Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Fracture Price
As she spoke, she tugged hard on Jun Qingmeng’s skirt.
"Alright, alright. I was wrong, okay?"
"Teacher Qingmeng, if you don’t want to make me mad, there’s only one way! You have to be my daddy’s wife! We can get spanked together! And watch TV together!"
Jiang Tongtong looked up, staring at her seriously.
Her lips were pressed into a tight line.
"...Ah, well, can I think about it?"
Jun Qingmeng touched her own backside, feeling mortified. ’How could we get spanked together...?’
"No! Time is money! Hurry up, we’re late!"
Jun Qingmeng: ...
——————
「Two in the afternoon.」
Yangzhao Street.
Jiang Liu used his family connections to quickly take over the lease on a breakfast shop.
The storefront belonged to one of his own relatives.
It was thirty-five hundred a month, which was very cheap.
The location was between his rental apartment and the kindergarten.
The short distance made it quite convenient.
The red sign overhead read "Bian Bian Breakfast."
The neighbor to the left was a "Fresh Fruits" store.
To the right was "Mountain City Blade-cut Noodles."
Across the street, there were pharmacies, barbershops, cake shops, and so on, all a riot of color.
Jiang Liu took a stroll around Yangzhai Street and was very satisfied.
’Not bad. There’s a school, a hospital, and a few residential complexes nearby. I won’t have to worry about foot traffic.’
’Next, I’ll get a custom sign made and clean the place up. If all goes well, I can open tomorrow...’
’I need to start making money fast. Just the rent for the apartment and the shop is eighty thousand a year... and that’s not even counting Tongtong...’ he thought to himself.
"RATTLE RATTLE!"
Jiang Liu lifted the yellow rolling shutter door.
What greeted him was a space with yellow ceramic floor tiles and white walls.
It was very clean.
There were eight brown wooden tables.
Jiang Liu went to check the back kitchen: two refrigerators, one soy milk machine, several steamers and steaming baskets for buns, a meat grinder, a dough mixer, and so on.
’It’s pretty well-equipped. Not much is missing, which saves me some trouble.’
’Hm, the business license and food service permit are both here. I can use my uncle’s for now and apply for new ones in my name in a few days.’
Jiang Liu took two certificates out of a cabinet, wiped them off, and re-hung them on the wall.
They belonged to his uncle anyway, so he could use them for the time being. No one would ask about them, and even if they did, he could just say he was working for his uncle.
He happened to have a health certificate already.
He flipped the main circuit breaker, checked everything over, and then decided to make some buns.
He could buy the ingredients from the Gourmet Album.
A few hours earlier, Jiang Liu had specifically studied it at home.
The most expensive item was Little Cyan Dragon meat—shelled, cleaned, fresh, and tender—at one hundred and fifty yuan per jin. It was an absolute steal!
The rest of the ingredients were a bit cheaper.
Free-range suckling pig spine meat, twenty yuan per jin;
five-color chives for five yuan a jin, high-quality flour for three yuan a jin, Thousand-Life Scallions for five yuan a jin,
and semi-ripe, fresh Ten Thousand Glutinous Corn—with thin skin, no fibrous residue, and sticky, soft kernels—for three yuan a jin.
The eggs were free-range, with plump yolks, no off-smell, and even a sweet, milky fragrance, costing one yuan each.
The shiitake mushrooms were a rare wild variety from the deep mountains, thick and meaty, incredibly savory—a natural flavor enhancer—and cost eight yuan per jin.
The eggplant for the three-delicacy buns was a small, natural variety that, despite its size, would melt in your mouth, its flesh fragrant, smooth, and soft. It was two yuan per jin.
As for the prices he would charge, Jiang Liu hadn’t decided yet.
However, he didn’t plan to set them too high. After all, this was food for ordinary people. If the prices were too expensive, no matter how delicious the food was, how many people could afford it?
As long as he made a profit, that was enough. Contentment brings happiness.
Besides, the Gourmet Album sold him ingredients at a steep discount.
Stepping into the main dining area, Jiang Liu looked up and saw a bald, middle-aged man in an apron at the doorway, craning his neck to look inside.
’This guy looks like the owner of the fruit store...’ he thought.
Upon seeing Jiang Liu, Xue Guang thought to himself that the young man was quite handsome, though his own son was no slouch either.
"Hello, sir. Can I help you with something?"
"Oh, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. I’m the owner of the fruit store next door. Are you opening a shop here, young man?"
"Yeah, I’m getting ready to open a breakfast shop. My name is Jiang Liu. I’m just starting out, so please look out for me, haha," Jiang Liu said with a lighthearted laugh.
"Don’t be so formal, don’t be so formal. Just call me Uncle Xue from now on," Xue Guang said, waving his hands modestly.
"Uncle Xue, there’s actually something I’d like to ask you about."
"Go ahead and ask."
"Do you have the phone number for a sign maker? I want to get a custom sign made."
Jiang Liu said,
You can’t do business without a sign, and he couldn’t use the old one.
A sign is everything; it’s the face of your business.
Xue Guang looked as if to say, ’Is that all?’
He slapped the table.
Then he gave Jiang Liu the number of a friend of his.
He even said to mention his name for a discount.
"Alright, I’ve got to get back to work. If you need anything, just come find me next door."
"Okay, Uncle Xue."
Xue Guang left with his hands behind his back.
’First, I need to get the sign sorted...’ Jiang Liu took out his VO phone and made the call.
"Hello, who’s this?"
"I’m next to the fruit store on Yangzhai Street, and I need to order a sign. Uncle Xue recommended you."
He was trying to leverage the connection—might as well, since it was available. He wasn’t afraid of being scammed; with neighbors and local customs, it was unlikely someone would try to trick him over a few hundred yuan.
Most people wouldn’t do something that would burn bridges like that.
The man on the other end of the line chuckled.
"Xue Guang is a friend of mine. So, young man, how many square meters do you need? I usually charge five hundred per square meter, but for you, four-fifty is fine. How’s that?"
Jiang Liu thought for a moment, decided it was a fair price, and stated his requirements:
"Okay, I need it to be two and a half meters long and one meter wide."
"No problem. I’ll round it down for you. Just give me eleven hundred, and I can have it installed for you tonight."
"Alright, thank you."
After hanging up, Jiang Liu checked the time: 3:15.
’Tongtong gets out of school at five-thirty. I’ll make a few buns to try first.’
No sooner said than done.
’System, I want to purchase ingredients.’
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the album in his head opened in response.
The first page listed various ingredients with pictures and prices.
Then, he bought one jin of top-grade flour,
one hundred grams of Little Cyan Dragon meat,
one jin of Ten Thousand Glutinous Corn,
two free-range eggs,
and a selection of natural, traditional seasonings: five-spice powder, white pepper, light and dark soy sauce, salt, a pot of mountain spring water, white sugar, baking soda, corn oil, and a packet of yeast.
These were the ingredients for making Corn and Lobster Buns.
The items appeared out of thin air in the back kitchen.
The total cost was 55 yuan.
Unbelievably cheap!
