At six o’clock the next morning, the glass display case at the breakfast shop was already filled with freshly made dim sum.
A delivery van stopped in front of Rongxing House. Sister Feng hopped out of the vehicle excitedly.
“Xia, I’m not late, am I?”
“No, you’re right on time.” Xia Yongen handed her three large baskets of dim sum. “Here’s the order you placed yesterday. Everything’s here.”
Yesterday had been the breakfast shop’s first day of business. Worried that she might not be able to handle everything, she had discussed it with Sister Feng and arranged for the stationery shop to start selling the breakfast items the following day.
Sister Feng had naturally agreed. Although she knew Xia Yongen’s dim sum tasted good, she still wasn’t very confident about the consignment arrangement.
After all, if the stock she bought failed to sell, wouldn’t she be stuck with all of it?
So, she had ordered more of the dim sum that had sold particularly well at the breakfast shop the previous day, while taking twenty portions of each of the other items. Altogether, the order came to more than five hundred yuan.
Looking at the baskets of dim sum covered with plastic wrap, Sister Feng felt completely reinvigorated. After loading everything into the van, she drove toward the school.
Ten minutes later, the owner of the bookstore was getting ready to open when he heard an engine approaching from nearby. His hand, which was holding the key, paused. He turned his head and saw a van slowly driving over.
Taking a closer look, wasn’t that the owner of the stationery shop next door?
Sister Feng parked the van and began unloading the dim sum from the back seat. The bookstore owner was standing some distance away and couldn’t see clearly, so he struck up a conversation.
“Oh, Big Sister Feng, stocking up on new goods again? What are you selling?”
Sister Feng didn’t even bother answering him. She simply carried on into the stationery shop.
The bookstore owner curled his lips.
Fine, don’t answer.
What was she acting so smug about?
But before long, a familiar aroma drifted out of the stationery shop and spread throughout the surrounding area.
The bookstore owner sniffed the air. It took him a while to remember.
Wasn’t this the smell of Malay cake?
Then another thought occurred to him.
Could it be that the girl surnamed Xia wasn’t coming anymore? Had the two of them fallen out, and the woman next door decided to go into the breakfast business on her own?
Thinking back to the large baskets of dim sum he had seen earlier, the more he thought about it, the more certain he became that his guess was correct. A smug expression appeared on his face.
He knew it!
That woman next door really wasn’t very bright. Even when good fortune came knocking, she couldn’t recognize it.
Those students had already been spoiled by the girl surnamed Xia. There was no way the random breakfast goods Sister Feng bought elsewhere would sell.
The bookstore owner’s mood immediately improved.
He was going to wait and see how many days it would take for the breakfast business next door to go under. When that happened, he wouldn’t be the only one losing money anymore.
Of course, Sister Feng had no idea what the bookstore owner was thinking. She quickly arranged all the different dim sum in the display case, waiting for the students coming to school to stop by.
Over the past few days, Xia Yongen had mentioned the breakfast consignment arrangement to the students while running her afternoon stall.
Quite a few students knew that the breakfast sold at the stationery shop was the same as what Xia Yongen sold. With the mindset of giving it a try, they came to the stationery shop.
Yao Xiaotong was one of them.
Although the breakfast shop wasn’t far from her home—it only took seven or eight minutes to walk there—she was a severely sleep-deprived middle school student. When it came down to getting a few extra minutes of sleep versus having a delicious breakfast, she would choose the former without hesitation.
She had originally found it rather regrettable, but who would have thought that Xia Yongen would ask the stationery shop owner to sell her breakfast on consignment?
That way, she could sleep a little longer and still enjoy a delicious breakfast!
So, as soon as she got up that morning, she said to Yao Jianbin, “I’ll buy breakfast near school today. You don’t need to cook for me.”
Yao Jianbin, who was just about to make his daughter some plain noodle soup, froze.
“Huh? Where are you buying it? Is it clean?”
Yao Xiaotong washed up as she spoke.
“I’ve eaten from that place several times. It’s delicious and clean, so don’t worry.”
Yao Jianbin muttered inwardly.
His daughter had been fond of the food stalls outside the school lately, and now she wasn’t even eating breakfast at home in the morning.
Could it be that she was really tired of the food he made?
Worried about her, he reminded her, “If there’s something you want to eat, just tell Dad. You never know what they put in food sold outside. You should eat less of that stuff.”
Yao Xiaotong casually agreed, slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and left the house.
Five minutes later, she arrived at the school gate.
Seven or eight students were already gathered in front of the stationery shop. Quite a few of them were squinting and yawning, clearly still half-asleep.
Yet they were all doing the same thing: paying for their food, taking their breakfasts, and eating from the plastic bags as they walked.
Compared with the bustle in front of the stationery shop after school, the place was unusually quiet in the early morning. The only sound was the constant notification that payments had been received.
Meanwhile, the bookstore owner, who had been waiting to watch them fail, was utterly confused.
What was going on?
Had all these students suddenly lost their sense of taste?
Why were they all buying breakfast from that shop?
After all the students had entered the school, he secretly went over to take another look at the stationery shop.
To his astonishment, he discovered that all the breakfast goods Sister Feng had stocked were completely sold out!
It wasn’t until the following day that he finally found out what had happened.
It turned out that the girl surnamed Xia and Sister Feng hadn’t fallen out at all. Instead, Xia Yongen had asked Sister Feng to help sell her breakfast on consignment.
So, in the end, wasn’t he still the only one losing money?!
Meanwhile, Yao Jianbin placed the breakfast he had just bought downstairs in front of Yao Xiaotong.
After Yao Xiaotong had said the previous day that she didn’t want breakfast, he had reflected on it and decided that, starting today, he should improve his daughter’s meals.
Unfortunately, his cooking skills were rather limited. Besides, mornings were always rushed, and there wasn’t enough time to prepare anything elaborate.
So he had gone downstairs to Chen Ji Morning and Evening and bought two lava custard buns.
He figured that these lava custard buns were sweet, and children would surely like them. Besides, he was a regular customer at this shop and often saw the chefs making the buns fresh. Surely, they had to be better than whatever Yao Xiaotong bought.
Yao Xiaotong rubbed her eyes and looked at the lava custard buns in front of her.
“Dad, I already told you I’m not eating.”
“The shops near the school make their money specifically from students like you. Who knows what they use to make their food?” Yao Jianbin pushed the buns closer to her. “I often go to this shop. The food tastes pretty good. Why don’t you try one? If you like it, Dad will buy some for you again tomorrow.”
Yao Xiaotong let out a deep sigh and reluctantly picked up a bun, taking a bite.
Hmm… Why was there nothing but dough?
Where was the filling?
She took another bite. It was still nothing but dough in her mouth, except this time she could see a hint of yellow hidden inside the bun.
So the filling was still in there after all.
She clicked her tongue and put the bun down.
“I’m not eating it. I’m in a hurry to get to school.”
Yao Jianbin ate the rest of the lava custard buns. He had to admit that there really wasn’t much filling, and the flavor was a little too sweet, but overall, they were passable.
Although Yao Xiaotong had been unwilling to eat them, his “food hunt” did not stop. Early the next morning, he went out again.
Only this time, he didn’t plan on going to Chen Ji Morning and Evening. Instead, he intended to wander around the neighborhood and see if he could find some other breakfast to bring home.
He hadn’t walked far when he spotted a breakfast shop in the distance. Four or five people were gathered in front of it.
When he walked closer, he immediately understood why there were so many people.
Good heavens!
The owner was actually frying savory water chestnut puffs fresh to order!
Xia Yongen stirred the savory water chestnut puffs in the wok with her chopsticks.
“Sir, how many would you like? This batch has already sold out. If you want some, you may have to wait for the next batch.”
As she served customers, Xia Yongen was also calculating things in her head.
It was already Thursday. Yesterday, her daily turnover had finally reached the required average of 286 yuan.
But business had been poor during the first two days after opening, leaving her thirty or forty yuan short of the 286-yuan average. She needed to make up the difference quickly so she could complete the mission as soon as possible and unlock more dim sum.
That was why she had hurried to raise her savory water chestnut puffs to A rank early that morning. As soon as she did, she immediately added them to the breakfast shop’s menu.
As for the savory fried cakes, she still needed another forty-five points of proficiency before they could be upgraded. If nothing unexpected happened, they should appear at the breakfast shop tomorrow.
The ingredients Lai Meizhen had bought previously hadn’t included the ingredients needed for savory water chestnut puffs. So, early that morning, the two of them had first gone to the market to buy supplies before returning to prepare the dim sum.
Because they hadn’t had enough preparation time, Xia Yongen had no choice but to fry the savory water chestnut puffs after business had already started.
Unexpectedly, this attracted a large number of passing pedestrians. The freshly fried savory water chestnut puffs sold out in no time, forcing her to immediately fry another batch.
Standing in front of the breakfast shop, Yao Jianbin stared at the savory water chestnut puffs in the wok, practically drooling.
When he was young, his grandmother’s favorite thing to make had been savory water chestnut puffs. It had been many years since he had last eaten them fresh from the fryer.
Freshly fried ones were rare enough, but even freshly made ones were hard to find nowadays. Most teahouses simply bought ready-made products from outside, fried them briefly, and served them. The taste was completely different.
The savory water chestnut puffs in the wok were a beautiful golden yellow and incredibly tempting.
He immediately said, “I’ll take some. Give me two.”
Yao Jianbin paid six yuan and stood at the very end of the line, watching as Lai Meizhen brought out a large tray of freshly wrapped savory water chestnut puffs.
One by one, the savory water chestnut puffs dropped into the hot oil. At this point, their wrappers were still white.
Xia Yongen used her chopsticks to separate them one by one, preventing them from sticking together.
After frying for two minutes, tiny pearl-like bubbles began to appear on the white wrappers.
She nudged the savory water chestnut puffs with her chopsticks, turning them over, then fried them for a little longer.
The white wrappers gradually turned yellow. Only when they had taken on a rich golden color did she scoop them out and place them aside to drain.
Yao Jianbin waited for quite a while before finally receiving his order.
The savory water chestnut puffs were shaped somewhat like dumplings, pointed at both ends and bulging in the middle. Even after being deep-fried, they hadn’t collapsed and looked incredibly appetizing.
Freshly fried savory water chestnut puffs were covered in golden, crispy bubbles that looked like pearls, which was why these were also known as “pearl bubbles.”
Just looking at the dense layer of crispy bubbles on the surface was enough for Yao Jianbin to know that these savory water chestnut puffs had to be delicious.
He hurriedly brought one to his mouth and took a gentle bite.
The crispy outer layer cracked open, revealing a small opening. Through it, he could see dried shrimp, chopped chives, and minced shiitake mushrooms embedded in the pork filling, packed in generously.
Ignoring the heat of the wrapper, he took another bite.
This time, he reached the inner glutinous rice wrapper.
After being deep-fried, the glutinous rice wrapper had developed a slight chewiness. It was both soft and chewy, with a faintly sweet fragrance.
After chewing a few more times, he finally tasted the savory, intensely flavorful filling.
There were also some crisp bits of preserved radish mixed in as a garnish, adding another layer of texture while reducing the greasy feeling from the deep-frying.
He couldn’t help sighing in delight.
So delicious!
Of course, they couldn’t possibly taste exactly like the ones his grandmother used to make.
But the crispy outer shell, the sweet and chewy inner layer, and the filling that was even slightly juicy—he had never tasted anything quite like this anywhere else.
And he wasn’t just talking about little shops by the roadside.
Even at teahouses, he had never eaten savory water chestnut puffs this delicious.
Yao Jianbin carried the savory water chestnut puffs home in his hands.
It wasn’t until he stepped into the residential complex that he realized there was nothing left in his hands except an empty paper box.
Two savory water chestnut puffs that big had both ended up in his stomach!
When he checked the time again, it was already 7:15.
There was no way he could go back and line up to buy more now. He would definitely be too late.
Yao Xiaotong, who was just about to leave, glanced at him.
“Dad, where did you go?”
Yao Jianbin gave an awkward smile.
“Uh… I had to take care of something. Hurry up and leave. You’ll be late if you don’t go now.”
Yao Xiaotong found it a little strange, but she was in a hurry to get to school, so she could only turn around and hurry off.
Meanwhile, Yao Jianbin savored the memory of those savory water chestnut puffs and made up his mind.
Tomorrow, he absolutely had to get up even earlier.
He had to make sure his precious daughter got to taste something that delicious too.