CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER 211 ORIGINAL SIN 20

Because Shuangshuang’s position is too remote, the price is several times cheaper than popular stands.

What attracted Shuangshuang the most was that, due to the remoteness of this stand, there were no neighboring vendors on either side, allowing her to avoid much interaction with neighbors and reduce the risk of exposure. This was most appealing to Shuangshuang.

After paying the stand fee, the first thing Shuangshuang did was to renovate this stone counter. Although Shuangshuang kept referring to it as a stone counter, it was actually made of cement. For selling items, simply laying some plastic or fabric would suffice. Since Shuangshuang intended to sell food, it had to be clean and attractive.

Shuangshuang hired a worker to cover the cement counter with large white tiles, completely sealing it from top to bottom and left to right. Even the hollow area below meant for storage was tiled. After this transformation, the counter instantly appeared clean and tidy.

Once the sanitary and aesthetic issues were resolved, Shuangshuang started pondering what food to sell. In fact, after deciding to sell food, Shuangshuang had given this matter careful thought.

The city center of S City is crescent-shaped, with a major river running horizontally through the city. The inner side of the crescent faces the sea, with a bustling harbor, while the outer side is adjacent to land. With both the sea and river, S City has abundant and cheap fish resources!

After much consideration, Shuangshuang decided to make grilled fish. Although fish is inexpensive due to S City’s abundant supply, grilled fish in restaurants is not cheap. Furthermore, the rich aroma of grilled food can spread far, definitely attracting customers.

After securing the night market stand and deciding what to sell, Shuangshuang went to the pre-selected wholesale seafood market. She finally chose two-pound catfish, grass carp, and the relatively expensive snakehead fish as the raw materials for grilled fish.

Grass carp has fewer bones, making it easier to eat grilled. Many people dislike catfish, but its tender meat becomes delicious when heavily marinated and grilled. Snakehead fish has the most savory and firm meat.

The texture of snakehead fish is akin to lean pork, having both the pliability of fish and the chewy texture, without the dryness of lean pork. It’s delicious no matter how it’s cooked.

However, snakehead fish is relatively expensive, so Shuangshuang stocked the least of it. She plans to make it the highest-priced signature grilled fish, employing limited daily sales to create a scarcity marketing, a fairly novel tactic to capture the consumer’s desire for rarity.

With her excellent cooking skills and the appetite-whetting limited sales, Shuangshuang is confident her grilled fish stand will gain fame. If it attracts true gourmets, she won’t have to worry about customers.

Buying grills, charcoal, various seasonings, utensils, and small stools and tables for customers cost nearly two thousand yuan altogether.

Before officially starting the business, Shuangshuang took Feng Jinyan to a large hair salon and spent two hundred yuan to have a stylist design a chic and neat short hairstyle for her mother.

Previously, Feng Jinyan’s hair was trimmed by Shuangshuang during bath times, and it was so jagged and ugly! Although it had grown to a medium length and didn’t look as bad, it still wasn’t good-looking.

Now, with a neat and stylish haircut, wearing sunglasses, together with Feng Jinyan’s natural beauty, she exuded the stunning aura of an urban beauty!

When leaving the hair salon, Shuangshuang spent another thousand yuan: eight hundred on a membership card offering a fifty percent discount for future visits. A beautiful hairstyle requires regular trimming, else the style would be lost.

A further two hundred yuan was spent on several bottles of hair care products to prevent frizz and maintain the hairstyle, requiring proper hair nourishment.

With the hair sorted, clothes couldn’t look shabby either. Shuangshuang took Feng Jinyan straight to a shopping street where the clothes were stylish and affordable. Both of them got several nice outfits, spending nearly another thousand yuan!

After refining Feng Jinyan’s look and buying clothes for both, Shuangshuang and Feng Jinyan returned home with bags full. Shuangshuang felt fortunate for renting a high-rise apartment with an elevator; otherwise, it would have been a struggle to climb the stairs.

After all the hustle for the day, Shuangshuang was aching all over, her hands hurt from carrying too many bags, her feet ached from walking back and forth in seven or eight malls, her stomach hurt from not having time to eat due to shopping, and her heart ached seeing so much cash spent!

Nevertheless, the money was well spent. Now, with Feng Jinyan’s smart and calm look, equipped with sunglasses and maintaining silence, she looked every bit a city white-collar beauty! Standing before members of the Yun Family, they wouldn’t recognize her as that crazy woman from their family!

Shuangshuang bought herself a few outfits that made her look mature, giving the impression of being two years older. Together with Feng Jinyan, they appeared as a harmonious and happy mother-daughter duo living in the city, exuding a savvy air.

Shuangshuang put in so much effort and spent a lot for this effect; in these times, swindlers and traffickers are rampant. If Shuangshuang and Feng Jinyan appeared as naive rural folk, they’d definitely become primary targets.

Early the next morning, Shuangshuang drove her tricycle to the seafood wholesale market, bought the fish needed for grilling, and had them slaughtered on the spot. Once home, she’d give them a thorough cleaning, simplifying the task.

Various seasonings were added in sequence, with Shuangshuang carefully sniffing the aroma each time to ensure it was just right before adding the next seasoning. Only through meticulous marination can one produce top-notch flavors.

The five-star chef who once tacitly allowed Shuangshuang to learn from him told her that a good chef must treat every dish seriously. Even the simplest scallion tofu or the most ordinary steamed buns need careful study of heat and dough kneading to strive for perfection!

The night market begins at six, but Shuangshuang arrived early at her stall, unloading and arranging tables and stools from the vehicle. Feng Jinyan could now understand most of Shuangshuang’s instructions.

So she could assist with some less delicate tasks; although a bit clumsy, to others, it merely seemed like unfamiliarity with the work, and it wasn’t considered unusual.