Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 265 Tomorrow at noon, I will also order a plate of this fish

The guest listened and pretended to be casual, glancing at the sweet and sour fish on the table over there.

He swallowed unconsciously and nodded, "I love fish the most. If I don't eat fish for some days, I feel that nothing tastes good."

"We usually eat fish stewed or fish sashimi, but I have never seen fish cooked this way."

The customer pointed to the almost finished plate in front of him and said, "I'm almost done with today's meal. I can't eat any more even if I order."

"Tomorrow, at noon, I'll order a plate of this fish, and nothing else, just a small bowl of rice."

The guest ordered the meal and asked, "How much is this dish? Do I need to pay a deposit first?"

Shen Yu waved his hand and replied, "Sweet and Sour Fish is 80 cents per portion. No deposit is required."

"What's your name, sir? What time will you come tomorrow? This dish should be eaten while it's hot."

The guest smiled and said, "Miss, you are too polite. My surname is Xu and I work as a housekeeper in the house of Mr. Jiang in the west of the city."

"I'm here to do some shopping for my master today. I have some small items that I've ordered to be picked up tomorrow. It's just in time for me to come to your house for lunch, which is about the same time as today."

Manager Xu looked at the sky outside and said, "It won't be later than 15:00. It's okay to wait a little longer. Your restaurant may not be big, but it's clean. It's nice to sit down and rest your feet."

Shen Yu remembered them all in his mind, nodded with a smile and said, "Manager Xu, please come over at the appointed time tomorrow, and make sure it's done before 3 p.m. tomorrow."

"Wait for you to sit down and have a cup of tea. I will make some sweet and sour sauce and pour it over it. I guarantee it will be just hot for you to eat."

Although Manager Xu had not eaten the fish yet, after hearing what Shen Yu said, he thought about the joy of feasting tomorrow.

Although he was over fifty years old, he couldn't help but smile like a child. He thanked Shen Yu for his hard work, paid for today's meal, and left with satisfaction.

Seeing that the two shopkeepers were chatting animatedly while eating and they would not be able to finish the meal in a short time, Shen Yu told Li and the others the price of the sweet and sour fish and went back to the kitchen in the backyard.

Yutao had already cleaned the kitchen and scrubbed the sauce pot clean and put it aside to drain the water.

Seeing Shen Yu coming back, she smiled and said, "Sister, that guest called you, do you want to eat fish too?"

Shen Yu nodded and asked in surprise: "How did you know? Did you hear it in the backyard?"

Yu Tao said with a smile: "That customer must be a fish lover. When I brought the fried fish over, he was eating. When he saw the fish, he said 'eh' and stopped me."

"He asked me if the fish was newly prepared and sold. I told him that the customer had ordered it in advance. He was a little disappointed. I guessed that he probably wanted to eat it too."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "You guessed right. He ordered this sweet and sour fish for lunch tomorrow and asked me to prepare it and wait for him to come over at 11:00 tomorrow."

After Shen Yu finished speaking, he thought for a moment and said, "Wait for Yu Cheng and the others to come back, and rewrite a large menu for ordering dishes and post it on the wall."

"Write down all the dishes that can be ordered, so it is convenient for customers to order, and we don't have to guess what the customers like."

Yu Tao offered an idea: "It would be better to draw a picture of it like the signboards and promotional paper, and write the price on it, so that it can be clearly seen at a glance."

Shen Yu nodded and said, "Then go and help me cut a piece of paper of the right size, and write the menu after they come back for dinner."

Then he said with some frustration: "I am just like you. Whenever I have free time, I practice calligraphy with them. Why is it that my handwriting is still not good enough to be seen by others?"

Yutao giggled and said, "I think my sister's handwriting is much better than before. At least her hands don't shake as much anymore. We can recognize the words she writes."

After saying this, he ran away without waiting for Shen Yu to reply.

Shen Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was also surprised that calligraphy didn't seem difficult at all when he watched others write it.

She and Yutao followed Yucheng, Dundun and others, and wrote one whenever they had free time.

Now even Yutao's handwriting is better than mine, but my own calligraphy still looks horrible, crooked and shapeless.

It must be that traditional Chinese characters are too difficult to write, Shen Yu comforted himself and couldn't help laughing.

Thinking that there would be a customer who wanted to cook fish tomorrow, Shen Yu went to the basin where there were three fish.

Shen Yu hesitated for a moment, then grabbed one.

She felt that if she cooked fish often in the future, she would always have to fillet the fish and scrape the scales herself, and not always rely on Zhou Dalang.

For example, today, when Zhou Dalang was making cakes, she caught him and asked him to clean the live fish. Not only did it delay the making of cakes, but if Zhou Dalang was not around, would they not eat the fish?

In fact, if the fish is not moving, it is not difficult to cut open the fish and scrape the scales. The main problem is that it is difficult to do it when the fish is moving.

Shen Yu recalled the way his master killed the fish before cooking it. He tremblingly hit the fish's head hard with the back of the knife. Perhaps he didn't use enough force and the fish still moved.

Shen Yu had no choice but to close his eyes and knocked twice more. The fish finally stopped moving. Shen Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Zhou Dalang came to the backyard to fetch water and saw Shen Yu squatting by the back door of the yard. He came over and saw her cleaning the fish, and hurriedly said, "Miss, why are you doing it yourself? Just ask me to do these rough jobs."

Shen Yu had overcome the fear in his heart by now, and he skillfully cut open the fish and scraped off the scales.

"Making pancakes every day is already busy enough for you, and you have to put down your work and come to kill fish, which makes your hands smell fishy. If you want to go back to make pancakes, you have to wash your hands and clean them. It's a waste of time."

Shen Yu paused, and then said: "From now on, everyone in our store must learn these things. If a restaurant owner doesn't know how to kill chickens and fish, it will become a joke if it gets out."

Zhou Dalang heard this and felt that what Shen Yu said made sense: "When the weather gets cold, we can slaughter chickens and ducks in the shop in advance and send them here. But the fish should be eaten fresh, so it is better to cook it and eat it right away."

After Zhou Dalang finished speaking, he remembered something and said curiously, "It's almost closing time today. Are there any customers who want to eat fish? Why did the girl kill another fish at this time?"

Shen Yu said, "The south is sweet and the north is salty. I thought of a salty and fresh flavored pepper fish nuggets. It would be nice to make it and sell it in the store. A whole fish is a bit too much for one person to eat. If you make it into fish nuggets, you can sell it in small portions."

"It's not difficult to make. I want to try making some first, and when you go back later, you can bring two pieces back to try."

Zhou Dalang thanked them, fetched some water, got a rag, picked up the bucket, and went to the shop to work with Li and the others.

As long as Shen Yu knocked the fish unconscious, the rest was smooth sailing. In a short while, he had scraped off the scales, rinsed it, cut off the fish head and split it in half.