Quick Transmigration: The Supporting Female Lead Stays Out of It - Chapter 15: Chef 14

Old friends meeting again, naturally overjoyed, Aunt Wang held Lin Dan’s hand and spoke for a long time. Lin Dan felt like she was back home here, tying up her headscarf, rolling up her sleeves, and naturally starting to work. When the handsome man returned with two buckets of water, he saw that she was already sitting in the back kitchen grinding soy milk, while Aunt Wang was adding firewood to the stove, murmuring about her experiences over the years, “It’s true that the apprentice learns the skills and starves the master. If I had known that their couple was so heartless, I would never have passed on the skills to them.”

“Not everyone is like that, isn’t there also a saying? ‘The master teaches well, the apprentice takes care of the old,’ the skill of making tofu was taught to me by Aunt, and now, I’m back to take care of you in your old age.” Lin Dan smiled lightly.

Aunt Wang quickly waved her hand, “Don’t say that, I only taught you for three months, and you also did so much work for me every day, it counts that I took advantage, how can I let you take care of me in my old age! Me and my little son can still get by, don’t be a burden to you!” Saying this, her eyes turned red. Her own son didn’t care about her, but a little girl who only learned one dish from her treated her like family, how could she bear it!

The little son walked in with red eyes, his voice hoarse, “Sister Lin, thank you for your kindness. I found a permanent worker in Zhou’s family the other day to work, every day to help feed the livestock, can support my mother, and it’s not hard work, so you can rest assured.”

Lin Dan waved her hand, “What I said about supporting you is not that kind of supporting, you might have misunderstood. Aunt, in those days, you taught me a dish, and now I’ll teach you three dishes, if you learn them, you can attract more business, and bring back the prosperous days of the past, what do you think?” She said while filtering the ground soy milk repeatedly with gauze, and poured it into a large pot to cook.

The handsome man didn’t say a word, but had already taken over the work of grinding the soy milk, his gaze never leaving Lin Dan, who was talking freely.

Lin Dan chopped the side dishes like coriander, green onions, and pickled mustard greens into dices, then stir-fried sesame seeds and peanuts in oil until fragrant, pounded them in a bowl, and placed them aside for later use, she said slowly, “You only sell one dish all year round, the customers will get tired of it if they eat it for a long time, and the business will naturally be deserted. Your skill of making tofu is very good, why not make a few more tofu dishes? The dish I’m teaching you now I learned from Fushun County, it’s called tofu brain, also known as douhua, it’s a semi-finished product of tofu, but the taste is not inferior to tofu at all, there are salty and sweet flavors. Your shop is next to the official road, with guests from all over the world, if northerners come, you serve them the salty ones, if southerners come, you serve them the sweet ones, eat them hot in spring, autumn and winter, and put them in the well water to ice in summer, and eat them cold. Douhua originally had no flavor, the seasoning depends entirely on the sauce, and there are also many kinds of this sauce, the salty sauce has the flavors of spicy, fragrant spicy, and sour spicy, and the sweet sauce has the flavors of cane sugar, brown sugar, maltose, etc. One bowl of douhua with two spoons of sauce, with this one dish, you can make thousands of flavors, easily meeting the needs of any customer, isn’t it much better than simply selling tofu balls? Besides, tofu brain is easy to make, you can re-brew a large bucket in less than three quarters of an hour after it’s sold out, eat it fresh and make it fresh, customers can eat the freshest ingredients at any time, how can they not like it?”

Speaking of cooking, Lin Dan was naturally eloquent, and she unconsciously made two bowls of douhua, one with spicy flavor, and one with wolfberry and brown sugar flavor, both of which were red in color and looked very appetizing.

The handsome man silently picked up the salty douhua and took a bite, the extremely fresh and tender taste immediately conquered his taste buds, the strong bean aroma rolled in his mouth with the spicy soup, and then slid into his throat, the taste was simply wonderful. His eyes lit up slightly, and immediately picked up the sweet douhua and took a bite, the sweet and tender douhua slowly melted on his tongue, he bit the wolfberry and tasted a little bit of astringency, it was simply a stroke of genius. The texture was so tender and smooth, the taste was so varied, he could not stop after scooping a spoon.

Aunt Wang and Wang Xiaodi took a bite, half believing, and were immediately amazed.

Lin Dan made the douhua and also fried a plate of Zhenxiang tofu, also with two kinds of sauces, both sweet and salty, if the guests are not satisfied, they can also adjust it themselves. Finally, she slightly improved Aunt Wang’s signature dish, the high-soup tofu balls, and made them into dry-fried tofu balls, they were solid when they entered the pot, but hollow when they came out of the pot, she gently broke the crispy outer shell with her hand, the inner wall was still hanging with a layer of fresh and sweet thick soy milk, it tasted crispy and tender, and dry yet juicy, the texture was very unique, and then she used the chili sauce, minced garlic, and wild green onion to make a dipping sauce, and stuffed it in the hollow of the tofu balls to eat together, crispy outside and tender inside, fragrant, spicy, and delicious, the taste was not too good! If you can’t eat spicy food, you can replace the dipping sauce with bean paste or sesame peanut crumbs, the taste is also considered to be a masterpiece.

These three dishes are extremely flexible and changeable, as long as the guests like it, any flavor can be made, once you learn them, you won’t have to worry for the rest of your life. Aunt Wang and Wang Xiaodi were not stupid people, they tasted the dishes, listened to the explanation, and were both happy and ashamed, and they didn’t know whether to accept this gift.

Lin Dan never spoke empty words, after pointing out the dishes, she also taught some business experience: “In spring, autumn and winter, you can provide hot tea to the guests for free, in summer, make some jelly and ice it at any time, and then hang a flag, write ‘free tea supply’, there will naturally be tired guests stopping to drink, you can then ask them if they want to eat, and the business will naturally start. There are few people who know words after all, Xiaodi can sit on the side of the road and wait, and when he sees a caravan coming, he can shout a few times to attract popularity. Aunt Wang’s skills are here, not afraid of customers being dissatisfied, if customers are satisfied, the reputation will be there, and the days will get better and better, don’t you think?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Aunt Wang and Wang Xiaodi kept nodding, their eyes were wet. They could see that Lin Dan really wanted to help them, otherwise she wouldn’t have said so much. They never expected that they had only done a small act of kindness back then, and today they would have such a blessing, there are still more good people in this world.

They were busy until the evening, Lin Dan walked on the official road under the stars, and only felt broad-minded. What should be hers, she wants to take it back, what she owes others, she will also pay it back, living means to live frankly.

The handsome man silently followed behind her, his gaze at her was extremely complex.

It takes more than a day or two to learn three dishes, Lin Dan had no choice but to stay in the small town for a few more days, and helped Aunt Wang’s shop every day. Lin Xiaodi brewed hot tea and sat on the side of the road to shout, and indeed attracted many caravans and passers-by. They originally planned to drink the free tea and leave, but they were attracted by the strong aroma coming from the kitchen, so they asked for a few bowls of douhua to try, and this try was amazing, they couldn’t stop, one bowl wasn’t enough, those with big appetites even drank four or five bowls and still didn’t feel satisfied, there were no northern and southern customers who didn’t like it.

Aunt Wang’s small shop went from deserted to having many customers, it was only three days. Three days later, Lin Dan left, Aunt Wang herself researched some new flavors and sold them, the response was also very good. Over time, the dilapidated thatched shed turned into a solid earth house, and after a few years it was rebuilt into a row of wooden houses, and finally developed into a restaurant specializing in douhua, which was famous far and wide. And Aunt Wang’s daughter-in-law was squeezed out of business, and came back to kowtow and admit her mistake, but was driven out and became a laughing stock in the ten miles and eight townships.

These things after the fact, Lin Dan didn’t know yet, she brought her mother back to the capital and settled in a small courtyard that she had already bought, she went to the Xicheng District to check the shop without time to rest. She had been planning to open a shop in the capital for two years, it could be said that “everything is ready and only the east wind is missing.”

The capital has always had the saying “east is rich and west is noble, north is poor and south is lowly.” The Xicheng District is mostly inhabited by nobles; the Dongcheng District is mostly inhabited by wealthy people; the northern district is a slum; the southern district is all migrant workers, relying on manual labor to make a living, so they are lowly.

Lin Baotian was good at making Lu cuisine, Lin Dan had studied Lu cuisine a lot over the years, and she naturally wanted to continue making Lu cuisine when she came back to open a shop. And there is a saying in the culinary world – Lu cuisine is the official cuisine, Cantonese cuisine is the business cuisine, Sichuan cuisine is the folk cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine is the literati cuisine. Since she wants to make official cuisine, she naturally has to open a shop in the Xicheng District, so that there will be customers.

Lin Dan had long sent several servants back to the capital to find a shop, after waiting for two or three months, she finally waited for a grocery store in Qingyun Alley of Xicheng District to fail to continue, and was ready to transfer it, and this grocery store was opposite the Yan Family Restaurant.

Logically speaking, since Lin Dan had safely arrived in the capital, the handsome man should have left, but he didn’t leave, and didn’t give a reason, just silently followed behind Lin Dan, like a guardian. Sensing that he had no malice, Lin Dan didn’t care about him, and directly negotiated the price with the owner of the grocery store.

The handsome man stood at the door waiting, his gaze turned to the Yan Family Restaurant opposite, his expression was a little subtle.

“You want to open a restaurant, and you also make Lu cuisine?” The owner of the grocery store rolled his eyes and changed his words, “Shopkeeper Lin, it’s not that I want to make things difficult for you, it’s just that there has been a change in my family, and I need a large sum of money. Although the price you offer is suitable, it’s not high, and these days, there have been several people who have come to me, and the prices they offered are all more reasonable than yours. The highest price wins, this is the rule of doing business, you won’t not understand, right?”

Lin Dan frowned, “Shopkeeper, it’s better if you report the price you want to me, I’ll see if it’s appropriate, I’ll take it if it’s appropriate, and it’s over if it’s not.”

The owner of the grocery store reported a price, which was completely beyond what Lin Dan could afford now. She calculated it in her heart, and resolutely said: “Shopkeeper, wait for me for a day, I’ll bring the money tomorrow, you prepare the documents for transfer.”

After negotiating, she had her servants go back to get the goods, while she herself strolled around Qingyun Alley to check the situation.
“Three hundred and sixty taels of silver, this price is enough to buy two shops like that, you’re at a loss.” The handsome man followed her closely, his voice sounding deep.
“You don’t understand, I just want that shop.” Lin Dan waved her hand firmly.
The handsome man turned his head, looked at the thriving Yan Family Restaurant, with its many customers, and then looked at the grocery store opposite, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: Lin Dan is planning to compete with the Yan Family Restaurant, isn’t she?