Chapter 123: The Culinary Tycoon

An Irritated Nose

Yu Qingze arrived at the wharf with Da Song. At this time, there weren’t many people on the wharf. Two docking areas had ships moored, likely returning from the previous night.

Yu Qingze pointed towards the warehouse of Hongyun and said to Da Song, “On the west side, these are the ships that came from the north. Hongyun’s warehouse is the fourth one counting from here.”

“Oh, the one with a chair in front, right? I’ll go over there and wait now,” Da Song looked in that direction and asked.

Yu Qingze nodded and said, “Go ahead. Lower your hat brim a bit, take advantage of the other bosses not being here yet, and try to be the first one. Buy fifty catties of each, choose the freshest ones.”

“Okay.” Da Song pulled his hat down a bit and then asked Yu Qingze, “Will the seafood stall owners recognize me? I bought from them just a few days ago.”

“It’s okay. Just tell them you’re planning to start a seafood stall or that your employer is hosting a banquet and needs some seafood. From what I’ve observed, people who come here to purchase goods don’t usually engage in much conversation. They’re focused on their own business. They might give a quick glance if they find someone unappealing, but once they make their purchase, they move on.”

“Alright.”

Da Song dragged the cart to the entrance of Hongyun and waited while Yu Qingze stood nearby, keeping an eye on things.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, as the sky was getting brighter, other seafood stall owners arrived with their staff. Seeing someone ahead of them, they looked surprised but didn’t say anything, simply joining the line behind.

Another twenty minutes passed, and Hongyun opened its doors.

Da Song was the first to arrive, and he and the owner of the stall behind him went straight inside to make their selections.

Inside Hongyun’s wooden house, there was no longer any flour or other grains. The entire place was now filled with large wooden barrels containing seafood. Da Song walked around inside, selecting one barrel of clams and one barrel of shrimp. After weighing them, he directly transferred them into the barrels he had brought along.

He purchased fifty kilograms of each item, which would be enough for the restaurant to sell for two days. He had initially wanted to buy more, but the barrels they brought could only hold so much. Da Song let it go and planned to get larger barrels next time to buy enough for three days’ worth.

He also picked a few fish and had them put some water in a basin before settling the bill and leaving.

The small stall owners who had sold seafood to Da Song before recognized him and were a bit surprised. However, the next customers were already approaching, and they didn’t have time to dwell on it.

The owner of Hongyun was also present and discreetly observed the customers. He noticed that only one unfamiliar person came to make a purchase and glanced at them a bit longer. Seeing that it wasn’t Yu Qingze, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Pretending not to recognize someone he actually knew was a nerve-wracking situation, as his son had warned him.

After successfully buying clams and shrimp, Da Song and Yu Qingze met up in the nearby woods. It was still early, so they immediately transported the seafood back to the restaurant. They divided the clams and shrimp into several small wooden barrels for storage.

At that moment, Chang Le woke up and was delighted to see that they had successfully bought seafood.

This way, they directly purchased the wholesale price from the seafood stalls and saved a significant amount.

Over the next few days, the snack shop and small restaurants operated as usual. During this period, Yu Qingze, Da Song, and Da Niu went to Hongyun to buy seafood again. This time, they brought two carts and purchased three days’ worth of seafood in one go.

“Big brother, if we can directly buy flour and seafood from Hongyun like this, it would significantly reduce our costs,” Jiabao said happily, looking at the shrimp jumping around in the barrels.

Chang Le also nodded in agreement.

“It depends on luck. Anyway, let’s try to disguise ourselves as well as we can and make the most of it,” Yu Qingze replied. He was pleased with the successful seafood purchases, but he didn’t dare to be too optimistic. If the Hongyun owner recognized him, things would become difficult. Despite hearing the complaints from the Hongyun owner and his son about Jia Xiaoren, they were still relatives, and it was unlikely they would help him.

On the other hand, after four days, Jia Xiaoren was ready to evaluate the results of his plan.

Early in the morning, he stood in front of Xiang Man Yuan and observed the customers coming out of the snack shop. He also listened carefully to the activities in the shop.

According to his expectations, today he should hear the customers from the snack shop shaking their heads and complaining about the dim sum’s deteriorated taste, saying it was not as delicious as before.

He had his hands behind his back, a smile on his lips, and was eagerly anticipating the show.

Two customers came out! Jia Xiaoren’s attention was entirely focused on those two customers.

“Ah…” one of the men who came out touched his stomach and shook his head with a sigh.

Jia Xiaoren’s heart jumped with joy. Sighed, huh!

The smile on his lips widened a bit more.

The person next to the man, who seemed to be his companion, glanced at him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Jia Xiaoren also perked up his ears, thinking to himself: The taste isn’t as good as before, right? It’s not delicious anymore, right? They won’t come to eat here anymore, right?

“Ah…” The man sighed again, touched his stomach, and said as he walked, “We ordered too many dim sum today. I ate too much and now I feel too full to walk properly.”

“?!” Jia Xiaoren frowned, took two more steps forward, thinking he must have misheard.

The man’s companion responded, “I told you not to order more, but you insisted you could finish it. Take it easy, let your food digest.”

The man sighed again and continued, “I actually finished eating already. Sigh, the problem is that it was too delicious. I didn’t realize I ate too much. The new seafood dumplings they introduced today, the taste was incredibly fresh.”

Jia Xiaoren’s smile froze on his face.

What’s going on?!

The man’s companion added, “The shrimp dumplings taste amazing. I have no idea how they make them. We’ve cooked shrimp ourselves before, and even when boiled, we found them too fishy. But they somehow managed to turn it into a filling that’s so delicious, it’s not fishy at all, just incredibly fresh.”

The man nodded and continued, “Let’s go to House of Prosperity for dinner tonight and have some shrimp. The children also came back from school today, so it’s a good opportunity for a family meal.”

His companion replied, “Sure, let’s do that.”

“… “

As the two of them walked away, Jia Xiaoren’s face turned dark, and he stood frozen at the entrance of Xiang Man Yuan.

Not only did the customers not complain about the dim sum getting worse, but the snack shop even introduced new seafood shrimp dumplings?!

Where did they get the flour and shrimp from?!

He furrowed his brow and stood there listening for a while, but he didn’t hear a single customer complaining. Instead, they were all leaving satisfied or discussing how delicious the food was, with many praising the new shrimp dumplings.

Jia Xiaoren: … What’s going on?!

He felt something was off. It had already been four days, and based on his previous observations, the flour shop’s assistant would deliver goods to the snack shop every five days, indicating that the flour stock in the snack shop would be replenished every five days.

He remembered that when he went to see his uncle, there were only two days left before the next flour delivery. Even if the flour stock could last a couple more days, it should have been depleted by now. So why hadn’t he heard any complaints from the customers?

Could it be that he underestimated the amount of flour in the snack shop?

But what about the shrimp dumplings?!

Where did they get the shrimp from? How could they have extra shrimp to make shrimp dumplings?!

With a stern face, he returned to the shop and called over one of the employees. He instructed them to go to House of Prosperity at lunchtime and specifically order some shrimp and clams to bring back. He also asked them to personally select the clams and see if they were still selling seafood there.

He felt frustrated throughout the morning. At noon, the emplyoee returned with the packed food.

“Boss, they still have plenty of shrimp and clams. I saw that there’s still more than half a barrel in the wooden tub. Here’s the money I got back, for you,” the employee said, handing over the money while observing the boss’s expression. He quickly left, afraid of being caught in the boss’s anger.

As Jia Xiaoren looked at the stir-fried clams and braised prawns in the bowls, smelling their enticing aroma, his teeth gnashed and the veins on his forehead bulged. He swept his hand, knocking the two plates of delicious seafood off the table and onto the floor.

He couldn’t let it go. This situation was not right. He was certain that his uncle wouldn’t dare deceive him.

He continued to observe for two more days, confirming that there was no impact whatsoever on both Yu’s Snack Shop and the restaurant regarding the flour and seafood matter.

Absolutely none!

Not only that, but he heard that the shrimp dumplings in the snack shop were selling exceptionally well!

Jia Xiaoren was so furious that his nose was askew. He stormed directly to his uncle’s house.

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