, a large number of weapons were needed, and iron ore became somewhat scarce, so it was not easy for the people to get iron tools.

"How long will it take?" Xia Mingyue asked.

"You'll have to wait about half a month." Shopkeeper Guo said with a smile, "But Madam Xia can take a kitchen knife today. We have one ready."

Xia Mingyue, "..."

There is a big gap from expectations.

But something is better than nothing, so just add to it bit by bit.

"Okay, let's buy a kitchen knife first." Xia Mingyue said, "Please ask Manager Guo to sharpen the blade for me so it can be sharpened faster."

"I will do the work, Madam Xia, rest assured." Manager Guo readily agreed, "But I have some work on my hands right now, Madam Xia, please come and get it in the evening."

"Okay." Xia Mingyue agreed, and after leaving the blacksmith shop, she planned to take a stroll on the street.

As they were strolling around, they arrived at the cosmetics shop owned by Manager Qian.

Xia Mingyue took the opportunity to look at the open space against the wall on the side of the door that Manager Qian mentioned.

The wall of the cosmetics shop should have been renovated in recent years. The blue bricks are very neat and smooth. It is about four meters long. The entrance is slightly protruding, forming a small corner and a short "L" shape.

It can be said that both large and small layouts are very suitable for setting up a stall with a shed.

But Xia Mingyue asked Lu, and although the cosmetics shop was owned by Manager Qian, his wife Liu was capable and many of the cosmetics were made by her own hands.

It can be said that the cosmetics shop was basically supported by the Liu family, and the shopkeeper Qian was also well-known for being "henpecked".

If Liu disagrees with setting up a stall here, things will not be pleasant.

Xia Mingyue wanted to expand the scale of her business, but was also worried about the potential risks. After thinking for a moment, she stepped into the cosmetics shop.

　In fact, fried noodles taste especially good. If they are fried with sweet potato stalks, they are simply delicious!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)