In the container filled with ice water are milky white fish balls, uniform in size, floating on the water with their fat white bellies.
Chu Ye asked someone to come over and help him. He spread a few tables on the ground and spread a layer of plastic sheeting on them. Then he set up a simple stove in the open space behind the dormitory and put the iron pot racks recycled in the morning. Go up.
Then add firewood and boil water. When the water is warm, take out the fish balls from the ice and put them into the pot, waiting for the fish balls to slowly warm up.
After a while, a strange fragrance floated out from the pot. Chu Ye glanced inadvertently from the corner of his eye and saw several people moving their hands non-stop, but their eyes kept looking this way.
She rolled her eyes and ran back into the house and took out all the dishes, chopsticks, and spoons in the house. Because there were usually only three of her and Pan'er Xiaoya here, there weren't many things. The total number of dishes was only nine. .
But enough.
She simply added more firewood to the stove. After a while, the water boiled, and round balls were swimming on the water. She took a spoon and put two fish balls in each bowl. Then, holding the bowl, chopsticks and spoon, Put it in front of a table of workers.
There are two fat white meatballs in the bowl. The soup base is clear and the noodles are slightly oily. The sweet smell of seafood pours into the nose. Even if the table is full of fish pieces with skin and bones, the delicious taste cannot be concealed. .
Some people swallowed hard, their eyes glued to the bowl and unable to move away.
"Come on, everyone has worked hard today. Here are the fish balls that have just come out of the pot. Let's have a taste." Chu Ye smiled brightly, and the sincere smile he used when facing customers when setting up a stall appeared on his face.
Someone stared in disbelief, pointed at the bowl and said, "Boss, is this for us?"
"Yes! Thank you for your hard work. This is specially made for you." After saying that, she looked at the other people at the table who were looking forward to it. Before they could ask why they didn't have it, Chu Ye quickly explained, "I'm here There are few bowls, so we can only treat everyone to eat fish balls one table at a time. Don’t worry if you don’t get them, we will ensure that everyone has them.”
I don’t know who said loudly that the boss is great, followed by many people laughing and cheering. Some praised the boss for his kindness and kindness. Some said that the boss will make a fortune this year. Chu Ye nodded and accepted it humbly.
On the table of fish balls, no one was the first to use their chopsticks. Chu Ye didn't care and turned around to go to the pot. Seeing her leave, a greedy man couldn't help it any longer. He picked up his chopsticks and poked a fish ball into his mouth. Inside, chew it gently, and instantly, the delicious aroma of the fish explodes in your mouth. In addition to the taste, the meat is also particularly elastic and chewy.
There was a look of satisfaction on the man's face. One fish ball was eaten and wiped clean in the blink of an eye. The man couldn't wait to put the remaining one into his mouth. After eating, he still felt that it was not enough. He held the bowl and drank the soup. Gotta be clean.
Seeing this, the people at the same table began to taste the food one by one, and then their eyes widened in unison, and they drank the remaining fish balls and soup in a hurry.
"The way you eat is so bad, it's like you've never eaten anything good." The table next door felt quite disdainful when they saw them all eating like wolves.
"What do you know! You said the grapes are sour because you haven't eaten them. You'll know after you taste them later." Someone rolled his eyes and retorted.
"Tch! Just fish balls? I want to see how delicious they are." This man didn't believe in evil and retorted harshly.
The person who finished eating was too lazy to answer any more questions and looked eagerly at Chu Ye to collect the bowls and chopsticks, "Boss, do you have more fish balls? Can you give me some more?"
"Yes, boss, these two are not enough."
"Boss, do you want to sell these fish balls? I want to take them home after work for my family to try."
"Boss, give them the next table first so they can have a taste. Just now you dared to look down on us." Someone pointed out a complaint.
"I'm not looking down on you! Stop talking nonsense here!" The man's face turned red and he immediately counterattacked.
Empty bowls and plates were stacked one after another. Chu Ye straightened up after hearing this, smiling apologetically, "We all have a quota, and it will be gone after eating. I am also in business. If you think it tastes good, , after work, I will decorate it for you at the employee price, and take it over for your family to try.”
After Chu Ye finished speaking, she left with the bowls and chopsticks. She wanted to wash them again before taking them to the next table. After she left, the people at the table exchanged words and said they would ask about the price after work. If appropriate, buy some and bring them back.
Soon, Chu Ye came to the table next to him with bowls and chopsticks. Just now he was yelling at others for exaggerating their eating habits. Now he smelled the aroma and swallowed unconsciously. Seeing everyone at the same table eating, He also held up his neck and picked up a fish ball, and bit it down gently with his teeth. The fish ball seemed to be equipped with a spring, and his teeth bounced open. With this, the delicious taste poured into his stomach from his mouth. This taste was I have never tasted fish in my entire life.
Although the fish balls were extremely delicious, the people at the next table were staring at him closely, anticipating his reaction. He remembered what he had just said, pretended to be serious, chewed it carefully, and then said to himself, "That's it."
"Tch." The table next to him showed disdain, seeing through his duplicity, but he was too lazy to expose it, and lowered his head to continue the work in hand.
Soon, everyone present had fish balls. During this period, Mu Jiajun led a group of strong men back from outside. They went to a distant fish pond in the afternoon, and put the fish they caught into containers and put them in her tricycle. I personally push it back.
These people unloaded the fish and moved it into the cold storage. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chu Ye quickly filled the bowl with fish balls and handed it to these people with a smile.
"Hey, are you all tired? Let's take a rest and eat something." Chu Ye smiled sincerely.
"Hey, boss, you're so polite!" "Thank you, thank you!" A few people were also polite. They brought the bowls and started eating. They had been busy for a long time, fishing in the fish pond and loading and unloading goods. They were already hungry. I'm hungry, so this bowl of fish balls comes at just the right time.
Mu Jiajun was the last one to receive the bowl. After Chu Ye handed the bowl over, he saw that his face was red and he wiped his sweat with distress.
Although Mu Jiajun was also very hungry, he still frowned and comforted Chu Ye softly, telling Chu Ye not to worry, "These fish balls smell so fragrant, have you eaten them?" Mu Jiajun held the bowl and ate in no hurry.
"Not yet. I'll give it to everyone to taste when it's ready. I'm not in a hurry to eat it." Chu Ye said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
When Mu Jiajun heard the words, he nodded slightly. He picked up the fish balls and blew them gently. When they were no longer so hot, he slowly moved the chopsticks to Chu Ye's lips, "Then you taste it first."
Chu Ye was stunned, then frowned, lowered his head, bit off the fish balls from the chopsticks, and chewed them in his mouth.
When Mu Jiajun saw her eating, he moved his chopsticks again. After eating one piece, he stopped using his chopsticks and praised the taste.
"Our product will definitely be very popular when sold overseas." Mu Jiajun gave a thumbs up.
"But Jiajun, do you have to take it out of town? In the afternoon, I saw that these workers also liked the taste." Chu Ye said the reason why he gave everyone free fish balls in the afternoon.
"This is the first time I've made these fish balls, and I couldn't quite grasp the taste. I didn't expect everyone to like them very much after I made them. I thought if I could sell them here, there would be no need to take them overseas." After all, If it is sold overseas, who will go there? How to get there along the way is a problem.
Mu Jiajun listened carefully and gave some advice, "I mentioned getting it from other places because recently there are a lot of frozen fish sold at low prices here. It's not easy for us to sell fish balls at a high price here, but we can sell them here. If so, it would really save a lot of trouble.”
Chu Ye also nodded in agreement. Mu Jiajun thought for a while and added, "We can sell nearby in the past few days and see the sales before deciding whether to go elsewhere."
"Okay." Chu Ye nodded in agreement.
Mu Jiajun and these strong men ate the fish balls and wiped their mouths, then left in a hurry. Chu Ye cleaned up the mess and refilled the pot with water. When the water was warm, he put the fish balls in again. Go in, wait for the fish balls to be warm and cooked, take them out, spread them flat on the table, wait for them to cool down and dry the moisture on the surface, then take a plastic bag, put about thirty fish balls per pound, then seal it and put it aside.
Unconsciously, the sky was getting dark again. Chu Ye looked at the time and saw that it was almost seven o'clock. She took out two stacks of ID cards and placed them on the table in front of the room. Then she walked into the house and took out a stack of change.
When the clock hand pointed to seven o'clock, without waiting for Chu Ye to shout, someone rushed over to ask about the salary. Chu Ye did not hesitate and directly asked whether the person was doing a day's work or a half-day's work. After getting the answer, he asked for his name. Finally, Chu Ye found one of the ID cards from a pile, took two more dollars and handed it over.
"Here, here's your half-day's salary."
"Hey, thank you! The boss really didn't lie. He said he actually gave me the money when he said he settled on the same day." The man looked surprised and quickly took the money and left.
The workers quickly gathered around the table where Chu Ye was sitting. When Mu Jiajun and his group came back, the strong men also came over. Seeing this, Mu Jiajun washed his hands and found a place to squeeze in when he saw that he couldn't squeeze in. Sit and rest.
People happily received the money, and the smiles seemed to be embroidered on their faces and became an eternal picture. A small number of people received the money and left, while most people stood aside after receiving the money. Now they saw that the money was about to be distributed. Someone shouted, "Boss, don't you think we can buy fish balls cheaper?"
"Yes, boss, how do you sell these fish balls?"
"We've been waiting here for a long time. Please tell me the price."
People were responding and asking, and there were a lot of chatter. Chu Ye nodded to signal everyone to be quiet. After settling the last two transactions in her hand, she raised her voice, "I won't say more about the quality of these fish balls. It is handmade by us, without any adulteration. It is made from fish into fish balls. All the fish heads and bones are removed, and what is left to make fish balls is the essence, so the price is definitely not that cheap. .”
As soon as these words came out, people were silent for a moment. Some people turned and left, while others asked, "What's the price if it's not that cheap?"
"Yes! Please tell me the price first."
"There are thirty fish balls in a bag, which is almost a pound. A bag costs two yuan and fifty cents. If you buy it today, it will be fifty cents cheaper! A total of two yuan! Take the fish balls home!" Chu Ye raised his voice, and when he finished speaking, the crowd's voices varied. different.
The price is not cheap, a pound of seabass only costs 2 yuan per pound. The price of these fish balls is almost as high as that of seabass! That sea bass is so expensive, people are not willing to eat it every day.
More and more people turned around and headed home, but there were also some who were hesitant and hesitant, wandering between buying and not buying.
Seeing so many people turning away, Chu Ye didn't change his face. Instead, he called them with a smile and said in a friendly tone, "If you like those fish heads and bones, you might as well take some home to make soup and supplement your family." body.”
The faces of those who were about to leave were filled with joy and shame. Looking at Chu Ye’s encouraging eyes, some people came to the container with the fish heads and began to pick them. Gradually, more and more people came over. After all, it’s not cheap. don't want.
(End of chapter)