noffsinger Chapter 149: Temple Fair Stalls
Chapter 149: Temple Fair Stalls
Temple fairs are held at different times in different regions because of the different gods they worship. In coastal areas, the Mazu temple fairs are held from the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar month during the Chinese New Year.
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the villagers of Tuwozi Village began to pay New Year's greetings.
The brothers and sisters of Lao Li's family gathered together, took their children, and went door to door to wish each other a happy new year. Most of the women stayed at home to make dumplings and prepare meals.
They started by greeting the oldest member of the Li family, and ended up paying New Year's greetings to the family of Old Man Li, who was ranked eleventh.
Because no one had much money, except for a few very close families, it was customary not to give greeting money to children.
Old Mrs. Cai took out the prepared roasted nuts and candies, placed them on the deck, and distributed them to the children who came to pay New Year's greetings.
Since no one cared about asking for money, their family couldn't make any special arrangements, but they gave a lot of candies and snacks, and every child's pocket was filled to the brim.
The children were delighted and thought that visiting ten houses would be better than visiting the eleventh one. They surrounded old lady Cai and said auspicious words, making the old lady laugh so hard that she couldn't stop.
In the past, it was said that Mrs. Cai was serious and stern, and the children did not dare to approach her easily. But now she has become the most popular elder among the children.
Li Yuer was also dragged around to pay New Year's greetings. At first she was not happy about it. The countless lonely New Year festivals in her previous life and the constantly deteriorating New Year atmosphere in modern society made her somewhat accustomed to celebrating the New Year alone.
She was a little uncomfortable with the hustle and bustle at first, but the atmosphere of family and friends gathering together and worshiping ancestors soon infected her, and she quickly integrated into the joyful New Year atmosphere.
Like other children, she peeled a piece of maltose and put it in her mouth. It was so sweet that it went all the way to her heart. It felt good.
After paying New Year's greetings, Li Erlang insisted on setting up a stall at the temple fair.
So, they brought charcoal, iron buckets, small iron pots bought at the market, seafood and other utensils, and pushed the cart to South Street in Xinpu Town.
The South Street Temple Fair covers a large area and sells everything, including jugglers, fire-breathing performers, stone-breaking performers with chests, and soft-body acrobatics. The street is two miles long and is extremely lively.
The stall fee has gone up again. It turns out that blood-sucking bugs will come out during the Chinese New Year!
Dedicated to his work, he even works overtime during the Chinese New Year.
After paying the stall fee, several people rented a stall of moderate size in the food area.
Li Erlang took the things off the cart, then used the cart as a table, put an iron barrel on it, lit the straw to ignite the charcoal, and placed the small iron pot on the charcoal barrel to heat it up.
As for the small seafood with sauce, just take them out and pour the prepared seafood sauce on them without heating.
"Hey! Delicious seafood with sauce is here! Don't miss it if you pass by! Selling fresh seafood with sauce!" After shouting about selling oil lamps at the last market, Li Erlang shouted so fluently.
"Braised seafood! Exclusive secret braised seafood! Fresh and fragrant! Delicious and cheap! Eat one serving and you will be a big hit. Eat two servings and you will have good things in pairs. Eat three or four servings and you will have good luck. Eat nine out of ten servings and you will be perfect and have great fortune!"
"Small seafood with sauce?" A passerby was immediately attracted by the hawking voice, "We can still eat seafood in this season!"
"It looks good, but I don't know if it tastes good or not. How is it sold?"
Li Erlang said, "A bowl of small seafood with sauce costs five copper coins."
He gestured at a small bowl containing seafood, which was not big, probably about three or four taels.
"This is too expensive!"
"When the sea opens, a few pounds of these conchs only cost a penny. You're selling them for too much!"
Li Yuer said slowly: "Uncle, Happy New Year!" Li Yuer greeted first, and the man's face immediately looked much better.
"Uncle, our family's secret seafood recipe contains sugar, oil, and a lot of medicinal herbs for nourishing the body, so it's expensive, but it's definitely delicious."
Li Yuer brought a bowl of spicy fried conchs that she had prepared in advance to the crowd and said, "This is spicy fried conchs. Each person can try one for free. You can judge for yourself whether it tastes good and is worth the price."
The man took one without hesitation, but didn't know how to get the conch meat out.
Li Yuer said: "In this way, grab the lid and gently drag it. When the yellow is about to come out, twist it and the meat will be pulled out."
Li Yuer demonstrated it, and the man quickly pulled out the plump and thick snail meat. The snails were first fried and then braised, and the original soup was still retained in the conch shell. It was fragrant, spicy and satisfying to take a bite.
"Oh my! Spicy! This tastes amazing!"
The man squinted his eyes to savor the delicious taste, then waved his hand and asked for a bowl.
"Come on! A bowl of spicy fried snails! Five cents."
As previously agreed, Li Laosan was responsible for filling the bowls, Li Erlang was responsible for greeting guests, and Li Yuer was responsible for collecting money.
The division of labor is clear and nothing will go wrong.
Because he was the first customer, Li Laosan filled the bowl with food. Li Yuer also gave him a cat-eye snail with sauce: "Uncle, you are the first customer of this stall. This small seafood with sauce is for you. It is delicious. Please come again."
The bowl was full and came with gifts, and the girl was sweet-mouthed, so the man happily took the bowl and started eating.
Because there are limited bowls, you cannot take them away and can only return them after eating.
The food that he was eating was so delicious that some foodies couldn't resist and tried a free spicy fried snail dish. After taking a bite, they all decided to buy a bowl. Even though they were planning to take advantage of the free meal, they couldn't resist the temptation and paid for one more portion out of regret.
"Dude, eat quickly, I'm still waiting for the bowl."
The eater took one look and urged, "Give me one more later, and I'll hurry up."
The latter thought about it and said, "Okay."
Seeing this, Li Yuer asked Li Laosan to go to the market to buy some bowls and some oil paper.
By the time I got back with my purchase, there were already four or five people queuing in front of the stall.
Li Yuer quickly cut the oil paper into squares of appropriate size with scissors and placed them on the bowl. This was both clean and convenient.
The problem of insufficient bowls was immediately solved, and some customers simply wrapped the seafood in oil paper and left.
Other customers followed suit, and soon the spicy fried snails were sold out.
Even the small seafood with sauce were sold half.
A customer ate the abalone with sauce and praised loudly: "This abalone is amazing, so soft and tender, how can it be so delicious? Give me two more bowls."
There weren't many abalones, so Li Laosan served whatever he had. When the man saw that there were no abalones, he said unhappily, "Why are there no abalones this time?"
Li Yuer smiled and explained, "We start from the outside and serve whatever we get. But don't worry, everything tastes good. If it doesn't taste good, you can beat me. Do you want to try this little octopus?"
The man took a bite doubtfully and said, "Hmm, it's delicious, especially the head. It seems to have yellow inside, so fragrant."
Li Yuer smiled and said, "Really? They're all delicious. It would be a shame to always eat the same thing. It would be great to try everything."
This lottery-like way of serving seafood stimulated foodies to rush to buy it, and the small seafood with sauce was sold out in a short while.
Some people who arrived later and got nothing immediately became unhappy.
"It's just a small amount, who can eat it?"
"Yes, I want to buy some to take home to comfort my children."
"Of course I did. I was waiting to buy some to accompany my father-in-law's drinking, but now it's gone!"
Li Yu'er and the other two looked at each other and understood each other. Li Erlang opened the lid of the braised seafood, and a domineering and rich aroma immediately came out.
"Oh my god! What's that smell? Why is it so delicious?"