Cold Dishes

Under the bright sunlight of May and June, Zhao Danshi's courtyard was piled with bamboo trays, each one filled with crimson strawberries.

A light breeze blew through, and the sweet fragrance filled the entire yard, impossible to contain as it drifted everywhere.

Dou Dou had already tasted strawberries. He lay in his little bed, clutching the railing as he stared at the strawberries outside, strings of drool spilling from his mouth.

Since it was his first time eating fruit puree, Zhao Danshi did not dare give him too much. He only let him have a strawberry puree portion about the size of half an egg yolk, just enough for a taste.

Dou Dou was smart. After eating it once, he had thoroughly remembered the taste of that fruit.

After filming the video, Zhao Danshi came back and gently rubbed his cheek. "Being greedy won't help. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to eat even a tiny bit more."

"Yah-yah." Dou Dou smiled, revealing two tiny white teeth.

Zhao Danshi's hair had grown longer now, and when he worked, it would sometimes fall loose and cover his eyes. These days, he usually tied it back with a black hairband into a small bun. Good-looking people looked good in any hairstyle, and his fans had praised this one plenty of times.

They filmed and edited the video of making candied strawberries, then uploaded it that evening. Their fans were delighted. When Zhao Danshi refreshed the page again, there were already more than a dozen comments below. He replied to them.

—Ahhh, where did these strawberries come from? Their color is so beautiful! —Thank you, we grew them ourselves.

—Brother Danshi is so talented, he barely seems like a man. —A genuine, certified man.

—Such good strawberries being used for candied strawberries is really a waste. —A little, yes. Something unexpected happened, so we had to pick them early. But our candied strawberries are delicious too.

—Brother Danshi, did you grow these strawberries yourselves? They look so tempting. Do you sell strawberries? —Not for now. We currently work with a dedicated fruit shop. If we grow more things in the future, we may sell some through Taobao.

—Brother Danshi, please tell me how I can eat the candied strawberries you made yourself. —Share this video and @ one person. Ten people will be drawn to receive a jar of candied strawberries each.

—You're so hardworking, Brother! Love you! [Heart] [Heart] [Heart] —Thanks for the praise. I'll keep working hard, so please continue supporting me.

After replying to those comments, Zhao Danshi shared the post as usual and announced the giveaway.

Li Ping came over to take a look. "We already have more than thirteen thousand followers. After we finish filming the Dragon Boat Festival episode, I think we should buy a Weibo Hot Search."

"Sure. By the way, Senior Brother, when do you think we should open our Taobao shop?"

"Give it a little more time. Even if we opened a Taobao shop now, we would not have much to sell. Once we find reliable people to help share our workload, we can more or less get it started."

"Mm, I think we need to start looking for candidates." Zhao Danshi counted on his fingers for him. "It'll be June soon. The sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans, and so on will all need harvesting. They won't fetch much at the market, so we need to sell them online."

Zhao Danshi had planned it out back when he planted them. He wanted to process everything into finished products before selling them. The sweet potatoes could be washed and turned into sweet potato starch, the corn into cornmeal or other products, and the soybeans into dried tofu. If they proved popular, selling them like that would be fine too, but they would definitely have to cost more than they did in the county town. At the very least, they needed an organic selling point.

"Any ideas?"

Zhao Danshi sat cross-legged and looked at him, shaking his head gloomily. Any capable young person had gone out to work. The young people who remained in the village were either lazy good-for-nothings or had businesses of their own. None of them wanted to work for someone else.

He had been searching for so long, yet had not found anyone suitable.

"No rush. Let's keep looking."

Before their online shop had even opened, Boss Li, who worked with them to sell strawberries, ran into trouble first.

Li Ping had sensed that Boss Li's attitude had been off lately. His former eagerness to pay them as soon as he received the strawberries was gone, and he was no longer as enthusiastic when they chatted.

They had not delivered strawberries for sale today, and Boss Li had not sent them a WeChat message to arrange strawberry sales for the next day either.

Based on Li Ping's experience, this business partnership would probably fall through.

Zhao Danshi did not understand. "Weren't our strawberries selling quite well at his shop? Why would he not want to sell them anymore?"

"Precisely because business has been so good." Li Ping smiled. "The strawberries sell well, and they also drive his other business. Our strawberries cost a lot wholesale, so he does not make much from them. Strawberries are delicate, too. If they do not sell out on the first day after delivery, their value drops sharply on the second. Even though we have done our best to control the supply, they are still troublesome for him to handle."

Zhao Danshi frowned. "Even so, there's no reason for him to cut off our partnership. Our strawberries have brought him quite a lot of customers."

Li Ping smiled. "Of course he does not want to cut it off, but he is not particularly enthusiastic either. I think he wants to drag things out and make us lower the price ourselves."

"Our strawberries are such high quality. This price is not expensive."

"The market determines prices. In a small market like this, there are not enough high-end consumers for our strawberries. To the vast majority of people, our strawberries are already priced like luxury goods." Li Ping rubbed his head. "It does not matter if Boss Li does not want our strawberries. Aren't we planning to sell other vegetables as well? Let's rent a shop in the county town and sell them ourselves."

Zhao Danshi said, "If it comes down to it, that's all we can do."

Li Ping had not guessed wrong. When he sent Boss Li a WeChat message asking whether he wanted strawberries delivered the next day—

Boss Li took a while to reply: I probably can't take sixty or seventy jin anymore. How about you send less, maybe thirty jin? Mr. Li, you said the wholesale price was twenty-three yuan per jin, while buying everything was twenty-five yuan per jin. So for the strawberries you send tomorrow, I'll pay twenty-three yuan per jin, right?

Boss Li had calculated it shrewdly. He had been selling Zhao Danshi's Milk Strawberries for some time now. Even if other shops in the county town sold the same strawberries, his regular customers recognized his shop's strawberries. Buying a few jin less would not affect his customer traffic much, yet it would save him plenty of trouble and lower the price.

Li Ping turned the phone screen toward Zhao Danshi and smiled. "Well? Was I wrong?"

After thinking it over, Zhao Danshi finally understood. He could not help muttering in disappointment, "Boss Li's shop is already established, so naturally he no longer needs our strawberries as a draw. What do we do now? It would not be worthwhile to turn all the remaining strawberries into candied fruit."

Candied fruit sold at a high price, but it also consumed a great deal of ingredients, time, and effort. Making too much was not cost-effective.

Besides, their online shop was still nowhere in sight. Who knew when it would open? If they made so much now, who knew what the situation would be by then?

Li Ping rubbed his head. "Don't worry. The goods are ours, so the initiative is in our hands. If Boss Li does not want them, we simply will not sell to him."

"Will that work?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Li Ping remained calm. "I'll call him."

Boss Li felt guilty. The phone rang for a long while before he could no longer avoid it and reluctantly answered. "Mr. Li, it's really not that I can't take so many strawberries. It's not that I'm breaking my word. It's just that everyone is getting a little tired of strawberries, and they aren't selling as well as before. Strawberries aren't like other fruits. Their cost-performance ratio is comparatively low. Most families only buy a couple of jin now and then to try them. They won't eat them every day. Business is difficult for me too."

Li Ping patiently listened until he finished, then agreed. "That is indeed true."

Boss Li was secretly delighted and immediately said, "Ah, thank you for understanding! You people who came back from the big city really are reasonable! Then just send thirty jin of strawberries tomorrow."

"You're welcome." Li Ping smiled. "Boss Li, if you are adjusting your purchases, then I will adjust my shipments as well. How about we end our partnership?"

"Hey! How can you go back on your word?" Boss Li was dumbfounded. "Didn't we agree on wholesale or buying everything? I don't want to buy everything anymore, so I'm switching to wholesale. Why can't I do that?"

"When we discussed the strawberry business, I said you had to choose one of the two. That condition no longer applies." Li Ping said patiently, "You have been selling our strawberries for some time, and you have already built up your reputation. No matter how you look at it, you have not lost out. Let's part on good terms."

Boss Li choked for a moment. "Are you going to find someone else to buy everything?"

Li Ping smiled faintly. "That is my business. It's a trade secret, and I have no comment."

With Boss Li left uneasy, Li Ping hung up and then messaged Zhao Chengjia, telling him that he did not need to help bring strawberries over tomorrow.

Zhao Danshi leaned closer to Li Ping. "Senior Brother, what move do we make next? Are we really looking for another partner?"

"Of course not. We have the capital and the products. Why should we let them pass through someone else's hands and let someone else take another cut?" Li Ping looked at him. "Haven't you always wanted to open a shop in the county town to sell our vegetables? The plan is just happening earlier. Tomorrow, we'll go see if there are any suitable shops."

"Then what about people to run the shop?"

"At the startup stage, the two of us can handle it ourselves. Once the shop is open, we can recruit publicly. As long as our terms are good, we won't have to worry about finding applicants."

Zhao Danshi slapped his forehead. "That's true. My thinking was too rigid. I kept wanting to find acquaintances."

"All right, get to bed early. Tomorrow, we'll take Dou Dou to the county town for another look around."

They had already picked all the strawberries they could today. It would probably take another two or three days before more strawberries ripened fully, so there was no hurry. Zhao Wende was watching over the work in the fields, and there was nothing especially urgent to do. There was no need to worry at all.

Early the next morning, Zhao Danshi told the old man about it. The old man nodded repeatedly in delight. "Doing business is good. Better than being a farmer."

He had always worried that Zhao Danshi would work himself too hard as a farmer, bent over the earth all day. He also felt that farming had little future, so he had not really supported Zhao Danshi's return to the village to farm.

Zhao Danshi knew what he was thinking and teased, "Then I'm going to be a boss now. That counts as having a future, right?"

The old man smacked his lips and realized what he had said. "It's not that being a farmer means you have no future. It's just not very suitable. A perfectly good college graduate could do anything, yet you came back to be a farmer."

"What's wrong with farmers? People depend on food to live. Without farmers, where would food come from?" Zhao Danshi walked behind the old man and kneaded his shoulders. "Grandpa, look at how well I've been farming since I came back. Even if I'm a farmer, I'll be a modern farmer. I know what I'm doing, so stop worrying about me."

"I'm not worried. I'm proud of you." The old man patted the back of Zhao Danshi's hand. "No matter what you do, as long as you live a good life, Grandpa will be at ease."

"Grandpa, we're going to the county town to look at shops today. Do you want to come with us?"

"I won't go. These old arms and legs of mine won't be able to judge anything, and I'd only trouble you." The old man shook his head. "Are you taking Dou Dou?"

"Yes. Dou Dou likes excitement, and the weather is good now. We can take him out for a walk while we're at it."

After Li Ping came back from watering the plants, Zhao Danshi and he packed up and prepared to head to the county town.

Li Ping's car was parked outside the courtyard. Zhao Danshi carefully secured the baby carrier, then carried Dou Dou inside.

Dou Dou knew by now that getting into the car meant going out to play. The moment he was carried into the car, he became extremely excited, wriggling restlessly. He was so strong that Zhao Danshi almost could not hold him.

"I think we need to get a child safety seat. The carrier is a little too small. It can't contain Dou Dou anymore."

Li Ping walked over to inspect the back seat. Dou Dou indeed did not have much room to move around in the carrier. "In a few days. Once we settle the shop, we can see whether we should make a trip back to X City."

Zhao Danshi had no objections. "All right."

The two drove toward the county town. Zhao Danshi sat in the back seat watching Dou Dou. "Senior Brother, when we get to the county town, we should mainly look around those major vegetable markets, right? There's a lot of foot traffic there, so higher rent would be worth it."

"Sure. Let's take a look first."

Several vegetable markets were quite large. The two of them walked around carrying Dou Dou, and in the end they chose the market in the city center.

Several shops in the vegetable market were up for rent. After discussing it, Zhao Danshi and Li Ping chose one that was ten meters deep, 3.3 meters wide, and 4.3 meters high, with an area of sixty square meters. It was outside the market, on the side near the fruit stalls. It was not next to the meat market, so there was not much odor.

The original tenant was subletting the shop for 1,800 yuan a month, requiring two months' deposit and one month's rent in advance, with a minimum lease term of one year.

They were both quite satisfied with the setting, so they called the shop owner out for a detailed discussion. When the owner heard that they intended to sell vegetables, he had no objections. After some bargaining, they settled on 1,600 yuan a month and promptly signed the contract.

They had set out after nine in the morning, and by after three in the afternoon, the contract was in their hands. The shop was registered under Zhao Danshi's name.

Zhao Danshi had signed contracts before, but never one as swift and decisive as this.

Seeing him hold it up and inspect it from every angle, Li Ping laughed at him. "It's only a business deal worth a little over ten thousand yuan. Why are you thinking so deeply about it?"

Zhao Danshi sighed. "Senior Brother, I can't explain my excitement to a tycoon like you."

Li Ping put an arm around his neck and smiled. "No. What's mine is yours, so you're a tycoon too. Put that aside for now. We still need to discuss other things. How do you want to decorate the shop? Do you know any designers?"

"There's no need for renovations, is there?" Zhao Danshi gestured with his lips. "Senior Brother, look at these vegetable shops. Which one of them has been renovated? We can just make do and sell. When the time comes, we'll ask Uncle Wende to weave us more bamboo baskets. We can arrange them in rows here, with eggplants, chili peppers, cucumbers, green beans, water spinach, sweet potato leaves, strawberries, and so on. Then we'll stick red paper with brush-written characters on the baskets. It'll look grand enough. It saves money, trouble, worry, and effort. Isn't that great?"

Li Ping rarely did such rough-and-ready business, but since Zhao Danshi had said so, he had no objections. "All right, we'll do it your way."

"Then when should we open? Should we set off firecrackers or something?"

"You wish." Li Ping lightly tapped his forehead. "First, we need to get a business license, health certificate, food hygiene permit, and tax registration. We really can't open for business for at least ten days to half a month."

"Ah? That long? Then won't we have to set up a stall at every market day?" Zhao Danshi held Dou Dou. "Forget it. Let's use some connections and see if we can get them processed sooner."

Vegetables and fruit grew very quickly and would become overripe in a few days. Unless they were processed again, they had to be sold as soon as possible.

"More or less. Eggplants, chili peppers, and green beans are easy enough to sell, so setting up a stall won't be too difficult. Fewer people eat cucumbers. How about we sell some cold dishes at the market as well? We can turn any leftovers into pickled cucumbers."

For small businesses like theirs at the market, they did not need any permits to sell food. Selling cold tossed cucumbers was feasible.

Few people in their area sold cold dishes, but they all charged quite a lot for them. They easily cost ten or eight yuan per jin, which was much more profitable than selling cucumbers alone.

Even a mosquito had meat on it. Zhao Danshi agreed. "All right, then we'll sell cold tossed cucumbers. We can make cold dishes with eggplants, green beans, and the like too, and see how the market responds. I've studied cooking for so long, so I might as well put it to use."

Once he decided, he acted immediately. Zhao Danshi promptly bought large vats, basins, tongs, food-grade plastic bags, and other supplies. Since he bought a lot, he simply had them delivered to his home.

When they returned home, the old man heard that they were opening a shop and selling cold dishes as well. He shook his head in amazement. "Other people find it incredibly difficult to get even one business going, but you two come up with one idea after another."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Zhao Danshi raised his brows and smiled at the old man. "With Senior Brother's brains and my cooking skills, what business can't we succeed at? By the way, Grandpa, has Uncle Wende come back?"

"Not yet. He's probably still in the fields. He should be back soon." The old man asked, "What do you need him for?"

"Aren't we opening a shop? I want to ask Uncle Wende whether he can weave bamboo baskets. I'll pay him for them."

The old man slapped his thigh and cut in, "What kind of bamboo baskets do you need? I can weave them too. No need to trouble Uncle Wende."

"About this wide, this long, and this deep." Zhao Danshi described the dimensions with gestures. "We'll use them to hold vegetables in the shop. It doesn't matter if they're a little larger or smaller. Grandpa, don't weave them all by yourself. We need quite a lot for the shop, and it wouldn't be worth it if you wore yourself out."

"How could such a little job be tiring? You don't know this, but when I was young, weaving seven or eight bamboo baskets a day was nothing to me."

"Doesn't the saying go that a hero doesn't boast of his past deeds? Besides, you have to take care of Dou Dou and weave bamboo crafts. How could you possibly manage? Dou Dou is mischievous and active. The moment you take your eyes off him, he'll turn the house upside down. Is your great-grandson not more important than a few bamboo baskets?"

Dou Dou was being held in Zhao Danshi's arms. When he suddenly heard his own name, he immediately looked up at his father. The corners of his mouth lifted, and he offered a standard sweet smile that showed his rice-grain teeth, completely unaware that a huge, round black pot had already been placed on his back.

The old man laughed and scolded, "All right, all right. Only that mouth of yours can talk."

"I am pretty good at talking. You have to be able to talk to do business well." Zhao Danshi said to the old man, "Just take it easy. I'm not saying you can't do it, but pay attention and don't tire yourself out."

"All right, I know. I'm not a child. Don't I know my own limits?"

Zhao Danshi waved his hand and did not continue bantering with him.

Their town held market day every third, sixth, and ninth day of the month. The day after tomorrow was another market day, so time was tight. Zhao Danshi washed and scrubbed things at home, intending to make a trial batch of cold dishes for everyone to taste first.

Watcher would naturally provide the recipes for the cold dishes. Watcher was somewhat unwilling to do such unpaid work. "Why do I have to provide recipes just because you're selling vegetables in town?"

"Aren't we working together for mutual benefit? Besides, making more dishes will help improve my cooking skills." Zhao Danshi urged him, "Stop talking nonsense and hurry up. Give me the cold dish recipes. If anything isn't suitable, I still have time to adjust it."

"What could be unsuitable? The recipes I give you work perfectly." At this point, Watcher could not help complaining, "I told you long ago to make some sauces yourself, but you refused. Look at the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fermented bean paste you use. What kind of ingredients are those? They're salty and sweet, with such one-dimensional flavors. They're all food coloring and artificial flavoring. How can you make delicious food with seasonings like these?"

The moment Zhao Danshi heard this, he quickly swore a promise. "Once I have time, I'll definitely make a batch of seasonings."

"You say that every time. When will you ever have time?" After dealing with Zhao Danshi for so long, Watcher had learned how to handle him. It forced Zhao Danshi to give it an exact deadline.

"Once my shop opens, next month. I'll definitely make some seasonings next month, all right?"

"All right." Watcher agreed reluctantly. "Here are the cold dish recipes. The seasonings you have are not good enough. You'll need to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms, buy some pork belly, and simmer mushroom meat sauce for seasoning. You also need to use the scallions, ginger, garlic, and so on that you grew yourself. The ones outside are not good enough."

"All right, I understand. I'll hurry up and find time to try it."

So before making the cold dishes, Zhao Danshi had to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. It was also a perfect chance to film a video, so he did not waste the opportunity and had Li Ping follow behind him to record it.

He had originally worried that he would not have enough inspiration and, after filming videos for so long, would not know what to film. Yet one thing after another naturally pushed him forward. Now, countless ideas were already waiting ahead of him, and he no longer needed to agonize over them.

For example, making pickled vegetables, sauces, and cold dishes this time could all be filmed as videos. He figured quite a few people would be interested in them.

After thinking about it, Zhao Danshi felt there was no need at all to make historical costume videos anymore. He could simply buy them. There was plenty of other material, so he was not lacking that little bit. There was no need to waste time on it.