At three o’clock on Sunday afternoon, everything at Xia Yongen’s stall had sold out.
After packing up her stall, she took the grilled squid that the grilled skewer guy had given her and returned to Rongxing House.
After setting up her stall for the past several days, Xia Yongen had not only gained three loyal customers, but had also become much more experienced at running a food stall.
She picked up a pen and did some calculations.
Over the two days of last weekend, she sold 130 portions of put chai ko. After deducting the stall rental for those two days, her income was 255 yuan.
On Monday, she sold 300 portions of put chai ko, earning 1,050 yuan.
On Tuesday, she sold 327 portions of put chai ko, earning 1,144.5 yuan.
On Wednesday, she sold 205 portions of put chai ko and 30 portions of coconut milk layer cake, earning a total of 762.5 yuan.
On Thursday, she sold 186 portions of put chai ko and 153 portions of coconut milk layer cake, earning a total of 880.5 yuan.
It rained on Friday. She sold 168 portions of put chai ko and 126 portions of coconut milk layer cake, earning a total of 777 yuan.
Over the two days of this weekend, she sold 368 portions of put chai ko, 524 portions of coconut milk layer cake, 203 portions of white sugar cake, and 260 portions of Malay cake, earning a total of 3,010 yuan.
Without deducting costs, she had earned a total of 7,879.5 yuan from nine days of running her stall.
After factoring in the cost of ingredients, as well as water, electricity, and gas, she would only have a little over 5,000 yuan left, not counting her own labor.
Although it wasn’t a huge amount of money, Xia Yongen was extremely satisfied. She had managed to earn more than 5,000 yuan from her very first attempt at running a stall. If she kept it up for another month, wouldn’t she be able to make 10,000 yuan?
As she counted the money on her fingers, she daydreamed about her happy life in the future.
These past few days, Xia Yongen had either been preparing ingredients and making pastries or setting up her stall. To be honest, once she got the hang of these things, they weren’t particularly difficult for her.
It was just that as the number of pastries increased, she was genuinely starting to struggle to keep up on her own.
Fortunately, the coconut milk layer cake, white sugar cake, and Malay cake could all be made in large batches and then cut into individual portions for sale. Unlike put chai ko, which had to be poured into individual little bowls, these were still relatively manageable for her.
But she had no idea what kind of pastries the system would unlock next. If the preparation process was more complicated, she might have to get up at four or five in the morning and work in the dark.
Just as Xia Yongen was making these calculations, she suddenly heard the system notification chime.
Ding!
【Congratulations, Host! You have completed the task! The “Crystal Cake” recipe has been unlocked.】
【Special Task Triggered! Rongxing House is suffering from a serious loss of staff. Please hire one shop assistant.】
【After completing this task, you will unlock the upgrade task for the teahouse rating!】
Xia Yongen switched back to the system panel.
The current rating of the teahouse was Lv.1 — Street Stall.
She had previously wondered how she was supposed to raise the teahouse’s rating. She hadn’t expected the task to be triggered so soon.
She opened the pastry compendium, and the recipe for crystal cakes had already been added.
The preparation of crystal cakes was relatively simple. The outer skin was made from wheat starch, with red bean paste filling inside. The dough was placed into a mold and pressed into shape, then steamed until cooked.
Although crystal cakes were simple to make, their flavor was anything but ordinary. Whether adults or children, there was hardly anyone who didn’t love them.
The chewy outer skin combined with the rich, sweet red bean paste filling was practically an irresistible combination!
Xia Yongen remembered that when she was in middle school, the cafeteria used to sell crystal cakes for breakfast. She would often buy several and bring them back to the classroom to eat slowly.
The crystal cakes sold on the market were generally similar in taste and texture. However, some upscale teahouses put a lot of effort into their molds, making crystal cakes imprinted with characters such as “福” (fortune) and “祿” (prosperity), or decorated with patterns of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums.
As for the crystal cakes made by Rongxing House, they would naturally be stamped with the character “榮”.
As usual, Xia Yongen used up ten points of stamina in the Boundless Space.
By now, she was already completely familiar with making pastries. After all, every day she had to knead, shape, and work with dough on the cutting board in all sorts of ways.
When she tasted the crystal cakes she had made herself, she was stunned by her own skills.
This is even more delicious than every crystal cake I’ve ever eaten!
Perhaps it was because lard had been added, but the red bean paste inside was exceptionally smooth and fragrant. When she bit into it, she could even taste little pieces of red bean.
She had a feeling that these crystal cakes would definitely be a huge hit.
However, making the four types of pastries she already sold every day took a long time. Besides, the system hadn’t given her any new sales tasks for the time being, and the Malay cakes and white sugar cakes hadn’t even made their debut among the students yet.
There was no harm in putting the crystal cakes on hold for a while.
For now, the most important thing was finding someone to hire.
She didn’t want to hire a beginner. After all, time was money now, and she simply didn’t have the energy to train someone from scratch.
But if she hired an experienced master chef, putting aside whether they would even be willing to come work for her, the teahouse was still carrying a debt of 200,000 yuan. Where was she supposed to get the money to pay their wages?
So finding the right person was extremely important.
Xia Yongen still had no idea where to start when it came to hiring someone, but she still had to keep running her stall.
On Monday afternoon, a long line had formed outside the stationery shop in front of Huacheng Railway No. 3 Middle School.
At first, Xia Yongen had only planned to set up her stall outside the stationery shop on rainy days. But after giving it careful consideration, she decided to establish a long-term partnership with the stationery shop owner, Auntie Feng.
After all, she was selling more and more things now, and the Malay cakes were steamed fresh on-site, which meant she needed more space and equipment. Continuing to operate the way she had before was simply too inconvenient.
Besides, she couldn’t guarantee when the city management officers might show up. Rather than living in constant anxiety, it was better to find a fixed location where she could set up her stall.
And now that the students already knew she sold her food at the stationery shop, she didn’t have to worry about her business being affected.
Even when the weather turned windy or rainy in the future, she would be able to set up her stall without any worries.
After Xia Yongen made the request, Auntie Feng naturally agreed without hesitation. She still remembered the bustling scene at her shop last Friday as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
She had been selling stationery outside the school for so many years. When had she ever seen anything like that? From now on, she was counting on Xia Yongen to help her make a fortune.
And with the introduction of Malay cakes and white sugar cakes, the number of people coming to the stationery shop doubled compared with last Friday.
For three days in a row, a long line formed in front of Xia Yongen’s stall, and the stationery shop’s business improved considerably as well.
Auntie Feng was absolutely delighted. That very night, she replaced Little Fatty Meow’s cat food with imported cat food. As for the other toys and cat treats, there was even less need to mention them.
Now that business at the stationery shop had improved, whenever she happened to run into the bookstore owner next door, Auntie Feng couldn’t help holding her head a little higher.
In the past, she had always been envious of the bookstore next door. Now, she could finally let that bookstore owner experience what it felt like to envy someone else!
Speaking of which, the bookstore owner was actually from the same hometown as her, and the two of them had once been on fairly good terms. But when two people did business in the same place, especially when their shops were so close together, naturally it was a matter of one thriving while the other suffered.
As a result, the two of them had long since become rivals.
In the past, when business at the stationery shop was poor, Auntie Feng didn’t like interacting with the other shop owners nearby. She would simply stay in her shop and pet her cat.
Now that she could finally hold her head high, she often carried her cat outside, placed a little stool by the shop entrance, sat down, cracked sunflower seeds, and could chat for half a day with anyone who happened to come by.
Naturally, her conversations were filled with admiration for Xia Yongen.
Some nosy people even suggested to Auntie Feng, “Why don’t you charge Xia Yongen a stall fee? Or better yet, why don’t you sell exactly the same things yourself? That way, you won’t have to let an outsider make money.”
Auntie Feng spat a sunflower seed shell onto the ground.
“Do I look like the kind of person who’s so short-sighted?”
She might not have been very good at doing business, but her brain was still perfectly functional. She had eaten everything Xia Yongen made, and none of it was inferior to what the upscale teahouses outside sold.
How could she possibly have the skill to imitate her and set up a stall selling pastries?
Auntie Feng didn’t take those suggestions seriously, but the bookstore owner who happened to be passing by overheard every word.
His sales had been steadily declining these past few days. That young girl had attracted so many students, and half of them ended up going into the stationery shop next door.
It was important to know that the stationery shop next door had always been deserted. Almost all the students used to choose his bookstore instead.
But now?
If things continued like this, he wouldn’t even be able to afford this month’s rent!
His eyes narrowed as an idea occurred to him, and he quickly began calculating.
That little girl could do it. Why couldn’t he?
What kind of secret could there possibly be behind those pastries? The recipes were all over the internet!
And if worst came to worst, he could simply buy the finished products and process them a little before selling them. After all, wasn’t that what many teahouses did nowadays?
That girl claimed she made everything fresh that very day. Only an idiot would believe that!
The bookstore owner stared at the counter outside the stationery shop. The more he thought about it, the more feasible the idea seemed, and he couldn’t help grinning.
Hah! Why should only your shop make money? Why can’t mine?
On Thursday, Xia Yongen arrived at the stationery shop as usual, but Auntie Feng hurriedly grabbed her and pulled her toward the bookstore next door.
Only when Xia Yongen looked up did she notice that there was a small food cart outside the bookstore.
A sign hanging from the cart read:
Put Chai Ko, Coconut Milk Layer Cake, White Sugar Cake, Malay Cake — Freshly Handmade
She froze instantly.
What was going on?
Then she took a closer look at the prices.
Good grief! Every single one was one yuan cheaper than hers!
She sold put chai ko for 3.5 yuan, while the stall next door was selling it for only 2.5 yuan. White sugar cake and Malay cake were both just one yuan each, while coconut milk layer cake was only fifty cents!
In all the days she’d been running her stall, this was the first time she’d encountered something like this.
It wasn’t as if the things she sold were particularly extraordinary, but the way the stall next door was doing this was clearly a direct attack on her business.
Auntie Feng couldn’t help cursing angrily.
“That bastard next door saw how good our business was and copied us! How can someone be so shameless?”
Although Auntie Feng was furious, she was even more worried.
The shop next door was clearly trying to start a price war with Xia Yongen. If that happened, wouldn’t the business at her own shop suffer again?
Xia Yongen quickly reassured her.
“Don’t worry. As long as our food tastes good, people will still buy from us. They won’t be able to keep this up for long.”
Although she said that, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat worried herself.
However, she didn’t want to show too much of her concern in front of Auntie Feng, so she steadied herself and arranged her stall as usual.
When school let out, the students poured out of the school in a swarm.
The bookstore owner next door suddenly began hawking his goods.
“Freshly made handmade pastries! One yuan cheaper than the other stall! Great value for your money! Come take a look if you’re passing by!”
Auntie Feng, who had been holding her cat inside the shop, hurried outside and spat hard onto the ground.
“What a piece of work!”
Xia Yongen couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to someone like that. She focused on steaming the Malay cakes and continued hawking her goods as usual.
However, the stall next door soon attracted quite a few students who had originally been heading into the stationery shop simply by shouting out its prices and products.
Yao Xiaotong and Jiajia were among them.
The two girls had originally been heading to the stationery shop, but when they saw several circles of people gathered outside the bookstore while Xia Yongen’s stall looked rather deserted, they couldn’t help stopping.
Jiajia asked, “Should we buy from the bookstore instead? Look, the owner is selling the same things as the place we ate at before.”
Yao Xiaotong hesitated.
After all, she had always bought her pastries from Xia Yongen, but the prices at the bookstore were obviously cheaper.
If she could save a yuan this time, she could use it to buy something even more delicious next time.
She thought about it for a while, but in the end, she couldn’t resist taking a step toward the bookstore.
Author’s Note:
The outer skin of crystal cakes becomes especially sticky when exposed to heat. The longer they sit, the more they stick together, so when you’re letting them cool, you must spread them out individually.
I remember buying crystal cakes many times in the past. Because they were stacked on top of one another in a plastic bag when I took them home, by the time I wanted to eat them, they had all stuck together.
If I tried to separate them, the outer skins of the crystal cakes would all tear apart. So I would simply eat them as they were. Hehe. Five or six stacked together actually taste even better when you eat them that way!