Chapter 74 Preparing to do some small business

Seeing this scene,
He Yuzhu also offered a few token words of comfort, but seeing that it had no effect, he stopped talking.

Not long after, Xu Damao and the other man also stopped, looked at each other helplessly, and went to sleep.

From the second day on, the storm of conscription intensified.

From arresting people on the streets at the beginning to door-to-door searches, all the young people in the city who had no background and were of the right age were taken away.
At the same time, dozens of military trains brought back troops and equipment that were originally scattered in various places.

Used to strengthen the defense around Peking.

It was not until a week later, on November 11, that the 22 elite troops who had just finished fighting outside the Great Wall on the 9th suddenly marched into the Great Wall.
Together with the local troops around Peking,
Quickly surround Fenghuangcheng, Tangergu, Jinmen and other key defensive cities,

News came,

The Peking headquarters, which originally thought they had three to six months to prepare for war, was caught off guard.
While vigorously repairing the city's defenses, they announced the implementation of military control.

Time enters July,
Fengze Garden,
Smilingly sending off the officers who had just eaten and drunk their fill, Luan Xuetang turned around and called the chefs to a meeting.
"I'm sure you've all heard about this.
All the major cities around Peking were either lost or surrounded.

Whether by water or land, the various precious ingredients needed by our Fengze Garden cannot be transported into Beiping City in a short period of time.

So starting today, Fengzeyuan will be temporarily closed.
Until everything returns to normal, your salary will be halved.
If the family has many people and high expenses, they may need to do something else to supplement the family income. "

The chefs all knew what Luan Xuetang said.

Just like the officers who brought their own food these days,
Although there are still many precious ingredients in Peking, they are all in the hands of the nobles and it is impossible for them to flow out.
Naturally, Fengzeyuan could not continue to operate.

Luan Xuetang has already done his utmost by paying them half of their salary every month, so they naturally cannot gossip.

Coming out of Fengze Garden,

Looking at He Daqing who was lost in thought, He Yuzhu asked casually,

"Dad, what are you thinking about?"

"Fengze Garden is closed now. It's not a good idea for us to just sit there and do nothing. I'm thinking about doing something else to make a living."

Hearing He Daqing's subconscious answer, He Yuzhu asked his own question.
"Isn't our Peking now under military control?
There are not many things available on the market, and the prices are so high. We can’t make any money no matter what we do!”

"Not always,
It is precisely because of the current control that food is hard to buy and everyone is hungry that there is more profit to be made.

Although some of these gadgets may not look very eye-catching, they actually have very high profits.”

When He Daqing mentioned this, He Yuzhu subconsciously thought of the incident of selling steamed buns, so he asked,
"You're not thinking of selling buns, noodles or something like that!"

Seeing that He Yuzhu really knew something, He Daqing was quite surprised and finally turned around to look at him.
"sure,

I thought you didn't have this insight, but it turns out you know quite a bit about it.

Now that you know the ins and outs of this, I feel relieved. At least I won’t be cheated when I go out to sell buns.”

Seeing He Daqing praising him with a surprised look on his face, He Yuzhu felt quite strange.

He didn't know whether Sha Zhu had this insight or not.
Anyway, he often heard people say in later life that those small shops in good locations could earn enough to buy a house in a year just by selling buns and noodles.
He originally wanted to try it, but unfortunately he didn't have the technology at home.
If you spend money to study outside,

Not only do I have to pay a lot of tuition, but I can only learn the basics. After deducting the labor and costs, I might as well deliver food myself. "Dad, it seems that you want me to sell buns, so what are you going to do?"

"Of course I'm going to sell mutton offal soup and fried tripe.

We will go get some mutton offal early tomorrow morning. We will gather the ingredients in the morning and take a small pole to Dongzhimen in the afternoon to test the waters and see what the market is like."

Seeing that He Daqing had even thought about his own business,

He Yuzhu didn't say anything else.
Anyway, no matter what the class is, there is a big premise, that is, it must be the entire or main source of income for a certain number of years.
Selling steamed buns and mutton offal soup for a few days now obviously won’t have any impact.

As for whether he would encounter deserters and swindlers again when selling buns, He Yuzhu really didn't care at all.
With weapons in hand, it's hard to say who will rob whom at that time.

At this time, a group of refugees carrying children and large and small bags hurriedly passed by the father and his two sons.

He Yuzhu said half-jokingly,
"Dad, ever since the commander started building fortifications outside the city a while ago, we have had a lot of refugees, young and old, come to the city to seek refuge.
Aren’t you afraid that they will snatch me away?”

"Just rob it,
Tell me, are you stupid?
If they want to rob, let them rob. I, your father, can still afford to compensate you for a few buns.

Anyway, you will get your money back in a few days. They can't just wait in the same place every day to rob you.
A few baskets of steamed buns every day are not enough for the refugees and beggars."

Seeing He Daqing's attitude, He Yuzhu said, "Okay, this is what you said, don't blame me if you lose money later."

"The loss is not just mine. You also contributed to the capital. Why should I blame you?"

arrive home,

While it was still early, He Daqing immediately asked He Yuzhu to start making dough.
While He Yuzhu was making the dough, he went out and borrowed two large baskets and a coal stove.

"Zhu Zi, tomorrow morning we will get up early and go to the market to buy some mutton offal.
By the way, let's see if we can get some mutton.

If we have meat, we can make meat buns. If not, we can make some cabbage buns or sauerkraut buns. At worst, we can just sell them at a lower price.”

"I know dad."

The next morning, He Yuzhu had just gotten up from the warm kang when he shuddered. It felt much colder than yesterday.
So he quickly climbed to the window, blew on it, wiped it,

Then I noticed icicles hanging from the eaves and thick snow on the ground.

Looking at the snowflakes floating in the sky, He Yuzhu immediately began to rummage through his drawers for his cotton coat, trousers, scarf, hat and gloves.

"Zhu Zi, what are you doing? Why are you making a fuss so early in the morning?"

Turning back to see Xu Damao mumbling to him with sleepy eyes narrowed, He Yuzhu smiled and said,

"It's snowing heavily outside. It's piled up very thickly."

Children these days don’t have many things to play with. Apart from playing cat’s tangle, kicking shuttlecock and spinning top, they usually play in the mud. The weather is only better in winter.

When Xu Damao heard that there was snow outside, he immediately became alert.
He jumped up from the kang, then immediately shrank back.
“It’s too cold today.

Zhuzi, after you get dressed, hurry to my house and find me a new set of clothes. If you keep wearing the clothes you wore yesterday, I’ll definitely catch a cold.”

(End of this chapter)