ကျေးဇူးတင်ပါတယ် ၂

Thingyan: hello my lovely readers, I hope you don’t hate me for doing these hidden chapters. It’s my struggle against the aggregator sites 🥲

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As soon as he entered the yard, Grandpa Chang saw Chang Sheng limping out with a bucket in his hand, as if he had just fed the pigs.

“Father?” Chang Sheng was surprised when he saw his father and asked, “Why did you come here?” He understood that if it wasn’t for something, his father wouldn’t come here.

Grandpa Chang nodded, looked around, and asked, “Where are Wen Li and the others?”

“Wen Li went to cut hogweed, Brother Yue went to wash clothes, and Shunzi went to the dock with Da He to carry goods today.” Chang Sheng put down the bucket, washed his hands, and set a stool under the eaves, “Father, please sit down.”

Grandpa Chang sat down and asked, “Why did Shunzi go to carry the goods? Didn’t Wen Li not let him go before?”

Chang Sheng sat down on a small stool and said, “he’s already twenty-one years old. If he doesn’t go out to work and save some money, he won’t be able to marry a husband.”

Grandpa Chang nodded, “Should have done this long ago, can the money fall from the sky if you don’t work? I told Wen Li before that he shouldn’t be so indulgent to the children, and you too, your husband is uncontrollable, his mouth is annoying. He is so troublesome, always doing some rubbish things, embarrassing Xiaole. If it wasn’t for the sake of the two children, I would have beaten him.”

Chang Sheng looked ashamed and said, “It’s all my fault that I can’t make money because of my useless leg. It’s all my fault.”

Grandpa Chang sighed, looked at his little son, and said with grief: “Your legs are disabled, but your eyes and heart can’t become disabled too, it’s been more than ten years, you should look things on a brighter side…”

Chang Sheng kept his head down the entire time, unable to lift it up at all.

At this time, Wen Li came back with hogweed, and when he saw Grandpa Chang at home, he was also surprised: “Oh, father, why are you here? Is there something wrong?”

Seeing Wen Li coming back, Grandpa Chang sighed and waved, “Put down the hogweed first, and come here. I have something to discuss with you.”

Wen Li put down the hogweed, took a stool, sat down, and asked, “What’s the matter? Did Yu Qingze agree to marry Brother Yue?”

Hearing this, Grandpa Chang was instantly agitated and said angrily, “stop bothering Yu Qingze, aren’t you embarrassed?”

Wen Li was unconvinced, and said, “why do I have to be embarrassed? Yu Qingze will get married eventually anyway. So why can’t it be with Brother Yue?”

Grandpa Chang was angry: “Brother Yue, brother Yue, what kind of a ger has been brought up by you, do you have no idea in your heart?”

Wen Li murmured, “it’s not like I can’t teach him now and let him change his ways later. Can’t he become better?”

Grandpa Chang replied in a haste, “You said that two years ago! What about now? Brother Yue was ruined by your spoiling!”

Wen Li became anxious when he heard it and said aggrieved: “How could I have ruined him? I gave birth to him only after a near-death experience, and I almost lost him, can’t I spoil him a little bit?”

Speaking of this, Grandpa Chang was at a loss for words, so he could only say: “you don’t know how you ruined him? He has become a crippled person, who would dare to marry in the future? If Chang Shun is to marry someone like Brother Yue, will you agree?”

Hearing this, Wen Li was rarely silent.

After a long time, Chang Sheng said softly, “Father, what are you doing here?”

“…I was confused by you guys that I almost forgot the reason I came!” Grandpa Chang said angrily, and then said, “well, it’s like this, Aze’s business is so busy now that he wants to find someone to make Liangpi for him. We were wondering if your family is interested. If not, we’ll find someone else.”

Hearing that Yu Qingze’s Liangpi was about to be outsourced, Wen Li’s eyes lit up and asked, “How is it going to be? Is it to make Liangpi as a helper for wages, or what?”

Grandpa Chang glanced at him and replied, “he’ll teach you the method, you buy the ingredients and make it yourself, he pays you for the finished product.”

Wen Li’s mind was spinning fast, he asked, “How much Liangpi can you make with a pound of flour? How much can you earn?”

Grandpa Chang frowned and said, “I don’t know about this, anyway, Aze said that you can earn about two to three coppers per pound of dried Liangpi, which is considered to be a standard pricing. The food stall needs about thirty or forty catties every day. If you can make enough, you will earn a lot in a month.”

Wen Li rolled his eyes and said, “Okay, we’ll do it!”

Grandpa Chang looked at Wen Li, he didn’t know what this person was thinking, so he warned first: “Wen Li, I’ll warn you first, don’t even think about those crooked ideas. Yu Qingze is capable. If you work diligently, Yu Qingze will give you more opportunities in the future, but if you do some shit and still want to make money in the future, you can just dream.”

Wen Li smiled and said, “Oh, father, how could you say that? How could I have other thoughts? You think too much.”

Grandpa Chang said angrily, “Hmph, I’ll put my words here today, and I’ll help you this time. If you don’t cherish it and make a fool of yourself, then even if Yu Qingze is willing to give you jobs in the future, I won’t agree!”

Wen Li’s face changed, and he said, “father, you can’t turn your elbows out. Yu Qingze is an outsider after all.”

Grandpa Chang said angrily, “An outsider treats Brother Le better than you, and you have the guts to say it! I tell you, if you want to go to Xiaole with all those messy things in the future, you won’t be making Liangpi for Aze anymore!”

Wen Li saw that the old man was really angry. In order to make money in the future, he hurriedly said, “Oh, it’s no worries, father, I don’t matchmake him anymore. Besides, I can’t find anyone for him anyway.”

“You were still looking for someone?!”

“I wasn’t, I wasn’t!”

Grandpa Chang stared at Wen Li and said, “Anyway, I’ll give you one chance, and it’s the last time. Whether you want to live your life down or up is up to you.”

After speaking, Grandpa Chang didn’t wait for Wen Li to say anything, turned around, and left.

That night, Yu Qingze saw that Grandpa Chang didn’t go back to his room to sleep until very late. When he woke up in the middle of the night, he found that Grandpa Chang was sitting in the kitchen smoking a cigar. He walked over and squatted down beside and asked, “Grandpa, why are you still not sleeping? Are you worried?”

Grandpa Chang sighed and said, “It’s okay, I just thought about some things from the past, and I couldn’t sleep.”

Yu Qingze thought that it was probably about his son. He had seen Chang Le’s uncle Chang Sheng several times in the village before, the man had a lame leg, so he asked, “Why is Uncle’s leg disabled?”

Grandpa Chang sighed and said, “It wasn’t during the war, but after we fled here when Xiaole had an accident. At that time, Xiaole’s father, his Ama, and I went to find my wife. Chang Le, Chang Hai, and Chang Shun were left with Chang Sheng and Wen Li. Who knows, not long after we left, Wen Li was captured by the rebel army. He was four months pregnant at that time. Chang Sheng let the three children stay where they were and he went to rescue Wen Li. Even though he managed to save people back, his legs were crippled in the process. When he came back, there was only Chang Shun alone. Therefore, Chang Sheng has always felt ashamed of his elder brother’s family. For so many years, he has not dared to come to the door or see Xiaole.”

“Later, the child in Wen Li’s belly was not saved, and his body suffered from the abortion as well. The doctor said that he would not be able to give birth in the future. He fortunately was pregnant with Brother Yue later, but it was difficult during childbirth, both mother and the child almost died. So, Wen Li has been very indulgent to Brother Yue. Chang Sheng also felt that he has not protected Wen Li and the unborn child well, and he blames himself very much. Even if Wen Li did something wrong, he would not say anything.”

The old man said tears in his eyes. He reached out and wiped his eyes, “Alas, how did I raise such a cowardly son! He wasn’t like this before…”

Yu Qingze didn’t expect that there would be such a thing, and he sighed: “So that’s how it is.”

Everyone was silent for a while.

When Grandpa Chang recovered, he said, “Aze, I also told them today that if they don’t do a good job, we won’t give them any work in the future, so let’s just take look at their performance first. If they don’t do a good job, you don’t have to worry about me, it’s their responsibility.”

Yu Qingze nodded. Originally, he gave Wen Li’s family this job for Grandpa Chang’s sake, so he said, “I see, Grandpa.”

The next day, the new menu item Oden is officially introduced at the food stall.

Yu Qingze left earlier than Chang Le and the others since he had to prepare the base soup in advance. Chang Le and Brother Chang arrived later. Grandpa Chang also came to help after Chang Hao went to school. He was afraid that they would be too busy on the first day, so he would help until the lunch rush and go back to herd the cattle afterwards.

A customer who arrived early saw that they had added a snack cart with two square iron grids on it, and asked curiously, “Boss Yu, what new food are you making?”

Yu Qingze smiled and said, “This is called Oden. It will be ready in another quarter of an hour to eat. If you’re not busy, please come back and have a look later.”

“Okay, I’ll come and see this new food later.”

When the soup base is ready, put the grid pot into the groove, transfer the soup base to the grid pot, start the fire on low, remove the fire-control patch, and then put the other prepared foods into the grid pot to cook.

After most of the food was cooked, it all looked appetizing, and some guests had became curious. Yu Qingze asked Brother Chang to grab a few cooked ones, cut them into small pieces with a knife, dipped in chili sauce, and give out samples for the guests to try.

“Yo, is this round thing made of meat or flour?”

“Customer, it’s called pork balls. It’s made of pork. Here, try some.”

“Little brother, what is this?”

“This is a tofu puff. It’s delicious. You should try it first.”

“What about this?”

“It’s gluten, but it’s delicious, I’m sure you like it.”

In a bowl of food, there are several new things that they have never seen before, and the guests are willing to try these new food.

“Well, this kelp tastes very fresh.”

“This radish is much more delicious than the one stewed at my house.”

“This tofu puff is so tasty and soft”

“These meatballs are very appetizing.”

“How do you sell this?”

“Customer, two sticks of green vegetables for a copper. Kelp, radish, and lotus root slices are one copper a bunch. Tofu, gluten, and wild mushrooms are two coppers a stick. One copper for one pork meatball.

“Wow, not very cheap. Look at how big the meatballs are, they cost a copper a piece. There are only three pieces of tofu in a stick and it’s two coppers.”

“Customer, you say, is the taste worth the price? If you can find another item like ours in the entire city, I, Brother Chang, will treat you to a bowl of meatballs today!”

“Hahaha, this little brother, your mouth is too sharp! Come on then, bring me a bunch of kelp, a stick of tofu, a stick of gluten, and two, er, three meatballs!”

“Alright, please wait a moment, customer, coming right up.”

“Then little brother, I’ll also have two sticks of tofu and two meatballs! One bowl of jelly!”

“Hey, I’ll add a bowl of jelly too!”

Once someone starts to buy it, others also followed up. Everyone wanted to try some of this new food. After tasting it, they are captivated by the salty and fragrant flavor that is better than the one made at home.

“It’s obviously a piece of fried tofu, why is it better than my family’s?”

“Don’t talk about fried tofu, this tofu puff and gluten give me a feeling that I’m eating meat. It’s strange.”

Yu Qingze laughed, the tofu puff and gluten are deep-fried, which can bring a sense of satisfaction that fried food could bring, and the soup is also meat and bone soup. After being simmered for a long time, even though there’s no meat in the soup, it is full of meat flavor.

The cooked oden in the two iron grids was quickly sold out. Yu Qingze quickly added more. On such a hot day, cooking and selling at the same time, the business is actually better than cold noodles and Liangpi.

After eating hot food, many customers will ask for a bowl of jelly to cool down, which is also considered a set meal.

However, when selling this, there is an accounting problem.

In order to distinguish the items quickly, Yu Qingze deliberately marked the bamboo sticks with different colors, but Brother Chang is not as fast as modern people can count. Yu Qingze asked Chang Le to be in charge of the cold noodles and Liangpi, while he prepared Oden orders. After making a bowl, he would tell Brother Chang how much the bowl cost and asked him to explain to the customers that they would pay as soon as the food was served.

Some customers have something to say about it, but many customers were fine since they had to pay eventually anyway. There is not much difference between giving before and after eating.

Later, when Brother Chang was too busy, Yu Qingze asked the customers to order Oden directly in front of the snack cart, which saved time.

Mi Ge’er would come to their food stall every day, and when he saw the new food today, he immediately packed three big bowls and went home.

Ever since they ate Yu Qingze’s dishes, the old master Cai, Cai Furen and the second young master Cai became loyal customers of Yu Qingze. So, when Mi Ge’er brought back new food from Yu Qingze’s stall, and the three immediately gathered around the table to eat.

Three bowls, one bowl was for the three Cai family members, the other bowl for the servants, and the last bowl was brought to Uncle Fu and the kitchen staff.

Seeing the second young master eating one bite after another, Mi Ge’er quickly swallowed the gluten in his mouth and said, “Second young master, Boss Yu said that your spleen and stomach are weak and you can’t eat more. One bite of each is enough.”

“Ah? But I want to eat more.” Cai Yunwei looked at the meatballs in his bowl, he only got to eat one.

When Cai furen heard this, he quickly reached out and grabbed the meatballs in Cai Yunwei’s bowl, and said with a smile: “Wei’er is good. Boss Yu said you can’t eat more, then you can’t eat more. I’ll help you eat this meatball, darling.”

Old master Cai gave his husband a sideways glance, asking with his eyes, “wouldn’t it make Wei’er want to eat more?”

Cai Yunwei watched his grandfather sip the meatballs one by one. He gulped hard, wanting to eat more and feeling aggrieved.

Although oden is a hot food, the best thing is that it is fresh and delicious. Diners will never forget it after tasting it. So when they got home and ate the food made at home, they suddenly felt that the taste was so bland, and they couldn’t swallow it.

Later, some people simply brought the food box directly to the snack cart and took it back home to eat with rice. There were also many customers who asked for more soup they found to be delicious.

Some people took the lead and others followed suit. Later, many people came with their own food boxes to take home and eat, which saved Yu Qingze and the others a lot of effort in washing dishes.

The launch of Oden was another success.

From the cold noodles, Liangpi, sour beans and sour radish, to salty and sweet jelly, and now Oden, Yuji’s Fresh Bites has become the hottest food stall in Tongshan City in less than a month.

Although the other hawkers watched it with hot eyes, they could only get hot eyes. Who let Boss Yu always come up with new food, and everything tastes amazing.

This ability can only be envied.

After being so busy for some days, Yu Qingze found that there were suddenly many lanterns on the street in the past two days. There are not only all kinds of beautiful lanterns hanging, but also the lotus lanterns floating on the water he saw on TV. There are also many selling colored paper.

Yu Qingze was curious, what kind of festival is this? Is it the Mid-Autumn Festival? He didn’t know if this is called the Mid-Autumn Festival here.

He asked Chang Le, “Brother Le, is it going to be a holiday?”

Chang Le nodded and made a gesture, Yu Qingze guessed, “Women… Gers’ Day?”

Chang Le smiled happily when he saw that he understood.

Yu Qingze blinked, feeling very happy. Brother Le hasn’t laughed at him like this for many days. He hides when he sees him, and doesn’t even look at him. Now he is so happy because he guessed Chang Le’s two gestures.

Simply cute.

Yu Qingze moved his fingers and wanted to reach out and touch Chang Le’s face, but he held back. If the other party was scared to shrink back again, it would be bad.

Chang Le was stared at by Yu Qingze like this. He felt his cheeks getting hot and reacted immediately by turning his eyes away in a haste, pretending to be busy.

Yu Qingze turned his head with a smile and said to Brother Chang, “I didn’t even notice.”

Brother Chang saw the interaction between the two of them just now, smiled secretly and said, “Boss Yu, you have been too busy these days, not noticing these things is normal. I also remembered it’s the eighth day of August only after seeing the lanterns on the street. It’s the Day of the Gers.”

Day of the Gers, as the name sounds, it is a festival specially set up for gers. Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com. Yu Qingze was moved in his heart. He asked Brother Chang, “Brother Chang, will there be any celebrations at that time?”

Brother Chang replied with a smile: “Yes, the daytime is more lively than usual. At night, there are lantern festivals in the city, riddles and poems, juggling, and a lot more fun things.”

“Did the city gate close later than usual? Did you come to see the lantern festival in previous years?”

“Yes, the city gate doesn’t close until almost ten o’clock at night. We come here every year, it’s very lively, you should come and play too.”

Yu Qingze was overjoyed and announced loudly, “Okay! We won’t open the stall the day after tomorrow, we will take a day off and celebrate the Day of the Gers!”

Brother Chang was pleasantly surprised and said, “Really? That’s great. I was originally thinking about coming ack to the city after the stall closes. Thank you, Boss Yu!”

“You’re welcome. How can I make you work harder, especially on a day like the Day of the Gers !” Yu Qingze said with a smile.

Lantern Festival, this is a great time to go on a date and confess!

How can you miss it!

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Thingyan: some of you commented in the previous chapter about the identity of Chang Sheng. You guys are so good. I completely forgot who it was 😁 Translating three novels at the same time can do that to ya 😅

Btw, this chapter is almost equivalent to two chapters. It took so long to translate @_@