Chapter 57, Second Installment

The woman who ordered the meat was named Zeng Xiaoqing. Her husband’s older brother was a carpenter, and the couple had followed him to this place to find odd jobs and earn a living. Things had been going quite well at first, until her husband suffered an injury while working. He needed at least half a year to recover, which meant the entire family would be without a livelihood for six months. Zeng Xiaoqing was so worried that she could not sleep at night.

There was plenty of work here, and they had renewed their house lease for another six months. Now that her husband had fallen ill and could not return to their hometown, they were burning through their savings every day while also needing to pay for her husband’s recuperation. She had to find a way to make money.

Zeng Xiaoqing had no other special skills. After racking her brains, she set her sights on Lin Xuexia's braised pork.

Their rented house happened to be located in this remote alley. For the past few days, Zeng Xiaoqing had walked past it every day, inhaling the aroma of the braised meat. It was simply sublime, so fragrant... She figured that if she took it elsewhere to sell, it would surely be in high demand.

Zeng Xiaoqing still had some savings left. After purchasing the necessary supplies, she planned to sell braised pork rice a few kilometers away. Her husband’s older brother and sister-in-law had a three-wheeled motorized cart, which could help her transport the items. A female friend from her hometown had rented a small shop over there, and Zeng Xiaoqing planned to sell her braised pork rice right outside of it.

Regarding Zeng Xiaoqing’s plan, her in-laws and her hometown friend were not optimistic at all, thinking she had lost her mind.

"If you want to sell braised pork, why not just buy the spices and make it yourself? Do you really need to spend so much money buying someone else's finished product?"
"Will you even be able to sell it? Don't end up losing money."
……

Zeng Xiaoqing did not have much confidence either, but her expectations were modest. She only wanted to sell during lunchtime and dinnertime, working four or five hours a day. She only hoped to sell one or two hundred portions and make a little money to keep body and soul together.

In the morning, she picked up twenty catties of meat from Lin Xuexia's place and took the three-wheeler to her friend's shop. Right before noon, Zeng Xiaoqing stir-fried a few vegetable dishes to serve as side dishes, offering set meals for one yuan and fifty cents, as well as two yuan.

Fearing that Zeng Xiaoqing wouldn't be able to sell anything, her hometown friend grabbed a large megaphone inside the shop and shouted at the roadside, "Set meals for a yuan and fifty cents! Meat and vegetables included, don't miss out as you walk by..."

With a few shouts like this, quite a few people gathered around, asking what kind of set meals they were. Zeng Xiaoqing pointed at the fragrant pot of braised pork belly, "Braised pork rice, would you like to try a portion?"

Looking at the braised meat coated in rich sauce, the inquirers swallowed hard. "I'll take a portion to try."

Soon, Zeng Xiaoqing sold twenty or thirty portions. A crowd gathered outside the shop, and this lively scene attracted even more people to line up. Before long, she had sold around two hundred portions, completely selling out all the braised meat she had ordered.

Her income today was over three hundred and twenty yuan. Buying the meat cost one hundred and forty yuan, and after deducting other costs, she earned somewhere between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and forty yuan, to say the least.

"Xiaoqing, are you still selling tomorrow?"
Zeng Xiaoqing, having finished counting the money, gave a start. "Selling! Of course, I'm selling!"

She hurried back without stopping to place an order for meat with Lin Xuexia. However, Lin Xuexia told her that orders needed to be placed a day in advance, and no matter how anxious Zeng Xiaoqing was, it was no use. In the end, she placed an order for forty catties of meat.

Zeng Xiaoqing did not want any braised beef or char siu; she only bought braised pork belly.

She wasn't skilled at making meat dishes, but the few vegetable dishes she mastered were exceptional. This was one of the reasons why she decided to sell braised pork rice—using the braised pork as a hook to sell her own stir-fried vegetables.

Such braised pork rice featured both meat and vegetables, a balance of fat and lean cuts, along with savory rice-mixing sauce and chili paste that made the rice go down smoothly. It sold exceptionally well.

When Lin Xuexia tasted Zeng Xiaoqing's stir-fried vegetables, she found them to be quite delicious. Zeng Xiaoqing's culinary skills were generally mediocre, with only three or four dishes done exceptionally well. Eating them at home every day might become cloying, but paired with the braised pork, they were a remarkably good match.

When Zeng Xiaoqing asked to order braised meat in bulk, Lin Xuexia did not refuse. Selling ten catties of braised meat to Zeng Xiaoqing allowed her to make a profit of about forty yuan; twenty catties yielded eighty yuan, and thirty catties brought in one hundred and twenty yuan.

Moreover, preparing more braised meat merely meant using an extra cooking pot. It was a win-win situation.

If Zeng Xiaoqing sold well, Lin Xuexia could easily make an extra hundred yuan a day through her.

That would increase her monthly income by two to three thousand yuan. Why not do it?

If she replicated this with a few more distributors, she could easily surpass ten thousand yuan a month. However, Lin Xuexia was not in a rush to expand. If she sold to just anyone, problems would arise sooner or later. As for Zeng Xiaoqing, she would monitor the situation for the time being.

She needed to train Xue Lingjun first. Currently, this small workshop was run solely by her and Xue Lingjun. They couldn't handle a massive volume yet, and forcing it would only compromise the taste and flavor.

Lin Xuexia discussed this matter with Zhao Huiru and the others, asking if they had any thoughts on it. If they were willing to do it, she would agree to all of them, with only one condition: every braised pork rice stall had to be at least three kilometers apart.

Chen Miaorong had no inclination to exert herself over this; Gao Chunyan had to attend to her own rice noodle stall; Zhang Yuqin only wanted to help her daughter tend to her shop; and Zhao Huiru was getting older and lacked the capability herself. When Zhao Huiru went home and mentioned it to her son, although he was tempted, the thought of finding a suitable location three kilometers away, renting a stall, and acquiring carts and various pots and pans... made him realize it wasn't a simple task.

Selling hundreds of box meals alone was bone-exhausting work. If two people did it, her son and daughter-in-law were already making a decent living as it was—one selling dried goods, the other selling cloth and wool. Their earnings weren't massive, but the work was comfortable, so they preferred not to uproot their routine.

This business paid in hard-earned sweat.

Now, Lin Xuexia changed the wage system. The previous fixed wage of three yuan for everyone was converted into a base salary. Zhang Yuqin and Zhao Huiru would receive commissions based on a certain percentage of the portions they sold respectively, while Chen Miaorong served concurrently as the accountant, earning an accountant's salary on top of sales commissions.

Xue Lingjun's salary was also changed to a base salary plus commission, with her commission calculated based on the quantity and quality of the meat dishes she prepared daily.

Once the salary calculation was revised in this manner, everyone was thrilled. This way, their monthly wages could reach three to five hundred yuan, keeping pace with the average salary. Furthermore, with adequate staffing, they could take turns resting, making the work much less exhausting.

After deducting these labor costs, Lin Xuexia's monthly earnings would roughly range between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand yuan.

She currently had over five thousand yuan in hand.

Lin Xuexia began scouting locations to open a proper storefront. For her first shop, she wanted to invest in good interior decoration, select a suitable location, and ideally secure a larger space primarily focused on fast, convenient food products. Aside from selling braised pork rice, she also planned to add curry rice. All of these required slow and steady preparation. She was currently collecting various spices to develop her own exclusive, secret-recipe curry powder and curry cubes.

Curry fish balls were popular in Hong Kong, and that style of curry tended to be on the sweeter side. Lin Xuexia decided to focus on creating a spicy-leaning curry alongside a sweet-leaning curry, turning them into ready-to-eat curry beef rice or curry chicken rice.

This kind of curry rice was fast to prepare. A pristine, beautiful white round plate would hold a molded bowl of rice, topped with a generous ladleful of vibrant curry beef, garnished with vegetables and corn to complete the presentation. It looked attractive and tasted delicious.

However, Lin Xuexia was unsure whether curry rice would catch on in the current market, so she intended to experiment slowly, gauge the local palate for curry, and gradually adjust the recipe.

The curry preferences popular in different parts of the world varied greatly.

Making curry powder required dozens of spices. Fortunately, this place was close to Hong Kong, and Lin Xuexia had successfully collected all the necessary spices. She prepared to make some curry blocks so that her family and friends could try them first.

She bought ice pop molds to shape the curry blocks, and the finished curry blocks could be stored in the refrigerator for a period of time.

Lin Xuexia's first batch of curry blocks was modest in quantity, featuring both sweet and spicy varieties. She brought two boxes to give to her younger sisters.

"Sis, you're here?"
When Lin Xuexia arrived, it was dusk. Both Lin Yuxia and Lin Yuexia were at home. Lin Yuxia was currently catching up on the second-year high school curriculum. She had integrated very well, and with the high quality of the local teaching staff, Lin Yuxia grew increasingly confident that she would be admitted to a prestigious university.

Lin Yuexia had spent the past few days going out to look for a job, and yesterday, she finally managed to secure one. Last night, in her excitement, she used the landlord's landline to send a message to her brother-in-law Fu Wei's pager: "Brother-in-law, tell my sister I found a job!"

In fact, her mother Zhang Yuqin could have told Lin Xuexia the very next day, but Lin Yuexia couldn't hold back even for a single night because she was terrified she wouldn't be able to last two days at the job.

What if she got fired the day after tomorrow?

"Yuexia, you found a job? Congratulations! Tomorrow your sister will take you out to buy clothes, and tonight I'll make something delicious for you," Lin Xuexia said with a smile.

Lin Yuexia said with shy embarrassment, "Sis, if I get fired tomorrow, will you still buy them?"
Lin Xuexia replied, "You haven't even worked a few days, and you're already worrying about getting fired?"

Lin Yuexia hadn't learned any other phrases while job hunting these past few days except for the words "fired."

This term had become very popular recently. At first, Lin Yuexia didn't understand what "fired" meant, so she asked a few people who were also looking for work. They told her, "If I hadn't been fired by my boss, why would I be out here looking for work just like you?"
"Go see someone getting fired, and you'll understand what being fired means..."

Although Lin Yuexia still hadn't witnessed someone literally being fried like squid with her own eyes, she knew these three words meant "packing your bags and leaving"—reportedly, squid curls up the moment it is stir-fried.

Lin Yuexia was excited about finding a job, yet felt like an ant on a hot pan: "Sis, I found a job at a foreign trade company."
"They asked me if I knew how to use a typewriter, and I said I did, though I wasn't very fluent."
"They asked if I knew English, and of course I said I did! My English grades in middle school were exceptionally good, and I even recited a self-introduction in English..."

When she said this, Lin Yuexia felt quite confident. In the past, her math grades were poor, but her English grades were stellar, which she considered her alternative strong suit. Therefore, she wasn't lying, and she answered with great self-assurance, leading to her being hired.

Then she saw the faxed documents on the company's desk and began playing the role of someone whose wits had completely abandoned her.

Her meager junior high school English level was utterly insufficient. Those ghostly documents recognized her, but she didn't recognize them, and her English self-introduction was the only thing she could recite fluently.

So she started bluffing her way through, though she had no idea how many days she could fake it.
If she got fired after working for two days, it would be too humiliating.

"Don't worry. Since the company hired you, they believe in your abilities. Yuexia, you are no worse than anyone else," Lin Xuexia said, pinching her cheek to encourage her.

Lin Yuexia shook her head. "Sis, I can't understand those faxed materials at all. I'm just guessing and bluffing my way through."
"And they said they're going to have me communicate with clients in the future, ahhhhh..."
"I should have gone to take a foreign language training course first." Lin Yuexia felt regretful and remorseful at that moment. She was worried she wouldn't find such a good job again. The company's environment was fantastic, located on the tenth floor of a newly built office building. She had only tagged along with someone to soak in the lively atmosphere and check out the building; she never expected she would miraculously be hired.

Lin Xuexia said, "Many foreign language crash courses nowadays are scams, teaching only a few deceptive phrases. You are no worse than those who come out of these crash courses. You need to be more confident; your foundation in English is great."
"You are a newcomer, so they won't put you solely in charge of critical material communication. You're just there to help out, which is a great opportunity to learn more skills."
"Tomorrow your sister will take you to buy clothes and get an electronic dictionary. Maintain a good attitude at the company and study hard."
"Electronic dictionaries are so expensive..."
"How much is your salary for this job?"
"Two hundred during the probationary period, and four to five hundred once I'm confirmed. Sister, and the work environment is just wonderful!"

Lin Xuexia smiled. "Then consider it me lending you two months' salary in advance to buy a few-hundred-yuan electronic dictionary. Use it to study hard, and it can also benefit your second sister."

Lin Yuexia's face flushed red, and she agreed. She really, really wanted to keep this job.

In the past, she had never thought knowing that "bird language" would be of any use. After all, in their remote corner of the world, nobody spoke English, and her math, physics, and chemistry grades were mediocre. If she stayed in the village in the future, that skill would be completely useless.

Lin Yuexia hadn't touched English for quite some time, but her foundation was still there, and she picked it up quickly.