W Chapter 67

Chapter 67 “You’ve been staring at me.”……

Ling Xing told the Shen family about renting the shop as soon as he got home.

He had mentioned before that he wanted to rent a shop in town before the New Year so he could open it after the holiday.

Just having a stall wouldn’t allow the business to grow.

The Shen family had known about Ling Xing’s plans for a long time, but they didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.

Ling Xing himself hadn’t expected it either; it was just good luck that he happened to find this shop.

The next day, after finishing at the stall, he went to the broker, where Lin SanShu was already waiting.

Yesterday, he had gone to YueWan Town to find the owner of the shop and signed the contract.

Today, he was waiting for Ling Xing to review it, sign, and put his fingerprint on it, and then the transaction would be complete.

“The monthly rent is two taels of silver. Paying for three years at once is seventy-two taels. I negotiated with the owner and managed to shave off the change, so it’s seventy taels.”

Lin SanShu had put in some effort to get those two taels reduced.

He couldn’t go any lower; with that location and shop size, two taels a month was already dirt cheap.

If it weren’t for the business being considered unlucky, it wouldn’t be at this price.

Ling Xing was quite satisfied with the price. He looked through the contract, didn’t find any problems, and signed it with his fingerprint.

He arranged with Lin SanShu to give the silver and get the keys tomorrow, then took his copy of the contract and Shen Hui, and Shen Lai home.

They had hired many people to build the house, and they were working hard.

Over these days, the house was almost finished, much faster than planned.

Ling Xing had observed that the people building the house were all skilled and honest.

He planned to pick a few of them to work on the shop in town.

Only the backyard of the shop needed work. The warehouse and living quarters needed to be fixed up.

But since it was a rental, they wouldn’t tear it down and rebuild it. At most, they would put some effort into the warehouse, replacing the rotten wood with good wood, and repairing the roof of the mud house where they would live.

If they could buy it later, then they could consider tearing it down and rebuilding.

Ling Xing borrowed forty taels from Shen Hui and wrote an IOU.

Shen Hui casually tucked the IOU away, not really caring.

He wanted to hand over all his silver openly, but he couldn’t.

Adding Shen Hui’s silver, Ling Xing had a total of ninety-three taels.

Seventy taels would be used to rent the shop, and the remaining twenty-three taels would all be used to order iron pots.

A double-eared iron pot that could be placed on the large stove to make chili oil and fry dough sticks.

A flat-bottomed iron pot to make fried snacks, such as pot stickers, pan-fried buns, water-fried buns…

He would be in the shop all day long later, with plenty of time to make different kinds of food.

The next day, after paying the money and getting the keys to the shop, Shen Chengshan had already picked five people for Ling Xing to help him renovate the shop.

Wang Zhusheng and his son were among them.

Going to town to work also included meals, but the food wasn’t good. There was really no place to cook in town.

It was all mixed-grain buns with pickles, but it filled them up.

The daily wage was sixty Wen, not paid daily, but after the work was finished.

Ling Xing had spent all his money and it was still half a month before the accounts were settled. He didn’t want to borrow from Shen Hui again, so he thought he would pay after the work was done.

Anyway, they couldn’t run away.

It took time and effort to get from Xiao Liucun to town, and it wasn’t paid daily, and the food wasn’t good, so Ling Xing gave a higher price.

Quite a few people wanted to come; sixty Wen was much more than twenty Wen.

Even if the food wasn’t good, they could still eat their fill.

Moreover, the pickles they ate were much better than what they made at home. In the villagers’ eyes, they weren’t eating badly at all.

Under the envious eyes of the other villagers, Wang Zhusheng and the five others went to town. The work here was much easier than building a house.

With everything arranged, Ling Xing waited for the shop to be renovated before opening.

…

Among the banana leaves in the mountains.

Banana leaves were spread on the ground, and Ling Xing sat on them, facing Shen Hui.

Not far away, Shen Lai was playing with Wu Xue, his forehead covered in sweat.

Ling Xing brought Shen Lai up as a precaution.

He also thought that Wu Xue needed exercise, so he brought him along.

Shen Hui really wanted to be alone with Ling Xing, but he didn’t lose his mind and knew that it was safer to bring Shen Lai.

His mother would be more at ease too.

The original excuse for coming here was to spend more time with Ling Xing and get his attention.

Having Shen Lai along didn’t matter much.

Shen Hui looked at Ling Xing, who seemed to be in a daze, and reminded him, “Ge’er, focus on me.”

Ling Xing looked over at his words, his eyes only on him.

Shen Hui’s brow relaxed, satisfied.

After learning silent recognition for two quarters of an hour, Ling Xing couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Shen Hui say it was over.

He felt that Shen Hui was teaching very strictly this time. He couldn’t be distracted at all. As long as his gaze deviated slightly, he would immediately hear Shen Hui call him Ge’er.

It made his nerves highly tense, and all his thoughts were focused on Shen Hui.

Banana leaves were gathered every two days, and Ling Xing felt that the time for learning lip reading was getting longer and longer.

He learned haltingly, but Shen Hui taught very carefully.

However, the little time that Shen Hui had painstakingly stolen disappeared in early November.

It was too cold, the leaves were dry, and it could snow at any time, so they couldn’t go up the mountain anymore.

And Ling Xing’s shop was also renovated.

Xu Qi and Tu Hai both helped with the shop’s renovation. One helped contact carpenters to get wood, and the other often brought his men to stroll around and supervise the busy Ling Xing.

At the same time, it was also to let the surrounding shops know that this shop was under their protection, and if they saw that the business was good, they shouldn’t have any crooked ideas or cause trouble.

Not only was the backyard tidied up and renovated, but the doors and windows of the shop were also repainted, making them shiny and bright.

Ling Xing ordered a signboard, which was called “Ling’s Snacks”.

He also made banners with pictures of the food he sold. People who couldn’t read would know what he sold just by looking at the pictures on the banners.

The iron pots hadn’t been made yet and wouldn’t be available until mid- to late November.

So Ling Xing didn’t add any new foods and chose the most recent auspicious day to open.

November 6th, a great day for all things.

The shop on Sweet Soup Street, which had been closed for several years, reopened its doors. Firecrackers crackled for a long time, and the entrance was packed with people.

Some time ago, Ling Xing had told the diners that he had rented a shop on Sweet Soup Street, and he had also informed them of the opening time in a timely manner.

Therefore, on the opening day of the snack shop, many old customers came to support him. In addition, Xu Qi brought a group of minor officials, and Tu Hai brought a group of his men.

The Shen family and Xie Qingya and Wang Juan also all came.

There were quite a few people.

There were a total of six tables inside the snack shop. The soup dumplings steamer was placed at the entrance, with a small shed above it to shield it from rain and snow.

Another table was also placed on the other side of the entrance in case there weren’t enough seats inside, so people could use it as a backup outside.

Ling Yue also took a special leave of absence that day, and with Xiao Chun, Xiao Xia, and Shen Lai, the four of them were busy helping to serve soup dumplings and collect money in the shop.

Now that they had a shop, pig skin jelly and cold noodles were no longer not sold because of the weather. Instead, many seasonings were added.

If you bought it mixed in the shop, there was an extra charge of two Wen for seasoning.

Ling Xing had a lot of seasonings, and he also made his own pepper oil, pepper salt, pepper powder, and chili powder.

Thinking that the taste of sesame sauce cold noodles was also good, he also made sesame sauce.

Because he had sesame oil, it was easy to make.

You only needed to wash the sesame seeds clean, and then stir-fry them in a pot. You had to control the speed and time well, otherwise it would affect the taste of the sesame seeds. If you overdid it, the sesame seeds would also become bitter.

The stir-fried sesame seeds were crispy to the touch, and they were ground into powder after they had cooled down. Although it was hard to grind, it would be much easier to slowly grind out the oil later.

Finally, add an appropriate amount of sesame oil, salt, and white sugar to season it. The sesame sauce without any other additives had a mellow taste with only a strong sesame flavor.

Because Ling Xing had so many seasonings, and many of them were not available on the market. Even if they were all available on the market, you wouldn’t know how much money it would cost to buy them all.

Their own family couldn’t make such delicious seasonings, so many people were willing to spend the two Wen to eat better.

There weren’t many table seats in the shop. Xu Qi and Tu Hai came purely to support the shop, so they didn’t eat in the shop. They all bought it to take away, leaving the seats for the diners who needed them.

Ling Xing accepted their kindness and wasn’t too polite, waiting for a chance to return the favor later.

The cold noodles could be made hot. Now that the weather was cold, many people would order a bowl of hot cold noodles on the opening day, mixed with sesame sauce and other seasonings, and sit in the shop and slurp it up.

It made Shen Lai, Xiao Chun, and Xiao Xia jealous.

Ling Yue saw them staring at the cold noodles in a daze and took out copper coins from her little purse.

“Brother, I want four bowls of cold noodles.”

Ling Xing wanted to say that he didn’t want her money, but Ling Yue said, “I want to treat Fifth Brother and Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia to eat, to thank them for taking care of me.”

This was the child’s intention, and Ling Xing accepted the money. “What flavors do you want?”

“I want to eat sesame sauce flavor.” After Ling Yue finished speaking, she turned her head and asked, “Fifth Brother, Xiao Chun, and Xiao Xia, I’m treating you to cold noodles. What flavors of cold noodles do you want to eat?”

Hearing that Ling Yue was going to treat them to cold noodles, Shen Lai didn’t hold back. He ran over with a whoosh, happily hugged Ling Yue and spun her around before saying, “I want to eat sesame sauce, with a little chili powder.”

Ling Yue had been told by Ling Xing before that he was a child now and shouldn’t think too much about other things.

So he was used to Shen Lai hugging him all the time, although he was still a little embarrassed, but he was no longer in a state of panic.

His little face was red as he waited for Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia.

When Cao Manyue heard what Ling Yue said, she originally wanted to say that she would pay. In the end, Xu Youfang pulled her back. “A Yue has a heavy heart. If you let him spend this money, he will feel more comfortable.”

Since her mother said so, Cao Manyue nodded and let Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia go to eat cold noodles.

The four children had similar tastes. Ling Yue couldn’t eat too spicy, so she didn’t add chili powder.

The other three added chili and couldn’t help but gasp as they ate.

It made Xie Qingya also crave it.

However, he couldn’t take out money to buy it. Before he could act, Ling Xing had given him and Wang Juan all the food in the shop.

“You’ve been busy all morning, eat something to fill your stomach. Don’t be polite with me, my family also eats these.”

Xie Qingya happily sat down at the words and pulled Wang Juan to eat together.

In the afternoon, Wu Dali, who had finished his work, brought his family over, and ordered soup dumplings, pig skin jelly, and cold noodles.

When he was about to leave, he asked Ling Xing how much meat and pig skin he needed, and he would leave it early tomorrow morning.

Because he had a shop, he didn’t only sell for two hours a day, so Ling Xing doubled the meat and pig skin.

Now that it was cold, even if he really couldn’t sell it, he could still keep it for an extra day.

Seeing that the sun was about to set, everything was sold out. Ling Xing could only tell the diners who didn’t buy food to come again tomorrow. The Shen family helped to clean up the shop together, preparing to go home.

There couldn’t be no one in the shop at night, or thieves would covet it.

Even if there was no money, the flour and seasonings were all bought with money.

Thieves these days don’t only have money in their eyes.

It was not safe for women and Ge’ers to live alone outside.

Shen Hui said that he would live in the shop.

Shen Gui said, “Second brother and I will each live there for one day.”

He also wanted to bring the pickled vegetables to the shop to put away, it was not good to do nothing.

The Shen family had no objections, and Ling Xing could only nod.

Let’s do this for now, but he will definitely hire people later. The shop assistants here will all live in the shop.

After Ling Xing returned home and finished eating, he began to count the money.

The more he counted, the more shocked he was. After deducting the cost, he earned nearly four thousand Wen in one day.

He guessed that the reason was that he earned some money from the seasonings for the cold noodles and pig skin jelly, and Tu Hai and Xu Qi brought a lot of people to support him.

And the business hours were longer, he sold more, and naturally earned more.

Tomorrow’s income should be less.

The next day, before dawn, Ling Xing got up from the warm bed.

He really didn’t want to get up, he wanted to sleep in.

But he had to open the shop for business.

Washing up in the cold wind, Ling Xing was frozen awake.

If there was a courtyard in town, it would be great. He could live directly in town and sleep a little longer.

He wouldn’t have to walk so far.

Ling Xing sighed, but unfortunately he had no money.

Shen Lai also wanted to get up, but fortunately he had been getting up early to exercise every day, and he was used to it. Although it was too cold to get up in winter, he could overcome it.

The stove room had been built, but the cooking was still done in the temporary shed, and the eating was done in the stove room.

It blocked the wind and was warm.

If you ate outside today, your teeth would fall out when you opened your mouth.

Ling Xing felt that something was wrong as soon as he entered the stove room, but he couldn’t say what was wrong.

Xu Youfang was a little worried when she saw him holding the bowl for a long time without taking a bite. “What’s wrong, Xing Ge’er? Are you feeling unwell and can’t eat?”

Ling Xing shook his head. He just couldn’t get his energy up.

“Maybe I was too busy yesterday, and I haven’t recovered yet.”

“Then why don’t you open later today?”

“It’s okay, mother, I’m already up.”

Xu Youfang nodded and turned around and made a bowl of sugar water eggs for Ling Xing.

“Eat it to nourish your body.”

Ling Xing smiled and took it, and shared half of it with Shen Lai.

After eating breakfast, Ling Xing and Shen Lai went to town together.

The stars in the sky were still twinkling at this time. Ling Xing was holding a lantern in his hand, walking carefully.

The stones under the fallen leaves were well hidden. Ling Xing kicked one with his foot. His head was still dizzy when he fell forward.

He didn’t understand how there could be a stone there.

With a thud, Ling Xing fell to the ground.

Shen Lai ran over nervously and helped him up. “Ge’er, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Seeing the lantern fall to the ground, Shen Lai straightened it in time, preventing the candle from igniting the paper.

By the light of the candle, Shen Lai saw Ling Xing looking at him with a blank expression.

“What’s wrong, Ge’er?”

Ling Xing was silent.

He had walked this mountain road for a year, and this was the first time Ling Xing had completely fallen down.

So much so that when he really fell, he was stunned.

How could he fall?

How could he…

“Ge’er? Ge’er!”

Shen Lai shouted several times before Ling Xing finally came back to his senses.

Ge’er.

Ling Xing blinked his eyes.

He understood, because today, Shen Hui was not by his side.

He had never fallen down before, because before he fell, Shen Hui had already stopped him.

He also finally understood why he had been feeling uneasy all day today.

Because Shen Hui wasn’t here.

This was the first time Shen Hui wasn’t by his side.

So he wasn’t used to it.

Ling Xing frowned and got up, dusted off the fallen leaves on his body, and said to Shen Lai, who was worried about him, “I’m fine, let’s keep going.”

Shen Lai had to respond and raised his foot to follow.

When they arrived at the shop, Shen Hui had already gotten up and washed up, and was preparing to go to Wu Dali’s to get meat.

After taking the meat back, Ling Xing mixed the filling, rolled out the dough, and started making soup dumplings.

He made three steamers first, then boiled hot water for Shen Hui’s breakfast.

After Shen Hui finished eating the last soup dumpling, he put down his chopsticks. He couldn’t help but ask, “Ge’er, is there something on my face?”

Ling Xing didn’t know why he asked that.

Shen Hui said in a low voice, “You’ve been staring at me.”

Ling Xing was completely stunned. Was he?