Qin Sui’an deliberately stayed cautious and didn’t buy everything from a single stall. Instead, she bought only two or three items from each vendor.
By the time she returned home, Xiaomei and Xiaojuan were already working together, draining the water from cucumbers and lettuce stems.
Qin Sui’an took out the dried wood ear mushrooms and tofu skin she had just bought and soaked them to rehydrate. Then she asked Xiaomei and Xiaojuan to peel garlic and peanuts while she prepared chili oil.
She had gone to several shops before finally finding ready-ground chili powder, both coarse and fine varieties.
After mixing the two kinds of chili powder together, she added some sesame seeds and stirred evenly.
Then she poured oil into a wok, added scallions, ginger, and garlic, and fried them until lightly golden. After that, she added other spices such as star anise and cinnamon sticks, frying them over low heat for several minutes before removing the spice residue.
Next, she poured the hot oil over the chili powder.
The first pour was mainly for coloring the chili oil with high heat.
The second pour used slightly cooler oil to bring out the fragrance.
The third pour added the final batch of oil, fully releasing the remaining aroma.
Just like that, a basin of rich, fragrant, and flavorful chili oil was finished.
Then she stir-fried peanuts and sesame seeds, and blanched the spinach, wood ear mushrooms, tofu skin, and shredded potatoes that would be used for the cold dishes.
Once everything was prepared, Qin Sui’an even gave Xiaomei and Xiaojuan a demonstration on how to mix the cold dishes. That part actually wasn’t difficult — she mainly wanted them to taste it.
Qin Sui’an had already sampled it herself. She had experimented with this flavor many times before: fresh, fragrant, spicy, refreshing, and extremely appetizing.
After tasting it, Xiaomei and Xiaojuan both showed looks of amazement.
“Mom, this cold salad tastes incredible! It’s even better than meat! No… maybe just a tiny bit worse than meat,” Xiaojuan instantly fell in love with it.
Especially the wood ear mushrooms — crunchy and delicious.
“This tofu skin tastes almost like eating meat too. It’s really good,” Xiaomei agreed, feeling it paired with rice even better than pickled vegetables.
Especially in hot weather, this kind of dish was incredibly appetizing.
After packing up everything needed for the stall, Qin Sui’an took Xiaojuan to the dockside market.
Sure enough, the spot where they had previously set up had already been occupied again.
The people running the stall also looked like a mother and daughter — or perhaps mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
However, the younger woman was doing most of the work while the older woman mainly handled the money.
Song Hongxia also spotted Qin Sui’an and her daughter and walked over, inviting them to set up in front of her shop instead.
Her general store was located on the main street. Although it was near the end of the street, the location was actually better than their previous one.
The storefront was over four meters wide. One neighboring shop sold grain, while the other was an oil mill. Some nearby shops were open already, while others had yet to open.
Originally, people weren’t allowed to set up stalls in front of Song Hongxia’s shop because her mother-in-law disliked vegetable vendors blocking the entrance.
That morning, Song Hongxia had only let Xiaojuan stay there out of temporary kindness.
Unexpectedly, because so many people came to buy pickles, her general store also gained a few extra customers.
So Song Hongxia discussed it with her mother-in-law, suggesting they let Qin Sui’an’s family continue setting up there for a trial period. If it didn’t help their business, they could always ask them to leave later.
After thinking it over, her mother-in-law agreed.
“This really feels too embarrassing,” Qin Sui’an said. She knew the location was good, but she felt bad occupying someone else’s space for free.
“There’s nothing embarrassing about it. To be honest, if you set up here, you might even help bring in customers for our store,” Song Hongxia said bluntly. She was a straightforward person who disliked beating around the bush. “But it’d be best if you only use about two meters here. That should be enough, right?”
Song Hongxia gestured to the space in front of the shop.
“Then how should we calculate the rent?” Qin Sui’an immediately understood after hearing her explanation.
Her business had only just started. Renting an actual shop wasn’t realistic yet, so having a fixed stall location would indeed be much more convenient.
Still, she worried that if things weren’t made clear in advance, there might be unpleasant disputes later.
“What rent? If you really feel bad about it, just give me a bowl of pickles every day,” Song Hongxia said. She hadn’t even considered charging rent.
She herself didn’t mind. It was only her mother-in-law who tended to make a fuss about things.
“Then I’ll set up here temporarily for now. If it ever becomes inconvenient for you, just let me know anytime,” Qin Sui’an replied. She wasn’t the type to fuss endlessly. Being able to use the spot for even a few days was good enough.
“Alright.”
After agreeing, Qin Sui’an and Xiaojuan set down their shoulder poles, unfolded the folding wooden table they had brought, and arranged enamel basins filled with cucumbers, lettuce stems, spinach, shredded potatoes, wood ear mushrooms, and tofu skin.
Qin Sui’an had bought the basins that afternoon at the farmers’ market. They were white with blue rims and matching lids, and once filled with vegetables, they looked especially clean and neat.
A new signboard was also placed in front of the table.
“Sui’an Cold Mixed Dishes — 30 cents per bowl.”
Of course, the pickle signboard was also set out as usual in front of the pickle jars.
Then there was another small table holding crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, chopped scallions, cilantro, chili oil, minced garlic, and other seasonings.
Seeing their setup, Song Hongxia noticed that not only had they not lowered their prices to compete with the new vendor nearby, they had actually added new dishes and were charging even more.
“You’re selling cold mixed dishes too? Give me a bowl. I’ll try it first,” she said, becoming their first customer.
“Boss Song, each bowl includes your choice of any four vegetables. Filling this bowl costs 30 cents. You may also choose either wood ear mushrooms or tofu skin. The toppings are free,” Qin Sui’an explained with a smile, taking out a porcelain bowl.
This porcelain bowl was much larger than the one used for pickles. It looked almost equal to two bowls of pickles in portion size.
Besides, the peanuts, sesame seeds, and extra toppings were all added separately.
Those toppings and seasonings weren’t cheap either.
That made Song Hongxia feel the price actually wasn’t too expensive after all.
“Just give me a little of everything. Add tofu skin for me,” Song Hongxia wanted to taste every variety.
“Of course.”
Qin Sui’an used the cafeteria-style tongs she had specially bought and picked a little of each ingredient.
After five scoops, the porcelain bowl was completely full.
Then she dumped the vegetables into a larger enamel basin and began adding seasonings.
“Do you want scallions, cilantro, and garlic? More spicy or mildly spicy?” Qin Sui’an asked. This was also her first time selling cold mixed dishes, and she had copied the process from other vendors.
“I want all of them. Let’s try mildly spicy first,” Song Hongxia said cautiously, worried that full spice might be too hot.
Qin Sui’an added a bit of every seasoning and quickly mixed everything together, tossing and stirring continuously.
After mixing until everything looked evenly coated, she sprinkled a little sesame seed on top.
Song Hongxia also brought out an enamel basin from inside her home.
Qin Sui’an poured the finished cold salad into it. The portion looked huge and generous.
“Oh my, this looks so beautifully mixed. Just looking at it makes you hungry,” Song Hongxia exclaimed.
The green cucumbers, lettuce stems, and spinach; the yellow tofu skin and potato shreds; the red peanuts and chili peppers — the colors made the dish look irresistibly delicious, enough to make someone want a bite immediately.
Unfortunately, dinner wasn’t ready yet.
Forget it. She’d taste it first anyway.
Carrying the bowl back home, Song Hongxia picked up her chopsticks and began eating together with her mother-in-law.
After taking the first bite, Song Hongxia couldn’t stop eating.
At first, her mother-in-law Huang Yi grumbled that her daughter-in-law was too greedy and wondered what they would eat for dinner later.
But seeing Song Hongxia eating without even lifting her head — too busy to bother replying — she finally fell silent.