Chapter 37 – The Workshop Opens

After leaving the restaurant, Xia Tian hurriedly took Xia Yang to the meat stalls.

Starting tomorrow, they’d be supplying Yunlai Restaurant, so she had to place the meat order today, and set up regular orders for the future.

Over the past few days, both meat vendors she’d been sourcing from had proven to be honest—fair prices and no shortchanging.

So she decided she’d keep buying from these two vendors going forward.

At the first stall, Xia Tian picked up the pig heads and intestines she had ordered in advance.

Since she hadn’t brought a basket today, the stall owner used his own and told her to just bring it back when she came for the next pickup.

Xia Tian thanked him, glanced at the pork on the stall, and nodded to herself in approval—it was all top-quality pork belly.

The owner of this meat stall was surnamed Niu. He had been selling meat in town for years and could sell five or six whole pigs’ worth of meat every day.

All the meat he sold came from pigs he sourced and butchered himself. He had a solid reputation.

Uncle Niu’s meat stall was right in front of his house. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t just a “stall”—he had a full butcher shop but simply sold the meat out front every day.

“Uncle Niu, I want to place a standing order. Starting tomorrow, I’ll need 110 catties of top-grade pork belly every day. Do you have enough supply?”

“Every day?” Uncle Niu asked in surprise.

“Yes, every single day.”

“I’ve got it. I slaughter six to seven pigs a day, so 110 catties are no problem.”

“I want pork belly just like this one.” Xia Tian pointed to a specific piece.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get the best cuts every time,” Uncle Niu said with a hearty laugh.

“Alright, every morning around the hour of the Rabbit (5–7 AM), my brother will come pick it up,” Xia Tian said, pulling Xia Yang over so Uncle Niu could recognize him.

“Got it.”

After settling the pork belly order, they rushed to another meat stall and the tofu vendor to pick up the pig heads and dried tofu she had ordered.

Uncle Niu even lent them a wheelbarrow to help transport everything.

Xia Tian had Xia Yang take the ingredients back home while she went to buy various seasonings they would need.

Thinking ahead, she realized that the two large pots in the kitchen wouldn’t be enough once they started cooking in large batches.

So, she bought three of the largest iron pots available and arranged for them to be delivered to the house.

She planned to build a stove in the backyard of the rented house so they could cook the marinated meat there.

As soon as she stepped into the yard, she saw everyone gathered around, and the moment they saw her return, they all turned to look at her eagerly.

Xia Tian raised an eyebrow.

Looks like everyone’s getting impatient!

Perfect. From this moment on, her little marinated meat workshop was officially open for business!

Xia Tian started assigning tasks. “Sister and Sister-in-law, you two handle the pig intestines. Mom, you take care of the pig heads. Big Brother, go buy some firewood and bricks.”

“Bricks? What for?” Xia Yang asked, puzzled.

“To build stoves in the backyard. Buy a lot. We’ll build three stoves so we can do all the cooking back there.”

“Alright,” Xia Yang said, heading off to buy bricks.

Everyone else followed Xia Tian to the backyard.

Her father was still bedridden and could only lie on the heated brick bed.

The two youngest siblings trailed behind her and asked, “Fourth Sister, what should we do?”

“Go wherever you see someone needs help.”

“Okay, Fourth Sister,” the two little ones replied with cheerful grins.

Xia Tian then explained the cleaning and prepping process in detail to Xia Yue, Sun Maimiao, and Chen Shi, then left them to it.

They had twelve sets of pig intestines and eleven pig heads to process—it was going to take a while.

She went to the well to draw water and filled the large water jar in the backyard so it would be easier for them to use.

Since there wasn’t much else to do for the moment, she went to the kitchen to pour a bowl of water, added a few drops of spiritual spring water, and took it in for her father to drink.

After a while, Xia Yang returned, followed shortly by the delivery of bricks and firewood.

Xia Tian and Xia Yang immediately started building the stoves along the backyard wall.

By the time the stoves were done, it was almost noon.

They quickly had lunch and got back to work. Xia Yang lit a test fire with the wood, and the stove worked perfectly. Now they just had to let it dry before using it.

The new stoves would need two or three days to dry out.

For now, they would use the large pots in the kitchen to start cooking the marinated meat.

The pig intestines and heads had already been cleaned and prepped. Xia Tian gathered Xia Yang and the others to teach them how to braise the meat.

To her surprise, her sister-in-law, Sun Maimiao, was the quickest to learn.

Speaking of her, she was someone you could really count on. When the second branch of the family split off, she didn’t complain at all. She even used up her private savings to buy medicine for Xia Zheng’an. Though it wasn’t much, it meant a lot.

As they say, true feelings are revealed in times of hardship—Sun Maimiao was exactly that kind of person.

So, Xia Tian trusted her and handed over the marinated meat business to her sister-in-law.

That afternoon, when the first batch of braised pig head meat came out of the pot, Xia Tian tasted it.

“Mmm, not bad. This is the flavor I want.”

Sun Maimiao let out a sigh of relief—getting the taste right was the most important part.

Xia Tian took a chunk of meat, chopped it into small pieces, and had everyone try it.

For most of them, this was their first time tasting it. They had been nervous about the business, but once they tasted it, they were instantly filled with confidence.

It was getting late. Seeing everything was under control, Xia Tian gave Sun Maimiao clear instructions about the next steps, reminded Xia Yang not to forget to pick up the meat the next morning, and hurried home.

Yunlai Restaurant wanted their delivery around 10 AM, so starting the braising early in the morning would be just in time.

The next morning, as usual, Xia Tian prepared breakfast and lunch for Shen Nian and the other child before rushing to town.

When she got to the rented yard, Xia Yang had already picked up the meat. Xia Tian checked it—it was all top-quality pork belly.

She quickly started the braising process, leaving Xia Yue to tend the fire and put it out when the time was right.

Xia Yue nodded firmly, assuring her she’d take care of it.

Xia Tian then loaded up the cooked pig intestines, pig head meat, dried tofu, and set up tableware, and headed out with Xia Yang and Sun Maimiao to set up their stall.

As soon as they arrived and set up, a crowd gathered around.

She saw they were all old customers from before.

“Little boss, how come you weren’t here the past two days?”

“There was something going on at home yesterday, sorry for keeping everyone waiting.”

“Aiya, no need for excuses—I’ve been craving this for two days! Hurry, give me some pig head meat.”

“Don’t rush, we all are!”

“Alright, coming right up.”

Xia Tian didn’t waste any more words. She had Xia Yang collect payments, she weighed the meat, and Sun Maimiao did the packaging. They worked in perfect sync.

Since she hadn’t come out yesterday, this morning’s group had all come hoping to try their luck, so there were only about a dozen customers.

After handling them, Xia Tian took the opportunity to explain the stall procedures to Xia Yang and Sun Maimiao—how to greet customers, how to take payments, all the details. They both nodded as they listened attentively.

Soon, the crowd in front of the stall started growing.

This time, Sun Maimiao handled the weighing, Xia Yang did the packaging, and Xia Tian collected the money.

Seeing it was almost time for the restaurant delivery, Xia Tian left the stall to Sun Maimiao and went home with Xia Yang to get the order ready.

When they arrived, the meat had already been cooked. Xia Yue had taken it out of the pot and set it aside to cool.

Xia Tian tasted it—perfectly done.

She weighed out 100 catties, packed it into baskets, and had Xia Yang deliver it to Yunlai Restaurant.

She then returned to the stall.

But when she got there, everything had already sold out. Sun Maimiao was packing up.

Xia Tian quickly jumped in to help, and the two of them brought everything home.

Shortly after they got back, Xia Yang also returned.

As soon as he saw Xia Tian, he pulled out the three taels of silver he had been clutching tightly in his chest.

He had been nervous the entire way back, worried the silver might fall out, so he’d held onto it the whole time.

Xia Tian didn’t hesitate, took the silver, and poured out all the copper coins they’d earned at the stall today onto the table.

Everyone gathered around with wide eyes, watching her count the money.

When she finished and looked up, she couldn’t help laughing.

What’s with the serious expressions?

She cleared her throat. “Guess how much we made today?”