CH 16

May 12 2022

Peering

“How is it? How does it taste?” The husband swallowed the noodles in his mouth, shook his head and said, “it doesn’t have their fragrance, I think it’s the chili oil. Their chili oil has a special fragrance, in addition to sesame seeds, peanuts, and other things.”

Boss Wang frowned. He had gone to Yuji’s stall to look at their chili oil before. Only chili powder, sesame and peanuts could be seen in it. They didn’t see any other ingredients, and they couldn’t taste it.

This is not easy to do.

“Have the Liangpi and sour beans and sour radish been researched and how to do it?” Boss Wang asked again.

The husband shook his head and replied: “Liangpi should also be made of flour, and the method is not clear. As for the sour bean and sour radish, it may have been soaked in vinegar. We soaked a little sour beans first, but the taste was not right and the color was also different.”

“If only I know how they make it, or watch them make it once.” Boss Wang muttered to himself.

The husband said, “How could it be possible for you to see the unique secret recipe.”

After discussing and researching for half a month, the result is that there is no progress; boss Wang and his husband are worried.

Similarly, this kind of thing is also happening in the kitchen of Liu Ji Noodle House, but the atmosphere here is obviously more dignified, the main reason is the bad-tempered but very strong willed Boss Liu.

Today, their noodle restaurant’s occupancy rate is lower than yesterday, and the business of the food stall diagonally opposite has gone through this, instead of declining, it has increased. This makes Boss Liu, who has been doing noodle dishes for more than 20 years, very depressed.

In particular, he boasted that there was no noodle recipe he didn’t know about in this grand dynasty, but now he was stumped by the bowl of Liangpi in front of him!

This Liangpi looks soft and silky, and has excellent elasticity, but it has no chewiness. The taste is smooth and refreshing, but it does not have the yellowish color and rich aroma of noodles!

But there is no doubt that it is indeed noodles.

So, how the hell did this shit come about!

Boss Liu almost wanted to stare the recipe out of Liangpi.

In the kitchen, Boss Liu’s two apprentices, who are also his sons, did not dare to let out the air, and made noodles silently.

Boss Liu stared at the Liangpi with a dark face for a long time, then suddenly got up and went out in silence.

On the street.

Yu Qingze looked at the tall and thin middle-aged man in front of him and asked, “This customer, do you want to eat cold noodles or Liangpi, or do you want to buy sour beans or sour radishes?”

The man has been standing by the stall and looking around for a long time, neither eating nor buying, not knowing he wants to do.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then his face darkened, and he hurried away without saying anything. Grandpa Chang 

Yu Qingze: …weird.

Yu Qingze ignored it. The noodles in the pot were cooked, so he quickly took them out and drained the water. At this time, the corner of his clothes was pulled, he turned around, and saw Chang Le pointed to one side, motioning him to look.

Yu Qingze followed his fingers and saw that the middle-aged man had just entered the Liu Ji noodle shop opposite.

Liu Ji Noodle House?

Yu Qingze raised his eyebrows, this is, did he just meet his competitor?

Chang Le made a gesture.

Yu Qingze guessed that Chang Le also thought of the person being their competitor. Afraid of worrying him, he shook his head and comforted Chang Le: “It’s okay, he probably just came to see how Liangpi is made. I trust my craftsmanship, don’t be afraid of him.”

Chang Le listened to him, felt relief, and continued to work.

Yu Qingze frowned slightly when he thought of the expression of the middle-aged man just now.

He has also encountered a lot of competition before, some good and some bad. If there is healthy competition, he welcomes it and is not afraid.

Especially in this different world, he has no one to rely on, and he doesn’t know whether the government here is clean and uncorrupted, and he can only do things with a little heart.

That’s what he thought so, but they ran into something when they got home in the afternoon.

The stall was closed early in the afternoon. As soon as they entered the village, they saw a lot of people standing in the courtyard of their house. They didn’t know if something happened to their grandfather at home, so they hurried back.

When they got home, they saw a young man tied up in the center of the yard, and Grandpa Chang angrily sat on a stool, staring at the young man.

“Grandpa, what happened?” Chang Hao asked.

When Grandpa Chang saw them coming back, he said, “This man, he came to steal Liangpi, was still sneaking around in the kitchen. When I found him, he ran away, and was later caught by Dahe, who was passing by.”

“Stealing Liangpi?” Yu Qingze was stunned for a moment. He didn’t steal money and food, but steal Liangpi?

Grandpa Chang nodded, bent over and took a bag from the ground, and said, “Look, isn’t it all Liangpi?”

Yu Qingze glanced at the bag, it was really his noodles, he looked at the young man, this thief…

The people in the village didn’t know much about the popularity of this Liangpi in Tongshan City. They only saw that there was a lot of dried noodles in the yard of Chang family, and some people asked, “What is there to steal from this Liangpi?”

Previously, Chang family explained to the people in the village that Liangpi is the same food as noodles, and Yu Qingze made it to sell. People in the village heard that it was similar to noodles, and some people tried to make some on their own, but there was no taste at all, so no one was anymore interested.

Some villagers heard the word Liangpi, remembered the rumors they heard when they went to the city to sell vegetables, and gave a high five: “Ah, I remember, recently there is a new kind of food in the city, cold noodles and Liangpi, it is very delicious, isn’t that what it is?”

“I also heard it. It’s on the North Street. Brother Aze, isn’t that your stall?” Another asked.

Hearing this, Yu Qingze nodded and said, “it is.”

“Oh, so that’s what it is!”

“Why, is this delicious? I’ve eaten it before, but it doesn’t taste as good as the noodles.”

“People in the city like to eat. I wanted to go and have a look, but I didn’t go because it was too hot.”

“This, is it very profitable?”

“So many people like to eat, it must be money.”

“…”

The villagers discussed it, and their attention was shifted to the aspect of whether Liangpi is good to eat or to make money.

“Why did you steal Liangpi? Who sent you here? How did you know we lived here? How long have you been following us?” Yu Qingze squatted in front of the man, stared at his eyes and asked.

The stealing eyes flickered from side to side, he didn’t dare to look into Yu Qingze’s eyes at all, surrounded by so many people, his body could not wait to shrink into a ball, when he heard Yu Qingze’s question, he stammered: “I, no, no one sent I’m here, I just see that your business is good, and I want to get it back and sell it myself.”

“Oh? Really? Why do I often see you going in and out of the noodle shop on North Street.” Yu Qingze said slowly, trying to deceive him. Grandpa Chang 

When the man heard ‘North street’ and ‘noodle shop’, his eyes were obviously panicked, “What, what kind of noodle shop, I live in North street. Seeing that your business is good, I want to sell it myself to make some money.”

Yu Qingze saw this obvious desire to hide the truth. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the man’s neck and squeezed the carotid arteries. He asked fiercely, “What did your boss tell you? How to make Liangpi? Do you want to see how my chili oil is made?”

Yu Qingze’s hands were relatively strong, his neck was pinched, his face turned red in a short time, his breathing was not smooth, and he began to gasp for breath.

The other villagers who were discussing saw Yu Qingze’s suddenly fierce expression, and they all froze for a moment, then became quiet. These days everyone saw him being very easy-going, and they all forgot that he knew kung fu.

Even Chang Le and Chang Hao were stunned for a moment.

They are used to seeing Big Brother Yu who is easy-going, kind and smiling. This is the first time they have seen such a strong and fierce Big Brother Yu. Even the last time they caught the cattle thief, Big Brother Yu kept the cattle thief under control with a smile.

However, the two did not fear him because they know Yu Qingze well, but became more convinced and respectful of him. This is how you should deal with evil people with bad intentions!

Yu Qingze said angrily, increasing the strength in his hands.

The thief was not even a professional thief. He was already in a panic, his neck was pinched, and he couldn’t breathe. It made him scared to death, and he said shiveringly: “I, I.”

Yu Qingze relaxed his hands a bit and said, “Who sent you here!”

The thief took a deep breath, his eyes wandered, and he hesitantly said, “Yes, it’s the owner of Liu Ji Noodle Shop.”

The owner of Liu Ji Noodle House?

The middle-aged man’s face flashed across Yu Qingze’s head, and he frowned immediately.

“Liu Ji? Did you remember correctly?” Yu Qingze patted the thief’s face and asked.

The thief suddenly burst into tears and said: “Brother, how could I have misremembered my boss, I’m like this, please let me go, I’m just following orders, I have to, if I don’t come, he will fire me. I have elders at home, and if I can’t make money, I have to drink the northwest wind…”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Yu Qingze interrupted the thief’s sad story impatiently and stood up.

When such a big incident happened in the village, the village chief was naturally there. Seeing the situation, he asked Yu Qingze, “What are you going to do about the theft?”

“Village chief, how do you usually deal with such robbery in the village? It’s not a serious crime like stealing cattle. Do you have to send it to the government? How does the government handle it?” Yu Qingze didn’t know how to deal with it here, so he asked the village chief first.

The village chief said, “Sending to the government in this case, it would likely be a few dozen boards to teach him a lesson.”

“How many hits?”

The village chief replied, “It depends on how much the Liangpi he stole is worth.”

Yu Qingze looked and said, “It’s less than 100 coppers.”

“Then it really won’t be many hits.”

Yu Qingze took a peek and felt that the man didn’t have a big reaction when he heard that he was gonna be sent to the government.

Grandpa Chang asked, “are you going to send him to the government?”

Yu Qingze frowned and thought for a while, weighed the pros and cons, and shook his head, “I won’t send him, let’s solve it privately.”

Opening a shop on the most prosperous North Street for so many years, it seems that the boss has some connections. Combined with the reaction of the thief just now, they may not be able to take advantage of the government, and it will completely offend the people behind. In the future, if he wants to open a store in the city, there will be trouble. It would be better to teach him a lesson and take the opportunity to remind the person behind him that he already knew that it was him. Grandpa Chang

The next morning, the thief, who was beaten by people and bitten by mosquitoes all night, crawled out of Niutou Village.