The three of them looked in the direction of the voice. It was Aunt Xia, the woman who had asked Bai Ying yesterday if the eggs were for sale.
"Good morning, Aunt Xia," Yuan Tiantian put down the noodles in her hand, got up and greeted her. The latter felt a bit embarrassed seeing them having breakfast.
"Hey, you guys eat. I came at a bad time."
Yuan Tiantian smiled and said it was okay. She led Aunt Xia to sit down and then poured her a cup of warm water. "Please sit down first. Bai Ying told me about the eggs. I do sell them, but the quantity won't be large, and they won't be cheap. They're 2 yuan each. You should think it over."
Yuan Tiantian clarified the price and other details to avoid any potential disappointment later. The price really shocked Aunt Xia, but thinking of the taste of the egg she had last night, she gritted her teeth and decided to buy.
"I'll take them. Give me five to start with."
It wasn't for her own craving. It was mainly for her little grandson. Expensive as they were, if he liked them, she'd buy more later.
Yuan Tiantian replied okay and then went back to eat her noodles. It wasn't that she didn't invite Aunt Xia to eat, but Bai Ying could finish all the remaining food in the pot. Yuan Tiantian planned to go to the town's market to look for fresh vegetables later and didn't have time to cook more, so she didn't invite Aunt Xia.
Yuan Tiantian quickly finished the noodles in her bowl and then went to the kitchen. She took out five eggs from the fridge.
Aunt Xia was really surprised when she saw the eggs in Yuan Tiantian's hand. They looked so good! They were bigger than duck eggs and slightly smaller than goose eggs. She picked one up and weighed it in her hand. It was quite heavy.
"These eggs look really great!"
Aunt Xia's initial concern about the quality vanished. She took out 20 yuan without hesitation. "Give me five more. Do you still have them?"
There were definitely more. She had counted them in the morning and there were still 51 left. After giving 10 to Aunt Xia, there would still be 41. And the hens hadn't laid eggs yet today. Once they did, there would be at least another 50.
"Yes. Wait a minute."
Yuan Tiantian took out another five eggs. Aunt Xia carefully put them into the basket she had brought. Then she said goodbye to Yuan Tiantian and left happily. She bumped into Aunt Qianhua head - on. The two chatted for a while. Aunt Qianhua remembered asking about the eggs last night. She had rushed over as soon as she finished her morning chores, only to find that Aunt Xia Xiaoliu had beaten her to it.
Seeing Aunt Xia's departing back, Aunt Qianhua quickly walked into the store. Yuan Tiantian was tidying up the dishes and chopsticks, while Bai Ying was carefully cleaning the living room. They had only done a quick clean last night, and it was still a bit dirty.
"Little Yuan, do you still have the eggs? Are they for sale?"
Aunt Qianhua immediately asked the question she was most concerned about. She was just a bit careless and hadn't thought to ask before. If it weren't for Aunt Xia Xiaoliu's question last night, she might not have remembered.
"Yes, but I can only sell 20 more recently. They're 2 yuan each. You can decide how many to buy, Auntie."
After Yuan Tiantian finished speaking, she gave Aunt Qianhua some time to think. She took the dishes and chopsticks into the kitchen to wash. Soon, she saw Aunt Qianhua come in. Aunt Qianhua said to Yuan Tiantian right away, "I'll take them. I'll take all 20!"
Yuan Tiantian was a bit surprised that Aunt Qianhua wanted all of them. She had thought the other woman would only take about 10. The eggs weren't cheap, but the products from the system's hens were of high quality. They were highly nutritious, so the price wasn't really high. The sterile eggs in some countries weren't any cheaper, but their nutritional value was lower than these eggs.
Unexpectedly, Aunt Qianhua took all 20. Yuan Tiantian didn't say anything more. She took out the eggs from the fridge. Seeing that they were the same size as the ones Aunt Xia Xiaoliu had shown her, Aunt Qianhua felt relieved.
"Wait for me a moment. I'll go get a basket."
She had come in a hurry and didn't know if the eggs would be for sale, so she hadn't brought a basket. Soon, Aunt Qianhua came back. She packed the eggs, took out her phone to scan the code for payment, said goodbye to Yuan Tiantian, and left in a hurry. It seemed that there was an urgent matter at home.
Yuan Tiantian looked into the fridge. The vegetables had basically run out and she needed to replenish the stock.
After that, Yuan Tiantian thought about the menu. Since she was the only chef in Sweetie's Food Store, it wasn't realistic to have a large variety of dishes. If the diners ordered a wide range of dishes, she definitely wouldn't be able to handle it. However, she couldn't just have the same few dishes as yesterday. No matter how delicious they were, the diners would eventually get bored. So last night, Yuan Tiantian decided to create a half - month menu. Every day, there would be two kinds of staple foods, two stir - fried dishes, one soup, and one braised dish.
The staple foods would mainly be ordinary white rice paired with sausage - steamed rice, or lard - fried egg rice, or other types of fried egg rice. The other three types of dishes would depend on the fresh ingredients purchased each day.
"Let's go shopping!"
After finishing the cleaning in Sweetie's Food Store, Yuan Tiantian took Bai Ying and Xiuxiu with her. They decided to walk to the town today mainly because Aunt Qianhua's store was closed and they couldn't borrow a vehicle.
"Xiuxiu, tell me if you're tired," Yuan Tiantian reminded the little one before they left. Unexpectedly, it was she who ended up complaining about being tired. Watching the big one and the little one in front of her, walking while excitedly looking at the scenery around them, full of energy, Yuan Tiantian groaned inwardly. Weren't they tired?
After struggling to follow them to the town, Yuan Tiantian immediately found a soy - milk shop and sat down. "Let's take a break!"
Then she ordered a cup of soy milk for herself and also for Bai Ying and Xiuxiu. Seeing their longing looks at the fried dough sticks, she ordered five more. It had to be said that the combination of soy milk and fried dough sticks, one of the standard Chinese breakfasts, instantly won over Xiuxiu and Bai Ying.
"Eat slowly. Didn't you have enough this morning?"
After Yuan Tiantian drank half a bowl of soy milk, seeing their eager looks, she felt helpless. If it weren't for the gratitude points from the system indicating that they were full, she would really have suspected that they hadn't eaten enough!
After Xiuxiu and Bai Ying had a good meal, Yuan Tiantian also felt revived. Then she took the two of them to the largest market in the town. Of course, the largest market in the town couldn't compare with the ones in City B, but it was still quite big. It was about 8:30 in the morning, and the number of people wasn't large. Many stalls were already packing up to leave.
It seemed that they had missed the morning market. After walking around for a while, there weren't many fresh vegetables left. Yuan Tiantian finally bought 10 pounds of tomatoes. She planned to make braised beef with tomatoes for the braised dish today. She still had some beef brisket she had bought before. Then she bought five pounds of celery and five pounds of pumpkin vines. She also got a 13 - pound big winter melon.
The ingredients for the food store were finally sorted out. Yuan Tiantian was a bit dissatisfied with the freshness of the vegetables, but what she had picked were already the best. So starting tomorrow, she would have to come earlier, or all the good ones would be picked by others.
These things were, of course, carried by Bai Ying, the strong one. However, they didn't go back immediately. Yuan Tiantian went to a store that sold electric bikes in the town and bought two on the spot!
The two of them rode back one after another. These two bikes would be the "war steeds" of the food store from now on!
When they got back to Sweetie's Food Store and just parked the bikes, they saw a young girl walking towards them.
A customer this early?