Lu Yan and Lu Sheng happily drove their donkey cart home.
The banquet had been an enormous success. Master Song was an old hand in business; one look at the expressions on the four guests’ faces and he knew the matter was basically settled. A problem that had troubled him for so long had been resolved just like that, and he was overjoyed. He gave the siblings generous gifts, red envelopes, and even several sets of fine writing supplies for Lu Sheng.
The two of them opened the red envelopes while riding in the cart.
Inside was a fifty-tael banknote.
Fifty taels! A whole fifty taels!
Both Lu Sheng and Lu Yan were overcome with joy.
“Wonderful, wonderful! My plan to open a shop can be moved up,” Lu Yan muttered.
“You want to open a shop?” Lu Sheng asked. “Where? In town?”
“Of course.” Lu Yan nodded.
“I don’t recommend it,” Lu Sheng said.
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Next year I’ll be taking the examinations,” Lu Sheng said leisurely. “The county exam is in the second month, the prefectural exam in the fourth month, and the academy exam in the eighth month.”
He looked at her.
“Aren’t you coming with me? If I pass and enter the county academy, won’t you move to the county seat with me?”
Lu Yan’s eyes widened.
Right!
She hadn’t even thought about that.
If Lu Sheng really passed, she would definitely follow him to the county seat. There wasn’t even a full year left. Renting a shop now really wasn’t worth it.
But if she only continued selling stuffed lotus-leaf flatbreads, the money she made was still rather limited.
As for the fifty taels, Lu Yan had no intention of touching it. She planned to keep it as savings.
When they moved to the county seat, they would need money to open a shop, rent a place to live, and pay Lu Sheng’s tuition.
At their current earnings of five or six taels a month, supporting Lu Sheng’s studies was still a bit tight.
The county academy wasn’t like modern compulsory education—it required tuition fees, nearly twenty taels a year.
Originally, Lu Sheng had planned to study on his own even if he passed, without enrolling in the academy. Lu Yan had firmly opposed the idea.
If there was a school, he had to attend it.
But what else could she sell?
She couldn’t think of anything.
Her lotus-leaf buns sold well, and so far no one had copied her.
In theory, that didn’t make sense.
In reality, she knew it was because the most unique thing she sold was the menzi—the starch jelly.
The starch itself was her exclusive ingredient.
Without starch, no one could figure out how the dish was made, even if they wanted to imitate it.
Without the menzi, they couldn’t make the same braised meat either. At most, they could sell vegetable-filled buns, which had no competitive advantage, so no one bothered.
Thus, although her business looked simple, it actually had a high barrier to entry.
If she sold something whose preparation method could be understood at a glance, imitators would probably appear within days.
Besides, Lu Yan had long been itching to make things like jianbing guozi and egg-filled pancakes.
But those foods had to be made fresh on the spot.
Without a shop, it simply wasn’t practical.
She could set up a charcoal stove every day, but it would be far too troublesome.
As she pondered all this, her thoughts wandered farther and farther away.
Lu Sheng ignored her and continued driving the donkey cart.
Before they knew it, they had reached the entrance to the village.
As usual, a group of villagers sat there chatting.
When they saw Lu Sheng and Lu Yan returning in the cart, they immediately began whispering.
“The girl that Sheng-ge’s father bought seems pretty capable. Last time I went to Sheng-ge’s house to ask his mother to do some sewing, I heard she’s selling food in town.”
“I see her leaving early and coming back early every day. She spends less than two hours there. How much money could she possibly make?”
“Who knows? But if she’s not making money, why does she keep bringing bags and bags of things home?”
“You know, Sheng-ge does look like he’s put on a little weight lately. He’s not as skinny as before.”
“That’s true.”
The conversation drifted aimlessly from one topic to another.
But Sun Shi, the village chief’s daughter-in-law, took those words to heart.
The gossip had no effect whatsoever on Lu Yan and Lu Sheng.
After all, they had just earned fifty taels and were in excellent spirits.
Lu Yan decided to cook something special that evening to celebrate.
As soon as she got home, she caught and slaughtered a chicken.
She worked quickly, plucking the feathers, cutting up the chicken, and marinating it.
Then she turned to Lu Sheng.
“Where can I buy some alcohol?”
Eating fried chicken without beer just felt incomplete.
Lu Sheng told her there was a family in the village that brewed liquor, so the two of them walked over together.
The liquor shop didn’t have many varieties.
The sorghum liquor of this era had a fairly low alcohol content.
After looking around, Lu Yan bought a jar that was only around ten percent alcohol and also bought a jar of yellow wine for cooking and removing gamey smells.
By the time the chicken had finished marinating, she had divided it into several parts.
The carcass, drumsticks, and wings would be fried whole.
The chicken breast was cut into cubes to make popcorn chicken.
The head, neck, feet, heart, and gizzard were thrown into a pot to braise.
As for the bits and pieces from the chicken’s insides, she planned to use them later as fish bait.
The key to fried chicken was the coating.
There was no commercial crispy batter here, so she had to make the flakes herself.
She mixed flour and starch together, added a little water, and rubbed it into tiny flakes.
The marinated chicken was first coated in batter, then in the flakes, and finally fried twice until it became golden and crispy.
The aroma was enough to make the children next door cry with envy.
By the time Old Lu came home, dinner was ready.
Lu Yan had prepared an entire chicken feast.
Braised chicken feet, fried chicken carcass, popcorn chicken, fried drumsticks, fried wings, and a jar of low-alcohol liquor.
She popped a piece of popcorn chicken into her mouth.
The familiar taste of fried food instantly made her eyes water.
Lu Sheng liked the fried chicken carcass the most.
Although there wasn’t much meat on it, it was seasoned with a sweet-and-savory flavor. It was the first time he had ever tasted something like it, and he couldn’t stop eating.
The two fried drumsticks were given to Old Lu and Xu Shi.
As she ate, Xu Shi sighed.
“I’ve been eating so well this month that I’ve gained weight.”
“That’s a good thing,” Lu Yan said happily. “My goal is to fatten all of you up. Look at Lu Sheng—he’s put on weight too.”
Lu Sheng had indeed gained a few pounds and was no longer as thin and frail as before.
Still, what Lu Yan wanted most was for him to grow taller.
It was too early to see any obvious changes yet.
As they ate, the siblings once again began discussing business.
“The people who buy your breakfast foods are basically all the same customers,” Lu Sheng analyzed while gnawing on a chicken bone. “Even if you add more varieties, it might not attract many more people.”
“I think we need another angle.”
Lu Yan asked, “You mean selling evening meals too?”
Lu Sheng nodded.
“You could also make snacks. This fried chicken carcass is really good. I think you could sell it.”
Lu Yan: “…”
She knew it.
Every time Lu Sheng ate something delicious, his first thought was whether it could be sold.
Still, she really was planning to start an evening food stall.
As for what exactly to sell…
She was still considering her options.