Chapter 27

After the holidays, Uncle Ning Qing's house was renovated. Ning Qing herself went to buy fresh food to make breakfast to sell in the evening. She would only sell minced pork congee and meat buns. The whole family helped prepare 200 buns to steam tomorrow morning, in case they didn't sell well. After all, it was the first day the shop opened. Ning Qing wasn't naïve and thought that she would definitely sell well like the previous shops. She had already thought that if they didn't sell well, they would be able to eat them without feeling sorry for the food they had made.

The next morning after the shop opened, it was just as Ning Qing had thought, a new shop that was not well-known yet. Ning Qing asked her younger siblings to help call customers to come and try it out first so that others would spread the word by word of mouth that her shop's food had a unique taste and used quality ingredients to cook the food.

Lucky customers who tried it spread the word that this shop is delicious and not expensive. A bowl of congee costs 10 ea but you get so much minced pork that it almost overflows the bowl. Not to mention the steamed meat buns that have more meat than other shops in the city. Each one only costs 5 ea. The free soup is also more delicious than other shops. In less than half an hour, more people came to Ning Qing's shop, so much so that she could barely serve it all. Fortunately, everyone in the house helped serve the food to help her. Otherwise, she would not be able to deliver it to the customers in time. Many people who ate it were even more impressed by the taste, which was more delicious than other shops. They even said that they would come back again tomorrow. This made Ning Qing, the cook, smile because the customers were impressed by her food. Even though she only sells two types of soup, she alternates between chicken and pork soup so that customers would not get bored. Today, even though the shop's income was not much, it was enough to make them smile. Because it was the first day of giving away free food, some people could not avoid it. But from now on, if they charge for every bowl, they should be able to make a lot of profit.

Ning Qing asked her father to collect the store's income and make an account summarizing the cost and profit to see if they made a loss or a profit. Ning Guan, who could not walk yet, did not mind helping his daughter. It was better than him sitting still and watching everyone work hard. Xiao Yao also came to ask her sister's house how the business was going. Everyone smiled and told their uncle in a good mood that the business was sold out before the previous hour. They expected that they would have to make a little more tomorrow because the customers who came later would not have time to eat before the food was all gone.

Xiao Yao was happy for her grandchildren who were selling well. He also asked about the herbal garden in Kang Village, what to do, since he felt sorry that his grandchildren planted it and did not take care of it. Ning Qing, who just remembered the herbs her father liked, invited her uncle and younger siblings to bring herbs to plant here instead. Although there was not much space, it was something her father loved to do since she was a child, so they helped clean up the cups and bowls before going out to move the herbs back here again.

Ning Qing knew that moving frequently would make the herbs less durable, but she felt bad that they moved too often. Ning Guan felt touched when he saw his children doing everything for him. He sat down and counted the money according to his daughter's instructions and found that even though he didn't sell much, he still had a profit of more than one tael. If he earned like this every day, then they would be comfortable with the expenses they had invested.

Xiao Shui listened to her husband and could only smile sweetly at her husband. They were truly blessed to have such filial children. The couple could only put their money in a box and keep it separate from their other money. Xiao Shui herself did not tell her husband that her daughter had returned the money to her. She was only responsible for keeping the reserve money. As for the other money that her daughter earned from selling goods, she set it aside to use to buy things to sell this evening after the children returned from Kang Village.

Village Chief Kang was a little sad that Ning Qing took these herbs, but if he planted them himself, he wouldn't be able to take care of them like an experienced person, so he didn't think much of it. Ning Qing knew that Grandpa Village Chief wanted herbs, so she left one plot for him and told Grandpa how to take care of them. She didn't want to be stingy with her knowledge. The more herbs she planted here, the more people would have food to eat. She took care of most of the herbs as well. She also told Grandpa Village Chief Kang how to sell them with a smile. The village chief, who was afraid that he would forget, sat down and wrote down everything she told him. He would let the villagers go find herbs to plant to make a living. These days, if they didn't go up the mountain to look for wild animals or food, they wouldn't have any other income besides growing rice.

Ning Qing thought about the time she went up to set up the trap with her uncle and felt regretful. However, she could only let it go because her current job was selling breakfast food. If she did too many things, it would be a bit too much for her.

After getting all the herbs, everyone went back to the city. Her younger siblings volunteered to grow the fields themselves, while Ning Qing and her mother would go to the market to buy some food to sell the next day. During this time, they had to work hard so that they could save up a lot of money instead of just spending it all day. Even though she had a lot of money, she still didn’t think it was enough for her to do the job she loved. Ning Qing intended to save up a thousand taels to open her own shop. As for the restaurant, she could let her parents do it themselves. Once her father recovered from his illness, he would be able to walk normally again. The more she thought about it, the more Ning Qing knew that she was right to move to the city to bring her father to see a doctor in the city. She checked her father’s condition after taking the new medicine the doctor prescribed and saw that his condition had improved even more than the old medicine. Ning Qing also told her father not to walk around too much because she was afraid that if he had an accident and fell down again, it would be difficult to treat him this time.