The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 111 - 100 Small Idea (Extra addition of 50000 recommended tickets by Yun Qi)

Chapter 111: Chapter 100 Small Idea (Extra addition of 50000 recommended tickets by Yun Qi)

Zhou Erlang was much better prepared than Zhou Wulang; when Manbao looked through the basket Second Brother brought, she discovered a basin of chopped large pork bones with meat on them.

There were two strips of streaky pork that were about the same size, and another strip of fatty pork.

Manbao’s mouth watered at the sight of them.

Worried Manbao’s drool would drip onto the meat, Zhou Erlang hastily pulled her away and coaxed, "Wait until noon, and Second Brother will give you some meat to eat."

Manbao, drooling, nodded her head.

With food on her mind, she was reluctant to leave, so she squatted in front of the stove to help with tending the fire, which basically meant taking a glance at the fire and informing the brothers any time it needed more wood, at which point someone would come and add some.

Bai Shanbao squatted with her for a while but soon found watching the fire boring, so he went off to play with Bai Erlang, who had gone to the newly dug canals.

Daji followed them closely, and Zhou Erlang, after a glance, was no longer worried.

He added the cleaned bones to the pot, knowing that boiling soup could earn a good sum of money, so of course, he had to make the soup a bit better—shouldn’t it at least have more fat and oil?

Zhou Erlang covered the pot and started chopping cabbage and radish.

Today, they had also brought a smaller pot and a large jar.

When he thought it was about time, he added the fatty pork and radishes into the large pot to cook for less than two quarters of an hour; then he started a fire on the stove he had set up on the side to cook radish stew with pork.

He used the broth from the pot.

This way, they even saved on oil.

Once the radish stew with pork was ready, he poured all the vegetables into the jar to keep warm on the side of the fire, then started to cook cabbage stew with pork.

When the clerks rang the gong for lunchtime, the clerks delivering the meals couldn’t help but glance over repeatedly, then asked their colleagues, "This smells even better than yesterday, doesn’t it?"

The two clerks had wandered over earlier to take a look and knew that the Zhou brothers had brought a lot of meat today and planned to make meat dishes.

They exchanged a look and the clerks smiled indifferently, "We asked them; they’re using quite a bit of meat, with whole family dependent on this, just earning some hard-earned money."

The two of them also feared that the clerks would chase the people away because Zhou Erlang hinted this morning that if his business could continue, there would always be some perk for them every meal.

What did that mean?

It meant they could eat and drink for free.

The meal-delivery clerks glanced at the crowd surrounding the pot, saw there were both able-bodied adults and children, and thought no more about it, handing over the food and saying, "Alright, your lunch is all here, I’ll head back first."

"Okay."

Everyone took their own bing and instinctively headed towards the Zhou Family’s stove, drawn by the fragrance, and asked Zhou Wulang, who they had become a little familiar with yesterday, "What’s so delicious today?"

Zhou Wulang laughed and said, "My Second Brother got a little extra meat today, said he’d cook a dish for everyone to spice up the meal, five coins a scoop. If brothers want some, just let me know, and I’ll serve it for you."

Zhou Erlang then joined the conversation and smiled, "Thank you, brothers, for your support yesterday, but with the cold weather, it’s easy to get sick if people only drink soup without eating vegetables. Just yesterday, my sister came home and mentioned how she felt sorry that her Third Brother was out in the fields having to gnaw on dry rations with no vegetables, so that’s why we prepared a little bit of vegetables today. But we don’t have much, so if anyone wants to change things up, feel free to buy some."

"Oh, and," Zhou Erlang added with a smile, "this afternoon we’ll also be doing the same as yesterday, boiling a pot of hot water for everyone to soak their bing."

As he spoke, Zhou Erlang opened the jar containing the radish stew with pork, and also the lid of the pot with the cabbage stew with pork, which was being kept warm on charcoal.

Everyone could clearly see the slices of meat wrapped in the radishes and cabbage, and many laborers instinctively swallowed their saliva.

After all, it had been a very long time since they had tasted vegetables.

The aroma wafted over, and while Zhou Erlang’s cooking skills might have been average, he made the dishes with bone broth and used the right amount of salt, plus the presence of the pork made it unlikely that, even with poor skills, the food would be unpalatable, not when the ingredients were good—and his cooking really wasn’t that bad.

The price, however, was expensive, at five coins.

They knew that five coins for a dish with meat and vegetables wasn’t expensive in the context of the county town where, they were aware, the same meal would cost at least ten coins.

Many people drooled over the dish but didn’t dare to actually spend the money to eat, and most lined up to buy the soup instead.

Then they discovered that today’s soup was fattier than yesterday’s and tasted even better, so they were pleased.

The first dozen or so in line only wanted soup, nobody asked for vegetables, but Zhou Erlang wasn’t in a hurry. He had anticipated the worst-case scenario: even if he couldn’t sell a single serving, he would leave some for Third and take the rest back for his family to eat.

Their family had many mouths to feed, so they would surely eat it late.

Because he had considered this possibility, Zhou Erlang hadn’t cooked a lot.

The cabbage and radish dishes only amounted to about ten servings each.

Manbao was in charge of collecting money on the side, and with Zhou Erlang having brought an extra large ladle today, he and Five worked one ladle each, which sped up the process considerably.

Zhou Sanlang soon came over with his bing, and Zhou Erlang told him to wait a while, then found a large bowl from the basket beside him, filling it with two types of dishes for him to squat on the side and eat.

Seeing the vegetables in his bowl, those with slightly better circumstances began negotiating with Zhou Erlang, "I don’t just want one kind, but ten coins is too much of a loss. How about this, I’ll give you five coins, and you give me half a ladle of each kind?"

Zhou Erlang pondered briefly and then nodded, "Okay."

The man immediately took out five coins, and since he was standing right in front of Manbao, he handed the money to her.

Others behind him, seeing him buying vegetables, also began to think and began negotiating with Zhou Erlang, "Brother, how about I just want half a ladle, you give me a little less, and count it as two coins for me?"

Zhou Erlang: "... That’s, that’s hard to calculate, isn’t it?"

That would break the standard and affect future business. Also, a full ladle was easy to tally. Regardless of whether the radish stew with pork was a bit more or the cabbage stew with pork was a bit more, you just added them together for one ladle, which satisfied the customer, as they were unlikely to complain.

But half a ladle, what if he thought it was too little?

As Zhou Erlang was considering his response, Manbao thought it was a good idea, but she reframed it, "Yeah, yeah, that will save everyone money! Big Brother, why don’t you find someone to partner up with? One person pays half, and you both share one ladle of radish stew with pork and cabbage stew with pork. That way, you get two dishes for half the price, right?"

Her suggestion sparked interest in the man, who asked, "But how do we split two and a half coins?"

"Isn’t that simple? My brothers come here every day. You just find someone you get along with. This time you pay three coins, and next time, when they want to buy vegetables, it’ll be their turn to pay three coins, right?" Manbao explained.

The laborer liked the idea and turned to find his cousin.

Squeezing through the crowd, they each bought a bowl of soup and then went halves on a ladle of vegetables.

With their example, others started to follow suit.

As they were grouped by villages, people could easily support and manage each other and address any mishaps, finding acquaintances amongst them was relatively simple.

Whether it was relatives, cousins, or neighbors from the same village, finding a partner was easy. Before long, the quantity of vegetables visibly started to decrease.