The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 321 - 311: Explosive

Aunt Liu left, and after Lu Jingqiu and her companion finished their meal and tidied up, they took the bus to the store.

It was a little after eleven when they got there, and from a distance, they saw Jiang Yiyi and her little cousin’s daughter distributing flyers on the roadside. Hearing about the new store opening and the buy one get one free beef soup offer for today, many people began to flock into the store.

Jiang Yiyi spotted them first and waved, smiling, "Sister-in-law Jingqiu, Sister-in-law Xinyue."

"Yiyi, Flower, how’s it going today? Are you tired?"

The two smiled and said, "There are so many people today, the store is overwhelmed, and we’re not tired at all. We even had the beef soup for lunch, and it was delicious."

Luo Xinyue replied, "Keep it up, and we’re going to take a look inside."

The two entered with joy in their hearts, and as soon as they reached the entrance, they could hear the bustling noise inside.

Shang Ze and Shen Mu were at the front desk, one helping with the checkout and the other selling pancakes.

Upon closer inspection, Lu Jingqiu saw that most of the tables were occupied, some by one person, some by two, and some by three.

Seeing them, Shen Mu said, "Sisters-in-law, you’re here just in time, as we’re about to run out of pancakes."

Luo Xinyue exclaimed, "Ah, over fifty servings already?"

Shang Ze laughed, "Just two left, and they’ll be sold out soon. Comrade Xue just bought a small stove and is busy in the back kitchen. There are a lot of people here; you don’t need to do anything, just find a spot to sit and watch. Are you hungry? If you are, we can serve you two bowls."

Lu Jingqiu shook her head, "We ate before we came, we’ll have it later." The two wanted to check out the back kitchen. Peering through the window, there was one person washing dishes, a chef busily ladling soup, and another seemed to be preparing another pot in the back. Niannian was bent over inside, most likely making pancakes.

They found a spot to sit and watched as more people entered. They felt a bit anxious since they couldn’t help.

Luo Xinyue discreetly counted the customers; in just a while, more than ten had come in, and seven or eight had left, and it was only a little past eleven.

Jingqiu couldn’t keep still and carefully entered the back kitchen, "Niannian."

"Jingqiu, Xinyue, you’ve come."

Xue Jianian was busy making pancakes by herself.

Seeing this, Lu Jingqiu rolled up her sleeves and said, "Let me help."

Xue Jianian replied, "Sure, help turn the dough, and I’ll roll out the pancakes."

Luo Xinyue asked, "Niannian, did we sell out all the over fifty servings we made?"

Xue Jianian replied, "Indeed, there were already more than thirty people earlier. I initially prepared one and a half pots, and half a pot was gone by noon. Now it’s just after eleven, and probably more than twenty people have come. We’ll need another pot. I didn’t expect there to be so many people. We don’t have a designated space for making pancakes in the back kitchen, so we’ll have to reorganize a bit."

Lu Jingqiu said, "No need. Earlier, Aunt Liu’s sister said she’d help us with the pancakes and she can deliver them to us tomorrow."

After observing the current situation, she remarked, "I’ve ordered over fifty for her, but looking at this, we’ll probably need a hundred."

Xue Jianian smiled, "I don’t think a hundred would be enough."

Luo Xinyue replied, "No problem, the big sister who rents a room in the same alley as mine, I’ll talk to her in the evening."

Xue Jianian felt, "One person can’t possibly keep up with making over a hundred pancakes. We’ll need to find another person."

Lu Jingqiu nodded, "Yeah, definitely." A hundred or more would take an entire morning’s time.

Considering that Aunt Liu was planning on starting her own steamed bun business, she really didn’t have much spare time.

"By the way, we hired a waiter today who’s out front, a young man."

Lu Jingqiu remarked, "There seem to be quite a few young men around lately."

Xue Jianian said, "Yeah, there are quite a few people staying at home without work these days. It’s easy for us to hire people here, and they all work very hard."

Xue Jianian had come over in the morning to deliver beef and beef offal and didn’t interfere with anything else. The back kitchen staff had already tidied up the store cleanly.

They knew what to do without being told.

Despite the crowd today, Jianian had just spent a few dollars on a stove and some coal briquettes, totaling a little over ten dollars. Although that morning’s labor wasn’t paid, there was nothing to be done about it.

Xue Jianian thought these expenses were necessary.

The three of them did feel a bit cramped making pancakes together. After making five, Xue Jianian quickly took them out to the front.

Lu Jingqiu and Xue Jianian were left busy in the corner. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

The speed at which they made pancakes couldn’t keep up with how fast the customers wanted them.

Especially at twelve o’clock, when suddenly more than a dozen people crowded in.

As soon as they heard about the buy-one-get-one-free deal, they of course didn’t expect to receive one on the spot, but to buy one portion and receive a Welfare Card. This card could be used for consumption within a month.

Some people thought they would get one on the spot, two people came in wanting to buy one portion and eat another for free, but the shop disagreed, the reason they wanted them to come back next time was precisely for consumption.

Some felt it was a rip-off and left after entering; others thought the opening promotion was a good deal, being able to eat beef for just twenty-five cents.

They were naturally pleased, so many were willing to come and spend.

The promotion was only for the opening day to give out privileges; judging by today’s traffic, they definitely couldn’t afford to keep giving things away on the second and third days.

So tomorrow, they might not need to prepare over a hundred portions of pancakes.

By noon, the beef broth was nearly gone, and they had been busy until after three o’clock, with customers coming in intermittently.

Most of them were rushing to catch trains at the station.

Some in a hurry even asked if they could take their meals to go; some with lunch boxes, others without, who could only leave with regret.

They wanted to buy as well, but had nothing to put the food in.

The food boxes were too shallow to hold much soup. Today, some had tried to use the food boxes anyway and, looking at the little bit of broth they got, were not satisfied.

The soup was free, but with a train to catch, there was nothing they could do.

Furthermore, changing shifts at noon was quite inconvenient, as it was the busiest time. This was an issue they needed to address.

As the afternoon quieted down at around three to four o’clock, Lu Jingqiu and Xue Jianian, too, were tired, so they were allowed to go home to rest.

Shang Ze drove them back.

Luo Xinyue said, "It’s not okay for you to be at home alone, especially since you’re pregnant. Why not find someone to stay with you?"

"Whom should I find? I quite like being alone. Don’t worry, I just slept a bit too soundly today, but I’ll definitely wake up with just one alarm going forward."

After Shang Ze took them to Luo Xinyue’s doorstep, Lu Jingqiu primarily wanted to see Aunt Liu’s bun shop.

After Shang Ze left, they approached a shop with a large street-facing window enhanced for safety with iron bars and a small square opening through which to pass the buns.

When they entered the courtyard, Aunt Liu and her sister-in-law were cleaning up the kitchen.

"Aunt Liu. Sister-in-law Jingqiu."

"Xiao Qiu, Comrade Luo, you two came over."

"Yeah, we just came back from the shop, were passing by here, and decided to drop in."

"Oh wow, your shop really does great business. We passed by this morning and saw you busy in there."

"Aunt Liu, why didn’t you come in?"

"Hey, we’ve been busy, I just had to show my sister-in-law around."

"Is everything set up here?"

"It’s all set. We bought a secondhand steamer from the State-owned restaurant, and reinforcing the window cost three yuan. We bought the flour from the grain and oil shop this afternoon."

"Sister-in-law, I haven’t had the chance to tell my friend about it yet."

"Whether you tell her or not, we bought five bags of flour that’s better and cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative’s."

Luo Xinyue and Lu Jingqiu chatted in the courtyard for a while, telling them to prepare eighty portions of pancakes for tomorrow.

They also gave Aunt Liu and Sister-in-law Jingqiu two Welfare Cards each, inviting them to drop by the shop when they had time to try the food and offer suggestions.

Being too tired, they didn’t stay long, and Lu Jingqiu said goodbye to Luo Xinyue and headed straight home.