Chapter 78: Yi Guo Ming Malatang Part 2

From the moment Xiaoguo stepped through the door, she could not stop exclaiming. They were amazing!

Xiaoguo had only drawn out a rough sketch on paper, but Ruyi and Qin Anming were able to replicate it completely!

“You guys are amazing!!”

Xiaoguo turned around and held Ruyi’s hand excitedly.

“Hehe, it’s nothing. It was all done by Brother An Ming. I was just helping out.”

Ruyi said humbly, not forgetting to pull Qin Anming along to take credit for the work.

After Xiaoguo left the last time, the two of them did not rest. They took the sketches and went to order the furniture, cabinets, wooden basins, tables and chairs. Then, they prepared the ingredients. In order to ensure that the ingredients were plentiful, the two of them added a variety of vegetables and meat on top of Xiaoguo’s initial order.

Before preparing the ingredients, they went to buy another maid. This time, the girl was a little older and they did a thorough check on her background.

The girl’s name was Xiao Cui. She was 17 years old this year. There were many girls in her family, and they had only one precious son. For the sake of their son, Xiao Cui’s parents sold off their eldest daughter.

As Xiao Cui seemed like a good person, Ruyi made the decision to buy her as a maid. Over the past two days, she could tell that Xiao Cui was a fast worker and she was pretty good.

Ruyi and Xiaoguo talked about what went on over the past few days and almost lost track of the time. It was only when Uncle Xu reminded them about the auspicious hour that they went out with the firecrackers.

Xiaoguo took Zhuang Zhuang from Qin Anming’s arms and carried him to the door. Qin Anming tugged at the red cloth on the plaque while Ruyi held on to a string of firecrackers on a long stick.

Xiaoguo covered Zhuang Zhuang’s ears, afraid that the firecrackers would scare him.

Zhuang Zhuang placed his hands over Xiaoguo’s and looked at the firecrackers excitedly.

Ruyi and Qin Anming looked at each other and counted down. When the time was up, the two of them acted at the same time. Ruyi lit the firecrackers and Qin Anming pulled off the red cloth to reveal the plaque underneath.

The sound of firecrackers rang out. People who were passing by stopped to watch. Xiaoguo followed the smoke of the firecrackers and saw the words on the plaque.

Yi Guo Ming Malatang.

Six bold and powerful words appeared in front of them. People pointed at the plaque and tried to guess what was for sale.

At this moment, Ruyi took the opportunity to stand at the door and introduced Malatang to everyone.

As everyone listened to Ruyi’s introduction, they were tempted.

For those who had not eaten, they came in to try the food. It was not expensive anyway.

There were also regular customers among them. They came to show their support and entered in an orderly manner.

At this moment, the soup in the kitchen was already boiling. The fragrance wafted out into the streets, tempting the people outside the door.

The people who had already eaten also entered the shop because of the fragrance. If they couldn’t eat much, they would just order less food.

Everyone was standing by in their respective positions. Ruyi, Ling Long and Fu’er were stationed in the kitchen. They were responsible for cooking the ingredients. Uncle Xu was in charge of collecting money at the cashier. Xiao Cui’s role was to clean the tables and wash the dishes. Qin Anming was in-charge of preparing the ingredients. If anything has run out, he would have to replenish it.

The division of labor was clear. From the minute the restaurant opened its doors, everyone got into their positions and started working.

Seeing that there was quite a crowd in the morning, Xiaoguo chipped in to help as well. She told Zhuang Zhuang to follow Uncle Xu closely and reminded him not to come out from behind the counter.

She helped Xiao Cui to clear the tables and wash the dishes. She also helped out anyone who couldn’t cope.

The first day of the Malatang business was a good start. The morning operations were smooth and there were no hiccups. Their customers were quite receptive towards the new mode of business and everyone adapted well.

After a busy morning, most of the customers had left. Everyone could now stretch and relax.

Qin Anming checked on the ingredients and realized that quite a lot of it had been used up. However, this was to be expected. and they had prepared a lot of ingredients beforehand. They still had enough food to last for another three to four days.

Xiaoguo knew that even though the busy morning was over, there would be another rush of activities at noon and at night . Xiaoguo was really afraid that the staff in the shop would not be able to take it.

But from the looks of them now, it seemed like there would be no problem. Each of their faces was filled with positive energy and there was no sign of fatigue.

Xiaoguo wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She packed up the shop with them and prepared to welcome the afternoon crowd.

Soon, it was lunchtime. People entered the restaurant one after another. Some were attracted by the food. Some were introduced by their friends. Some passed by and found the restaurant interesting. There were also some who came for the first time…

The group of them perked up and continued working.

Xiaoguo was just getting ready to put away some dishes and bring them to the kitchen when a probing voice sounded.

“Xiaoguo?”

Xiaoguo turned around and saw who it was. “Su Hui!”

It was Su Hui. She was surprised to see Xiaoguo here.

“What are you doing here?”

Xiaoguo didn’t go into detail. She just said that she knew the shopkeeper and was helping out since it was opening day.

Su Hui nodded. At this moment, Xiaoyi asked, “Auntie, is Zhuang Zhuang here?”

When Xiaoguo saw that it was him, she told him where Zhuang Zhuang was. As soon as Xiaoyi left, Xiaoguo realized that Tang Zhu was also there. She hadn’t noticed him because he didn’t say a word. Although he was strong, he didn’t have a strong presence. If she didn’t look carefully, she wouldn’t have noticed him.

Xiaoguo greeted him as well. It was not a good time to chat, and at that moment, Su Hui’s meal was just served from the kitchen. Xiaoguo took the opportunity to leave and bring the dishes back to the kitchen.

It was the peak hour at noon, and there were clearly more people than in the morning. Xiaoguo was so busy that she didn’t have time to rest. However, she still paid attention to Su Hui’s family because she intended to give them the century eggs before they left.

Xiaoguo wanted to give them the century eggs for two reasons. Firstly, it was because of the sawdust that they had given her for free. Although it was a worthless item that they were going to throw away, it was still something of value to Xiaoguo. She was not willing to take it for nothing.

On the other hand, she was thinking about what Su Hui had said about Teacher Kong starting an academy. She wanted to build a good relationship with her so that she could inform her if there were any developments in the future.

With that thought in mind, she came out of the kitchen and saw them putting down their chopsticks at that moment.

Xiaoguo hurriedly called out to them and went to the cashier. She asked Zhuang Zhuang to pass her the smaller packet of century eggs. Six pieces was just enough for one meal.

Zhuang Zhuang followed behind Xiaoguo as she walked out. Xiaoyi quickly held on to Zhuang Zhuang and started talking to him.

Su Hui took the package from Xiaoguo. “What’s this?”

Xiaoguo said, “I marinated these century eggs a few days ago.”

When Su Hui heard this new term, she opened the package and said in surprise, “This… this is sawdust?”

The outside of this egg was actually wrapped in sawdust!

Hearing this, Tang Zhu leaned over to take a look. He was also surprised.

“Yes, these are actually duck eggs. After marination, the duck eggs inside are transparent and black. After peeling them, you can cut them into cloves. Then, you can add garlic paste and ginger paste. You can also add vinegar.”

Su Hui looked down at the duck eggs in surprise. She didn’t know that duck eggs could be prepared like this.

After thanking Xiaoguo, she called out to Xiaoyi, who was with Zhuang Zhuang, asking him to leave. When Xiaoyi heard this, he reluctantly held onto Zhuang Zhuang’s hand.

Seeing this, Su Hui sadly explained to Xiaoguo.

“Our Xiaoyi has been spending a wandering life with us. He doesn’t have many friends, so… when he’s at home, he thinks about Zhuang Zhuang every day.”

Xiaoguo nodded in understanding. So that was the reason. She didn’t rush the two children and left them alone to talk.

Zhuang Zhuang led Xiaoguo to the door and watched as Xiaoyi and family returned to the carriage. After watching them leave, they went back into the house.

After ensuring that Zhuang Zhuang had returned to the counter, Xiaoguo went back into the kitchen to get busy.

After the afternoon crowd left, the restaurant returned to a state of peace. The group of them tried their best to clean up. After that, everyone ate a portion of Malatang. This was their lunch.

It was Zhuang Zhuang’s first time having it. He ate a big bowl of it.

Xiaoguo and Ruyi were chatting away.

“There shouldn’t be so many people around at night.”

After hearing Xiaoguo’s words, Xiao Ruyi nodded in agreement. Nowadays, there are more people going to bars at night. After a busy day, they would drink some wine and relax at night. Most of them would not come to eat noodles.

Xiaoguo got ready to go back. She still had a lot to do.

Before leaving, Xiaoguo handed the century eggs to Qin Anming and turned to say to Ruyi, “I made these duck eggs myself. Just add some minced garlic, ginger, and vinegar.”

The two of them nodded. Qin Anming looked at Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang reluctantly and promised, “I’ll go back when I’m free.”

“Uncle, you must come back!”

Zhuang Zhuang was speaking at the side. Afraid that he would go back on his word, he even extended his finger to pinky swear.

Qin Anming smiled dotingly and reached out to hook the boy’s finger.

Xiaoguo waved goodbye to the two of them and left with Zhuang Zhuang in her arms.