Chapter 373 - Gluttonous Insects Show Up (1/2)

After entering the twelfth month, the preparations for the end of the year became more and more important. The New Years was the most important traditional holiday of the year. Even if a family was poor, when the new year arrived, they still made some good food for the family's improvement.

The end of the year was also the busiest time for the Yu's Braised Food Shop. After entering the twelfth month, the four burners on top of the stove in the store were kept burning day and night. Three to four pigs and about twenty pig's heads were being braised every day. Yu Caifeng and Xiaomei’s mother both wished they could work during the time they spent sleeping. When the pickled food shop wasn't busy, Huang Xiaomei would also come by to help.

In the braised food shop, Liu Junping and his sister worked tirelessly. One was in charge of weighing the braised food, and the other was in charge of manning the cash register. Their movements were very quick but there was still a long line in the store. From time to time, people with impatient tempers raised their voices to urge them on faster.

Liu Hu, who was originally the manager of the shop, went back to the countryside to collect pigs again. The Yu Family's pig farm in Dongshan Village, with the exception of the pigs left behind for breeding, only had one or two left for their family to eat during the New Years. Now the braised pork sold by the shop was all obtained from pigs from the countryside.

Liu Hu and Huang Dachui went together. Every day they would leave before dawn and come back when the moon and stars were out at night. Only in this way could they supply enough meat to keep up with the amount of braised foods sold every day. The staff in the shop couldn't handle the booming business so they sent a message to Dongshan Village asking for help.

Yu Xiaocao gave Yingtao full authority on the matter of making the medicinal pills and liquids. After getting the message, she and Xiaolian, along with Yangliu, rushed to the prefectural city to help in spite of the cold. Yu Xiaocao took over the task of making roasted ducks, roasted chickens, and other poultry-based foods. Liu Yaner could finally concentrate on being the ‘salesman’ of the shop. Xiaolian was competent at both weighing food and collecting money, so she was also sent to the shop to help.

Liu Junping finally had free time and was able to run more meat stalls in town to buy more pig heads and pig offal. Although more than ten or twenty-some sets of braised pig heads and braised pig offals were prepared every day, these cheap yet delicious pig parts were also the first to be sold out. The number of workers in the shop who were in charge of cleaning up the pig's heads and offal also doubled. Pig's heads and offal were hard to prepare and these seasonal workers were usually busy all day long.

At the request of customers, Yu Xiaocao doubled the number of limited foods sold each, such as the roasted chicken and duck. Wealthier families sent their servants out to line up in front of the braised food store before dawn regardless of the weather in order to be able to buy roasted chicken and duck to entertain guests so they would have better reputations. When Liu Yaner opened the shop in the morning, she was scared by the snowmen standing in front of the door.

On the tenth day of the twelfth month, around noon, there was still a long line in front of the doors of The Yu's Braised Food Shop. Most of them were ordinary people in ordinary clothes, and many of them were villagers from nearby villages. At the start of the twelfth month, people from nearby villages often came into the prefectural city to buy New Year's products. Now their first choice was to buy a few catties of braised food from the Yu’s Braised Food Shop to take home.

The Yu's Braised Food Shop had rich and delicious food at a fair price. In particular, the price of pig's intestines wasn't much more expensive than buying raw pork. Ordinary people could easily afford it. In the past, the villagers who had difficulties at home would grit their teeth and buy a half a catty of pork meat to satisfy their children's hunger during the New Year's. Now, they switched to buying braised pig’s head meat or intestines that were rich and fatty.

The dishes with limited sales were sold out as soon as they opened every day. This was still the case when they implemented the rule that everyone could only buy two. If they had let the customers buy all they wanted, it was likely that one person would buy all the limited dishes in the shop for that day. Even with these rules in place, there were still many families who sent several servants to line up at one time. These families did not lack money and had plenty of servants. It was better to prepare more roasted chickens and ducks so that when they had guests over, they would have face.

Yu Xiaocao asked Yangliu to go to the back kitchen to help her Oldest Aunt. She took the balance from the pickled food shop and began to help to weigh the braised food. As a result, sales were much faster. There was light snow outside, and the scene of those who were waiting in line to buy braised foods made Yu Xiaocao feel sympathy for those customers.

At this time, a carriage passed by the doors. The guard beside the carriage was a big man. With bright eyes, he glanced at the long line in front of the shop, seeming to be even more on guard.

”Stop, stop, stop!” A familiar voice came from inside, ”So fragrant! This is the smell of braised pig's head meat! This smells more authentic than the work of an Imperial Chef; it's clearly the work of that lass from the Yu Family! Dequan, go and see where the fragrance is coming from.”

The white-haired old man without a beard, who was around fifty years of age and was beside the carriage, jumped off his horse. His action was nimbler than that of a young man. The old man walked by the group and went straight to the doors of The Yu's Braised Food Shop. ”Line up, line up! You're not a local right? You must line up first if you want to buy braised foods,” shouted some people in the back who were unhappy.

The old man ignored them and looked up at the sign above the door and then glanced inside the shop. His eyes first stopped on Yu Xiaolian who was collecting money. A moment later, he turned to Yu Xiaocao, who was smiling and weighing braised pig's head meat for an old woman.

He didn't alert the people in the shop and turned around, going back to the side of the carriage. He bent his body and bowed to the person opposite him. In a slightly shrill voice, he said, ”Master, you guessed right. It's a shop opened by Miss Yu. Both sisters are busy in the shop!”

”Haha! When did that girl open a shop in Jinwei Prefectural City? And she didn't even tell me, the Fifth Lord, a word. Fortunately, we didn't go on the small backroads or I would've gone to Dongshan Village for nothing.” A strong hand came out from the inside of the carriage. On his thumb was a crystal clear jade ring.

The carriage's curtain was lifted and an old man with a chubby round face came out. He had white hair yet a childlike complexion and a long beard. He was wearing fine clothing and had an extraordinary presence.

The white haired old man without a beard held an oiled-paper umbrella above the old man wearing fine clothes. The old man wearing fine clothes strolled up to the braised food shop and shouted at Yu Xiaocao, who was engrossed in serving customers, ”Lass, give me half a pig's head, and a pair of pig's ears. Slice the pig ears and mix them with red oil...”