Travel back to ancient times and open a Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 19

Around seven o'clock in the morning, Zhong Ruyi was still asleep, but Brother Zhong and Sister-in-law Zhong had already gotten up. When he was selling wontons before, he also got up at this time to buy ingredients. He was used to it. He pulled the cart with two wooden barrels on it, unloaded the boards and threshold of the store door, and then pulled the cart out.

Seeing that he had walked a little further away, Mrs. Zhong put the board and the door sill back up. It usually took her half an hour to buy meat, and it took about the same amount of time to buy water. Mrs. Zhong went to the kitchen to boil water, and when the water boiled, Brother Zhong came back. At this time, Zhong Ruyi also got up to wash up.

After Zhong Ruyi finished washing up, her second sister-in-law had already boiled hot water and steamed some pancakes that she brought from home. She could have a pancake to fill her stomach when her second brother Zhong came back.

The two of them worked together to pull out a large wooden basin that had been placed in the utility room, which they would use to hold the washed pig offal.

Mrs. Zhong took two wooden buckets and was about to go out to fetch water. There were several wells in the town, and there happened to be a well on the back street of the store they rented. When they needed water, they could just carry the wooden buckets and fetch water.

Zhong Ruyi was about to go fetch water with her second sister-in-law, but she wouldn't let her and asked her to stay in the store to watch. As a result, just as she walked out, Zhong Erge came back with two buckets of pig offal. Seeing that Zhong Erge was going to fetch water, he took the wooden bucket from her and ran to fetch water himself, asking the two of them to pour the offal into the basin first.

Zhong Ruyi and her second sister-in-law worked together to pour a bucket of pig offal into the basin. She then ran to the kitchen to take out the wood ash that had just been burned and poured it into the basin. The two began to knead it. Zhong's second brother also came back with two buckets of water. Zhong's second sister-in-law asked him to eat some cakes first. There was also some porridge on the table to go with it.

After Brother Zhong finished eating and came to help, the three of them worked together for more than half an hour. They cut off the dirty parts with scissors. When they were done, only one bucket and a small basin of pig offal were left out of the two full buckets.

After blanching, put it in the pot. The firewood used was brought from home. When it is used up, I will buy new firewood. Add the sugar and wine sauce and cook it for a while. Then add all the spices and let it cook slowly in the pot.

By the time everything was done, it was already ten o'clock. Mrs. Zhong took a small clay stove in the yard and put an iron rack on it to prepare lunch. They ate first and then prepared to go to work. By the time lunch was finished, the braised food in the pot was almost ready.

Mrs. Zhong took a wooden barrel and put it at the door of the store. Brother Zhong picked up a whole pot and followed her out. As soon as the barrel was put down, he placed the pot on top of it with the lid still on. A faint fragrance wafted out, but one had to get closer to smell it.

Mrs. Chen, the proprietress of the tea shop next door, was sitting at the door of the shop sewing shoe soles. When she saw the big scene at Zhong Ji's next door, she couldn't help but lean over to take a look out of curiosity. She saw the Zhong couple taking a wooden barrel and placing a pot on top of it. The pot was covered, so she couldn't see what was inside.

She asked curiously, "Zhong family, what are you going to do? I didn't see you guys come back for a few days and I thought you were going to quit the lease."

Mrs. Zhong wiped the sweat from her forehead and said with a smile, "I've been home for a few days. Didn't she just come back yesterday? We opened the door this morning and are ready to do business. We're not doing the same business as before." As she spoke, she picked up a spoon and a bowl from the table next to her and opened the lid of the pot. A burst of hot air and a great fragrance wafted in her face. She scooped a spoonful into the bowl and handed it to Chen, who was drooling at the aroma.

Chen felt that she had eaten the buns in vain this morning. She felt so hungry as soon as she smelled the fragrance. She quickly put down her needle and thread, took the bowl handed to her by Mrs. Zhong Er, and picked up a piece of bun and put it into her mouth in front of Mrs. Chen Er. As soon as she tasted the buns, her drowsiness after waking up early disappeared and her eyes brightened surprisingly.

"Is this made from pig offal? Why doesn't it taste like the pickled pig offal at all? It's so delicious!" It's fragrant and chewy, without any of the fishy and smelly pig offal she had eaten before! I don't know what's wrong with the Zhong family, how can they make such delicious food.

After chewing the piece of pig lung in her mouth, she asked Mrs. Zhong: "What is this called? How much is it?" She had to buy some of this delicious food to take back.

Mrs. Zhong was extremely happy. "This is braised food. For three days in a row, the first spoonful is ten cents, the second spoonful is five cents. This is just for these three days. After three days, it will be the original price of ten cents per spoonful." This was what Zhong Ruyi had discussed with them last night. They would sell it by the spoonful. For the first three days, the first spoonful would be the original price of ten cents, the second spoonful would be five cents at half price, the third spoonful would be ten cents, and the fourth spoonful would be five cents, in that order.

Mrs. Zhong was a little hesitant at first, but then she thought that such delicious food should not be unsalable. If it really couldn’t be sold, she could just lower the price a bit, so she agreed with this in mind.

Chen thought it wasn't expensive and said, "Give me two spoonfuls and I'll go get a bowl for it." After saying that, she went back to get a bowl.

When she brought the big bowl over, Mrs. Zhong opened the lid of the pot and scooped two spoonfuls into the bowl, just filling it up. The aroma hit her face, and then a breeze blew past, blowing the aroma away.

People were coming and going on the street. Someone smelled the fragrance and searched for a long time before finally following the smell to find Zhong Ji Snacks. When he saw the sign at the door, he was still unsure. The pot was still covered with a lid, but the fragrance was so fragrant that it made him feel uneasy.

So he stepped forward and asked, "Boss, what kind of business do you do? I smelled the smell from far away, but I'm not sure if it's from your house." Before he finished speaking, Mrs. Zhong lifted the lid of the pot.

!!!

That’s it!

He hurriedly took out his purse and asked how much it cost.

Mrs. Zhong explained that this was made from pig offal, which was braised using her own secret recipe after being completely cleaned. Today was the first day of trial operation, and she had made the trial discounts clear. She was afraid that customers would not want it after knowing it was pig offal, so it was better to make it clear in advance.

When the customer heard that it was pig offal, his expression was conflicted. He had eaten pig offal before when his family was in hard times. Eating it would make him vomit out all the overnight meals in his stomach.

But then, he thought that the fragrance would not deceive him. The proprietress said that the first spoonful would cost ten cents and the second spoonful would cost five cents. Ten cents was not expensive, so he would take a spoonful home to try. If it didn't taste good, he would just not buy it in the future.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and asked for a spoonful, thinking that if he didn't buy too much, he wouldn't be scolded by his wife when he got home. If no one in the family wanted to eat it, he could just finish it himself.

Seeing the dilemma on his face, Mrs. Zhong smiled and picked up a piece with chopsticks for the guest to try. The guest looked a little embarrassed, as if she felt awkward and ashamed that Mrs. Zhong knew what he was thinking.

"Take it and try it. We are still in the trial stage. If you find it too salty or bland, you can tell us and give us your opinions. We will listen to your suggestions."

Seeing that there was no mockery in the smile on Mrs. Zhong's face, the guest reached out to take the piece of braised offal and put it into his mouth. Once it touched his mouth, he chewed it roughly twice and swallowed it. Other passers-by standing nearby who were also attracted by the aroma asked him how it tasted. He didn't have time to pay attention to others and just let Mrs. Zhong scoop two spoonfuls for him. There were not many people in his family and two spoonfuls was just enough.

Seeing him like this, the people around him also asked for one or two spoonfuls. Mrs. Zhong scooped one spoonful at a time. Zhong Ruyi and Brother Zhong had just finished cleaning up the yard and came out to help.

Zhong Ruyi took the bowls that were used to eat wontons in the store and told the customers that she would lend them the bowls first and they could just return them tomorrow when they were done. Even if they didn't return them, the bowls were not worth much money, so Zhong Erge stood by and helped collect the money.