NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Just three days after the millet was dried and stored, the autumn rain came again.
Liu Mianxi and Mu Zhiyuan went up the mountain together, rushing to pick more wild mushrooms and bamboo shoots before the autumn rain ended.
The pet little spirit rat lay on Mao Xi's shoulder. After taking it up the mountain several times, Mao Xi found that it was quite greedy, but as long as it followed, he could always find all kinds of delicious mushrooms.
"Ah Shu, this mountain rat is white all over. It's not like an ordinary bamboo rat. If you raise it, will it steal food?"
"It is smaller than a fist and is probably a guinea pig. It only eats roasted sweet potatoes and nuts at home. But it has a keen sense of smell and is quite intelligent. It often leads me to find many wild mushrooms."
The two of them first came to the bamboo forest and worked for half an hour, cutting a bunch of bamboo shoots and placing them in the portable space.
During the break, Mao Xi fed the little mice with roasted sweet potatoes. After eating, the mice jumped into the grass. Mao Xi followed them all the way and dug up gallinaceous fungi, morels and bamboo fungus.
"Is this enough?" Mu Zhiyuan asked Shui Xi.
"That's enough. After drying it, we can open a shop and sell it together."
"Has the location of the store been decided?"
"It has been decided. The location is still near Guanyun Bridge. We need to prepare the ingredients for the store soon."
"Zhizhi~" The little spirit rat barked twice, and Mao Xi grabbed it on her shoulder. The spirit rat playfully jumped onto Mu Zhiyuan's shoulder. It seemed to be quite attached to Mu Zhiyuan.
On the way down the mountain, the two met Lu Da who had returned from hunting in the mountain, accompanied by the local dog Dahuang.
Ever since Rhubarb weaned the two puppies, he liked to run to Luda's garden, so Luda would take him with him every time he went hunting in the mountains.
"What did you dig today?" Luda asked, holding two hares and two pheasants in his hands.
"I dug some bamboo shoots and wild mushrooms." As soon as Mao Xi stopped, Dahuang ran over, wagging his tail around the two of them.
She squatted down, touched the rhubarb, and continued: "Brother Lu, I am going to make some dishes for the opening of the snack shop today. You and Brother Muyuan come over for dinner, and help me try the dishes by the way."
Luda reached out and gave a hare to Shu Xi: "Sister Shu, the rabbit will give you extra food."
Mao Xi didn't take it and said, "Brother Luda, if you keep these two rabbits at home and have a litter in the future, you won't have to go to the mountains to hunt them often."
Luda thought about it for a moment and realized that it was possible. The hare fell into the dug trap hole and was not injured. There might be a nest of rabbit meat when the rabbit is raised.
"Amao, I'm really craving for the spicy stir-fried rabbit you made!"
"Brother Ludago, I'll give you a few of the peppers in the field to plant."
At noon, Ah Xiao was busy making "hot and sour rice noodles" and "sour bamboo shoots and snail noodles" using handmade rice noodles prepared in advance. The chili sauce is made from home-made chili peppers, the sour bamboo shoots are pickled by Grandma, and the snails are fished from the river by herself, but the quantity is not large.
Since she couldn't catch any fish, she didn't go to the market today. She bought a fish from the virtual mall and made "sauerkraut fish" using the sauerkraut and chili at home.
For snacks, she prepared pickled cabbage pancakes and chive pancakes from the previous stall, and also added "braised sausage", which can be ordered alone or added to rice noodles. The vegetarian dish is fried sweet potato leaves. The sweet potato leaves picked from the field grow so much that she can't finish them and feeds them to the chickens.
The sweet snacks include the seasonal "Xiao Diao Qiuli Soup" and "Crystal Osmanthus Cake".
The snacks at the night market still provide grilled French fries and potato chips, with the addition of cold wild bracken and vegetarian skewers.
After Mao Xi had cooked all the food, he quickly called his family, Mu Zhiyuan and Lu Da to come and judge.
The most surprising thing was Mrs. Chen. She had never taught her daughter these eating methods. How could she learn it by herself without a teacher? "Ah Shu, where did you learn this?"
"When I close the stalls, I sometimes go to the market and watch what I'm doing." Shu Xi weakly said a far-fetched reason.
When Mu Zhiyuan was still the king of Beijing, he had to socialize in restaurants, and there were also famous chefs serving delicious food at his house.
Today's lunch, Mao Xi opened his eyes again. Not to mention the two rice noodles, which are sour and spicy, with endless aftertaste. The small ingredients added to the sausage are also crispy and fragrant. I don’t know what spices were added, but there is no smell of pig urine.
After unanimous review by everyone, the pickled fish is the most popular.
Worried about a long night and many dreams, Mao Xi took Xiaodouzi from school and went straight to the shop for rent next to Guanyun Bridge.
The price originally agreed upon with the landlord was 20 taels of store rent per month, but today the price was increased to 30 taels per month, which exceeded Shu Xi's expectations. He had no choice but to make further plans and choose a new location.
"Sister, does it have to be near Guanyun Bridge?" Xiaodouzi was puzzled. It turns out that setting up a stall is not a good idea.
Little children don’t understand that setting up a roadside stall can only sell snacks. Selling more than 200 roasted sweet potatoes a day really doesn’t make much money, and it’s not as profitable as making wine. But if you have your own small shop, you can freely use your upgraded cooking talent. If you work hard for a while, you may be able to save money to buy a shop.
Mao Xi continued to look for a suitable berth in the town, and suddenly remembered that when delivering wine that day, she passed by the large stage next to Qingxiang Building. There was a lot of people there, so she might as well go there and have a look.
Coincidentally, there happened to be a shop for rent near the stage. It was originally a cake shop, but the family moved north, so the shop was vacant. There is no need to renovate the shop, which saves a lot of energy.
Mao Xi rented a shop from the landlord at a monthly rent of 20,000 yuan, and found someone to make a wooden sign for the shop, naming it: Liuxiang Snacks.
On the first day of opening, the weather was fine. Mao Xi asked Xiaodouzi to help write small advertising flyers on paper in advance, and Chen stood at the door and distributed them to tourists.
There were no diners yet, so Mao Xi shouted at the door: "The new store is opening, everything is half price!"
After hearing that the whole place was half price, the six seats in the store were quickly filled, and a long line of people lined up at the door waiting to buy snacks and snacks.
Inside the store, Mu Zhiyuan acted as a waiter, greeting guests and serving food and water. After noon, the snacks and snacks were sold out, leaving only hot and sour noodles and pickled fish.
The maid Yan'er followed Nalan Jue's carriage to the door of the food shop. She stepped forward and asked, "Miss Ah Shu, do you still have the snacks for today?"
"Today's sugar water snacks have been sold out. You can come when the night market opens. We provide cold dishes, vegetarian picks, and potato chips. Do you want some dried wild mushrooms?"
Yan'er returned to the carriage and whispered a few words to Nalan Jue by the curtain, then returned to the shop: "Miss Ah Shu, our young master has made a reservation with you for tomorrow's Qiuli soup and sweet-scented osmanthus cake. We also want to invite you to our house for the Double Ninth Festival." This year’s [Chrysanthemum Banquet], this is the invitation.”
After Yan'er handed over the invitation, Mao Xi touched the apron with his hand and was about to take it when Mu Zhiyuan snatched it away.
"Ah Miao is busy, I'll get it for her."
Mu Zhiyuan looked at the invitation and said, "I need to prepare a meal to attend your banquet! I wonder if you can give me another invitation? I am Ah Shu's assistant."
Yan'er covered her mouth with a handkerchief and said with a smile: "Young master, I only have one copy of this invitation. If you want it again, you can ask the master in person tomorrow." After saying that, he left with the carriage and horse.
"Hmph, what about Nalan Mansion? I don't care about the Chrysanthemum Banquet!" After saying that, he threw the invitation hard on the table.
Mao Xi hurriedly picked up the invitation and put it away: "Don't you understand this? The food Mr. Nalan has eaten will be sought after by ladies from all over the country. Then if I sell it in the store, wouldn't it be unfair? I’m worried about sales.”
"It seems that I have to ask Mr. Mi for help before I can go to Nalan Mansion." Mu Zhiyuan looked calm on the surface, but secretly planned in his heart.