Operating A Stall (7)

Long Yuan couldn't help but use a few minutes to appreciate all the ingredients on the booth's display window. This place is literally a heaven on earth to a former chef like him.

"Long-Gege! Why are you daydreaming over here on your own? Let's look for the person in charge before the booth for us was taken away!" Yuan Ling said and pulled Long Yuan along with her. She looked afraid that they'd miss the chance to operate the stall today.

Both of them were busy searching for the person in charge until they eventually stood before Xiyang Yuwen. To their surprise, Xiyang Yuwen was barely older than Long Yuan's age. Still, he was already at the managerial level in this Xiyang Pavilion.

The latter immediately recognized the reason the siblings came to him. But out of a whim, he decided to keep quiet to study their background to obtain his father's favor.

"Is this manager Xiyang Yuwen, the son of owner Xiyang Xiao?" Yuan Ling politely greets him before they proceed with the business-related discussion. This is the least she can do when approaching a complete stranger.

"Precisely. Can I know the reason both of you were here this early in the morning?" Xiyang Yuwen replied. It was apparent that he knew why both of them were here, but he just had to ask them for no reason.

"My name is Yuan Ling. This is my older brother, Yuan Long. Yesterday, Owner Xiyang Xiao mentioned that I should make my way here in the morning if we're interested in operating a booth to sell our Mantou."

"Can we know if there's a stall available?" Yuan Ling's speech was formal but pleasant to the listener's hearing. Even Long Yuan was surprised by his sister's conduct as this is precisely a display not everyone could imitate.

Even a young lady from a prominent household would have to go through ten to twenty classes to display this level of mannerism in public. But presently, Yuan Ling, who came from a poor family, could do just as good as what they could.

Her mannerism immediately charmed Xiyang Yuwen. It was incredible that Yuan Ling had already gotten Xiyang Yuwen's favorable impression with a mere sentence.

"I have been told by my father to arrange it for you. How about I lead both of you to the stall we've prepared for you after you collect the kitchenware needed?" Xiyang Yuwen said. There's a significant change in his conduct, especially after showering with Yuan Ling's politeness.

His conduct also made Long Yuan question if all the young masters in this village were also charmed by Yuan Ling this way. And with his current strength, wouldn't he be hopeless if any of them had some less than good intention towards his beloved sister?

"We'll be bothering manager Xiyang Yuwen then." Yuan Ling politely bowed before they followed him towards the kitchen's storage area.

Once again, Long Yuan had a feast for his eyes as he was greeted with kitchenwares of all sizes. From stoves to steamers and roasting ovens, at least one kind of each thing is available here.

He would love to try using them at least once in the future, but for now, only a steaming rack and briquette stove would do.

After grabbing the kitchenware they needed, the siblings followed Xiyang Yuwen as they were brought to a booth located in the middle area.

'Number 66?' Long Yuan's attention was immediately grabbed by the auspicious number engraved on the wooden plate hanging on top of the booth.

The size of this booth was about the same as their house kitchen. It came in a simple design with a built-in stove and an iron wok, just perfect for Long Yuan to work with all the flour he had. Furthermore, the bamboo steamer in Long Yuan's hand was just right to sit on top of the iron wok.

"Feel free to use this booth to your needs. After your business hour, all you need is to look for me inside the pavilion's ground floor to settle your payment and also reserve the booth for the next day." Xiyang Yuwen said while his finger pointed at the wooden plate numbered 66.

As there's nothing else for Xiyang Yuwen to instruct them, he excused himself after taking another glance at Yuan Ling. The young girl was beautiful and attractive, but what caught this young master's attention wasn't her beauty but something else.

She might have not noticed it, but her body was overflowing with Spiritual Essence. To someone with their financial condition and poor lifestyle, it was already considered lucky to have some Spiritual Essence, let alone brimming full of it.

Long Yuan was also about the same as Yuan Ling. Still, the Spiritual Essence is significantly weaker, just about a third of what Yuan Ling had. Yuan Ling was no different from a young family princess when both stood side by side, and Yuan Long looked closer to a weak servant.

'How surprising...' Xiyang Yuwen whispered while he made his way back to the pavilion. Even he's unable to keep his curiosity in control. He finds it weird for both of them to be full of Spiritual Essence.

"Gege! What should I do now?" Yuan Ling asked. As this was their first time operating the booth, she had no choice but to ask her reliable big brother.

"Just the usual would do. Get me some freshwater, and preparing the fire for boiling water would do." Long Yuan said. Not even a hint of panic can be seen on his face like he already got used to this.

Obviously, it was impossible for Long Yuan to feel panicky from something as simple as this. Furthermore, this wasn't his first time preparing food in public.

Of course, the calmness he had right now was trained from handling a kitchen before he transmigrated over here as Yuan Long.

After kneading all the flour he brought here, it came out to eighty-five steamed buns in total. With the holding capacity of twenty buns that can be cooked in a steamer, Long Yuan decided to only cook half of them and leave half for later.

The morning market is finally opened when they're cooked and ready for business.

Instantly, more than a hundred people swarmed into this food market and turned it into a breakfast battlefield. There's a customer for each booth from people who came solely to buy something for work or gourmet who came to enjoy their leisure morning.

But there are a few exceptions.

One of the few was the Mantou Stall.

There's a noticeable people's traffic on both the left and right of their stall. Still, weirdly, not a single customer was interested in their steamed buns, although they had a beautiful, fluffy appearance.

And the number of hungry patrons grow twice the number half an hour later. Over two hundred people were fighting for the food available all around this market. Still, no one paid attention to the beautiful steamed buns available at Long Yuan's stall.

Even the Mantou from other stalls were selling like hot crepes as they were sold out in a flash.

The silent treatment slowly gets Yuan Ling's mood grumpy after seeing so many people walk past their stall without looking. She had no idea why people would consider the other stall's sour and stale Mantou but not theirs.

Naturally, they were unaware that Xiyang Yuwen was monitoring them from the start until now. There are a few questions in his mind, but he decided to keep them inside him as he wanted to see what could happen without his interruption.

Xiyang Yuwen noticed that Long Yuan's skill was extraordinary by looking at him from afar. From the flour they were using to how he kneaded the dough, letting it rise, and portioning before steaming, each of his steps was done precisely.

Long Yuan could be a master in how he's making the steamed bun. The only unfortunate part is that his cultivation was too low to be called a master.

"How weird! Why does nobody bother to try our delicious Mantou? Do all of them have problems with their taste buds, too?" Yuan Ling asked. The sight of seeing nobody buying their delicious Mantou made Yuan Ling feel unsettled.

This lasted until a man poorly dressed like a scholar came to their stall.

"How many steamed buns can I buy with five Copper-Coin?" this was the first question the customer asked. There was a hint of trouble written on his forehead.

"The price is two steamed buns for a single Copper-Coin. For five coins, that's ten buns in total." Long Yuan replied. He might be inadequate in showing the same mannerism as Yuan Ling does, but he's not that bad compared to his sister.

"If in that case... Can I have ten?" the scholar-like individual said with a humble manner. But his expression quickly betrayed him because the ten steamed buns didn't seem to be enough.

"Are you a teacher, dear customer?" Long Yuan asked while he packed the steamed buns together inside a bamboo meal box.

"Yes. I am a teacher for the western outskirt school. Why do you ask?" the scholar-like customer answered but quickly showed a hint of curiosity on Long Yuan's question.

"I'll put in two other buns inside the box as gratitude for your effort in teaching the kids. Please accept my kindness without saying anything." Long Yuan smiled as he packed twelve steamed buns inside the box.

As for the payment, he only took what the scholar-like customer ordered.

His kind gesture made the customer nod as he took the box and left with a smile.

Little did Long Yuan know that these twelve steamed buns were the turning point for his business today.