Border Cook

Chapter 8 Black Vegetable
An old lady with a greedy grandson at home, a young lady who is filial to her parents-in-law, a young man with a round face who looks honest and kind...

And the strong man who bought nine meat patties at once yesterday also came.

While gesturing, he spoke with difficulty, "Hahahaha, I, haha, want five meat patties...hahaha..."

"Okay." Xia Mingyue took the money and used oil paper to wrap the meat pie.

"Hahahaha, young lady, are you, hahaha, selling hahaha meat patties here all the time?" the burly man asked.

"I have been doing it recently." Xia Mingyue looked at the strong man who was laughing so hard that his face turned red and he was even a little out of breath but still laughing. She was very suspicious, "This big brother is so happy, is there some big happy news?"

You hit the key point!

The sturdy man felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn't stop laughing. He still laughed non-stop, "Don't worry about it, hahahaha, it's just that someone pierced the wrong acupuncture point. I'll laugh for another hour, hahahaha, and it will be fine..."

It turned out to be the case.

Could this be the rumored point of being laughed at?
It really is……

It's hard to describe in words.

Xia Mingyue didn't ask any more questions and gave the meat pie to the strong man. "Go slowly, come back for more if you like."

"Sure. Hahaha." The sturdy man nodded frantically.

He must come back to buy meat patties.

After all, these five meat patties today are all for the master to eat, so he can only watch helplessly, afraid that he will be greedy to death. When he gets the chance, he must eat a crazy meal of meat patties to satisfy his craving!
Just talking about this makes me hungry...

The meat pie is crispy and delicious, he is really craving for it now!
I really want to eat one!
But yesterday, because he ate eight delicious meat patties in one go and only brought one back to his master, his master found out and gave him an injection. As a result, he has become the one who laughs uncontrollably and is avoided by others.

If I'm greedy again today...

My life is at stake!

The sturdy man shrank his neck, suppressed all his greed, and quickly left with the delicious meat pie.

All fifty meat patties were sold out by noon.

When Xia Mingyue and Lu were packing up to go back, more people came to ask about buying meat patties. After learning that they were sold out, some of them went back disappointed.

"Looking at the situation, we have to do more tomorrow." Lu said with a smile.

"You have to make more. I'll borrow my sister-in-law's basin tonight and mix more dough to rise." Xia Mingyue said with a smile, "But you can't make too many. Just make twenty more."

"Only twenty more?" Lu was stunned.

At this rate, I won’t have any trouble selling fifty more cakes.

If she follows her idea and makes 150 meat patties directly, she can make a net profit of about 500 to 600 coins a day!
"Do it step by step, and increase it slowly. If you do too much at once, others will not pay attention to it anymore."

The word "delicious" comes from two sources: one is the sense of taste, and the other is the psychology. Only when the two are combined can you have thousands of fantasies.

If you can’t eat enough, you will always be thinking about it. If you eat too much, you will soon be tired of it.

Mrs. Lu immediately understood Xia Mingyue's intention and gave her a thumbs up, "It has to be my sister-in-law."

No wonder Lu Qiyan said before that he liked women who could read and write. Women who were well-educated and experienced were different. They had a very broad vision, which was beyond the reach of an ordinary village woman like her.

After packing up the basket cloth and taking the heavy purse, Xia Mingyue and Lu walked back. It was noon, and the streets were bustling with vendors selling food, vegetables and groceries, with their cries rising and falling one after another.

"Black vegetables, who wants black vegetables? Cheap and large quantities of black vegetables..."

Black vegetable?

Xia Mingyue stopped.

A thin little girl of no more than thirteen or fourteen was shouting out her wares, and the black pile in the basket in front of her was bulging out.

The lady selling eggs nearby noticed that the little girl's voice was a little hoarse, so she advised, "Young lady, take a break."

"Thank you, Auntie, but if I didn't shout, I'm afraid no one would buy it." The little girl was a little stubborn.

"But even if you shout your throat out, you won't be able to sell this black vegetable." The uncle who was selling white radishes and fresh spinach on the other side couldn't help himself. "This black vegetable is the mustard buds. We farmers won't eat this if we have any fresh vegetables to eat. It's basically fed to sheep. Who in the city would buy your black vegetable to eat?"

"That is to say..." The old lady smacked her lips, "If you really want to make some money to supplement your family income, you can sell something else, even mustard seeds, which are better than these black vegetables."

Upon hearing this, the little girl immediately dropped her head and stopped talking. She looked like an eggplant hit by frost, completely devoid of spirit.

Xia Mingyue walked over, took some black vegetables and examined them for a moment. "They are dried in the sun. How much do you want to sell them for?"

Seeing someone asking the price, the little girl raised her head quickly, her eyes shining brightly, "Do you want to buy black vegetables? They are not expensive. This basket is only forty cents."

"I have a lot of black vegetables. The basket is pressed very firmly. It's very heavy, you see." Afraid that Xia Mingyue would not believe her, the girl picked up the bamboo basket and placed it in her hand.

Xia Mingyue picked up the weight.

It’s indeed not light, probably more than ten pounds.

Perhaps seeing that Xia Mingyue remained silent and was only checking the quality of the black vegetables, the little girl bit her lip and said, "Sister, do you want to buy some? If you can buy them all, I'll give you thirty-five, no, thirty cents!"

The four words "thirty cents" were almost squeezed out from between his teeth.

The lady and uncle beside him both sighed.

Not only did he dare to sell black vegetables, but he also dared to ask for so much money. He even wanted to exchange the mustard leaves that were used to feed the sheep for half a pound of meat. He is indeed a child who is ignorant and dares to think of anything.

"Okay, I'll take them all." Xia Mingyue said, "My home is just in the alley ahead, just deliver them to me."

"Okay, okay." Seeing that someone really spent thirty cents to buy her black vegetables, the little girl cried with joy and nodded repeatedly, "I'll send it to my sister's house."

After saying that, he carried the bamboo basket on his back and followed Xia Mingyue and Lu.

Seeing this, the uncle and the aunt looked at each other in bewilderment, and after a long while they spoke, "This young lady doesn't look stupid, why would she spend so much money on such a dish?"

"You don't know this, right? City people, to put it nicely, are city people, but if you really count carefully, they are not as free as us farmers in eating and drinking. They have to pay for even a leaf of vegetable. If they don't have money, they can only eat mustard seeds, which is nothing special."

Seeing the aunt say this, the uncle nodded and said, "That's the truth."

Suddenly I am not so envious of life in the city.

Xia Mingyue and Lu took the little girl back home. When the large basket of black vegetables was placed in the large wooden basin in Xia Mingyue's kitchen, Xia Mingyue checked the quality of the black vegetables and paid the full amount of money.

When the heavy copper coins were in her hands, tears welled up in the little girl's eyes.

　Black mustard greens: mustard greens are boiled and dried. Prune mustard greens are made from mustard greens or Chinese mustard greens. Black mustard greens are similar to Prune mustard greens and are delicious when used to make buns and pies.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)