Traveling through 1942 with space

Chapter 128: Setting up a stall at the train station

"Aunt, don't be anxious. We have been busy all day and we have never eaten the stewed meat at home.

There is still some braised meat left, let's cut some tonight and have a good meal together." Hou Xiaoge's stomach was already growling with hunger, and seeing his aunt's anxious look, he quickly tried to dissuade her.

After Hou Xiaoge finished speaking, the group of children looked at the adults expectantly.

"Now it's all good meat. More than six pounds can be sold for about four dollars! This is all the money we earn. If we eat it today, it would be like eating it for nothing." The sister-in-law Hou Cuiping said reluctantly.

"Heiwa, your aunt is right, you have to be careful when doing business.

Let’s not eat the meat. I see there’s still some dried tofu left, so I’ll make some broth and give each of us two pancakes. It’ll be delicious!” Fifteen people had to eat at least three or four pounds of meat at once, and Hou Yangmin was a little reluctant.

"That's fine, but you have to eat white bread." As they were doing business together, Hou Xiaoge didn't want to refute the opinions of his uncle and aunt.

"middle!"

There is no way. This is the reason why those who plant melons eat crooked melons, and those who plant apples eat rotten apples. Although my family sells braised meat, I can't bear to eat it.

Back in the kitchen, Hou Xiaoge put the braised meat back into the soup pot, scooped out some broth to adjust the seasoning, and then put the remaining two pounds of dried tofu into the broth to braise.

On the other side, although a group of little kids had some complaints in their hearts, they were all gathered at the door with anticipation, sniffing the aroma from the pot.

Twenty minutes later, the tofu and pancakes were braised, and my aunt and mother began to cut the pancakes and tofu.

"Have a meal!"

These two words seemed to come with their own summons. When the word "dinner" was said, a group of little kids rushed into the kitchen.

"call!"

Erhuan sat on a bench, holding a steamed bun with braised soup in his hand, eating and slurping the broth.

"Dad, this broth smells so good! But it's a pity there's no meat.

Can we have a meal of stewed pork tomorrow? Just some pork offal will do." Er Huan wolfed down his portion and looked at his father expectantly.

"No, we have just started business and we are already thinking about eating!

There are so many people in our family, even if the business is big, it will be eaten up, so let's wait for a while!" Hou Yangmin said while licking the bowl.

"Uncle, now that we can earn money, we have to improve our lives.

I mean we eat once every seven days, four times a month, so we can't eat much." Hou Xiaoge didn't want to be a miser, so he had to eat when he needed to.

"Okay, take it once every seven days." Hou Yangmin looked at his younger sister and nodded in agreement.

After dinner, everyone started counting money around the table.

In those days, there was a chaos of various currencies, including legal tender, copper coins, dollars, and customs gold certificates.

Most of the money sold is cent by cent, so it's a lot of money and it's really hard to count it.

"The total amount of money is a little over thirteen dollars. I have already recovered the cost, and after deducting the cost of the wine, I still made fifty or sixty cents.

Today, our family ate thirty cakes and two pounds of dried tofu, and we have more than six pounds of meat left, which can be sold for more than four dollars tomorrow.

This is about two more dollars than what I calculated before. If I continue to do this, I will have no problem making four or five dollars a day after selling them. "After calculating the accounts, Hou Xiaoge said with a smile.

Only when the goods are actually sold, the accounts are settled and the money is received can the adults feel at ease.

When they heard Hou Xiaoge calculate the accounts and say that he made at least four or five dollars a day, everyone smiled with joy, thinking that this business had great potential.

Hou Xiaoge gave the money to her aunt, the purchasing money to her uncle, and the account book to her mother. From then on, after purchasing and selling the goods every day, they could take the bills and reconcile the accounts at home.

Originally they still needed to purchase pig offal and flour, but now it was dark and the city gates were closed, so everyone had to rest early.

After cleaning up the kitchen, tonight is finally over.

"Heiwa, can I sleep with you tonight?" As soon as Hou Xiaoge entered the room, Erhuan ran in with a lewd look on his face.

"Forehead!"

Hou Xiaoge looked embarrassed, what kind of lewd words were these!

"Your kang is big, you and Shuanniu can sleep on it at night. I also want to sleep on it." Erhuan said with a smile.

"Then you sleep with Shuanniu and stay away from me. I don't sleep well at night and I like to hit people." Seeing that this guy had already gotten into bed, Hou Xiaoge had no choice but to accept it.

Fortunately, Hou Xiaoge made a small quilt for herself, so she didn't have to squeeze with two people at night, otherwise it would have been very inconvenient for her at night.

After closing the door, the child didn't have to carry the urine bucket after peeing, and the three of them, tired after a day of work, quickly got into bed.

While the two people were bickering and talking in their sleep at the other end of the kang, Hou Xiaoge lifted the quilt and went directly into the ring space.

Hou Xiaoge now has a big appetite. The bowl of meat soup and two pancakes in the evening were not enough to fill him up. He ate a big roast chicken in the space and finally fell asleep in satisfaction while soaking in the hot spring.

The next day, at dawn, the voices of adults could be heard outside the door. My uncle and his family were going out to buy meat and flour, otherwise they would not be able to open the stall by noon.

"Dang Dang Dang!"

"Heiwa, Erhuan, get up. I have bought all the meat. Come out and help us wash it." Uncle Hou Yangmin knocked on the wooden door outside.

When Xiaoge and the others walked into the kitchen sleepily, their aunt, mother, elder sister, and cousin had already baked a large basket of cornmeal pancakes.

"Heiwa, I bought 100 kilograms of cornmeal today. Last night, I took 20 kilograms of cornmeal from your house for public use. I'm returning it to you today." Hou Xiaoge was just about to boil water when Hou Yangmin and his eldest cousin came in carrying two bags of grain.

"middle!"

The white flour was used up last night, and it would take at least five or six hours to make the flour rise, so Hou Xiaoge shared the 20 kilograms of corn flour in his home.

Since brothers had to settle accounts clearly from today on, Hou Xiaoge naturally accepted it.

After the others were washed and drained outside, Hou Xiaoge started to make the broth. It takes too much broth to make stewed food, so he had to make two large pots every day.

After three hours of simmering, the broth was almost ready, and the cleaned offal had already been cooked in the old broth, so everyone started to set up their stalls in advance.

Today, except for Hou Xiaoge's mother, a few cousins and a group of little kids at home, the rest of the people are all at the stall, so there are enough people on hand.

It was already past ten o'clock, and two carts carrying the household belongings were heading towards the train station steadily.

The best place to do small business these days is of course the train station, where people come and go and there is huge consumption potential.

My uncle may have contacted the management of the railway station market in advance, and everyone stopped three hundred meters away from the railway station entrance.

This location is where manual laborers gather, and Hou Xiaoge’s braised pork today is targeting these manual laborers.

When the food was first served, the soup was cold, and since it was not yet mealtime, not a single customer came forward to inquire.

In Chang'an, people only eat Hulutou soup with steamed buns and mutton soup with steamed buns. There is almost no braised food.

But because of the war during those years, many people from other places came to Chang'an, and people started to sell braised pork. However, Hou Xiaoge improved it a bit. He sold spicy braised pork, which was more suitable for the taste of northerners.

As the braised pork soup boils, the meat flavor becomes stronger and stronger, and a spicy aroma begins to spread around.

“I’ve eaten braised pork in the capital before, but I’ve never seen it in Chang’an.

"Boss, is your braised pork authentic? How much is it?" A passenger came running over after getting off the train, smelling the food.

"Sir, our stew is a modified version, it's spicy, not the usual kind.

The price is very cheap, a bowl with a corn pancake costs eight cents, and a braised pancake costs two cents.

Braised meat is cut into individual pieces, pork head is 1.4 ounces, pork belly is 1.5 ounces." The others were a little overwhelmed, but Hou Xiaoge talked to the man without any stage fright.

"Well! It's really not expensive. Give me a bowl of braised pork, two pancakes, and two taels of pork belly to put in it." The man had indeed eaten braised pork before, so he knew a lot about it.

"Hello, the total is twenty cents or ten French francs." These days one has to pay first and eat later, and Hou Xiaoge didn't want to break the rules.

(Yes, in October, the legal tender was reduced in value again, and the ratio between the dollar and the legal tender became 1:50, which is purely fictitious.)

The middle-aged man also understood the reason, which was that he was afraid of eating for free, so he took out a ten-yuan French coin from his pocket and handed it to Hou Xiaoge.

"Sir, how much chili would you like to eat? Would you like mashed garlic and green onions?" Hou Xiaoge asked the customer while her aunt was seasoning the food.

"I want both, just not too spicy." said the middle-aged man.

"okay!"

"Sir, here is the red oil sauce for your braised meat and stew. You can use it to dip the braised meat.

Since you are our first customer, this bottle of liquor is for you." Hou Xiaoge came to the man with a plate and said with a smile.

"Wow! The service at your stall is great! I wish you a prosperous business." When the man heard Hou Xiaoge say that it was his first day setting up the stall, he also congratulated him with a smile.