Chapter 279: Everyone Wants to Sell Barbecue
Eight hundred cents was no small sum for anyone present.
The village chief clicked his tongue in admiration and gave a thumbs-up. "Little Fei, you’re so generous!"
Giving one barbecue grill to each household cost a total of four taels of silver.
He, for one, couldn’t bear to just give away four taels of silver for nothing.
Gu Fei smiled. "If you feel one grill isn’t enough, you can just go get more custom-made. Tie Niu the blacksmith knows where to go. Once you’re in the city, have him take you."
Her aunt laughed. "Let’s try it out first. If business is good, we’ll make a few more."
Everyone began to light their charcoal. Once the fires were going, each family took some ingredients and started grilling.
The greediest of the bunch was Ms. Qian, who took more than half of the lamb skewers and threw them on her grill.
No one felt it was their place to say anything. Everything belonged to Gu Fei, and Ms. Qian was her eldest uncle’s wife—family, no matter how you looked at it.
Ms. Qian grilled for a bit, and seeing the skewers were almost cooked, she handed one to Bao’er. He took a bite and frowned. "This isn’t good. Not as good as Sister Xiao Fei’s." Still, he couldn’t bring himself to spit it out. ’It’s still meat, after all.’
Watching from the side, Gu Zhong winced at the sight of so many lamb skewers being ruined. He pushed Ms. Qian aside. "Get out of the way. You can’t do anything right. Taotao, you come give it a try."
Taotao had been getting anxious. ’After tasting the lamb skewers and squid, I’ve made up my mind to do this. I need to earn money!’
She felt a little resentful. ’I’m a married daughter, so I’m not really considered part of Mom and Dad’s household anymore. Little Fei should have counted me as a separate family and given me a grill, too.’
When Gu Zhong told her to take over, she was overjoyed. She picked up the skewers Ms. Qian had nearly finished grilling and carefully added chili powder.
’I saw it earlier,’ she thought. ’Mom was stingy with the chili powder and wasn’t turning the skewers frequently enough. Of course it wouldn’t be as tasty as what Little Fei makes.’
Once it was ready, she handed a skewer to Bao’er. As expected, he nodded. "Better than Mom’s, but still not as good as Sister Xiao Fei’s."
The other families were also grilling, with the wives and daughters-in-law taking the lead.
At her paternal aunt’s station, the eldest daughter-in-law, Zhaodi, was doing the grilling. The men, after all, didn’t usually cook and had no sense of how much salt or seasoning to use.
Gu Fei walked from one station to the next, offering pointers whenever she saw a fire that was too high, someone forgetting to turn their skewers, or salt being sprinkled unevenly.
Gu Erlang was also standing before a grill, cooking squid. Gu Fei said nothing, waiting until he was finished. She took a skewer, tried it, and nodded. "Not bad."
"Second Brother, are you planning on selling barbecue?"
Gu Erlang looked a little embarrassed. "If I can earn more than I do driving a cart, then yes."
He wanted to earn more silver. ’I want to marry Lan Zhi,’ he thought. ’She’s so delicate, I don’t want her to endure hardship with me.’
Gu Fei thought for a moment. "You should be able to earn more than you do from driving the cart."
’In my past life,’ she recalled, ’there was a barbecue stall near my school that I went to all the time. They only sold three things—beef skewers, lamb skewers, and dried tofu—but rumor had it they made hundreds of thousands a year. They even sent their daughter to study abroad.’
Mrs. Chen waved her hand decisively. "Alright. You go sell first. If you can make money, our whole family will go to the city and sell barbecue."
Gu Fei laughed. "Mom, what about the chili peppers at home? And the fish in the pond? Are we supposed to forget about them?"
Li Chunhua quickly chimed in, "Mom, how about I go to the city to sell barbecue? I’m in no condition to work in the fields right now, and selling barbecue doesn’t seem too strenuous. I think it would be perfect for me."
Gu Fei shook her head. "Sister-in-law, you should wait until after the baby is born. You have to stand on a street corner all day to sell barbecue, and besides, all the oily smoke isn’t good for the baby."
Mrs. Chen agreed. "The family doesn’t need you to earn money right now. Just focus on a healthy pregnancy."
Before long, every family had some finished products. After tasting their own creations, they all agreed they were quite delicious.
One by one, their confidence grew that they could make money with this.