Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 236: Fleet on the Canal

Shen Yu hurriedly introduced the dishes, and the customer ordered some meat skewers and pancakes, and bought ten red bean paste buns, filling a whole basket. Then he paid the money and left satisfied.

Li watched the visitor walk away. Seeing that there were not many customers in the store, she sighed in a low voice, "It is still the traveling merchants who are generous and frank. The money he paid for this basket of food is more than what the customers who came into the store would pay for four or five meals."

Shen Yu felt the same way. Although there seemed to be a lot of customers coming into the store, each of them only ate the amount for one meal.

Some people from the same city would bring some back as snacks when they left, but they didn’t take much.

But the guests of these traveling merchants are different. They have to travel by boat or with a caravan, and the food on the road is poor. It would be great if they could bring enough food on board that will last for two or three days and will not go bad.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu suddenly became happy. Isn't this a new way to make money?

But we were still in the store at that time. Although there were not many customers, it was not a place to talk, so I could only think about it in my heart.

Today's lunch changed again and again. Only Li and Jiang each had a piece of the sauce-flavored pancake. No one else, including Shen Yu himself, had any.

Li smiled and said, "This is a good thing. It shows that this kind of cake is popular. It doesn't cost much, but the taste is just as good as the thousand-layer meat cake. If it becomes famous, it will sell well."

Shen Yu thought that if the business was good, he would earn more money and be one step closer to repaying the money.

I just wish it would be like what Li said, that I could sell well every day, and not have to dream of paying back the money and laughing happily in my dreams.

After everyone took turns eating lunch, in the afternoon, Shen Yu saw that the store was not busy, so he went to the backyard room with Li.

Li thought Shen Yu had something to discuss in private, but Shen Yu said to her, "Mom, let's go for a walk along the canal together."

Li didn't understand what was going on and asked, "It's great, why are you going to the canal?"

Shen Yu then told the plan he had thought of at noon: "The guest who came today gave me some inspiration. Although our steamed buns and meat skewers are good, it's not winter yet, so they are not easy to store."

"It's OK to eat it on the same day, but if you leave it out for two or three days, the dough for the buns will go bad and the meat on the skewers will become dry and hard."

"But Jiangxiang biscuits are different. These kinds of crispy biscuits are all fried. Especially Jiangxiang biscuits, the sauce meat is saltier than the usual method."

"This kind of cake will still taste crispy and delicious even if it is left for two or three days, and it won't go bad."

Seeing that Li was listening attentively, Shen Yu paused and continued, "I thought that not every guest on the boat would come to the restaurant to eat."

"But if we can sell the finished cakes at the canal dock, will the passengers on the ship buy them when they see them?"

"Even the boatmen, when they dock at the shore, they also have to prepare food. When they see this kind of cake, will they buy some?"

Li had been lamenting at noon that when he was selling cakes today, not only did that customer pack up a whole basket, but he also sold two baskets of packaged food, and the money he received was more than a hundred coins.

After hearing what Shen Yu said, he felt that it would work. Even if he only sold ten copies a day, he could still earn a lot of extra income.

Thinking of this, Li said excitedly: "This is a solution. Let's go and take a look now."

After the two of them had discussed it, they returned to the store, asked Jiang and the others to take care of the business, and then went out together and headed straight for the canal.

When we arrived at the canal, although it was already afternoon, the dock was very lively. From afar we could see a dozen large ships docked by the water near the dock.

Some were passing by to restock supplies, while others stopped there to load and unload cargo in preparation for sailing.

But I didn't see any food being sold on the river bank.

When Shen Yu and Li came closer, they saw people making fire and cooking on the bows of several ships. They seemed to be cooking porridge or soup.

Shen Yu was wondering why there were no vendors selling fruits and snacks in a place like this.

She saw a middle-aged woman cooking at the bow of a boat, so she walked closer to Li.

Li smiled and walked up to her and said, "My lady, how are you?"

The woman was a maid in charge of food, clothing and laundry for everyone on board, and she spent the entire day doing her job.

There were only men on the boat, and they would not talk to her much unless there was something to say, and often they didn't say a few words to her throughout the whole day.

At this time, she heard someone calling her. She looked up and saw that it was a woman of the same age as her. She hurriedly asked warmly, "My lady, how are you? What do you want to call me for?"

Li bowed to her and said with a smile, "I saw you cooking, so I wanted to ask why there are no vendors selling fruits and food by the pier."

"If you want to buy some food while you're here, where can you go?"

When the woman heard that this was the question, she smiled and said, "I think you don't usually come to the riverside. It is not allowed to set up stalls here. The wharf has to be unloaded, and setting up stalls will affect the flow of vehicles and horses."

Li looked at the big pot the woman was stirring and said with a smile, "Do we need to send someone into the city to buy food for the boat?"

The woman pointed in the direction of the city gate and said, "Isn't it true? There are some stalls next to the city gate. If you want to buy a lot, you have to go to the city to buy."

"It takes two days to leave this dock and go to the next larger dock. The boat owner only sets sail after he has enough food."

Shen Yu also bowed before saying, "May I ask, my lady, what do people eat on the ship on weekdays? Do the merchants on board bring any food with them?"

The woman smiled and said, "You are too polite, young lady. What else can we eat on the boat? Just some long-lasting vegetables, eggs, rice and grains."

"When passing by the dock, I bought some flatbreads and pickles. Fresh meat and tofu can't be kept for a long time, so at most I can eat some on the day we dock."

The woman looked into the boat and lowered her voice: "Mutton is expensive. Apart from wealthy merchants, even our ship owner rarely eats it."

"If you want to eat meat, you have to live by the water. If you see fishing boats, you can buy some fish and shrimp from them to satisfy your craving."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "It's convenient to prepare these meals on the boat."

The woman laughed and said, "You are joking, girl. This boat is used to transport goods. It is not as convenient as home. It is just for cooking and filling hunger."

Then he pointed to the small table at the bow and said helplessly: "Look, that's my kitchen."

"Even so, they have to be put away on weekdays. The ship owner thinks it takes up too much space and would like to use the entire ship to load cargo."

After saying that, he secretly curled his lips, then stirred the porridge in the pot, added a handful of washed vegetables, sprinkled some salt, and continued to cook.

Shen Yu smiled and said, "My family runs a restaurant. If I have delicious and convenient sauce-flavored pies and meat pies, and I can deliver them to the boat, would the boat owner be willing to buy them?"