1novels Chapter 315 Candied Hawthorns?
Chapter 315 Candied Hawthorns?
She turned around and walked back to the small truck, took out potato chips, shrimp chips, biscuits, preserved plum candy, and peanuts from her spatial storage, put them in two large bags, and placed them on the stall to sell.
Snacks were laid out, and someone walked over from the stall next to them.
He was a middle-aged man, wearing a wrinkled plaid shirt, with messy hair, and holding a thermos in his hand.
He walked over, stood next to Xu Xiaoyan's stall, and glanced at her.
"Is this new guy?" he asked.
Xu Xiaoyan looked up at him and saw that his tone was quite friendly and he didn't seem to be looking for trouble, so she nodded and said, "Yes, it's my first time here."
The man said "oh," took a sip of water from his thermos, and then looked around.
"The right section is alright," he said. "There aren't as many people as in the left section, but most of the people who come here drive and have some money, so they're willing to buy."
He paused, then glanced at Xu Xiaoyan again. "You just sell snacks?"
Xu Xiaoyan pointed to the things on the table and said, "Hmm."
The man nodded, said nothing more, and turned to walk back.
After taking two steps, he turned back.
"Oh, right," he said, "there are a lot of people after 6 p.m., so be prepared. Also, don't litter. There are people who collect garbage; just give them a little tip."
Xu Xiaoyan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks for reminding me. I really didn't know that if you hadn't mentioned it."
The man waved and went back to his stall. Xu Xiaoyan watched his back and suddenly felt a warmth in her heart. In this underground city, it's not easy to meet someone who unconditionally reminds you.
Xu Xiaoyan sat on a folding chair, watching the few customers passing by. There weren't many people. Compared to the bustling scene on the left side, the right side could only be described as deserted.
Occasionally, someone would walk by, but they would do so slowly, looking around, unlike the crowded left side where it was difficult to even walk.
But as the man in the plaid shirt said—those who come are all willing to spend money.
A well-dressed middle-aged woman came in just now. Without even looking at the prices, she picked up ten bags of potato chips, five bags of shrimp chips, and a handful of preserved plum candies, took out her phone to scan the code and pay. She didn't say a word the whole time. Before Xu Xiaoyan could react, the woman was already far away.
There was also a young couple; the man was riding a cool motorcycle, and the woman was sitting on the back, dressed very fashionably.
They stopped in front of the stall. The woman spent a long time picking out snacks, and the man simply said, "Take them all if you like them." In the end, they bought two large bags of snacks. When the woman left, she even kissed the man on the cheek and smiled like a flower.
The most outrageous thing was a man driving a small truck. He got out and asked if she had any whole cases of shrimp chips. Xu Xiaoyan said she only had loose ones. The man frowned and thought for a moment, and then bought all the shrimp chips from her stall.
Xu Xiaoyan felt a surge of joy as she watched the points in her account steadily increase.
She glanced down at the time on her phone—it was exactly four o'clock in the afternoon.
She started setting up her stall around 2 p.m., and in less than two hours, all the snacks she brought have been sold out.
She originally planned to continue selling at the small night market near her home in the East District that evening. Although the foot traffic there wasn't as high as here, it was closer to home, so she didn't have to pay for parking, and most of her customers were regulars, so she could sell a little more.
But now she's changed her mind.
Remembering what the man in the plaid shirt said earlier, that there are more people after six o'clock in the evening, why doesn't she continue to set up her stall here?
After all, we're already here.
Moreover, the customers here are generous spenders. Instead of going back to the East District and working hard all night to sell, it's better to rest here. Anyway, the stall has already been rented, and staying a few more hours won't cost much in management fees.
She put her phone in her pocket, leaned back in her chair, and lay down comfortably.
After lying down for a while, she suddenly remembered something, sat up from the chair, and a thought suddenly popped into her head—could she come up with some creative ways to increase income?
She's sold out of today's stock, so she can't take any more snacks from her spatial storage. That would be too conspicuous. She needs to sell something that no one will suspect!
The watermelons and apples we bought from the shopping outlet can be sold, but selling fruit directly is too ordinary. How about making them into candied hawthorns?
Her space contained granulated sugar, a small coal stove, a small pot, smokeless coal, toothpicks, plastic bags, and even a small knife and cutting board...
Apples can be cut into chunks and made into candied apple skewers.
Watermelons are not easy to string, but something is better than nothing! Anyway, the sugar can be made and the candied hawthorns can be wrapped on the spot. Freshly made candied hawthorns are definitely more attractive than those packaged snacks.
She became more and more excited as she thought about it, and jumped up from her chair.
She walked to the small truck, looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, then went into the truck bed and took out the relevant items from her storage space.
On her first trip, she carried a small coal stove, smokeless coal, a lighter, a small pot, and bottled water. She placed the small coal stove on the open ground next to her stall.
On her second trip, she carried a watermelon, apples, a knife, a cutting board, and plastic bags. She placed the watermelon and apples under the folding table, the knife and cutting board on the table, and the plastic bags on the back of the chair.
Then she squatted down and started a fire.
Anthracite takes a while to ignite, so she took a piece of cardboard and fanned the furnace door with it, making sparks fly.
After fanning for about ten minutes, the coal finally burned red-hot, and the furnace emitted an orange-red light, with waves of heat hitting us.
She put the small pot on the stove, added some mineral water, and then poured in some white sugar.
Next comes boiling the sugar.
She remembered seeing an old master who made candied hawthorns boil sugar when she was in Xuan County.
The teacher said that the most important thing in making sugar is controlling the heat. If the heat is too high, the sugar will burn; if the heat is too low, the sugar will not stick. The best time to cook it is when the syrup bubbles up and turns amber in color. You can dip a little into cold water with chopsticks and it will immediately become brittle.
She stared at the syrup in the pot, watching it slowly melt, bubble, and change color.
A sweet fragrance began to waft through the air.
Several people in the distance were looking this way. A stall owner pushing a cart stopped and craned his neck to look at her.
A couple passing by slowed down; the woman tugged at the man's arm and whispered something.
There was also a woman wearing an apron who simply walked over and stood in front of her stall to look at it.
"Young lady, what are you doing?" the older woman asked.
Xu Xiaoyan looked up and smiled.
She said the candied hawthorns were "made to order".
The woman said "oh" and didn't leave; she just stood there watching.
Xu Xiaoyan continued to boil the sugar.
The syrup in the pot thickened and darkened in color, changing from transparent to pale yellow, and then from pale yellow to amber.
She dipped a little bit with her chopsticks and put it into the cold water that had been prepared next to her—she took it out and tasted it; it was crunchy.
All right.
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