Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 34.1

Mu Jinyu had made a total of three steamer baskets worth of fish cakes. As soon as she set up her stall, the first basket was sold out to the diners who had arrived early to queue.

The remaining two baskets of fish cakes were also gradually bought up by customers strolling through the night market street.

Many of the visitors wandering the streets were unaware of what had happened to her today. Consequently, when they arrived at her stall and discovered they couldn’t have the “Knocked Fish Noodles,” their faces showed a hint of confusion.

In the end, they either bought some fish cakes and left, or they walked away feeling a bit disappointed.

That was until one person ran up to Mu Jinyu’s stall and said, “Boss Mu, since you can’t sell the piping hot Knocked Fish Noodles, could you sell the raw noodles to me? It would be wonderful for me to take them back and boil them myself.”

Hearing this, Mu Jinyu realized she hadn’t thought of doing that before, so she took a moment to consider it.

If she sold the prepared raw Knocked Fish Noodles, would it have any negative impact on her?

The first thing she thought of was whether someone might buy her noodles, take them home, and then intentionally claim that eating her noodles caused problems just to make trouble for her.

But then she realized that if she established a route for selling raw noodles, she could actually supply noodles to all the noodle shops in Louxu County.

She could turn Knocked Fish Noodles into a staple like water-boiled noodles, hand-shaved noodles, or “Pugai” (bedsheet) noodles—something diners could easily find in any noodle shop.

The sales volume would be much larger and wider.

In the future, she could even open a dedicated noodle workshop to supply the entire Louxu County.

There was a difference between being a small stall owner and a big boss. If she could truly open a workshop, she wouldn’t have to spend every single day working hard at a stall to earn a living like she did now.

With the extra time, she could research even more types of food.

After thinking it over, Mu Jinyu immediately agreed to sell the raw noodles to this person. She even announced to the other customers waiting for fish cakes that they could buy raw noodles as well.

She figured that even if someone intentionally claimed there was a problem with her goods, she would be better off solving the issue early to pave the way for the future.

Naturally, raw noodles couldn’t be sold for more than cooked ones. After calculating the cost of various ingredients in her head, Mu Jinyu decided to sell a small bowl’s portion of raw noodles for four wen, a large bowl’s portion for seven wen, and sixty wen for one jin (approx. 500g).

In other words, the more raw noodles they bought, the cheaper it became.

Hearing the price Mu Jinyu quoted, the person who first suggested buying raw noodles immediately said, “Give me one jin!”

It wasn’t easy for an ordinary family to shell out sixty wen at once for food.

Hearing this person ask for a full jin, a flash of surprise crossed Mu Jinyu’s face, but her hands moved quickly. She had already grabbed a jin of noodles, wrapped them in oil paper, and handed them over.

The person took the raw noodles and asked, “Could you give me some of that broth too? My own Knocked Fish Noodles would taste better that way.”

She was referring to the broth Mu Jinyu had simmered using fish heads and bones.

“I could,” Mu Jinyu said, looking around the items on her counter, “but the basins I have here are all in use, so I have nothing to pack it in for you.”

“No matter, no matter! I’ll go back and get something,” the person said.

After speaking, the person immediately ran off and returned a short while later with a small food box, asking Mu Jinyu to help fill it with broth.

The food box had a lid, so it wouldn’t spill easily even if she was in a hurry.

After packing the broth and bidding Mu Jinyu farewell, she sprinted out of the night market and ran toward the largest restaurant in Louxu County.

She ran through the back door of the restaurant and hurried up to the third floor.

The restaurant was named “Jade Building” (Yu Lou), standing three stories high.

The first floor was the main hall, spacious enough to hold fifty-five tables for ordinary people to eat.

The second floor was divided into fifty-five private rooms of various sizes for wealthier diners.

The third floor was split into left and right wings.

The left side was for the owner of Jade Building’s daily use, while the right side was divided into three elegant and luxurious private rooms for guests of even higher status.

The person who had bought the jin of Knocked Fish Noodles rushed to the left side of the third floor. After knocking, she didn’t wait for an answer before pushing the door open.

While bowing respectfully, she said, “Boss Yu, I’ve bought the Knocked Fish Noodles. Would you like to have a taste?”

The environment inside was not as elegant or serene as the private rooms, nor was it exceptionally beautiful. Instead, it was lined with row after row of bookshelves.

The shelves were filled with ledgers and contracts related to Jade Building, as well as recipes and food illustrations.

The person called Boss Yu sat in the center of the room behind a desk, carefully reviewing the ledgers.

Upon hearing the news, she didn’t speak but merely nodded.

Having received the order, the person who bought the noodles immediately ran out and instructed the small independent kitchen on the third floor to prepare the Knocked Fish Noodles.

Fearing the taste might differ from Mu Jinyu’s, the buyer even recited the steps one by one for the chef to replicate exactly.

She had observed Mu Jinyu making the noodles for a long time; there couldn’t be a single mistake.

Speaking of which, she was unlucky today. If she could have successfully bought Mu Jinyu’s finished noodles, she wouldn’t have had to go through the trouble of replicating the process.

Once the Knocked Fish Noodles were cooked and brought to Boss Yu’s table, Boss Yu, who had been looking at the ledgers, immediately set them aside and pulled the bowl toward her.

First, she used a white jade spoon to scoop up some broth.

She blew on it slowly.

Only after the steam rising from the soup had gradually dissipated did she take a shallow sip.

“The flavor of the fish bones and meat is overlaid with the taste of green onions, ginger, and garlic, used for deodorizing. There is a slight taste of sweet potato starch, which shed from the knocked fish noodles.”

After speaking, she used jade chopsticks to pick up a strand of noodle and put it in her mouth.

After savoring it slowly, she continued, “Three parts fish meat, one part sweet potato starch, slowly knocked until fused, then dropped into the broth with a few leaves of seasonal vegetables. Slightly fresh, slightly sweet, smooth and delicate—this is the flavor.”

Boss Yu pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. After a slight hesitation, she said, “There is a faint hint of sweet persimmon.”

She could understand the necessity of the previous flavors she tasted, but why was there a hint of sweet persimmon?

She picked up another strand and tasted it carefully, only then realizing the sweet persimmon wasn’t something Mu Jinyu had intentionally added, but rather something accidentally picked up during the preparation process; it was likely unimportant.

As she finished speaking, the person standing nearby had already recorded everything she said and praised, “Boss Yu, you are becoming more and more impressive!”

Boss Yu didn’t eat any more of the noodles. After wiping her mouth with a handkerchief, she said, “The technique for making these noodles is far more important than the ingredients. Send out the order; tell them to work harder, and it’s best if they can replicate it without the slightest deviation.”

Her subordinate received the order and dashed out again.

Hearing Mu Jinyu say they could buy raw noodles, many diners who had been lost because they couldn’t buy cooked noodles immediately had their eyes light up. They lined up in front of the small cart to buy them.

Buying raw noodles was actually more convenient for them.

Ultimately, noodles weren’t very suitable for selling in a night market because they were too filling; many people who had already finished their dinner couldn’t eat a whole bowl of noodles.

Now that they could take the noodles home and cook them themselves, they could eat them whenever they wanted.

They could even treat it as a main meal and didn’t have to starve themselves specifically to come eat a bowl of Knocked Fish Noodles.

In a way, it was better than coming to the night market to eat.

However, among the many customers buying Knocked Fish Noodles, no one else bought a whole jin at once like the first customer.

Mu Jinyu continuously wrapped the noodles in oil paper and handed them to the diners. The oil paper was being used up quickly, and in no time, half of it was gone.

The fish cakes also needed oil paper for wrapping.

Both sides were consuming it simultaneously. One moment there was half left, and the next, she only had three or five sheets prepared.

But there were still many noodles and fish cakes left…

Seeing this, Mu Jinyu looked around and soon saw the stall owner across from her looking dejected.

She thought for a moment, ran over to the owner, and asked, “Stall Owner Wang, how about this? I’m short on lotus leaves. If you sell all your lotus leaves to me, you can at least make some of your cost back.”

Owner Wang was the same stall owner whose stove had been filled with mud—the same kind-hearted owner who had warned her before.

Her stall used lotus leaves instead of oil paper to wrap pancakes.

Many stalls in the night market used lotus leaves, which were cheaper than oil paper, to save a few copper coins.

Owner Wang worked the stall alone. Facing such a malicious act as having her stove blocked, she sat behind her stall, not knowing what to do.

Hearing Mu Jinyu’s voice now, she looked up, her eyes still dazed. After a long while, she nodded blankly and said, “Oh, oh, alright.”

If the lotus leaves weren’t used up tonight, they would dry out by the next night, and customers wouldn’t like the look of them.

Since she couldn’t use them tonight anyway, it was good if someone wanted to buy them. She handed all the lotus leaves at her stall to Mu Jinyu.

After paying a few wen, Mu Jinyu kindly added, “Owner Wang, pack up and go home. Get some good rest tonight, and sell more tomorrow to make it back.”

Owner Wang sold pancakes, so only the pre-mixed batter would go to waste. Other ingredients like the toppings, eggs, and lettuce could be kept.

Owner Wang took the coins Mu Jinyu handed her. Hearing her words, she gradually regained her senses and nodded, accepting Mu Jinyu’s kindness.

After greeting her, Mu Jinyu hurried back to her own stall and used the lotus leaves to wrap the noodles for the diners.

On the other side, Rong Heng had just finished the last few sheets of oil paper and seamlessly switched to lotus leaves to continue selling.

Eventually, the raw noodles sold out quickly, and the fish cakes were also selling fast.

However, by the time only half a steamer basket of fish cakes remained, many people chose not to buy them once they realized the cakes had gone cold.

So, the last half basket sold quite slowly.

Mu Jinyu and Rong Heng finally had a moment of leisure.

They breathed a sigh of relief. The smiles they had maintained for the customers faded as they squatted back down by the stove, trying hard to dig out the mud clumps inside.

As she dug, a plan suddenly formed in Mu Jinyu’s mind.

Don’t let her good temper fool you; she didn’t intend to let herself be bullied.

That Zhang family had set her up twice already; she didn’t want to let them off so easily again.

So they wanted to play dirty?

She thought about how she could save all the fish guts and scales that were discarded every day when she prepared the fish.

She would leave them at home for a few days, and once they started to reek, she would dump them at the homes of that Stall Owner Zhang and the one who stole her tables and stools.

That way, not only would it take them a lot of effort to clean up, but the stench would be incredibly hard to get rid of. If they weren’t careful, the smell could linger in their homes for days!

She’d stinky them to death!

Thinking of this, Mu Jinyu put more effort into clearing the mud from her stove. Her face no longer showed anger or gloom, but was replaced by a look of determination.