Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Because the number of buns to be steamed tomorrow almost doubled, the Shen Yu family was busy until dark before they prepared all the ingredients for tomorrow.

After dinner, Shen Yu was thinking about cleaning the newly bought steamers and hanging them up before going to bed. Li grabbed the brush from Shen Yu's hand and said, "It's not difficult to clean these steamers. I'll be done in a short while. You guys go to bed quickly. Look how sleepy everyone is."

Shen Yu was indeed sleepy. He had woken up at three in the morning and had been busy with food orders since he came back from closing the stall. His eyelids were already drooping. Li was indeed better at cleaning the steamer, so he didn't try to stay awake. He washed up, brushed his teeth, and fell asleep on the pillow.

At three o'clock in the morning of the second day, Shen Yu was awakened by Li's shaking.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes, looking like she hadn't woken up yet.

Li felt distressed when she saw her exhausted appearance. She went to call Yutao and Yucheng, while nagging them: "You can't do this. You three are so young. It's not okay to not get enough sleep every day."

Shen Yu washed her face and became more energetic. She smiled and said, "Mom, we have just started the food stall business. Everything is difficult at the beginning. We have to grope our way through everything. We haven't arranged what to do first and what to do later. Once we have sorted it out and become more comfortable with it, we won't be so anxious all day long, and we will have time to sleep for half an hour in the afternoon."

Li sighed helplessly and said while making the bed, "It's really hard for you. You are a beautiful girl, but you have to work so hard all day long. If you got married earlier, you would have enjoyed a lot. This family is a burden to you."

At this time, Yu Tao and Yu Cheng also got up. Shen Yu called them and started to put the necessary equipment on the car together. He said with a smile: "What are you talking about, mother? If I get married and see you starving, will I feel comfortable and live a good life on my own?"

As he spoke, he moved the basin of dough to the car, took a breath, and continued, "What's more, if the Hu family hadn't broken off the engagement, I would have really married him. With our family in this state, they would only look down on me and make me angry. How could I have a good life? It's better for our family to be together every day, earn some money, eat and drink well, and live comfortably. This is a good life."

Without waiting for Li's reply, Yu Tao, who was moving things beside her, also said in a crisp voice: "Sister is right. I also think it's good now. I don't have to worry about life like in the village. I can earn money and eat by my own ability. This is a good life. I was busy yesterday. I'll go to bed early today. Tomorrow I'll wake everyone up and let mother sleep a little longer. I promise not to stay in bed."

Yu Cheng also echoed and assured: "I am not a lazy bedridden person either. I can get up and make money so that mom can have meat to eat every day and we can live a good life together."

Li felt warm at heart after hearing the caring words from the children. She tied the ropes on the car, put the front of the car in place, and said nonchalantly, "Okay, okay. I know you are all filial children. Let's go."

After leaving the house, she raised her sleeves, wiped the corners of her eyes while the children were pushing the cart beside her and were out of sight. A satisfied smile spread across her face, and she pulled the cart towards the market with great energy.

The steamed leavened bread is the only one among the food stalls set up in the morning at the entrance of the market, and the business has been very popular since it opened.

There are several customers who have been coming to buy almost since the first day of opening, without missing a single day.

After a while, whenever Shen Yu saw them coming to buy something, he would always give them an extra one.

A customer asked with a smile: "Miss Shen, you gave away free stuff when you just opened the shop, why are you still giving away free stuff after making these for a few days? These buns are so filling and reasonably priced, aren't you afraid of losing money by giving them away like this?"

Most of the customers queuing up behind were regular customers, and they all smiled and said, "Yes, girl, are you going to keep doing this and give away free gifts when you buy more? Although the meat buns are buy ten get one free, and the other two are buy five get one free, but with such delicious buns, won't you really lose money?"

Shen Yu held the buns in his hands, his fingers flying as he skillfully tied the lotus leaf buns with a reed rope. He raised his voice a little and said, "Of course. Since we opened this food stall, it's all thanks to your support that our family can have food to eat. It's not an exaggeration to say that you are the breadwinners of our family."

Seeing that everyone was listening attentively, she stopped what she was doing, smiled and continued, "As for these buns, as long as you like them, I will always give them away as gifts to old customers. If you eat my buns and find them tasty, you can introduce them to your friends and neighbors. Although I will earn less by giving them away, more customers will come to eat my buns. In this way, my family can make a small profit but sell a lot to make a living, and you can also eat them comfortably and economically. What do you think of this?"

She had a sweet voice and spoke sincerely, and when she spoke, she unconsciously revealed a kind of charming and adorable innocence, which made the group of customers waiting to buy buns immediately think of the coquettish little girls in their own family or the neighboring family, and their hearts felt sweet and warm as if they were bathed in the spring breeze.

The guests nodded one after another, wishing they could run back immediately and drag their relatives and friends to buy buns as well, so as to show their support for Miss Shen and do justice to such delicious buns.

After Shen Yu finished speaking, he saw that the customers were all nodding and smiling, saying yes, so he lowered his head and continued selling buns.

Unexpectedly, the one who was originally planning to buy five asked for ten. The one who originally wanted to buy one to try first, as if afraid of not being able to get one, directly bought six and shouted to take them back.

In a short while, today's buns were sold out, even earlier than usual.

Among the customers who didn't buy any later, a naughty boy shouted unwillingly when he saw that the buns were sold out: "Sister Shen, the bun beauty, please make more buns to sell tomorrow. Look, we didn't buy any, and I'm going to eat nothing and wait to buy tomorrow on an empty stomach."

Everyone laughed when they heard it, and looked at who was the naughty and mischievous one. He even said "Sister Baozi Xishi", which was so tongue-twisting and funny. I wonder how he could have thought of it. When the boy saw that everyone was looking at him, his courage to shout just now was immediately lost, his face turned red, and he turned around and ran away.

The customers behind also said, "That's right, Miss Xishi, please make more. There are not enough to sell. Look at the people behind who haven't bought any."

Before Shen Yu answered, Li felt a little uncomfortable. She knew a little about the name of the great beauty Xi Shi. She had heard about it in operas. Although she was beautiful, she had a bad ending. She was a beauty with a tragic fate and was scolded as a disaster that brought disaster to the country and the people. She didn't want her daughter to end up like this. She just wanted her to be safe and happy. Hearing everyone calling her Miss Xi Shi, she found it very irritating.

Li opened her mouth, unsure whether to scold the guests like she did in the village, or pretend she didn't hear anything and let everyone call her names.

While he was hesitating, he heard Shen Yu said generously: "Thank you for your kindness. Xi Shi is so beautiful that she can overwhelm the whole country. I am a country girl, how can I be worthy of the name of Xi Shi? My last name is Shen, and my nickname is Yuzhi. If you don't mind, you can call me Yuzhi or Miss Shen."

"Miss Shen is pretty and deft, isn't she the Xi Shi who was good at washing silk and weaving brocade? I think she should be changed to Shen Xi Shi, which is a nice name."

Someone in the crowd shouted. Shen Yu felt a little amused and helpless. His face turned slightly red. He just looked at everyone with a faint smile and didn't say anything.