Even when Li Guangyuan was the only son in his previous life, his mother never said she helped her do anything; she even complained that she wasn’t good enough and made Li Guangyuan do many things.
The two sisters-in-law were always called over to hang out and drink, but never worked.
Whenever she complained, not only Mrs. Li but also Li Guangyuan would accuse her of not being in unity with the family, saying they were all family and there was no reason for disdain.
Back then, she spent twenty years living in the Lin Family, enduring grievances. Even when she moved to the Li Family, she felt nothing wrong, until Li Guangyuan betrayed her and she finally understood.
Later, she abandoned the Li Family, severed ties with her parental home, and ended up being independent but alone.
It can be said that the first time she felt the warmth of family and kinship in her two lives was given by the Qin Family.
“Thank you, mom and sister-in-law, Zhuangzhuang is still young, don’t let sister-in-law take him to the fields. I’m just steaming some buns here, I can watch the child.”
“I said the same, Zhuangzhuang is asleep now; let’s work more, just the two of us.”
The family had a big eight-stamped pot, and Lin Chuxia also bought a steamer tray for the eight-stamped pot, specifically getting five layers, but for today’s first stall, she didn’t plan to use all, just making three layers of buns.
Her buns were neither too big nor too small, purely meat-filled, a bit smaller than a fist.
Steaming three trays together, turning up the high heat and burning for another twenty minutes would be enough.
Right when the buns were ready, Zhuangzhuang woke up, the little guy running over barefooted.
“Little auntie, why are you making delicious food again?”
This child looked good, robust and burly, and had inherited the Qin family’s big, black-browed eyes, his large eyes shiny like two black grapes, and his little face rosy from sleep, just like the children in New Year paintings.
Lin Chuxia did not have children in her previous life and always loved kids but never dared to show it.
Now, looking at sweet and adorable Little Zhuangzhuang, she truly adored him from the bottom of her heart.
She pinched his little face, “Little auntie isn’t good at anything else, just making delicious food. Wait, little auntie will get you a meat bun.”
She took out two meat buns with tongs, one for Zhuangzhuang, another for Mrs. Qin.
“Mom, could you taste this and see if it can be marketable?”
Mrs. Qin was about to say there was no need to taste, as the last time her son returned to the army, his wife had steamed some meat buns for them to bring along, and they were delicious.
But seeing Lin Chuxia’s hopeful eyes, she smiled and took one, “Alright, I’ll taste one.”
Mrs. Qin took a bite of the meat bun, paused for a moment, then savored it carefully.
This tasted somewhat different from the last time, seemingly more flavorful, it’s hard to tell what seasoning it was, it’s just… delicious.
“Where are you planning to sell these? I think anyone who tries your meat buns will surely like them, they are too delicious.”
Zhuangzhuang inhaled deeply as he ate, “Tasty, really tasty.”
Lin Chuxia smiled, the last time she only used regular seasoning, this time she used her secret recipe, sure to taste better.
“I plan to go to the train station, there’s heavy foot traffic there, it should sell. If not, I could also try the night market area, just to see.”
Mrs. Qin nodded seriously, “I think that will work.”
Three trays of buns were divided into ten stacks on the small three-stamped pot’s steaming trays.
Stacked five trays high, placed on the cart.
The house still had some coal left from last winter. While steaming the buns earlier, she had also lit the coal stove using charcoal, which was now loaded on the cart.
Lin Chuxia made two cloth bags, one for wrapping paper and bags, and the other for holding money.
Seeing that it was about time, she pedaled the cart to the train station under Mrs. Qin’s worried gaze.
Nowadays, there are not as many railway lines as there will be in future generations. Although Ancheng County is a major station, there is only one train in the morning and two in the afternoon that stop here.
The trains move slowly at this period of time; traveling a bit farther could mean staying on the train for a couple of days.
The boxed meals on the train are expensive and require queuing to purchase. Most importantly, they are not tasty, so many people prefer to buy bread and biscuits before boarding the train as provisions. This also made Lin Chuxia see the market potential here.
She arrived just in time; the first afternoon train had not yet arrived, and there were already quite a few people at the station, carrying large and small bags, waiting for the train.
She found a path that everyone had to take to enter the station, opened the vent of the coal stove, hung up the “large meat buns” sign she had written at home, and as soon as steam started to come out from the steamer on the stove, Lin Chuxia started to call out.
“Meat buns, hot large meat buns…”
“Big brother, why not buy some meat buns to eat on the train?”
Selling requires tact; you don’t bother asking those who don’t even glance at you, as they wouldn’t buy anyway.
You only approach them if their gaze falls on your steamer; this indicates an interest in buying or at least curiosity about what you’re selling, then you can ask.
Experience from selling vegetables at the market stand in her previous life, although later she didn’t need to watch people’s faces to make money, had ingrained this experience deep within her.
Sure enough, the man stepped closer and asked, “How much are they?”
Lin Chuxia opened the lid of the steamer, pointed at the plump white meat buns inside, and said, “Ten cents each, pure meat filling.”
At the State-Owned Restaurant, each meat bun costs ten cents plus one tael of food tickets; now, you can buy without food tickets by paying an extra cent per bun.
Lin Chuxia’s buns were a bit smaller than those at the State-Owned Restaurant; ten cents each made the accounting simple.
Upon hearing the price, the man said it wasn’t expensive and ordered five, handing over fifty cents.
“Alright.”
Lin Chuxia took out a food bag and picked six buns from the steamer.
“Today is my first day doing business, and you are my first customer, Big Brother. I’ll give you one extra for good luck, so you have six for a smooth journey.”
“Thank you.”
Xu Changping took the buns and glanced at the girl. Regardless of how the buns tasted, with the girl’s straightforward manner, the business could not go wrong.
Seeing someone buying, and real large meat buns at that, others quickly gathered around asking about the price.
“Ten cents each, all meat filling.”
“You made these buns too small. The ones at the State-Owned Restaurant are bigger than yours; make it cheaper,” one woman said.
This prompted others to turn their attention to Lin Chuxia.
Lin Chuxia anticipated such a remark and explained with a smile, “Sister, mine are just slightly smaller than those at the State-Owned Restaurant, where a bun goes from ten to twelve cents each. Moreover, you can’t always get hot meat buns right away at the State-Owned Restaurant. Wouldn’t it be great to take one from here and eat it warm on the train? And I assure you, the taste of my buns is incomparable to those from the State-Owned Restaurant; you’ll know once you try.”
A man from the crowd chimed in, “I think they look about the same size as those from the State-Owned Restaurant. Miss, I’ll take ten for my trip.”
He frequented the State-Owned Restaurant and could tell by the smell they were right.
“Give me six.”
“Give me three to try.”
The train was almost arriving, and fearing they wouldn’t get any, the others hurriedly made purchases. This pressure pushed the initially inquiring woman aside.
“Don’t push, don’t push; I’m still buying. Give me six.”
Lin Chuxia first handed six buns to the woman, then told others not to push and to queue up instead.
But who would line up now? Lin Chuxia could only keep selling buns while trying to remember the order in which people came, attempting to serve on a first-come, first-served basis.