Chapter 15: Tricycle for the Stall

Chapter 15: The Stall Tricycle

This tricycle had areas for displaying goods, storing packing boxes and plastic supplies, a packing station, a condiment section, and a heated warming area, among others. Every plank was sanded smooth and flawless. The wooden panels used as partitions were even carved with adorable versions of the twelve zodiac animals, giving it a very playful and childlike charm.

Jiang Yingxue's eyebrows danced with delight, her voice cheerful and light as she said, "Thank you, Grandpa! I'm very satisfied!"

The tricycle was her vehicle for the stall, and this one perfectly suited her taste; she genuinely liked it.

Previously, she had scouted locations in the small town and finally decided to set up her stall near Taoxi Middle School. She hadn't considered Taoxi Elementary School or the kindergarten. Firstly, the purchasing power of elementary and kindergarten children was low, and the vast majority of kindergarteners wouldn't make purchases on their own. Secondly, most children of that age are picked up by their parents, and many parents would likely refuse to buy street food, considering it unclean.

Middle school students, however, were different. Although their purchasing power was also limited, they usually had some pocket money and the autonomy to spend it. The school also had a high volume of students, so she chose to set up her stall at the entrance of Taoxi Middle School.

If the town had a high school or university, she would have chosen those locations instead, as those demographics are the target audience for snacks. Unfortunately, the town only had a kindergarten, an elementary school, and a middle school.

Now that she had the stall tricycle, she could prepare the ingredients in the next few days and start her business.

Jiang Yingxue planned to sell rice balls, initially offering only three varieties: egg and ham seaweed rice balls, pork chop seaweed rice balls, and shrimp seaweed rice balls.

She had also decided on a name for her stall: "Xuehe Rice Ball," combining one character from the village name and one from her own name.

Jiang Yingxue dipped her brush in ink and wrote the four characters for "Xuehe Rice Ball" on a wooden board. Then, she took out some pink gemstones from her space, crushed them, and inlaid them around the edges of the sign. A shiny stall sign was now ready.

The cucumbers and carrots needed for the rice balls were available at home. Jiang Yingxue raised shrimp and fish in her space, so the shrimp were taken care of. She planned to make the sausage herself and had already purchased the necessary casings, starch, and other ingredients. The seaweed was also bought. Since the family didn't raise chickens or pigs, she needed to source the pork chops and free-range eggs.

There were households in the village specializing in raising and selling free-range chickens, and they also sold free-range eggs. The eggs they usually ate were bought within the village.

Carrying the carrots she had just dug up from the field, Jiang Yingxue made a detour to the village's major chicken farmer.

"Well, if it isn't Ying Xue! What brings you here? You and your grandma just bought a tray of eggs yesterday. Have you finished them already?" Jiang Xiangsen recognized Jiang Yingxue and smiled kindly.

"Uncle Sen, I'm here to buy eggs. We haven't finished the ones at home yet. I'm planning to set up a small stall in town and need eggs for that, so I thought I'd come take a look." Her family usually bought eggs only after finishing the previous batch, but now she needed them for business, and the small amount at home wouldn't be enough. She didn't intend to hide her stall plans, so she stated it directly.

"Is that so? Come on in and have a look. I only have two types of free-range eggs here: first-lay eggs and the regular ones. For a stall, you'd probably want to use the regular free-range eggs."

Jiang Xiangsen wondered what Ying Xue was planning to sell at her stall that required free-range eggs. After all, most other stall vendors used ordinary battery-farmed chicken eggs because they were cheaper and helped save costs.

"These are all genuine free-range chickens. We're all villagers; you can see my chickens are raised on grains. The eggs they lay are tasty. Ying Xue, how many do you need?"

Jiang Yingxue said, "I don't need many for now. If the rice balls sell reasonably well, I'll consider increasing the quantity."

"Well then, since we're neighbors, I won't charge you too much. 15 yuan per jin," So she's selling rice balls. Worried Jiang Yingxue might think the price was high, Jiang Xiangsen scratched his head and continued, "I usually sell these eggs for 20 yuan per jin outside."

Jiang Yingxue smiled. "Then thank you, Uncle Sen. I'll bring you one to try once I've made them." The free-range chickens at Jiang Xiangsen's place had been fed pure grains since hatching—corn, rice, greens, insects... These eggs were worth the price.

In the end, Jiang Yingxue bought 5 jin of free-range eggs for 75 yuan. Free-range eggs were generally smaller than battery-farmed chicken eggs. Although the nutritional content on paper might be similar, in terms of taste, free-range eggs were better.

She bought 5 jin of free-range eggs, totaling 50 eggs, which would be enough for her first three days. Starting a new stall, it was better to make less; making too much would be wasteful if they didn't sell. She could always come back to buy more once these were used up.

With the eggs taken care of, next were the pork chops.

Coincidentally, there was also a household in the village specializing in raising pigs and selling pork. Jiang Yingxue smoothly purchased a three-day supply of pork.

Upon returning home, Jiang Yingxue tied on her apron, plunged into the courtyard and the woodshed, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to get to work.

"Sister, I've already picked and washed the Fresh Whisker Grass."

Xiao Zhao flew over and landed on Jiang Yingxue's shoulder, its little face wearing an expression seeking praise.

Jiang Yingxue didn't hold back her praise for Xiao Zhao.

"Xiao Zhao is so great!"

She took out her alchemy furnace, lit a fire, and boiled the Fresh Whisker Grass into juice, setting it aside for later use.

Next, she processed the meat. The pork she bought today consisted of two parts: pork collar and front leg meat. The pork collar was suitable for pan-fried pork chops, while the front leg meat was ideal for making sausage.

She started with the sausage. She fetched a full basin of well water to wash the purchased pork clean, then used another basin to separate out the pork collar, leaving only the front leg meat.

Jiang Yingxue placed the front leg meat on the cutting board, used a knife to separate the fat from the lean meat, cut the lean meat into strips, diced the fat, and then chopped everything together finely.

She placed the minced meat into a clean large porcelain bowl, added starch, Fresh Whisker Grass juice, and a free-range egg, then mixed it. After mixing thoroughly, she added an appropriate amount of Spirit Chili Powder, Fragrant Spirit Seed, salt, and soy sauce, then mixed again. Once evenly mixed, it was ready to be stuffed into the casings.

In the woodshed, a large pot of water was placed on the stove. She put the stuffed sausages into the cold water, added more firewood under the stove to bring it to a boil, then simmered on low heat for half an hour. After half an hour, she transferred the sausages into prepared well water to cool them down.

Once cooled, she fished them out, cut the sausages into small sections. Each section was about 10 centimeters long—slightly shorter than average, but thicker than commercially available sausages.

Due to using her own well water and seasoning with Spiritual Plants, her homemade sausage was finer and more refreshing in texture than store-bought ones, with a more fragrant flavor.

With the sausages made, she set aside the amount needed for the rice balls later and stored the rest in the refrigerator.

Jiang Yingxue peeled the casing off one sausage, sliced it, arranged it on a plate, and offered it to Xiao Zhao to taste.