North and South groceries

If the opening of Nanbei grocery store has brought changes to anyone's life, it must first be the residents around Fenglefang.

In the early morning of this day, before the morning drum sounded, the doors of the square were not opened, and the North and South groceries hadn't opened yet, there were many people waiting in line in front of the shop.

From the crack of the door, one can vaguely see that the lights in the shop have been lit, and it seems that the guys are placing goods.

"Ge Da, why are you here later than usual?" Another old man in his 60s and [-]s came over there, and a few people in line greeted him with a smile.

The area of ​​this Fenglefang is small, about half of those of Guangdefang, and the number of residents is limited. What is the situation of each household, and they know each other somewhat.

Ge Da, like this, is the servant of a small official family named Liang in the southwest of Fenglefang. Apart from Ge Da, there is only one old woman, a servant and a maid in their family. The old woman cooks, and the servant He is with the husband of their family, and the maid is helping the lady in the family. Ge Da is their leader, but he also has to guard the door.

I heard that their Liang family is quite a respectable family in the south of the Yangtze River, but the neighbors here can also see that their family's life has been worse for the past two years, if there is no accident at home It was Liang Dalang who lost his favor at home.

However, their family's husband and wife are pretty good people, and the neighbors get along harmoniously. Although everyone is embarrassed behind the scenes, they always want to save face in front of others.

"Oh, I went to bed late today." Ge Da said as he walked over and got to the back of the line.

"You're getting old, why don't you let that kid at home come out and buy it?" someone said to him.

"When you get older, you don't sleep much. Boys of their age are just snoozing." Ge said with a big smile.

In fact, it is true that the kid is sleepy, but if he is really entrusted with the task of shopping for groceries in the north and south every morning, that kid will not be able to jump up for joy.

A few days ago, Ge Da felt a little unwell, so he asked him to come. As a result, the kid went into the shop and wanted to buy everything. , In other words, he just said a few words, Ge Da is really distressed, what's going on at home now, how can he stand up to spending so much money, that kid still thinks he was in Jiangnan in the past.

The morning in the first month was quite cold, a group of people lined up with their necks hunched, talking to each other, the time passed quickly, and after a while, the shop in front opened.

Entering from that entrance, what you see is still a large bright hall, full of all kinds of food, like Ge Da, who was hungry when he was young, never dreamed that there would be such a place in the world , Recently, the time when he comes to this shop every morning to buy food is his most enjoyable time of the day.

He is also old now, and his body is getting worse day by day, and he doesn't know how many years he can live, but he feels that he has no regrets in his life.

The father-in-law trusted him and asked him to come to Chang'an City with Mrs. Lang Jun and his wife. Living in Fengle Fang is not bad, especially recently they opened this North-South groceries, which added a lot of color to their lives.

Ge Da carried a basket at the entrance, and after entering the shop, he went to the dessert area by familiar means. There was a special price area over there, and there were some special packages every morning, the size of two or three palms for adults An oiled paper bag, most of which are unattractive shapes, or leftovers from making bread and cakes. The price is very affordable, only two cents a bag, and these neighbors like to buy that most.

Every afternoon, there will be a batch of half-price desserts in the special price area. The main reason is to ensure the freshness of the food in their shop. There is nothing wrong with the bread and cakes that have been stored for a day. They sold it at half price, and many neighbors also liked to buy it, but Ge Da didn't buy it very much.

The special package every morning is good, but the purchase is limited, and each person can only buy one package. Even if it is like this, it is sold out early every day, and it is impossible to buy it when it is too late.

Ge Da took a special package, then went to the counter to look at it again, and picked out a small cake worth fifteen cents. His little lady’s birthday is here, and since two days ago, she has been telling him to call him today. Remember to buy her a cream cake, and you have to eat a cream cake on her birthday. It seems that the saint in the palace started this matter first.

After buying these two items, Ge Dashi didn't stay in the dessert area anymore. He first turned to the tofu place next to him, bought tofu for two yuan, and then bought some brine.

Finally, I went to the shelves in the corner and took out a can of salad dressing and a can of bean paste. Salad dressing is used to mix vegetables and vegetables, and bean paste is naturally used for cooking. Meat dishes made with this bean paste Tofu dishes are loved by the young lady at home.

"The special package comes with a cake for 43 Wen, salad dressing [-] Wen, bean paste [-] Wen, tofu [-] Wen, and brine [-] Wen. The total is [-] Wen. Do you want a paper bag?" asked the young man in charge of collecting money at the front counter. People helped him take things out of the basket one by one, and quoted the price again.

"No, no." Ge Da took out a neatly folded large oil-paper bag from his arms, opened it and shook it, and the young man at the counter quickly took it and helped him put things into the bag.

Ge Da took out another string of money from his bosom, which he had counted in advance, a string of fifty cash, at this time it was only necessary to count out seven cash from it.

He spent 43 Wen all at once, and he was very distressed. His family's husband didn't have much salary every month, and his hometown in Jiangnan didn't send them much money to Beijing in the past two years, so the family Fortunately, when the family was still willing to give money in the early years, Mrs. Lang lived frugally, borrowed some money from others, and bought this house in Fenglefang. If you are not rich, you can live a good life.

Today coincides with the birthday of the little lady at home, so I spent more, and the salad dressing and bean paste in the kitchen are almost used up, so I don’t need to spend so much on weekdays.

Holding an oil paper bag in his arms, Ge Da walked all the way towards his home, still thinking in his heart, whether he would spend a few pennies less tomorrow or the next day, because he couldn't save anything else, so he had to buy less braised vegetables.

"Ge Da, do you remember to buy me a cake today?" As soon as I entered the yard, I heard the five or six-year-old lady at home ask crisply.

"I bought it." Ge replied with a big smile.

"Where is it? Let me see it?" The little girl asked impatiently.

"It's in this bag, it's on the top, I'm afraid it will be crushed." Ge Da said, opened the oil paper bag in his arms, and took out the cream cake, but didn't give it directly to the little lady , but called the maid who usually served in front of the lady to come over: "You take this to the lady's room first."

"Can I buy salad dressing?" At this time, the woman who was cooking also came out of the kitchen.

"I bought it." Ge Da handed her the oil paper bag in his arms directly, the woman looked at it, turned around and went back to work in the kitchen.

Not long after, the lords and ladies of the family also got up, and the woman who cooked had already prepared breakfast for them. At this time, she and the maidservant brought the food to the outer room of the hall.

First, he brought in a plate of vegetable salad and a stack of small pickles, then he opened the special package that Ge Dafang had just bought, put it in a rattan plate, and then brought in a few boiled eggs, which he added every day. A bowl of corn porridge.But the stewed vegetables did not move, that was tonight's dish.

The master's family eats in the main room, and does not want the servants to serve them, so they all go to eat too.

The place where the servants eat is under the kitchen. There is also an earthen kang built here. Once the kang table is set up, corn porridge is served with mixed noodles pancakes, and there is a stack of small pickles. Each person can have an egg, which is considered a good meal. .

"Ge Da, these cakes are for you to eat, Aye asked me to bring them." While eating here, the little man at home put a few pieces of bread and cakes on a plate and brought them over.

"It's not that I can't finish eating, and what to do here again." Ge Da sighed.

The young man smiled, put down his things and left without saying anything.

To be honest, all my brothers and sisters love to eat this bag of two-cent bread and cakes, and Ye Niang also loves to eat it. If there is more, it is really not much at all, but it’s okay to eat less than one or two yuan occasionally. Ge Da's health was not good two days ago, and the young man was somewhat worried.

After the whole family had breakfast, the sky had already brightened, and the door-opening drum had already been knocked. Mr. Lang went out with his servant, Mr. Mr. Xiao went back to study in his room, and Mrs. Wang took the two young ladies inside the house. , doing embroidery work and talking, the maidservants are also waiting on the sidelines, helping them wind the thread and coaxing the youngest lady in the family.

Their wife is a good embroiderer. Two years ago, she found a job in a clothing store in the city to embroider the clothes in the store, and she could earn some money every month to subsidize the family.

"Ge Da, will you go to Luo Sanlang's grocery store to buy cakes tomorrow morning?" The little lady at home impatiently stayed in the house to learn embroidery from her mother, and ran to the yard after a while, and met the man who was pounding rice. Ge Da spoke.

"Go, why not go." Ge Da laughed.I just finished eating, and I was thinking about the next meal.

"Can't you take me there tomorrow too?" the little lady asked him.

"You have to ask the gentleman and the lady about this matter." Ge Da felt that this matter was basically useless.

"Aye said he would take me there on the day he rests." The little girl said aggrievedly, "But I want to go every day."

In fact, it's not just the little lady of the Liang family who wants to go to Luo Sanlang's grocery store every day, many people in Chang'an City are like this.

It is precisely because of the charm that people want to go every day that the business of groceries in the north and south is booming. Every day is better, and there are so many desserts to eat every day. The shelves are full, so you don’t have to worry about selling them. Complete loss.

The so-called happy and sad, the business of groceries in the north and south is good, and naturally some people's business will be affected, such as the famous Mifangzhai.

Anrenfang, where Mifangzhai is located, is just opposite Fenglefang, facing each other, separated by a 150-meter-wide Zhuque Street.

When the North and South groceries opened here, some of the guys from Mifangzhai asked them if they were in charge of the shop, if they would like to visit Luo Sanlang's shop.

"Look at what they do, just do your own business well." That's what the old man said at the time.After that, no one mentioned this to him again, so as not to catch up with them again when they were in a bad mood at the head of the family, they would come back to them face to face.

After twenty days like this, the North-South groceries business is getting better day by day, even though Na Luo Sanlang bought a group of children with little reputation in his shop, there are still a lot of people willing to go to his house to buy things.

On this day, the old man at Mifangzhai finally couldn't hold back anymore, and ordered people to go to Nanbei Grocery to buy some of the most famous food and come back.

In the end, several breads and cakes were placed on the table of Mi Fangzhai's master.

The old man tasted the legendary cream cake first, without saying a word, then ate another egg tart, still remained silent, then picked up a salted egg cheese bread, first looked at it, then took a bite, and then I took a bite, and while I was eating, I was still muttering:

"Tsk, what a cheese, it's clearly cheese, it's just a different name, I don't think I can recognize it."