Reborn in the 80s: Everyone Falls For Me
Chapter 219 - 218: Becoming a Poor Wretch (4 Updates)

Chapter 219: Chapter 218: Becoming a Poor Wretch (4 Updates)

Xu Sisi received ten dollars for the first time, her hands trembling with excitement as she grasped the money, "Sister Niannian, you are like my second parents."

Xu Niannian chuckled, amused by the silliness.

Now with living expenses covered, Xu Sisi blossomed with joy. After kissing the money fiercely, she said to Xu Niannian, "Sister Niannian, does your shop need help? I can come over on the weekends to work and pay off my debt."

Xu Niannian liked this type of character—there was no sense of entitlement.

She didn’t spoil her but instead replied with a smile, "Sure, we are always short-staffed. Remember to come over and help out on the weekends."

"Alrighty."

Xu Sisi sent Xu Niannian off with a beaming smile, and then turned to plant several more kisses on the ten-dollar bill in her hand.

Oh, she finally felt wealthy, ten whole dollars, enough for a good while.

This was the joy of the once penniless Xu Sisi.

*

The day after Jin Yu left, Xu Niannian kept herself busy and fulfilled. On the second day, she suddenly remembered a letter she had received not long ago.

It was a pleading letter from Xu Qiang, begging for food.

Oops, she had completely forgotten about it.

This had been delayed for almost a week, and Xu Niannian felt a bit embarrassed.

She quickly went to the kitchen to make Liuyue Su again, coinciding with the time to supply them, and produced one thousand one hundred.

One thousand were given to Zhao Pang to deliver.

Since Xu Zhiqiang had to stay in the shop to manage the till, they entrusted Zhao Pang with the task.

Pinned by the scent, Zhao Pang, whose mouth watered uncontrollably, asked, "Little boss, what did you make? Why does it smell so good?"

Zhao Pang was always greedy for a good bite but, thankfully, was industrious and deft in his work.

Knowing his penchant for treats, Xu Niannian packed twenty with oil paper and handed them to Zhao Pang, "After you deliver these, take them to the shop and share with Auntie Qin and Xiao Rou."

Hearing that he was to share only with Qin Feng and Chen Xiaorou, Zhao Pang’s face fell, "Little boss, that’s not fair. You let me carry them just to tease me and didn’t even spare one for me."

Xu Niannian was easy to talk to, without the airs of a boss, and Zhao Pang liked to joke with her, speaking freely.

Hearing this, Xu Niannian curved her lips into a shallow smile, "I did save some for you. I meant for the three of you to share them."

"Ah, I knew it; you’re the best, little boss. But I have a suggestion."

Zhao Pang shouldered his basket, still holding the twenty Liuyue Su wrapped in oil paper given by Xu Niannian.

Xu Niannian raised an eyebrow, her pretty almond-shaped eyes sparkling with brightness, "Go ahead, what’s your suggestion?"

"Don’t smile at me like that in the future; it’s too distracting," said Zhao Pang before he happily ran off.

Xu Niannian helplessly shook her head at the superficialities of society.

Well, she was part of it, too.

After Zhao Pang left, Xu Niannian made another batch of Butter Sauce since the shop’s supply was running low again.

After making the Butter Sauce and aside from what was needed for the shop, Xu Niannian bottled up two small jars intending to send them to Xu Qiang as compensation for neglecting his request for so long.

Just as she finished packing the Liuyue Su, Xu Niannian realized something very important.

Oh no, Liuyue Su couldn’t last that long, and with the weather so hot and the package delivery so slow, it would surely spoil by the time it arrived.

After some thought, Xu Niannian decided to replace the Liuyue Su with mung bean cakes.

Filling a bucket with stream water, she quickly set out to make the mung bean cakes.

Fortunately, whenever she shopped for ingredients, she always picked up a few extra items, among them, mung beans.

Making mung bean cakes was a complicated process, and since there wasn’t time for the beans to soak and sprout, Xu Niannian simply boiled them in water.

After about ten minutes of boiling, the mung beans swelled, bursting their husks.

She scooped them up and placed them in the stream water to remove impurities and to cool them down.

There weren’t many impurities in the mung beans, just a few tiny black specks that rose to the surface.

Xu Niannian gave the beans a few rubs with her hands to loosen the skins, revealing the mellow yellow bean body beneath, and then steamed them again in a pot.

Lacking cream, Xu Niannian had to make her own.

The process for making cream was simple, separating egg whites from yolks, then whipping the whites with sugar, a drop of vinegar, and a pinch of salt, constantly stirring.

Gradually, as she added more sugar during the whipping, the mixture turned creamy. Xu Niannian’s hands were quick, and in no time at all, she had made the cream.

She then mixed egg yolks with eggs and flour, stirring continuously until it formed a frosting-like texture, which Xu Niannian planned to use as filling.

By the time she finished, the mung beans were perfectly steamed.

Xu Niannian quickly mashed the beans into a fine powder, let them cool, then poured the cream and honey on top, kneading it into a dough.

The simple green bean cakes were ready, and Xu Niannian carefully filled each one with cream frosting she had made with egg yolks.

She had even added a bit of spring water into the frosting as she mixed it.

Before stuffing it into the cakes, she dipped a chopstick in to taste. The cream was thick and smooth, hitting just the right level of sweetness—Xu Niannian was extremely satisfied.

With the added spring water, the cream’s flavor was fragrant, and because it wasn’t heated, it had a cool, chilling taste.

Green bean cakes are a treat for beating the heat, and with this cool cream frosting, they tasted even better.

After finishing the green bean cakes, Xu Niannian left a few to let her family try later on.

She tasted one herself.

The green bean cake she made was very crumbly; a gentle bite, and the soft cake crumbled in one corner, the texture fine and the flavor delicately fragrant and soft.

The aroma of green beans mixed with the sweetness of spring water, weaving together a refreshingly sweet taste.

Biting again, the frosting in the middle slid into the mouth, cool and smooth, and exceptionally crisp and delightful.

The sweetness was intense but not cloying, spreading through the lips and teeth.

It was so delicious that Xu Niannian couldn’t help but squint her eyes with pleasure.

This was just a new method she had tried, and she hadn’t expected the taste to be this good, far beyond her expectations.

Eating such cool, fragrant, and refreshing pastries during the sweltering summer was just divine relief from the heat.

She had originally made fifty green bean cakes, leaving only ten at home. Now, she suddenly took out another ten.

Fearing that the cakes might get crushed in the mail, Xu Niannian found a clean wooden box to pack them carefully.

After preparing everything, Xu Niannian, with two bottles of Butter Sauce and thirty green bean cakes in tow, dashed to the post office to send them off.

After sending these out, Xu Niannian hurried back home, took five green bean cakes and made a trip to Li Qingshui’s place.

Without much ado, she presented the green bean cakes for Li Qingshui to taste.

Li Qingshui’s eyes lit up with disbelief as she repeatedly praised them, evidently finding them more marketable than Liuyue Su in the hot summer.

Li Qingshui, while hastily stuffing the remaining green bean cakes in her mouth, discussed with Xu Niannian the details of placing an order.

Xu Niannian agreed to supply her with green bean cakes once every week, five hundred at a time, priced the same as Liuyue Su and made to the same size.

Li Qingshui, without hesitation, was ready to pay. Xu Niannian stopped her.

"No rush, I don’t have any stock right now. Once I make them and someone brings them over, you can pay me then."

"Okay," agreed Li Qingshui, straightforward as well.

Whatever Xu Niannian made seemed like a heavenly delight; after finishing, Li Qingshui still smacked her lips, unable to help herself.

"Niannian, how on earth were you gifted with such hands? Why is everything you make so tantalizing?"

Xu Niannian smiled, "As long as Sister Qingshui likes it, that’s all that matters."

"Tsk, it’s more than just me liking it—who wouldn’t love something this delicious? Hey, what exactly did you put in these green bean cakes? They’re so refreshingly cool and tasty, completely different from other green bean cakes."

Xu Niannian laughed, "That’s a secret."

Li Qingshui chuckled, not pressing further; the question was just a casual inquiry.

After visiting Li Qingshui, Xu Niannian continued on to the three partnership stores in the suburbs.

There used to be four, but because Du Cui was not a good partner, Xu Niannian had decided to end their cooperation.

She was too busy and hadn’t yet found a way to mass-produce Liuyue Su, so she stopped searching for new stores to partner with.

The owners of the three stores, upon tasting Xu Niannian’s green bean cakes, unanimously requested to place orders.

Ever since they started selling Xu Niannian’s Liuyue Su, their businesses had been booming, getting better day by day, boosting their original business as well.

Time flew, and three days passed. Xu Niannian hadn’t gone back to the shop; she was looking for a way to mass-produce Liuyue Su.

There were machines for making mooncakes in the food processing factory.

Xu Niannian planned to order one to test it out, but after asking around, a new machine turned out to cost over three thousand eight hundred, and she could get two of the older models for three thousand eight.

With the recent earnings from the shop, Xu Niannian had exactly four thousand on hand.

If she bought the machines, her savings to buy a house would once again be washed away.

After the purchase, she would have only two hundred left.

Two hundred could last a long time in the hands of an average person, but for Xu Niannian, it was different—as payday was approaching, she had to pay her workers’ wages.

The shop also needed cash for buying daily ingredients, and with two new machines, Xu Niannian suddenly felt she was back to being broke.