Chapter 39
Selling food on the streets requires skill, and it all depends on the location.
In poor areas, no matter how loud you shout, people won’t spend their money on meat-filled buns.
Three meat buns for fifteen wen, which is enough to buy a pound of meat and make them at home.
Lu Yang walked toward the county office, planning to stop by a few private schools and academies on the way.
He had gotten up early to enter the city just for this moment.
The families who could afford to support scholars would never be short of food or drink.
Even the youngest students, just starting their education, always had a few coins in hand.
The biggest characteristic of Lu Yang’s meat buns was that they had thin skin and thick filling.
He knew how to do business. Holding a large meat bun in his hand, he called out, “Selling buns, big meat buns with thin skin and thick filling,” showing off the buns to the people around him.
Who wouldn’t want a big meat bun? The other buns were neatly pleated, with soft white skin, and people were already drooling. But what about these meat buns, with their sauce-colored exterior?
Lu Yang’s walking pace depended on how many customers were on the street.
If there were many people drawn in, he would slow down a bit.
For example, outside the academy, he saw several young scholars with adults by their sides, so he shouted even more enthusiastically.
“Selling buns! Big meat buns with thin skin and thick filling! Five wen each! Big brother, big sister, would you like to buy a bun for the children? They’re warm and delicious, and it’s cold, so give the kids a hot bun! It’ll give them energy to study!”
Whether the big brother and sister bought or not depended on how greedy the children were.
Lu Yang split the meat bun in his hand to show everyone the generous filling.
He could tell who the ones paying were, so before making the sale, he smiled and said, “This is my first time here. Let me get familiar with you all, and you can try my buns.”
The people tasted the bun he had in his hand, but some said they didn’t want it because he had been holding it for too long and it might be dirty. These were the picky ones.
The rest weren’t so polite. A few of them came forward and took the buns.
They ate eagerly, and even though the buns had cooled, they were still delicious.
The meat filling was genuine, with no vegetables added to stretch it. The dough was thin, and each bun had a huge chunk of meat inside. Each piece of meat was cooked all the way through, steamed perfectly to soak up the flavor, and the texture was uniform.
Even though the dough had cooled and become slightly harder, it still tasted better than dry dough. It absorbed the sauce, and one bite was never enough.
Selling food, especially buns, you can’t be silent.
After splitting the buns, each person got one bite, and Lu Yang still had to explain.
“These buns use fresh meat, just cut from the butcher. I picked the right mixture of fat and lean. See? The filling is full of meaty chunks. The texture is better this way; every bite you get meat. I used a braised meat recipe for the filling. Have you ever eaten braised meat? A plate of it in a restaurant costs eighty wen! You can finish the meat and still have enough sauce to pour over two bowls of rice! Try the dough too. It’s perfect with the sauce. The buns just came out of the steamer, and my neighbor smelled them and bought ten without a second thought. Their kids were crying from hunger!”
Even the young scholars at the academy were drooling.
Not knowing what had happened before, the older students came to school in groups and saw people eating buns, especially these fragrant braised meat buns. Those who were well-off immediately took out money to buy a few to try.
Once inside the academy, they couldn’t eat anymore.
He bought the buns and started eating them right at the entrance.
Lu Yang took the buns out from his basket.
He had placed a thin blanket under the basket, then used oil paper to separate them. The top layer was a clean cloth, and everything was neat. When the buns came out, they were steaming, and the sauce-colored skin made it clear that these buns were just like the samples people had tasted.
When the scholar took a bite, the fragrance spread as he chewed, and the sound of people swallowing saliva filled the air.
Hot braised meat buns were definitely more fragrant than cold ones.
The young scholar eagerly asked the older one, “Senior brother, senior brother, are the buns good?”
The older scholar said they were delicious.
With that simple “delicious,” the older scholar had just helped Lu Yang get a new customer.
Lu Yang was really pleased with him.
Some people tried to bargain, saying, “Five wen for one? That’s too expensive. Can’t you lower the price? There’s not much dough, two won’t fill me up.”
Lu Yang smiled and said, “Big meat buns are always this price. Besides, meat is more expensive than flour, right? I use a lot of meat. If I lower the price, I’ll be losing money!”
Everyone knew how much it cost to buy meat and flour, and anyone who managed a household understood the price. These were hard-earned coins.
Lu Yang didn’t mind explaining the costs. For the amount of meat he used, he could make a certain number of buns. He knew exactly how much flour and meat he bought, how much it cost, and didn’t even count the labor for kneading the dough or chopping the filling. Firewood also cost money.
In the end, buying the bun was still cheaper than making it yourself, and it wasn’t much more expensive.
Lu Yang once again called out, “Big meat buns with thin skin and thick filling,” without directly saying it, but making sure everyone knew his buns were a different kind, and not everyone could replicate them.
A few coins for a delicious meal? Isn’t it worth it?
With this explanation, fifty buns were sold in no time, and they weren’t even enough to meet the demand.
Lu Yang smiled as he collected the money, thanking them for their business. Then, he ran to the shop, opened the door, and set up the vegetables outside.
Winter vegetables were more expensive, priced at three to five wen per jin. Now was the time to stock up for the winter, so he marked cabbage at five wen per jin, and if bought in bulk, it would be four wen per jin.
Radishes were cheaper, priced at three wen for two jin.
The vegetables sold quickly, and nearby shop owners came over to chat. Seeing he was selling vegetables, they asked about the price even before his sign was up. Without saying much, they paid and grabbed everything before he even opened fully.
This was great. Lu Yang was very pleased. Seeing it was still early, he thought about opening his own shop one day, so he wanted to get to know the other shopkeepers.
But when he turned around, he saw Li Feng.
Lu Yang: !!!
He hurriedly turned back and said to the few shopkeepers, “My shop is missing a lot of things. I still need to tidy up today, but I’ll definitely invite you all over when I officially open.”
Today, there would be no staying for guests, no formalities.
He gathered up his baskets and left through the back door.
Upon seeing Li Feng, he thought it would be best to return to the village early to avoid running into him on the main road.
But as he passed by the market street, he ran into Old Man Chen.
Lu Yang: …
He never realized how small San Shui County was.
At this very moment, Lu Erbao and Wang Fengnian had also finished preparing, bringing two pounds of meat and a jar of sugar as they entered Li Zhai’s old village.
That morning, Lu Liu had taken care of Er Huang, fed the rabbit, and then took some rice cakes to visit Yao Fulang.
Last time, he had received fish from Yao Fulang but hadn’t returned the favor. Now that they had rice cakes at home, he decided to bring some to Yao Fulang to complete the exchange.
Yao Fulang was polite and even gave him two more fish.
“It’s cold, and I don’t want to bother with cooking them. If you like, take some more so my troublesome one doesn’t keep thinking about them.”
Lu Liu gladly accepted and thought to himself that he would stew a big pot of fresh fish soup so his mother and Shun Ge’er could have a taste.
With a cheerful heart, he left Yao Fulang’s house and was stunned when he saw his two fathers walking right in front of him, following the small path to the house he was living in.
His house with Li Feng.
Lu Liu: !!
He was so startled that the fish he was holding fell to the ground.
Li Zhai’s old village was located at the foot of the Tombhead Mountain. The houses were built along the winding mountain road, with fewer houses as you went deeper into the village. The further you walked in, the narrower the flat land became, and the fewer houses there were.
If you followed the small path all the way, the third-to-last house was where Lu Liu and Li Feng lived. This house, with an added small room, had a strange shape.
The two fathers stood outside the courtyard, looking around, catching the attention of Er Huang.
Er Huang was a hunting dog, usually resting in its doghouse in the backyard, but it was also good at guarding the house.
Its nose was very sensitive, and it barked loudly when it sensed unfamiliar people.
Lu Liu heard the dog barking and his thoughts were interrupted. He didn’t have time to think and hurried home, not even bothering to pick up the fish.
He didn’t know how the two fathers had found their way here—had they discovered that he had swapped places with his brother, or were they just curious to see his brother?
When he reached home, the two sides met at the door, looking at each other in silence for a long while, no one speaking.
