CHAPTER 58

Shen Lin , Su Wan, and the couple selling buns nearby all had a bad attitude towards Wang Luosheng. Wang Luosheng was a little angry at first, but then he thought that these people were just ordinary people and he, a scholar, didn’t need to bother with them.

Besides, Wang Luosheng felt very comfortable when he thought that his classmates would see Shen Lin, the great talent they once admired, now selling food on the street.

He passed by this snack street many years ago and knew in his heart that although there were many diners on this snack street, there were only a few popular ones. The other businesses, like the couple selling buns said, were just barely making a living.

Wang Luosheng straightened his clothes and suddenly thought to himself that something was wrong. He had already left home a little late, and now that he had been arguing with these people here for so long, he would definitely be late.

Wang Luosheng quickened his pace and hurried towards the academy.

The woman selling buns made a pooh sound and cursed, “You look like a scholar, but the way you talk and act is worse than a butcher selling vegetables.”

Although Su Wan, Shen Lin, and the couple selling buns did not like each other, they undoubtedly had the same opinion on Wang Luosheng.

Su Wan started to boil bone soup in the pot. She was going to make two flavors of malatang, one with bone soup and one with spicy flavor. It takes some time to boil bone soup, but it is easier to boil spicy soup.

        (bone soup)

       (spicy flavor)

Shen Lin had already washed all the vegetables, tofu, and other ingredients, so Su Wan only had to cut them into small portions.

Su Wan originally planned to sell the kind of spicy hot pot skewers skewered on sticks, but she remembered that customers usually gathered around the pot to eat that. She had already looked at this small stall yesterday, and it was not very suitable for this way of selling, so Su Wan’s approach was to let the customers choose the ingredients themselves and then cook a bowl of hot pot for them.

Su Wan and Shen Lin sorted the prepared dishes into categories and placed them in bowls in front of the stall.

The woman selling buns nearby glanced at Su Wan and said, “I don’t know what they are selling. Can they be sold?”

Su Wan and Shen Lin didn’t say anything either.

In fact, Su Wan did predict that the Malatang business might not be good in the next few days. She had looked all over Qingzhou Prefecture and Qingyun County, and no one was selling Malatang. The advantage of no one selling it was that there was no competition, but the disadvantage was that it would take some time for diners to get used to Malatang.

After all, they had never heard of this before, let alone eaten it.

For Su Wan, the simplest way is to make the soup more fragrant so that people will come to taste it by smelling the aroma.

Su Wan and Shen Lin cleaned up their stall. The sun had already risen to mid-sky, and pedestrians gradually appeared on the snack street. No one visited Su Wan and Shen Lin’s shops. Most of the diners bought food from the stalls that were usually popular.

Su Wan was not in a hurry and just watched over the store quietly. Shen Yaya took Shen Lin to look here and there on the snack street. After several rounds, Shen Lin had a clear understanding of the situation in the snack street. On this street, there were three shops selling steamed buns, two selling dim sum, and some selling mixed soup, noodles, and pancakes. Most of the food they sold was of good quality and inexpensive.

The dim sum shop to the right of Su Wan’s shop was not open until almost noon, when a beautiful young lady dressed exquisitely came over slowly and opened her dim sum shop.

The woman selling buns glanced at the young woman and said, “What a lazy woman.”

The young lady selling snacks heard it, of course, and rolled her eyes at the big and strong woman selling buns. “It’s not a good thing to work while old and ugly.”

Su Wan would naturally not join the war between the two, but the young woman noticed Su Wan’s shop. After opening her own snack shop, she ran to Su Wan’s shop and asked, “Sister, what kind of food are you selling?”

The young woman was pretty, with delicate and fair skin. She was wearing a pink winter coat and was prettier than most women in Qingyun County.

Su Wan introduced her food to the young woman in a friendly and patient manner.

Seeing that there were no people in front of Su Wan’s shop, just like her own shop, the young woman said, “Sister, please make me a bowl of soup, and I’ll order first from you.”

Su Wan smiled and said, “Sister, it’s not time to eat yet. Besides, eating this now is not good for your stomach. I’ll treat you to a bowl at noon.”

The young lady smiled. She got up late and had just had breakfast. Su Wan’s suggestion was very thoughtful. The young lady and Su Wan had a good impression of each other. This was probably the case of beauties appreciating each other.

The young lady introduced herself to Su Wan, saying that her surname was Xu and that Su Wan could just call her sister Xu from now on. Su Wan also told Miss Xu her name, and Miss Xu called Su Wan Sister Su.

The steamed bun shop was doing pretty good business, with people coming to buy steamed buns from time to time. However, there was no one at Miss Xu’s dim sum shop and Su Wan’s spicy hot pot shop, and they were quite deserted.

After a while, Miss Xu’s husband came over with a few plates of freshly made snacks. Seeing that his shop was not doing well, he comforted Miss Xu, saying that she was selling snacks just to pass the time and she could make money on her own. After that, the man put the freshly made snacks on display and then went to work at the nearby dock.

Miss Xu started chatting with Su Wan again, and Shen Lin also came over to comfort Su Wan, saying that it didn’t matter even if business was bad because he could still make money by going out to sea, and Su Wan could just do this to pass the time.

Su Wan couldn’t help but sigh that Miss Xu’s husband and Shen Lin were really the same kind of people. They were certainly different from the man next to him who was ordering his wife to work. However, the woman selling buns was proud of herself for doing so much work and looked down on Miss Xu and Su Wan, who made men do the work.

At noon, only a few people bought snacks in Miss Xu’s snack shop. The snacks were not cheap, and not many people in Qingyun County were willing to buy snacks.

A few people came to ask Su Wan what this food was after smelling the spicy and fresh aroma. After Su Wan patiently explained to them, they said that this food was more expensive than noodles, but it was just a few worthless pieces of vegetable leaves and tofu. How could they be full? It was better to eat noodles.

Some people were eager to try it, but seeing that no one was eating at Su Wan’s place, they were worried that it would only smell good but not taste good, and they would waste their money. After all, no one had eaten it before and asked them if it was delicious. Therefore, from early morning till now, Su Wan’s stall has not been open.

Su Wan was not in a hurry either. These were the problems she had already thought of. Su Wan believed that as long as a few people tried the Malatang and spread the word, her business would definitely pick up.

Miss Xu went to Su Wan and said, “Sister Su, please cook me a bowl of Malatang.” Seeing that it was already noon and time to eat, Su Wan asked Miss Xu if she could eat spicy food and then cooked a bowl of spicy Malatang for her.

It was Miss Xu’s first time eating spicy Malatang, so she let Su Wan choose the ingredients for her.

Su Wan cooked tofu, bacon, tripe, sausage, fungus, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and noodles for Miss Xu.

After the spicy Malatang is cooked, various ingredients emerge from the bright red soup, sprinkled with coriander, chopped green onions, and fried peanuts, and it is steaming hot.

Miss Xu had breakfast late and was not hungry at first, but when she saw the big bowl of tempting spicy Malatang, she couldn’t help drooling, and she became hungry again.

……………

Wang Luosheng went to the school, and the first thing he did during the break was to tell his classmates that Shen Lin was now selling food in the snack street not far from the academy.

When Shen Lin was studying, he was extremely intelligent, and the other students admired and envied him very much. Now when they heard that Shen Lin was selling food on the street, they all sighed.

Duan Jingtian and Li Sheng felt sorry for Shen Lin. Duan Jingtian said with emotion, “If Brother Shen had continued to study, he would have been admitted to the imperial examination in the future. Alas, things are unpredictable. However, there are top scholars in every field. Brother Shen Lin is smart, so even if he does business, he will definitely be different from others.”

Wang Luosheng felt very uncomfortable after hearing this. When he came, he saw that the things sold by Shen Lin and Su Wan were nothing more than some potatoes, sweet potato leaves, and some low-quality things like wool tripe. People were tired of eating these things at home, so who would spend money to eat them? These two people were simply fooling around.

Su Wan and Shen Lin’s voices must not be heard, but Duan Jingtian still thinks that Shen Lin is a capable person. It seems that he has to see Shen Lin’s miserable appearance before he can believe that Shen Lin is nothing special.

Wang Luosheng was unwilling to give in and said, “Everyone should not eat in the school at noon today. Since Brother Shen Lin is doing business, why don’t we go and support him?”

Duan Jingtian nodded. “That’s exactly what I meant.”

Duan Jingtian wanted to help Shen Lin when he learned about Shen Lin’s situation before, but Shen Lin said that people should help others in emergencies but not in poverty and insisted on refusing Duan Jingtian’s help. Now that he has this opportunity, Duan Jingtian naturally wants to help Shen Lin in this way.

As for Wang Luosheng, he just wanted everyone to see how miserable Shen Lin was. It was embarrassing enough that he was just selling food, and Shen Lin’s business must be bad, which was even more embarrassing.

The classmates all said that they would go to Shen Lin’s stall to eat at noon. The snack street was not far away, so everyone could go there after school at noon, which was very convenient.

Most people still wanted to go and show their support, but there were also a few like Wang Luosheng who wanted to see Shen Lin make a fool of himself. Even if they had no grudge against Shen Lin, watching others make a fool of themselves was also an interesting thing.

After school, a group of students headed towards the snack street.

………..

Miss Xu took the spicy hot pot cooked by Su Wan and placed it on a table closest to the street so that diners coming and going could see the food.

Shen Yaya quickly placed chopsticks in front of Miss Xu and brought over a plate of pickles. Shen Lin took out the apricot juice made by Su Wan from the large hot water jar and placed it in front of Miss Xu.

There were many wild apricot trees in the village, and no one picked them. There were fallen apricots everywhere. Su Wan and Shen Yaya picked up a lot of apricot kernels and made this apricot juice.

Miss Xu had just finished making the spicy Malatang when a few passersby looked into her bowl. What was that thing? It looked delicious.

………….

Just then, a dozen students came to Su Wan’s spicy Malatang stall and saw that the stall was deserted with only one diner sitting there. Shen Lin was serving the diner a bowl of something.

From this, it seems that the business of Shen Lin’s shop is indeed slow, and Shen Lin is actually still working as a waiter in this shop.

Wang Luosheng was overjoyed. He had thought that Shen Lin and Su Wan’s business would not be successful, and it turned out to be true.

“Brother Shen.” Duan Jingtian spoke first.

Shen Lin looked up and saw his former colleagues.

Duan Jingtian said, “I heard from Brother Wang that Brother Shen is doing business here, so I wanted to come and show my support.”

The students behind him also echoed.

Shen Lin did not feel the embarrassment that Wang Luosheng had hoped for. Instead, he warmly greeted his former classmate and introduced him to the side to choose dishes.

A group of scholars went over to choose dishes, only to see that the cook was actually Su Wan. They had also seen Su Wan at the Duan family’s banquet, so they couldn’t help but exchange pleasantries with Su Wan and ask her why she was here.

Su Wan did not hide anything and told about her engagement with Shen Lin. Duan Jingtian was shocked when he saw Su Wan, and now he was even more shocked when he heard the news. Among the dozen or so scholars, only Duan Jingtian and Wang Luosheng did not talk to Su Wan.

Duan Jingtian was in a heavy mood, but Wang Luosheng was very relaxed. This time, everyone saw how miserable Shen Lin was. Wang Luosheng immediately felt superior and said to Shen Lin, “It’s natural that business is not good. Business is not that easy. But with the support of us classmates today, you won’t lose money.”

Shen Lin still didn’t speak to Wang Luosheng, and Wang Luosheng’s wish to suppress Shen Lin was dashed.

The scholars selected their dishes one by one, and Su Wan skillfully cooked bowl after bowl of spicy Malatang. In a short while, the tables and chairs in front of the dim sum shop, the bun shop, and Su Wan’s spicy hot pot shop were all filled with people.

Wang Luosheng felt a sense of superiority, as if he was the one who brought people to save Shen Lin. Looking at Shen Lin humbly serving tea and water to everyone in front of several tables, Wang Luosheng felt very comfortable.

At this time, Wang Luosheng heard passersby say, “These people seem to be eating the food from this Malatang restaurant. This thing must be delicious; otherwise, why would so many people eat it? Let’s go and try it.”

The man walked to Su Wan’s stall, followed by several passersby. Many pedestrians also looked at Su Wan’s stall and discussed what kind of food was there and why so many people were buying it.

Wang Luosheng was stunned. Are these passersby fools? They think the food tastes good just because there are many people around. This was not his original intention.