Qiao Man hadn’t actually been idle during her days of rest; she had been experimenting with different fillings.
That evening, the “Two Meis” gathered at Qiao Man’s house for a meeting.
Over the past few days, the two had interacted quite a bit because of the bun business. While they still bickered occasionally, the tension was no longer as sharp as it used to be.
Qi Dongmei held a notebook and shared the feedback she had gathered: “Sister Xu from Unit 4 said the pork and cabbage buns were better this time—the saltiness was just right. Her kid is clamoring for more, so she ordered 20 this time.
Old Qian from Building 2 said there were a few too many carrots in the ‘Three-Delicacy’ vegetarian ones; he loves eggs and asked if we could adjust the ratio. I shut him down. Three yuan for a bun bigger than his fist—what more does he want? Still, he ordered 20 meat and 20 vegetarian ones this time.
Only the buns from the first couple of days had minor issues; the ones from the last two days have been absolutely perfect!”
Qi Dongmei provided plenty of emotional value, even leading a round of applause herself after she finished speaking.
Qiao Man joined in the praise: “Auntie Xiong, I really didn’t expect you to be so talented at cooking.”
Xiong Mei was embarrassed by the two of them. “They just haven’t tasted yours yet, Little Qiao. Otherwise, they’d know what truly delicious means.”
Qi Dongmei nodded, added a few more compliments for Qiao Man, and then asked: “You said you’re changing the menu tomorrow—what are you planning to make? I need to tell everyone tonight and tally the orders.”
Qiao Man replied: “We’ll keep the pork cabbage and the vegetarian ones for Auntie Xiong to make. I’ll add a new Sauce Meat Bun and a Tofu Bun. The pricing stays the same: four yuan for meat, three for vegetarian, with the vegetarian ones being larger. Oh, and we’ll have tea eggs this time—two and a half yuan each.”
At the mention of Sauce Meat Buns, both Qi Dongmei and Xiong Mei swallowed their saliva; they were looking forward to the buns. However, when tea eggs were mentioned, they exchanged a look.
Qi Dongmei was the first to speak up: “Little Qiao, I don’t mean to be a wet blanket. This south side of the city is an old district, mostly inhabited by seniors and renters. It’s normal for your buns to be a yuan or two more expensive than others because we use real ingredients and your skill is evident. But these tea eggs…”
Xiong Mei understood Qi Dongmei’s point and added her own advice: “Little Qiao, tea eggs are everywhere at breakfast stalls. People just pick them up as an afterthought, and at most, they’re one and a half yuan. Isn’t your price a bit high?”
Over the last few days, she had been trained by Qi Dongmei and Qiao Man to think with a business mindset, and her drive to earn money had been reignited. In her husband Cheng Xiangdong’s words, she was having a “second spring” in her career. She was terrified that a difference of a few cents might damage their reputation and ruin the business.
Qiao Man didn’t argue. She brought out two tea eggs from the kitchen: “Taste these first.”
Qi Dongmei was also a bit hungry. She quickly peeled one and stuffed it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up instantly. “This price is no problem at all. How many did you make? I’ll do a good job marketing them for you tonight!”
Xiong Mei nodded repeatedly as well, nearly choking because she ate too quickly.
Qiao Man said: “The first batch isn’t large. If there are many orders, I’ll make more. Actually, I can have them ready in one night.”
The three of them reached an agreement. Just as they were about to leave, Qiao Man caught Xiong Mei’s eye and said to Qi Dongmei: “You’ve worked so hard running back and forth and handling the money. Auntie Xiong and I discussed it, and after our contract ends, we’ll each take ten percent of the profit to give to you. It might not be much, but it’s our way of showing our appreciation.”
In truth, Qiao Man had long ago set her sights on Qi Dongmei’s sales ability.
Qi Dongmei glanced at Xiong Mei, who said awkwardly, “Why are you looking at me? I wouldn’t let you work for nothing.”
With that, Qi Dongmei didn’t stand on ceremony. “I’m a boss now too? Then I’ll have to put in even more effort!”
On her way out, Qi Dongmei felt quite sentimental. She said to Xiong Mei: “Who would have thought? I didn’t have a steady job when I was young, but now that I’m old, I’m doing business! If only Little Qiao’s business could last a bit longer. Anyway, I’ve got to get home and see if those little rascals have turned the house upside down yet.”
Watching Qi Dongmei’s energetic silhouette, Xiong Mei sighed inwardly. Who could have guessed? A few days ago, when Qiao Man first asked her to cooperate, she had been hesitant, thinking it would surely lose money. Now, she was already a bit reluctant to see it end.
After seeing them off, with An’an still at Qi Dongmei’s house, Qiao Man was left alone to begin preparing the ingredients.
Sauce Meat Buns are different from pork and cabbage ones because they use a cooked filling. This allowed her to prepare the filling in advance, meaning she wouldn’t have to wake up too early tomorrow and disturb the neighbors.
Speaking of which, she had been very careful when mincing the filling on the first day, placing a thick anti-vibration mat under the cutting board, yet the downstairs neighbor had still come up to complain.
She sighed and muttered to herself: “I need to earn enough for that food cart quickly, then buy a big freezer. Then I can prepare the fillings in advance and wrap and sell them on the spot without being restricted by time.”
She diced the meat, rendered the fat, and then added her own fried aromatic oil to sauté it until fragrant. Once the oil was clear and the meat was cooked, she added the prepared sauce for color and flavor. Each cube of meat was red, bright, plump, and glistening; even the filling alone was incredibly fragrant.
Once the sauce thickened, she scooped the meat into a container to store.
The leftover broth from the braised meat wasn’t wasted either. Qiao Man added cold, strong tea and a bag of her self-made spice mix, then dropped in the cleaned eggs one by one.
This was her secret: making the tea eggs burst with tea fragrance while remaining savory and rich.
Finally free, she checked her phone and saw several WeChat messages.
One was from a customer named “007” who had asked earlier that morning if she would be setting up the stall tomorrow and if they could pre-order.
She replied that she would, and said she could deliver to nearby locations if the order exceeded a hundred.
However, it seemed the customer had tried all morning but couldn’t quite reach a hundred buns. They only ordered seven pork cabbage ones and three “Three-Delicacy” vegetarian ones to be picked up at the stall tomorrow morning.
Qiao Man thought for a moment and, mimicking Qi Dongmei’s enthusiastic style, replied: [Understood. Tomorrow we’re launching new buns: Sauce Meat Buns and Tofu Buns, plus tea eggs. Would you like to try some?]
She then typed out the prices.
Seeing the other party was still hesitating, she exited that chat to look at another. It was a transfer from Wang Yuwei for meal expenses.
She found it odd; currently, Auntie Xiong was delivering to the Criminal Investigation Team and Auntie Qi was delivering to the neighbors. They collected the money when they delivered and then reported back to her; no one usually contacted her directly.
Qiao Man clicked in and realized that Wang Yuwei was paying for Li Shuo’s meals.
[I’m so sorry, Little Qiao. His dad and I have been on duty lately and we’re just overwhelmed. I only found out from his grandmother today that he hasn’t been eating at her place lately—he’s been eating at yours every day. Sorry for the trouble.]
Ever since Li Shuo successfully snagged a meal last time, he had been coming over every day after school.
However, he was a man of his word and took his tutoring of An’an very seriously, which saved Qiao Man a lot of worry.
She had looked at An’an’s new textbooks that night and was completely lost; it was much simpler for her to just cook for the children.
What Qiao Man didn’t know was that Li Shuo’s grades had originally been poor. He didn’t like listening in class and was always fidgeting. But in order to tutor An’an and eat Qiao Man’s cooking, he had started listening intently, even staying after class to ask the teacher questions. Even the teacher, who had previously given up on Li Shuo, was amazed.
Wang Yuwei and her husband didn’t know this, and even if the teacher wanted to contact the parents, they were never reachable.
Qiao Man explained the situation to Wang Yuwei and returned the transfer, leaving Wang Yuwei quite surprised.
During the lull, she also sent the menu and prices to Xiong Mei and Qi Dongmei, all hand-typed.
It was a good thing this stall business would only last two weeks; otherwise, she really would have to print out a paper menu.
A moment later, “007” sent another message: [Hello Boss, I’ll take three more Sauce Meat Buns, one Tofu Bun, and two tea eggs.]
The next day was Monday. Huang Ling walked into the office carrying a massive backpack.
Her colleague, Sister Cui, teased her when she saw the bag: “Young people are so trendy. Xiao Huang, why does your bag look like a down jacket? It’s all puffed up.”
Huang Ling smiled vaguely and hurried to her desk. She couldn’t very well say the bag was given to her by Xiao Chang specifically to keep the buns warm.
Sure enough, the buns were still warm. Xiao Chang and Huang Ling took a massive bite of the Sauce Meat Buns and sighed with happiness: “So fragrant!”
“This is the best Sauce Meat Bun I’ve ever had!” Xiao Chang managed to swallow her bite and exclaimed.
Huang Ling nodded vigorously in agreement. This Sauce Meat Bun was completely different from any she had eaten before—
With one bite, the meat cubes were succulent and rich, the lean meat was tender, and the fat was not greasy. The savory sauce had seeped into both the meat and the bun skin; one bite was pure satisfaction for both body and soul.
Xiao Chang sighed: “I declare this Sauce Meat Bun to be the bun of my life!”
Huang Ling’s mouth was so full of meat she couldn’t even speak; she just kept nodding in agreement.
Nearby, Zhang Shuang had just sat down when he heard Xiao Chang’s declaration. “You’re being way too dramatic.”
Xiao Chang clicked her tongue. “No taste. I told you to buy the Sauce Meat Buns yesterday and you wouldn’t. You’ll be regretting it today!”
The “007” who had messaged Qiao Man was Huang Ling. Initially, only Xiao Chang had split the order with her, but later Xiao Chang convinced Zhang Shuang to join in.
When Zhang Shuang bought the buns, he had no idea if they were good or not. He didn’t even like eating; he only ate to stay alive. He had asked Huang Ling to bring him buns just for convenience; he lived in the north of the city where street stalls weren’t allowed, and he was sick of convenience store breakfasts.
“Ah, I really regret it.”
Seeing Zhang Shuang mimic her with a deadpan expression, Xiao Chang didn’t get upset. She thought about it, and although she was reluctant, she broke off a small piece of the bun and handed it to him. “Don’t thank me. You’re covering my meeting this afternoon.”
Zhang Shuang scoffed. “In your dreams.”
He took the four pork and cabbage buns and tossed that small piece of the Sauce Meat Bun into a plastic bag. He also had a cup of soy milk and a tea egg. He looked them over—they seemed okay. Huang Ling and the others hadn’t ripped him off.
The prices here were similar to those in convenience stores. The advantage was that these buns were hand-wrapped, not frozen buns reheated, and the soy milk tasted homemade rather than mixed from powder.
As for the tea egg… it looked just like the ones in the convenience store.