Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

In her heart, Zhao Da'e was far more important than Zhao Tiesheng, and Zhao Tiesheng couldn't even compare to Zhao Da'e. Her daughter's future was more important. If getting the tea could help her daughter's business take off, then it would be worth it.

Later that evening, Cheng Jinxiang went into the kitchen to prepare a meal. This time, she was going to make sauerkraut stewed lamb ribs. She called Zhao Da'e into the kitchen to help, hoping that Zhao Da'e could see how to make sauerkraut stewed ribs.

Zhao Da'e is clever, so letting her learn to cook will help her learn faster.

Zhao Da'e pouted, clearly unwilling to cook, "I don't want to."

Zhao Da'e was too lazy to cook, but she couldn't bear to see her mother working alone in the kitchen, so she went over to help.

Cheng Jinxiang shook her head helplessly when she saw this. She knew her own daughter well; she said no, but she still obediently followed her into the kitchen.

The lamb chops that had been bought were still hanging in the ventilated area of ​​the kitchen. Cheng Jinxiang asked Zhao Da'e to carry a bucket and fill the pot with water. At this time, Cheng Jinxiang had already prepared ginger and cooking wine. She washed the ginger, sliced ​​it, and set it aside for later use.

After Zhao Da'e filled the pot with water, he put the lamb ribs into cold water, along with ginger slices and cooking wine.

After filling the pot with water, Zhao Da'e took the initiative to light a match and start boiling the water.

This requires boiling the water and then simmering the lamb chops for a while.

During this time, Cai Xiaofeng came to the Cheng family to look for Zhao Da'e.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Da'e came to the door, wanting to invite Cai Xiaofeng in for a bite to eat, but Cai Xiaofeng refused and instead brought up serious business.

"Boss, I've found out. There's a shop in the city center that needs to be sublet. It used to be a restaurant, 100 square meters, but business wasn't good, and the rent was too high. After a while, it was going to close down because it wasn't making any money. Now the landlord is looking for another tenant. I think this one is perfect for us. The foot traffic is good, and the shop is quite big. It's just that the monthly rent is a bit expensive, 2,000 yuan a month."

This is already considered relatively good compared to other shops, which usually cost several hundred to two thousand yuan. But I heard that the landlady's surname is Zhang, and outsiders call her Aunt Zhang. She is a very easygoing and somewhat careless person. She owns many shops and properties and is too lazy to collect a few hundred yuan for other things, so the rent she collects is more straightforward and easier to calculate.

Or, according to market prices, a shop in the city center would cost more than two thousand to rent.

When Cai Xiaofeng found out that Aunt Zhang was looking for someone else to rent the shop, she rushed over to tell Zhao Da'e, fearing that the shop would be snatched away and they would suffer a huge loss.

When Zhao Da'e heard the landlady called Zhang Da Niang, her eyes lit up. In her previous life, she had also heard of this Zhang Da Niang. In her county, she was a well-known wealthy woman with multiple buildings and shops. She even owned an entire street of shops called Zhang Da Niang Street. However, when she went to the county and heard the name of the street, she was shocked for a moment and wondered why it was called that. Later, after learning more, Zhao Da'e realized that all the shops on that street belonged to a woman named Zhang Da Niang.

She was easy to get along with and generous, often reducing the rent for shops. She also liked to stroll along that street and eat delicious food. Whenever the shop owner saw Aunt Zhang coming, he would greet her warmly and give her some good food, such as meat buns, spicy soup, fried dough sticks, and big chicken legs, all for free.

When Aunt Zhang went to a shop, someone would call out "Aunt Zhang" to her and offer her some treats. Aunt Zhang would politely accept them and then offer them a rent reduction. This back and forth continued until, whenever Aunt Zhang went to that street, people would call out "Aunt Zhang" several times in a row. Other customers would jokingly suggest that the street should just be called Aunt Zhang Street, and it actually became known as Aunt Zhang Street. The shops on this street also had much lower rents than those on other streets.

After hearing this, Zhao Da'e found Aunt Zhang very interesting, but unfortunately he never had the chance to meet her.

But now, it just so happens that the landlord of the shop that Zhao Da'e needs is this Aunt Zhang. Zhao Da'e realizes that this is an opportunity to befriend Aunt Zhang. If he can befriend her, it will definitely be beneficial to his future development. If Zhao Da'e plans to develop in the direction of business in the future, renting shops and warehouses will be essential. Aunt Zhang has a lot of buildings and shops. If he can get along well with her, the rent for the shops in the future can be reduced a lot, and he can save a lot of money over the course of a year.

Zhao Da'e became excited and said to Cai Xiaofeng, "Xiaofeng, we must take over this shop!"

Without a doubt, this shop is cheaper than other shops, and Cai Xiaofeng just said that it's located in the city center with high foot traffic. We have to make the most of it!

If you manage to get it, you've already gained an advantage!

Cai Xiaofeng thought so too, but she hesitated and said, "But boss, others think the same way as us. Besides us, there are others who want to take over that shop. When I went to see Aunt Zhang, other people also went to see her, all talking about renting the shop. But there were too many people there, and it was early in the morning, so we probably disturbed Aunt Zhang's sleep. As soon as she came out, she cursed all of us who came to rent the shop, and then closed the door, not wanting to talk about renting the shop anymore."

Zhao Da'e was stunned for a while after hearing this. Her intuition told her that if she could secure the shop and build a good relationship with Aunt Zhang, it would definitely be a great help to her future business. But if she couldn't...

Zhao Da'e would definitely shake his head, saying there's no need to think about it too much yet; things are up to us, after all, it hasn't been decided who will rent the shop yet.

Thinking of this, Zhao Da'e said, "Xiao Feng, let's go to the county town tomorrow morning to talk to Aunt Zhang about the shop. Let's go early so that no one beats us to it."

This is also what Cai Xiaofeng wanted to say today. She wanted Zhao Da'e to go over quickly and settle things as soon as possible. She originally thought that Zhao Da'e wouldn't want to go to the county town so soon. After all, it's the middle of winter, and it's quite cold to run around outside. Zhao Da'e might not want to go through all that trouble. But to her surprise, Zhao Da'e agreed quite readily this time, saving Cai Xiaofeng a lot of trouble.

"Okay, boss, I'll bring Xiangzi to see you tomorrow morning." Having achieved her goal, Cai Xiaofeng left. She had been busy all day and needed to rest.

Zhao Da'e thought for a moment. She needed to prepare some things for tomorrow. Having heard about the joyful stories from her past life, she knew that Aunt Zhang was a person who loved food. When she visited her, she should bring plenty of delicious food and try to take over the shop within a day.

As for the purpose of the shop, Zhao Da'e has ideas and wants to do some other business.

Currently, her only source of income is selling water. If this is discovered in the future, many people will imitate her, and with competitors, her income will definitely drop significantly.

Zhao Da'e didn't want that. Besides wanting to make Kangxi Spring Water famous, she also wanted to try other ways to make money. She couldn't put all her eggs in one basket. If the water sales business was cut off for some reason, she would have no source of funds.

After all, selling water is ultimately dependent on the weather. If the water quality deteriorates or becomes polluted, she won't be able to continue her water business. Or if there's a severe drought and no water, she definitely won't be able to keep the business going.

There are many uncertainties, and the current income is low. Zhao Da'e wants to try other ways to make money. Physical stores are very profitable at this time, so Zhao Da'e thinks he should start with physical stores. There are not many people trying it now, so if he succeeds, he can definitely make a lot of money.

Thinking of this, Zhao Da'e decided not to think about it anymore. This matter had to be handled slowly. He should focus on getting tomorrow's tasks done first before thinking about anything else.

Zhao Da'e still remembered that she needed to go back to the kitchen to help Cheng Jinxiang cook. She chatted with Cai Xiaofeng for a while, and the lamb chops had been cooking for quite some time.

Cheng Jinxiang picked up a spoon and skimmed off the foam on the lamb chops, then took them out and rinsed them with cold water.

Cheng Jinxiang ordered Zhao Da'e to take out the pressure cooker that was under the table. Zhao Da'e had no choice but to pick up the pressure cooker, and after seeing that it was covered in dust, he resigned himself to washing it.

This pressure cooker is a new gadget that Zhao Da'e bought in the city after he became rich, but he hasn't used it much since he bought it. He only used it today when he was stewing something.

After taking the basin over, Zhao Da'e first filled it with a spoonful of hot water, then mixed it with cold water to make warm water, which would be more comfortable to wash with and prevent the water from freezing. Zhao Da'e then picked up a rag and started washing the pressure cooker.

Lamb chops cooked in a pressure cooker will absorb more flavor; cooking them in a large pot won't result in sufficient temperature and pressure, and they won't be as flavorful.

While Zhao Da'e was washing the pot, Cheng Jinxiang chopped the lamb chops into several pieces, then prepared some vegetables that would taste good when cooked. She took the half-bag of cabbage left over from lunch, washed it, peeled off the leaves, chopped it, and set it aside for later use.

Next, peel and wash the potatoes, cut them into chunks, and add the eggplant as well.

When Zhao Da'e saw Cheng Jinxiang about to put eggplant in the dish, he couldn't help but shudder. Adding eggplant to sauerkraut stew with pork ribs didn't taste very good, but Cheng Jinxiang liked to eat it and loved to add it. She often told Zhao Da'e to eat more eggplant, and now Zhao Da'e felt a bit resistant to the sight of eggplant.

In addition to these, Cheng Jinxiang also washed onions, which are very flavorful when used in stews.

Not long after Cheng Jinxiang finished preparing the dishes, Zhao Dage also finished washing the pressure cooker.

Cheng Jinxiang put the blanched lamb chops into a pressure cooker, added enough water to cover the lamb chops, so that the stew would be delicious, just the right amount, and the soup would be very rich.

After adding all the side dishes, Cheng Jinxiang suddenly slapped her forehead. She had almost forgotten that she hadn't prepared the spices yet.

Those spices include scallion segments, ginger slices, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, bay leaves, etc.

Cheng Jinxiang asked Zhao Da'e to help her find these spices. Zhao Da'e rummaged through the cabinet by the door for a long time before finally finding ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, and other spices.

Cheng Jinxiang also found bay leaves and star anise with her.

After finding them, Cheng Jinxiang processed the spices, chopping up scallions and ginger.

Then put the scallion segments, ginger slices, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, bay leaves, etc. into the pressure cooker.

After finishing all that, Cheng Jinxiang took out the pickled cabbage, which had been pickled in a jar for quite some time and would be very flavorful when used to stew pork ribs.

As she put the lid on the pot, Zhao Da'e glanced at the cabbage next to her and reminded her, "Mom, you forgot to put the cabbage in."

Zhao Da'e thought it was a good thing that she reminded her, otherwise there wouldn't be any cabbage left when they ate the ribs later. She really liked cabbage.

Cheng Jinxiang glanced at the cabbage placed beside her and couldn't help but laugh. She pinched Zhao Da'e's little nose and said, "Silly, if you put this cabbage in to stew, it will fall apart after a few tens of minutes and won't taste good. You have to put it in to cook in the last few minutes so that the cabbage won't lose its original flavor and chewiness."

Zhao Da'e suddenly realized that there was such a thing as the order in which the ingredients were added. In her previous life, she had never thought so much about it when cooking. She just put them in to stew as long as they were edible, but the taste would be much worse.

"You, you, I want to teach you how to cook, but you always make excuses that you're too young and then go off to play by yourself. There are many intricacies to cooking. If there's a chance in the future, I'll teach you slowly. You can learn eventually." Cheng Jinxiang couldn't help but ruffle Zhao Da'e's hair. There was very little she could teach Zhao Da'e, and cooking was probably the most practical thing.

As for farm work, she didn't want to teach Zhao Da'e to do farm work. Instead, she wanted to teach Zhao Da'e to study hard. Although doing business could also make money, studying and getting into university was a good way out and would allow him to further his education.

Cheng Jinxiang wanted to study but didn't have the means. She had many siblings and not enough money, so she only attended primary school and then came to help with farm work.

On the other hand, Zhao Chunqin from the Zhao family went all the way to university and now works in the county town, sitting in an office, which is much easier than doing farm work. Cheng Jinxiang is envious of her and hopes that her daughter can be like Zhao Chunqin, study hard, go to university, and find a good job in the future.

If she hadn't left that money with Wang Guixiang, but had kept it herself, she would have had tens of thousands of yuan. After deducting the money needed to build a new house, she would still have 10,000 yuan left, which would be enough to support Zhao Da'e's education.

But now, not only have they not gotten the money, but they haven't even finished building the new house. This is a real worry for Cheng Jinxiang. Nobody wants their hard-earned money to just disappear like this.

Thinking of Wang Guixiang and Zhao Tiesheng, Cheng Jinxiang was filled with anger. If Wang Guixiang hadn't kept pressuring her with the idea of ​​filial piety, forcing her family to hand over their money to her for safekeeping, and if Zhao Tiesheng had been more firm in refusing to give her the money, none of this would have happened.

Perhaps now that her new house is built, she no longer needs to return to her parents' home and live a life of dependence. Although her own mother is still alive, it is not her own home, and she feels somewhat uncomfortable no matter where she lives.

I'm going to Zhao Chunqin's place in two days. If I can't get the money, getting the tea will be good too. I can't afford to lose out.