Fourteen Beijing Baozi

  Li Wei thought it was feasible, looked at the time, and now there's still time to send out the noodles. She quickly took down the scale hanging on the wall, weighed five kilograms of flour, mixed it with warm water, and covered the bowl with a quilt on the hot kang to ferment.

  She didn't stop doing household chores even after she grew up, and even though she rented a house outside and ate at restaurants and canteens, she still often cooked herself the things she liked to eat. Her cooking skills were pretty good too. Although she had bought some basic cookbooks, she hadn't deliberately studied them, so it could only be said that she had a natural talent for being a housewife.

  At first, Li Wei thought of making mantou, after all, it's relatively simple, just add some sugar and that's it. But calming down and thinking about it, she found it wasn't suitable, mantou may not be as popular as mahua and bread, after all, mahua and bread are golden yellow and oily on the outside, emitting a fragrant aroma, while mantou is only white-skinned and dull-looking, not having such good sales. Thinking of this, Li Wei's heart cooled down, it seems she had thought too simply about this matter.

  After some careful consideration, Li Wei decided to change her product and make meat buns - baozi!

  First, think about the raw materials, noodles, vegetables, meat, oil, salt and seasonings. The noodles are ready, and there is fresh Chinese cabbage at home. Meat needs to be bought. Li Wei also thought of making vegetarian buns, but felt that compared to sesame flowers, the advantage was not great, so she decided to add some meat, although the cost would increase a lot. As for oil, salt, soda and seasonings, Li Wei took a look and found that there were some at home, but not many, it seemed that they also needed to be bought.

  Li Wei took out a pen and roughly calculated the cost, with flour costing 4 jiao per catty, oil around 2 yuan, meat which she had bought a few days ago at 1.1 yuan per catty, seasonings, salt and baking soda (soda ash) being negligible in quantity, so about 5 jiao, and the actual difference would be adjusted during operation.

  In addition to the scallions and garlic for seasoning, we have a lot of them at home, which are also cheap now. The quantity is small, so it's estimated that it won't cost much money, just a few cents like cabbage. Even if it's expensive, it won't be too much.

  The firewood for steaming buns can be basically ignored, it's worthless, and it's said that one yuan can buy a big pile of it as high as a carriage, covering an area the size of three rooms, enough to burn fiercely for half a year.

  However, Li Wei roughly calculated that according to the two taels of flour used for each bread or mahua, if each bun is sold for 20 cents, making 25 buns would only yield a profit of a few cents.

  But that would be a super-large bun, of course, it can't be made so big, and there's the weight of the filling too. Conservatively estimated, at least thirty pieces can be made, and a profit of one yuan should be no problem.

  Li Wei used to earn several thousand yuan in salary, but now she doesn't underestimate this small amount of money at all. Her father's daily wage is just over one yuan, and her mother's daily wage is less than one yuan, which are all hard-earned money for a day's work.

  Talk is cheap. Took out a small pouch. Dug out the twenty dollars hidden in a secret place - a certain abandoned hole in the ground. Took out ten and put back ten.

  Now I recall a phrase from a female senior colleague at the office. "A woman must have her own private money." This saying is said to be verified and concluded by thousands of years of experience among numerous female compatriots. Now that I think about it, it's indeed true.

  Now many men and even units have started learning it too.

  But what men call it is secretly hiding private money. What units call it is a small treasury.

  As soon as I went out, it was a cool breeze. The temperature drop is very obvious. It's really an autumn rain and a chill.

  Arrived at the town's supply and marketing cooperative's food store. First, buy meat. Li Wei asked around. Now selling meat is not that rib bones are expensive, lean meat comes next, and fatty meat is cheap. On the contrary, the thickest part of fat that can be used to extract oil is the most expensive. The parts with bones, don't even think about it. That's got to be paired with fatty meat to sell. Otherwise, nobody wants them.

  Li Wei hesitated for a moment and bought a piece of five-flower pork. Originally, she just wanted to buy a little bit that would be enough for today's use, but the butcher saw Li Wei flipping back and forth, asking questions, and studying it in detail. Although the child was small, he seemed quite professional and capable of making decisions on his own. The butcher didn't hold out much hope and said, "The last piece of five-flower pork will be cheaper for you, if you buy them all, I'll sell them to you for 1 yuan and 5 cents per catty."

  Li Wei was really moved, this piece must weigh four or five catties, can't use so much at once, otherwise...

  Li Wei made up her mind: "You sell me nine cents a catty, I'll buy it all; otherwise, weigh half a catty and calculate." Li Wei deliberately said less to lower the price.

  The butcher didn't think that such a small kid like Li Wei would know how to haggle over prices. Nowadays, no matter what you sell, it's always a seller's market. If it were an adult, he could have turned hostile on the spot. But since it was just a kid, and not necessarily one who could afford it anyway, and besides, he only had this one piece of meat left to sell, so selling it would mean he could go home early today. He nodded: "Alright, 9 jiao 5 fen, or I'll be losing money."

  Li Wei's attitude was resolute: "It's nine corners, no bargaining."

  "Ha! You little scamp are quite clever, aren't you? I'm in a good mood today, if you can really afford it all, I'll sell it to you for nine jiao."

  Li Wei didn't say another word and took out 10 yuan: "Weigh it."

  Originally planning to buy a little more meat, Li Wei ended up buying four jin and six liang. The butcher, for some reason, also gave her two large bones as a gift. Although there was only a bit of meat on them, Li Wei was still very happy. These things may not be as good as meat, but they can substitute for oil. If cooked well, the bone soup with fillings can replace some oil and add freshness to the flavor.

  So on the spot, I asked Uncle Da Han to be kind and split each large bone into four portions, so as to quickly simmer out the marrow oil inside.

  It's a pity for Da Han, his pig-killing knife is going to be sharpened again! I don't know whose child it is, but they're causing so much trouble. He regrets not giving him some big bones instead, even if he was just feeding the dog, the dog would have been grateful and wouldn't have asked him to chop them into eight pieces!

  Carrying meat and bones, Li Wei also bought salt seasonings and baking soda, spending less than two yuan. Today, she spent a total of 6 yuan 1 jiao 4 fen.

  Li Wei had just walked into the village with a bundle of things when she was blocked by a large pile of branches. She went around to take a look and found it was Old Lady Luo squatting on the ground.

  Only the old lady was seen holding Luo San with one hand, and with the other hand tightly grasping the rope tied to the bundle of branches on her shoulders, trying hard to get up. Unfortunately, the weight of the large bundle of branches was not light, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get up.

  Li Wei quickly put down her things and hurried over: "Old Lady Luo, let me help you."

  Others may not say it, but the most reasonable person in Old Luo's family is Grandma Luo.

  Li Wei exerted herself to help lift it from behind, and the old lady finally managed to get up. It wasn't until Li Wei followed her all the way back that she found out what had happened: Luo Nainai had taken Luo San out for a stroll and saw many branches on the ground in the woods, so she went back to fetch some rope and picked up a bundle. When they reached the village entrance, she was really tired, so she took a break, but when she got up again, she found herself somewhat lacking in strength.

  Li Wei walked with Old Lady Luo, watching as she used a rope to tie up Little San's front, one end tied around Old Lady Luo's hand, and her body carrying branches. Just looking at it made Li Wei feel tired. She didn't understand: "Old Lady Luo, why are you tying up Little San? Wouldn't it be easier for you if you just let her walk on her own?"

  "Alas, this little three-year-old, can't let go of my hand, once I let go, he's gone. When I was younger, I could still carry him on my back, now that I'm older, I'm not strong enough to carry him anymore, and with these legs and feet of mine, I couldn't catch up with him even more."

  Li Wei still didn't quite believe it, took the rope from Old Lady Luo's hand, wanting to help alleviate the burden. But she wasn't paying attention and was chatting with Old Lady Luo when Luo San suddenly exerted force on the rope and ran off. Li Wei only felt the rope slipping out of her hands before seeing Luo San running wildly like a small donkey, if it weren't for the fact that it had rained yesterday and the ground was still a bit wet, she estimated that dust would have been flying everywhere behind him!

  Li Wei was dumbfounded, no wonder she's the daughter of Big Landowner Luo San and the village's notorious shrew Luo San Po. One word: fierce!

  Li Wei suddenly got angry. You little brat, if your grandma can't catch up with you, I'll definitely be able to! Don't think that just because you're a local, you can look down on me!

  Li Wei didn't say another word, dropped the bag in her hand and took off after him.

  Although Luo Saner is mischievous and active, he's only a little over four years old, how can he be Li Wei's opponent. Li Wei took a few steps to grab the back of his collar, Luo San struggled and kicked but couldn't move, Li Wei said fiercely: "You little brat, dare to run away, if you run again I'll let your older brother deal with you after school, behave yourself! Also, be obedient to your grandma, otherwise you'll exhaust her, who will cook for you and take you out to walk the dog?"

  Li Wei finished speaking and pulled the rope on Luo San's body, wrapping it around her own arm several times. This time, if I let you escape again, I'll be embarrassed to death.

  Luosan'er widened her eyes, pouted and stared at Li Wei with anger, but didn't shout. However, Li Wei felt that this little brat seemed to have an air of not admitting defeat, heh!

  Li Wei sighed as she walked, thinking that for the past two years, Lao San and his wife had been running around outside, supposedly doing small business, returning home once every ten days or half a month. The household was entirely left to Lao Nai Nai. Lao San's wife wasn't very satisfied, previously when they were at home, there would occasionally be conflicts, now she knew that the old lady was good, unlike her own family, if there was a grandmother around, she wouldn't have become a small nanny herself.

  Alas, being in blessings without knowing the blessings.

  After returning home, Li Wei started to busy herself, boiling bones, washing and chopping vegetables, chopping meat and seasoning fillings. The aroma was great and the fragrance was overflowing. Then she used baking soda to knead the dough.

  This is an experience, after the dough has fermented and become sour, mix a small amount of soda water into the dough, knead it evenly, smell the sour taste, it's best if the sour taste is barely detectable; then use a knife to cut open a big mouth on the dough, the small holes inside the cut dough should be about the size of sesame seeds; again, smell the cut dough, the flavor should be consistent inside and out.

  Everything is ready, Li Wei took a look at the time and it's almost time, so she quickly started wrapping the dumplings. First, cut the dough into pieces of roughly the same size. According to plan, they were going to divide them into thirty portions. She didn't grasp the size well and was afraid that if they divided too little, they would lose money. In the end, there were three more pieces, thirty-three in total.

  Li Wei was busy inside and out, steaming two large pots of thirty-three big buns. She tried one first, hmm, the taste was great, but the bun was really not small, weighing it in her hand, afraid it was heavier than a sesame seed ball, looking at the remaining filling, it seemed that the ratio of dough to filling needed to be studied.

  Then the problem came again, how did she take it to school to sell? After turning around in the east and west houses for a few times, I couldn't find a suitable tool. Alas, if only there was an ice cream selling box... Hmm, wait a minute, Wu Feng's mother sells ice cream in summer, why not go see if you can borrow it to use?

  Don't mention it, others have gone and it's really hard to say, the petty Wu Feng's mother still has to consider. But after Wu Feng went to school, she didn't stop talking about Li Wei in front of her parents. Wu Feng was honest, if not for Li Wei's protection, he would definitely be bullied, especially by the two mischievous kids from the Luo family in the front yard, who often made Wu Feng cry.

  So Wu Feng's mother casually asked and lent the not-so-bad trunk to Li Wei, who made an excuse that she wanted to put food in it and was afraid it would get cold.

  The plywood box wasn't heavy, and Li Wei could still lift it, but once it was loaded with over thirty buns, that might be a different story. To avoid bothering two masters at the same time, she borrowed a bicycle next. This was a big item, and Wu Feng's mother only reluctantly let her push it away after Li Wei promised to return it back in a little while at noon.

  This is why Li Wei usually understands things well, otherwise, even if it's not a child, but an adult like Wu Feng's mother, she would also have to check who the person is, whether their ancestors had any bad records, whether their family background is clean, examine their character, verify their reasons, and see if they have any suspicious behavior recently.

  Even if you pass the political review, it still depends on whether the old lady is in a good mood or not.

  So, it's not just about borrowing a bicycle, but also reflects one's personality charm, Li Wei said excitedly.

  So, Li Wei took out a quilt and two cotton pads that she and her siblings used when they were young, put them in the box to keep warm, took out a white paper, pasted the conspicuous "ice cream" four characters on the outside of the white lacquer box, wrote "baozi" with red chalk, and finally looked at it carefully, feeling too monotonous, so she decided to give the baozi a loud name.

  Li Wei thought for half a day, and the impression was that Tianjin had dog ignores baozi, so let's call it Tianjin baozi. The character "Jin" might not be recognized by those with an education level below second grade. Tianjin, Shanghai... Ah, Li Wei wrote down the two characters "Bei Jing" without hesitation, making it "Beijing Baozi". Beijing roast duck is its relative.

  When it comes to Beijing, their lives are still quite close. In winter, there is a kind of black velvet slipper called Beijing slippers. Generally, children can wear Beijing slippers with pride, which is not unfamiliar.

  As for summer, isn't there a nursery rhyme that goes like this:

  Heavy rain is pouring down, and Beijing calls me to join the army, but I'm still young.

  Beijing, what a yearned-for place; Beijing baozi, what a yearned-for baozi, it's just him, no mistake.

  Baozi was packed, and Li Wei also packaged herself. She found a white coat that her mother wore to work for others, the hem was too long, and she simply sewed it up. As for being too big, it's just a bit bigger. She also took out a white hat and white mask to wear, what a standard food industry worker.

  It's even more troublesome if twins and other acquaintances see it.

  Pushing a bicycle with a Beijing baozi box, locking the door, Li Wei's heart was already sweating, thinking that this cold should be better, and she was easy to get along with.