It was still early when the little guy finished eating Shuāng pí nǎi. Li Hehua simply carried him to the yard and let him sit down. She sat next to him and took out the square wooden board that she specially asked Carpenter Qian to make and prepare herself to write a menu for the food stall.
Li Hehua bought a book similar to a dictionary to adapt to this era. The words written in it are all traditional Chinese characters. Although she was not familiar with how to write them before, she could still roughly recognize the characters and so planned to follow the words to write down the menu.
After deciding on how the words should be written, Li Hehua dipped her brush and wrote various kinds of food names on the wooden board. She then wrote the corresponding prices of each item.
She had thought of this menu before. There are ordinary fried rice, fried noodles, and noodle soup, which cost four wen each bowl. Customers can add beef, pork, etc and each addition will cost two wen. As for the dumplings, five vegetarian dumplings will be sold for a wen, and meat dumplings will cost three for a wen. She will also sell some rice bowls which are divided into vegetarian and meat rice bowls. The vegetarian rice bowls cost four wen while the meat rice bowls cost six wen. Basically, her food stall only has two prices, four and six wen, which are easy to remember.
She is also planning to sell some mántou and bāozi at the food stall for those people who have hard jobs and are not willing to buy expensive meals. They can buy these two items and will also make some vegetable soup and offer them for free. Each paying customer can get a bowl of vegetable soup. This can also help in attracting customers.
Although the prices set by Li Hehua are a little more expensive compared with the foods sold by others, she believes that the taste of her food is far superior to others. Her stall also has more varieties so having the price more expensive is not a problem.
after the menu was written, Li Hehua thought of the kitchen work. She used to think that she could do all the work by herself, but it seemed like she thought too simple. She might not be able to do it alone. Since there are many times of food on the menu, she needs to prepare a lot of ingredients after she closes the stall every day. Not only does she need to prepare the filling for the dumplings and bāozi, but she also needs to cook the fried noodles and noodle soup. After that, she also needs to knead and leaven the dough for dumpling wrappers and making mántou. More importantly, she also needs to prepare the pastries to be sold by Cao Simei.
She would probably have to work until dawn to do so much work alone. How could she bear it?
It seems like she needs to find someone to help her in the kitchen.
As for the candidate, she wants to find a woman who lives nearby, who can work until late every day, and who is good at cooking. However, it is probably a bit difficult to find such a person. She also just moved here recently and not knowing anyone makes it harder for her to find the right person.
Li Hehua felt that she had to find someone very familiar with the people in the area to ask about this matter. She then thought of her landlord, Mrs. Fang. Their family also lives nearby and they have been living here for many years. She must be familiar with the people near the area and she should be the right person to ask about this matter.
With this, Li Hehua wrapped a few pieces of pastries in the oil paper bag. She picked up the little guy, locked the door, and went to Mrs. Fang's house.
Mrs. Fang was sitting in the yard, picking vegetables. When she saw Li Hehua coming, she quickly stood up, "Hehua mèizi, why are you here? Come and sit!" Seeing the little guy in her arms, she asked, "This child is?"
Li Hehua introduces, "This is my son. He doesn't like to talk much. Fang Sǎozi, I hope you don't mind."
Mrs. Fang quickly said no.
Li Hehua handed the pastry in her hand to Mrs. Fang, "Fang Sǎozi, these are the pastries I made. I brought some for you and the children to try."
Mrs. Fang quickly refused, "You don't have to. Why did you still bring something? You can take it back for the child to eat."
Li Hehua pushed it forward again, "Sǎozi, you don't have to be polite. I'm just a pastry vendor. Don't be polite to me about these things. We will take care of each other in the future. If you refuse, I will be embarrassed to come and bother you in the future."
Hearing what she said, Mrs. Fang had no choice but to accept the pastries. She said sheepishly, "Then I'll accept this shamelessly. But don't bring anything when you come again."
Seeing her accept it, Li Hehua sat down on the stool she(MF) had brought. Without further ado, she directly stated the reason for her coming, "Sǎozi, I came here today because I would like to ask for your help."
Sister-in-law Fang said quickly, "You can tell me, I will help you if I can."
Li Hehua said her intention, "It's like this, I plan to set up a food stall at the street corner to sell some food, but I can't do it alone, so I want to find someone to help me. But as you know, I just moved here I don't know anyone, so I want to ask Sǎozi for help. After all, you are very familiar with this place."
Mrs. Fang immediately replies, "It turns out that this is the case. You are right to ask me this. I have lived here for more than ten years and I know everyone nearby. You can tell me your requirements and I'll help you look."
Li Hehua knew that it was right to find Mrs. Fang, so she said, "I want to find someone who lives nearby and can go home later in the evening. It is because it will take a long time to prepare the ingredients and it might be late to start the preparations. In addition, her kitchen skills should be good, quite clean, and a diligent person. Not that one who will care about anything and be greedy with petty gains."
Mrs. Fang nodded, "Don't worry. I will definitely not introduce you to those who are greedy for petty gains. Such kind of people are unreliable." She then began to think. "Let me see who is suitable..."
Mrs. Fang pondered for a while then suddenly clapped her hands. " I thought about it and there's indeed someone who meets your requirements. She lives in the alley behind ours. Her husband's surname is Xie and she was two years younger than me. People call her Xie Sǎozi. Her cooking skills are good, quite clean, and capable of taking care of household chores."
But Mrs. Fang suddenly sighs after, "However, her life is a bit bitter. Her husband was a bricklayer and the life at home was pretty good. It is just that her husband had an accident and fell off the roof while building a wall. He was rescued but he was paralyzed and could only live in bed from now on. The backbone of the family collapsed just like this. It will be hard for the four children and a widowed woman to live so the burden of making money falls on her. But what can a woman do? She can just wash clothes for others and she can't make much money."
After Mrs. Fang finished speaking, she was afraid that Li Hehua would misunderstand, so she patted her hand and explained, "Meizi, I am not telling you this because I sympathize with her and want to recommend her to you, but because she really meets your requirements. Her skills are indeed very good and she is also a good person. You can go and see for yourself. If she fits for you, it can be considered as helping her. If not, I will think of other people for you. "
Li Hehua didn't mind helping people in need. As long as Mrs. Xie really met her requirements, then why wouldn't she want to?
"Then Sǎozi, please take me to meet Xie Sǎozi. If she is really suitable, I will ask her to help me."
Mrs. Fang was very happy and immediately put down the dishes in her hands and stood up, "Okay, okay, let's go now. She lives just right behind, it is very close."
Mrs. Fang took Li Hehua to Mrs. Xie's house. Mrs. Xie was washing a large basin of dirty clothes in the yard. When she saw Mrs. Fang coming, she quickly rinsed her hands with water, "Fang Sǎozi, why are you here? Come in and sit down." As she said this, she saw Li Hehua following behind her and wondered, "This is?"
Mrs. Fang introduced her with a smile, "This is the new tenant who rents my small courtyard." She pulled Li Hehua forward and said, "I'm not looking for you today, it's her who's looking for you. She's going to open a food stall and she needs help. I think that you are a good match, so I brought her over to find you."
Mrs. Xie was stunned for a moment, then she was surprised and happy at the same time. She wiped her hands on her apron awkwardly, "Oh oh oh... Come in, come in." Then she shouted into the room, "San'er, come on. Pour two glasses of water!"
Li Hehua quickly waved her hand and refused, "It's okay. I'll thank Sǎozi. I'm just here to talk to you. You don't have to bother."
Mrs. Xie didn't listen and opened her hand to welcome the person into the main room, "I'm not busy. Come in and sit down quickly. Let's sit down and talk."
Li Hehua followed Mrs. Fang into the house, "Sǎozi, please stop being busy and sit down quickly. Let's sit down and talk."
Mrs. Xie knew that Li Hehua wanted to see if she was suitable, so she sat down immediately. However, her expression shows that she was a little nervous.
Li Hehua smiled and said, "Sǎozi, I heard from Fang Sǎozi that your cooking skills are very good. Can you make mántou?"
Hearing the familiar topic, Mrs. Xie breathed a sigh of relief and nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, our family used to make it often, and the children all liked the mántou I made."
At this time, Sister-in-law Fang testified from the side, "This is true. I have eaten the mántou that she made before, and they are no worse than those sold in the bakery outside."
Li Hehua smiled and nodded to show that he understood. Actually, she has no doubts about Mrs. Xie's skills, Mrs. Fang would not have introduced her otherwise. Her main concern is the person's character, and she doesn't want to recruit someone with a bad personality. But now, it seems that Mrs. Xie is an honest person, not a cunning and greedy person. Overall, she is pretty good.
Li Hehua said, "Sǎozi, I need someone to help and prepare the ingredients with me. It may start by the end of every afternoon every day. It will be busier in the evening and you might not have enough time to go home for dinner. I wonder if your family can take care of this?"
Mrs. Xie nodded, "Meizi, my three children are all grown up and can take care of the house. I don't need to come back and cook dinner or watch over them, so it is fine to come back later in the evening. In fact, even now, I have to do laundry every day until midnight."
When Li Hehua heard this, the last worry in her heart disappeared. She felt that she could use Mrs. Xie first, and if it really didn't work for both of them, she wouldn't hire her.
"Sǎozi, let me first introduce you to what work we would usually do. Approximately between the end of the afternoon and the start of the evening, we would knead the dough for noodles, dumplings, mantou, baozi, etc. As for the wages, let's calculate it by ten wen a day for the time being. If you work with me for a long time and you did well, I will give you a raise." After saying that, Li Hehua first asked for Mrs. Xie's opinion, "Xie Sǎozi, is this fine with you? If this is okay, let's give it a try first."
Mrs. Xie nodded without thinking, " Okay, okay!" How can this not be fine for her? This was a good surprise for her. One must know, even if she washed clothes for others every day, from day to night, she knew that she would not earn ten wen in just a day. Even a strong laborer who works at the docks can only earn 10 wen a day. Now, she only needs to work half a day and can already earn ten wen just by doing some help in the kitchen. Where can she find such a good thing?
As if afraid that this opportunity would fly away, Mrs. Xie quickly asked, "Meize, when will I go to work? I can go now."
Seeing that she was more anxious than her, Li Hehua smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sǎozi, my stall won't officially open until the day after tomorrow. You can arrange things at home today, and then go to my house tomorrow afternoon to start."
This arrangement couldn't be better. Mrs. Xie nodded quickly, "Okay, okay, I'll go tomorrow afternoon. I will do my best."
Seeing how excited Mrs. Xie was, Li Hehua knew that she cherished this job too much and thought that, if she did well, she would treat her well.
***
End of Chapter 31 (2).
No pictures of food for now.
See you next update!