Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

After returning to the tavern, Zhao Yali saw the large piece of meat and asked in surprise: "What's going on? Didn't we buy pig offal? How come there is still meat?"

Master Ma came over, with a mysterious look on his face, and whispered, "Manager Cao and I went to deliver seafood to the section chief of the meat processing plant yesterday. Do you understand?"

Zhao Yali thought for a moment and said, "I see. They are just repaying our favor. Manager Xu, what should we do with the meat?"

Xu Huizhen thought about it. Now you need meat coupons to buy meat. Each person only has 8 liang of meat coupons per month, and most of them are saved for the New Year or other festivals, or when there is something going on at home. If you want to eat some meat on weekdays, it's useless if you have money but no coupons.

She scanned the faces of the crowd, and everyone was staring at the meat with burning eyes. She said, "Each of us will get two pounds. No meat coupons are needed. We will only collect the purchase money, which will be deducted from the salary at the end of the month. The rest can be made into braised meat and sold. What do you think?"

"Okay, great!"

Everyone said at once: "Let's divide the fat meat."

"We ate seafood yesterday and meat today. What a happy life!"

Xu Huizhen took the opportunity to encourage everyone, "Knowing that our tavern has good benefits, you must work hard in the future. If the big river has no water, the small rivers will dry up, and if the big river has water, the small rivers will be full. Only when our tavern is profitable can our employees have money to pay for benefits, am I right?"

"Yes, Manager Xu is right. Just wait and see. We will definitely work hard in the future."

At noon, the canteen started selling dried shrimps, shrimp skins, kelp, and salted fish. With diversified operations, profits would naturally increase.

Under the management of Xu Huizhen, the canteen has a good reputation. The residents around and those who work nearby like to patronize it. In addition to being honest and trustworthy, the staple food here does not require food coupons. Therefore, many families with insufficient food supply prefer to buy things here.

At this time, everyone lined up to buy food, and the line formed a long line. Kong Dongmei recommended enthusiastically, "Sister, buy some dried shrimps. Eating dried shrimps can supplement calcium, children can grow taller, and the elderly can prevent osteoporosis. The price is not expensive! 9 cents per pound. This thing is not weighed, and one pound can weigh a lot. I'll give you one to try, it's delicious."

The elder sister tried one and savored it carefully. It was just the right amount of salty. She said, "It's delicious. Please weigh a pound for me."

When she heard that she could taste it for free, the auntie at the back of the line wanted to take advantage: "Xiao Kong, let me have a taste."

Kong Dongmei simply gave one to each person. The auntie was not satisfied after eating one and said, "One is not enough to fill my stomach. I haven't even tasted it yet and it's gone. Give me two more."

Kong Dongmei was not happy: "Auntie, you are not taking advantage of me enough, right? If you want to eat again, you have to pay for it yourself." Food is very expensive these days, and free samples are rare. Kong Dongmei is not someone who is willing to suffer a loss.

Xu Huizhen saw that the situation was a bit awkward, so she stepped out to smooth things over. "Everyone, look at what I have here. I have cold shredded kelp. Kelp is rich in iodine, which can prevent goiter. It is both a medicinal ingredient and a food ingredient. It is inexpensive and good quality, only 6 cents per pound. A pound of dried kelp can yield to pounds if you soak it at home, and it costs an average of cent per pound. There is not much available, so don't miss it if you pass by."

Someone jokingly said, "Xu Huizhen, everything in your cafeteria is good. Do all the lice in your house have double eyelids?"

Xu Huizhen said coquettishly: "What nonsense are you talking about? We are talking about food here, why are you talking about that thing? I think you are here to make trouble, Master Ma, don't sell him food, let him go hungry."

"No, man is made of iron and rice is made of steel. If you don't eat, you will be hungry. Manager Xu, I was wrong. I was just joking. Please forgive me this time."

Xu Huizhen: "Since you have a good attitude in admitting your mistakes, I will forgive you this time and it won't happen again."

"Thank you. I'll buy you a pound of kelp as an apology."

Xu Huizhen: "I am not bragging. Kelp is both a food and a medicine. Eating kelp regularly can improve iron deficiency anemia, prevent thyroid disease, and lower blood lipids. If you don't believe me, you can go ask a Chinese doctor."

"Manager Xu, you know a lot. Whether it's true or not, I'll buy a pound. 6 cents is not expensive. I won't suffer a loss or be cheated."

Xu Huizhen said proudly, "I know a lot because I read books and newspapers. There is a saying that goes, 'Books contain golden houses and beautiful women.' Now the government is calling on everyone to read and learn to read. It's right to follow the government. I've gone off topic. Let me show you the kelp shreds mixed by our Master Ma."

Kong Dongmei quickly served a plate of kelp shreds and said, "Each person can only taste one bite, we won't eat enough." The kelp that Master Ma mixed with sesame oil tasted really good. So, everyone rushed to buy one pound, and I took half a pound.

Manager Cao watched from behind and gave Xu Huizhen a thumbs up, saying, "Manager Xu is really a talent. It's a waste of talent to be a private manager in a tavern."

After the lunch was sold out, we counted the sales at noon and found that it was 15% more than usual. Everyone was very happy and tried their best to sell out this batch of dried seafood as soon as possible, so that Xu Huizhen would have to go to Tianjin to buy more and give everyone some benefits.

Especially Zhao Yali, her eight sons were reluctant to throw away the conch shells after eating the meat, and kept them as toys. The fifth son put the conch shell behind his ear, saying that he could hear the sound of the waves. The other brothers also tried it, and they could hear the whimpering sound, as if the waves were surging.

The children were overjoyed and showed off the shells to their friends. Children of that era didn’t have many toys, so their friends were very supportive and asked, “If you eat conchs again, please leave a conch shell for me.”

So the sons went home and asked Zhao Yali: "Mom, when will you give out conch shells next time?"

Zhao Yali said unhappily: "Eat, eat, eat, all you do is eat. After eating once, you want to eat next time. You are so beautiful!" In fact, she was also secretly looking forward to the next benefit.

Time is like running water, flowing day by day.

On this day, Xu Huizhen came home from get off work and found Han Qingqiu there. Han Qingqiu was usually bored, so he would come to chat with Hu Yingzi and teach her how to study.

At this time, she was sitting in the yard, watching the children and embroidering. Yingzi was cooking in the kitchen. She walked over and saw that the butterfly embroidered by Han Qingqiu was so lifelike and exquisite. She suddenly thought of cross-stitch in later generations.

Compared with Suzhou embroidery, cross-stitch is simple and easy to learn, and does not have such stringent requirements for the embroiderer. Although cross-stitch is not exquisite enough, it is very popular in later generations and should have a larger market in this era.