The first step in the book is to start selling tofu

The women who own shops along the alley, like her, have little business on weekdays and are bored.

So we love to get together and gossip.

They are not picky about who the topic of gossip is about. As long as someone starts the conversation, they will join in.

Do you think there is any hatred or resentment towards the people who are the center of gossip? The answer is no. Some of them are just mean-spirited, while others just want to fit in.

Lin Zhi had no idea that there was a person next door who was inexplicably resentful of her, and she was now dealing with the neighbors who suddenly came to her house.

It was the group of women who had just complained about her in the shop next door who now appeared at the door of Lin Zhi's house at the same time.

"Didn't you say your husband was looking for you? How come..."

"Didn't you say you were making soup at home? How come..."

......

Several people met at the door and immediately exposed each other's shortcomings, but before they finished speaking, they closed their mouths tacitly.

Everyone has the same idea, so no one should blame anyone else.

Lin Zhi was frying sesame oil with onions, ginger, garlic and star anise. When there was a knock on the door, she was pouring the spices in to fry the second pot of sesame oil. The sound was a bit loud, so she didn't hear the knock on the door.

By the time she heard the noise outside, Daya had already gone over and opened the door.

The group of women knocked left and right but no one came to open the door for them, and they couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.

They were thinking about going home, but suddenly a fragrance wafted out from the crack in the door and they couldn't move their legs anymore.

One by one, they put their noses to the crack in the door and took a deep breath.

Daya never thought that the person knocking on the door would be close to the door, so she opened the door neatly.

"Puff puff!"

"Ahhh!"

“Ouch, ouch!”

Seven or eight women fell down in an instant, stacked on top of each other like a pyramid. The person at the bottom had her face deformed by the pressure.

Daya was at a loss as to who to reach out to help. The several people who had been stacked neatly were twisted together because of the pain.

I always feel that if I pull one up, it will affect the other.

Daya was so anxious that she turned around and finally stamped her feet and ran back to find Lin Zhi: "Mom, come quickly!"

Lin Zhi had already finished frying the sesame oil and was removing the firewood. When she heard Daya calling her so anxiously, she thought something big had happened.

Looking at the firewood that had not yet gone out, she didn't care about anything else, she just poured water to put it out and walked towards the door.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Mom, what do you think?"

Daya didn't explain, but moved aside to let her see for herself.

"Ah! Why are the boss ladies here? Please come in." Lin Zhi shouted to those people enthusiastically.

She had visited several of their stores before, so she had some impression of them.

When Daya heard that what Lin Zhi said was different from what she expected, she immediately turned around to look.

She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating. Clearly, the group of people were lying on the ground twisted into a ball just now, but now they were standing in front of her in neat clothes, talking to her mother with a smile.

"Daya, go and bring some tea." Lin Zhi instructed Daya while welcoming people into the yard.

Daya responded and followed them.

It was at this moment that Daya realized that the scene of them twisting into a ball was not an illusion.

When I looked closer, I found that there was a lot of dust on the clothes of those people.

"How come you all, the boss ladies, are free to come together today?"

After Lin Zhi invited them to sit down, he began to ask.

Fortunately, when I went out yesterday, I was thinking about setting up a snack stand, so I brought back a few sets of tables and chairs. Otherwise, there would be no chairs for these people to sit on.

"Your daughter sent us a gift this morning, so we thought we'd come and give you a gift in return." One of the women explained, and then she brought over the gift she had brought.

Lin Zhi took a look at it and accepted it since it was not a valuable item, but he still had to be polite:

"You are too polite. You already gave this girl a gift in the morning, and now I'm asking you to spend money again."

The woman smiled and said it was worthless, but she was criticizing us in her heart, saying, "Since you know we have spent money, why don't you refuse it?"

The others were originally looking around, but after hearing the conversation between the two, they also took out their gifts.

Luckily, nothing was broken when I fell just now, otherwise it would have been very embarrassing.

Lin Zhi took them and thanked them one by one.

Before they even exchanged a few pleasantries, some of them couldn't help themselves and went straight to the point.

"We just smelled a strong aroma at the door. Are you planning to sell some food?"

This was not something that could not be told, so Lin Zhi nodded and admitted it.

Advertising these days is almost entirely dependent on word of mouth, and she wished more people would know the news.

"What are you going to cook?" someone else asked.

When no one was paying attention, the woman took several deep breaths.

After entering the yard, the fragrance became even stronger.

"There are many varieties. You won't know the specific ones until the opening day. The aroma you smell is my secret seasoning and it cannot be eaten directly." Lin Zhi explained with a smile.

This group of people were almost drooling. She was afraid that if she didn't explain clearly, people would think she was stingy and had no manners.

"I didn't know that you guys were coming today, so I didn't prepare any ingredients. Otherwise, I'll make a few dishes for you to try, so I can know what I didn't do well."

Upon hearing this, the group of people could no longer conceal the regret in their eyes.

I can smell it but I can’t taste it. It’s uncomfortable.

Especially now all I can smell is the aroma of the seasoning, and I have no idea how delicious the real food will be.

A few people asked about the opening time, and after finding out, they said politely that they would definitely come to support the business, and then they left.

Lin Zhi sent them to the door.

Just then, the proprietress of the shop next door went out. Lin Zhi was just about to say hello to her, but she rolled her eyes at her and slammed the door shut.

Lin Zhi squinted at the closed door for a while before returning to his home.

"What's our neighbor's last name?"

"I remember the shopkeeper's surname was Liu, and his wife's surname was Zhang."

Speaking of this, Daya was deeply impressed. The couple's attitudes towards her were completely opposite.

The male host was warm and kind to her, but the female host seemed a little mean to her.

But after all, she had only met them once, so Daya did not make any conclusions about them.

"Why did mom suddenly ask about them?" Daya asked.

"I just saw their hostess and she didn't seem well, so I asked." Lin Zhi explained.

Then she thought for a moment and added, "Don't get close to them unless you have something to do, especially that woman. She gives me a bad impression."