"Gu Family, when will you start selling? This is much later than usual, it’s already past the ti of Si, we have been waiting for a long ti." An impatient custor, seeing several family mbers arrive, raised his voice and asked.
Mrs. Chen hurriedly responded: "Don’t rush, don’t rush, dear custors please line up first, prepare the Silver, and we will start selling in about an hour."
"Another hour? Can’t you be quicker? We are here to give you money after all." A custor complained even more upon hearing this.
Mrs. Chen, all smiles, said: "We know, we know, all the custors here are the God of Wealth to our shop, we also wish to start selling sooner, but the chosen auspicious ti is the middle of Si, so we have to wait."
Gu Dagui folded his hands towards the custors surrounding the shop and said: "Dear custors, please wait a mont, once the auspicious ti arrives, we will pay our respects to heaven and earth and then begin business."
These were town folks or people from nearby villages, already well-acquainted with Gu Family’s tofu stall, naturally patient enough to wait, after complaining for a bit, they said: "Alright, we will wait then."
"Da Gui’s wife, you better go inside and make the gold bean pancake quickly, otherwise you’ll be too busy when the shop opens." Third Grandma urged Mrs. Chen, who was still standing by the shop entrance in the manner of a shopkeeper’s wife.
Mrs. Chen, after hearing that, let out an "aiyo" and hurriedly entered the shop to work, anwhile shouting at her own children to help out in the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Mrs. Chu, Ms. Yan and Aunt Tian were already busy with their children.
Gu Jinxiu, not fond of the bustling noise, did not enter through the shop’s main door, but followed Gu Daya and others around to the back of the shop, going to the kitchen in the back house. Now she was helping pour raw soy milk into the pot in the back house kitchen, adding water and sugar to cook.
After boiling the soy milk, she loaded the soy milk into several jars and carried them to the door connecting the backyard and the shop, calling out to Gu Jinli in the shop’s kitchen corridor making preserved tofu: "Xiao Yu, the soy milk is ready, take it to the custors to drink."
They usually did not sell soy milk, but today, due to the grand opening and overwhelming number of custors, they brought soy milk to give out for free.
"Eh, coming." Just as Gu Jinli responded, before he could get up, Luo Wu was quicker by a step, reaching the door, taking the carrying pole off Gu Jinxiu’s shoulder, and saying, "Let do the heavy labor in the future."
Gu Jinli: "..."
Brother Luo, don’t think that with my parents and elder brother not here, you can flirt with my elder sister like this.
Gu Jinxiu smiled and said: "It’s not heavy, I carry water every day at ho too."
Luo Wu, looking at her smile, felt so good he didn’t want to leave, but Luo Huiniang had already run over and said, "Brother, why are you staring at Sister Xiu smiling like that? Hurry and carry the soy milk out, or else the custors will start complaining again."
Luo Wu gritted his teeth, how could Hui Niang be so blind?
He could only say: "I’ll carry it out now."
Then he instructed Gu Jinxiu: "It’s very crowded and chaotic outside, just stay in the back house, don’t go out, to avoid getting bumped into."
"Alright, the rooms in the back haven’t been cleaned up yet, I’ll go tidy them up and then check on the kitchen fire in my aunt’s place," Gu Jinxiu smiled and replied.
"Brother, why aren’t you worried about getting bumped into?" Luo Huiniang naively asked: "I’m younger than Sister Xiu."
Luo Wu didn’t want to deal with her, carrying the jars full of soy milk outside: "You know martial arts, before anyone can bump into you, you’d have already kicked them, I don’t need to worry."
Luo Huiniang thought about it and felt he was right, her martial arts were indeed formidable.
She ran to the kitchen, picked up a carrying pole with wooden bowls, and followed Luo Wu to the front shop to distribute soy milk to the waiting custors outside.
Guests had only seen people from Gu Family’s tofu stall drink soy milk and had never tried it themselves. After tasting the smooth and rich flavor of the soy milk, everyone loved it imnsely, and they all asked, "Is this the soy milk you always drink? It’s delicious! It has a bean flavor as well as a sweet taste, did you add sugar? Will the shop sell soy milk in the future? If so, we will definitely co to buy it."
Third Grandpa smiled and said, "Today is the grand opening, the soy milk is offered for everyone to drink just for today; we will not be selling it in the future."
Using soy milk to make tofu rather than selling it separately is not cost-effective. Besides, right across their shop is Gan Changfa’s tea house, which sells beverages. Selling the sa would an stealing business and could lead to conflicts.
Hearing that it would not be sold, the guests felt it was a pity, but considering it was a drink not as substantive as food, they let it go without further discussion.
Scholar Shang and Village Chief Shang have arrived!" Zhu Changshou and Wang Yongfu stood on either side of the shop, clearing a path specifically to welco these distinguished guests.
When the surrounding guests heard that Scholar Shang and Village Chief Shang had arrived, they tactfully made way, no longer crowding at the entrance of the shop.
When Third Grandpa saw Scholar Shang and Village Chief Shang, he hurriedly led several n to greet them, "Wenyuan, Village Chief Shang, your presence truly graces our humble store, please co in."
Gu Jin’an bowed to Scholar Shang, "I pay my respects to you, sir."
Scholar Shang glanced at him, nodded, and then smilingly said to Third Grandpa, "Today is a big day for Third Uncle Gu’s family, how could Wenyuan not be here."
It was just a pity that the shop was too crowded and chaotic on its opening day for him to bring his wife and daughters.
He then introduced others to Third Grandpa, "This is Wenyuan’s cousin, also our local village chief, and these two are his grandsons, Sanzi Zimao and Old Si Zisheng. They share a sort of teacher-student relationship with and are my students. They’ve co along today to offer their congratulations."
Sanzi Zimao and Zisheng, both about the sa age as Gu Jin’an, were dressed in scholar’s robes and wearing gauze scarfs, presenting themselves as scholars. They bowed to Third Grandpa and the others, saying, "We, the younger generation, pay our respects to Elder Gu and the uncles."
Third Grandpa, looking at the two refined and elegant young n, nodded repeatedly, "Good, good, these two young n look very promising."
Village Chief Shang loved the spiced at from Gu Daya’s house and his first words upon greeting were not of congratulations but an inquiry, "Brother Gu, are the spiced at and roast duck also sold in this shop?"
Third Grandpa replied, "Yes, they are temporarily sold here. We’ll move them to a specialized shop once it’s established."
Village Chief Shang was overjoyed, "Ah, that’s great, that’s great. I specifically ca for the spiced ats and roast duck."
Hearing this, Third Grandpa laughed and invited Village Chief Shang and his group into the shop.
Ah Jiu and the servants from Village Chief Shang’s house also entered the shop carrying congratulatory gifts.
Not long after Village Chief Shang and his group were seated, the sound of gongs and drums approached from afar toward the shop.
Village Chief Shang asked, "Brother Gu, did your family also hire musicians? Not bad, not bad, it adds to the celebratory and festive atmosphere."
Third Grandpa shook his head, "We didn’t hire any musicians, could it be that soone in the town is celebrating a happy occasion?"
"Oh, didn’t hire? Then whose celebration is it?" Village Chief Shang was also puzzled.
It was Gu Jin’an, seeing Scholar Shang appearing unmoved, who imdiately rembered what Scholar Shang had said to him a few days ago about not making a shop sign and that soone would bring it on the opening day.
Could it be... it has arrived?
Scholar Shang glanced at him, nodded slightly, and stood up first, saying, "Third Uncle Gu, perhaps a happy event has co our way, let’s go out and have a look."
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