Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 243 Two Buckets of Cheap and Fresh Fish

"By the way, please ask me when he will come to decorate the shop for the banquet? Also, what do his classmates like to eat and whether they have any dietary restrictions."

Qi Xi wrote them down one by one, repeated them again, and assured: "Don't worry, young lady, I have remembered them all. After asking the young master, I will write you a reply."

After saying that, he ran away again.

Seeing how anxious he was, Shen Yu smiled and shook his head, then began to prepare a new dish for him to try.

After making the dogwood oil, Shen Yu sealed the oil can and put it aside.

Shen Yu had been busy making sauce-flavored cakes and promotional paper these past two days, and had not had time to taste the dogwood oil.

What dish should I cook?

As Shen Yu was hesitating, he saw Li happily walking in from the small door of the shop carrying two large grass carps.

Li showed the fish in her hand to Shen Yu and said with a smile, "What a coincidence today. Someone carried two buckets of fish on a pole and sold them along the street. They were fat and big, and the price was very cheap. I bought two, and we will eat them tonight."

Shen Yu's eyes lit up, and he asked hurriedly, "Where is the fish seller? Is he gone? Is there any fish like this left?"

Li nodded and said, "He left after I picked the fish and paid for them. What's wrong? These two fish are so big, they are enough for us to eat."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "You can't buy live fish every day. Since you come across this, just buy a few more and keep them in a basin of water so that you can eat them in different ways."

Li smiled and said, "You are the only girl with many ideas. I will follow your lead."

"Go to the store door and have a look. He is carrying a bucket on his shoulder and I don't think he can go far."

Shen Yu agreed and ran into the house to touch his purse, then walked through the small door of the shop and quickly walked to the store entrance.

After asking Jiang and the others where the fishmonger had gone, Zheng Sanniang pointed in the direction and Shen Yu hurriedly followed.

Sure enough, not far away, I saw a man carrying a bucket staggering forward, shouting as he walked: "Fish, big and fresh fish, come and buy some."

Shen Yu chased after him and shouted, "Uncle, wait a minute, I want to buy some fish."

The fishmonger stopped when he heard the voice, turned around and saw that it was a young girl calling him, so he put down his load, smiled and said, "Don't worry, girl, do you want to buy fish?"

Shen Yu walked to the bucket and said with a smile: "My mother just bought two fish from your house. I think they are good and want to buy a few more."

The man smiled happily when he heard this and said, "Young lady, you are a connoisseur. The fish I have is very fresh, fat and big. It is the best time to eat it."

Shen Yu bent down and looked into the bucket. Sure enough, there were a dozen fish in it, crowded together and moving around in the bucket. They looked very fresh.

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Uncle, where are you going to sell the fish? If no one else ordered it, I'll take them all."

The fishmonger thought he had heard wrongly, and said suspiciously, "Don't laugh, girl. Each of my fish weighs two or three pounds."

"Your mother has already bought two, and there are still ten or so in here. What do you want so many fish for?"

Shen Yu smiled and said, "My home is the Fengnian Food Store in front. I will buy fish to eat, but uncle, I will buy them all, so you have to give me a lower price."

The fishmonger saw that Shen Yu didn't seem to be joking, and his eyes narrowed into slits with joy. He nodded hurriedly and said, "Of course, of course, I'll send it to the girl right away."

Having said that, he picked up the load again. Shen Yu led the way and they didn't stop until they reached the front of the restaurant.

Shen Yu was just about to lead him through the store, but the man took the initiative to say, "Where is the back door of the girl's restaurant? There is a fishy smell from the fish barrel, and there are customers eating in the store. It's not a good idea to go through the store."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, uncle. Please follow me."

Fortunately, the restaurant was the first one on the street, and even if you went around to the alley behind it, it was only a few steps away.

When they arrived in the yard, Shen Yu hurriedly found two large wooden basins, asked the man to pour the two buckets of fish into them, and then he fetched a bucket of well water and added it in.

When paying, Shen Yu was shocked. He didn't expect there would be two big buckets of fish. Although not every fish was big, some were big and some were small.

But each fish weighed more than two pounds and only cost twenty cents each. A total of twelve fish cost only two hundred and forty cents.

Even so, the fishmonger was still as happy as ever, and kept saying, "Girl, I live by the canal outside the city, and I make a living by fishing."

"Today, I was greedy to get more food, so I went to the street stall where I usually set up food too late. There was no space left, so I carried the load and walked while hawking."

"As a girl running a restaurant, you should buy some fish to cook. If you do it often, I can deliver it to you regularly."

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said, "Uncle, I am planning to cook with fish, but I don't know if it will be popular."

"How about this, if I need it in the future, just tell me where you set up your stall on Chengdong Street, and I'll come over to buy it from you."

The fishmonger said hurriedly, "Then I'd like to thank you first, young lady. Go to the end of the East Street and ask around. Just tell them about the fisherman Wei Laowu, and they'll all know about him."

"Except in winter, I set up a stall there all year round."

Shen Yu made note of it, and Wei Laowu collected the money and left happily carrying the empty bucket.

When Li heard the noise in the backyard, she knew that Shen Yu had bought fish and came over to take a look.

Looking at the two large basins of more than ten fat fish, Li was shocked: "Yuzhi, although the fish is cheap, you don't need to buy so many at once."

"If the fish is not cooked well, it will smell fishy and we can't eat it every day."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Mom, this fish is a good thing. It can be grilled, stewed, boiled, or made into fish balls and dumplings. However, I didn't expect it to be so cheap. It's much cheaper than pork."

Li smiled and said, "No matter how delicious fish is, it is troublesome. It is not as fragrant as pork, and you have to spit out the bones. If you use it to make soup, it always has a fishy smell, and it is also troublesome to clean up."

But Shen Yu didn't think so.

She thought about it and said, "If you don't eat meat on weekdays, and you have a meat dish occasionally, fish is indeed not as fat and fragrant as chicken, duck, and mutton."

"But if you always eat rich and delicious meat, like Mr. Lu's classmates who go to restaurants all day, wouldn't it be more refreshing and less greasy to eat a table full of fish?"

Li thought about it and couldn't help but agree: "That's true. Those noble sons are different from ordinary people."

"They go in and out of restaurants all day long. I heard they eat mutton. They should think it's very fresh to eat fish occasionally."

The mother and daughter discussed for a while, and then Li went to work in the shop in front.

She couldn't help with making new dishes, so it would be better for her to just stay in the shop and entertain customers and earn more money.

Shen Yu began to prepare to clean up the two fish that Li had bought first.